I grew up in a family where everyone played at least two or three musical instruments. That’s not a boast. I had to listen to musical scales being played on piano every day during my childhood. For three hours. Every day. I placed my fingers in my ears while cello, violin and viola practice was taking [...]
We’d heard a lot about South African music before coming to Cape Town and were eager to experience as much of Cape Town music as we could, so much so that Terence even signed up for a drumming workshop! We were particularly keen to see some live music, especially jazz, but were surprised at how [...]
When I hit my teens, music became everything. My local music shop was an old-fashioned one, with massive rows of records and an instrument section where kids would hang out and annoy everyone by playing wonky renditions of Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water or Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. This stuff was old-fashioned to me. Punk had [...]
Some of us love songs for the lyrics, but sometimes, even when the language is our own, the lyrics are unintelligible yet still we’re smitten with the music – and, in the case of Fanfan et Marco, who we saw at Au Limonaire on Sunday night in Paris, the performance of Chanson. The language of [...]
A graphic designer by day, 29 year-old Julio Salvador is the singer and guitarist in the Barcelona band Wiggum. The band is named after Ralph Wiggum, son of Chief Wiggum in ‘Los Simpsons’, their favourite character, “because he’s a psychedelic character, which suits our band”, Julio explains. A self-taught musician, Julio has played in four [...]
A couple of roving gypsy guitarists performing in a little bar in Malaga are responsible for igniting Sebastian Lapostol’s passion for flamenco. For many years he split his time between Jerez and Fez, Morocco, where he owned a guesthouse in the medina, but he's now permanently based in Jerez with his friendly cat, Lailo. A [...]
Yes, you heard right, it’s not only Hotel Costes and other design hotels that are hip to the fact that music is an important part of travel, our experience of a place, and the memories we take away. Don't well all have songs we love that, the moment they come on, immediately transport us back [...]