The Gotan Project Live at L'Olympia Hall, Paris

The Gotan Project is playing again at the Brixton Academy on November 3rd. Get tickets now. If there aren't any left, find someone with tickets and bribe, steal, blackmail. Whatever it takes.

Their gig at L'Olympia in Paris last Thursday was preceded by a set from Martinique singer-songwriter David Walters, an impressive one-man band fusing French song with Afro-Caribbean rhythms, using a mix of guitar, drums and synths. Walters was followed by a set of five jazzed up tangos on piano.

After a 20-minute set change, The Gotan Project came on, dressed all in white suits and red ties. The line-up included MCs Philippe Cohen Solal and Christoph H. Müller, bandoneón player Nini Flores, guitarist Eduardo Makaroff, pianist Gustavo Beytelmann, and vocalist Cristina Vilallonga, backed by a string quartet. The group's renowned visuals threatened to cause some embarrassment at the opening of Diferente; nobody wants to start a concert with a giant screen behind them saying "No signal"! But eventually the techie gods got it straight, and the projection for the Diferente video came on (it's cool, by the way, you can check it out on their website). The latest album, Lunático, is named after Carlos Gardel's racehorse, and the title track was appropriately accompanied by a black and white projection of a race track. The gig included tracks from their new album, with excellent smokey vocals from Vilallonga, and tracks from La Revancha del Tango. Particular highlights were a medley of El Capitalismo Foráneo and Vuelvo al Sur played over each other, and a cool extended version of Tríptico. Mí confesión was definitely the most original number, featuring Argentine rap artists Apolo Novax and Chili Parker projected onto see-through screens above the band.

All in all, an excellent evening. Can't wait for my copy of Lunático!

See also:

• Gotan
• Project
• Paris

The Gotan Project Live at the Barbican, London

On the tail-end of their Lunático tour, The Gotan Project performed at the Barbican a day after winning at the Radio 3 World Music Awards in the Club Global category, which sounds more like something you might want your airline to upgrade you to. The set was a slightly toned down version of their Paris gig and suffered from being in a seating venue and an audience that had probably never heard the band live before. Row K was particularly boring. Despite this, the performance was a typically cool Gotan Project affair, with the white suits and silk gowns, slightly bizarre visuals and irrepressible mix of crazy DJing, virtuosic playing and tango.

The band finished with an encore of Libertango played over the backtrack of Diferente, which was, well, different. The extended Lunático album with three bonus tracks and two videos is now available. Everyone go out and grab a copy!

Viva la revolución!

Fellow workers in the Global Struggle,

Be comforted, for a dinner was held in your honour this May 1st weekend, to remember your plight and call for social reform! This was a celebration of culinary peasantry throughout the globe. Not a single stack in sight. The menu was gourmet peasant, to cater for the needs of the modern revolutionary. For various reasons, the menu, which was to include spring onion pancakes (Chinese peasantry) and humitas (Pampas socialism), underwent some last minute changes. For one, that evil oppressor (Sainsbury's) refuses to sell husked corn; I imagine they think those darned capitalists have no time for such plebeian tasks as removing the husk off their corn (what, you can afford to ship the darn thing all the way from the US, but you can't leave even half a husk on??).

Instead, on the menu were Guatemalan coffee, roasted corn kernels, pam amb tomaquet (Catalan socialism), platanos con queso (Colombian revolution, albeit with Canadian cheddar, but never mind, eh?), moros y cristianos (Fidel's recipe), coconut curry with okra, long beans and butternut squash (broadly representing socialism spanning Kerala and eastwards), stir-fried asparagus with roasted tomato (budget socialism - hey, they were a pound for two bunches!) and chilli chocolate soufflé (ermm... French socialism with a Zapatista twist...?).

Roasted corn kernels

The revolutionary loaf

Platano con queso

Social reform on banana leaf

Budget socialism

Chilli chocolate soufflé (oh, what drama!)

Rage Against the Machine was listened to and due contemplation was given to the speeches of Fidel and the writings of Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos. There was much ranting about fair-trade coffee, evil corporations, the medicalization of society, telemarketing, the dire state of customer services, banks, scientific imperialism, bike theft, North London's snails. Anything else I've left out?

