festivals
London Jazz Festival Round-UpTuesday, 22 November 2011![]() The 10-day London Jazz Festival, now in its 19th year, is a diverse and international festival that embraces the unapologetically commercial Jazz Voice, the outer reaches of (free) free improv and even Abram Wilson’s Jazz for Toddlers. Despite a... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Khartoum: English folk songs in SudanSunday, 20 November 2011![]() I’m stood in the dusk in front of the tomb of Sheikh Hamid al-Nil as the sun sets on Khartoum, reddening in the exhaust-filled air as it deflates over a receding jumble of low-rise blocks spreading down the banks of the Nile and out towards... Read more... |
LUMIERE, DurhamFriday, 18 November 2011![]() It would be hard to say which was the more breathtaking: a sunny autumn morning walk around the woody-banked loop of the River Wear, looking up at Durham’s monumental Norman cathedral from every perspective, or seeing the great edifice illuminated... Read more... |
Soul Rebels Brass Band, London Jazz Festival, QEHThursday, 17 November 2011![]() Funkier than a James Brown bridge, the mighty Soul Rebels Brass Band swung back into town last night and flattened all before them. Possessing that rare combination of serious chops, impeccable stagecraft and down-home soul, they confirmed their... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Wexford: Wexford Festival Opera's 60th Anniversary SeasonSunday, 13 November 2011![]() I’m within 20 yards of Wexford Opera House when I stop a couple for directions, convinced that my map is some sort of Irish practical joke. Approached down a narrow and frankly rather unpromising side street, from the exterior Wexford Opera House... Read more... |
CD: Coldplay - Mylo XylotoSunday, 23 October 2011![]() Is there any point criticising Coldplay? You might as well take issue with your own digestive system, or the word “the”, or the colour brown. They're there, they're part of the fabric of things, they're not going away. Indeed, so etched are they... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Reykjavík: Iceland Airwaves 2011Sunday, 23 October 2011![]() Iceland is remote. Strategic too. Vikings stopped off there on the way to North America. It hosted the Reagan-Gorbachev summit 25 years ago. On the anniversary, visitors from America, Canada and across continental Europe are in Reykjavík for the... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Zanzibar: The Sounds of WisdomSunday, 16 October 2011![]() “When I first came to Zanzibar I was expecting there to be a lot of local music in local cafés and bars on the radio. In reality it was the Spice Girls or "Barbie Girl". It was so disappointing, the state of the local music scene. Everyone was... Read more... |
How many French horns can play Wagner at one time?Saturday, 15 October 2011![]() The business of setting musical records does not normally have much to do with actual music. The longest an oboeist can play with circular breathing, the fastest piccolo player, the highest note sung by a human etc – these are not about music-making... Read more... |
Interview: Peter GabrielThursday, 13 October 2011![]() One of the problems with Peter Gabriel’s back catalogue for me, I tell him, as he is reclining in an office at EMI in London, is the sounds - some of them really are very dated. Gabriel would often pioneer a sound like the reverse-gated drum sound... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Oslo: FolkeLarm FestivalSunday, 09 October 2011![]() It’s almost dark. Frescoes depicting the cycle of life are barely visible. They could be shadows. Waves of sound pulse through the mausoleum of Norwegian artist Emanuel Vigeland. Fiddle player Nils Økland is feeding the 15-second delay with peals... Read more... |
Jérôme Bel, Cédric Andrieux, Royal Opera House Linbury StudioTuesday, 04 October 2011![]() Dance is eating itself. Or dancers are eating themselves, rather. It's on-trend to defy the idea of the mute dancer, and instead have them verbally explaining themselves, their motivation, their art. This year’s Dance Umbrella launched last night... Read more... |
