This Week's Playlist #142 - The live rendering edition with Rima
5 of what Rima considers to be powerful live renditions by artists she admires.
Hello everyone!
This Week's Playlist - Season 3, Episode 38.
2 weeks without a weekly newsletter...
Since late September, like many Lebanese people worldwide, I've been horrified at what's happening back home in the last couple of weeks. Writing music posts for a hobbie newsletter felt suddenly completely pointless.
And while I was reaching out to friends and relatives, a very old friend (I had been trying to get on the newsletter for a long time) sent me a message out of the blue.
"I believe that the war makes me feel the need for distractions, including finally submitting something for your newsletter! The mind works in mysterious ways..."
A nice kick to get back in my groove.
So, for this week, please find 5 very powerful live (and very niche) renditions by Rima's favourite artists.
I hope you enjoy it and see you next week.
There is a YouTube link for each of the songs on the cover, and here are the playlists for each streaming platform:
1. Fairouz - خذني ازرعني بارض لبنان (Take me and plant me in the land of Lebanon.)
Starting with Fairuz because no matter how many bombs the enemy throws at us, the love of Lebanese people for their country is unassailable.
This is a song about a longing to be planted like a seed in the ground of Lebanon.
I believe this version was recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1989, although it is not properly credited. You can feel the expat crowd moved by some of the powerful verses.
2. Nina Simone - Feelings (live 1976)
This extraordinary performance of the cheesy standard "Feelings" by Nina Simone in Montreux in 1976 is a classic demonstration that it's not the score; it's what you do with it.
I find that Nina's loneliness is palpable in this song, as well as her desperation to connect with her audience, who doesn't seem to bring itself to break the sacred silence.
3. Julien Lourau - Tu mi Turbi
In this 2002 Amiens performance of "Tu mi turbi", from his album "The Rise", sax player Julien Lourau, along with pianist Bojan Z, Henri Texier at the double bass and André Cecarelli on the drums, reach, I believe, a point of ectasy.
They seem to need to land themselves towards the end.
4. Keith Jarrett - Köln, January 24, 1975, Pt. I (Live)
I couldn't help but include Keith Jarrett's monumental 1975 Köln Concert, which almost never happened because the venue had mistakenly prepared a shitty piano and had no alternative.
This is the breathtaking part, but it should IMHO be followed by the rest of the recording for a full experience.
5. Abdel Halim Hafez - Qareat Al Fengan Live
And I'll finish with a live recording of Qareat al fengan (قارئة الفنجان, the coffee fortune-teller) by Abdel Halim Hafez, with lyrics from Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani.
This was the last song the great master recorded before his death in 1977. It is a poem of impossible love, sadly resonant with Abdel Halim's own destiny.
Until the next time, Godspeed!
Thomas
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