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
Hello! My radio programme Amazing Songs & Other Delights is back with new editions. The first one, called The True Love Edition airs Monday 23, 3-4pm (gmt+1) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
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 Johnston. Between them there are fifteen other songs some of which also mention love. As often in my Amazing Songs & Other Delights there is a variety of genres, well known bands and artists along newcomers and hidden gems.
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 – 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
words & video by Raquel Pinheiro; photos: João Octávio Peixoto/TMP
To say Bill MacKay’s concert was extraordinary, would be underwhelming. Sublime is a better word. Transcendental, another good one. Those words still don’t do justice to the music, guitar, playing, singing. In fact, being there is the only thing that would do it justice.
Beauty, poetry spoken with an electric guitar as I’ve seldom heard it. Bill sings too, and tells little stories about the songs, however, his visual, sound, poetic mastery of the guitar is the domain of few.
The songs from MacKay’s latest album Locus Land (by the way it’s Terra do Gafanhoto, Bill 🙂 ) gain a different, spiritual, otherworldly dimension live. They become a time within time. A time of gentleness, until the final piece served: Arcadia. Bill stood up to play Arcadia in full, distortion mode adding a sharp dramatic contrast to the tone of the concert.
Amazing Songs & Other Delights #69 – The Surf, Summer and Strats edition is now available on mixcloud. You can read about the show here.
Tracklist: 01: Radar Kadafi – 40 Graus à Sombra 02: Cansei de Ser Sexy – Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above 03: David Bowie – China Girl 04: Dick Dale – Hava Nagila 05: Djo – End of Beginning 06: Electronic – Getting Away With It 07: Erasure – L’amour 08: Feelies – Who Loves The Sun 09: Chic – Le Freak 10: Klark Kent – Don’t Care 11: MGMT – People In The Street 12: Nunca Mates o Mandarim – Sonhos de Menino 13: Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock’n’Roll 14: Suede – She’s In Fashion 15: The Shadows – Man of Mystery 16: Violent Femmes – Blister In The Sun 17: The Specials – Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think) 18: Mamas & The Papas – California Dreamin’
My Amazing Songs & Other Delights #68 The Bric-à-New edition airs Monday 1st, 3-4pm (gmt+1) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).It a lovely programme of new songs, or songs that are new to me.
Tracklist: 01: A Working Man’s Guide to Comedy – Imitation (Last Serious Man) 02: Adelaida – Las Flores No Saben Qué Decirse 03: Beak> – The Seal 04: Bernard Butler – Preaching To The Choir 05: Bill Rivers – No Pity 06: Bright Eyes – Bells and Whistles 07: Dorothy Carter – The King of Glory 08: Fontaines D.C. – Favourite 09: Guster – Maybe We’re Alright 10: Joe Goddard – Follow You 11: King Krule – Time For Slurp 12: Lara Taubman – Love Is The Rule13: Marc Lemon – Meet Me In The Morning 14: Population 5 – Midnight Surfer 15: Salétile – Dürüm 16: The Milkshakes – For She
Tracklist: 01: A Working Man’s Guide to Comedy – Imitation (Last Serious Man) 02: Adelaida – Las Flores No Saben Qué Decirse 03: Beak> – The Seal 04: Bernard Butler – Preaching To The Choir 05: Bill Rivers – No Pity 06: Bright Eyes – Bells and Whistles 07: Dorothy Carter – The King of Glory 08: Fontaines D.C. – Favourite 09: Guster – Maybe We’re Alright 10: Joe Goddard – Follow You 11: King Krule – Time For Slurp 12: Lara Taubman – Love Is The Rule 13: Mark Lennon – Meet Me In The Morning 14: Population 5 – Midnight Surfer 15: Salétile – Dürüm 16: The Milkshakes – For She
The 3rd Anniversary edition of my Amazing Songs & Other Delights can now be listened to on mixcloud.
With the help of my “band” – The Astro Travellers – I put together a beautiful show comprised of songs composed for the show, music from the vaults, some of my own instrumental music, collaborative songs by me and Francisco Silva and me and Bill Rivers, music from the vaults, still to be released music, songs that friends think represent me. This year I also picked a song that represents me. You can read the story of the 3rd Anniversary edition here Amazing Songs & Other Delights #67 – The 3rd Anniversary edition by Raquel & The Astro Travellers – programme story On the tracklist the name ahead of a song is the name of the person that picked it for me.
Tracklist: 01: Raquel Pinheiro – Big Bang with sax – Paulo Miranda’s Spectral Sound Modulation version 02: Bill Rivers & Raquel Pinheiro – Da Da Da bom 03: João Diogo Zagalo – Dead Redemption 04: Lola Flowers – This Is Not A Love Song (Pedro Mesquita) 05: digei de bairro – never been in Ibiza 06: Ed Clayton-Jones – Country Girl 07: Pernice Brothers – Working Girls (Rui Pimenta) 08: The Rolling Stones – She’s a Rainbow (Dana Detrick) 09: Francisca Fortes & Carlos Fortes – Como Um Cavalo Louco (Um Zero Amarelo cover) 11: Francisco Silva & Raquel Pinheiro – Someone Kissing You Away 12: Cake – I Will Survive (Raquel) 13: John Cale – How We See The Light (António Cunha) 14: Paulo Navarro – Atravessando as Águas 15: Bill Rivers & Raquel Pinheiro- Sweet Peace 16: Ed Clayton-Jones – Interloper 17: João Diogo Zagalo – Red Uszatek 18: Iggy Pop – The Passenger (Matt Hutchison)
My Amazing Songs & Other Delights #67 is The 3rd Anniversary edition and airs Monday 3rd, 3-4pm (gmt+1) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app). As usual on the program anniversary my “band” The Astro Travellers and I put as radio show together from a mix of purpose created songs or instrumentals, morsels from the vaults, songs that represent me, still to be released songs and instrumentals.
