On Stage: Fatoumata Diawara @ Paradiso

Malian artist Fatoumata Diawara had to leave her country to become a an actress. Or actually to stay one, since she was already performing when she was young. In the very religious Mali her parents didn't want her to sing and act, but instead she should start a family like a good devout young woman is supposed to. In France her acting career took off and she taught herself to play the guitar. She recorded two solo albums and her amazing talent didn't stay unnoticed for long. Now she's returning to Paradiso where I saw her several years ago.

Fatoumata Diawara at Paradiso Amsterdam, November 17 2019

Diawara is a very charismatic artist that spreads a lot of energy and good vibes. Her wonderful voice and beautiful smile is winning over everyone within no time. Her lovely songs are about the many problems Africa faces, including her homeland Mali, but also about the positive things happening there. Sometimes she introduces a song with a small story about its background. This is not only very interesting but also necessary since she sings mostly in the Malian language Wassoulou and I don't know what the songs are about.

Her band consists of very skilled musicians, that play the songs with a lot feeling. The African style songs really come alive on this cold November night here in Paradiso and bring the African sun instead. Diawara is the radiating centre of this band, who is firing up the crowd and her band members, moving around stage all the time. Her African dancing is full of energy, wildly tossing her hair around. At the same time she's showing her guitar skills, playing impressive solos.

With only two albums out, there still is a large variety in sound. There are highlife and afro-beat songs, folk songs, intimate ballads and uptempo dance tunes. All the time it has this lovely West-African vibe that I love so much with the playful tingling guitar lines. Diawara is making everyone clap along, dance along and jump along with her as she's leading with a big smile on her face.

Every musician gets a chance to show his amazing skills with impressive solos. The bassist makes his bass growl and slaps the hell out of it during his solo. The guitar player is going Jimi Hendrix and the drummer copies every line Diawara sings to his drum kit. After finishing the set, Diawara is not allowed to leave without playing an encore and of course she is happily returning to the stage for one more song, inviting some people over to dance with her. We can be really thankful she had the courage to chase her dreams.

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On Stage: Monomyth @ Melkweg

From The Hague dwells the psych rock band Monomyth who operate far from the mainstream with their krautrock soundscapes. I've been following the band for quite a while but haven't seen them play live a lot. For some reason I keep missing them whenever they are visiting a venue close by. This year they released their fourth LP Orbis Quadrantis and I get a new chance to see the quintet on stage.

Monomyth at Melkweg Amsterdam, November 15 2019

On the four records the band likes to explore new grounds and doesn't restrict themself too much. You can clearly hear this tonight when they take us on a tour through their catalogue. The four songs of their new album are spread across the setlist and they play at least one song from the other ones. Heavy grooving rock songs are alternating with more light Pink Floyd like soundscapes with wonderful solos from guitarist Boudewijn Bonebakker.

When Peter van der Meer and Tjerk Stoop swap guitars for keys and other electronic sounds, the band takes off into space and flies by unexplored galaxies. When bassist Selwyn Slop and drummer Sander Evers flex their muscles, the sound becomes heavy with a thundering roar and powerful grooves. The band will always take their time though, patiently building up their songs, stretching them out to long soundscapes with repeating elements. Most songs last for a minute or ten, at least.

This is what makes their music so strong, the repeating grooves and riffs that put you in a trance, while the solos make sure it never gets boring. Sometimes they will work their way up to several climaxes, that are greeted by loud cheers of the crowd at the small stage all the way at the top of Melkweg. This band has found a unique sound and created a whole world all by themself. Their records prove the creativity and talent of the group, that sounds even better live on stage when the music comes alive and sounds even more deep. I hope to catch them more often when they come to visit in the future.

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On Stage: TaxiWars @ THT

After a successful club tour with dEUS celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Ideal Crash, Tom Barman is on the road again. This time he shares the stage with his buddies from TaxiWars, the exciting jazz combo he already released two albums with.

TaxiWars at Paradiso THT Amsterdam, November 9 2019

The band has just released their new LP Artificial Horizon and are doing a club tour around it. The last time I saw them three years back they were playing the small Bitterzoet venue, but this time they have moved to the larger Paradiso North which has filled up nicely. It’s not that common that jazz quartets fill up venues like this, especially when they are not world famous.

It’s for a good reason though, since it is a lot of fun seeing this band play. Robin Verheyen is playing amazing and expressive solos on his tenor sax, really blowing the most crazy notes. Most of the songs also have stunning grooves, that are really funky and give the tracks a sense of agitation. Both bass player Nicolas Thys and drum player Antoine Pierre make these grooves sound so good and make them stand out.

Barman uses theses grooves for his lyrics that he’s singing and talk singing, this way emphasising the agitation. At the same time he’s doing funky dances around stage. Clearly he’s totally into it, continuing his dancing even when he’s watching from the side, when the band leads into a solo. It’s really nice to see how this group loves playing together.

Verheyen is sometimes switching to piano for slower songs or to add an extra layer to the groove. Some songs are almost funky pop tunes spiced up with jazz. The quartet shows a lot of creativity in their music, that could easily feature in one of David Lynch’s movies. Tonight this venue turns into a smoky jazz club from a film noir movie for one and a half hour, and it's wonderful.

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