Sunday at Bob's #33 - More Stories

Hello everyone, welcome back for another fantastic hour with Sunday at Bob’s! I hope you guys had a great summer break if you had one. What a time to be alive, it seems the world is spinning faster than usual. We would love to think it is for the best. We would love to. I myself have moved in a place where I, once again since my time in Norway, have no wifi. I should be here for a couple of months at least so expect the coming articles to be less documented than they once were. They will probably contain more anecdotes, less quotes. My schedule this year will most likely be slightly more intense than in the past two years, so I might struggle to keep up the bi-monthly rythm. For that I apologize in advance once and for all (I got told recently I was too polite, I said sorry). But, I am trying to get more articles from magnificent people I meet who have knowledge about music I lack, in the hope of expanding the blog’s musical territory. That being said, let’s begin.

Sometimes, around this moment after the summer was consumed and real life is showing its nose again, we get a sense of the deadlinesque aspect of sunny days and an urge to accomplish all fun that was postponed. We continue listening to sunny music while cycling but with a nostagic after taste. It is in this spirit I tried to gather music for today’s playlist.

We start with music from a country that is still an enigma to me given its capacity to continuously provide for the best football players since the first world cup while having less than half the population of Switzerland, Uruguay. It is this mystery that made me click on the beautiful compilation Candombe Uruguay when it appeared on my screen. Lucky was I, Dino Gastón Ciarlo started singing through my speakers and Don Pascual never left me since.

Once upon a time, in the lobby of a youth hostel, a receptionist was looking for a way of playing music without the use of youtube suggestion’s flow that seems to always end in the same areas, and without losing to much time on his actual job either. He opened a youtube account and added songs he enjoyed in the « watch later » section. After a couple days the section had enough songs to cover his 8 hours shifts and more. Eventually the hostel acquired a spotify account and the « watch later » playlist was forgotten. Years later it still happens that he stumbles upon a song that once was in that playlist, put smiles on visitors faces and his own, was the soundtrack for good times and remained a souvenir for years. Letta Mbulu’s Normalizo is one of them.

I don’t remember how or when I heard Koop for the first time. Their album Waltz for Koop is amongst the easy-listening, easy-to-pick-when-I-don’t-know-what-to-listen-to records.

Iggy Pop, in a interview for some goofy trendy media that pops up on my facebook thread once in a while, mentioned Tropical Fuck Storm and I thank him for that. What an exciting band to listen to! I must link you to the clip of Braindrops, featured here today but also recommend you the album of the same name. It is amongst this kind of albums that take you in many unexpected places. After listening to a cool song, one usually checks out the album it is taken from with the (unconfessed?) hope to get more of the same, it is rare that the album manages to disapoint in good (in Switzerland we say décu en bien).

We enter the traditional Brasilian area of our playlist with the very cool Os Tincoãs. They are this kind of band from whose discography you can simply pick blindfolded and enjoy.

I would like to dedicate the next song to a very dear friend of mine who moved out of Amsterdam a few months ago. He is a great guitar player and we recorded a song together, a George Brassens song that means a lot for the both of us. Hopefully this song will be buried for ever, quite unlike Letta Mbulu’s. It was a very enriching experience nonetheless. I mention that because here we have Rodrigo Amarante’s take on another very dear song by the monument Brassens: La non-demande en mariage. A song where he is honoured to not propose to his girlfriend.
A French philosopher with whom I have less and less affinities used to talk a lot about how in philosophy, life is not separable from writings. He argued a genuine philosopher acts as he writes, there shouldn’t be no gap in between action and statement. Walk the walk, talk the talk. He wrote a couple biographies following that train of thought, comparing the life of the subjects, to their writings. The reason I talk about him is that I am always fascinated about how Brassens songs can be reflective of his own life. In songs like La non-demande en mariage, La mauvaise réputation or Le gorille one can find a look on life that already exists in his parcours. A bit as if you could transpose the famous saying used in the world of design since the Bauhaus: « form follows function » into the world of music, poetry, Art in general something like « work follows life », « oeuvre follows experience » for the lack of better formulation.

Now I realise I jumped over Lee Alfred’s very dancable Rockin’ Poppin’ Full Tilting, in my hurry. I would say it is a song that illustrates very well the first statement I made about sunny music with hidden nostalgy in it.

I must confess, I compiled this playlist weeks ago and I completely forgot where I got Tetty Kadi’s wonderful song from. It must have been a blog. Probably amongst the ones listed on the side. Nevertheless I reckon it makes a very beautiful and welcomed apparition in between music we are more used to in here.

We arrive in a folky time with the great Dave Bixby and his sun going down taken his inspiring Lost Songs Found, suggested to me by a dear friend a few months back.

We continue with a true UFO in terms of compilation. Who knew this existed? How can we stop listening to it now that its existence has been revealed? I personaly cannot. I wish I had internet right now to be able to expand on it without worrying about the facts. I urge you to purchase Bulawayo Blue Yodel and to dig more into it, it’s the best I can do for you.

And then we have the magnificent Bert Jansch, who we heard here before but really, there are these musicians who we would welcome over and over without ever being tired of them.

After him comes a duo very dear to me. They have been recommended to me by a recent friend who accepted to honor us of his contribution to this blog in the coming months. I won’t expand to much on Duo Ruut because I don’t know much and I hope we will get to know more very soon. I couldn’t insist enough on having a listen to their album Tuule sõnad though.

We finish with a fascinating song by PLOD, taken from Still In My Arms: Compiled by Bayu and Moopie. I am not sure what to add about it except the fact that I have been wanting to feature it here for months but never quite found the right spot for it.

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed as much as I did, I see you in two weeks!

Check out time is precisely 30 minutes before 11h00.

The receptionist

Playlist:

1. Dino Gastón Ciarlo - Don Pascual
2. Letta Mbulu - Normalizo
3. Koop - Modal Mile
4. Tropical Fuck Storm - Braindrops
5. Lee Alfred - Rockin’ Poppin’ Full Tilting
6. Os Tincoas - Acará
7. Rodrigo Amarante - O Nao-Pedido de Casamento
8. Tetty Kadi - Ratapan Anak Tiri
9. Matthew Jeffries - Iwe Kusidio
10. Bert Jansch - Sylvie
11. Duo Ruut - Ema Haual
12. PLOD - Aptaxi

Sunday at Bob's #32 - In the Swamps

Hello everyone! Welcome for the last playlist of this summer. I won't apologize for missing yet another rendez-vous two weeks ago because I am afraid it becomes a recurent intro to these articles. But you know... sorry. Today's article won't be very long, I mounted the playlist as to have a good time listening but I didn't include any statements or reflections in it this time. It is a light end of a strange (school) year. I just want to mention that soundcloud only allows me to post a certain amount of quantity and that this quantity has been reached, so my quest for a hosting website goes on (I could also get a soundcloud membership of course but I am still thinking). Without further ado, let us begin.

We commence with a very beautiful song by the German harpist Rüdiger Oppermann whose work I am still exploring and stunned by on regular basis.

Rudiger Oppermann might be best described as a free-style and experimental folk musician, who draws on both ancient and modern musics and musical traditions, to create a melting pot of musical cultures that cannot be ascribed to any one folk tradition. On the sleeve notes to his record 'Unchain my Harp' (1994), he described himself as seeking to create "fresh buds on old trees with strong roots." (source)

Comes after the mindblowing Isaac Sasson from Venezuela about who I have very little information but I thank destiny very often to have put his music on my path. His album Memorias del canto campesino is truly a gem.

