Saturday, April 7, 2007

A half-empty KVS Bol for a hollow Natacha Atlas

Half full or half empty, call it what you will, but the KVS Bol was neither full of people, nor of good music yesterday evening, that's for sure. We can start by putting the blame on the organizers who should have closed the second and third balconies, inviting the audience to gather in the parterre... but should certainly never have announced that Natacha Atlas was going to perform with an acoustic ensemble. Indeed, in addition to a drum, a darbouka, a bad vocalist and a bassist who barely plays (these can still be called acoustic, I agree) , Ms Atlas was supported by a single electronic keyboard playing all possible instruments of the Arabic repertoire and more (yes yes, they managed to get a guitar sound out of it!). Still, we were ready to forget about it and let us transport by the diva's songs and moves. Unfortunately, her beautiful and mesmerizing voice wasn't enough to let us believe in her music, if there was any (let's be serious, can anyone be moved by a keyboard trying to sound like a kanun or a violin?). The sound spewed from the machine was extremely disturbing and resulted to be boring at many, many points. Even some rare good vocal moments remained hollow, and so we left an empty bol, empty...

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Everyday Life

A bare naked guy popping his head out of his basement floor apartment window while you're walking in the street on a Sunday late morning and asking you the time, a woman carrying her dog in a baby carriage, the neighborhood's homeless greeting you every single morning on your way to work... these are just a few examples from everyday life in Saint-Gilles.