Out to Lunch

domingo, novembro 04, 2007

Late Halloween’s Random Trick or Treat Discount

just take out what you like, always a nice price

Picture courtesy of MRC

I’ve been around in the past couple of days, that’s the least you can say, but I only did half of what I intended to do because of lack of energy - gee, I’m getting’ old - or because of the company (if you go out with friends it’s not that easy to follow a tight schedule but who cares if the company’s swell).

Let’s see, what did I do: Apparat was boring, 65daysofstatic was overwhelmingly heavy and Dead Elvis and His One Man Grave was alive and kickin’. I totally missed out the second day in order to be prepared for the next one because Think of One was again really great, Bonde do Rolê was a bit short – one of them was feeling sick – but from what I’ve heard I guess they’re pretty swell. The surprise act of the evening was Mauro Pawlowski who played a DJ-set and that one was incredibly funky, awesome! Rare grooves a go-go to the double and musical tastes from here to Timbuktu, sorry Lagos because he ended his set with some classic Fella Kuti - I wish I knew what that opening track was, it was a remix from Yo La Tengo’s cover of Sun Ra’s Nuclear War but without the children’s choir - I ended the evening, all in sweat, but with a big smile on my face :-D.

Saturday was the last day. I ended up going to Brussels for Sabah Fakhri for a concert of classic Arabian music and classic here, also means several hours of live performance. They knocked off the clock at 4 hours flat with a short pause in the middle. As a result I didn’t go to Petrol for the closing night of the festival.
The concert was pretty tuff, although I can’t complaint, because Fakhri is famous for singing non-stop for 10 hours in a row. It was tuff because, apart from a couple of words like Habibi ;-), I can’t understand a word of Arab, which is a must to keep your attention going for more than 2 hours. The music was wonderful and state of the art – there was an awesome oud solo in the second part of the evening – but it’s mostly storytelling so the dynamic of the melodies is more a result of the logic of the story or the format in stead of a pure musical flow. But I mustn’t complaint, I was warned, this wasn’t my first concert of classic Arabian music. I wonder if they could project translations of the lyrics as in western opera’s. It’s not ideal, but it could help.
Apart from that it was fun. Arab people, young and old, have the intention to sing along with this type of music and they did. I was sitting next to a row of some older women who could sing very well and they knew the lyrics word by word. Sometimes it’s was a kind of call and response as in black gospel choirs. And the men, they got off there chairs and started dancing, clapping their hands or waving their arms in the air and shouting stuff to fire the singer and the musicians. A nice party in an very highbrow cultural environment. It reminded me a bit of the visit of Asha Bhosle. She sang in the same royal concert hall a while back.

Back to the music. I didn’t find any means of translating all of these experiences into music but since it’s Halloween and all - I’m told ‘cause I don’t keep track of these things - I have a good alibi to deliver some random stuff that was lying on the shelve. Just take out what you like, it’s always a nice price!

What’s in the bag?... some more candy. Newly acquired stuff and some reggae again, although the first one is as much Latin as dub reggae. A new project Ticklah versus Axelrod. There are some links to Antibalas and the Dap-Kings but I still have to figure them out. I heard a couple of tracks on the net and they’re all brilliant. I’m going to purchase me a copy of that album. Here’s an Eddie Palmieri cover that’s circulating on the net.

Ticklah – Si Hecho Palante (Featuring Mayra Vega)
John Legend – I Used To Love You (superior remix) it really is!

Some real oldies, but they still got that swing.