Maja Ratkje & Zeena Parkins

My first concert of the year (no I didn´t play) happened at Bergen´s Landmark, where they had some kind of vorspiel to the  All Ears festival (the same happened in Trondheim the day after). The first ones out this evening were the French musicians Jerome Noetinger and Lionell Marchetti, who made electroacoustic soundscapes with cassettes, discman (anyone who remeber them?) and lots of other stuff. A nice concert, and I enjoyed the blues singer, singing from a tape recorder or something, inside the electronic cloud.

Maja Ratkje is a regular visitor in Wyatt and Stuff, and Zeena Parkins have been mentioned too, just take a look at the post on the great Cosa Brava (with Fred Frith). This was the first time Ratkje and Parkins did a duo concert, but of course (!) it turned out just fine. Electronics, laptops, vocals and harp even turned into some rocking blow outs when Parkins attacked the harp.
You might find a lousy video on YouTube in a while, just to give you an impression (but don´t blame the musicians).
(Sorry, the video is very dark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1t2hjHzDMM).

Being a hard working man (*cough*) I had to leave just as Kevin Drumm started his concert. To bad for me I guess.

And I left the venue with my first CD and airport pillow package! According to a Zeena Parkins discography it is probably this one:


MONEY $HOT: Zeena Parkins

    2003 - casestudy (USA), no catalog number (CD in plastic pillow)
    2003 - casestudy (USA), no catalog number (CD in felt pouch)
    2003 - casestudy (USA), no catalog number (CD in ceramic pod)

  Note: this self-produced CD is a limited edition (100 only) and is available
  in three different packages:

        - a designer airport pillow, by Nadia Lauro
        - a 12" square felt sheet with hidden red-lined pockets for inserts
          and CD, by Chris Faulkner
        - a ceramic plate-like object, by Chris Faulkner.