Babel Med Music 2010: Oneira 6tet

So as I mentioned in the last post, during the day at Babel Med Music, there is an conference for international music professionals. During this time I wandered about the conference looking at different booths, sitting in on different panels, and having discussions with interesting creative people, munching little aperitifs, and taking in little mini-concert showcases that were happening around the conference hall.

Since Babel Med was being held in Marseille, there were special showcases in the afternoon of artists who come from the PACA region. PACA is the region in France where Marseille is located, it stands for Provence Alpes Cote d’Azure. The group Oneira 6tet, who combine Greek, Iranian and French musical traditions, was to me, the most impressive of the featured PACA Region artists (they are based near Marseille).

I recorded three of the songs they performed and this was the one that stuck out to me the most when I reviewed my footage... I love the lead singer’s warbling voice and the way that there is a dialogue between her voice and the lyra (stringed instrument that is being played). After the performance, I was able to ask the lyra player a few questions about his instrument (I’m still searching for his name as it seems that he was a guest artist at this show—will add his info it ASAP). He explains some of the origins of the lyra, its importance as part of classical Ottoman music, and the technique with by which it is played. Enjoy!

p.s. This is my first attempt at shooting and editing my own footage with my little Flip camera... hope you like it!




http://www.myspace.com/oneira1

Stay Tuned for Posts About Babel Med Music in Marseille!

Hey everyone... just wanted to keep you up to date and let you know that I am soon to be posting a series of interviews/live footage/commentary taken during Babel Med Music in Marseille last weekend. Babel Med Music is an international music festival and professional conference that takes place every year in Marseille, France. This year since I'm teaching English not too far from Marseille, I decided to check it out. Over three days there was a gathering of thousands of international music professionals and 30 different awesome concerts open to the public every night. I was able to get in some great interviews with artists like Vieux Farka Toure from Mali, Amazigh from Algeria, Papa Wemba from DR Congo, and Mami Bastah from Madagascar along with other cool exchanges and interviews with people participating in the fest! Stay tuned for the updates! :-)