Then we have a very cool time in the company of Argile and their Tagtraum Eines Elefanten (daydream if an elephant). I heard it in a very interesting compilation by Jan Schulte called Tropical Drums of Deutschland. I very much recommend it.

It is followed by a recent happy discovery, the group Collage from Estonia. I think it is most likely the only music I have on my library that is from Estonia, but their album 47'04 was a slap in the face. It is a bit as if jazz and hip hop were invented in the Baltics and Collage was A Tribe Called Quest or Guru. Of course in real life it isn't the case but that is what I thought while listening to that album for the first time.

We continue with a gem by the London based amazing singer Eska Mtungwazi taken from her eponym album from 2015.

We take a small turn and go meet the famous Omar Souleyman who is on fire since 1994 with his contemporary version of dabke. He is followed by the less famous, as much on fire, Moulay Ahmed El Hassani and his contemporary version of berber music.

Right after is a very chill electronic song from the Brazilian compilation Outro Tempo. Then a song I couldn't identify that I found last summer in the street market of Azrou which I mentioned in a much earlier post, and a song by the very interesting Palestinian singer Sanaa Moussa who appears to hold a PhD in neuroscience on top of being a great artist.

That's it for this week, I see you in september most likely for another year of music!

Until then, don't forget to check out at 10h30, or at least pretend.

The receptionist.

Playlist:

1. Rüdiger Oppermann's Harp Attack - Neues aus Harfistan
2. Isaac Sasson - Florentino y el diablo
3. Argile - Tagtraum Eines Elefanten
4. Collage - Petis Peiu
5. Eska - She’s In The Flowers
6. Omar Souleyman - Mawwal
7. Moulay Ahmed el Hassani - Elhassani 01
8. Nando Carneiro - G.R.E.S. Luxo Artesanal / O Camponês
9. Unknown - Unknown
10. Sanaa Moussa - Nijmet El-Subeh

Sunday at Bob's #31 - Mea Culpa

Hello everyone and welcome back for yet another sunday at Bob's. First of all I must begin by saying officially that I am not a receptionist anymore. For what I believe it adds to the blog's atmosphere I will continue to sign "the receptionist" and keep the name "Bob's" but it has to be clear that this is all fictional from now on. Except the check out, everyone must do the check out before 10h30. Second of all I owe you guys an apology. Two weeks ago I went on about how I was questioning my reticence towards music "from where was brought up" and explained I investigated and found some interesting things. I basically advertised a Swiss playlist. A friend expressed his disapointement when listening to it all hyped up to the idea of discovering music from this peculiar country. Only to realise there was none. There are two things I have to say for my defense. One is that eventhough I grew up in Switzerland, it was always walking distance from France. Moreover most of the TV channels, movies and songs we get over there are French (appart from the USA). So when I thought I would investigate music "from where I was brought up" it was naturally that I digged into French folk songs. I don't believe country borders have much to do with culture. The second thing I have to say is that I get it, and here is some music from Switzerland.

If we would attempt to redraw the map of the region considering only the cultural criteria (impossible task if there is one) Switzerland would most likely be overlapped by three or four "countries". Commonly what comes to mind when we think of Swiss music is the yodel, the alphorn, the ländler or the schlager. These are shared with Austria and Bavaria. We will begin with an beautiful example of yodel by Doris Muller.

One thing that is not commonly known on the other side is the fourth language spoken. Romansh is the language of south east Switzerland. It originates from the latin spoken in the Roman empire, brought to the region by soldiers, merchants, and officials following the conquest of the modern-day Grisons area by the Romans in 15 BC. I have never heard this language being spoken in real life. Its roots in latin gives it a sweet Fabrizio de André vibe when sung but we will come to that later. I must say Men Steiner and Aita Biert are probably the happiest musical discovery I made recently. It is however counter balanced by the immense difficulty to find more from these beautiful people.

We need another rumantsch song I reckon, Corin Curschellas does us the honor.

Corin Curschellas' actual mother tongue is the Swiss German dialect. Although from her father she learnt to speak near-perfect Surselvan,[5] she does not herself write any Graubünden Romansh songs. However, she does sing the lyrics and songs of Romansh writers in full Romansh Idiom, including Graubünden Rumansh. (source)

We go on with a very beautiful song by the immortal Fabrizio de André. I used to think of him as the Italian George Brassens but I think it would be underestimating his life work. The more I dive into his music the more diverse it gets.

Then we have a great great great song from a 1963 compilation called Folklore Dances of Bulgaria, compiled and edited by Dennis Boxell.

Dennis C. Boxell was born in 1940 and grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was first introduced to the music and dance of the South Slavs at the age of fifteen. He learned the dances of the Croatian and Serbian immigrants with the encouragement of Lillian Kurkowsky of the St. Paul International Institute. While in Minneapolis, Dennis met Dick Crum, noted Balkan folklore researcher, who was then the choreographer of the Duquesne University Tamburitzans, and who inspired Dennis to begin to develop a professional interest in Balkan dance. His first love was Balkan dance, and after being exposed to it, he lived in Yugoslav communities in and around St. Paul, Minnesota, absorbing their songs and dances and learning about their foods and folklore. (source)

Then comes another dance, this time from the beautiful Greek island of Ikaria, very close to Turkey, it is famous for the amount of panayiria organized there. It is named after Icarus who fell in the sea nearby after his experiment failed. This allows me to link you to a video of a panayiri were is danced the ikariotiko, traditional dance of the island, extremely difficult to master yet so simple and elegant in appearance. In the region there is a sort of a bagpipe called tsabouna that is very beautiful to hear. Your can hear it being played from far away in the island and there is one song in particular that I love and have been searching for a good recorded version for years. It is called ampelokoutsoura and if I find it I will show it to you.

Without transition we jump to one of my favourite rap songs, by Michelle & Noel Keserwany from Lebanon. I am not gonna try to describe their song, they do it better but I must ecourage you vividly to have a look at the beautiful clip they shot for it.

Have you ever felt when going to Downtown Beirut that you're at the sidelines of some ''power'' contest where ''la creme de la creme'' of the population is found parading with their newest cars, trendiest clothes, tallest cigars... And that when you dare enter their perfect little world at the risk of being stared to death, you sense that you're being deprived of enjoying the beauty of the city?? Well who said that it's illegal to be less fortunate and go to DT? Better yet, who said it's against the law to go there riding a camel?!?! A group of friends and us tried to see the outcome of that theory by actually entering the capital city on camels! And that was the reaction! Enjoy!!!! (source)

After that comes the very cool Djazia Satour who, amongst other things, used to be in the choir of Gnawa Diffusion who we heard here before. She is followed by a song from a really interesting compilation called Moroccan Folk Music.

Then we have a magnificent song by the Palestinian band Wall3at. A friend from Palestine translated it to me as follows: There are people who take life seriously, there are people who sell it for money, there are people who don't know anyone and only God takes care of, there are half people, there are three quarter people, but full people you won't ever buy.

