PREVIEW MUSIC
rumour has it that (‘ialliano recorded the whole of In I’ursuil ()f'l‘lre ln’I/I Note stoned'.’
‘No. that's not a rumour it's a fact.‘ he guffaws. "fhe first album was like getting a load of ideas. throwing them on a record and going Ha Hat. The second album was a bit like that. but now i want to write some good songs.
. At the end of the day. i want to be able to listen to my own records; we haven‘t yet produced a record where I can go home and say. “Yeah. I like that". ‘
lt has now got to the stage where (ialliano have vowed never to let any more of their material be remixed. instead. they wish to get back to the basics of selling music. Essentially. Galliano are breaking the trend of the digital. unnervingly taking a stand 1 against the microchip. Gallagher believes that ‘technology is there because science is there‘. While insisting that he is not anti-teclmology. certainly not in the dance sphere. he just believes it should not reserve the right to dictate new dance modes.
‘I don‘t mind techno.‘ he says. ‘Some of it's good. but it's basically just another form of communication. I personally don't believe it is as effective as human musicians. Take. for instance. the drum machine; it can only go so far. but the drummer. he plays differently each evening. Now. while he can play good or bad. at least at the end of the day he knows exactly what note he wants to hit; it‘s about strength. feeling. a machine cannot emit emotions.
‘Everything comes around in circles and i think that fora while techno was at the top end of the dance circle. But now its pinnacle has been reached. techno is on the decline. being replaced by music that comes from the roots. We create a different kind of spirit.‘
Yet another pop star on a spiritual
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high. A Joy/ill Noise To The Creator was a blatant instruction to go and support your own god. do not be bogged down by mass religious opinion. Gallagher himself was brought up with Catholicism. but rejects many of its beliefs. He asserts that organised religion isjust a set of guidelines with which to live your life. wherein lies the global problem of doctrine. greed and war.
‘lt's a dogmatic thing. It‘s all about trying to persuade one large group of people over to your beliefs. if they resist. use force. i think the Dalai Lama got it right when he said that religion should be about people helping each other in harmony.‘
Gallagher does not claim to be a prophet. he is a normal person making music and speaking his mind. He would just as well talk about football. the amount of money he spent watching Arsenal win the FA Cup or why they needed to sign Roy Keane for the new season. This is the man who firmly believes that Tony Adams is a good football player. proof that his words should not be taken as gospel. But neither should they be dismissed as neo-hippy ramblings. there's a lot of sense coming from them there Alpine hills.
‘As a group. (ialliano have little say. We can speak out. but the whole thing about being a musician is about interpreting the way you feel. You get so many poets and rappers going on about self-importance. but I don‘t believe my words are any more valid than that of the next man. It's more about trying to create a mood that there is always hope. that through understanding anything can be overcome.‘
Away the lads.
(Ia/limro play The Burrow/um]. Glasgow on So! 3/ .
Fitting tribute
A new work by the distinguished composer Thomas Wilson is always a major occasion, and that is certainly true of the Violin Concerto which he has written for the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. The commission, which was funded with the help of BP, will form the centrepiece of ifYOS’s summer concert programme on both sides of the border, and will have its world premiere at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival (6 Aug) before moving on to Pitlochry (8 Aug) and Glasgow (11 Aug), and then to Birmingham and london.
The composer explained that the idea for a Violin Concerto was one which he and the late Bryden Thomson had discussed at length, even to the point of agreeing on a soloist, the Austrian violinist Ernst Kovacic. Other commitments prevented any progress being made before Thomson’s untimely death, however, but the subsequent commission from ffYOS re- opened the possibility of writing it, and agreement on that format was duly reached.
‘The concerto is to some extent a memorial to Jack Thomson, but it should not be seen as any kind of biographical piece. It does, though, attempt to incorporate some of his characteristics, both as a musician and as a personality, like the great clarity which he brought to
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conducting, and his impish humour, things of that sort. I have also made use of letters from his name to form a motif within the work, which is written in a single continuous movement.’
It is the third concerto for solo instrument and orchestra which Wilson has written, following his Piano Concerto (1984), and the more recent Viola Concerto (1987). lie is delighted that the work will after all be played by Kovacic, but it will not now be conducted by James loughran, who has broken his ankle and is currently in plaster. Instead, Christopher Seaman, another old friend of the composer, will be on the podium. (Kenny Mathieson) ifYOS play Thomas Wilson’s Violin Concerto at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Wed 11.
Mufti-media circus
(f; :i, .5. «a; 7. l If all that multi-media happenings mean to you is impenetrable gobbledygook from 605 casualties, think again. The venue la Belle Angele in Edinburgh’s Cowgate is hosting an event, ‘Artistic Upstarts’, which intends to show just how fertile the Scottish arts scene is, particularly in the fields of music and dance.
There are nineteen acts scheduled to appear, all professionals, all in bite- sized chunks throughout the evening, with new video work displayed and certain acts, like Macumba, promenading around the venue.
All the musical acts reflect the organisers’ interest in fresh sounds and adventurous fusions: Macumba’s Latin base has recently been augmented by bagpipes; The Simon Toumire Trio features up-and-coming Scottish guitarist Kevin Mackenzie
alongside accordion in a folk/jazz crossover; iazz percussionist Tom Bancroft will be playing a piece specially written for dance accompaniment.
‘All of them are interested in getting into other art forms as well,’ says co- organiser Anita Govan, ‘and the dance companies involved have a strong musical content.’
They also stipulated that none of the material performed should be more than a year old, for an up-to-the- minute feel.
The whole event is in keeping with the eclectic spirit of La Belle Angelo, which aspires to be a lot more than just a music venue. And ‘Artistic Upstarts’, to its organisers, is much more than just a showcase. i
‘We want it to be a space to network acts,’ says Kresanna Aigner, ‘to let musicians meet dancers and actors, and so on. Also, stage managers, technicians and designers are all equally being promoted. We want to access new audiences as well.’ ;
Anita Govan takes up her point: ‘The fact that it’s all bits and pieces might give people an introduction to something they might not have wanted I to sit through an hour-and-a-half of.’ .
And not a hippie in sight. (Alastair , Mabbott) ‘ Artistic Upstarts takes place at La Belle Angela, Edinburgh on Thurs 12.
NB: it begins at 7pm, not 7am as I announced on some flyers. i
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The List 30 July—l2 August [993-27