Fez Sacred Music Festival...
The Festival de Fes des musiques sacrees du monde (Fez World Sacred Music Festival) is taking place in Fez until the 16th of June. Part of my reason for chosing to study in Fez during June, was to be able to attend some of the festival. Most of the concerts require tickets, but there are still a fair number of free concerts throughout the city.
I saw a great concert the other night by a group of Tauregs from Timbuktu, Mali. I made two short videos, and although the quality isn't great, the music is amazing. The concert was outside at Dar Tazi, and old house with a beautiful courtyard where the concert was held. The group played on a low stage, and the audience sat on the ground on carpets. The evening concerts start at 23h, so it's dark out, and there's a cool breeze after the heat of the day.


A few nights earlier there was an amazing Qawwali concert by a group from Pakistan who also played at Dar Tazi.

In addition to the free evening concerts, there's also a huge square that has free afternoon concerts at Bab BouJloud. This is probably the most popular set of concerts, because they're free and most Moroccans don't have 400Dh (40Euro) to spare for a concert ticket
Along with the free and paid concerts, there are also a few photography exhibits around town as part of the "Rencontres internationales de la photo". There was an amazing exhibit called "Sons of Abraham" by a photographer named Abbas from Iran.

XinJiang Dancing and KTV...
I know there are a lot of photos from last night but I didn't take my own camera, which makes me a bit afraid to see what photos other people have.
A big group of us started out, late of course because we can never be on schedule, by going out for XinJiang food at one of the best little joints in town. Lots of chuar (beef tendon/ligament and lamb on a stick) followed by two huge steaming plates of potato and beef, and potato and chicken. It's definitely not Chinese food, and reminds me of a big spicy casserole from back home. It's served with long flat noodles and nang bread that you can dip into the sauce.
After dinner a large group of students at another table, from XinJiang and studying at the local uni, pulled out a guitar and started singing a bunch of traditional (drinking?) songs in Uighur. It was really cool to hear, and us foreigners thought it was great (I'll see if the video turned out, and maybe I can post it). One thing led to another and I ended up asking them in Chinese if they knew any English songs. So the Laowai and the XinJiang joined forces to take over the restaurant and belt out a few classics (with the few remaining Han Chinese taking photos on their camera mobile phones). After a few songs we were going to head off to KTV (karaoke) and we were almost ready to go when the guys called me back. They had cleared a few tables out of the way to make a bit of a dance floor in the restaurant and invited us to dance to a traditional XinJiang folk song. How could we say no?

We eventually made it to the KTV joint for a great round of songs (mainly in English), though Bob and I sang a song in Chinese for good measure (that one I posted way back in November). It was too much fun and a shame we had to leave KTV to make curfew while the night was still young and the songs were just getting started.

Music Video...
As an Easter treat for the long weekend back home, which is a not a long weekend here in China, I give to you 菠萝菠萝蜜 ("Pineapple Pineapple Money" -am I missing something here?) by 谢娜 (Xie Nuo). I don't claim to like the song, but I hear it every time I get on the bus so the tune is now stuck in my head. The music video is a bit interesting/weird too, so take 4 minutes out of your life and check it out.

Music Furthest from the Sea...
In light of my recent lesson about World Music (I played songs from various continents and got the students to guess where they were from, it was a great success and many students asked me for the MP3's or the names of the artists), I thought I would post a bit about non-Han Chinese music from China.
I came across a free make-it-yourself CD, including songs and cover art, of Uyghur music on Who Let the Camel Loose?. If you're interested in world music then it's got some great music from the far west of China. Feel free to download it (don't worry about copywrite, we're in China) off the website.

Wish You Get Rich...
A common New Year saying, especially in the south of China, is "恭喜发财" or Gong Xi Fa Cai which means something to the effect of "Wish you get rich". In the West we usually hear it as "Gung Hey Fat Choi", which is actually the Cantonese version.
Here's a music video by Andy Lau, sung in Mandarin, which I've seen on the local buses a few times since I've returned. I don't claim that it's a great music video, just interesting to watch this time of year.


After you've heard it once, you can click on this link to try the KTV (karaoke) version of the song.

Xu Wei...
Here's a music video by Xu Wei (许巍) called "Gift" (礼物). It's not really rock per se, but you can hear a bit more rock influence compared to some of the other music I've posted. I've heard rumours of a more punk/rock Chinese band, but I'll have to find out more for next time.

Jay Chou...
When I first arrived in China I asked my students what English music they knew. Next I asked them what Chinese music I should listen to -what was popular, and what were they interested in.
Without hesitation every student in 30 classes of 70 students shouted "JAY CHOU"!, whose Chinese name is Zhou1Jie2Lun2 (周杰伦). In case you want to know, and he has blood type O and his favourite food is chicken (you'd be surprised what you find on fan sites).
The first music video is called 听妈妈的话 or "Listen to Mother's Words". The first song is a bit slower compared to the second video called 夜的第七章 or "Night of the 7th Chapter". The second video has a bit of a story -a mystery killing and a blue rose. Without further ado, I present Jay Chou.
Ting MaMa de Huo:


Ye de DiQi Zhang:

I'll probably put up some more of his videos in the future.

