Perfect fit for a sunny laid back Fri afternoon in SoCal. Thanks!

Posted by: Ben | May 12 2007 1:05 utc | 3

I have been absent for a long time, unwilling to post anything and just stopping by once in a while to see what the fellow conspirators are about. But I must leave the shadows and the self-imposed silence for a while to thank you for this present, R’Giap. Beautiful music, somehow reminds me of a 70’s group called Renaissance. You do have a unique, generous and passionate soul, my French friend. I do hope life is treating you well.

Posted by: Pedro | May 12 2007 7:39 utc | 5

Great! Thank you for this guys.
And I am sooo glad to see Pedro here again. I am still quoting some of his words from Dkos (or Billmon) from long time ago…

Posted by: vbo | May 12 2007 14:09 utc | 7

Very nice, rgiap.
I agree with those above – my favorite is the last song — I hear your voice as I know it most clearly there. As far as the genesis of the lyrics, did the group take poems and put them to music or did you write specifically for songs? I always find these sorts of things interesting to know.
do you go back to oz very often?

Posted by: fauxreal | May 12 2007 14:32 utc | 9

wonderful to hear from pedro again
fauxreal, the songs were written nearly twenty years ago; they were written while an old comrade-in-arms & very gifted composer lisa blackwell who had written music in the celtic tradition with some of the greats – christy brown, donal lunny, paul brady & who michael sullivan( for the life of me i forget his gaelic name) – they were written when i left australia in 1987. i would listen to melodies of lisa & work around that writing as i went along or brought lines from some of my poems & improvised with them
they were very important to me in that – they were the moment of realisation that i could not live in that country & the truth be told already by that time – i had lived in vietnam, china, sweden, italy, france, holland & many other places besides but it was the moment when i made the commitment to live & work in france
since then i have returned only twice in 1993 & 1994 – the first to participate in a sort of festchrift (though i was a bit too young for that) of my work performed by a very large experimental circus, splinters – who worked in the tradition of arkaos- i lived & worked with them for all that time – several weeks & the only time i left was for a book launch. i also was hospitalised with gall bladder problem (which was in & of itself a little history). i went the year after with a french film group who wanted to focalise a bit on my life & work (i still thought i was too young for that – so it was a month in australia cocooned by the film ensemble & visiting elements of my past – that only confirmed my decision. since that visit i have never been back nor deisre to tho i have been invited either by universities or for work. i will die here in my loved france but perhaps sarkozy might decide otherwise
lou who sang with her sister in a women’s accapella singing group ‘hells bells’ was familiar with the songs & who was working here in europe in the last seven years – decided to do the songs as an album with some of france’s best young jazz players
relistening to them again i hear the profound melancholy through the simplicity of the lyrics – at the time it was written i was more well know for the violence, complexity, density & erudition of my texts
they were as mosts songs are – another form of crying

Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 12 2007 17:27 utc | 11

the song for lo’jo is on the cd boheme du cristal & its called ‘in the commotion’ – i am very proud of that – they are incredible musicians & people of honour – completely uncharacteristic in that business. i heard them record the song & i was deeply deeply moved – both by the transformation & truth – i hear it often on the radio here – they play often & often outside of france
i’ll try to find the cd & email it to b – i’m working with a bass clarinettist who teaches with me – who works as i do – in that he was the star of the paris conservatoire & of the concert stage but his necessity to play what is true to him has meant that he teaches & administer – but when i play with him i feel very priveleged indeed. we sometimes work with an american banjo player from the appalachi who makes it sound like an oud – we may record something in the future
i think because i commenced my vocation before a mass of twenty thousand people in a demonstration against the vietnam war – i have always enjoyed collaborations – it is part of the emerveillement – when words i have written – commence their independant lives as songs, pieces of theatre or film

Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 12 2007 19:02 utc | 13

most beautiful, always so much more here.

Posted by: anna missed | May 12 2007 19:55 utc | 15

thought i posted this but i guess typepad didn’t agree. r’giap, faux, and b – check your email.

Posted by: conchita | May 12 2007 22:42 utc | 17

thanks conchita and r’giap. I got a copy of the song (it’s on iTunes). (see eh, voila above) I don’t have that cd. I have mojo radio and ce soir là and au cabaret sauvage. don’t have the cd of The Festival in the Desert, tho I know they did that song on another cd. I like the concert in the desert version because they brought in Django, who played off Yamina and Nadia so well. And, being sisters, they create a nice sonica dada (whatever that is, I just made it up.)
I should get that cd, or look at it to see if it has ali farka toure or afel bocoum that I don’t have. b should have jah das kool boy, some ali farka toure and afel bocoum at his place cause I left him some things.
I’ve asked b before how to make an mp3…the only thing I see that I can do is a podast to i-whatever.
if anyone else knows how to mac it up, let me know (and I know there are some swift computer folks here.) — the freer/open sourcier the better.

Posted by: fauxreal | May 13 2007 0:09 utc | 19

Lovely R’Giap, and thanks b, for hosting.

Posted by: PeeDee | May 13 2007 22:19 utc | 21