We go back to Switzerland with one of the coolest instruments ever. The Talerschwingen is from the Appenzell region and consists of a culinary instrument diverted from its function. A ceramic plate where people used to put the milk, and a coin. The idea is to make the coin roll perpetualy in the plate by moving it in circles, here is a demonstration. They say it is the only instrument that is exclusively from Switzerland (I have no way to back up that claim) and they say only one person still makes the ceramic plates and he is called Hans Schwendener. It is apparently exhausting to make becaue they are quite heavy and require fast execution. It seems the yodel singers from Appenzell wear a spoon shaped earring (Schüefli) to refer to the original use of the instrument, and they look marvelous. After double checking it seems that the earring is part of the traditional outfit, worn by everyone. It is actually a snake shaped earring, to which is added a spoon for celebrations. They sing with their hands in their pockets which simply increases the coolness of the whole thing.

We pursue with a beautiful piece of alphorn by the Hornroh Modern Alphorn Quartet.

With two songs we pay tribute to the legend Christophe who passed away recently (may he rest in peace) and we close with a joke of some sort. At the beggining of this post I mentioned how culturally influenced by France the extreme south west of Switzerland is, well I think Patrick Juvet is a good example of what I mean by that. Rather groovy nonetheless.

That's it for today I hope you had fun, I see you in two weeks!

Check out time is now a concept, but it should be done at 10h30 no excuse.

The receptionist

Playlist:

1. Doris Muller - Bim Doris De Heime
2. Men Steiner and Aita Biert - Il Silip e la Furmia
3. Corin Curschellas - Randulin
4. Fabrizio De André - Amore che vieni amore che vai
5. Various - Право тракийско
6. Νίκος Οικονομίδης - Ικαριώτικος (Παλαιός)
7. Michelle & Noel Keserwany - 3al Jamal bi wasat Beirut
8. Djazia Satour - Loun Liyam
9. Various - Touicha & Jabir
10. فرقة ولعت - في ناس وناس
11. Innerrhoder Trachtechörli - Ruggusseli mit Talerschwinge
12. Hornroh Modern Alphorn Quartet - Ueberm Nebel
13. Christophe - Un tour d'Harley avec Lucie/Histoire de vous plaire
14. Patrick Juvet - Où sont les femmes?

Sunday at Bob's #30 - Collective Unconscious

Hello and welcome back for another Sunday at Bob's!

First of all I would like to apologize for the last post that I skipped despite the fact that I had my playlist prepared and my text in mind. A few months back I was discussing this blog with a couple of friends and one of them asked me how come I would research and write about music from all around the world but not feature songs from the place I grew up in. I replied, as a lot of people do, that I am not very fond of the traditional music played there. I reckon this happened even before I posted the long playlist dedicated to Moroccan music (Sunday at Bob's #13 - Ila Mchit), however we were talking about Switzerland. Anyway, once this remark was planted in my head it grew over the past months and I decided to do something about it. After all, if I can find joy and meaning in music regardless of its provenance I should be able to reconcile myself with music brought up where I was brought up. This playlist is not exclusively composed of French folk music, but it was somehow provoked by that discussion about it.
Before we start I also want to add that when I was about to upload on Mixcloud, minutes ago, a voice appeared and told me the website was now using adds. I know for a fact at least one of our listeners doesn't listen to the playlists fully because Mixcloud limits the amount of time you can pause it, or jumps within the playlist. So we are now on Soundcloud, let's see how it goes.

I spent the last months investigating French folk music, and it lead me to find a lot of field recordings from various regions. Ethnologists would travel the countryside looking for gems like a comb gathering lice accross a hairy skull (this is a very questionable comparison but it's the first time I write since a month so please be merciful). In many instances, they would hear about an old person with a wide repertoir in their head, who would be famous in the region and requested to sing at village parties. They would find that person, put a microphone in front of them and let them sing, leading to very beautiful recordings where can be heard regional languages casually spoken in between old songs. I guess if the album as we know it is a format of recorded music, these field recordings are another one clearly distinguished but as much, if not more, exciting. As a research process, it ressembles a mirrored version of the process described in the beautiful series of documentaries American Epic, which I recommend.

So I chose to start this playlist with an example of such recording. It is a perfect illustration to be put next to the statement made above (about not enjoying traditional music from my own surroundings). En revenant de noces is an other name for a song most French speaking people could sing you if requested, at least the first verses: A la claire fontaine. While the version we all know is commonly considered an almost dull, childish song heard in primary schools' playgrounds, many other versions exist (over 500) and here is one remarkable example. There is a lot to say about it and I probably will eventually but I have to get on with this post so here are two intriguing facts about it: First, while being viewed as a children song, it has an adult theme. And while being written as if sung by a woman, the huge majority of interpretations I found were sung by men.

We go on with a very interesting quintet from Brittany. Hamon Martin Quintet is mixing traditional music, jazz and more to achieve truly exciting music in my opinion. Les vies que l'on mène is really one of the most beautiful songs I came accross lately. It is very well written and overall inspiring. It is followed by another major discovery from Bretagne, the duo composed of singer Yann-Fañch Kemener and pianist Didier Squiban. This allows me to give a special shout out to Coop Breizh who are releasing such beautiful albums, if you are interested in music from Brittany go have a look.

Then we have Dominique & Jean-Paul Carton and their version of Dans les prisons de Nantes, a song dating back from the XVIIe century. It describes the love story between a prisoner and the daughter of his gaoler, who helps him escape. It is believed to have been inspired by the escape of Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz in 1654.

We then cross the English Channel for a two songs parenthesis.

Siúil a Rún is a traditional Irish song, sung from the point of view of a woman lamenting a lover who has embarked on a military career, and indicating her willingness to support him. The song has English language verses and an Irish language chorus, a style known as macaronic. (source)

It is followed by a song we heard here before, this time sung by the immense countertenor Alfred Deller: Black is the colour of my true love's hair.

We cross the sea one more time, back to Brittany to meet the three sisters Les Soeurs Goadec. It is when I hear such music that I think can be linked with other great musicians such as Les Filles de Illighadad who we talked about here a few months ago, that I think of Carl Jung's idea of a collective unconscious. Initially I wanted to write this whole text from that angle but I think it would need more time and space, maybe another time, maybe another way.

I had a discussion recently about "morning music". I think most people, including yours truly, associate different musics to different parts of the day, to different seasons, to different moods as well. I find Louis Armstrong, for instance, to be a very winter-ish musician. Not because his music sounds like winter, or cold, but rather because it is so warm it acts as a fire to warm your hands in. Well, most likely because in my family the morning tradition is to play berber traditional music while dipping bread in a plate of olive oil and honey, Mohammed Rouicha is my "morning music".

We then have the great John Berberian and his uplifting virtuosity on the oud, a masterpiece from Macedonia, another from Albania (to be put in parallel with the music from Epirus we talked about a lot on this blog) and a beautiful closing of this week's playlist by Jean Sablon and his moonlit village.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed.

The check out time used to be 10h30, no one knows what will happen to it but it shall be remembered.

The receptionist

Playlist:

1. Centre Occitan des musiques et danses traditionnelles - En revenant de noces
2. Hamon Martin Quintet - Les vies que l'on mène
3. Didier Squiban, Yann Fanch Kemener - Hanter dro duhont'ar ar mane/Evnig bihan
4. Dominique & Jean-Paul Carton - Le prisonnier de Nantes - Braden's Reel
5. Noirin Ni Riain, Owen & Moley Ó Súilleabháin - Siúil a Rún
6. Alfred Deller, Desmond Dupre - Black is the colour of my true love's hair
7. Les Soeurs Goadec - Margodig
8. Mohamed Rouicha - Khamsa (1)
9. John Berberian And The Rock East Ensemble - The Oud & The Fuzz (4/4)
10. Ljuben Dimkaroski - Ne pribiraj mila majko strojnici (Mother, Don't Look for a Suitor) (arr. L. Dinkaroski)
11. Laver Bariu - Medley (: Kaba Laver Bariu No 2/Pogonishtë Përmetare)
12. Jean Sablon - Mon village au clair de lune

Sunday at Bob's #29 - How Do We Get At It First?

