Introducing... Naïm Amor

Everytime I mention the Tucson scene people look at me with incredulous eyes. Could there be anything like a music scene in Tucson Arizona? Never heard of that... Oh yes. A music dry like the desert sand of Arizona but filled with water like a cactus (or is it Corona?). Even a few Frenchies made it to this place and fit perfectly in the extended musical family built around the Giant Sand axis in the mid-90s. Amor Belhom Duo formed by Parisian felllows Thomas Belhom and Naïm Amor issued quite a few albums that stroke the right chords including a collaboration with the band that has become the best representative of the scene, Calexico. Fast forward a few years and they both went separate ways. Thomas went lo-lo-fi while Naïm started to incorporate bits and pieces of his French roots into his folk. His music could therefore be qualified as Sensual American Folk. I believe his album 'Sanguine' came out last year in France but it is only issued in the UK in a few weeks time with a lovely 10" vinyl sampler coming out today.

Listen to Naïm Amor on his MySpace page here
Buy the 10" here

Goodbye Paris - Hello Paris!

I left Paris again today. It has been a fantastic week even though I unfortunately did not have the time to do half the things I had planned and meet all my friends. Is it because of the level of oxygen but up in the sky the emotions are always different. I tend to be more sensible. It usually also is a time for reflection. As I sleep pretty well in the plane I normally do not have much time for a movie but I had a couple of hours to kill for breakfast and decided to give the Cédric Klapisch movie 'Paris' a try. And I enjoyed it in state not too dissimilar to saudade. A beautiful depiction of Paris serving as a background for some captivating intertwinned life stories. The disease of the main character gives him a different view of the people he comes across. I could draw a parrallel with the way the distance and / or altitude makes me reflect on things. I wish I could have stayed in Paris a little bit longer but I know I will be back to enjoy the city again soon.

Pâtisserie Millet

Experience the real thing! I did for the first time today. My favourite French pâtisserie has always been the Flan. It tends to be pretty ‘industrial’ anywhere even in the nice cake shops with a filling that looks more like a custardy jelly than something else. But the real thing was hidden in this shop on Rue Saint Dominique in Paris. The traditional ‘Flan Pâtissier’, as its name indicates, is filled with a thick ‘Crème pâtissiere’ made out of milk, corn starch, sugar, vanilla and milk. It melts in your mouth, teases your tastebuds and the crust… Yummy… The crust has to be the most perfectly cooked I ever had.

"Polynésie"

How amazing! Far away from the exotic dreams of tiny islands with perfect white sand and transparent blue waters we are deep into the reality of the sacred and divine Polynesian Arts while visiting this exhibition. That said, it is cleverly divided into sections that clearly put things into perspective: The Sea, the Earth, the Marae, the Divine and the Chieftaincy. All the elements that form the basis of the Polynesian society. You should really take this opportunity to witness those artefacts now as you will probably no longer have the opportunity to see them together ever again. And there is no risk as they have all been de-sacralised during a ‘Tapu’ ceremony prior being publicly displayed.

Pouilly-sur-Loire

After Chavignol I could have talked about the famous Sancerre wine produced a few kilometres away but I decided to go for something a bit rarer. Back on the other side of the Loire River, Pouilly-Sur-Loire is widely known for its Pouilly Fumé. Completely forgotten and hard to come by is the Pouilly Chasselas. Only a handful of wine makers still produce this rare wine that is not to be found in shops. The bottle label usually only reads ‘Pouilly-sur-Loire’ with no other mention. One of the best places to get it is from the Domaine Masson-Blondelet (picture of the bottles above). It has to be said that my grandfather was a wine producer but I never got the taste for wine (or alcool in general). Nevertheless, I am always quite interested in what is grown and consumed locally when I visit a region.

Chavignol

From where I was born, across the Loire river, lay a couple of nice villages more or less famous around the world amongst food and wine specialists. One of them is called Chavignol. Its specialty is a cheese - I know every French village has a special cheese - named Crottin de Chavignol. It is always surprising to see that a tiny village hardly housing 200 inhabitants can make it on the world cheese map as it produces the most famous goat cheese of the many varieties produced in the Loire Valley. The name seems to be coming from something no too glamourous as it is believed that while getting old, the "Crottin" gets harder and browner and tends to look like dung (Crottin = dung). Appetizing, isn't it?

