Music in port

[johncorrigan]

Joe - you may know more than me, but I'm given to understand that quite a few artists struggled to get visas to perform this year, which is why there were more local groups?
It's a shame if true, under the new national policy if only they'd turned up at the airport on the right day they could have just wandered on in.

I thought that the problem was with the Boarder Agency which was reducing the access to acceptable landladies and increasing dramatically the distance people had to travel to find govt. approved B&Bs - where's a Homes Secrtetary when you need one?

[Paul Sherratt]

>>a few artists struggled to get visas to perform this year

I think it's been like that for a while now. Numerous 'world ' acts at WOMAD are based in the UK.
Krar certainly are. And Kanda Bongo Man lives in Manchester ( where, I think someone said, he works in a care home )

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abudoma/4854477629/

[Globaltruth]

>>a few artists struggled to get visas to perform this year
I think it's been like that for a while now. Numerous 'world ' acts at WOMAD are based in the UK.

does this matter?

I honestly don't know but it's flipping odd - like going back in time.

Luckily you don't need a passport to listen....well, not yet.

[JoeG]

Yes the Visa issue has been a problem for some years now - as I understand it (and I could be wrong) there is a charge per person now rather than a charge per band which has made it unaffordable to have a large number of African bands - I remember the Africa night a few years ago when we had a whole night of fantastic bands - have to look at my old t shirts to remember all of them but included Du Oud and a band beginning with M with an incredibly energetic 77 year old!

[Lateralthinking1]

Thanks GT and JoeG for the reviews. Interesting - and I will certainly have a look at some of these performers.

There have often been statements at Womad about difficulties in getting visas. It isn't always easy at a festival to get the full gist of impromptu statements from comperes. However, on occasions I have come away with the distinct impression that decisions can be very last minute. Will x be able to get here for the more contemplative late night session tonight etc? I am not sure though how much of that is done either (a) to ensure that large numbers still turn up or (b) for dramatic effect. There must also be a certain irony about an entry system that is slovenly except it seems when someone is booked for an event.

On artists living in Britain, my feeling is that they would be under less pressure here to go very commercial than, say, in France. I wouldn't knock all of the production in Paris as some of the output over the years has been to my taste. It can though become lazily formulaic and veer too far from what the music is in essence. Of course, history plays a part in deciding these things - which was the colonial power and so on. I doubt that we have many Senegalese musicians living in Manchester.

[Mcgrooger]

Hello, peops. I've not been here for yonks. All sorts of reasons, the main one being idleness on my part. I find I usually only have time for one forum at a time and I'm afraid I transferred my loyalty to melodeon.net where I discuss arcane matters with fellow melodeon playing nerds. If you'd like to see me playing melodeon and singing a bit, follow the trail via melnet or just look for me on YouTube.
ANYWAY...I too went to Musicport this year and thought I'd share my views.
It was my second time there, the previous one in 2009. It's a good job I didn't have a ticket for 2010 as I got shingles and had about 3 months feeling like an unpleasant substance warmed up! Friday for me felt a bit flat. I was still a bit knackered from driving over. I thought Goldie's band really needed a front man/woman to pull things together and I really didn't care for the various soul type singers. They're not really a band anyway, are they? They're a disparate group of young people who've had various problems. Some of them are indeed fine musicians but I think they'll have to break out of this setting to find their way in the musical world. I was tired and am not too keen on klezmer so I had an early night and missed the Amsterdam Klezmer Band. I enjoyed Blair Dunlop - sounds a bit like a budding Jim Moray. He's a canny young guitarist though but.
One of the main reasons for me going this year was Hugh Masekela who I'd never seen before and I really enjoyed seeing him. I got tired of listening to AK - I've been a long time supporter of his but all he seemed to be doing was flogging his book via a series of self aggrandising stories. IMHO, his hubris will end in tears. I quite enjoyed Huong Thanh and her two musicians who played boingy zither things. Also enjoyed the slightly weird vibe in the acoustic room where I saw Jim Eldon - what a nice bloke he seems. I quite enjoyed Chris Wood too and was glad he didn't spend too long explaining his songs and devoted more time to playing them instead. I also enjoyed the Krar Collective and Rees Wesson (ex Edward II) and Sioned Camlin. I wasn't over keen on Mercedes Peon. As my friend Rod said, if someone's got all those sounds going they should have a band playing them rather than relying on electronics.
On Sunday I enjoyed Sura Susso in a quiet relaxing sort of way. The Boy With Tape on His Face made me laugh quite a lot but I was glad I was sat in circle so to avoid getting taken on stage. I thought semi-local bands Soznak (afro/jazz/rock sort of stuff) and Zion (Bob Marley tribute band) both really earned their places on the bill. I really enjoyed Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell in the Theatre. I think they're deceptively good and quite sweet rather than twee. I also think they've developed their onstage humour nicely. Marie Boine was interesting - I was expecting something much more acoustic and ethnic so was surprised that it was mostly quite loud and psychedelic. I saw KBM in Kendal a couple of months ago and I love the soukous guitar but Kanda and his lady need to develop some new dance moves and a slightly more engaging stage act. I'm also puzzled why he doesn't write some song endings. He sticks his hand up and the musicians grind to a halt on every number. Having said all that, I'll still be listening to Sai on a regular basis and throwing some ridiculous dad dancing shapes from time to time. McG.

