Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Sidi Caravan in Gent

Kultuurkaffee Twee Poorten, Gent, Belgium
Friday 7th July, 2017

My Flemish musical brother Sven's band Caravan had been dormant for quite a few years, this was their comeback gig, at the last "cultural" squat in Gent. He and drummer Geert have re-envisioned the band so their set consisted of a build-up starting with Sven solo with a guitar (Diamanda Galas' version of "Let My People Go"), then Sven + Geert + sequenced backing tracks, then a full band with Sven, Geert + double bass and accordion. Amazing stuff, lots of Flemish humour, some Columbian cumbia, some wild, raw Tinariwen-style electric guitar jamming from Sven. A lot of people came out of the woodwork for this one, remembering the band fondly from years ago. A triumphant return.

Our mutual friends Alan and Inge were both around for this gig, plus Funkey and Mickey from the Oort Cloud days came over from Sint-Niklaas, so it was a bit like time-travelling back to the 90s. The cigarette smoke was a bit much, but such a good atmosphere (in the non-gaseous sense) that I was prepared to put up with that. Old-school squat vibes.

Sidi Caravan's set was followed by an open jam (which had some great post-rock-type moments with some excellent trumpet playing involved), and then me playing a four-hour DJ set (1-5a.m.!) as Professor Appleblossom, something Sven had arranged many weeks before. I think that was the highlight of my DJing experiences thus far. I had the whole place jumping throughout (a lot of Afro, Ethio, funk, soul, soul-jazz, dub and rockers), no technical problems, great vibes from everyone, hugs and handshakes and big smiles from almost everyone who had to leave before I ended my set. The people who run Twee Poorten were delighted (dancing behind the bar), telling me that I'd perfectly captured the spirit of their place. So, a success. I wish I'd recorded my set now so I could post it. Big up Alan for tolerating the (by this time very thick) tobacco smoke permeating the air for so many hours, wanting to be there for my set.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

it was a gas <3

9:02 AM  

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