Welcome back for yet another magic hour with Sunday at Bob's! I would like to begin by addressing the few additions that I made to the blog last week. I had been talking about it for a while and I finally got on with it, the list of cool blogs I was preparing is here, on the side. I might add some later on but this is already a lot of exciting material to explore. I also added on top of that a link that shall remain permanently towards an discussion I had the honour of having a few weeks back, which I mentioned in the last post. Last but not least, we have ourselves a new banner paying tribute to the beautiful Fanitullen. That being said, let's begin.

I only heard last week about the immense monument of Afro Beat, drummer Tony Allen, leaving us and thought some sort of tribute imposed itself. I won't talk too much about the great career (for lack of a better word) of this amazing musician. Rather I would just like to remember these shifts where his albums played one after the other in the lobby. One time I played the whole masterclass he did with Moses Boyd (who was featured here months ago) and confused the guests who were chilling on the couches. It was worth it. So I thought we would begin with an extract from this master class and a short exchange between two great drummers of their own generation. A bit like Jean Gabin and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Un singe en hiver. A bit. It is followed by a song from his album Secret Agent.

Fantastic Man William Onyeabor was only a few years younger than Tony Allen. He left us in 2017. It has been some time I wanted to talk about him on Sunday at Bob's and I think now is the moment. Because he has in common with Tony Allen an impressive and innovative discography, but a life path rather different. Both are from this musically inifitely fertile earth that is Nigeria. Onyeabor is still to this day a mystery to most and I would like to link you to this short film Noisey made about him and the story of his rediscovery instead of trying to sum it up. I just thought it could be an interesting parallel to draw between the two giants.

We go on with Manu "Papagroove" Dibango. Also refered to as Papa Manu, he does us the honour with a song I like to think of as the Cameroonese version of La ville s'endormait from Jacques Brel. A musical transcription of an evening at the village.

I am not sure we heard Bugge Wesseltoft here before, although he released a very cool album with Prins Thomas a couple of years back and was always in the back of my head for the playlist. If I am not mistaken, in the song we have here the trumpet is by my compatriot Erik Truffaz. I started to listen again to Wesseltoft prior to going to Norway, when I asked myself the usual pre-travel question: Do I know any musician from there?

It is followed by one of the good surprises of the past weeks, the album Snoopy by CS + Kreme. I don't know anything about them and so I won't expand but in the past weeks I have been looking into a genre I am very much stranger to and have been enjoying it a lot. These electronic fumes and vapors with little melodic twists that keep you hanging are exquisit and, if it was never my cup of tea, I am starting to fall in love.

For some reason I think Erik Satie just slipping in makes so much sense, I wouldn't know how to explain it but here is a transition dipped in honey. Him and Barbara are two enormous monuments of French music (music I have been researching in the past weeks and prepare yourself for some cool gems to come is all I can say) both in their respective fields. Barbara sings for us the lament of someone witnessing the love of their life take the train to Amsterdam with someone else. It is a song written by Jacques Brel and it is not common to succeed so magnificently an interpretation of a song wirtten by Jacques Brel. But then again, it is Barbara we are talking about.

Beloved of the wandering minstrels of yesterday, the genuine indian violin, Sarangi is one of the most popular instruments in the north Indian musical system. It is a short, stocky instrument whose 3 main strings are of animal gut while 35 metal strings acting as resonators give a vibrant richness to each note. The Sarangi is played with a bow, but the peculiarity of the instrument is in the way different notes are produced. There are no frets and instead of stopping the strings with the fingers as on the violin, the finger nails slide along the strings producing a continuous range of mellifluent notes. (…) The plaintive melody of the Sarangi has a haunting beauty all its own and in the hands of the master it weaves a magic spell that cannot fail to bind anyone. (source)

We close this shift with a magnificent piece by Sariza Cohen. It kills me not to be able to find more music from her. I would like to draw a link between this plainte (lament), and the quote from C.King we saw two weeks ago about Alexis Zoumbas and Blind Willie Johnson.

Here is a link to an interesting article about her, from a blog you can find in our new list.

That is all for today, I hope you enjoy and I see you in two weeks!

Check out time is now an idea, but it remains 10h30.

The receptionist

Playlist:

1. Tony Allen & Moses Boyd - Masterclass Boiler Room x Guardian Gateways
2. Tony Allen - Pariwo
3. William Onyeabor - Better Change Your Mind
4. Manu Dibango - Soir Au Village
5. Bugge Wesseltoft - Breed It
6. CS + Kreme - Saint
7. Erik Satie - Pièces Froides (Cold Pieces), 6 Pieces Pour Piano: Airs À Faire Fuir I
8. Barbara - Je ne sais pas
9. Ram Narayan - A Treasure from Solomon's Mines
10. Sariza Cohen - Plainte (Chekoua)

Sunday at Bob’s – an interview with [ ] by Maisa Imamović

Hello everyone!

Today, a special post I should have posted long ago. No music but a few weeks back I had the honour to be interviewed by the great Amsterdam-based writer, designer, and web-developer who likes to draw, Maisa Imamović for the website networkcultures.org

It was a very fruitful experience, a nice chat with a very cool person which lead to trying figuring out what this blog is all about. Here is the link, I strongly suggest to check out other articles on the blog as well.

I add a few illustrations I made in Norway for free, to compensate for the lack of music which will be arriving next week sharp! The first one represents the origin of painting by Kora of Sicyon, daughter of Butades, as described by Pliny the Elder. The second is taken from the Fanitullen I talked about last week, the pattern on the woman's sleeve is inpired by the traditional costumes of the Høyanger region. It represents the mountains around, and is normally underlined with some waves symbolizing the sea that is also around. These costumes are worn for special occasions where can be also heard the Fanitullen. The last one is the souvenir of a Panagiri.

Check out time is 10h30 no matter what.

The receptionist

>>>     T  H  E      I  N  T  E  R  V  I  E  W     <<<

Sunday at Bob's #28 - One Year

Well, it's been a year. We were hanging out in the lobby, a bit bored between two check ins. A nice tune was playing and we made a blog. Those were good days. The hostel is now closed due to some virus but is that a reason to stop taking a minute every once in a while and write a bit, listen a bit? I don't know, not for now at least. I hope you guys are all doing good, I hope you're all safe. Let us begin.

We have been used to, now and then, have music from films included in the playlist. In fact if I had a penny for everytime I watched a movie and, posessed by it's soundtrack, I ran to my computer to check who was responsible for it the second it ended, well I would have a few pennies to say the least. It is the second time George Delerue makes an apparition although I am not sure he was mentioned the first time. He composed the music for Bertrand Blier's Préparez vos mouchoirs where was included if I am not mistaken a certain Hungarian melody in B minor but today he opens the playlist with beautiful songs from Garde à vue. I advise you, if you haven't done it before, to go on Wikipedia and check the list of movies he worked on, very impressive.

