Montereau FestivalMontereau Overview:
Imagine me getting a phone call asking if I wanted to take part in a week long music project sponsored by the city of Montereau (France). The idea would be to find out what would happen if you put (and payed!) two different musicians from 2 different cultures and countries to work together for one week and then presenting what they created in a concert. These musicians would be unknown to each other. I think the concept of this whole thing originated from Lionel Masset who works for the city of Montereau which is the organizer of this cities yearly summer music festival. Lionel is one of the promoters and booking agents. That, in essence, is exactly what he proposed to both Tao Ravao and myself. Tao lives in Paris now but was born and raised on the island of Malagash (Madagascar) and he not only plays guitar and lapsteel but many other different traditional Malagash and African stringed instruments. He is about my age and has lived and played music all over the world. Much more traveled than I am to be sure. A relaxed and friendly human being and a talented musician. This would be interesting for me to say the least and a good challenge and opportunity as well…………… and when the idea was proposed to me of course I said yes.
Monday, July 2. Wow, I think this is going to be a very cool and special week, musically and otherwise. I'm excited! At 10H00 I was met at Paris's Gare nu Nord by Alex, Ouadi (two of the organization workers) and Tao. We packed my suitcase and 3 guitars into one of the 2 small cars (Tao's gear filled up the other one) and off we roared for the hour and half trip down to the south of Paris. Our rehearsal studio for the week would be located in the basement of a 1400 year old monestary and farm now owned by the city of Montereau. Part of the building complex had been converted into practice studios for local musicians. Ours was a nice large room with a sound system and and all the comforts we would need for the week. Of course the priory had a lovely hill top location and outside the window was a beautiful summertime view of the flat, green farmland. An ideal location for creating music. We took the time just after our arrival to spread out all our instruments and get comfortable in our individual work spaces. Tao has pickups on all of his guitars and instruments as do I so we took the remaining morning hour to plug in, mic up and worked on getting a good overall sound in the rehersal room. Many of those African instruments make a lot of music but don't project over the louder guitar sounds and thus the reason for the amplification. We also both used vocal mics during the practicing and there was a MD recorder hooked up for our use.Instruments : You all know what I play so I just need to say that I brought the Froggy Bottom, the Ibanez 12-string, the Dobro and my harmonica's. Other than the 2 lap steels and an electric guitar, Taos gear is completely different from anything I'd ever seen close up before.
Here's the name and a short description of what he brought : Valiha- traditional Malagash harp made from a large tube of hollow wood. 18 strings are strung around the outside which are plucked individually or as chords. A delicate and beautiful sound almost like an Irish harp but based more on an African musical scale. The Kabosii is the traditional Malagash guitar- smaller then a guitar with 4 strings (although Tao's have been modified to 6 as he's doubled the 2 high strings) and usually square shaped. Tao brought 2 : a custom metal one built by Mike Lewis of Paris that looked kind of like a large mandolin plus his own traditional square-shaped wood instrument. The litungu is from Kenya- basically a small harp held with both hands and plucked with the first and second fingers. He also brought along the Krarr which is Ethiopian. This is also a harp instrument but a bit more percusive than the Litungu and has (I think) 7 strings tuned to an African scale. We tried to find a song to play with this instrument but it never seemed to work out. Next time for sure! There are traditional tunings for these instruments but Tao freely changed the tunings to suit his needs and I suspect that's true for all the players of such instruments.
So - after lunch we met back at the studio at 17H00 and started to "work". For this project both Tao and I wanted to write new songs and play songs we'd never recorded before. With that in mind I started with an old song "Big Thanks" and a newer one "High Noon" . Tao contributed "Malinka", "Make Up Your Mind" and a kind of calypso song with no title we just call "The Happy Song". Tomorrow we would meet for two sessions, one at 10 and the other at 5 (our schedule for the rest of the week) and the real work would begin. This afternoon we just played and had fun. It was important for both of us to get the measure of the others musical strengths and skills. Also it was my chance to hear how Tao's instruments sounded and worked with my own guitars, open tunnings and finger picking techniques. A good beginnning today.
Tuesday. A beautiful and hot summer day. Tao started off the morning session with a song on his Valiha which opened a few inspirational doors for us. Basically this was how we worked: one of us would start a song idea, the other would listen, grab one of his instruments and off we would go. Often times it wouldn't work for one reason or the other but as we only had 4 days to work there was no time to say more than "oh well" and off we would go on another track. I think I stayed away from the real country-country songs and I believe Tao kept some of those more complicated rhythms for another time.
