David Byrne & St Vincent play London’s Roundhouse tonight. Sadly I won’t be able to make it but this is some compensation. It’s from their album Love This Giant. Continue reading “Who”
Who
Category: Video
Forever Polida
Nous sommes en vacances.
Voici une jolie chanson.
Moussu T e lei Jovents
The Touré-Raichel Collective
This is a lovely story of a chance meeting that led to the creation of some beautiful music. Vieux Farka Touré and Idan Raichel explore their common ground between Mali and Israel. I’ve been playing The Tel Aviv Session non-stop in my workshop; a gorgeous, improvised soundtrack to our recent heatwave. It’s almost as good as the magnificent Talking Timbuktu, the 1994 collaboration between Vieux’s father, Ali Farka Touré and Ry Cooder. There’s also a new album by Vieux Farka Touré, Mon Pays, and I’m looking forward to seeing him perform live at this weekend’s Open East Festival.
Gnawa Studies
The 16th Gnawa Festival in Essaouira on Morocco’s Atlantic coast is a largely free four-day celebration of the music of the Gnawa, what is perhaps the oldest trance music in the world, the root note of inner transportation and sufi trance that attracts hundreds of thousands of Moroccans and intrepid international visitors to Essaouira each June, over the weekend of the full moon. Continue reading “Gnawa Studies”
The Wayfarer
This is a short film by Sarah Thomas. It was made in Iceland, the music improvised in an empty fish oil tank at an abandoned herring factory. It is the winner of the Penguin Books Wayfarer competition. As a result, Sarah will spend the next two months travelling around Britain, recording her experiences for A Journey On Foot. She has also written Journeys In Between, both blogs worth a look, both distinguished by captivating photos and enthralling stories.
Singing Paint
American-born artist John Hubbard talks about his life and work in rural Dorset over the past five decades. This film, produced for his exhibition Littoral at the Luther W Brady gallery in Washington DC from May 15 – June 28, 2013, includes insights into the process behind his extraordinary abstract impressionist paintings, as well as a selection of songs he learned as an art student in New York in the 1950s. www.johnhubbard.com
Chillida: From Iron To Light
There’s a great little Chillida exhibition at Ordovas until the end of July. It is the first dedicated exhibition of his sculptures to take place in London for almost twenty years. It features work made in steel and in alabaster as well as some of his paper works. There is also a wonderful film by Susana Chillida which is not to be missed; you can see it here – The Artist, his Work and his Art. And if you enjoy that you might also like this – Signs Of Chillida.
The Gloaming
This is a recommendation from Christopher Corr, recently at Union Chapel to see much anticipated Irish/New York music collective The Gloaming. They sound fantastic, they’re a surprise to me but now I’m eagerly looking forward to their new album and their next visit to London.
Project Wild Thing
David Bond is concerned. His kids’ waking hours are dominated by a cacophony of marketing, and a screen dependence threatening to turn them into glassy-eyed zombies. Like city kids everywhere, they spend way too much time indoors – not like it was back in his day. He decides it’s time to get back to nature – literally. In an attempt to compete with the brands, which take up a third of his daughter’s life, Bond appoints himself Marketing Director for Nature. Like any self-respecting salesman, he sets about developing a campaign and a logo. With the help of a number of bemused professionals, he is soon selling Nature to British families. His humorous journey unearths some painful truths about modern family life. His product is free, plentiful and has proven benefits – but is Nature past its sell-by date? www.projectwildthing.com
Kew Gardens
On the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, aka Whitsun Bank Holiday or maybe even Whitsuntide, we went down to Kew. It was a slow journey. There was a UEFA Cup Final at Wembley that evening and a Premiership Rugby Final at Twickenham that afternoon, there were roadworks in Ealing and there was a continuous traffic jam around the North Circular. There was a long queue to Kew. By the time we arrived I was stir crazy. Once inside the gates I was snap happy. The resulting photostream begins with eucalyptus, smooth-skinned and animal-like with aromatic blade-shaped leaves. Continue reading “Kew Gardens”