Here’s a continuation of Patrick’s Prague Blog, called Meeting Friends on the Road. I’m calling this one SERENDIPITY, SMALL WORLD STORIES AND RAINBOWS, OH MY!
It is indeed a warm, fuzzy feeling when you see old friends while on the road. Some live in the places you are playing, others are from Canada who are there for some other reason. Either way, it feels great to stay connected with people, especially when you’re treading on new land, sleeping in new beds and feeling transient. It keeps one feeling grounded.
As there are so many friends to name and dates to mention, I’ll go in chronological order as to those we met on the road on this tour:
Nehru Centre, London, Aug 19: Autorickshaw meets up with Julie Kench, former Swingle Singer – Great to meet up again and thanks for all your help with the gig!
Belfast, Aug 29: Autorickshaw shares some pints with Debashis Sinha (former Autorickshaw drummer), who was touring his own music at the ISEA electronic art symposium.
London, Sept. 2: Suba and Dylan visit with former Swingle Singer Johanna “Chewy” Marshall with gorgeous newborn Noah. Dylan’s friend and colleague, producer Dr. Richard Niles, comes to the Vortex and hears/meets Autorickshaw. Suba bumps into Rathi Kumar (former singer from Scott Leithead’s Kokopelli Choir in Alberta) before the gig. Rathi heard about the show through our dear friend Kevin Fox, current Swingle Singers’ baritone, courtesy of facebook. Spent an amazing evening with Tobi, current Swingles’ bass/beatboxer, who made this evening (and much of the UK touring) possible. Tobi shows us a great time at the Jazz Bar, the post-gig hangout spot.
Prague, Sept. 5: Ed and Patrick meet up with Ganesh Anandan.
Prague, Sept. 11: Dylan escorts Ed, Patrick and I to the local Czech radio station for a live concert featuring big band and a cappella group Voxtet (that’s Dylan’s small world connection). This show was recorded live for broadcast and we hang out with Voxtet after their show.
Voxtet...gotta love the space!
Okay, here’s a crazy story of serendipity: Dylan’s brother, Brendan, approximately. 4 years ago, went to Prague and took a beautiful black and white photo of a man playing hurdy-gurdy on the streets. Four years later, Dylan and I, on our last day in Prague, walking the streets, find the same guy. We take the same picture and have yet to send it back to Brendan!
Hurdy Gurdy man!
Serendipity x 2: On the same day, moments after we walk away from the hurdy-gurdy guy, we “feel” our way through some side streets and stumble upon some distinctly symphonic sounds. A side door was open, so we slip in and listen from side stage. They’re just finishing a grandiose work. We thought it was a rehearsal, but on the final crash of the cymbals, the place explodes with applause! We realize that we’ve stumbled upon a Czech Symphony concert and got to listen to it from side stage, for free!
Hamburg, Sept. 13: Autorickshaw meets with Dylan’s/Suba’s colleagues/friends Martin and Kathrin Carbow (and their kids Titus and Mia) and go for a boat ride on the Alster. The Carbow family as well as friends Rakhee Arora-Hodges (and her family), Chrissi Voss and Britta Hauck all attended our concert that closed the Festival der Kulturen.
Martin and Titus
Alkmaar, Holland, Sept. 18: Dylan and I meet Joep Hopstaken and Claudia Appel (from our previous Holland workshops) at our concert.
Amsterdam, Sept. 20: Dylan, Ed and I meet Kees Kool (from Dylan and Suba’s previous Europe tour in May/June and member of Improzo vocal group) who has organized all of our concerts and workshops in Holland. Thank you Kees, Jane, Simon (owner of La Vigilantie, Alkmaar) and Nicoline for a wonderful experience in Holland!
Vigilante, outside
...and inside
We were planning on seeing former soprano of the Nathaniel Dett Chorale (and founding member along with Dylan and I) Nicole Jordan, in the Hague where she now resides. Things got crazy and we didn’t manage it, but that just gives us yet another reason to return!
