Less windy place than yesterday…
Video
At the borders
If you’re following us on Facebook, you already know we got the CDs from the factory in Germany – we’re really happy, they look great, and it’s a relief, the sound is good, and the visual, oh, well… the colours are really vibrant and shiny, much beter than what we would have expected.
So, we’re on the road to Istanbul, and we had to deal with a couple of unexpected situations regarding custom’ regulations. The sound is not really good, it was really windy this morning, but it should give you an idea of what is going on…
Clarinet in Kosovo
A bar ? A hotel ? Nope, this is the kind of places we search for live music in Kosovo. Along road M2 between Pristine and Ferizai, you may find many of them, they sometimes have a sign “live music”.
Here’s a very short video, the sound is terrific, but it shall give you an idea of the place.
The clarinettist is Rexhe Baba, when we first met in 2007, we were really impressed by his style, his freedom to ignore the rules… and his craziness !
Such places, as far as we know, are opened at night everyday, without entrance fee, drinks are more expensive than in standard cafes but still affordable. They hire a couple of singers, at least 2, sometimes up to 5 or 6, that will perform one after each other with the same band. The band can be very “cheap” and consist of a single synthesizer player, but we look for places with at least 3 or 4 musicians, although, synthesizer is the base.
On the video, you can see a bank note (50 Euros !!!) hold with the clarinet, it’s a way to request a particular song and to dedicate it to someone. The singer is holding the piece of paper with the message and will read it between two songs. Of course, more famous musicians/singers will get more requests. At the end of the evening, the money is then divided between everyone on stage.
Solstice bonus video
Here’s a very short video, since tonight is one of the shortest nights in the year, as a sneak sound from the upcoming album.
Simone made this video at the sun dawn last April while travelling in the Lebanese countryside. She got the idea that some drums could give this short sequence a ceremonial atmosphere.
The track itself is a bonus version of a tune’s intro called an dezertour, the story of a young man killed because he deserted the army. The rhythm is made by Davul (percution commonly used in the Balkans, Turkey, Iran, Iraq… find out more here) and Darbuka sounds. Then yesterday we added some voices, without really having any plans ahead and we like pretty much the result, it kind of reminds us of Albanian polyphonies.
Kan Al Lagouterion
… that we also call it “the drinking song”, traditional lyrics and tune from south of Brittany (Vannes area). The everyday life of a drunkard that eventually ends up in a ditch.
We had a lot of fun making this video, it’s our first attempt to make a more sophisticate video, and it’s quite a piece of work… we hope you’ll enjoy it !
Track recorded live last month in Beirut. The rest of the video was shot in Plougras’ roads in February 2012, in our rainy Brittany. It also contains many pictures from previous tours with other projects, in Brittany and in Belgium.
Let’s hear something !
Using iphone or ipad ? Can’t see anything? This other player might be for you… (more…)
. astrakan project . 