A year ago I was in Laos. Ah, nothing but good memories of the place! I finally uploaded a picture set on Flickr (click on the picture above to view it).
It’s funny, the first thing people seem to buy when they get electricity in Laos, is a giant soundsystem (not a small living room hi-fi set, I’m talking big ass speakers here) to belch out cowbell-heavy Thai pop tunes at a deafeningly loud volume, all day long. Or at least till the power runs out.
Enjoy!
Last Thursday we played our second show with Jean-Mikili. Here’s a video of us performing “Les Comores”. I hope you will appreciate the Kinshasa-style sound and image quality of the clip. Also, from now on, I think I will always enquire about the colour of the backdrop beforehand, so I can wear a matching sweater and be invisible, except for my hands and face. Good times!
Tonight I had the honour to see the first concert of good friend Nilo’s new band ‘Jean-Mikili’. As the self proclaimed power trio who performs French music, topped with Congolese sauce, the music was not always very orthodox, but ensured a good mood for all!
The room was diverse - the dance moves were varied - and the toe tapping shoes were suitably assorted!
Toe-tapping, head-nodding, and even some full on dancing! Next chance to catch up with the Jean-Mikili Experience: this Thursday, 8:30 pm at Coiffure Liliane. We’ll be playing with a true legend of Belgian pop music: Pipou, the crazy conga man in this video! And also, the author of the lyrics of the only interstellar hit ever to come out of this country, Ca Plane Pour Moi. (Yes, it was lip-synched by Plastic Bertrand, sung by Lou Depryck (the singer in Two Man Sound), but written by Pipou. Actually, the version in real Brusseleir dialect by Plastichke is so much better).
At BXL Midi. St Pancras it ain’t.
Last week I posted a small video post about Sadhana Forest, the place where I spent last Christmas and New Year a year ago. Turns out that two days later, they got badly hit by a cyclone and most of their infrastructure was destroyed. (Find out more about it here.) Which is, needless to say, a pretty major bummer. I promise I will never call them hippies again, and wish them good luck with the rebuilding.
In these politically correct days, kids no longer receive chocolate cigarettes but “chocolate flavoured sticks” that look like wax crayons. Gross.
Last year I spent Christmas and New Year far away from home, in the community of Sadhana Forest in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. Sadhana Forest is a reforestation and water conservation project, and they host up to a hundred volunteers living in the community. At times, it was all a bit hippie-ish (the hand drums! the handicrafts!), and some of their rules/principles I didn’t really agree with. But even though I only spent two weeks there, it was a truly special place to spend some time at. It makes you think a lot about our consumption patterns, the way the world is being exploited, and points out options for more ethical, sustainable choices. You or me and probably not even Sadhana Forest can never change the world (well maybe, if Sadhana keeps growing and expanding to other places, it could), but what you can do is change your own life, some of the choices you make, and as Sadhana does, at community level, you can definitely create your own better world, and then maybe spread that vibe (for lack of a better word) to others.
So let’s say that’s my little positive message for the coming year. Cheers!
