Thursday, November 26, 2015

December 2015: The crossing border festival

The crossing border festival is my highlight of the festivals in the hague in autumn. Designed as a  blend of music and literature, the musical performances seem to get much more attention.

Mike's favorite, Bianca Casady, designs a mysterious and suggestive parallel world starting from an untuned piano, a dusty typewriter and stacks of poems.
The project is a sythesis of the band with a metamorphic dancer and video. It had its premiere in Hamburg, and was also performed in London and at the Ruhr Triennale
My favorite were the british Kitty, Daisy and Lewis from Durham:
They present a veried potpourri of blues, country, and rock and roll.
They have performed at live shows at many famous festivals like Glastonbury, Lowlands, Rock Am Ring, and as an opening act for Coldplay, to just name a few.
They are all multi instumentalists playing guitar, piano, banjo, lapsteel guitar, harmonica, double bass, ukulele, drums, trombone, xylophone and accordion between them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDoDQTIwyig
Another of my favorites, Samantha Crain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cssvT1W4c8
A descendent of Coctaw Indians from Oklahoma, she might have been labled a protest singer in the time when there still were protest singers.
The highlight of the literature part was Ryan Gattis. He read from his latest novel  All Involved. It is based on the riots in Los Angeles in 1992. The reading was accompanied by music of Stef van Es

Bewilder, a dutch band which tries the bridge from country and folk with Indie riffs.
and their guitarist
The guitarist of the babe rainbow from Austalia...
Their debut album is to be released next year

Coming up:

PAARD, Den Haag
FRI, 8.1.          CORB LUND, country-rock from Canada
WED, 20.1.     SASS JORDAN, canadian rock diva, "as if Tina Turner and Janis Joplin walked
                        together..."
FRI, 29.1.       RESERVOIR DOGS BANG BANG, Spaghetti western rock
THU, 11.2.      KING OF THE WORLD, dutch blues by well known faces
SAT, 20.2.       MALA VIDA,  Dutch south european rock
FRI, 26.2.        MARINA & THE DIAMONDS, one of Mike's all time favorites

TIVOLI, Utrecht
SUN, 31.1.     PATTI GRIFFIN, a great voice
SUN, 28.2.     CANTECA DE MACAO, a light version of the Gipsy Kings
WED, 2.3.      FRED EAGLESMITH, folk from Canada

ROTOWN, Rotterdam
SUN, 24.1.     HIDDEN CHARMS, i would not say it sounds like the kinks, but....
SAT, 30.1.      MAISON DE MALHEUR, V11, finest blues rock

PARADISO, Amsterdam
MON, 11.1.    WISHBONE ASH, legendary british rock band

MELKWEG, Amsterdam
THU, 14.1.     ZITA SWOON GROUP, belgian pop
SUN, 14.2.     TONIGHT ALIVE, Punk pop
SUN, 6.3.      10CC, well known

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