Miquèla, is amongst the most prominent singers of the Nòva cançon occitana (new Occitan song) in the 1970s. Now I must warn you, I don't know anything about the Nòva cançon occitana, let alone in 1970s. However everytime we had musicians performing in Creole, I recall mentioning how pleasing it was for a French speaker to hear a Patois so close I feel I can understand it, but of course I can't. It is a bit the same feeling as when learning a language we start to notice words we know in songs and, possibly, it adds to them somekind of attraction. This feeling pops up here and there in Miquèla's beautiful eponym album which I strongly recommend.

As I took the habit to say once in a while, I don't know much about Abner Burnett besides the fact his album It Ought to Be Enough is one of my favourites of the past weeks, and that he has been called the music's version of Hunter S. Thompson. As I usually do in such cases I shall let someone who knows better and writes better, tell us:

How country is Abner Burnett? . . . you'd think this was a classical album . . . then you come to gentle acoustic songs . . . sprightly blues . . . late night jazz . . . rugged soul . . . bound together by the quality of Burnett's writing --- intelligent without being self-consciously clever . . .
Country Music People

He is followed by two jazz songs, one rather recent by Wildflower and another earlier from the great Sun Ra. I always find interesting to put in relation the London jazz scene of these past years with what I suspect is music that influences it. In Wildflower 2 I hear vibes that make me think of Portico Quartet and Shabaka Hutchings and I like it.

After that we have a very powerful song by the legend Blind Willie Johnson. He has been compared in a very interesting book about music from Epirus with Alexis Zoumbas who I have tried many times to include in a playlist but the intensity of his music makes it very difficult to put it in between two songs. Here is a passage:

When Frank Walker, the executive who supervised regional recordings for Columbia Records, met the blind musician at the makeshift studio in Dallas’s North Lamar Street, he had no idea that this session with Willie Johnson would produce one of the most profound pieces of American folk music ever captured. Likewise, Walker would have been stunned to learn that a recording made by Blind Willie Johnson that day was the spiritual twin of the recording made a year earlier in New York by Zoumbas, itself a lament developed thousands of miles across the Atlantic, countless millennia in our past.
Like Zoumbas, Johnson waited till almost the end of his session to play his masterpiece. With his guitar tuned carefully to open D (D–A–D–F#–A–D), Johnson began sliding a glass bottleneck across the strings, playing a piece he called “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground.” Although the title is based on the first line of a Wesleyan hymn, “Gethsemane”, penned by Thomas Haweis in the nineteenth century, there is very little melodic similarity with the English religious song. Indeed, what Johnson played for exactly three minutes and thirty seconds was a lament barely of this Earth.

Extrait de: Christopher C. King. « Lament from Epirus. »

Maybe it makes more sense now that the song playing right after is a violin solo. Fanitullen is a Norwegian classic folk song I stumbled upon in my stay. Google translates as follows:

The story is linked to a wedding in Hovet in Hol in 1724, when two young boys, Levord Person Haga and Ådne Knutson Sindrol, got into trouble and then in a fight. Levord was killed while Ådne, under threat of death, fled across the mountain to Numedal. The incident is referenced in simultaneous court documents from the thing writer in Ål.

The beat, which is linked to the story, is reportedly written by the master of the guild, who was on his way down the basement to fetch a beer for the one who won the fight. While down there, he saw a man sitting on the beer barrel with a fiddle and playing a beat he hadn't heard before. The man held the fiddle opposite, with his neck to the chest, and hit the barrel with a horse's hoof instead of his left foot. It was obvious that this was the devil. The headmaster jumped up again, and found that one of the fighters was dead in the yard. (source)

We go on with an album I listened to mainly because its description used the term "deep reggaeton" to describe it. I found that most intriguing and I actually quite enjoyed DJ Python's album Mas Amable. It is followed by the very dancable Makiyaj by the Zouk master Jules-Henry Malaki, from Guadeloupe.

The playlist ends with two Greek songs. The first one from a musician I discovered while attemping to translate Greek songs. Manolis Hiotis was a Greek rebetiko and laiko composer, singer, and bouzouki player. He is considered one of the greatest bouzouki soloists of all time, as he demonstrates here, today. The last song, from Kostas Karipis, is the song that made me want to dig more in Rembetiko, around 6 years ago. It is a most dramatic song but when I asked my Greek friends to give me a translation, they told me he was mainly thanking the audience and wishing them good night.

That is all for this week, stay at home but do check out before 10h30!

The receptionist

Playlist:

1. Georges Delerue - Chantal et Camille
2. Georges Delerue - Les dunes
3. Miquèla - Palunaia
4. Abner Burnett - O Catrina
5. Wildflower - Fire
6. Sun Ra - The Golden Lady
7. Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
8. Knut Buen - Fanitullen
9. DJ Python - Pia
10. Jules-Henry Malaki - Makiyaj
11. Manolis Hiotis - Otan Eimai Sta Kefia
12. Kostas Karipis - Minore Manes S'afino Tin Kali Nychtia

Sunday at Bob's #27 - Sunday Out Bob’s

Hello back for another sunday, these times out Bob’s as you sure have noticed. I got stuck in a Norwegian village very close to be the most beautiful place I’ve ever been at, and since there is no WiFi in our house, I have asked a couple of good friends and Sunday at Bob’s comrades if they would be willing to contribute so that the blog doesn’t die. To my greatest amazement not only the blog didn’t die but I saw myself becoming a fan and getting excited for each next post. I have to thank a thousand times Lena for the beautiful tour she gave us around her repertoire, Maisa for the deep ten emotional stages of a broken heart and finally Nabila and Nadimov for their insight into other confinment moments and what role music can play in these moments. I must say I got hooked on George Qormuz. One last thing before we start, I still don’t have WiFi while I am writing this, I shall go down to the village later on to post it on the main square, stealing the waves of the now closed public library. I say this because I can’t double check the facts I’d usually write about the music featured, therefore there might be a lot less. Here we go.

There are a lot of great things about not having WiFi in your everyday life and I’m not gonna start writing about that because I would never stop. However it did not come handy when I tried to build up a new playlist going through my hard drive and forbidding myself to pick musicians that had already been played here. Hence I did not.  Hence also some choices have more to do with nostalgia of my first mp3 player (the ones that were USB stick with a jack entrance, 128mb if you may) than with the urge to share discoveries. When the time stops we have time to look behind, I guess that’s what I did. We heard Oscar Brown Jr. here before, who is forever in a special category with the greatest of the greatest for having written Rags and Old Irons, later on magnificently interpreted by Nina Simone. And this is typically a fact I would have googled to be sure before puting out there but let’s roll on. But I Was Cool appeared as a fun way to start a playlist yet most probably a bit itchy. An interesting song nonetheless that reminds me of Screaming Jay Hawkins’ Constipation Blues and movies like the one from Jim Jarmush with the word « train » in the title most likely. This post might become a demonstration of how I rely on the internet to write, especially if it turns out no Jim Jarmush movie title has the word « train » in it.

The second song is from one of my all times favourite albums and from an artist I really have trouble with. Abd Al Malik exploded in our faces with Gibraltar and, I mean, after an album like that what can you do? Well that’s the question teenage me was asking his self until Abd Al Malik answered. Everytime he released an album I was there, I listened to it from beggining to end but never felt the thrill and the sharpness of Gibraltar. I remember going through a lot of trouble with my friends to find everything he had made before with N.A.P for instance. Regardless, I will never run out of respect for him.

