Last week I went to see Antonio Zambujo on CUNY’s new Live @ 365 series, curated by Isabel Soffer. We don’t cover a lot of music here at Culturebot, but I loved this concert and I wanted to let people know about this great new series.
Antonio Zambujo is one of the most well-regarded performers of Portuguese Fado in the world. I’m not familiar with the form but it is really beautiful. Zambujo’s voice is stirring and passionate, I have no idea what he was singing about – I don’t speak Portuguese – but he could sing about cheese and I’d be thrilled. His ensemble of musicians is also incredible – Luis Guerreiro plays the Portuguese guitar which is like a small steel 12-string, and it just rings out with these bright, crisp tones; it is very rhythmic but Luis would occasionally cut loose with snake-y solos and little trills and frills here and there that popped up and surprised you. Ricardo Cruz, music director and stand-up double bass player, totally held the whole thing together at the bottom end, also occasionally cutting loose with runs and solos that could be moody or funky, depending on the song. And what really took the whole thing to a new place was Jon Luz on cavaquinho, a small guitar-like instrument mostly used in Brazilian music. He was just out there, making everything from kind of feedback-y tone washes to funky up-beat counter-rhythms. It was incredible.
The Elebash Recital Hall at the Graduate Center at CUNY is a tricky space but it worked really well. It was intimate but spacious and the sound was really clean, clear, well-mixed and well-balanced. I’ve known Isabel Soffer for awhile now and she has great taste and an encyclopedic knowledge of world music. The program she has put together for the new Live@365 series looks stellar and I would encourage you to check out the upcoming shows.
[Editor's note: this is the first posting from another new contributor, Culturebot's dear friend Ellen Ratchye, live from Chicago! We're expanding, so watch out world!]
First things first – nobody needs a reason to go to Coachella, Santa Barbara or San Francisco in mid-April. If you do go, I promise a unique delight await.
Tinariwen is a multi-generational music collective from Mali, made up of members of the nomadic Tuareg people. Their music is a gorgeous hybrid of the blues & trance, served up with a jam band sensibility. I’ve seen them live once in Chicago & recently picked up a DVD of their London concert from the same 2007 tour. Both are unforgettable experiences, easily topping John Hiatt, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe & the Bad Plus among my all-time favorite live performances.
There is so much to savor – a cascade of sound that sets the whole audience moving, terrific guitar licks, a phenomenal drummer who conjures an entire kit out of one hand drum, hypnotic bass lines, slightly hoarse vocalists, haunting ululation…and that’s just the music.
You cannot take your eyes off these guys. The worn, mournful beauty of founder Ibrahim Ag Alhabib doesn’t hurt (he is also the chief songwriter & vocalist) The burkha-clad back-up singers dance in the highest of all high heels, golden bracelets chiming with every step. Like Paul McCartney, the Tinariwen bassist plays left-handed, lending the group the same onstage symmetry as the Beatles. How many miles are on those elderly amps? How often do they get access to electricity at home beyond the paved roads?
All the men wear robes & head-coverings reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia. In his white robes, Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni the second lead vocalist (and an equal partner in songwriting) is a dead ringer for Omar Sharif in 1962. The young drummer plays decked out in the black & white garb that is now synonymous with suicide bombers. Another weathered first generation member, Alhasane Ag Toumane, plays a beat-up cherry-red electric guitar when it suits him & otherwise sways & claps & kicks up his curled toe shoes. You know they’re flogging the desert thing for all it’s worth, but it’s still a feast.
Here’s their 2007 performance at Live 8:
They also have an incredible backstory. The group got its start in 1979 as founder Ag Alhabib was exiled first to Algeria & later to a Qaddafi-sponsored training camp in Libya where he prepared for his return to Mali.
Of course I like to imagine that Ag Alhabib got fed up one day out on the shooting range & threw down his AK-47, shouting “F*ck it, I want to be a rock & roll star!”, in an instant becoming the best examplar of the American Way the world has ever known. I know he learned to play the guitar before he got to the camp & formed the band with some friends while in exile in Algeria. I also know he was part of the long-awaited uprising of 1990 & that it did not turn out well for the Tuareg.
The man is a visionary & over the past 30 years has found a way to share the truth of his life & his people with the rest of the world. It’s a remarkable achievement given that the songs are written & performed in French & the Tuareg language Tamashek, and that the band members are more comfortable speaking French than English.
The songs capture Tuareg life since the South Saharan region was sliced into four nations in the 1960s – Mali, Niger, Algeria & Libya. The two major uprisings in Mali, in 1960 & 1990, frame Ag Alhabib’s life between the time his father was executed by Malian soldiers until he returned to his home country.
After years of distributing their music via what their manager Andy Morgan describes as a “cassette-to-cassette ghetto-blaster grapevine”, Tinariwen’s success in the West has come via the international festival circuit. They’ve anchored the increasingly influential Tuareg event Le Festival au Desert every year since its creation in 2001. They played at Glastonbury during the summer of 2007. In the summer of 2008 they opened for the Rolling Stones at the Irish festival Slane Castle. Chris Martin cites them as a significant influence on Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida”. Stay tuned…
It’s actually astounding to me that they were able to get visas to come to the US during their 2004 & 2007 tours. Their American booking agent assures me that luck had pretty much everything to do with it. I don’t doubt it & urge you to witness part of their improbable journey six weeks from now.
Hello all! First of all, my apologies to Andy who seems to have really missed his writers. I was gone from New York and from the country, with often limited internet access and even more limited access to theater, dance and music events. In any case, I am back. This is a short blog to let you know what I will be doing this weekend, hoping my plans will inspire yours.
Tonight (Thursday, Sept. 11): I will head over to the Ontological Hysteric Theater to see The Brainum Bros. & Sons Theatrical Outfit’s The 2 Sisters; or Douglas Mery, Next to Nothing (8pm). From the website: “ridiculous humor and chilling horror ride roughshod over traditional apocalyptic storytelling. Two clairvoyant sisters have journeyed into the wilderness in search of their long lost mother; instead they find a man without a future, perform brain surgery, and reveal the contents of their underwear drawer”.
Friday, Sept. 12: Going to The Stone to participate in “a night of music and madness” in support for this great venue. John Zorn will play the sax, joined by Ikue Mori (laptop) Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) and “many special guests”. There’s a cover charge of $20 (2 sessions: 8,10pm).
Saturday, Sept. 13: I look forward to seeing Reid Farrington’s Passion Project at PS122 (9pm). This critically acclaimed installation has already shown at 3LD this summer, and promises to be an exciting combination of video and live performance.
Also, Bill T. Jones will be at BAM with A Quarreling Pair (follow the link to see a extracts from the performance), Sept. 30 and Oct. 2-4. Bill T. Jones is one of the sexiest and most exciting American contemporary dance choreographers. He has put together a diverse company, with dancers from all over the world, and his work can be both moving and exhilarating. I highly recommend going to see his work, especially if you have not been exposed to contemporary dance before.
