So I've got a set list idea.
There's material in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic,
Bengali, Hindi.... Take Tina Grace - She sings in the first four of
those languages and speaks them all too, amongst others - She used to be a contortionist/ acrobat/ fire-eating tightrope walker with a Brazilian circus... insane. Natacha Atlas, Reena Bhardwaj, Ashwin Srinivasin, Luci and Sharlene deliver the remaining vernacular pyrotechnics between them whilst I normally watch in mute admiration, banging away on my keyboards, guitar or something.
I'm so excited by this band. To put on a cohesive and flowing show
with such an eclectic bunch of musicians is sometimes a challenge but always a revelation. I get a real kick out of finding connections and common ideas through live performance. Something fresh always comes out of the cultural collisions that keep music dynamic. That's why I find this international bunch of musicians such a London band. London is, if nothing else, a collision of cultures. I get so bored by the monotony and repetition of lazy, parochial dogma and musical pretentiousness. I want to hear something that reflects the sounds in my head - The sounds I hear in Camden, Brixton or Brick Lane. Street sounds.
London sounds.
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