Serendipity story #3: As mentioned above, Dylan and I, as the FreePlay Duo, toured Germany and Holland in May -June of this year (supported by the Ontario Arts Council). There was one group that we did a workshop with that we had no contact information for. We knew the were musical theatre gals who lived in Amsterdam, and that was it! So, fast forward to an hour before our workshop on Sept. 20th. We meet with the director of Improzo, Nicoline Snaas, at the nearby university café called CREA (where our workshop is taking place) to discuss the workshop, and lo and behold, we see the group of girls that we worked with back in May! Their group is called De Meisjes Loos and it was great to reconnect with them!
Some things are just meant to be, or so I believe. I realize that this blog might not appeal to everyone as it’s a lot of namedropping, but I think it’s important to acknowledge all of the people who have touched our lives, people we really connect with, who leave their imprint on us, who we are blessed to reconnect with, when circumstance (or serendipity) allows. I think every artist will tell you that it’s “who you know” in the business that gets you places. This includes all of the friends you make along the way. To me, this feeling of connectivity is somehow very Canadian.
Hamburg Maple Leaves...leafs..?
Rainbows!!! And now, I must explain the rainbow fetish. Actually, the rainbows were thrust upon us – the number of rainbows encountered on this tour outnumbers all of the rainbows I’ve encountered in my life up to this point. Unbelievable. We saw several rainbows (and double rainbows) in Ireland and northern Ireland, which makes sense considering the Irish leprechaun’s hiding place! We also saw some in Prague, and in Hamburg. This speaks to the number of days of rain that we encountered as well, but there’s always a bright side - sometimes even a multi-coloured arch if you’re lucky! This is the kind of optimism one needs when traveling for 6 weeks. Thanks Mama Nature - we appreciate the help!
I'd like to point out that I'm posting this blog from a train, while it's moving, like, a brazillion km/h. Well, we're not actually going that fast right now, but we will...
three hundred and fifteen MILLION kilometers per hour
I love VIA Rail as much as anyone, but VIA, can we go faster? Can we please have a dining car like this one?
Next on the Discovery Channel: NASA has started printing Spacebucks (pounds in spaaaaace):
how much is that tribble in the window?
Trivia: did you know that in Northern Ireland, the banks print their own money (like the Northern Bank above)? How scary is that..."I'm sorry sir, your bank has folded...your money is no good anymore". Horror. And that when you leave Northern Ireland, and go back to London, everyone looks at you like some sort of inept counterfeiter when you try to pay for things? "Cute! He's trying to pay with space money".
Musical instrument Museum, Prague. Très cool. From a piano that Mozart played on to 1950's Russian synthesizer technology, from a quarter-tone piano to more sackbuts than will slide in a sack (oh, I'm good...), from a modern audio-visual installation to multiple calliopes and automated one-man band machines, this place is not to be missed.
Yuri, can you hear me now?
oooonce...ooonce...ooonce...
I'd love to program some sequences with a hammer...i'm good with a hammer
Things that go well with beer.
'nuff said.
Things for bands to do together:
• Go for a paddle boat ride on the Vltava river.
Suba pushed us all off the boat right afterwards...
•Go to Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris.
• Stand on the odd cliff.
Me feet tingle just looking at this pic...
• Herd some sheep
run sheep...RUN!
These things will make a happy band.
awwww....
Hot Water: Not as easy to come by as you might think. I am going to make my hot water heater a nice dinner when I get home.
please...be hot...
And finally...henceforth, the following photo replaces our backstage rider completely. Just do it like this. This was nice. Thanks to Borek and the Respect Music crew at Palác Akropolis in Prague.
In the touring life of Autorickshaw, we never thought we would outdo the performance experience and extravagance of playing in Diggi Palace – an oasis in the heart of Rajasthan’s famous pink city of Jaipur in India - back in 2007. The embellished architecture, the sheer height of the palace combined with the striking colours and manicured gardens made us feel as though we were transported into a time of maharajas and maharanis in the royal courts. Like I said, hard to outdo. Enter Grabštejn castle.
The highway drive to Grabštejn from Prague was nothing to write home about until we got to Liberec. A green forest canopy enveloped us as we made our way to this 13th century Medieval palace.
Grabštejn Castle has been transformed from a ruin amidst a military zone to a pearl of the Renaissance in northern Bohemia. The energy of the festival itself – the bustling and friendly patrons as well as the extremely hospitable staff – was amazing, but the historical energy was even more prevalent. Grabštejn was the controlled route into Bohemia from the bordering states Germany and Poland.