Anyway, this first morning I started a groove along with him and came up with a nice vocal hum. As we had the use of a minidisc (MD) recorder we could tape when we wanted and we recorded this new idea and the vocal melody I had been singing. It was a good beginning for a new day and we were both excited at our joint creativity. I intended to work on some lyric ideas during our lunch break. For this new song I was playing the Froggy Bottom which was tuned to D. We knocked around a couple of other ideas that morning and then it was lunch. I took the minidisc player back to my hotel room (I worked with ear plugs) and started and almost finished the words to another new song that we had started yesterday called "The Hill".
Misfortune struck though because when I turned off the discplayer I hadn't known how to operate it correctly and so all of our mornings work was deleted! Because I thought our ideas had been saved electronically I just forgot this mornings melody and had concentrated on the other new song. Later when we tried to reconstruct what we had played only a few hours earlier the ideas were gone. Very unfortunate indeed and a warning about relying too heavily on tape recorders and such. Later that afternoon though I did come up with a fun little song on the dobro and used some words that I "borrowed" from an older unrecorded song written a couple of years back. Voila : "What Are You Doing With Him?". Hey folks, nothing is sacred when it comes to songwriting for me and I will rob any old song to make a new one and why not?
Getting rid of the old stuff just makes room for the new. Tao also came up with a couple of new ideas which we knocked around and then it was time for dinner. A good day but we've got a long way to go and only 3 days now to prepare it all. Very, very cool, professional and nice people that are putting this festival together though. The organizers have given us two helpers (Alex and Ouadi) whos main job this week is to help Tao and myself with all those little things that need doing so that we might just concentrate on writing the music. A very rare commitement of faith and trust. Both Tao and I understand this and it certainly increases the strength of our efforts. More tomorrow………
Wednesday. Another hot summer day but basically just a long work day. I did come up with a brand new song on the 12-string and Tao was playing the Valiha and I think it's going to be one of my best songs yet. It sounds absolutely perfect with this African harp. Our daily schedule is to work from 10-13H00 then lunch followed by a siesta /break. I usually use this time for listening to the mornings rehearsals or working on lyrics and perhaps even resting for an hour or so. It's back to work at 17H00 until 21H00 or so and that's if for the biggest part of the day. Tao and I have been staying in a nice little family-style hotel/restaurant (Hotel du la Gare) and we have been having our dinners there (the food and wine have been outstanding! Simple food but excellently prepared and a very good selection of wines). We've been getting along great both as musicians and as human beings and how lucky we are for that. It even turns out we have a mutual friend from Chicago that I knew from 27 years ago. Tao had also met this guy in Chicago (this old friend is a musician as well) but Tao met him a year or so after I had already left Chi-town. Small world huh? Just before lunch Tao came up with a nice little cajun number and promised to work on the lyrics during the lunch break. It's turned out to be great song and so we have another new number. We're progressing nicely.
Thursday.Today was to be the last day for working on new material. We need to decide today what our set list is going to be and really concentrate on just these songs. No more new songs as we have only today and tomorrow to get ready for the 3PM Saturday concert. During the morning hours we went back over some of the songs we had practiced on the first and seconds days (a good reason to use a tape recorder,especially if your memory is bad like mine). At the beginning of the afternoon we finally choose the songs that we would be playing. We had 12 songs to pick from but finally settled on the best 9 with a possible 10th. Not so bad for 4 and half days of work I think. Some journalists, photographers and a local radio guy all came around today and asked a few questions ect. It seems there's quite a bit of interest in what we are doing and that is good to know. I think we're going to be able to put on a very good show. I am tired tonight though, both physically and mentally. It's been a long week and still 3 days to do before I can rest (including the 10AM Sunday morning master class!). I also have to get those classes ready and I haven't done a lot of work on them just yet. Time for sleep………… The rain clouds rolled in today and it seems as though the forcast for the wkd is not a good one, especially for an outdoor festival! We are all keeping our fingers crossed.
