Tai Mingshen

Thomas Francis Dicksee (1819-1895) was a British artist and portraitist. This painting, Juliet, hangs in the Sunderland Art Gallery in England.

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I attended a very interesting First Tuesday meeting in Bergen yesterday, where the theme was social networking trends. The speakers were:

Rune Røsten, managing director of Nettby, one of Norway’s largest social networks.

Jill Walker Rettberg, who is an associate professor at the University of Bergen and research blogger. Jill has provided a summary of her presentation on her blog, jilltxt.net.

Kjetil Manheim, an advisor on digital services and manager of Tarantell Innsikt. His presentation is available on SlideShare.

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Here you go – authentic and raw one-man blues! Seasick Steve is playing at Bergenfest in April. Hopefully, I’ll be there…

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As I mentioned in an earlier posting, it was a pleasant surprise to discover Haale’s music. I was browsing the listings in the local newspaper, “Persian, psychodelic music” sounded interesting, and a decision was made – seafood dinner at Desire on Bourbon Street followed by Haale at Preservation Hall. Actually, I’d intended to see Sondre Lerche and Thomas Dybdahl, two  Norwegian musicians playing at The Parish on the same evening, but they drew the short straw this time. I’ll catch up with them back at home.

As coincidence would have it, Haale’s gig reminded me of another Norwegian musician – Annbjørg Lien. I came across Annbjørg’s music whilst browsing the CD collection in my local library. Annbjørg plays the Hardanger fiddle – extremely well. She has produced a couple of interesting works by combining traditional Norwegian folk music with more modern musical instruments and arrangements. Check out Baba Yaga and Aliens Alive, two of my favourite albums by this talented artist.

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The Snug Harbor concert listing had a ”blues troubadour” on the bill last Sunday. It was the first time I’d heard of the artist Spencer Bohren but since Snug Harbor has a reputation for quality music, and I had one of those “gut-feelings”, I bought a ticket. This was certainly an intimate concert - ”a secret society meeting,” as Spencer said to the 20 or so people gathered in the small jazz club – which suited Spencer’s music perfectly.

This guy is one of the best folk/country/blues singer/story-tellers I’ve had the pleasure to see in concert. His impressive lap steel, acoustic guitar and banjo playing provided a cool Sunday evening’s entertainment. I stayed for both sets…

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It’s been a good week for concerts in New Orleans. Last night I was fortunate to experience a musical collaboration that was totally unexpected. Preservation Hall is regarded as a premier venue for traditional New Orleans jazz, however their evening concert yesterday featured an artist from a totally different musical genre.

Haale sings in Persian and English. Her band has a musical style that’s a cross between Sufi music and hypnotic trance, combining a tight percussion foundation with traditional stringed instuments and psychedelic electric guitar.

After a  great first set, including songs from her two EPs, “Paratrooper” and “Morning”, the band was joined onstage by members of the New Birth Brass Band together with Ben Jaffe, the Creative Director of Preservation Hall, on tuba. What followed was a remarkable jam session that had the entire audience dancing to an amazing fusion of Haale and traditional jazz!

You can hear Haale’s music on MySpace.

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I had the pleasure of attending a concert this weekend sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz Historical Park and featuring Anais St. John. What a voice! What a stage presence! What a performance! Yes, I do recommend that you see Anais if you get a chance and I’m certainly looking forward to the release of her first CD.

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I’m always fascinated by musicians with a unique musical style, and Justin King certainly comes into this category, although his playing is reminiscent of the late Michael Hedges. This track, Knock On Wood, is really cool.

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Jay Wasco has, is his own words, “the strange ability to play the bass guitar and keyboards at the same time”. Not only that, he invents and plays some very strange instruments, such as the Egotar and Swiss Army Bass.

Since his homepage is, again in his own words, “Not so slick ……..or eazy to navigate,” here’s a link to some videos of this remarkable musician.

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