[Mcgrooger]

P.S. I ate some cauliflower cheese in the Spa basement cafe on Friday night. It was horrible. Just thought you'd like to know.

[Globaltruth]

P.S. I ate some cauliflower cheese in the Spa basement cafe on Friday night. It was horrible. Just thought you'd like to know.

Thanks for the post McG, I hope this is more than a guest appearance...but just great to hear from you anyway.

Johnny Bagdad's food was good - recommended.

Interesting similarities in all the reviews...I must admit I didn't bother with the AK session because I suspected exactly that - live music beckoned too to be fair.

What did you think of the acoustics on the Main Stage?

[johncorrigan]

Thanks for the post McG, I hope this is more than a guest appearance...but just great to hear from you anyway.

My sentiments entirely mcg - still love a visit to your South African playlist from time to time - don't be a stranger.

[Mcgrooger]

I was pleasantly surprised by the sound in the main hall. I thought it was pretty shocking in 2009 when, from memory, The Mad Professor and Misty in Roots were on on the Saturday night and I left with a banging headache. It's a wonder the Spa didn't fall down. It's never going to be that good in a big echoey hall like that although I think they might make a bit more effort with soft hangings and the like to dampen it down a bit. But all in all I thought it was a lot better. I went down on the main floor when Hugh Masekela was on to get more engaged in the sound and thought it was fine. The sound in the theatre was great. I thought the acoustic sessions were a nice idea but the room needed to be further away from the main stage and ironically was full of fabric, deck chairs et al and it was often hard to hear the artists. I was at the back of the room and couldn't hear a word Sioned Camlin said although I could hear her more or less ok when she sang. In 2009 they had some artists, like Karen Tweed, on in the South cafe corridor which could have been completely acoustic. It's a bit of a rum vibe all in all init? It reminds me of the years when Womad and Worldbeat were on in Morecambe. There's such a culture clash between tired wintry English seaside town and world music festival. I'm always amused at the choice of clothes where some do their best to honour the festival tradition with tie dye, henna tatoos and such and others (like me) are slouching around in old jeans and cardigans. On that front, I was struck by how many women of a certain age seemed to respond to Mari Boine like wolves to the call of the wild. I'll hastily withdraw now before being set upon for age and gender stereotyping. But that's what old gents like me do, eh?

[Mcgrooger]

I'll 'appen put a new Spotify playlist together to reflect my world festival year. I didn't think Womad was a patch on 2010 but there were still some highlights. (Gogol Bordello wasn't one of them imho.)Aziz Sahmaoui (sp?) and University of Gnawa were splendid as was Baloji who stood in for Bajah and the Dry Eye Crew. I also really enjoyed Dub Colossus. For once I really enjoyed all the cd's (these three) which I bought there.

[Lateralthinking1]

Yes, welcome back, McGrooger. I listened to most of your lists on Spotify, enjoyed them, and learnt a lot.

[Mcgrooger]

'Ere you go - if I've remembered how to do this properly (erm!) http://open.spotify.com/user/mcgroog...0Z2ueDs78ClKcs

[Mcgrooger]

Have to admit though that I never saw Fatou Diawara - think she was on at the same time as Aurelio.

[Globaltruth]

MusicPort 2012 in Bridlington has been cancelled, and instead a mini festival will happen in Whitby. Reason is they can't get the dates they want (half-term week) and, as was proven in 2011, they just don't get the numbers they need otherwise. Sounds as if they made a hefty loss in 2011.

Maybe we should just start a Bad News thread....