Hell's Hail

Today has been a fine day again but the night has been a real nightmare. Ice balls as big as a golf balls have been falling from the sky by 3 am. This morning, my mum's beautiful garden was a mess and all the trees and flowers were slashed. But it was even worse at my sister's place a few kilometers away as it created a flood and their family house was inundated by a - difficult to get rid of - muddy slush. You really realise in these situations how impossible it is to fight against the elements. (The picture above was taken by 9 am while it was already nearly 30 degrees celcius outside but the ice was far from having already melted).

Dissident

Dissident have been issuing one-sided 12" vinyl records for over a year. All of them are quite collectible as they are usually limited to 100 or 200 copies. Today comes the opportunity for the general public to lay hands on a few of these tracks as they are issued for the first time under a single compilation CD called 'Veros Artis Volume 1'. If you consider that these twelve inches usually go for 15 euro a piece, it is a real bargain to purchase the 10 tracks featured on this plastic slab for around 10 euro. Just consider you are saving... 140 euro! And that includes the underground classic masterpieces from Binary Chaffinch 'False Energy' and Gatto Fritto 'Clem's Bounce'. Priceless.

Visit Gatto Fritto at MySpace here

Visit Binary Chaffinch at MySpace here

Purchase Dissident's compilation and listen to samples here

My life, my life, my life... in the sunshine!

This morning we headed to the countryside. It was so nice to have a tasty barbie at my sister's place. We then enjoyed a bicycle ride through the vineyards and came to rest at my mother's place. You can't help but notice it has been raining quite heavily over the past weeks / months as the nature is so green and lush. In my mum's garden there is a place with lavender. Not quite Provence but attracting enough for the bees to come and buzz. Feeling good. The soundtrack of those moments cannot be something else than Roy Ayers...

Voilà l'été!

As I had a good 9-hour sleep (I always do) in the plane I was up and ready to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous day ahead. If for me it was quite normal ad expected to have some nice weather at this time of the year, I believe the Parisians had suffered from a crappy month of June and were all happy and relieved to be under a sunny and 30ish degrees celcius day. And what a day! 21st of June. A Saturday, Summer day and 'La Fete de La Musique' (Music Day). Many reasons to celebrate. You could feel Paris filled with joy and happiness, crowded streets, groups of people dancing or singing, picnics in the parks, cafes and restaurants terraces overflowing. A perfect day. I could not have dreamt of a better day. And I fully kept it busy with two birthday parties, meeting old (and young) friends and an amazing Parillada at the 'El Palenque' Argentinian restaurant in Rue Montagne Sainte Geneviève.

(No better picture than the special public transport ticket issued for the occasion over the free CD handed out as I was too absorbed by the atmosphere to even consider taking my camera out - you should have seen the glowing beauty of the lights above the gathering crowds along the banks of the Seine!)

Here I come!

11.40 - Flight SQ334 - SIN-CDG - Taking off to Paris Charles De Gaulle one more time. I always enjoy it when it is for short visits as long as I have the time to see most of my friends and family. I wish I could work and live in Paris. I tried it before but I never got the right job to appreciate it fully. Therefore, coming back as a 'tourist' is always a good way to take the best the city has to offer. Let's just hope the weather will be kind enough to highlight the bright colours instead of the dark ones...

Harbour Front

To go to Indonesia from Singapore there are quite a few options depending on where you want to go but the main departure point is the Ferry Terminal at Harbour Front. It is also the terminal for the Asian cruises and houses the city's supposedely biggest shopping mall, VivoCity. The image above is from the rooftop of this shopping mall which also is a nice promenade with a few restaurants like 'Le Marché' and a view over the departing ferries and Sentosa Island.