Random Purchase...
I was in one of my favourite CD/DVD/VCD stores the other day, you know one of those quasi-legal ones, looking around and killing time. Listening to the music while browsing the newly arrived DVD's, I decided that I would buy the CD they were playing. I've never done that before, but extra money in my pocket and CD's being so cheap, why not? So now I'm listening to KanKan's CD 我是侃侃 (I am KanKan). It's quite mellow, and the lyrics aren't too fast so I can follow along with some of it.

Wash Scrub Scrub...
Another one of those songs you can't get out of your head. The group is called "Huar YueDui" or "Flower Band", and the song is "Xi Shua Shua" (嘻唰唰). The name sounds a lot like "Wash Scrub Scrub", but it's different characters. The first character actually means laugh. They play with the fact that the characters sound like wash scrub scrub, as you'll see when they dance with scrub brushes.

If you want to sing along, all you need to know is "Xi shua shua".

Blooming Peach Blossom...
There are a lot of songs that I hear over and over and over again here in China. You hear the same few songs everywhere -cell phone ring tones, in the grocery store, outside a music shop, in the train station, on the radio, in the bus, etc. I finally decided to look up a few of the music videos and here's one for a song that I hear all the time. The song is called "TaoHua DuoDuo Kai" (Blooming Peach Blossom) by "A Niu" (Ah Cow).
In case you want to do some KTV, here's the first few lines of lyrics in PinYin:
-Wo zai zher deng zhe ni huilai
deng zhe ni huilai
kan na taohua kai
wo zai zher deng zhe ni huilai
deng zhe ni huilai
ba na hua er cai

If you're interested in more current/popular Chinese music videos, let me know and I can post a few more.

Dizi...
On the weekend I bought myself a dizi (笛子), a traditional Chinese bamboo flute. I thought that it might be good to give me something to do in my spare time, and at the same time learn a Chinese instrument. It was quite cheap actually, and I got a book (in Chinese) that teaches you how to play and gives a lot of simple melodies. The Chinese system of music notation is quite different from in the West. Instead of the notes (A, B, C, D, etc) they have numbers -1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7- to represent the different notes, and dots above or below the notes to indicate the octave. The numbers are written all on one line, with dashes and lines to represent the length of time that you hold each note. Now I just have to learn how to play more than three notes, and how to get the bamboo membrane attached to the second hole.
If you want to hear what it sounds like, here's a few free sample songs, and here's some info if you want to learn how to play.

MFMF Part II...
I had an amazing weekend at the festival, despite the heat. The music was incredible, I had a fun time volunteering, and the musicians were great. I was surprised by how many francophones there were at the festival -both performers and spectators. I was able to help out a few of the musicians who didn't speak much English. It's always fun to see their reaction when they find out that I speak French and I'm not from Quebec or France.

MFMF...
Tonight was the start of the Mission Folk Music Festival, which I'm volunteering in this year for the first time. I'm helping out in performer services, mainly storing instruments for the musicians before or after they perform. I checked in tonight to get my ID and take a crash course in lock up. I also ended up driving Kekele, a French speaking group originally from the Congo, back to their hotel. I'm looking forward to hearing them perform tomorrow night.
There's a bunch of groups performing tomorrow afternoon that I'm looking forward to before I start my shift at 8:00PM. It should be a good weekend, despite the 35C+ heat. Lots of water, and try to stay in the shade.

Festival!
Yesterday was the main evening for the Festival d'été francophone de Vancouver (En). I did some volunteer work with the promotion of the festival by putting up posters around town, and by promoting the festival with a girl from Quebec on the street the day of the festival. It was a lot of fun, especially once the rain blew over!
The tickets were sold out (first time in 17 years) with 1,200 tickets sold to the public. There were two huge acts -Les Trois Accords, and Robert Charlebois. As I've mentioned before, Les Trois Accords is one of my favourite groups so I was incredibly excited to hear them live. And they didn't disappoint! It was cool to hear so many people singing along to their songs, and speaking French.
And I might be on Radio-Canada because the camera guy wanted a shot of a volunteer handing out brochures to people coming to the festival. We'll see if I make the cut or not.

Et dans 150 ans...
I recently bought a CD by a French chansonier named Raphaël, who reminds me in some ways of a more up-beat version of Carla Bruni.
One of my favourite songs on the album is called "Et dans 150 ans", which is actually quite melancholic when you read the lyrics. For example the first line "And in 150 years, we won't remember each other". Here are three of the stanzas (without translation, because the poésie gets lost in translation).

Et dans 150 ans, on s'en souviendra pas
De ta première ride, de nos mauvais choix,
De la vie qui nous baise, de tous ces marchands d'armes,
Des types qui votent les lois là bas au gouvernement,
De ce monde qui pousse, de ce monde qui crie,
Du temps qui avance, de la mélancolie,
La chaleur des baisers et cette pluie qui coule,
Et de l'amour blessé et de tout ce qu'on nous roule,
Alors souris.
...

