Globalquerque 2008
In my efforts to get the hell out of my apartment more often and "do" more, I decided to fork out the $35 for a 1 day pass into the Globalquerque world music festival last night. That's more money than I spend on a pair of shoes(hiking boots being the exception *grin*), but I've been craving a good soul-pounding, skin-piercing musical experience for several months. I suspected perhaps 5 hours and 10 different artists MIGHT do the trick.
*drool* It worked...but now I want more! MOOOORE, I say!!! :)
I drew out the schedule for myself on a small piece of paper and while I jotted down the few that sounded the most interesting I didn't really plan out a schedule. They each had hour sets, there were 3 stages and the performances were staggered such that you really could make it to 20 minutes of every single performer if you wanted. I ended up seeing them all though for varying amounts of time. Some were worth sticking around for an hour...and others just weren't my thing.
For purposes of getting the most people to go look into my top 3 favorites, I'm not even going to talk about the ones that I didn't much care for. Instead I will just highlight the others. *grin* To fall into this top 3 means I could sit there for 5 hours and listen to any one of them! The top 2 are Mor Karbasi and Hapa though I really couldn't choose one over the other - and there's no reason I'd need to..so...eh.. :P
Hapa (www.hapa.com) is a group from Hawaii. I've already bought 5 of their songs from ITunes and downloaded them. I want to see them in concert...and I could as they're playing in Tucson on October 3rd..but it's a Friday evening and I'd need to take off at least a half a day. I have about 8 days of vacation saved up, but I'm taking this coming Friday off and probably another one in mid-October. The ticket is only $25, but it's a 5-7 hour drive one way to get to Tucson! I'll keep it tucked in the back of my mind. There's a youtube video below my photo of one of the guys. Look at this bass...it has 7 strings...I couldn't even track his fingers they were moving SO quickly. He's usually playing an elec/acoustic guitar and singing (often in a falsetto of the highest class.) The other guitarist (whom I couldn't get a good picture of due to a large wood beam) was absolutely stellar as well. The video shows them both. I couldn't understand the words, but I teared up several times.
Search for "Hapa" on youtube - there are so many videos there. This is the cheesy music video one that I chose (seriously go look at the others) - but it's the first one I found with this song on it.
Mor Karbasi (http://www.mintakamusic.com/mor_karbasi/)
Anyone that knows me very well (and there are few who do *laugh*) knows that I'm exceptionally picky about vocalists and music. That being said - this woman has PIPES OF STEEL. She was phenomenal. An Israeli singer who now lives in London sings in Ladino, Spanish and Hebrew mostly. I wish she was going to do another concert out here, but before she returns to Europe she'll be in Spiegeltent, New York (no clue where that is!) on September 28th. I had to tear myself away from her hour to go listen to Hapa. On my way out I went by the event table and got one of the last 4 copies of her album that they were selling. I'm also known for not often forking out $20 for a music CD, but I will treasure hers.
My photo:
and...the youtube video that barely does justice to her live...
Lastly...
Lo Còr de la Plana (http://www.myspace.com/locordelaplana)
These are 6 French guys that sing acapella along with a bunch of hand drums, bodhrans and tambourines.
They'll be in Boston on Friday night, October 3 (worldmusic.org for that Boston concert).
They sing in the little known ancient language Occitan and their harmonies are tight. The drumming is amazing as well and they're funny and entertaining. "Ripe with passion and Mediterranean roots, flavors of Arabic, African and parts of Gregorian chant"
I'm still pulsing with the energy of those three performances last night. YUM!!! :)
The end.
*drool* It worked...but now I want more! MOOOORE, I say!!! :)
I drew out the schedule for myself on a small piece of paper and while I jotted down the few that sounded the most interesting I didn't really plan out a schedule. They each had hour sets, there were 3 stages and the performances were staggered such that you really could make it to 20 minutes of every single performer if you wanted. I ended up seeing them all though for varying amounts of time. Some were worth sticking around for an hour...and others just weren't my thing.
For purposes of getting the most people to go look into my top 3 favorites, I'm not even going to talk about the ones that I didn't much care for. Instead I will just highlight the others. *grin* To fall into this top 3 means I could sit there for 5 hours and listen to any one of them! The top 2 are Mor Karbasi and Hapa though I really couldn't choose one over the other - and there's no reason I'd need to..so...eh.. :P
Hapa (www.hapa.com) is a group from Hawaii. I've already bought 5 of their songs from ITunes and downloaded them. I want to see them in concert...and I could as they're playing in Tucson on October 3rd..but it's a Friday evening and I'd need to take off at least a half a day. I have about 8 days of vacation saved up, but I'm taking this coming Friday off and probably another one in mid-October. The ticket is only $25, but it's a 5-7 hour drive one way to get to Tucson! I'll keep it tucked in the back of my mind. There's a youtube video below my photo of one of the guys. Look at this bass...it has 7 strings...I couldn't even track his fingers they were moving SO quickly. He's usually playing an elec/acoustic guitar and singing (often in a falsetto of the highest class.) The other guitarist (whom I couldn't get a good picture of due to a large wood beam) was absolutely stellar as well. The video shows them both. I couldn't understand the words, but I teared up several times.
Search for "Hapa" on youtube - there are so many videos there. This is the cheesy music video one that I chose (seriously go look at the others) - but it's the first one I found with this song on it.
Click to viewMor Karbasi (http://www.mintakamusic.com/mor_karbasi/)
Anyone that knows me very well (and there are few who do *laugh*) knows that I'm exceptionally picky about vocalists and music. That being said - this woman has PIPES OF STEEL. She was phenomenal. An Israeli singer who now lives in London sings in Ladino, Spanish and Hebrew mostly. I wish she was going to do another concert out here, but before she returns to Europe she'll be in Spiegeltent, New York (no clue where that is!) on September 28th. I had to tear myself away from her hour to go listen to Hapa. On my way out I went by the event table and got one of the last 4 copies of her album that they were selling. I'm also known for not often forking out $20 for a music CD, but I will treasure hers.
My photo:
and...the youtube video that barely does justice to her live...
Lastly...
Lo Còr de la Plana (http://www.myspace.com/locordelaplana)
These are 6 French guys that sing acapella along with a bunch of hand drums, bodhrans and tambourines.
They'll be in Boston on Friday night, October 3 (worldmusic.org for that Boston concert).
They sing in the little known ancient language Occitan and their harmonies are tight. The drumming is amazing as well and they're funny and entertaining. "Ripe with passion and Mediterranean roots, flavors of Arabic, African and parts of Gregorian chant"
I'm still pulsing with the energy of those three performances last night. YUM!!! :)
The end.