Post-Dổi Mới

Vietnamese Art After the 1990s is the subtitle of this exhibition currently showing in Singapore. It comes as a good addition to the very big one currently showing at the Asian Civilisations Museum (Việt Nam! From Myth To Modernity). I am yet to see the latter but the former is an amazing eye opener on how vibrant the modern and contemporary Vietnamese Art scene is. It is a primer on the country's artistic development since the Dổi Mới (Renovation) policy of 1986 began to open Vietnam's economy. The exhibition dates from the year the first commercial gallery opened in Hanoi since the communists gained power. Many of the artists grew up during the war against the U.S., often relocated to the countryside for safety. Like their counterparts in China, the artists often explore the effects of the rapid economic expansion that has swept the country - the contrasts between the old and new, the change in people's attitudes, the rise of consumerism. I particularly enjoyed the stunning installation from Vuong Van Thao "Living Fossils" in which the artist has replicated old houses from Hanoi in stoneware and then encased them in transparent resin. The 36 houses are laid out in a street scene along with 36 resin-encased metal poles with loudspeakers from which public messages would have been broadcast throughout the day in the '80s.

擂り身

That is amazing...! Surimi in Europe is considered as the poor man's crab or something like that. It is also true that we only find the rubbery type preserved in a vaccuum packs. I have always enjoyed its taste and texture but I was nearly thinking the same until I tried the 'real' thing. I just bought for the first time some 'fresh' surimi and in the same way I tried some 'fresh' wasabi a few weeks back, it just took me by surprise. It has nothing to do with the 'fake' thing we are used to. This surimi was so tasty... I will renew the experience as soon as possible.

African Music Rediscovered

Over a decade ago, I saw him at the Airport hotel in Port Harcourt, and a couple of years after his death, Barclay issued 4 absolutely essential vinyl boxsets of Nigeria's legend Fela. He is one of the few African artists whose importance has been recognised out of Africa. Since then, many people rediscovered afrobeat and have even been directed, if the curiosity is there, to highlife or juju music. I clearly remember the day I heard Sir Victor Uwaifo's Guitar Boy on the radio, while in Warri in the Niger Delta, for the first time in the early 90s. My secretary was singing along and I nicknamed her Mamie Water as a result. By then, those 70s records were not reissued on CD and it was near impossible to find the original vinyls. I eventually did but the sound quality was very poor. On a trip to Benin City I even nearly made it to Sir Victor Uwaifo's house ready to ask for a copy from the mastertape. I caressed the dream of creating a label and making the western public aware of those great tracks. Alas. Years later some labels did a better job than I would probably have done. AfroStrut re-issued some lovely albums and compilations and many followed. The latest in the list is Brighton based label Soundway Records and they have just put together an amazing compilation of Sir Victor Uwaifo's lost classics. An essential purchase from the man who became the first African to be awarded a Gold disc on this continent. And for the small story, he is so popular in Nigeria that you can write him a letter simply addressed as “Sir Victor Uwaifo Nigeria” and out of the 150 million people of Nigeria, the letter will be delivered at his door step. Or so the legend says.

Listen / Download 'Guitar Boy' here

Purchase the album here

Seeing. Feeling. Being: Alberto Giacometti

I was introduced to Alberto Giacometti as a teenager through the Jean Genet biography. I have since seen quite a few sculptures and oils and canvas from the Artist but hardly a handful of drawings. The series that was showing until today at the Singapore Arts Museum based mostly on the 'Paris Sans Fin' lithographs gave me an entirely different perspective into his work. Most of them might look like rough sketches to the uninitiated but they are an excellent insight into his Parisian life, his favourite subjects and representations of man.

Awaking!

The Singapore Arts Festival is a strange thing... It is the kind of festival you would expect in the West. It is very experimental. So experimental indeed that I did not dare to see most of the performances. I am quite interested in Arts in general but it needs to talk to me and when it is a bit too off the way I have problems understanding it. Tonight's show was nothing to be scared of though. It was still a bit strange but not for being unfamiliar. The musical piece I saw, entitled Awaking, was actually more like three performances in one. Musicians from the Singapore Chinese Orchestra on one side, musicians of the British Globe theatre on the other and the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre in the middle. The bards colliding with the Ming dynasty. Shakespeare confronted to the Kunqu Opera.

