MUSIC PREVIEW
l
I It's a dream come true for Dundonian musician
: Al Hendrickx. who. on 13
; January.willjoin an
.7 estimated 54 million viewers in watching The
Count Basie Orchestra play the songs of Hank Williams. For Your Swingin' Heart. a project
which Hendrickx has been
tryingto get offthe
ground for some years,
the Orchestra will be
; wearing full cowboy garb
and play versions ofthe great country star‘s hits arranged by current
leader Frank Foster (who
has collaborations with Sinatra. Astaire. Ella Fitzgerald and Basic
himself to his credit). The
show, which is being premiered on the programme Nashville Now is then going on the road, reaching Britain sometime in 1993. The inevitable album. video
and sponsorship deals are
already under discussion.
v lISTEN!
I News ol stolen gear. which disappeared from a van in Maryhill on 6 Dec has reached us. Vanishing into the wide blue yonder were two flight cases, the first containing an Alesis Microverb Ill FX unit. a Roland Boss graphic equaliser (one slider missing) and a Korg digital reverb unit. These were stacked together below a large blank panel (which says Yamaha on the reverse). The second flight case held an Alesis MEG-230 graphic equaliser. with white tape or god on the inputs/outputs. and an M/M Electronic stereo power amp (one knob missing and similar ‘goo‘ on the back). A handbuilt
. 1X12 monitor (piczo
born) with alloy trim was also made off with. There
is a finder‘s fee. and
anyone with information
should contact Gerry
McKeown at Lambhill Police Office on 041 336
6700.
L_-._ __.____.-_ ....,___ _ 40 The List 18 December 1992— 14 January 1993
Dances with Wolfgang
3 Winter Season and its new production
ol Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow. The opera, a
. work which superlicially appears quite
, trival, was Mozart’s last and he
: completed it just a lew months belore
his death. Underneath all the comic
3 stull, though, Mozart is presenting
: much deeper issues, many at them tied
l into lreemasonrythrough hidden
3 symbols. The story tells oi Tamina’s
; quest to rescue Pamina, the Oueen Ol
j The Night’s daughter and is lull ol
j magic and colour, Martin Duncan’s
‘ production promising to bring this out through ‘gentle humour and clowning.’ So, at one moment there may be pure pantomime, while the next there is high drama. It is widely accepted that
, Mozart was a lreemason, but it is
unlikely that present-day masons will recognise the signilicance ol Mozart’s scoring orthe use ol the key E llat (it i has three llats and the number three keeps recurring throughout the opera), but the themes ol tolerance, brotherhood and the importance ol silence are probably lamiliar enough. The opera, which will be sung in English, contains much spoken dialogue and some at Mozart’s most
- delightful music, such as Papageno’s
‘Birdcatcher’s Song’, Pamina’s
beautilul ‘Ah ’Tis Gone’ and, ot course, the Oueen OlThe Night’s lamous aria, parodied in many an opera take-oil. For ,
its new ‘Flute’, Scottish Opera has i .i
assembled a young cast which includes Simon Keenlyside as Papageno and i
3 Susanna Waters, who played Nanetta
in the company’s ‘Falstall’, as Pamina. ; Paul Nilon, who recently took the role l olTamino lor English National Opera I makes his Scottish Opera debut in the i same part and Gidon Saks, last seen in
the company’s ‘Julius Caesar’ sings . Sarastro. Oueen Oi The Night is
Jenniier Ryhs Davies, who recently i sang the role to acclaim at Dublin
l
Grand Opera. Nicholas McGegan conducts. (Carol Main)
‘The Magic Flute’, Theatre Royal, Glasgow on various dates in
December, January and February, when it also comesto the King’s i Theatre, Edinburgh.
l I am-
7 Enter the dragon
‘ Anhreln sing in Welsh. They’ve always 3 resisted vocals in English, at the ' expense ol wider success, you might : think. Rhys Mwyn, bassist and ‘sort-ol' managerexplains why.
‘First ol all, Welsh being our first language, we actually compose in
to translate our songs, we would inevitably lose a little bit at what we’re saying. We discussed it with Jamie Reid (lormer Sex Pistols sleeve designer and agent provocateur, who has designed Anhreln sleeves), and one thing he pointed out was thatthe language is beautilul. So that’s a good ' thing in itsell.’
As tor success, it’s happened abroad
regardless.
‘In Germany, bands like lnspiral
Carpets, who’ve got a major record company backing them, are pulling between 350 and 400 people, and we’re getting 200 to 300 on a relatively . underground level. It’s quite interesting how lar a smallish kind ol label in Wales, a band singing in Welsh, can go without major lull-page colour advertising.’
Their international appeal supports Anhreln’s claim to be ‘culturalists, not ; nationalists’. As Rhys says: ‘We’re always trying to get over the idea that, worldwide, people have got their own languages, their own cultures. Their world dillerences add up to people, and
Welsh. It’s a practical thing. ll we were ;
we should respect all these variations.‘ They’re toying with the idea at using other languages, including Gaelic, in recording, but any permanent change is unlikely, because ‘the next step is, we’ll stop playing this thrashy punk shit, let’s try doing some dance tracks. And we look like shit, let’s start getting an image. We could end up in a trap where it’s compromise, compromise, compromise in orderto succeed, and you lose that independence. A lot ol people have done that.’ (Gavin Inglis)
Anhreln play The Gas Rock Cale,
This year’s model
As the year ofCapercaillie draws to a close, Sue Wilson meets the band‘s Donald Shaw.
Horribilis it may have been for some. but this minus has been pretty mirubilis for (‘eltic ravers Capercaillie. Back in the spring.
their souped-up version of a 4()()-year-old waulking song. from
the warmly-received Delirium
album. caught the attention of several Radio 1 DJ's. and before
they knew it ‘Coisich A Ruin‘. : re-released on El’. had become the first Gaelic song to grace the U K Top , 4t). Striking while the iron was hot. the seven-piece have spent most of the year since on the road around . Scotland. England and Ireland. with i enthusiastically-received
Edinburgh on Sat19.