Friday, July 6th. Although I know you won't be familiar with the songs, here's the set list and the instrumentation for tomorrows concert (the first named instrument is mine). I've also shown the composer and my guitar tunings for the particular songs: High Noon (Hale)– Dobro ( D E B E B D) and lap steel
Happy T's (Ravao) - Epiphone (C G C G C E) and valiha
Big Thanks (Hale)- Froggy Bottom (standard tuning) and litungu
Make Up Your Mind (Ravao) – Dobro (E E B E B D) and guitar
Jolie Creole (Ravao)- Froggy (standard), C harmonica and guitar
The Hill Up Above (Hale)- 12- string (D G D G A# D) and valiha
Malinka (Ravao) - 12 string (Gm) and guitar
What Are You Doing With Him (Hale)- Dobro (D# G A# G A# D#) and kabosii
Bumblebee (Hale and Ravao)- Froggy (standard) and kabosii
So today we just practiced the songs and played them in the proper order . We're both feeling like we've done good work this week and that we have a good concert to present to folks tomorrow afternoon. Still cloudy today and later this evening the the concert of Claude Nougaro will be stopped after 15 minutes with a virtual deluge ! 100% collègues didn't even get a chance to get on stage. Not a very auspicious beginning for this great collection of music! Both Tao and I are very excited about tomorrow, rain or no rain!
Samedi 7 juillet
Prieuré Saint-Martin - 10 h - Masterclass " La guitare et le chant " par Terry Lee Hale
Prieuré Saint-Martin - 12 h 30 - Conférence de presse publique
Théâtre Richelieu - 15 h - Création de Terry Lee Hale/Tao Ravao
Terry Lee Hale est un guitariste et chanteur texan et Tao Ravao est un guitariste et chanteur malgache. L'un vogue sur les terres de Calexico. L'autre a créé un blues très personnel matiné de la culture et des instruments traditionnels de Magagascar. Concert unique puisqu'il s'agit d'une commande du Festival, qui leur a permis de passer une semaine ensemble dans les studios confluences (il n'avaient jamais joué ensemble) pour donner naissance à ce projet, en toute liberté. La créativité de ces deux hommes (leur riche discographie en témoigne) ne laisse planer aucun doute sur la qualité de la musique qu'ils nous offriront. Moment rare, privilégié et réservé aux happy fews qui auront eu la bonne idée de réserver leur place (salle de 200 places).
Concert Montereau - So it's today that all of this past weeks work and effort will be presented in a concert. Luckily for us our show will be in a little theater downtown and not outside. The rain continues to fall intermittently and is proving to be a disaster for the organizers. I had my master class this morning at 10H00 and so Tao was already at the the theater doing his soundcheck when I arrived at about 12H30. Immediately I sensed something amiss. Usually Tao is nice and relaxed but now there was a certain stiffness. Nerves I thought and I wasn't immediately concerned. As it turns out the soundmen (imported from Paris to both record and mix the show) were extreamly uptight dudes with inferior equipement and very large attitudes.
The soundcheck was horrible. Both Tao and I had to fight them to get the sounds WE wanted in the monitors and in the main room. My friend Alain, who came to Montereau to help with the Master Classes and the concert, knows the sound I need for my guitars better than anyone and he was trying to help by telling the "soundmen" what we needed ect but these guys didn't want to hear anything from anyone. THEY know what is good sound and what we need no matter what anyone else says (they also use a digital mixing board that I've heard used well only one time!). Even a couple of times during soundcheck I'd be asking for something in the monitors only to discover no one at the soundboard!! Amazing……. By this time I'm furious. The sound I have in my monitors is like it's coming from a transitor radio and Tao is in no better shape. Nothing to do but get ready to play.
It's 14H00 and the people are arriving.The concert itself was a bit anti-climatic for me anyway I think. To make matters worse: before we even began, one of my guitar chords had been unplugged!! I sat down to play and- no sound!! Not the right way to begin a concert for sure. We actually played very well together considering all the handicaps we were working with on this Saturday afternoon. The audience really enjoyed the concert it seems and I think we were all smiling by the end. For me it flew by at light speed but that's to be expected. To be honest I was a bit disappointed in my playing. I made too many mistakes – not big ones but missed chord changes, forgotten lyrics ect ect. I was distracted to be sure but, as a professional musician, it is my responsability to rise above such obstacles and play my very best. Finally though the concert was over, Tao and I had taken our bows, shaken hands and we walked together off the stage. Summary: I'm back in Concarneau now and I've had a few days to consider this past week.
