Bonfils weblog
Wednesday, May 9, 2012: 
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Montmartre remains our favourite area in Paris, so today we went back - rediscovering the sights - and the amazing garlic-fried potato-boosted salads of Le Relais Gascon. Afterwards, we headed for Champs Élysees - finding it just as touristy as Rue Mouffetard, only even more crowded. But the flags were out, preparing for tomorrow's presidential inauguration of Francois Hollande.
Sunday, May 6, 2012: [
While Birgitte was at the flea market, I took another stroll through the neighbourhood - by chance ending up at the Montparnasse Cemetery. I popped in for a quick look, only to discover that this was the resting place for one of my songwriting heroes, the late, great Serge Gainsbourg. Joining Birgitte, we expected to find a spot for dinner in the restaurant street Rue Mouffetard - but it's all gone touristy, and we finally headed home to l'Aloutte near the flat.
Thursday, May 3, 2012: [
Took a stroll through the Buttes aux Cailles, stopping for buckwheat pancakes at Crêpes à Gogo and Berthillon ice cream in their tea room on Ile St. Louis. Nice as always, except they seem to go a bit overboard on the whipped cream these days...
Wednesday, May 2, 2012: [
Flew off to Paris, where we'll be staying in the flat in Buttes aux Cailles, where Birgitte stayed in November.
Monday, April 23, 2012: [
Attended the Mali sensation Tinariwen's gig at Vega.
Tinariwen has been labelled "desert blues" - probably mainly by non-musicians, referring to the melacholy tone of their songs. But musically, their sound has nothing in common with the rough, chomping, soloist-based traditions of blues as we know it. It would be better described as minimalist drone funk.
Every song (and they do sound pretty much alike) is based around a more or less static groove - mostly devoid of harmonic variation - over which the strong, haunting unison melodies are sung. In between the verses, rhythmic melodic improvisations on the guitar provide embellishments on the main groove, never actually taking center stage - and never breaking the rhythmic feel - but merely forming a part of the collective groove.
Likewise, the drumming isn't the carefully arranged rhythmic variations of western pop music - but a single, repetitive beat (again, much the same in every song), broken only by sudden explosive bursts, before settling into the groove again.
The result doesn't come across as bafflingly alien. Its irresistible rhythmic groove of this understated, trance-inducing, infectiously funky drone music has an immediate appeal - which explains the by now mainstream popularity of the band.
Unfortunately, due to the crisis in Mali, founding member Ibrahim Ag Alhabib was missing from the lineup. And I guess this was the reason for Tinariwen's slightly disorganised performance: Pauses betwen songs, nervous whispered conversations, awkward instrument changes - and the female singer's traditional ululations seemed somewhat missing in enthusiasm.
However, there were many moments of magic - and I congratulate the band for not cancelling the show. But once it would be nice to experience the full splendour that took the Roskilde Festival by storm years ago.
