Enjoying the City
Last Saturday (21st Feb) I and a friend enjoyed music and culture for the price of bus fare (if you exclude the coffee and cake indulgence).
We joined an eclectic group of friends, tourists, locals and theatre goers in the National Theatre Foyer. They have free concerts every evening Monday-Saturday in the ‘Djanology Concert Pitch’. That Saturday the fabulous musicians were Errol Linton and Jean Pierre Lampe.
Under their names it simply said ‘Blues and Reggae’, which in the words of one review of them I have since read, are ‘unlikely bedfellows’, yet done successfully.
Errol and Jean Pierre were a delicious blend of harmonica and double bass.
In addition to this Errol was foot stamping, singing and did a stint on the piano. Jean-Pierre held nothing back, evidenced by the sweat that washed his face.
Errol mentions at one point that they are usually a 5-piece band. I am glad it was just the two of them. They had a harmonic distinctiveness that was so engaging.
The eye contact between them was effortlessly artless, showing them to be a proper partnering of talent. Vibing off each other and giving us the listeners, musical synergy which was sweet to the ear. Enjoy your city!
People of every hue were joined together in the enjoyment. Feet tapping, heads bobbing, bodies swaying, almost in complete unison. People were sat wherever they could find space, changing position, shuffling along to make more room, dipping in for a bit, staying the course. It could be described as poetry in motion.
I berated myself once again for not making more use of this kind of an opportunity. Stuff like this handed to me on a plate, and in the present financial climate. Come on!