After that we have a masterpiece from a guitar master. I don’t think we need to introduce Paco de Lucía. A little story instead. Once at Bob’s great musicians were playing, guitar players, improvising. After a while they took a smoking break and as excited as I was by the sound of this magnificent instrument I played Entre Dos Aguas in the speakers, as an interlude you know like in the old days at the movies you could go pee or get some popcorn. Well one of the musicians came to me and told me he was afraid he’d sound like shit playing after Paco de Lucía. I won’t tell you what I played after that.

And the Maloya returns to Sunday at Bob’s once again! What a pleasure. I did not know Les Pythons de la Fournaise whose album I received from a good friend while in Norway and is probably the only new piece of music I listened to in two months. However I knew Maloya ton tisane which I hesitated many times to feature here. Their version of it is very cool, I recommend it, it’s probably on YouTube.

Then we have Paulo Diniz, I was sure we had heard him here before but apparently not. Or was it in the very first playlist? E Agore Jose is an album I played often at Bob’s one summer when we had a considerable amount of guests from Brazil. It is not the first time I mention my admiration for Brazil as a continent of music. These months at Bob’s were full of joy and I discovered quite a lot of Brazilian music thanks to wonderful people.

We go on with a song taken from a compilation called The Sound Of Siam Vol. 2 Molam & Luk Thung Isan From North-East Thailand 1970 - 1982. I got interested in music from this part of the world and this slice of the timeline when the movie Only God Forgives got out. You must start somewhere don’t you? Whithout any knowledge whatsoever of the language nor any acquaintance from there it was very difficult to find out more.  This compilation might be the only remainings of those attempts already rather old in my hard drive. However I can’t get over the beauty of the words sung. Nowadays I could probably be more efficient, maybe I will try when I get back to civilization.

I don’t believe we heard the fascinating voice of Gabi Lunca here before. What a voice. She reminds me somehow of the most recent albums of Elza Soares, I don’t know why. Very powerful.

Oh and then there is the great Ghalia Benali. We heard her here for sure before. No need to say too much but this time we have a longer song (and more time, no?) to enjoy.

I have been waiting to bring Mélanie de Biasio to Sunday at Bob’s for a long time and didn’t really know how. I thought it could be interesting to have her right after Ghalia Benali since they are both from Belgium and have somekind of common smoothness. Here we have a song which I think achieves brilliantly the prouesse of being at the same time very deep, somehow dark and very funny. It is about men after sex I believe.

I know for sure it’s not the first time we host Trifle either and I think we can be glad to have them back. I reckon it was New Religion we heard last time. It is followed by an album I’ve listened to a lot as well in my younger years. I don’t know anything about Protomartyr, I don’t even know why I have this album on my hard drive but I quite like it.

The last song is a special song that talks very sharply about being from the first generation of immigrants and going back to the country to visit the family. I think it is a very special song because it takes an angle I’ve never heard anywhere else in French rap. It mentions the difficulties of defending artistic life choices in front of relatives living a life of everyday struggle. The lyrics are filled with humility and clear view that contrast with the upset and almost aggressive tone of Ekoué. I believe it is the first song he ever recorded in a studio. I listened to a radio show recently about poetry and one of the guests mentioned a belief that originally, all the words existed. Everything had a word to be referred to. And slowly, words that were considered useless or harmful to society were removed and forgotten. I wonder if there was ever a word for what Ekoué describes here.

That’s it for this week! I wish you all a great confinment and hope you are doing well.

Enjoy and don’t ever forget that the check out time is 10h30, ever.

The receptionist

Playlist:

1. Oscar Brown Jr. - But I Was Cool

2. Abd Al Malik - Gibraltar

3. Paco de Lucía - Entre Dos Aguas

4. Les Pythons de la Fournaise - Ah Pauline

5. Paulo Diniz - Bahia Comigo

6. Thepporn Petchubon - Fang Jai Viangjan

7. Gabi Lunca - Sus in deal pe poienita

8. Ghalia Benali - Rubaiyat

9. Mélanie De Biasio - Les hommes endormis

10. Trifle - Devil Comin'

11. Protomartyr - Bad Advice

12. La Rumeur - Blessé dans mon égo

Sunday at Bob's #26 - Music in the time of corona (by N&N)

Dear fellow listeners,

As the circumstances have put our receptionist in the safest place possible for this lockdown (an isolated house in a small Norwegian village), Nadimov and I (Nabila) are taking over his blog for this Sunday’s post.

As we continue, since the last blogpost, this quarantine, Nadimov has selected a series of songs that were all written in lockdowns, by two different artists who both held on to music as a path towards a fairer world.

Georges Qormuz, Palestine

The first artist we feature today is a real mystery. During the uprising against the military occupation in Palestine between 1987 and 1990, a curfew was forced onto the Palestinians for most of the time. Schools and universities were forced to close their doors as well for about four years. During this extended lockdown period, an unknown singer going by the name George Qormuz was recording and producing beautiful songs from his room somewhere in Palestine. His cassettes were distributed in the night to the doors of people’s houses. Years have gone since then, and to this day, no one knows who George Qormuz was. As Nadimov says: "all I know is that George was a period of four winters that cleaned the pain of many hearts the way the rain of these winters cleaned the streets".

In our playlist; we feature four of his songs.

The first song is called “What would kill determination”. The song serves as a reminder that hard times will pass in front of determination – or as George says “our land no matter what, has witnessed a thousand killers. They all vanished, like melted snow”.

To a more joyful song, at first glance, the second track of our mysterious musician is called “our beautiful land”. The city of Jerusalem “a beautiful land, sad in a cage” is the symbol for the nostalgia of the missed old times - “my little garden, the lumberjack has destroyed”. But with high hope and optimism, George promises that “with struggle, lyrics and melodies, the cage will be broken”.

In the third track, George uses the lockdown to put a moral manifesto to oppose the oppressor. This song is titled “Against”. George declares “against smashing a little flower in the garden no matter the reason, against making a hero of a 10 year old child, against using the branches of my trees as a gallows” and goes on to promise that the melodies and poetry will outlive the oppressors.

Onto the fourth and last song by George Qormuz. He makes an implore of “Patience” to his people, a universal message –as well – to all of us in this confinement, once more with the promise that “the sharp teeth of the monster will not defeat the smile of our children”.

Sheikh Imam, Egypt

The next artists featured in today’s lockdown playlist have a clearer identity than George Qormuz. A blind musician called Imam (Sheikh Imam), and his poet friend (Ahmad Fouad Nijm) were too annoying for the authorities in Egypt, to the point that they became "permanent residents" at Alqala'a\"the citadel" - a famous prison for political prisoners. During their extended stays at "the citadel", the duo wrote songs about life, love, liberty, the poor and the oppressed - the very reason why they were locked up in the first place! During their short periods out of the prison, they would meet with friends (and crowds when possible) to sing and record their songs. These songs were - and still are - banned by most Arab authorities, yet generations have memorized them by heart and passed them from one to another, and the songs of Sheikh Imam & Ahmad Fouad Nijm keep inspiring dreamers all around the Arab world.

The first song by Sheikh Imam of this playlist is called “El bahr – why is the sea laughing”. This song was chanted so many times in bars in Palestine in the times when we were there; one person would start singing the first few notes and then the entire bar would join in and sing along. A song about a complex love relationship with the sea. Imam flatters, teases and complains about his love –and to think this cheerful anthem was composed in a jail cell!

