I dashed from the rehearsal to the concert hall in St Aignan and made it just in time for the first attraction of the evening, a band called Balya fronted by a young and talented chromatic player called Thomas Laurent and a guitarist/singer called Vladimir (whose second name I didn't catch). In addition to the aforementioned second guitar by Hervé Pouliquen, the band also featured a very solid double bassist.
The repertoire was about half instrumental and half vocal tracks, these often being in Russian, sung by Vladimir's deep slavic voice to great effect. On the more jazzier tunes, Thomas' harmonica playing was mostly as a solo instrument, but on the livelier, more folkloric stuff, his role was closer to the rhythmic and melodic aspects of the accordions often featured in traditional Eastern European music and gypsy jazz.
As has been mentioned already, Hervé Pouliquen supported the band with great gusto playing his pompe. La pompe (the pump) is the term commonly used to describe the rhythm guitar playing in gypsy jazz, and although many try to emulate it, there is a particular groove to it that differentiates the true masters from the wannabees. Hervé no doubt belongs in the first category, and although he took a little too few solos for my taste, on several occasions he let loose, and it was an absolute marvel.
The band has room for improvement, certainly in terms of stage presence and audience communication, and also, to some extent, in the assurance with which they play a sometimes tough repertoire. The potential is there, though, and it's huge. Their joy, their sincerity, their music, was delightful and all that more than compensated for a few minor stumbles (that probably noone but overcritical me noticed). I'd much rather have heartfelt imperfections that cold perfection!
One of the highlights of the evening was the wonderful Flambée Montalbanaise, an accordion piece written by Belgian musician Gus Viseur. It's a fast-paced sweet melody that lays wonderfully on the chromatic. I've heard it played by William Gallison on one of his records, and although his interpretation was technically cleaner than Thomas', it carried nowhere near the heart and emotion that Balya displayed in St Aignan that night.
Towards the end of the concert, Balya invited the children's choir of St Aignan to join them on stage for a Russian song whose name eludes me. This has become a traditional fixture of the first night of the festival, and it's a very moving scene. The children had rehearsed the song and, although it was in Russian, they sang it beautifully, supported by the band.
Balya then left the stage but they were promptly called back by vigorous applause. They performed one last tune in which Hervé finally took a long solo and traded fours with Thomas. It was an absolute delight, and as soon as they had left the stage, they were assaulted by a mob of teenage girls from the choir who wanted to purchase the CD! Thomas and Vladimir are young and handsome, which helps for these things, I guess. On a more serious note, they sold upwards of 40 CDs that night, a lot more than they expected.
During the intermission, I had time to discuss things with Thomas and Vladimir and they told me that they were very pleased with the night's concert and reassured about the band's viability. There's been a lot of personnel changes in the last couple of months, and they've been through some tough times delivering on promised gigs. A success like this one certainly helps cement the band and get them more visibility. And it's well deserved too! I look forward to seeing them again, maybe in a more intimate setting.
About twenty minutes later, the Marvellous Pig Noise settled on stage. Two guitarists, bass drums and piano, four very skilled singers amongst the band, and they immediately launched into their particular blend of blues and gospel. The MPN play a mix of originals (often in French) and re-arranged covers. They all have voices to die for and use them to great effect in three or four part harmonies.
Their music is lively and original, with many changes in tempo, songs seguing into one another and other musical events that keep the audience on its toes. Pierre Citerne, who fronts the band alongside the other guitarist/singer, is a gifted multi-instrumentalist who is at ease on both vocals, harmonica and slide guitar. His harmonica playing is fluid and precise, more aerial than the fat Chicago sound that most French blues bands adopt. He didn't play harmonica on every song, since he was juggling between instruments, but I suppose that since this was a harmonica festival the band made sure that the repertoire included as much harp as was feasible.
It was the first time I saw the MPN live, and although I enjoyed the gig, I felt that they suffered from a drawback of one of their qualities: because a lot of the stuff is structured and written (the vocal harmonies, the arrangements,...) their music sometimes feels a little mechanical and cold. They know how to let loose at times, but not with the wild abandon that is sometimes needed to really get the crowd going.
At the end of their concert, they invited Christophe on stage to play harp with them and he invited a couple of other players. It was fun, and a well deserved spotlight for Christophe who puts in so much work and energy into getting this festival going. He was kind of intimidated too, but it sounded great from down where we were.
And that, roughly, was the first evening done. There was a bit of a snafu on the organisation of the jam that was due to follow the gigs, and I therefore did not find it, but I found my bed instead, which was a good alternative. I was due to translate Bill Barrett's masterclass the following morning and wanted to be as fresh as I could for the occasion. The jam session that did take place was in a restaurant called the Mange-Grenouilles (the frog-eater) and apparently it was mostly led by Hervé and Thomas. Shame I missed it, but hey, sleep is sacred...
Hi, Ben.
I expect the rest of the review of the festival, right?
I enjoyed it so far.
All the best,
F.
Posted by: Fernando | May 20, 2005 at 07:48 PM