My plans for the second day of the festival (and what would turn out to be, for me, the best night of concerts) were mostly family-focused, so I'll spare you the description of the superb animal park that's just five miles out from St Aignan. Suffice it to say that I spent a great day with wife and kids and not a harmonica in sight.
I did miss an interesting conference by JJ Milteau and Paul Lassey on the harmonica as a therapeutic instrument. Both JJ and Paul have been involved in programs with hospitals, especially invovling children with breathing disabilities. The conference was followed by an open air jam.
In the evening the communal meal was livened by the arrival of Steve Baker and Fernando Bresslau, all the way from Germany. They'd missed the first day because Steve had a concert the previous evening. No-one introduces Steve Baker anymore, of course, let's just say that I was really pleased to finally meet him face to face after all these years. Fernando is a product manager at Hohner in germany and I'd been in contact with him by email for a good while as well, so it was a real treat seeing him there too.
During the meal, the musicians from l'Ironie du Son tried to negociate with my kids for the right to chocolate eggs that had been given to them (my kids) by the catering ladies. The boys didn't let themselves be intimidated though! The badn felt relaxed before their early evening concert, with the possible exception of harmonica player Guillaume who felt a little bit like he was the accused at an inquisitorial trial.
He shouldn't have, and thankfully he found his stride real quick. L'Ironie du Son opened the evening superbly, with a blend of slam, jazz and ambient music very different from the solist role that harminca featuring bands are better known for. The line-up of this swiss band is Nicolas Silvestrini on guitar, Cyril Bondi on drums, Jonas on vocals and the aforementioned Guillaume Lager on diatonic harmonica.
For the last couple of years, through artists like Saul Williams or Nya (with Erik Truffaz) I've come to appreciate the particular flow of slam and the poetic dimension that the lyrics often take. The main reason I don't listen to more hip-hop or slam is that instrumentation matters to me but mostly doesn't to those who record this kind of music. For this reason, I hadn't yet heard slamming in French, and it was quite a discovery to realise that the flow worked in French too.
But the instrumentation here was not absent, far from it. The grooves layed down by drummer Cyril were quite intricate, not to say complex, but his superior technique only served to build the foundation of the songs, there was no showing off there. Over these grooves, guitarist Nicolas deftly laid atmospheric, jazzy chords, using his bass string to support the groove with an occasional low-end line. Overall, a fairly sparse sound for the vocals and harmonica to soar over.
I loved the dynamic that these guys had too, being able to build up tension progressively and explode into a fury of sound only to drop back to a quiet support of the vocals. There was a lot of improvisation over obviously constructed structures. The whole picture was brought to life by Jonas' intelligent and socially conscious lyrics and his sturdy, steady flow. His presence on stage, while very sober, also helped carry along poems about not finding one's place in society and despairing for lack of love.
Overall, the themes carried by l'Ironie du Son's music are quite serious and not very frivolous, but they managed to lay down a truly deep atmosphere real quick and the audience, despite being surprised by their music at first, loved it. Furthermore, there were a lot of younger people in the audience that night, for reasons that will become obvious soon, and they absolutely loved it. I was quite pleased that the festival organisers managed to convey a message to the younger audience that the harmonica is not just an instrument associated with musical styles that date back 50 years.
After a quick intermission during which I spent time with the local representative of Suzuki and inherited a loan of their latest models (the all-wood Pure Harp and the Wood & Metal Firebreath), we reconvened to our seats for the night's closer, Kwak. Kwak is a French pop-rock band fronted by singer/harp player Damien Tartamella. I own their latest record which I found fun but not as energetic as I expected. Live, however, Kwak are something else...
How do you categorize a band that creates music out of various influences? You don't, I guess. Here's what I heard - in terms of influences: reggae, ska, rock, metal, celtic, klezmer, country and a touch of blues. That's probably not complete either. But who cares about categories? For me, that night, Kwak redefined what it means to set an audience on fire. The variety of styles, the stunning musicianship, the energy, the shifting instrumentations, the repertoire...
It was all there. It's really hard to define. I was entranced, and I think the rest of the audience was too, from the teenagers who were numerous because the local high school choir shared a spot with Kwak to the older audience, everyone was laughing, clapping, dancing, moshing, you name it.
Kwak's line-up is
- an eletric guitarist and singer (who doubles up on clarinet)
- a bassist (who doubles up on flute)
- an acoustic guitarist and singer (who doubles up on bass)
- a drummer/percussionist
- a singer and harmonica player
While there's a touch of improvisation in thir music, that's not the focus. The pieces are quite tightly written, but the energy and wildness on stage totally erases any stiffness that the notion of written may suggest. What I found really cool as well is the variety of rhythmic approaches within a given song as well. A reggae-ish piece will shift to ska, then to punk and from there into a metal-ly bridge, and then shift back to the reggae in a heartbeat.
The lyrics are quite humorous and clever, often about day to day life - like in Une Semaine which tells of a man who is so drowned in administrative nightmares with his bank, the social security, etc. that his girlfriend ends up leaving him - but also more poetic (Nage dans le sable), sometimes a tad political (like Gaïa) or just plain crazy (like the hilarious Des Thunes). Obviously, it's all in French, but hey, who says it has to be in English to be good!
Damien's harmonica playing is quite impressive in that he has the full mastery of the diatonic (fast runs, odd positions, overblows) but doesn't use it to improvise. I suspect he's listened to a lot of Celtic music because his phrases often carry that feel even though the rest of the music may be in a different style. He often plays unison or harmonies with either the guitar, the flute or the clarinet.
Anyway, it's hard to express how Kwak's concert made me feel, it was just huge. I know that most of the people I discussed it with felt the same. I came out of that evening of music with a huge smile on my face, and only attended the midnight jam briefly - enough to jam with Steve Baker, which was quite cool!)
I've become a Kwak fan now. I want more! If you want a short taste, there's a clip on Youtube from their concert at La Maroquinerie last year:
Comments