FESTIVAL MUSIC | Previews
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FIVE REASONS TO. . . LOVE FRANK ZAPPA
Frank Zappa could be snarky, smart- arsed, cynical and just plain obnoxious, but to many people he’s a hero. Here’s why: 1. He was funny Most popular music isn’t funny. Even some of the best wallows in self-pity or angst. Zappa didn’t like wallowing. He wanted to stimulate people, so he makes you laugh. ‘Honey, Don’t You Want A Man Like Me?’, ‘Be In My Video’ and ‘Bobby Brown’ are three of the most hilariously brutal songs ever written. 2. He was brave He insisted on artistic and economic freedom at a time when record companies routinely fleeced musicians, and eventually bucked the system – acquiring the rights to his back catalogue and releasing it on his own label. He regularly criticised the US government when it misbehaved, and was one of very few rock stars to condemn the Gulf War. 3. He was a great musician Zappa wasn’t so much a rock star with ambitions to be a serious composer as a serious composer who wrote for rock bands. He wrote difficult modern music long before he took guitar seriously, but became one of the most inventive and eloquent guitarists in rock (Shut Up ‘n Play Your Guitar) and his orches- tral music is extraordinary (The Yellow Shark). 4. He was a visionary Back in the 80s he had the idea for selling music digitally down phone or cable TV lines, long before it became standard practice. He mixes up diverse genres because he believed his audience enjoyed a challenge, placing dizzying modernist music in the middle of lop- ing country-funk about dental floss. 5. He was an inspiration No other rock stars have had a jellyfish, spider, fossil, Berlin street, asteroid and three genome sequences named after them. And none of his kids (Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva) have ever wanted to change their names. (Alex Johnston)
■ Ensemble musikFabrik perform A tribute to Frank Zappa, Usher Hall, 473 2000, 28 Aug, 8pm, £12–£34.
116 THE LIST 22 Aug–19 Sep 2013
HEBRIDES ENSEMBLE AND THOMAS BLOCH Specialist in rare instruments performs with the glass harmonica
‘It looks like a horizontal kebab. But instead of meat, you have crystal glass bowls.’ It’s an odd description for a musical instrument, and what Thomas Bloch is describing is admittedly one of the world’s strangest: the glass harmonica. If a harmonica makes you think of the blow-and-suck mouth organ of sultry blues numbers,
turn your thoughts instead to rubbing your fingers around wine glasses to make them sing. ‘Then imagine you have 37 different glasses, not just one or two,’ continues Bloch, a virtuoso player of the instrument. These glasses, or more correctly bowls, are mounted one inside another on a rotating spindle, and Bloch simply has to touch them for the note to sound. ‘The bowls turn constantly – I have a little electric motor for them, and a pedal I use to increase and decrease the speed, and hence the volume. It’s a bit like a crystal keyboard.’
And that poetic description matches the instrument’s magical, otherworldly sound – one that has attracted film composers and pop musicians alike. ‘I’ve played the glass harmonica on several movie soundtracks – Amadeus, March of the Penguins, even Prisoners, a new film with Hugh Jackman,’ says Bloch. ‘And I’ve also played it with pop musicians like Gorillaz, Radiohead, Daft Punk and others.’
What brings him to the Edinburgh International Festival, though, is Mozart, who was an early fan of the instrument (it was invented way back in 1761) and who composed solo pieces for it as well as using its ghostly tones alongside a string ensemble, which Bloch performs with the Edinburgh-based Hebrides Ensemble. It’s a neat way of reminding us that the EIF’s technological theme doesn’t just take in the complex electronics of today’s music, but also the quainter and more charming cutting- edge breakthroughs of the past. (David Kettle) ■ Hebrides Ensemble and Thomas Bloch, The Queen’s Hall, 26 Aug, 11am, £8–£29.
HOW I DO EDINBURGH WELLINGTON UKULELE ORCHESTRA
by Bek Coogan and Gemma Gracewood Can you sum up your show in five words? Galactic. Joyful. Orgasmic. Family-friendly. For anyone still on the fence, what’s a surefire selling point? There is no stand-up comedy in our show, although we do play standing up. What part of the Edinburgh festival do you most look forward to? Stand-up comedians, particularly the ones with good social commentary since our show is all about joyful escapism from the hustle of the real world. At the first sign of an August meltdown, what do you reach for? Home cooking and naps usually sort us out. Failing that, whisky. What other festival shows do you want to go see? There are a dozen of us so we are spreading ourselves thin in an attempt to see everything. Favourites so far include Bridget Christie, New Art Club’s Feel About Your Body, Tom Binns is Ian de Montfort, No Holds Bard, Luisa Omielan’s ‘What Would Beyoncé Do?’, Hunt and Darton’s cafe, and the pants-wettingly funny personal show we get every evening in the green room from Jenny Éclair when we come off-stage.
What will you do on your days off? See shows that clash with ours! Ride our secondhand bone-shaker bicycles down cobbled streets. Take a walk along the Water of Leith. Get out of town. Go to galleries. Do our laundry. Write to our mums. ■ Gilded Balloon Debating Hall, until 26 Aug (not 19) 6pm, £12.50–£13.50 (£11.50–£12.50).