Electric Bazar CIE

First time at Alterna club last night. This odd band were from France (sponsored by the Alliance Francaise on their poster) and after a chat i found out they are from Britanny (the same part of France as my co-blogger Sophie).
Their music is a strange blend of styles and instrumentation. A surf/rockabilly electric guitar, a chugging/country acoustic guitar, stomping blues drums, stereotypical french accordian with surprising disco/soul electric parts (have you ever seen an electric accordian? If you have, imagine it played through a Marshall amp) and some gypsy/folk (bass) clarinet, alto sax, double bass, mandolin and fiddle.

Although this may sound like an awful experiemnt to some I enjoyed it a lot. And I was clearly not on my own - the club had plenty of other enthusiastic dancers happily clapping their hands ad swinging wildly.

Fanfare Ciocărlia 150108

I managed to get into the incredibly packed Fleda last night to see Fanfare Ciocărlia .
I was a bit late - the show started at 8 and I didn't get out of work until 8.30.
I was happy to join in the squeeze as people without tickets were being turned away at the doors.



The big room in the venue was jammed. The air; hot and full of dancing arms and wicked music. At first I could barely see a thing unless I was pogoing or standing on tiptoes. The music was so good that I didn't think of this as a problem.



Then the band stopped playing and walked off stage for a break. I managed to get a lot closer to the stage and waited. When they came back on the room went wild; screams, whistles, waving etc. They blasted out their string-free melodies one after another in a military fashion; bang, bang, bang. A barage of balkan brass.

When they finished their second set and encores the crowd started to flood the small bar. I was there trying to cool down after the dance-a-thon when a door opened beside me and the band stroll past, procession style, parping and honking.

Music city. I had to admire their energy. Non-stop.



Other videos are being uploaded to the dodgystereo youtube account.