Music Planet

[johncorrigan]

I missed the beginning of the programme - didn't get back to the car till ten minutes in - I was enjoying the Kinshasa part of the programme - I suppose it was making me think about things I've read about the electrification of the Blues in Chicago. Bamako sounded very lovely - very cultured. Have to say that I fancied a trip there. I thought Andy was a bit heavy on the interviewing in the nick - I would have been more interested in how the choir was formed, how they rehearsed - it sounded like the prisoners did the whole thing. The background singing was glorious, I thought.
Great series - and very good to hear that Andy will be back in a few weeks on World Routes - we might hear a bit more from those Jews Harp players because I think he's in Siberia again.

[Globaltruth]

Thought it was worth reviving this mainly to act as a plug for the recent, largely excellent PROM 11.

Here is the link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012znt4

Music composed by Nitin Sawhney for the Human Planet television series was largely filler, overwhelmed by the images, but presumably put in there to break up the individual performances. I don't think Nitin Sawhney's destiny is fulfilled by this kind of work.

Rasmus Lyberth (Greenland) - Excellent, I loved the hat, the emotion and the powerful vocal force eminating from that barrelhouse of a man, more than ably supported, I'm not surprised there was such raw emotion from them at the end.

Enock Mbongwe (Zambia) - he was pleased to be there, I was more than pleased to listen to him. Both tracks sounded pretty much the same, but hey, this was fascinating. I particularly like his kalumbu and supporting shirt.

Khusugtun (Mongolia) - hairs rising on the back of the neck time. Ultra-polyphonic, why aren't they signed to a major label? Seriously good.

Ayarkhaan (Sakha Republic) - the 3 horse-worshipping goddesses. There is (quite rightly) a separate thread dedicated to them. Wonderful. I punt the thought of the Mari Lwyd, an equivalent Welsh song of pre-Christian horse worship. Mainly for my own further thought. Again, simply stunning, pinned back in my seat.

Bibilang Shark-Calling Group (Papua New Guinea) - tough to follow, and they didn't manage to invoke anything other than a wooden shark in the Albert Hall, but still worthy of their slot.

BBC Concert Orchestra, Charles Hazlewood (conductor) - played well, worth watching for the expressions on their faces at times while the other acts were on.



and Paul Rose (presenter).....he was very pleased with himself. Where was Lucy D???

[johncorrigan]

Thanks Global - I caught a bit of this on Friday evening including Enock Mbongwe who I thought was brilliant - that instrument was great. I was less interested in the orchestral stuff between with the nice pictures - I saw a bit of it last night including Rasmus Lyberth who I remember from the Music Planet series - what an epic guy, and the musicians playing with him seemed honoured to be there. Anyway I shall watch the rest this evening. I thought that they should have got Andy and Lucy in to do their double act - they met some of these folk along the way - instead they had a nice cheery explorer guy.

While I'm in prom mode I caught the Mahler 2 after your advert for it on Friday - I'd never heard it before - that would go for almost all symphonies so I don't speak from a position of either knowledge or experience. It was interesting. The presenter talked about the five movements - death, remembrance of life, song about fear of death, something else, resurrection - though I struggled to understand how he got from the beginning to his conclusion. I think what I'm saying is that the playing seemed fine though the whole thing didn't really hold together. I thought it was a bit like a 50 over a side cricket match - drifts along, a couple of early wickets a couple of drink breaks followed by a fine cover drive - bits where nothing much happens but you hang around in case you miss something; and then the ultimate run chase at the end and a tight finish in case they ran into a Wo3 programme and had to have them give up any of their allotted slot.
The crowd seemed to like it - I thought there was going to be a pitch invasion, though with the number of people on the pitch I think an invasion into the crowd might have been more likely. I was interested in Dudamol's baton - he was making some interesting moves and I worked out eventually that he had a ball on the end. La Systema seems to produce some fairly amazing results but I'm not sure I'll be handing over too many more evenings to a whole prom but may do to another bit of Womad highlights instead.

[johncorrigan]

Global - that Khusugtun were just epic. Ayarkhaan really are incredible - that they generate all those amazing sounds is fabulous and it was great to see them after hearing them on the WOMAD prog.
Reading the stuff on the 'Concerts' string I think this prom was edited a bit - something about a trash orchestra was mentioned. But this definitely worked on the TV. The artists looked great. Enock's sign-off was glorious; a real highlight for me. I remember Andy interviewing him for MP - it was a great bit of the series. I was going to switch away early but enjoyed evryone coming back onto the stage at the end, and the guy walking under the sea - hadn't seen that bit before. By the way, I've taken the liberty, without so much as a by-your-leave, of directing the concert goers to your review of the Human Planet Prom.