“Bastanzarek - I wait for you” is the next song by Sheikh Imam. With the legendary entrance “aaah”, Imam sings for his freedom: “I wait for you - despite the rain, the cold, and the scary thunders - in the busy street. I’m the one who knows when our date is, and why you stay away from me, the one who knows who you are and waiting for you since years – keeping a space for you in my garden of hope”.

“Tel3 elsabah - the sun gas raised”, the third song by Sheik Imam, is a beautiful greeting to all the labors and the hardworking people. “The morning has come, all the beauty in its coming. And the bird sang beautiful melodies that heal the broken hearts, saying a beautiful morning to all of you labors”.

“Anatoub 3an hubbak - can I stop loving you” is one of my favorite. “Can I stop loving you? Can I have a joy in your distance? No, I can’t forget you, I’m poor without you, and I’ll never stop loving you” Imam is singing this very melodic tune to his love from his jail cell.

“Sabah elkheir - good morning to the roses” is our next track; one more song in the love of the “garden roses” – the prison comrades who sacrificed their lives in the name of freedom, equality and justice.

Finally, we leave you with a playful melody that is named “shal elhawa - the wind/love played with us”. Let it play with you.

And so ends our trip through the music that was composed in situations similar to the one the entire world is living today.

We hope this was enjoyable and – who knows – has inspired you to write your own music/poetry during the lockdown 2020. At any rate, if you do so, keep in mind that the check-out time is 10:30 (but stay home).

Playlist:

1. George Qormuz - What would kill determination

2. George Qormuz - Our beautiful land

3. George Qormuz - Against

4. George Qormuz - Patience

5. Sheikh Imam- El bahr – why is the sea laughing

6. Sheikh Imam - Bastanzarek - I wait for you

7. Sheikh Imam - Tel3 elsabah - the sun gas raised

8. Sheikh Imam - Anatoub 3an hubbak - can I stop loving you

9. Sheikh Imam - Sabah elkheir - good morning to the roses

10. Sheikh Imam - Shal elhawa - the wind/love played with us

Sunday at Bob's #25 - Digital heartbreak (by Maisa)

Dear internet surfers,

Our receptionist is still on a temporary leave, and so I’m occupying this Sunday session, in this weird month of March.

Whether I’d usually create something from the perspective of a chosen alter ego (PPI, or sevdah spammer), my guts this time, are telling me to compile a playlist which fills up Corona’s void, and distracts the luxury of now having to work. If I listen to the silence deeply, I hear something cracking (#tear#tear); all there’s left to do is materialize the crushed reality through Sunday at Bob’s template. So, we are taking a break from informative music knowledge, in order to focus on the music of(for?) the broken heart. And my goodness, according to Youtube’s algorithm + the emotional extremes in which the heart beats, this playlist might come off as a weird mix of what nots.

They say there are 10 emotional stages of a broken heart; let the music in the background to start playing. (No idea who are ‘they’ and if that’s actually true)

Heartbreak Stage #1: Introduction

It was some time ago when I first watched the movie called The Square. Yes it was sad, great, and existential. The best (and maybe even the happiest) part of it was the music pick. I’m talking specifically about Improvisació 1 by Bobby McFerrin. Still to this day, it gives me chillz (and I must have listened to it for more than 39842 times). The reason why it has the introductory role in this playlist, is because of it’s chameleon-ability to belong to any ‘life’ mood, and somehow relate to the horrors of the situation. Consider this a very mild intro to the topic. P.S., sometimes the track sounds like a heartbeat, and there goes a very conceptual linkage, if I had to think of one.

Heartbreak Stage #2: Intimate-prison no more

While it takes some time for Bobby McFerrin to be done, let’s say that Elliott Smith(RIP) is preparing his Between The Bars in the digital backstage. The first time I heard this song was while watching the end of Rick and Morty’s season 3 (if my memory serves me well). It was just before Rick and Morty went into a T-shirt merchandise bizniss, as an add-on to their stardom. Back then, it was a perfect song to say goodbye to watching Rick and Morty’s seasons to follow, and not just because of the T-shirts really, but because the humor was beginning to dry out. I loved them dearly, but they had their expiry date, after which my focus shifted to the lyrics of Elliott’s song. My expectations (I blame it on Michel Foucault’s Moist Meme Maison) of what the song would be about were totally unmet, which made me like the song even more. Instead,  

         Drink up one more time and I'll make you mine

         Keep you apart, deep in my heart

         Separate from the rest, where I like you the best

         And keep the things you forgot

         People you've been before that you

         Don't want around anymore

         That push and shove and won't bend to your will

         I'll keep them still

are lines which talk of a romantic prison, rather than Foucault’s panopticum. However, romantically and conceptually, it’s not hard to compare the similarities between the two. First it’s all about wine and dine, next thing you know it’s about control, ownership and consumerism between the lovers. A bit sick, I’d say, but cute in a way.

Heartbreak Stage #3: You’re not who you used to be, but whatever maybe?

In contrary to the previous song, where love is contained in a vacuum and protected from the outside world(why?), the following song by Moloko called Over and Over, shows the consequences of remembering the best and the worst of romantic times. The song perfectly illustrates the duality in-between the two extremes, when the heart and brain are at fight over which memory to dwell in. It’s clearly not a fun activity, but somehow becomes light as we continue listening to the song. In the end it comes down to: no, there is not middle ground, we’re both off in another story of merry-go-round.

Heartbreak Stage #4: self-care contest

Thank you Moloko, for bridging us to the next step of recovery after loss. What used to be the complexity of a denial has now transformed into an acceptance of absence. Our guardian angel for that phase is Sevdaliza (who sings about angels all the time), specifically with the song called Marilyn Monroe (yes, too many great names at once). Anyhow, to me, the song is about one’s beginning to nourish one’s care of the self, caused by losing the extreme care of the other. It’s already pre-supposing that lovers merge fully when together, and it’s only a matter of time until we find out who gets to be the first one to rip off from the bond. Do you know what I mean? Maybe I don’t know myself what I mean, but read this:

 “And they told me to care when trying to fix your heart, it’s unfair, I’m trying to fix myself”.

There is also some anger we can pull out of this line, towards the others who apparently have a say in who gets to be over and done first. Chicken or egg is indeed what the situation is about, and that’s what happens with lovers: eventually they all become chickens and eggs.

Heartbreak Stage #5: a mini-break from self-care

…BUT, it’s not that easy to just go on and fix yourself; the process doesn’t grow exponentially from the moment one finally decides to, until the moment one starts to feel more or less like a god. The state fluctuates between forced positivity and anger. Deep anger. That’s why the next song by Trisomie 21 is a tribute to that anger, because anger is crucial and must be present. The song is very simply about

Breaking down, breaking down
Breaking down, breaking down
Breaking down, breaking

In the same simple nature, the song questions love’s modernity and simply wishes to destroy it J Why not.

Heartbreak Stage #6: welcoming randomness

When punk, coldwave, darkwave, and similar waves, I can’t can’t can’t avoid Cities in The Dust by Siouxie and the Banshees. Maybe not extremely relevant to our topic today, but why not have a break from the heartbreak? The song reminds me of my bartending shifts in De School, where sometimes the song would play, but not on the main stage. I never discovered why.

Heartbreak Stage #7: Feminist relief

We are returning back on the heartbreak’s track with the song by Soledad Bravo called Alla Viene un Corazon. Besides the song’s power to remind me of my non-existent Mexican roots, it triggers other flows of energies in me: that of a sleepy feminist, snoozing the alarm to wake up. For now I say: luckily, for all of us. I find it semi-funny that these memorial elements make me think of Zapatistas, Las Mujeres con la Dignidad Rebelde, and all that I learned about them down there in Mexico’s Chiapas. If anyone is interested, I found this song in the documentary called She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry, and yes I do recommend it.