A Taste of Kerala

Been a long time I did not feature any food, didn't I? This evening I went with an Indian friend to the outskirt of Little India for a taste of Kerala. There are so many restaurants from the South East coast (Tamil) but the ones from the South West are quite scarce. The food is definitely different. Lots of marinated dishes with a mix of hot but subtle spices. And the coconut...! The coconut is everywhere. From the new things I tried there was a Kozhi Varutharachathu which is a chicken cooked in aromatic gravy of roasted coconut and spices and a very filling puttu wich is made of coarse rice flour steamed with grated coconut in a tube shaped mould (picture above). But what I usually enjoy most is the Sambharam (also called Butter milk). And no, there is no butter inside! It is a very refreshing drink made out of yoghurt with some curry leaves, cumin, ginger and green chilli.

RWMF

Today I received my tickets for the Rainforest World Music Festival in Kuching that is to take place at the Sarawak Cultural Village from the 11th to the 13th of July. The bill has not yet been fully unveiled but in addition to the local bands there is already quite a generous number of performers coming from places as diverse as Greece, Congo, Japan, India, Colombia, Palestine or Portugal. The picture above was taken during my last trip to Kuching a couple of weeks back. Incidentally, I also snapped a cheap return ticket on AirAsia for less than 70 Eur (except I will have to leave from Johor which is a bit of a hassle).

In the distance...

I was in Batam today. As you can see from this picture the distance between the two islands is minimal. I can actually see Batam from my bedroom window every morning when I open my curtains but I do not so often have the opportunity to see it the other way round. But I do not complain. As a matter of fact I originally refused a position in Batam as I did not want to get the frustration of having to imagine a better life on the other side of the channel every day... As you have guessed the buildings forming the city above are in Singapore twenty kilometers away.

The Eye(s) of the Tiger

On Sunday I forgot to mention that the Haw Par Villa I visited over the week-end was actually created by one of the sons of Aw Chu Kin, Aw Boon Haw for his brother Aw Boon Par. They are the ones who brought their father’s creation to Singapore, the Tiger Balm, in the beginning of the 20th century. Since then it surely became a household name beyond the sunny shores of the island state. And the villa became the quintessential house of Chinese folklore.

Singer Songwriter vs. Baggy Balearic

Another close shave this week with two very different releases but equally two of my favourite musicians last year. First, all the way from Mancunia, Stickboy is back this week with his latest collection of lovely crafted songs. Manchester... so you know the deal. Record of the week! But it is dead limited to 500 copies for the whole world so you'd better be quick to snap a copy from Piccadilly Records. On another tip, come the collection of remixes from Studio entitled Yearbook 2 (Yearbook 1 was a Swedish only release pre-West Coast). Do not be scared by the line-up that includes Kylie Minogue as all the remixes included here (and that were previously available on individual 12") barely have anything in common with the originals. The way they can transform those tunes is amazing. You should mostly check out the treatment on their mates' Brown Piano from A Mountain of One or Brennan Green 'Escape from Chinatown'. Two absolutely essential releases!

Sample A Mountain of One 'Brown Piano (Remake by Studio)' here

Purchase Studio 'Yearbook 2' here

Listen to Stickboy on MySpace here

Purchase Stickboy here

How Bizarre!

I always wanted to go to Haw Par Villa as it is not too far from where I work but I never really found the time and I admit I did not really hear or read much claiming the place was of any interest. It is a bit remote from the tourist circuits and is also a bit run down. It seems it was a popular place after it opened in the late 1940's. You can easily understand how it scared generations of Singaporean kids with its bizarre tales, legends and histories of Chinese folklore. The strangest thing probably is the Ten Courts of Hell (see one of the scenes above) depicting all the punishments you can suffer may you commit crimes. The aim of its creator was to teach and preserve Chinese values. I now understand better why Singapore is such a state of punishment. This park probably is the founding piece of the city-state without people realising it! It is nevertheless a place that should be visited for its kitsch, weirdness, culture and entertainment and I will make sure it comes on top of the list of any visitor coming to see me here.

