Best In The World
I like African music and I’m crazy about this band called Mabulu.
There are several reasons why music from Mozambique could be the best in the world:
1. First of all, Portuguese is a beautiful language to sing in. Listen to Getz and Gilberto’s Desafinado. But hang on, they speak Portuguese in Mozambique.
2. West African trademark jangly guitar riffs
3. Percussion
4. Close harmonies
5. The best music has come from experience and Mozambique’s been through the fucking wash lately
And the best band from Mozambique is Mabulu, which means Mabulu are the best band in the world.
Right?
No. (said like - “duhhhh“) That’s stupid. They are a great band, but you can’t have the greatest band in the world. Art is a form of self expression and it means different things to different people and even different things at different times to those people.
It’s an emotional response and you can’t have that in a competition.
It’s like saying the world’s best kiss, or the best tree in the country.
Get real. Actually, don’t be so real.
Did you know I can’t think of Andy Kershaw without saying the word “Madagascar” in a head in a sharp Yorkshire accent.
Actually the best tree in the country is the one outside the Dorchester on Park Lane in London. If you’re ever down that way, it’s a grand old tree. He (as all trees most probably are) has probably been there since before the hotel and Park Lane were built, but instead of standing there defiantly, it’s a part of the scenery, just like the glass and steel around it and it holds court with grace and strength. It looks out across the trees in Hyde Park and probably reminisces with the other trees about the time when we was all part of the same park before the hotels came. “Still,” he reasons hopefully to the others, “I saw Judi Dench yesterday.”
June 5th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
MAny things pass through my brain when Mozambique is mentioned. Music’s not really one of them, but Jennifer Love Hewitt just popped in there. No connection.
When thinking of Madagascar, however, I think of Pirates - ar! - and Steve Irwin the Croc Hunter chasing lizards on a bike. Crikey!
I don’t know if trees think but if they do I doubt it’s about Dame Judi Dench.
And if they DO think of her they also no doub throw in a thought toward Maggie Smith too.