Et dans 150 ans, on n'y pensera même plus
A ce qu'on a aimé, à ce qu'on a perdu,
Allez vidons nos bières pour les voleurs des rues !
Finir tous dans la terre, mon dieu ! Quelle déconvenue.
Et regarde ces squelettes qui nous regardent de travers,
Et ne fais pas la tête, ne leur fais pas la guerre,
Il leur restera rien de nous, pas plus que d'eux,
J'en mettrais bien ma main à couper ou au feu,
Alors souris.

Et dans 150 ans, mon amour, toi et moi,
On sera doucement, dansant, 2 oiseaux sur la croix,
Dans ce bal des classés, encore je vois large,
P't'être qu'on sera repassés dans un très proche, un naufrage,
Mais y a rien d'autre à dire, je veux rien te faire croire,
Mon amour, mon amour, j'aurai le mal de toi,
Mais y a rien d'autre à dire, je veux rien te faire croire,
Mon amour, mon amour, j'aurai le mal de toi,
Mais que veux-tu ?...

You can watch the music video on Yahoo! music by clicking on the "Et dans 150 ans" link.

Carnival Québécois!
Tonight I hosted a Quebec winter carnival at my university, which turned out pretty well. We had about 35 people show up, similar to last semester (the French party). We had crepes (made by a lady from Montreal), poutine, and tourtiere (faite a la maison, bien sur). I had up blue and white balloons, a Quebec flag, and posters of Carnival from my high school French teacher. I also played Quebecois music (La Bottine Souriante). I hope everyone had a good time -I know that I did despite running around and spilling gravy on myself!

EuroRadio Christmas Broadcast...
Every year on the Sunday before Christmas, the EBU (European Broadcaster's Union) has its Christmas Music Special (being broadcast in Canada by the CBC). It features one hour segments of Christmas music from mainly European countries. This year the countries include Ljubljana (Slovenia), Tallinn (Estonia), Moscow (Russia), Helsinki (Finland), Reykjavík (Island), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dresden (Germany), Czestochowa (Poland), Stockholm (Sweden), Lisbon (Portugal), and Washington (USA). It's always one of my favourite Christmas traditions, although I've never been able to wake up at 6:00 A.M. when the first country starts to broadcast.

Dis-O...
Last night at my uni was the annual concert called Dis-O(rientation). It's basically like the final frosh event at a larger university. I got a free ticket for the concert, because I was one of the first 60 (out of 75) people who went to the Student union's AGM two weeks ago. The main act was Matthew Good. He did a pretty good concert, although it was a bit shorter than what I expected (about 45 minutes). There were a few other bands that played, most of whom I didn't hear and hadn't heard of. Hedley played as well, the lead singer being Jacob Hoggard from here (he came in 3rd in Canadian Idol).
The stupid thing about Dis-O this year is that there was no in-out like they've had in the past. So, there were people who arrived at 3:30 in t-shirts, when it was hot and sunny, and didn't leave until Matt Good was finished at 10:20.

Chamber Music Festival...
Last night I heard a concert of Italian chamber music, sponsored by the Italian embassy. Right now in Ottawa is the International Chamber Music Festival, which is supposed to be the largest of it`s kind in the world. They have over 120 concerts!
Last night's concert was really amazing. The venue was incredibly hot, as there were no fans during the performance (it would reduce the listening experience). There was a soprano and harpsichord performance, a piano solo, cello sonata, and a few other pieces as well. Just as we left the church, we saw the tail end of the firworks across the river at Lac Léamy in Gatineau.

Les Trois Accords...
I bought a CD a day or two ago, and it`s got to be one of the funniest ones that I`ve ever heard. It`s by a group called Les Trois Accords, a French group from Québec, and the album is "Gros Mammouth Album turbo", with a large mammouth on the front. It includes the smash single (I`m serious, it was huge in Québec) called "Saskatchewan". Quite honestly, the singing sucks, but the music is great! It`s incredibly catchy, and the lyrics are funny.
Here`s a sample of some lyrics from a few of the songs, starting with Loin d'ici (Far from here):
Fr -Quand je vois ton visage, Je pense à ton nom, Et à tes cheveux, Ils finissent exactement là où commence ton front...
En -When I see your face, I think of your name, And of your hair, Which ends exactly where your forehead begins...
Another example from the song Vraiment beau (Really beautiful):
Fr -Tu étais vraiment beau, Avec ta moustache... Et lorsqu'il faisait chaud, Elle te faisait de l'ombrage, Et lorsqui'il faisait moins zéro, Elle recouvrait ton visage...
En -You were really handsome, With your moustach... And when it was hot, It gave you shade, And when it was below zero, It covered your face...
I could give you more examples, but I`m sure that you get the point. But seriously, I`ve got one of their songs stuck in my head, and I can`t get it out. "Hawaienne, J'aurais voulu que tu soé Hawaienne..."