Shipping out of the Sands

I've just been told I'm moving out of the hotel for the next ten days, as the family are relocating to their house by the beach while some relatives visit. I'm not ecstatic about this, as I'll now be even more accessible to the whims of Madame, but a swim in the red sea will be nice. I was going to visit some of the more interesting parts of Jeddah this weekend and was anticipating some heavy blogging, but it looks as if this is not to be. Not sure how the internet access will be by the beach, so this could be my last post for a while.

I've still not had a day off, but I've been spending my evenings reading and working on this:

http://soundcloud.com/identikit/ikokou

The vocal samples are taken from 'Lambrena: Bach to Africa', an album of Bach pieces interpreted by a group of African musicians. It's fast becoming one of my favourite albums; it's amazing to hear two styles which could clash horribly so tastefully paired. Unlike other reworkings of Bach scores, it doesn't simply put the same notes on new instruments (I'm thinking of the Bach moog album, 'Switched on Bach') but uses the musicians' creativity in a far more exciting way. A few bars of cello or a harpiscord ground bass are picked up and used as the basis for a call and response, and the familiar austere melodies are given a completely new energy by their accompaniment.

I could write a lot more about this album, but the hotel internet voucher I'm using is about to run out. To be continued...