My World Music Blog : November 2007

It's been a very cultural couple of weeks!

A fortnight ago we saw The Spaghetti Western Orchestra (previously know as The Ennio Morricone Experience) do some very cheesy versions of classic Western tunes - all delivered in deadpan seriousness! They used everything from analogue tape-loops, beer bottles and a box of cornflakes, through to a theremin, natural trumpet and hammond organ to add spice to the show. Of course there was gratuitous use of Harmonica and plenty of whistling.

The highlight was an audience participation version of the theme to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly where we were split into two groups - one group doing the opening riff and the the second group finishing it off. Click here to see the original version The Good, The Bad and The Ugly them being conducted by Ennio Morricone.

All in all, The Spaghetti Western Orchestra were heaps of fun and I'd definitely recommend you see them if you get the chance.

Last week we went and saw La La Luna a mime performance aimed at kids/family and hilariously funny and arty at the same time. I never thought I could sit through 1 1/2 hours of mime, but was pleasantly surprised at this show.

Apart from lots of clever tricks, the music score mixed French cafe music with what seemed like original Klezmer-esque compositions and made the perfect backing for a show which went from sheer craziness to arty musings throughout.

Definititely lots of fun. You can find out more about La La Luna at the website for the show.

To cap it off, on Friday night we went and saw The Pearl Fishers (an opera by Bizet) which was being performed for free at a local amphitheatre. We managed to get seats thankfully (there were only about 500 seats available) while 3000-4000 people sat on the ground on a hill looking down into the stage.

The Pearl Fishers isn't as memorable as Bizet's most famous work - Carmen - but it wasn't too bad - and hey, the price was right :-)

Wednesday night, M and I are off to see the Spaghetti Western Orchestra perform cheesed up versions of Ennio Morricone movie soundtracks. It's received good reviews and sounds lots of fun - and besides, I love that sort of stuff and have regularly tracked down traditional pieces which have that Western overtone.

The show also features heaps of live sound effects created from all sorts of unusual odds and ends delivered with dead-pan faces.

I'm really looking forward to seeing them play.

Bizerka have been hard at work again with a rehearsal yesterday and another one tomorow night. We still have a lot to learn in time for our December 8th gig. We're still concentrating on the new pieces but after running through them all yesterday we played through most of the old repertoire as well just to ensure we hadn't forgotten it.

We also started a new piece called Evil Teddy Bear which is a twisted version of The Teddy Bears' Picnic. I basically re-wrote it with a lot of flattened 5th's, strange chords and ended up with something sound half Romanian, half just plain strange :-)

One of the band members commented that we weren't allowed to play it front of children as it would make them run away screaming - it's truely an Evil Teddy Bear!!!

It's been a quiet couple of weeks musically for me. We've had a couple of rehearsals but that's mainly been it. Rehearsals have been pretty intense though as we're trying to put together another 45 minutes of music and only have 4 or 5 weeks to do it. Most of the pieces are coming along, especially the Greek ones which aren't too hard, and even the Kopanitsa's are getting there.

The only piece which seems to be causing us any trouble is the Turkish song Rampi Rampi which is in 9/8 -> 2 + 2 + 2 + 3. Everyone seems to want to drop the last beat or add another beat to some of the bars - particularly at the end of sections. Still it's getting there and now we've heard a few recordings of it we're getting into the groove.

Tomorrow I'm doing M a favour and playing at her Grandad's nursing home. I'm not sure how they're going to cope with 45 minutes of solo Accordion and Irish Whistle or what I can reallly play that's appropriate, but this afternoon I need to figure out a set list and maybe track down a few golden oldies like Roll Out the Barrel or There is a Tavern in the Town.

When I stopped by an Op Shop earlier this week I bought a couple of old LP's from their collection which had quite a few interesting bits and pieces like Jewish and Russian songs. The one which I like the most though is The Royal Greek Festival Company under the High Auspices of Her Majesty the Queen of the Hellenes, Frederika.

It doesn't have a recording date, but from the sleeve information, I think it was recorded around 1954 when they played in America and were "an astonishing success." It's a good example of traditional Greek music played by musicians without "any musical education beyond that handed down from father to son."

There's a mixture of different Greek traditions including pieces from Cyprus, the Ionian Islands, Macedonia and Crete. Hearing this repertoire done properly is always good as generally I find the sheet music on the net and play it how I think it should go - often times having to add chords if there aren't any there. Listening to traditional and particularly older recordings lets me know whether I'm doing it ok or making a complete "dog's breakfast" of it :-)

If you're interested in hearing a bit of it, Amazon stocks a copy of CD along with a few sample tracks.