I returned to the Highlander last night after a week away, and there I heard a lot of interesting sounds as the night progressed, in particular a wonderful rendition of Jacques Brel’s song, “Au Suivant,” done by a guy named Adnan, who reminded me that we had met once on a musical picnic under the Eiffel Tower last year or the year before…. But this also is the third in a blog post series about young French people singing the traditional stuff of the past – oh, Adnan was from Morocco, I think – that I first mentioned in two posts from singers at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic.
There was also some cool blues, one by a young Frenchman on the electric guitar who has a Tom Waits touch to his voice, and the other by David Broad, whom I have referred to extensively on this blog. At the end of the evening Thomas Brun got together to play the backing music for a rapper from Senegal who calls himself “Mr. No Name.” I had seen and heard him at the Tennessee a few months ago, and he remains fun and cool.
And my big news of the day is that I can now confirm that I will again be travelling around the world this year to cover all the Formula One races, and I will also continue to bring my guitar to play in open mics and jams when not at the track, in my spare time. (What little of that there is on that kind of voyage.) It will be most interesting to go to India for the first race in that country…. So stick around for more amazing stories of musicians in farflung – and closeflung – countries and continents.