Magma et le Mëtalïk Orkestraah on France 3

A TV report on France 3 about the mighty Magma, in particular their recent shows at the Olympia in
Paris earlier this month.

For their two gigs on February 2 and 3, the band were accompanied by a group of young musicians under the name Magma et le Mëtalïk Orkestraah for a unique series of performances.

The young musicians were students of Didier Locksood, the jazz violinist who himself played with magma in the 1970s. His career also saw him play with Pierre Moerlen's Gong as well as a lengthy discography of solo works covering jazz and jazz rock.

There's some brief footage of magma performing, both vintage and present day, confirming if there could be any doubt, that they remain today every bit as breathtaking a live proposition as they did then.

It would be ideal if more of the Olympia gig was made public, but the band said they would not be releasing recordings of the shows or video footage, probably balancing up the expense makes things more difficult that they used to be.

A few clips have appeared online, but it would be nice to get more full-length live Magma. Still, with a double DVD of their Emehntehtt-Re trilogie released at the end of January, there's no shortage of new Magma material so far this year.

Meanwhile, live dates around France and Switzerland in march will be well worth catchnig if you have the opportunity.



magma

Vive le Roq: Second Birthday!

Today marks the second anniversary of the Vive le Roq blog, and while it seems like a while since I picked up digital pen and paper, it's been a busy time.

A brief article about Jean Ferrat following his death marked the beginning of the blog. True, I'd though about it for a while, and originally thought about launching it on June 21 to mark the fete de la musique but I thought I'd waited long enough and started the ball rolling.

At first I thought it would be a challenge to fill a blog every day with my ponderings and musings, and for the first year that was pretty much the case. Finding time, finding inspiration (!) amidst the day to day goings on of family and professional life seemed a challenge, but before too long I found my stride and things have been getting along just about fine.

The number of visitors has progressively grown, with last month being our busiest month so far. I've managed to keep up a pretty decent average number of posts, with a record of 27 posts in June last year. When you consider that in 2010 I managed a total of 24 for the entire year, that gives you some idea about how far we've come.

I've heard some great music and I've enjoyed sharing it. Hope you enjoy it.

If anything there's more that I could write about if I could find the time.

I've been almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of quality French music that's coming out, never mind looking back at some of the key earlier releases.

One thing I have learned is that stories reflecting on the blog itself do not get as much traffic as the ones that celebrate music, which is probably exactly as it should be.

Thanks for dropping by and be sure to come back again regularly

Merci et à bientôt

jk

Amy Winehouse on France 3

Give the weekend's tragic news, I thought it appropriate to put on a clip of Amy Winehouse today, who although not a French artist certainly enjoyed a huge following in the country.

The clip was originally broadcast on France 3.

As well as her five Grammy Awards, 3 Ivor Novello Awards and Brit award, she had two nominations for NRJ Awards in 2008.

While the French media are not as rooted in celebrity as the media in the UK, there were tributes paid to a singer whose influence was if anything bigger than the sales of her records around the world.

Amy Winehouse- "Back to black" - Ma-Tvideo France3
Amy Winehouse- "Back to black"

Mots-clés : amy winehouse

Video de ladh