Lo-fi video, hi-fi fun, broadband on the dance floor

Blue skies, sunshine,.... I hope you are all making the most of the summer sunshine and have been boosting your vitamin D levels, and if, like me, you are part-vampire and nocturnal, I hope you've been keeping in the shade.

It's back to the Balkans for me

This week I've found some pretty old and previously unpublished video for you of that great gypsy ska punk folk band from Oxford, The Balkan Wanderers. This reloaded collection dates back to a real fun night in 2014 when they played at Klub Kakofanney.

The Balkan Wanderers line-up consisted of Antica on vocals, Stuart on guitar, Marc on bass, Clare on clarinet, and Rene on drums. Dance along with the frantic-paced music and tell people its your lockdown exercises.

Two bottles of wine

Here is an even older bit of low-res but neverthess fun video, this time from Jason Webley and The Rev Payton Damm Big Band. This is a great example of what you can do with a video camera, a great song, a bunch of drunken extroverts, and two bottles of wine. And for a bonus point, how many languages are mentioned in this song?

I reckon the bonus point answer is 33 but rather like the Rollright Stones, whenever I count them I never get the same answer twice. German, Afrikaans, Dutch, Welsh, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, Thai, Swahili, Uzbek, Sanskrit, Latin, Spanglish, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovenian, Albanian, Polish, Irish, Danish, Finnish, Aramaic, Urdu, Cantonese, Portuguese, Javanese, Slovak, Esperanto, Mandarin, and French. Now that's being international.

The music of friendship

Did you know that a couple of days ago, Thursday 30th July, it was International Day Of Friendship? These commemorative days on the international calendar are largely meaningless, and this one was no exception although its stated aims are laudable: "encourage activities that include different cultures and promote international understanding and respect for diversity".

This got me thinking about music. I could think of a lot of love songs in pop music. There's just no end of syrup-drenched songs, and even more minor key composiitons heavy on the drama of unrequited love, but friendship songs are few and far between? What would your choice of friendship song be? I imagine a lot of people would choose Count On Me, by Bruno Mars, or maybe you would pick the Friends theme song "I'll be there for you", by The Rembrandts. My own choice was something with a bit more buzz. Its this cheesy club mix from twenty years ago. I love the sense of optimism in the lyrics. Who remembers this?

Where would I be?
What would I do?
If you never helped me through....

Your music helps me through, stay safe everyone,

1st August 2020
The Lockdown Letters
Klub Kakofanney