...well I woke up one morning..
If you have never seen
the film 'Black Orpheus', go and find it. It is a re-working of the
tragic Eurydice and Orpheus story by the director Marcel Camus and
mainly takes place in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Throughout the
movie, the phenomenal sound track - which you will love - is an incessant, driving, emotional
mix of subtle and vibrant rhythms, bossa nova and powerful, moody and
soulful song all working overtime, as the traditional Greek chorus
would have done in the original story.
The reason I raise
this, apart from the stunning award winning musical score, is to
encourage you into getting round to watching the final scene. Without
being a spoiler, I can tell you that at the very end after the loss
of our tragic hero, a small child attempting to emulate his musical
guide Orfeu before him, takes his guitar up to a hill top at dawn and
there, he plays and as if by magic, sure enough, he makes the sun rise. If ever there
was a filmic nod to the power of music, then this was it. If you have
tears, prepare to shed them now.
The Hat is wondering
how many of us came to our music like that innocent child, sitting
alongside, hanging around and watching a seemingly masterful musical
hero, who could conjure magic and make it seem both a wondrous thing
yet, somehow, attainable when you grow up one day. Where exactly do
we get our views, our musical advice, the early judgements about
quality and style, the ever inquisitive taste buds that make us
devour what we think is good and reject what we think is dross? Do we
just pick up music hot stuff by osmosis on our travels? Can you even
remember? Are you a 'game for anything, give it a whirl' kinda guy?
Does it just come out of the woodwork from nowhere, like Bill Haley
or Jerry Lee Lewis and bash us in the brain? Are we like those meeja
people who bang on using long words and impenetrable claptrap about
art and then say 'I know what I like and I don't like that'? Or, more
likely - as I suspect may be the case for many of us - do we
acquire, as we start to travel down that twisty musical road, some 'mentors',
musical ear-whisperers who somehow seem to have a line into what we
might like and nudge us in the direction of their own preferences and
prejudices?
As a writer, The Hat
has mentioned before the importance of listening to the views of
those you respect. You do not have to like those views but you need
to understand where they came from and why. If one of those people
recommends a book, more often than not, it is worth reading....and of
course, the wonderful thing about reading is where it will lead you.
Like music, a book can take you anywhere. For example, Hemingway and
Laurie Lee will open up avenues of understanding to war and travel,
history, love and passion. O'Casey and Carson McCullers will take you
into dark corners of heart-break and the power of political
commitment. The list is endless. Similarly, with music – and it
doesn't matter who they are – radio disc jockey, teacher, your
parents, another musician, Uncle Chris or Grandad - if someone takes
you by the hand and leads you to the dark brown voices of Broonzy,
Ella, Etta, Josh White and Muddy or the keyboards of Otis Spann,
Tatum and Booker, the absolute certainty is that they will unlock the
door to a thousand other even more exciting places. The mesmeric
back rhythms of Manu Chao, Santana and Shelley Manne may pass you by
unless, somewhere down the line, you brushed up against one of those
lovely insistent hand-waving friends who are always drumming on
tables with their knife and fork....and from there...who knows where
your journey will take you? The Deep South? Chicago? Brazil? a Hebridean musical stramash? South
London Jazz Clubs? a French Hot Club? New Orleans via Louisiana
Zydeco and Doctor John? Hell yeah, love 'em all if you've got
time....
The wonderful erratic
randomness of that early journey is something we can all remember and
recall with great pleasure as we ricochet our way round the musical
landscape admiring some things as we pass and stopping off for ever
in our favourite places. You may have more than one whisperer, more
than one kindly guide and later in life you will look back and thank
them all – while, of course, still asking questions. Sure, you can
do it by yourself, but it's more fun if you've got someone in your
corner prodding you into new journeys and amazing places.....
It is never too late to
discover new stuff. There is never enough room in The Hat's day to
fit it all in. Ask a friend today and open your mind. You may well
finish up sitting on a hill top listening to Miles Davis or Keith
Jarrett, The California Honeydrops, Howlin' Wolf, Joe Pass or Sonny
Boy.....and of course, as if by magic, the sun will rise at dawn
especially for you....
Pip Pip!
The Blues Man in The Hat