MUSIC PREVIEW
V LISTEN!
I Edinburgh nlghtspot The Vaults is looking for exposure-starved local bands for Thursday night showcases. And they don‘t even need to be of a particularly dancey persuasion. Interested parties. who think they can impress. should call Karen on 556 7018. The showcases. starting at 7pm, cost only £1 and allow punters to get in free to the club afterwards.
I Once the prestigious Glasgow recording studio CaVa opened its Edinburgh counterpart. CaVa East. last year. it was only a matter of time before they took to the road in their attempts to take over the world. And indeed. at the end of
Audiomobile. a 36' by 8‘ 48-track studio on wheels. At around £900 a day. it's obviously beyond the pockets of most of our readers. but anyone seriously interested in recording their event for posterity should call Helen Clark on 041 334 5099.
I Just time to tell those who get their copy of The List hot off the presses on a Thursday that fine Glasgow rock band Baby Chaos are featured on tonight‘s monthly Scottish edition of The Late Show. The were filmed at The Tunnel recently playing the lead track from their EP Buzz. due out at the beginning of May.
A I Tom Waits. always resistant to commercial exploitation of his songs and persona. has already won one court battle after corn chip manufacturers Frito-Lay and its advertising agency used an impersonater to mimic his distinctive tones in a commercial. Now. he‘s brought a lawsuit alleging that his former publisher. Third Story Music. violated his contract with them by allowing Screaming Jay Hawkins’ version of the Waits song ‘Heartattack And Vine' to be used in the new Levi‘s ad (the weird New Orleans one). Luckily. there‘s been no injunction preventing the ad from being shown. so Hawkins — an R&B giant who makes Nick Cave. Ozzy Osbourne. The Cramps and Tom Waits himself Llook like whey-faced
dabblers — could be set to have his first hit in aeons.
28 The List 9—22 April 1993
March they launched The .
Questions and answers?
Fun-Da-Mental
‘Just because one black man has got a Mercedes doesn’t mean that racism’s not there. If things are left to build, there has to be an outcome, and it won’t be like it was for the Jews. People will fight back because they have become more aware. And a black man becoming aware is more dangerous than a white man with a gun.’
So declalms Propaghandl, Mc with militant Asian rap act Fun-Da-Mental In one of the many polltlco-racial soundbltes he specialises in. In this line of work it pays to shout it from the rooftops.
‘The black man’s been crying out for integration for too long. The answer for us as black people is lust to forget about asking for these things off the
white man. You lust take what is yours. Freedom is yours from the day you were born.’
Fun-Da-Mental are all about questioning and acting - challenging the complicity of their race, pressing for inter-cultural education and awareness and standing firm against the dark, billowing cloud of European fascism, taking it outside and giving it a good duffing.
From the rapturous reception accorded their debut appearance at the ’91 iiottlng Hill Carnival, Fun-Da- Mental knew the time was ripe for Asian music to rise from its bhangra ghetto and address a multi-cultural audience. They don’t, however, make easy listening, with either the militancy of their Malcolm X-inspired empowering message or, more literally, with their dense, often lndeclpherable ragga rapping.
‘lnstead of seeing it as a barrier, break it down and see it as an education,’ advises Propaghandi. ‘lt’s giving something to you to do. Say: “l’m going to find out what he’s talking about.” The West has got to learn off other cultures, not just analyse them. I’d like to know what the West’s culture is. It doesn’t know where it’s come from and where it’s going. It didn’t give itself enough time. Money and capitalism got into it too quick.’ (Fiona Shepherd)
Fun-lla-Mental play King Tut’s Wah Wah liut, Glasgow, on Sun 18 and The Venue, Edinburgh, on Mon 19.
American story
When guitarist Pat Metheny last passed through Edinburgh, It was with the high-power jazz trio of himself, Dave Holland and Hay Haynes, during last year’s Jazz Festival. The 38-year- old guitar maestro is back, but this time with a very different protect, his ‘Secret Story’ tour, featuring the music from the album of that name, released last summer.
The relatively highly structured material and orchestral interludes of the music represented something of a variation on the usual theme of Metheny’s electric group projects, but are recognisany from the same stable as the high-tech, high gloss grooves and bright, rather repetitive melodic and harmonic patterns which epitomised his approach in that setting.
The eclectic incorporation of exotic ethnic influences was not without precedent either, but pushed beyond anything he had done before in that regard. Inputs from Cambodia, Japan, India, Argentina and Brazil are all clearly discemable, but the guitarist maintains that whatever the spicing, the meat remains distinctly American.
‘I have travelled a lot and picked up on music from all over the world, but I believe that whatever the ethnic Influences are on this album, It is a very American record. There are a number of appearances of non-
Pat Metheny
American sounds, but at its core the music is about American jazz and rhythm playing, and reflects both my own progress in composition, and also a number of things I have had to deal with emotionally over the five years or so I spent putting this project together.’
For the tour, Metheny will dispense with the orchestra and make use of electronics instead, keeping the personnel to a workable nine. in addition to his own guitars, he will feature an additional guitarist, two keyboards, bass, drums, percussion and vocals; see Listings for full line- up. (Kenny Mathleson)
The Pat Metheny Secret Story Tour Is at the Playhouse, Edinburgh on Mon 12.
Festival
Christy 0' leery.
Belfast band Croabh Rua are at the Glasgow‘s Star Club next week and the Battlefield Band have a big night at the City Halls with new Gaelic band Mac- Talia. ending in a ceilidh dance; but the main musical action is over in Edinburgh where the Folk Festival moves into its final weekend.
Sold out opening concerts and buoyant ticket sales are keeping the organisers happy. in the knowledge that the second weekend. which always falls on Easter. is the busiest.
The sound of bagpipes will be hard to avoid. not that you should want to. with Friday especially being given over to the ‘ill wind that nobody blows good’. Hamish Moore gives an all-day Masterclass on the cauld wind or bellows—blown pipes. and free tickets are still available for a BBC recording of a recital on the Highland pipes by Glenfiddich champions Roddy Macl.eod and Willie Morrison.
If that‘s not enough. move on to the Festival Club where Manchester‘s Toss the Feathers are a rock outfit finding space for flute and uillean pipes. and Moebius is a recdy threesome led by Blow/.abella‘s John Swayne. leader of the new movement in piping centred in England and France where old styles meet innovation and new instruments and techniques are being continuously evolved,
The Lowland and Border’s (bellows- blown) Bagpipe Society have their annual get-together and competition on Saturday afternoon and later that evening Gary West. top flight Highland piper. performs in Ceolbeg in a concert shared with the new local trio Raftery which includes Boys of the Lough uillean piper Christ ()‘l.eary.
Nigel Richard‘s chromatic keyed chanter makes an appearance on Sunday in the debut performance by Edinburgh band lnchcolm. led by jazz reedsman Dick Lee. and the Debating Hall in Teviot House is given over all Sunday to a Piping Festival. including demonstrations and a Pipemakers' Exhibition.
Between 2.30 and 5pm the Hall will be the venue for Common Ground. hosted by the genial Goodacre Brothers — an informal concert and exposition of all the variety of bagpipes and playing styles to have emerged in the current revival of that ancient art. (Norman
Chalmers) A