Scruffy!

While we're at it... Yesterday I was taking about my mug but the question is: what do I put inside my mug? Would you be surprised if I were to tell you it is filled with tea? But a cuppa should not contain any crappy kind of tea. One of my long time favourite has to be the pyramid PG Tips whose history dates back to 1869 when a certain Arthur Brooke opened his first shop in Manchester. I do not think anyone would fall of their chair if I were to tell you that my new favourite tea is also mancunian. Mr Scruff, a DJ whom I have long respected (one of his sets at the Music Box in Manchester remains one of my most enjoyable post-Hacienda nightclub experience), had the good idea to start his own brand. And let me tell you objectively, it is the best English Breakfast tea ever (from Assam, India of course)! It also comes at a GBP 7.99 bargain in a bundle of four lovely packaged boxes (for 200 bags) or in even fancier tea caddies. You have to visit his store at MrScruff.com or you can buy his tea in a few selected Selfridges at the Manchester, Birmingham & London Stores.

Mr Scruff's tea website is here

Buy his tea at those place

Mr Scruff's great music is here

No But Yeah But No But Yeah...

There was a time when I used to collect mugs. Well... You know how it works... You travel, you buy one mug from somewhere as a souvenir and then another one and then again and before you know it you end up with dozens of them. That time has long gone but I still enjoy drinking my tea in a nice cup. Or not necessarily nice - as in beautiful - but something different or something of significance. And I do not like them too thick or too bland. I do not usually enjoy the funny shapes though except from my Little Britain cup. Ah Vicky!

For something different...

When in Malaysia we went to the Craft Complex in KL. Even though a bit touristy it has the advantage of housing products from the whole of Malaysia under one roof. Seriously in need of a carpet for the living room in Singapore we opted for something different and ended up purchasing the straw carpet pictured above. I do not know how long it will last for but if you consider the manual weaving job it required it came as a real bargain. Even if we were not too sure about its style at the time of purchase we ended up loving it once installed in the room.

Squid Me...

Yesterday I was mentioning some of the dried delicacies but part of this important collection I should not forget the squid and the mushroom. Regarding the former, it is found all over the place and is even sold in vacuum packets at service stations to be eaten the same way Americans eat beef jerky. If you happen to visit coastal villages in Asia you will undoubtly see rows of calamari hanging on strings to dry. The latter on the other hand has to be rehydrated to be consumed . The most popular dried mushroom around here has to be the shitake.

Shrimps A-Gogo

Dried meat, dried fish, dried shrimps... Dried products are very common in Asia or in Africa as it probably is the best way to preserve the food in such hot climates. In chinese cuisine, dried shrimps are used frequently for their sweet and unique flavour that is very different from fresh shrimps. I must admit that I quite like the taste of those dried products. But nothing surely matches the fragrance of fresh big prawn.

Record of The Week: 2562 'Aerial'

It was a close shave today. I could not have been hesitating between two styles more remote from each other. After listening again to the Australiana delivered by Pete Murray in the train this morning I was really tempted to pick it up as my record of the week. But how could I dismiss what could be one of the records of the year? Last week I picked Applebim’s 12” mentioning it was probably the biggest step in dubstep since Burial’s album but this week’s comes from 2562 first full length ‘Aerial’ which will revolutionise the movement from now on and is setting a new benchmark on how and where the style should progress. A truly and utterly essential purchase! Record of the day of the week of the month of the year.

2562 on MySpace.

To visit click here

Buy 2562 new record here

Orangutan

Since I arrived in Indonesia I have always known that orang means 'person' and hutan means 'forest' in bahasa indonesia but I had never realised how impressive those forest people were until I saw them for real for the first time in my life today. They are simply amazing creatures with long arms, reddish-brown hair and a human look. We even had the chance to see an imposing flanged adult male and quite a few offsprings. I learnt that the females usually stay with their babies until the age of sevn and that the males are quite independent from the women generally only meeting to mate. They also spend nearly all their life in the trees. I am still stunned by the experience.