Pop acts

Wait. Let me get back to the Miss Platnum show I copped out of yesterday. She does pop with a heavily Balkan tinge. My difficulty with this is: I have seen Fanfare Ciocarlia. They take no prisoners. Their music is wild and woolly, but still they have no problem with a mainstream audience, on the contrary, even uptight folks like me start shaking their booty. Their kind of music has nothing to gain from being translated into a pop act. So it’s all about that pop act gaining some recognisability. It’s no more than a shtick, even if Miss Platnum was born in Romania. She has the reputation of being a good live act, but that just depends on her repetition of all the trappings that come with a stadium act on a mid-sized stage. We watch a choreography pummelled along by more than able musicians who probably keep their creativity for after-hours sessions. I find that so sad.

I’m telling you this, because Miss Platnum is from the Berlin scene, which I think I understand well enough to insinuate motives. I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing the same to Dobet Gnahoré. She has huge stage presence. She plays in various African styles and sings in a handful of languages. Her band saves all creativity for another moment (and I don’t say that because they’re French, I once heard Amadou & Mariam backed by three French musicians in a little club, and it was one of my best concert experiences ever). The music aspires to the grand stage and it communicates at a remove, the immaculate execution of a gesture more important than the sound itself (which was pretty good).

But I must say, she had a well-oiled machinery on stage, there’s no denying that.

Maybe the stream was sufficient remove and you all just sat there bobbing your heads, wondering what I’m talking about. Or maybe we’d agree if only you could figure out what the hell I’m talking about. Oh my, comes with the words.

Good night, Lutz