Tao

I like Poland and was looking forward to the concert in Warsaw, which I’ve not visited before. So was a bit disconcerted to find that it had been voted the ugliest city in Europe by TripAdviser. It is indeed a rather unlovely city but after a short readup on the history of the place one can understand why. Completely razed to the ground in 1944 by order of Hitler and then finished off by the Russians. Who then helped to rebuild some of it under the communist regime using the best of Soviet architecture. Remarkably, the old town center, which was completely ignored by the Soviet era reconstruction, was rebuilt to the original photographs and drawings by private donations and nowadays looks like “the real thing”.
Read more…

Tonights concert is in the prestigious Berlin Philarmonie, in the Kammermusiksaal, which is normally used for chamber orchestras and is in the round, meaning the audience is sitting all around. It’s not particularly designed for a stage performance, more for an ensemble to be listened to and as such the acoustics of the hall are excellent, which, paradoxically, poses a problem. Deva and Miten require a neutral acoustic in a hall, so that they can create their sound without the hall effecting it, but in this case the very layout has an effect. We haul up their own Syrincs PA that we use for the voice workshops, but that just makes things worse. It creates a rather tense sound check and, as oftens happens, an inspired concert!
Read more…

Always a shock driving back into Germany. Suddenly the autobahn becomes a scene from James Bond, with Porsches or BMWs sniffing up my exhaust pipe and flashing lights at me to overtake. It’s strange, take a mild mannered German deputy bank manager, nice wife, a loving father to two kids and put him behind the wheel of a car on the autobahn and he turns into a speed freak, every car in front an enemy to do battle with. And drivers from Hamburg seem to be amongst the worst.
Read more…

In which we stay in a nice, but funky hotel near the center and play a concert waay out in the suburbs and wander around the city of many delights.
Read more…

Travel to the sound of Pink Floyd, “Echoes: The Best of”, and I marvel at the fact that this music was made before the advent of computer synths and recording systems. And such a distinctive sound, one that no-one has really recreated since then. The journey is short (couple of hours) but with torrential rain showers and overcast skies. Somehow, this is the right weather for Cologne. Whoever put the city together had grey overcast skies in mind and the place ‘looks right’ today. Read more…

The Frankfurt conert is not really in Frankfurt, but in Neu-Isenberg, a satelite town about 10km outside. We’ve played in the Hugenottenhalle last year and it’s a good hall. The voice workshop on Sunday is across the other side of Frankfurt, but we’re going to stay in Neu-Isenburg for the duration. It’s a nice hotel with free internet, friendly staff and a quiet area. Well, it would be quiet if they weren’t digging up the road outside my room and Monday morning I’m woken at 7am to the sound of pneumatic drills and diggers. Closing the windows doesn’t help very much so it’s an early start on Monday.

Read more…

I’ve been sick for a few days after the first leg, sore throat degenerating into a dry cough and it lingers on for a couple of weeks. Most unlike me, I figure it must be some sort of East European bug that I’m not used to. I find out later that Deva and Sakha both had the same sort of thing. Regardless, the show must go on and the next gig is the Rainbow Spirit festival in Baden Baden, a gloriously esoteric extravaganza in a city better known for it’s casinos and extreme affluence. Read more…

Sarve takes one van to Freiburg, me the other. The musicians fly off to London for the UK leg of the tour. Bloody hot journey… stop in Regensburg, Neurnberg and on home. Read more…

In which we continue on through Maribo, stop at a Croation border post, later at Ballaton. Concert in Millenaris hall/park in Budapest. No air-conditioning, arrival of Sarvogeet. Miten singing soft, second set louder, it’s effect on Deva, then everyone on stage for the Israeli song. Read more…

In which we leave Prague accompanied by the sound of some Canadian bands: starting off with The New Pornographers, on to Melissa McClelland and finishing with Danny Michel (all available at Zunior.com). Stop at Linz (home of Linzertorte) and dance into Ljubljana.

Read more…