Koprivshtica 2010

(i) “Koprivshtica sings!” . I would like to share with you some of my wonderful experience at the Koprivshtica festival in Bulgaria.

With the few pictures and video clips I was able to record, I hope you will taste a bit of the atmosphere of this unique event, celebrated only every 5 years, and to enjoy the music, dances and colours…

(ii) One of the highlights of this segment is an off-stage performance by a choir that was leaving after their act on the regular program (see part one). As they were leaving, they heard the song that was at the moment being sung at the nearby stage and they naturally sang along, just as naturally as anyone breathes – this is their life, after all.

The last section is the evening at the centre of the village, with the Horo dances, at one of the restaurants.

(iii) The program was arranged so that on each stage would perform groups from each folkloric zone of Bulgaria. I can’t remember all right now, so any of you Bulgarian friends watching this… I would like to add some information on the comments… thank you! :)

(iv) Two more ensembles in Koprivshtica, including the famous “Ku-ku”

(v) This section focuses on the Horo dances and I try to figure out some of the odd-time signatures used. The images become a bit dark but the music never has been so spectacular!

(vi) Last bits recorded at Koprivshtica 2010. Hope you like it!

Hold Out Your Hand / You By My Side – BASS AUDIO with TRANSCRIPTION

This clip includes the same audio that I recorded in 2008. The bass audio production was improved and slightly over-mixed to make it more audible. Youtube’s audio compression is much better than 2 years ago and that largely improved the results. Thank you very much Simon Gilman for another excellent contribution with the transcription!

Download the transcription here.

Starship Trooper – BASS AUDIO with TRANSCRIPTION

This is an old cover from 2001 where I added some non-bass parts played on the bass, to fill in for “Disillusion” and the guitar intro of Würm. The tremolo effect is a Boss TR-2 pedal, while the final fuzz was done with the multi-effects Boss ME-8B, along with it’s octave effect at the very end. The transcription is another kind contribution from Simon Gilman. Hope you enjoy it!

Download the transcription here.

Astral Traveller – BASS AUDIO with TRANSCRIPTION

This is the first contribution from Simon Gilman, who made his bass transcription of Astral Traveller.

I added the same audio of my original audio bassline from 2008, with a slightly louder bass in the mix.
Hopefully it will sound a bit better (along with the apparently better audio encoding of YouTube) .

Download the transcription here!

Thank you, Simon, for your excellent work, and hope this will be the first of many!

MIA 2010 – Free improvising session

Over the last weekend I had the privilege to attend the first edition of the free improvisation encounter at the town of Atouguia da Baleia – MIA 2010.
The format of this festival consisted in making a draw of trios and quartets among all musicians which would improvise together. It was my first experience with this sort of events and I really enjoyed it. A different way of expression, a musical conversation where you learn to listen to others. This clip is the very first session and my name was on that first lot. On I went…

I believe this is the second session that I played. Experimenting with some unusual bow technique :))

Panda Pompoir – Mundial da Boa Esperança

Panda Pompoir did the politically incorrect anthem for the Portuguese national team’s campaign on World Cup 2010 in South Africa – World Cup of Good Hope (Mundial da Boa Esperança) is actually a support song for both Portugal and Brazil – The lyrics, written by featuring artist Felipe Flamboyant (aka the voice of “Bruno Aleixo” character) professes that both teams will make it to the final 16, that Brazil can win Portugal as long as they doesn’t thrash us too much, and that in the end Brazil will be 1st and Portugal 3rd. On the top of that, the song is sang in Portuguese but with a hardly convincing Brazilian accent! Confused? Good – that’s the whole point!

The song was recorded in one afternoon, that’s the way we could afford it… anyway this is the bassline I came up with in something like 20 minutes. I used my 1978 Fender Precision Bass, and yes – fingerstyle only! I don’t appear on the clip since I had to be at work :))

The song features on the closing/opening title’s of Bruno Aleixo’s special series about South Africa 2010 – Highly recommended, even if you don’t get a word of Portuguese!

To Be Alive

A beautiful song by Billy Sherwood. Also a good example of how to make use of the 8-string bass, letting the notes shine, keeping it simple and focus on the timbre of the instrument. The top two strings are tuned in perfect fifths (just like “Changes” or “Hearts”)

In The Presence Of – BASS AUDIO with TRANSCRIPTION

From my transcription in 2006, played on the Rickenbacker. The the original was played on a Bob Glaub Signature Series Lakland P-Bass.

Same take with original track on the background

Download the pdf transcription here!