so horsemouth and howard practiced (a little desultorily because of the heat and because horsemouth had some wax in his ears) but horsemouth played his the murder ballad (with no names) to another human being for the first time and at the end they played a version of manha do carnival from black orpheus (which horsemouth does to a slow clave rhythm), earlier they were attempting a new song by howard your child self and elizabeth cotton's freight train - howard had the picking pattern down (but then he forgot it). they finished up with the werewolf and then horsemouth was out of the door in the rain and away to see the owl service.
the owl service were great (the bass was a little more 'hackney' and dubwise than last time), john was a little upset they're still not playing willie o'winsbury (which they played once at their comeback gig and not since). horsemouth has always liked this song - with the improbably named king's daughter janet - her name seemingly stuck in at random to the song.
trembling bells had come down from glasgow (jesus that's dedication) and sounded in their first few songs like the lost folk root of black sabbath, later on they sounded a bit like the band fronted by sandy denny. good band, very enjoyable, not entirely horsemouth's thing. if horsemouth were them he'd work up a few more bits where people sing together - though this can be difficult with the kind of soundmix you get at pub gigs.
the evening ended with david thomas broughton who uses the kind of instant recording modern technology makes possible to make of playing folk guitar that no hay banda moment. the one where the image (of someone not playing a guitar) and the sound (of a guitar still playing) do not match - at last the guitarist is free from the mechanical task of playing the song and can do other things (wrestle with microphone stands for example to interrogate the materiality of the musicians existence onstage instead of hiding it all behind the music).
some people are trying to get a documentary made about him. the evening as a whole was a celebration of having achieved the kickstarter funding for a film about alan lomax and shirley collins and their collecting trip through the south of the US (in 1959 horsemouth thinks), so there were quite a few shirley collins' songs in the course of the evening - particularly by sophie williams (cello and voice - first act on). horsemouth liked the fact she wasn't interested in this 'chatting to the audience' lark (that was quite refreshing). horsemouth has lent his shirley and dolly collins cd out to sean - who seems a bit incommunicado at the minute.
on the radio playing the skyline, a girl, kizzy crawford, is doing a welsh language take on bossa nova as she, and gwilym symcock produce musical response to the skyline of port talbot, turning oil refineries, green hills and slate grey skies into music. his is all keith jarrett and claude debussy. hers, and shark infested waters by one of the super furry animals, creates the possibility of welsh bossa nova. bossa was a plan for a beautiful egalitarian multiracial brazil of art and beauty - what happened then was the military coup and years of repression and terror, no one wanted to listen to pretty songs about girls on beaches any more (except the tourists).
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not much for horsemouth to do this week except read - friday he goes to some friend's leaving do - the credit crunch/ government austerity finally having bitten in horsemouth's sector. saturday he goes to see salif keita's band (les ambassadeurs internationaux) play (shit he still owes john the money for the tickets!)
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