Certainly in retrospect I have not one regret concerning my participation with such a project. What do I think of Lionels original questions and concepts? Is it possible for two musicians from different backgrounds and cultures to make music together with limited practice time? Of course the answer is yes. The world is full of such great combinations and cultures. It does ultimately depend on the musicians themselves- their skills, adaptability, versatility and desire. At the very top level I'm sure any two (or more) guys can sit down, practice a few hours and record a very listenable if not brilliant CD of music.
For myself anyway, I would have loved to have had another week (or more) in which to put together more and better songs. Tao and I were trying to write new songs firstly but were also forced to keep in mind that we needed to be able to full up a 45 minute concert. We had to balance the jamming and songwriting with the more blue collar task of learning or completing the others material. In my own opinion there is nothing that brings together sound and songs more than practice, practice and more practice. I can go myself into a studio and record a CD in 6 days. Tao and I did not make it happen and for many reasons. It does not lessen the value of what we did together or gave to the find folks at Montereau. Today I am a better musician (and person) for that participation. I would also like to count Tao as a new friend and music buddy and I do hope he feels the same about myself! With him I was able to stretch my musical boundries in a very real and tangible way. I am proud of myself for the risk taking and for having the musical abilities to engage at such a high level (that's my opinion of course!). Really the only negative thing I guess was my inability to rise above the pettiness of 2 "little players" and their negative attitudes. This was not the first time such a thing had happened to either Tao or myself and it certainly won't be the last. I just have to learn to concentrate more and focus on the important things. I must say though that the day I can afford to work with soundpeople of my chosing is a day I am looking forward to!
That's it friends. I haven't heard the rough mixes of the concert yet and I do hope that there will be something to share with you all in a CD form but we'll all have to wait for that. I do know that Tao and I are still both equally commited to getting our music recorded and released. We are going to continue to work to make that happen. Thanks again to Lionel Massetat for coming up with such a bold idea and for the idea to ask Tao and myself to be the participants. Let's not forget the city of Montereau for signing the checks!! Also BIG thanks to Alex and Ouadi who were our minders, helpers, friends and partners throughout the week and thanks to my French agent Pascal Redondo for co-ordinating it all. Of course most thanks goes to Tao Ravao for all of his interest, patience, kindnesses, musical skills and for saying yes! . I'm looking forward to more!
PS: The Festival Oh yeah, the OTHER music. Certainly one of the very best things about playing festivals is the chance to see and listen to many different groups and all in a short period of time. Imagine how much it would cost to see each of these bands separately? Like I already mentioned, the rain really killed attendence at the festival and it was pretty miserable for those who did brave the occasional downpour. For the most part though on Saturday and Sunday the show did go on. I didn't get a chance to see every act but here's a synopsis:
Tiken Jay Fakoly - A big reggie star in Senegal and perhaps my favorite band of the wkd. Amazing drummer, percussionist and bassest in the band! Wonderful, high spirited late afternoon show.
Geoffrey Oryema - don't know a lot about this man but someone told me he had a pretty big radio hit a few years back. An older African man playing his songs with a young rock band. Interesting and good.
Papa Wemba - Another singer with a wonderfully large band behind him (we're talking horns, keyboards, backup female vocalists, percussionists ect). A high and sweet voice. I was tired though and, admittedly a bit drunk on this night. Bye bye………
Tommy Emmanuel - A hotshot acoustic guitarist from Australia. Probably about my age and playing very much in the style of Chet Atkins (R.I.P) or Jerry Reed. Lightning fast and clean flat picker and a superb instrumentalist and entertainer. A pleasant surprise.
Keb'Mo - Certainly I'd been reading and hearing a lot about this guy so I was quite interested in what he had to say. I'll only say here that once of him is enough although to be fair perhaps he had a long flight….. ? tired and overused jokes no one in the audience understood and just a lot of blah-blah. A couple of good songs but even then……. ? This guy needs to get off of the folk circuit for sure!
Tété - Another French radio star and not so bad. Really "poppy" though but kinda rock with some African influences. Young guys. Will be fun to hear in 10 years.
Cheb Mami - Huge star in France and northern Africa. Another large band of great musicians but to be honest the whole show reeked of Las Vegas. He's got an awesome voice though but for the rest of it I was a bit bored. We went backstage for the second half of his show and discovered that half of what we were hearing from the main speakers was coming from prerecorded computer tracks!! It would have been great to see this guy when he was still doing clubs or smaller concerts. Such is the Business Of Music though. I doubt very much if M. Mami is complaining. That's it folks….
