words: Raquel Pinheiro; photos: João Octávio Peixoto/TMP
We’re literally seated, in the dark, in the Rivoli’s underbelly. My old friend Rafael Toral is presenting his new album Spectral Evolution. Spectral Evolution is a single continuous instrumental track. The concert follows the same format.
“There are already too many ruptures in the world, I’m more commited in peace, integration, healing, reconciliation, and this record assumes it.” said Rafael, on an interview, about Spectral Evolution. I wholeheartedly concur with him.
Spectral Evolution, one of my three favourite records of 2024 so far, does have an healing, a come together effect. It’s brings forward emotions, release, serenity.
Here, live, at least where I was seated, for me that was a little disturbed by the sound in itself. It’s part of the nature and the beauty of live music.
I’m not going into technical details or guitar approaches, many of which I’m not even sure or fully aware of. I’ll go with sensations, emotions, a report of how the sound and music reached me, what I made of it.
A piercing, erthquakerish, lound sound, under, or along which, church like and birdsong like music appears. Scratches, signals, noises. It moves towards gentleness, a slight return to higher intensity. There’s a coming and going, a departure, an arrival, a departure, an arrival, a departure. It goes up, higher, louder. It recesses. It floats. It pierces the heart, the muscles, the soul, the senses.
Hadn’t seen Rafael in person in a while it wasn’t no much a case of reconciliation, or even reconnection – we connect through his music, and in the usual current ways – more the joy, the affection, the hugs, the kind and godspeed farewell words in the now emptiness of a minutes before filled room. It was a good-bye matching the essence of Spectral Evolution.
Amazing Songs & Other Delights #71 is the The Desert Blues and Not Just edition airs Monday 7th, 3-4:30pm (gmt+1) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app). This a longer, special edition.
This programme opens with Imajighen by Mdou Moctar and closes with Tom Huddleston singing a live version on Hank Williams’ I Saw The Light. Once more, I’m travelling through connections, details, inspiration. And writing an essay.
Imajighen means free men in Berber. Although the lyrics specifically, or more specifically, address the free men of the Desert, the song’s words can be transposed to encompass us all. The chorus goes: “Imajighen, we can’t afford to be divided Imajighen, We can’t afford to be divided Imajighen We have no time for hate Imajighen Calling on you all wherever you are! We are all Imajighen” Full lyrics in English, Tamasheq and Tifinagh can be read here. Tom Hiddleston plays Hank Williams in the film I Saw The Light.
What do Mdou Moctar and Hank Williams have in common? Everything, I venture. Amazing Songs & Other Delights #71 the The Desert Blues and Not Just edition could be said to be part of my “self taught” guitar schooling, mostly related to what Grupo Operário do Ruído, of which I’m part of, have been working on music wise.
Desert and African blues often have clapping. Clapping, including Arab clapping, a dry, hand palm against hand palm, clap, along with the fat clapping, is also something we have been exploring on Grupo Operário do Ruído. The same goes for rhythm, space, speed, rests, tone, intensity, ambient, emotions, silence, continuous, abrupt or smooth changes.
Since I elected the electric guitar as my main instrument in Grupo do Ruído, I have been paying a different kind of attention to the many faces, possibilities, approaches of the instrument.
This year, on Grupo Operário do Ruído we even created our own blues. A not so standard one, nonetheless, a blues.
Which take us to, what is the blues, what is a standard blues? The answers may require a many volumes encyclopedia. Or music theory explanations. I’ll leave both aside. As my choices for this Amazing Songs & Other Delights show, the blues is many things, everything, often not what a rigid blues school would call blues. Yet, it’s precisely the richness, the uniqueness, the emotions, feeling, sentiment that make the blues. Not being a never-miss-a-note-i-can-play-it-at-1000-miles-per-second master of the mimor blues pentatonic scale, proper chords progression, and on. If that’s all you got, you don’t have the blues, you have technique.
On these blues choices of mine we go on a journey with stops on Niger to Portugal, through the United States, Argelia-France, Marocco, United Kingdom, France-Spain, Mali, Cyprus, Algeria. Or, as sang Mdou Moctar’s Imajighen “We can’t afford to be divided”. Therefore, let’s have, sing and play the blues!
Tracklist: 01 – Mdou Moctar – Imajighen 02 – ANOHNI & The Johnsons – Breaking 03 – Tiwiza – At u Azeka 04 – Bombino – Mahegagh (What Shall I Do) 05 – Rui Veloso – Sayago Blues 06 – R.L. Burnside – See My Jumper Hanging On the Line (live at home, 1978) 07 – Tarwa N-Tiniri – Taryet 08 – Tom Verlaine – 5 Hours From Calais 09 – Dead Combo – Lisboa Mulata 10 – Fatou Seidi Ghali (Les Filles de Illighadad) – Telilit (live from Story of Sahel Sounds) 11 – Manu Chao – Tu Te Vas Feat. Laeti 12 – Felt – The Stagnant Pool 13 – Boubacar Traoré & Ali Farka Touré – Duna Ma Yelema 14 – Buzz Ayaz – Buzzi Ayazi 15 – Soledad Brothers – This Guitar Says I’m Sorry 16 – The White Stripes – Suzy Lee 17 – Etran de L’Aïr – Imouha 18 – Ben Watt with Bernard Butler – New Year of Grace (Upstairs at the De La Warr Pavilion Bexhill 5th April 2016) 19 – The Legendary Tiger Man – Keep it Burning 20 – Majid Bekkas – Daymallah (feat. Rachid Zeroual, Khalid Kouhen, Paolo Radoni, Marc Lelangue) 21 – Tinariwen – Sastanàqqàm 22 – Tom Hiddleston – I Saw The Light (with Mark Kermode on double-bass, live in the Wittertainment studio)
My Amazing Songs & Other Delights #70 – The True Love edition can now be listened to at mixcloud.
The name of this editon comes from the opening and closing songs, True Love the new song by Jane’s Addiction, and True Love Will Find You In The End by Daniel Johnson. You can read more about Amazing Songs & Other Delights here.
Tracklist: 01: Jane’s Addiction – True Love 02: A 90s new man called Stan – Sushi feat. Adamski 03: Anthony Moore – Earthbound Misfit 04: Black Toska – Three Silver Nails 05: Cosmic Room 99 – E Corp 06: Fernando Triste – Escuro 07: Franz Ferdinand – Audacious 08: Good Sad Happy Bad – Shaded Tree 09: Jonas – Bato À Porta 10: Kingbird – There Were Things That Needed Forgiven 11: Laurie Anderson – Road to Mandalay 12: Primal Scream – Love Insurrection 13: Terry Gross – Sales Pitch 14: The Heavy Heavy – Feel 15: Tindersticks – Always a Stranger 16: Virgem Suta – Amor Ao Avesso 17: Daniel Johnston – True Love Will Find You In The End
Mondo Bizarre Magazine 