It was a late night gig so we weren’t able to see everything Grabštejn castle had to offer, but we walked in the castle interior and spent time after our show in the castle exterior where there was a beer garden and food stalls with room for all to dance to live, traditional Czech music. We performed in one of the rooms in the upper castle for the Grabštejn worldfest – the so-called “smallest world festival in the world!”
illustration by Jiří Vydra
We closed the first night of the festival to a packed house, playing from 11pm-midnight with two encores. From beginning to end, the audience was with us, not to mention the sound being absolutely fantastic (one never knows when playing a cavernous room with extended reverb in a 13th century castle)!!
It was one of those perfect moments when artists, audience and art had joined forces as we created and experienced a Bohemian musical journey together.
Thanks for the hospitality: Marcela and her mixed crew (Sam and Alice), Ondrej - our trooper of a driver and fabulous conversationalist (PS – thanks for the sightseeing tips!), Stepa Kasparova for her organization, and of course, to Jirka Vidra, the presenter of Grabštejn worldfest who brought us to this amazing place. He also designed and illustrated the amazing t-shirts and posters at this festival. And to all of the audience: thank you for making this one of the most memorable gigs in Autorickshaw history.
To conclude the evening, a misty drizzle fell on our heads as we said goodbye to our organizer and hosts and prepared for the drive back to Prague central. With the castle growing smaller in our rear view mirror, and rain falling ever-so-gently on the field, it could have easily been a movie set. Actually, the moment felt like a fairytale.
As mentioned in a previous blog, we began this 6-week tour in London at the Nehru Centre performing for a predominantly south Asian audience. With a good house, including interviews and live coverage by ZEE TV (Zed TV in Canada) and a very enthusiastic crowd, the tour felt like it got to an auspicious start.
Fast forward to September 2nd where we completed our first UK leg of the tour in London with our performance at the Vortex Jazz Club.
This club was hidden within Gillett Square. Navigational note: Don’t try and “feel” your way by foot anywhere in London – take a map, watch the street signs, ask for directions and question every move! A straightforward 10-minute walk to the club ended up taking us 22 minutes with 6 detours! After a very drawn out sound check and no time to eat, we scurried to the stage to do our first set. The sound was amazingly good – transparent and warm and everything quite balanced. We had a few technical issues but managed to make it part of the act (which the audience thoroughly enjoyed).
One thing that stood out for me was the story of this jazz club: The Vortex is run as a not-for-profit organization. All surplus money is invested back into the club to improve facilities and keep the club as one of the best in the world. The staff volunteer their time and efforts. Here’s a link to the history of the Vortex Jazz Club: http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/history-of-the-vortex.html
The vibe in this warm and hip listening room was amazing: a discerning audience (many of whom were musicians themselves) who truly cared about jazz and the brand of fusion we were bringing to them.
In the second set, we collaborated with Belgium beatboxing champion Roxorloops who kicked some butt in his own solo, then melded beautifully into our original song, So The Journey Goes with a call-response duet with Ed on tabla.. He is a vocal drumming force to reckon with, so do check out: http://www.myspace.com/the_original_roxorloops
This gig was very special on so many levels: the people who brought us (a huge shout out to the amazing Tobias Hug and Ulli Meinke who helped organize both gigs in London as well as other upcoming UK dates);
Tobi! Ulli! We LOVE you!
Thanasis for his great photos, check them out at: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lomefoto/AutoRickShawVortexLondon2009# ; to Todd Wills, owner of the Vortex and the man who batted for us to get certificates of sponsorship supporting our entire UK portion of the tour; the volunteer staff who clearly have a love for art and the artists who make it; the musical sparks that fly when musicians collaborate for the first time, and again, the very discerning audience who helped us set and continually raise the bar at this show. It really was a personal and musical highlight.
Post-show mortem: We always strive to have some sort of seemingly authentic experience when we go to other countries, especially on our last night. I think we found it: one of the coolest bars in London if you want an intimate, underground experience with great music, a small dance floor, room to sprawl on a couple of couches and choice cocktails, simply called Jazz Bar, around the corner from the Vortex.
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