Hugh Masekela, the legendary South African jazz musician, has died aged 78. I am feeling so blessed that I had a time and chance to go and enjoy his most recent performances in the UK. Given his vitality and the steam going out of the stage I wouldn’t even think about that we can be loosing him so soon forever.

Here cones a challenge with this interpretation. Truth Glenn Miller fans might risk dying of the heart palpitation if getting exposed to the tracks for longer  when those who are dedicated fans of the Scandinavian band would probably shrug with disbelieving. Or just smile ready for fun. Whatever sort of fun is is going to be, forget the ballroom and leave your Tuxedo at home or you might risk getting it ragged.

Originally released in January 1980, the second album from (Crammed founder) Marc Hollander’s band was more intense and experimental than Aksak Maboul’s debut album yet often as playful. Containing complex written sections, free improv, and a wild variety of elements, Bandits was recorded with a band comprising revered UK musicians Fred Frith & Chris Cutler, and is described by All Music Guide as “a pinnacle of the RIO movement” (RIO being Rock In Opposition, the late-‘70s radical, pan-European coalition of bands, of which Aksak Maboul was part). The album reached #3 in the NME’s top ten European albums of 1980 (afterYello and The Nits, before Steve Reich and Faust!).

For 20 years Rune Grammofon have made a habit of releasing music that is beyond easy classification, in later years typified by Swedish trio Fire!, consisting of Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin. All three are highly accomplished musicians, but Fire! music is not “difficult” in the sense that jazz and especially free jazz is often perceived. Very much a tight knit unit with three equal players, Fire! has been likened to powerful guitar led trios such as Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, but with Berthling´s heavy, doom laden bass-lines being such a typical identifier, we can´t help but thinking of Black Sabbath´s debut album when it comes to hypnotic impact.

release: 12.1.18

Norwegian guitarist/composer Kim Myhr’s follow-up to the acclaimed ‘Bloom’ presents an oceanic immersion in intensely saturated sound over two separate ‘sides’ featuring guest drummers Tony Buck (The Necks), Ingar Zach (Huntsville, Dans les Arbres) and Hans Hulbaekmo (Atomic, Moskus, Broen)

release: 8.12.17

The Erlend Apneseth Trio’s first album, Det Andre Rommet, earned glowing praise in Norway and abroad, and received both a Norwegian Folk Music Award in the open category and a nomination for Spellemannsprisen (the Norwegian Grammy). The BBC Music Magazine gave it the highest possible rating, and wrote: “The diversity of moods, styles, settings – and the track sequence – make for an enthralling listen.” MOJO praised the trio’s “close, intuitive compositions groaning, roiling and clattering with a raw exploratory life, creating a wild new strain of Norwegian folk tunes that move, appropriately, from sun-dappled utopianism to the bleakest noir netherworld.” Now the trio is returning with a masterly, poetic and surprising album where the musicians sound more cohesive than ever.

This year , unlike the pasts, is a short stay . So this is the closing chapter which contains report from my final day. All good things ,sadly, are coming to the end fast. Too fast in fact, but it’s better than nothing – philosophically saying. One day more left for the others,who have been more lucky 😉 Thanks for your attention Ladies and Gents.

After worming up day first, full of surprises and good vibes the show goes on. Once I am back into routine everything just clicked in and I am feeling great in old good Berlin like in my own home again. Here we got a following report for most of the events fulfilling the Friday night.

Here we are again. That report covers the first day I joined the Fest this year. Meanwhile a couple of gigs happened in the middle of the week days, hence for travellers like myself, impossible to attempt. What is worth mentioning however here is that the both happened in completely new venues for the festival. One is a Lido, known to me as a great place for the rock event and the one which took place there just fit the purpose right. Another is Kirsche am Hohenzollernplatz, so another fantastic venue for acoustic projects. I didn’t see the set there as well, but went to the church to see the place and it really is the fantastic one. That said instead of the preface. Hope you like the report and it makes you interested to find out more about the Fest and the artists involved.

release: 1.12.17

(NB – Nils Økland UK live performance December 13th)

With ‘Lysning’ – in English a clearing or forest glade – the violin and Hardanger fiddle virtuoso and composer Nils Økland has created a landmark recording that counts as his masterpiece thus far. It is also the synthesis and culmination of a long career working between different forms – folk music, art music from the baroque to free improvisation, jazz, rock, whatever – where Økland, who is now 56, has continued to pursue the same questing approach irrespective of the restrictive rules and boundaries used to separate different historical or generic styles. Listening to ‘Lysning’, everything suddenly becomes clear: Nils Økland plays Nils Økland music. Like a very select few contemporary masters – one thinks perhaps of Jordi Savall, Björk, Jan Garbarek – he has become his own genre.