Here the Astro Travellers are António (Tó) Cunha, Bill Rivers, Carlos Fortes, Dana Detrick, Ed Clayton-Jones, Francisca Fortes, Francisco Silva, João Diogo Zagalo, Laura Mesquita, Matt Hutchison, Paulo Miranda, Pedro Mesquita, Pedro Tenreiro, Rui Guerra, and Rui Pimenta.
Tó, Dana, Matt, Pedro Mesquita and Rui Pimenta selected songs they feel represent me. Interestingly, Dana choice is Tó’s choice for my 1st anniversary show She’s a Rainbow by The Rolling Stones. This year I also picked a song that reportes me Cake’s version of I Will Survive.
I threw three chords to Bill and Francisco. Two of which I didn’t even knew the name of. I strummed them on the guitar, like it, drew a diagram. Bill didn’t knew the name of one of the chords either and called it chord H. Turns out, according to Francisco, chord H, if strummed a certain way is a pompous thing, a Fmaj7#11/ whatever that may be.
What happened to those three chords – with some adds/modifications by Bill and Francisco? They become three songs, Da Da Da bom, Someone Kissing You Away and Sweet Peace. Da Da Da bom are exactly the same instrumental basis, the first on keyboards, the second on acoustic guitar. Da Da Da bom has no lyrics per se, it is Bill humming a vocal melody. The lyrics in Sweet Peace were written by Bill to his latest record with Simon Hayward. Someone Kissing You Away are a few words Francisco used instead of a vocal melody to show me how the song could turn out.
Like the cover of Um Zero Amarelo Como Um Cavalo Louco by Francisca and Carlos Fortes, the aforementioned three songs are home, living room, recordings. João Diogo Zagalo and Paulo Navarro also contributed with home done music. Paulo did a beautiful piano solo piece, Atravessando as Águas, João sent what turned into Dead Redemption that was just voices. I liked it and kept it along Red Uszatek. Pedro Tenreiro, with his digei de bairro moniker, and Ed Clayton-Jones graciously allowed me to play still to be released material. Paulo Miranda took my Big Bang with saxophone (courtesy of Rui Guerra) and with spectral audio modulation created a new ambient for my music.
The Anniversary edition is my wide family affair, a group of fabulous musician, composers, songwriters, producers. It is always a guess, a what will come of it, until the show is fully assembled. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed doing it.
01: Raquel Pinheiro – Big Bang with sax – Paulo Miranda’s Spectral Sound Modulation version 02: Bill Rivers & Raquel Pinheiro – Da Da Da bom 03: João Diogo Zagalo – Dead Redemption 04: Lola Flowers – This Is Not A Love Song (Pedro Mesquita) 05: digei de bairro – never been in Ibiza 06: Ed Clayton-Jones – Country Girl 07: Pernice Brothers – Working Girls (Rui Pimenta) 08: The Rolling Stones – She’s a Rainbow (Dana Detrick) 09: Francisca Fortes & Carlos Fortes – Como Um Cavalo Louco (Um Zero Amarelo cover) 11: Francisco Silva & Raquel Pinheiro – Someone Kissing You Away 12: Cake – I Will Survive (Raquel) 13: John Cale – How We See The Light (António Cunha) 14: Paulo Navarro – Atravessando as Águas 15: Bill Rivers & Raquel Pinheiro- Sweet Peace 16: Ed Clayton-Jones – Interloper 17: João Diogo Zagalo – Red Uszatek 18: Iggy Pop – The Passenger (Matt Hutchison)
My Amazing Songs & Other Delights #66 – The John Parish edition dedicated to musician, composer, songwriter, producer John Parish can now be listened to on mixcloud.
Tracklist: 01 – PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love 02 – Dry Cleaning – Hot Penny Day 03 – Giant Sand – Astonished (in Tucson) 04 – Tracy Chapman – You’re The One 05 – John Parish – Westward Airways 06 – M. Ward – Primitive Girl 07 – Bettie Serveert – Satisfied 08 – Eels – Stumbling Bee 09 – The Goon Sax – In The Stone 10 – Mazgani – Distant Gardens 11 – Aldous Harding – Lawn 12 – PJ Harvey – Inside the Old I Dying 13 – John Parish – Sorry For Your Loss 14 – Peggy Sue – All We’ll Keep 15 – Sparklehorse – King of Nails 16 – John Parish & Polly Jean Harvey – Rope Bridge Crossing
