RE: zen and the fluent music

["L. Angulo" <labalou2000@yahoo.com>]

Well man here in beautiful southern germany is not
much different.This is province and a very turisty
corner so people mostly want to hear the happy
stuff.In my opinion the media is partly guilty.The
radio stations are terrible here and everything has
its system which for the most part prohibits
flexibility.On the other hand i was in Tijuana Mexico
in december last year and called the Radio Cultural
Frontera to have an interview and introduced my new
CD, and they gave me a whole hour broadcast on both
sides of the border and played the whole damn CD!
most of the places ive played here are owned by
friends who enjoy what i do but they too ask when i am
bringing the other band,which to a certain extent i
can understand.But i must say i like having a Band
where i can jam,sweat with other musicians,infect
people with our music,and then having my
self-indulgence project.Ive found this to be a very
nice balance and in both situations i am playing what
i like.
Ive decided to play places i like and feel comfortable
in,even if its once a year and to tell you the truth
sometimes i rather not even get payed for it to avoid
the expectations...
but of course i am not going to let them know this;-)
cheers
Luis




--- "Hartung, Kris" <kris.hartung@hp.com> wrote:

> Luis, you hit the nail on the head about being
> booked at the right
> places.  I don't know what it's like in bigger
> cities or other
> countries, but here where I live finding a venue
> where I can play
> remotely experimental music is a delicate matter.
> For instance, I played
> in a world fusion band for a few years, where I
> played acoustic guitar
> and sitar, and we played at this Mediterranean
> restaurant frequently. We
> played a mixture of Indian, Middle-Eastern, African,
> or just "worldly"
> fusion like tunes. They loved us and the place was
> always jam
> packed...we even played outside, and we attracted
> people from 6 bocks
> away. People just went bizarre over that music. When
> the group split up,
> I decided to go back and play at the venue as a solo
> looper.  I made the
> mistake of trying some more experimental type
> looping music that didn't
> have the recognizable melodies in Western,
> Middle-Eastern, or Eastern
> music.  They never asked me back.  Yet four blocks
> away, I was playing
> highly experimental looping music on a regular basis
> at a very
> liberal-minded, vegetarian restaurant, where
> whatever I played, I was
> always accepted with great admiration and
> compliments.   I find that
> most venues here, and the people that frequent them,
> just aren't that
> open to really experimental music, and this doesn't
> surprise or
> disappointed me necessarily (I accept it whole
> heartedly as a part of
> the bell curve of listenability in a city with only
> 200K people and in a
> very conservative state); rather it's just an added
> challenge for me to
> find venues to play the music I want to play.
> 
> In my new promo pack and bio, I state that I
> frequently play venues that
> are associated with the arts (like exhibits,
> galleries, art festivals)
> or venues that foster diverse human discourse (like
> coffee shops, etc).
> Those are the sort of venues that I find are more
> open to experimental
> looping music lately. And even the coffee shops here
> are pushing it, as
> they are frequented by a generally conservative
> crowd.  I play at an
> Italian restaurant a once a month, and occasionally
> I can slip in
> something experimental, but I have to do so with
> some restraint and
> caution.  I've just learned how to read venue owners
> and crowds when it
> comes to this more extreme form of music.  I try a
> little bit, observe
> the reaction, and then go one way or another,
> depending on the reaction.
> Sometimes I might get a comments like "Well that was
> interesting" but
> implicitly saying, "Now go back to playing that
> other nice stuff you
> were playing before."  But I don't expect to waltz
> into a traditional
> restaurant and start looping atonal, non-rhythmic
> music with a ring
> modulator and pitch shifter set at a minor second
> interval! Even though
> this is the style of music I prefer to play most
> often. 
> 
> The above is also why when I play a brand new venue,
> I always bring my
> jazz Real books with me...then at least if I get
> into trouble or I'm
> getting strange glares, I can play the standards,
> like Autumn Leaves,
> Take the A Train, Days of Wine and Roses, etc.  I've
> never found anyone
> who objected to me playing traditional jazz.  Or I
> find that noodling
> around with open G, C, A, E, and D chords, with some
> "pretty" and
> predictable improvised melodies is always a crowd
> pleaser
> too...basically anything I can play in my sleep. :) 
>  
> 
> I would be curious to here from others, who live in
> bigger cities of at
> least 500,000.  How many public venues do you know
> of where you can play
> really experimental music and be called back to play
> on a regular basis?
> And I don't mean "experimental" in the sense of just
> improvising with
> looping technology, playing in odd time signatures,
> or using
> non-traditional instrument, but music that really
> pushes the limits of
> popular listenability. Any Bay Area or New Yorkers
> want to comment?
> Heck, I saw the circuit benders at Y2K4 last
> year...where are you guys
> playing on a regular basis?   And Matt Davignon's
> music is pretty far
> out...he must be finding some recurring venues. 
> 
> Kris
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: L. Angulo [mailto:labalou2000@yahoo.com] 
> Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 3:48 AM
> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Subject: Re: zen and the fluent music
> 
> Well Kris thats great man,you are looping
> backwards;-) is usually the
> other way around the more popular musicians get(or
> enter the
> professional artistry)the more they make
> compromises!
> if you enjoy what you are doing and do it well,there
> is not much that
> can go wrong,also being booked in the right places
> is very
> important...but there is no denying that we all
> crave recognition and
> attention.
> Luis
> 
> --- Per Boysen <per@boysen.se> wrote:
> 
> > I'd say this is "a problem" everyone has. It's a
> choice every artist 
> > has to make; to play for himself or to adapt his
> expression.
> > Personally I tend to play for myself and the
> musicians I like to 
> > listen to also do that. Devotion seems to radiate
> and it appears as 
> > most audiences actually are more interested in
> someone doing it for 
> > himself than an player that bases his expression
> partly on what he 
> > thinks the listener expects him to deliver. As
> long as you manage to 
> > stay away from professional artistry this is all a
> piece of pancake.
> > It may be more difficult to maintain that attitude
> among investors and
> 
> > brokers. You have to be ruthless to be true.
> > 
> > Greetings from Sweden
> > 
> > Per Boysen
> > www.looproom.com (international)
> > www.boysen.se (Swedish)
> > --->  iTunes Music Store (digital)
> > www.cdbaby.com/perboysen
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Jul 17, 2005, at 7:04, Hartung, Kris wrote:
> > 
> > > The question is, how long can I maintain it? I'm
> > not sure how long
> > > I can
> > > maintain concern and interest in pleasing an
> > audience....as I find
> > > myself getting more self-indulgent and
> > introspective in my playing
> > > over
> > > the years. Does anyone else have this problem? I
> > think the looping
> > > as a
> > > soloist brought this out in me more...it's very
> > easy for me to get
> > > lost
> > > in myself up there with the EDPs and my
> > instrument. I don't know
> > > why, I
> > > just find my feelings gravitating toward more
> and
> > more abstract and
> > > obscure composition.
> > >
> > > Kris
> > >
> 
=== message truncated ===


www.luis-angulo.com


                
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