Viva la Revolución playlist:

1. Queremos Paz - Gotan Project

2. Calm Like A Bomb - Rage Against The Machine

3. Haiti - The Arcade Fire

4. Cochise - Audioslave

5. Buffalo Soldier - Bob Marley & The Wailers

6. Mystery of Iniquity - Lauryn Hill

7. Zombie - The Cranberries

8. Bullet In The Head - Rage Against The Machine

9. El Capitalismo Foraneo - Gotan Project

10. Mr Intentional - Lauryn Hill

11. Fight The Power - Public Enemy

12. Combat Baby - Metric

13. Battle Without Honor Or Humanity - Tomoyasu Hotei

14. Power To The People - Public Enemy

15. Ready Or Not - The Fugees

16. I Shot The Sheriff - Bob Marley & The Wailers

17. Take The Power Back - Rage Against The Machine

18. Rebel - Lauryn Hill

19. Rebellion - The Arcade Fire

20. Beautiful Struggle - Talib Kweli

21. Guerrilla Radio (Live) - Rage Against The Machine

22. Exodus - Bob Marley & The Wailers

23. Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

24. Freedom Time - Lauryn Hill

25. Bells Of War - Wu-Tang Clan

26. Wake Up - Rage Against The Machine

27. Melting Pot - The Roots

Liberty!
Democracy!
Justice!

Faust

It's not often that one gets a 94% discount on Grand Tier tickets to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, so who was I to miss out? Yesterday was the last night of David McVicar's production of Gounod's Faust, a veritable all-singing, all-dancing feast of the patriotic, divine, infernal and downright macabre. Faust marked soprano Katie van Kooten's début in the role of Marguerite, the chaste heroine who falls for the protagonist's charms and is ostracized after bearing his illegitimate child. van Kooten was by far the best of the soloists, with an unforced, silky, clear voice that seemed equally comfortable throughout the range. This was a stark comparison with Piotr Beczala's Faust, who took a while to warm up and went on some very off-key excursions in Act I. Orlin Anastassov was excellent as Méphistophélès, deftly disguising his evil intentions with playful charm. Della Jones as Marthe Schwerlein was, however, a huge disappointment, with some very forced vocals and poor French.

The choruses were a highlight of the evening, all excellent and visually stunning, particularly Gloire immortelle at the start of Act IV, with shameless trooping and waving of the tricolore that had you wishing for the 1812 overture, cannons, and a fat lady singing La Marseillaise.

But the evening will be remembered for the grotesque creatures of the underworld: break-dancing demons, can-can dancers in Satan's cabaret and vulgar, slithering, spitting, tutu-wearing, ballet-dancing witches, shamelessly prancing, mooning, feigning orgies and sneering at the guilt-laden Faust in cruel mockery. The grandiose scale was facilitated by some elaborate and imaginative sets, including an on-stage cathedral organ, Marguerite's first floor balcony, and a mock Giselle set for the dancing witches.

All in all, one of the best 94% discounts you'll ever get!

Incidentally, I've been making good use of my Barbican membership, having booked tickets for six other things this week! So here are some reviews for you to look forward to:

The Gotan Project (l'Olympia Hall, Paris, Oct 5th)
Yasmin Levy (Union Chapel Islington, Oct 18th)
Qawwali Flamenco (Barbican Hall, Oct 23rd)
Madredeus (Barbican Hall, Nov 2nd)
Michel Camalo and Tomatito (Barbican Hall, Nov 15th)
Shostakovich 10 & 12, Mariinsky/Gergiev (Barbican Hall, Dec 6th)
Romeo & Juliet, Mokhwa Repertory Company (Barbican Theatre, Dec 7th)
Bach's St. John's Passion, Collegium Vocale Gent/Herreweghe (Barbican Hall, Apr 5th)
Murray Perahia (Barbican Hall, Apr 23rd)

See also:

• Faust
• opera
• Royal
• Opera
• House
• London