Upcoming Gigs

It is only when we stop, step back and reflect on the many gigs we've seen in a month that we realize what a vast musical landscape we are surrounded by. If I were to list the gigs I’ve seen by genre, it would read as follows: Afro-beat/world, vocal jazz, folk/rock, alternative folk, indo/jazz fusion, rock, electro, thrash metal and Brazilian pop. But we never like to pigeonhole now do we?
Having seen a thrilling performance by Outhouse Ruhabi at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival earlier in the year, I decided to buy one of their Sabar drums from The Gambia. I have since had a couple of lessons with soloist Baboucar and am now a novice at Wolof rhythms on the Mbung Mbung Bal. Starting a new rhythmic dialect from scratch is a bit like being thrown back into your first foreign language lesson at school, and although I liked to think it was easy, I had to come to terms with the basics – being told how to hold a drumstick after 14 years of drumming is not easy to grasp! But, it opened my mind to new musical forms and this, is something we can never stop experiencing.
Whether it has been listening to the virtuoso playing of the lovely Kaki King, the unabashed covers of Jimi Hendrix tracks by Mina Agossi, the hypnotic grooves of Tinariwen or the indo/jazz fusion of The Teak Project (not to mention all the upcoming releases in the office), I am forever experiencing new musical genres, discovering rhythms I never knew existed and looking forward to what sounds are around the corner...