Sunday at Bob's #40 - Such Is Life: An Absence

Good morning,
Good afternoon,
Good night

And that whether

You are sleeping,
Watching cartoons,
Or getting back on track

From hangover

Some days are bright
Some days are dark
Some days the only thing to do

Is to listen to these tracks

Some days cloudy
Some days in mist
Some days made sunny

By your ears on my playlist

Some days we laugh
Some days we cry
Such is life

Such is life

Welcome back, once again
For your bi-weekly experience
Ten songs under one song

The story, the tale of an absence

The story of a melody
That made it in
Then made it out

For the sake of harmony

Harmonious but not flat

However, a tribute is made
Through the title
It is only a see you again, big guy

Not a long goodbye

Maybe in two weeks?
Regardless
Now is now

Le temps presse

Let us begin
Let us start
Let the music play its part

While I learn rhyming

It is Joshua Redman’s hand
That invites us first
And in all our thirst

We grab it, after all

We’re only human
And we know we can trust
The drums waiting

Around the corner, on the grass

Ready to hit
The coup de grâce
To pour us like we pour

Liquor through the point of non-retour

Caught
Delivered without ransom
To a mysterious voice

Mysterious but not random

Ungraspable
But not immaterial
Similar to fumes

Is the music of Alabaster Deplume

Sometimes dreaming of going away
Leaving friends
Knowing they’ll be okay

Other times doing it anyway

Sometimes looking back
Realising only once it vanished
The things we presently lack

And not coming back

Dancing to forget
Dancing to remember
Dancing to the songs

Of our ancestors

Dancing, dancing
Here is a great album to dance
It might even put you in a trance

The Imaginary Soundtrack to a Brazilian Western Movie

And from Brazil to Cap-Vert
An imaginary bridge
Very much there

Very much there

Kept safe by musicians
Guarded by musics
Preserved by guardians

In peculiar tunics

The Cachupa Psicadelicas
Let us cross
Like boss

And we cross back

All the way to LA
What can we say?
We would be so lonely

Without Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti

Then we have Jeff Parker
Right after
With a banger

From his album Suite for Max Brown

And then we have a song
Aman aman
Then we have a song

From a great duo

Amongst which is a friend of mine
And a fascinating human being
Just listen to them playing

Yet another bridge

Towards the end you can hear
The guitar switching
To this caracteristic rythm

And the oud following

What a thrill

It only made sense
To pursue this quest
And to enhance

To re-invite an old guest

Aşık Veysel
We heard him here before
We wanted to hear some more

And to close this circle

Without taking a risk
We have the giant Kyria Politissa
And her Den me toumbaris

And Spyros, with his bouzouki!

Opa! Dig those sweet fingers playing the bouzouki!
Gia sou, Spyro, with your bouzouki, gia sou!*

I will stop rhyming for a second
To urge you with serious
To go and purchase this album with its super interesting booklet.

You won’t regret

The last song is a bonus track
Sent to me by a dear friend
Of someone we talked about a while back

Mohamed Lamouri

We talked about him playing
In Paris’ subway
And a friend hearing him

On his way to school, as a kid, everyday

This very friend saw him again
And had the reflex
Of recording a piece

Of music in context

This is it for today
I hope you enjoyed
The music, the rhymes the playlist

Check out time remains 10h30
The receptionist

*Marika Politissa - All Parts Dark. Released by Olvido Records and Mississippi Records in 2020
OLV-009 / MRI-124. English Translations by Tony Klein

Playlist:

1. Joshua Redman - Mantra #5
2. Alabaster Deplume - Going Away/The Lucky Ones
3. Camarão - Camarão No Oriente
4. Cachupa Psicadelica - Ca Mistid Mentira
5. Ariel Pink - Life In La
6. Jeff Parker - Fusion Swirl
7. dahaW ⅃ꓘ - 1st is 0
8. Aşık Veysel - Sazım
9. Marika Politissa - Den me toumbaris
10. Mohamed Lamouri - Subway Recording