Sold Out Felabration Has Rough Start, Ends On A High

For the fourth time Jungle by Night are organizing Felabration, the annual celebration in honour of Fela Kuti. So far they have been able to come up with great bands and this year this is no different. Next to German band Karl Hector & The Malcouns they were able to book Ethiopean jazz master Mulatu Astatke. Plenty of reasons to join the celebrations again.

Felebration at Paradiso Amsterdam, October 11 2014

The celebrations are off to an early start and we can't make it in time for the beginning. Unfortunately this means we miss most of Karl Hector & The Malcouns' performance and walk in during their last song.



Mulatu Astatke
I'm glad though that we're on time to see Mulatu Astatke and his great band. After their wonderful performance at the Into The Great Wide Open festival last month I'm ready for a lot more. Unfortunately the sounds is absolutely awful and Mulatu's vibraphone is almost impossible to hear. The sound engineer must have been sleeping since it doesn't really improve and the sound stays pretty band throughout their performance. Mulatu and some of his band members are sometimes looking desperately in the direction of the monitor engineer, so I'm guessing things are sounding bad for them as well.



It doesn't get them down though and the band are trying their hardest to play a good show. The Ethiopean master is sometimes explaining what composition they were playing, but this is hard to understand. You can tell he has composed sound tracks since some of the songs sound cinematic. In other compositions you hear why he's performing here tonight, when the songs are explosive and percussive. The skill of these musicians and the strength of the compositions make their performance beat the miserable sound.

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Jungle By Night
Things are different when Jungle By Night take the stage. Maybe the settings of the sound table were saved only for their performance, since there don't seem to be any problems during their performance. The young boys are once again in a festive mood and totally turn the night into a celebration. By now they can turn any venue into a party and get any crowd to move. Where their older songs are typical afrobeat songs, the songs of the new album are so much more. What they have in common is that they all sounds exciting and are played with a lot of heart.



The boys are firing up the willing crowd and are totally killing it tonight. And of course they go out with a blow, when all musicians of the night are joining in on the ultimate Fela Kuti song 'Zombie'. Kuti himself would have loved to be on this stage himself.

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Into The Great Wide Open 2014 Day 3: Lovely Ending

Time seems to stand still on this island, except it really doesn't. It's the last day of the festival and the sun is treating us to some of its last sun rays this summer. Time to suck up some more festival vibes.

Into The Great Wide Open Day 3, September 8 2014



Mulatu Astatke
By the time we arrive at the main stage, Ethiopian jazz master Mulatu Astatke has already started his set. Jazz may not be everyone's cup of tea but the percussive music of the wonderful Astatke is hard not to like. His band is a delight to watch, as they convincingly play his swinging compositions with lots of enthusiasm. The master himself is looking content and is watching the band, the crowd and the surroundings with a smile on his face.

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The Mysterons
Several Jungle By Night members have formed a side project, The Mysterons, no doubt at the conservatory. It's totally different from their swinging afrobeat band. It starts off with some songs that remind of Portishead, which isn't that surprising since 'Mysterons' is a song by them. I'm not a fan of that Bristol sound, but singer Josephine van Schaik's voice sounds impressive and the band is playing creative music. Then the songs turn more into seventies style rock songs and van Schaik proves she can handle that as well. The band are changing tempo and time measures with great ease. It may prove to be too much for some, but I'm loving this. I'm going to watch this band closely and am looking forward to their EP later this year.

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Ezra Furman
We decide to hang around at the sports field and take it more slow. Ezra Furman is performing there and is playing catchy rock 'n roll songs. Furman's glasses have broken but he decides to keep wearing them, which makes him look like a character from Revenge Of The Nerds. However I don't really like his voice which isn't great and sounds like he's putting too much cheese on it. Also the rest of the band isn't looking exactly inspired. Especially sax player Tim Sandusky seems to be thinking about his shopping list instead of playing music. Probably it's all an act but it is putting me down, which can never be the idea. The best song in their set is The Clash cover 'Train In Vain' which says it all.

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Unknown Mortal Orchestra
It's a surprising spot in the schedule for Unknown Mortal Orchestra on the main stage on the middle of the day. To me this is one of the highlights in the program and Ruban Nielson and co don't disappoint. Nielson is focused and his psychedelic and grooving solos are superb. The trippy and freaky songs may not go down well with everyone, considering the half empty field, but it doesn't really matter. Once again I'm impressed with this virtuoso band. Although I think a spot in the dark in the dunes would have made it even more impressive. I can't wait for their next album and a proper club show.

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Typhoon
Dutch rapper Typhoon had quite a year. He released a highly acclaimed album earlier and totally killed it on the main stage at the Lowlands festival a few weeks ago. The organization are well aware that he's the perfect closing act of the festival. The field in front of the main stage is full of people who want to dance in the sun shine one more time. Typhoon has no problem making that happen. Hip hop and rap simply aren't my cup of tea, so we watch it all from a distance while working our way through a delicious pot of mussels. A magical moment happens when a woman is carried slowly towards the stage, as if she's floating above the crowd. At the end the charismatic Typhoon is totally killing it with his great band.



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This edition ends on a high and before we know it we're on the boat that is taking us back to reality. This festival seems to get better every year. And although it will be hard again to get tickets for next year, we are definitely going to make sure we're there again.

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Into The Great Wide Open 2014 Day 0 + 1
Into The Great Wide Open 2014 Day 2

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