Baro 101

Krar is some kind of lyre, with five or six strings, and is mostly played in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

I am now the owner of my first krar-drum-baryton saxophone-trio! The musicians on "Baro 101" (Terp 2011) are Mesele Asmamaw (krar, vocal), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) and Mats Gustafsson (baryton saxophone), and it was recorded at room number 101 at the Baro Hotel, Addis Abeba (Ethiopia). They decided to record, after working together during a tour organized by The Ex. Some microphones were put up (as described in the cover), and after one hour they had forty minutes of improvised music ready to be released.

We get two tracks, both of them around twenty minutes long. The music is varied, from pling plong, free improv, and energetic blow outs to something close to lullabyes (towards the end). The sound of the krar is a bit strange to my ears, but still nice, and sometimes the string instrument almost sound like it´s electronic. Asmamaw also proves he´s a great singer.

Read more over at Terp, and check out some videos on YouTube from some of The Ex´s (and friends´) visits to Ethiopia (how about these?).

Supersilent + Stian Westerhus + Pekka

Supersilent + Stian Westerhus + Pekka, NuMusic Stavanger 2011 from pekka on Vimeo.

Supersilent (Arve Henriksen, Ståle Storløkken, Helge Sten) with Stian Westerhus (guitar) and Pekka (lights), from a commissioned work at NuMusic in Stavanger 2011.
I am not a big fan of strobes, but this looked like a cool show!

The Vegetarians

The Vegetarians? Heard about them today! According to CDBaby this is a Swedish - American band with Hans Annellsson, Marc Mollan and John M Gibbs, and they seem to have released at least four albums and a couple of EPs.

The new album "The Calling" (Annelssongs 2011) got me hooked, with cover songs of YES, Genesis, Adrian Belew, Kevin Ayers ("Song from the bottom of a well", "Super salesman", "(An even stranger) Stranger in blue suede shoes"), Bob Dylan, Amiee Mann, Peter Hammill, Chicago, Can and Matching Mole (Robert Wyatt, "Oh Caroline").

Judging by the other records by these artists, they really seem to like doing covers.

Robert Wyatt 67

I´m not very good at remembering people´s birthdays, but at least someone remembered that Robert Wyatt was 67 yesterday!
Eamonn Andrews vs Alifib.

300 Acting Spaces

Some people think big! During the project "300 Acting Spaces" (2012 - 2015) there will be arranged 300 free concerts with improvised music. The shows will be streamed live, an active blog will cover the project and finally a book will be published.

The man behind all this is Alex Gunia, and it´s happening in Oslo, Berlin, New York, Beijing and Tokyo, in what is described as "especially designed performance laborartories".

Kick Off will be in Oslo 16 - 18 February, with (among others) Kjetil Møster, Lasse Marhaug and Maja Ratkje.
Read all about it over at 300 Acting Spaces, and I think this blog will be back with more from this project too!

Jazzed Out Oslo

Oh my! Please check out Håkon Kornstad in a teaser for a film called "Jazzed Out Oslo"!
Uploaded on YouTube by Mezzojazzedout, and I found it over at the hyperactive site "It´s a Trap".

We will also get to see other fine Norwegian musicians in the film, like Arild Andersen, Bugge Wesseltoft, Nils Peter Molvaer, Tord Gustavsen, Mats Eilertsen, Frøy Aagre, Eivind Aarset and Mari Kvien Brunvoll.

David Garland

David Garland - The Long ViewGarland makes from TAKAHIRO KIMURA on Vimeo.

I have to admit I just realized David Garland existed, but he seems to have friends in several camps.
On his new album "Conversations with the cinnamon skeleton", Vashti Bunyan and Sean Lennon join in (among others!), and Robert Wyatt says that Garland makes “Witty, melancholy songs, arranged and performed with such careful skill and a natural unforced originality".

Video for "The long view" by Takahiro Kimura.

Run on over to this site for more info on the musicians, links to other releases and streams and lyrics from this album! Nice work!

Hibou Anemone and Bear pointed me towards this one..