Heartbreak Stage #8: It’s okay

Speaking of real and adopted roots, to what extent is losing love similar to losing home? A friend told me she felt like an orphan of an orphan, when she was in this stage of a heartbreak. Of course, of course, of course, for the guidance of this stage, I return to my Balkan roots. If you not only listen, but also watch the official video of the song called Balada Disidenta (The Ballad of Dissidents) by Beogradski Sindikat, you will clearly understand the current stage of recovery I’m talking about. The song is about the dissidents leaving the city of Belgrade, because (to put it simply) the city’s regime has failed their dreams and happiness. However, in all that sadness, the chorus of the song throws spotlight on the good old times and maintaining them as the sweetest of memories.

**Note: it’s hard to empathise with this song without deep listening skills and rakija. Especially without rakija.**

Heartbreak Stage #9: The Mountains

When you think about it, love is sometimes a consequence of neoliberal harshness. Our bodies are pushed into maintaining the collective individualistic reality, in which we are mostly pre-occupied by work. In such a lame reality, love can erupt in unexpected places, or even be forced to erupt as love. And even if it really is love, sometimes its eruption might not always be the one worth holding onto forever. Instead, saying thank you and bye is a cute, final step before saying “fuck love, especially if it’s a consequence of this lame system”. After this mantra, it’s time to think about mountains. Mountains make everything seem absolutely absurd: this life in the city + this drama. When thinking of mountains, everything becomes so small and FINE, while breathing becomes the most crucial activity. Nicola Cruz is the guru of breathing with his song called Voz de las Montañas. Stay for the ride.

Heartbreak Stage #10: Check it out now

After we are back from the mountains, Black Eyed Peas are waiting for us with some hip-hop vibes, to welcome new loves (and not necessarily in the form of a person). Of course I found the song in the recent op-doc featuring Kim Hill, who dropped out of the band due to the band’s ‘commercialization’. Instead of focusing on whether she regrets the decision or not, I’d rather just listen to the song and enjoy its chill, hopeful, flirty, and sexy vibes.

To conclude this heart-healing session, I’d like to mention that there is two ways of looking at the loss of love:

1.Telenovela way – stabbing yourself with a knife that moment when your loved one decides to agree with your idea of leaving.

2. a Different way – stabbing yourself with a knife bought in Action’s toy department, and moving on.

And remember dears, ''it shouldn't hurt this much to be your angel.''

Not sure what to say about the check out time and if it's still at 10h30.

Yours truly, Maisa.


PLAYLIST:

1. Bobby McFerrin – Improvisació 1

2. Ellliott Smith – Between the Bars

3. Moloko – Over & Over

4. Sevdaliza – Marilyn Monroe

5. Trisomie 21 – Breaking down

6. Siouxsie And The Banshees - Cities in Dust

7. Soledad Bravo - Allá viene un corazón

8. Beogradski sindikat - Balada disidenta

9. Nicola Cruz - Voz de las Montañas

10. Black Eyed Peas The Way U Make me Feel

Sunday at Bob's #24 - Roaming onwards (by Lena)

 

Hello to you all,

As our receptionist is on temporary leave - to go and explore the volumes earth has to offer (yes, think about us when you see mountains) - I will take you for a walk on our flat land.

Lucky for us, music is here to make us feel more lively.

            My name is Lena and I am in charge of today’s playlist. I am not a receptionist, or a music connoisseur however, I’d be happy to take you on stroll, hopefully with music that’ll make you w(a-o)nder.

            Coming first on today’s selection, helping us to get over our receptionist’s departure, is “Carry On” from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Listen to it while your determined feet pull your legs forward. Even without knowing our destination, the unison of their voices will push your chest to flow ahead. Who needs mountains, when you can listen to them and imagine flying very close to the ground, on a magic carpet?

            Keeping the magic carpet's point of view, we will follow with “This masquerade” by The Carpenters. Our journey takes on a different rhythm as our carpet brings us further away from the concrete floor. As they say: “Are we really happy, with this lonely game we play?”. As we let them guide our minds, these ones keep on dwelling on the carpet, dreaming of flying higher as “We tried to talk it over, but the words got in the way”.

            Our walk now needs to take a different turn. The coming up junction is complicated, we don’t want to be daydreaming, our noses lost in the air, to cross that one. Stepping off of our carpet, we are happy to stand again and to run on the rhythm of “Ballad of Accounting” by Karan Casey. We are more determined. Our lonely stroll becomes a bounce.

            Stepping further, maintaining our straight stare, we have “Fat ass joint” by Cujo (Amon Tobin), which pushes our walk into a trample. No, we are not trying to crush anything but this song brings us substance and matter. I personally listen to it when any kind of challenge is coming up. It makes my ankles stand straighter. 

            Determination took a hold of us but now it’s time to exhale. It’s time for our journey’s intermission with Galt MacDermot and his song “Meard Street”. Let’s forget direction again, and find pleasure in our saunter.

            Coming next is “The beggar and the thief” by Piers Faccini, who carries our roaming beautifully with four great musicians, as Ibrahim Maalouf at the trumpet (the others are probably worth mentioning as well, but unfortunately he is the only one whose name is familiar to me).

            We’ve been out for quite some time now and it starts to rain again. Let’s get lost in these small streets, there. The pavement is slippery, maybe we’ll find shelter with “Between the bars” by Madeleine Peyroux.

            The rain calmed down. Come with me, let’s continue our journey! Coming out of the bar, we can smell the outside again. Spring is flirting with us, it’s stimulating our senses without giving in. For such a moment, I will share “Dandelion wine” with you, from the Clancy Brothers and Lou Killen. My favorite one of today’s playlist, probably more for having heard it in my family from so young, but here it is.

            The next one, whose discovery I can’t take credit for, is “Gold mine” from Take 6 (again, family influence). This American a cappella gospel group will change our pace again. We have been walking for too long now, our minds get goofy, our legs are hanging without feeling the floor anymore. This song is perfect for a flash of fantasy out of this gravitational world.

            And now the last song, as I bring you back to Bob’s. As you may have noticed, the Anglo-Saxon influence is very present in the songs I shared with you today. Strangely, this is one of the reasons why Sunday at Bob’s is a necessity for me. So to finish our slow ride, I tapped on my friend Maisa Imamović’s shoulder for a different tone. I was craving for her Bosnian emotion. That’s when you can trade your Jenever for a Rakja! I'm telling you, it’s worthwhile. Here is “Dva se draga” from Damir Imamović (na, they are not related).

Hope you enjoyed your walk, you’re now back and safe at the hostel.

Check out time is still 10h30.

Back to you receptionist !

 PS: The next playlist might only come to you in April, as our receptionist didn't yet find someone for the next playlist

Playlist :

1.     Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – Carry on

2.     The Carpenters – This masquerade

3.     Karan Casey – Ballad of accounting

4.     Fat ass joint – Cujo

5.     Galt Macdermot – Meard street

6.     Piers Faccini – The beggar and the thief

7.     Madeleine Peyroux – Between the bars

8.     Clancy Brothers and Lou Killen – Dandelion Wine

9.     Take 6 – Gold mine

10.  Damir Imamović - Dva se draga