Neil Calton's review of Kate Bush on UK TV 3/11/89

[IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu]

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: Neil Calton's review of Kate Bush on UK TV 3/11/89

 From: Neil Calton <mcvax!inf.rl.ac.uk!nbc@UUNET.UU.NET>
 Date: Mon, 13 Mar 89 13:40:52 GMT
 To: Andrew Marvick (IED0DXM) <mitvma.mit.edu!oac.ucla.edu!IED0DXM@UKC.AC.UK>
 Subject: Rhythms of the World - review

Hi, Andy.
     I have not received any Lovehounds communication so I am still
sending this note to you first. When I learn of the new Lovehounds address
(or is it still the same?) I will send this to the list as well. In the
meantime if you want to repost it, please feel free.
     In my previous posting I said:

 >From this description it almost sounds as if the programme is
 >as much about Kate as the Trio. However, this may just be a way
 >of attracting a bigger audience.

     Well it was. The piece on Kate was quite small and the Radio Times
copywriters had obviously seized on it as a selling point.
Anyway, here's my review (!) of the programme.

               Rhythms of the World - BBC2 8.10pm 11/3/88

                       The Music of Bulgaria

     This programme in the series Rhythms of the World looked at a number of
Bulgarian musicians/singers. The commentary was provided by The Ranking
Miss P and started by looking at the Stara region, and a female singer
Yanka Ouchinkova performing an open-air rendition of a song called "Go
Harvest Bride". Next was the Bulgarian National Folk Ensemble singing
"Do You Love Me", followed by a gadulka player (Volchev?) performing a folk
dance. Then came the section featuring Trio Bulgarka.

Miss P: Rhythms of the World filmed Trio Bulgarka at work in the recording
        studio with singer-songwriter Kate Bush. We talked to them about this
        collaboration and asked them to perform some traditional Bulgarian
        songs.

     Cut to the Trio Bulgarka performing "Tregnalae Malika Moma" in a studio
The Trio are dressed in regional costumes. (This studio was presumably the
one off Upper Street, Islington).  Each of the Trio were then interviewed
(now dressed in casual clothes) in turn and asked about their home region,
its costumes and songs. Each member sang a short song to illustrate the
typical music of their region.
     The programme then cut to a scene of Kate Bush and an engineer at a
mixing desk (still the same studio from what I could make out). They were
listening to the Trio adding vocal backing to a track. Yes, here it was ...
a piece of KBVI! The short extract featured drums to the front of the mix,
with guitar, sax and fairlight also distinguishable (about mid-tempo I
would say - sorry I am hopeless at describing music). Yanka was singing
(in Bulgarian naturally) with Eva and Stoyanka providing fill-in harmonies.
Too short to say much more, but definitely promising! The scene then cuts
to Kate (wearing the white pullover shown in the NME photos), and talking
to an unseen male interviewer.

Kate:  I first heard their music about three years ago when I was just
       finishing the last album, through my brother Paddy who has always
       been interested in, in ethnic music and collected instruments--since
       he was a kid really. And he played me a tape and I couldn't
       believe how beautiful it was. I listened to it all the time and
       thought how lovely it would be if perhaps on the next album I'd
       be able somehow to work with them; somehow incorporate their
       music with my own.
            So then we had to find out how to best approach it so as not
       just to use them in the music for the sake of it, but to make the
       most of what they do. Because what they do is so special. And,
       really through a process of elimination we decided the best thing
       to do was actually to go to Bulgaria and to meet them and to work
       with them there with their arranger and work out the process
       there in Bulgaria.
            So we went over there last weekend and we met for the first
       time. And we worked the whole weekend with their arranger Dimitar
       and Borimira translating, and between us as a group we actually
       pulled together all the work that we've been doing the last two
       days on the record.

Male:  Can you tell me, if you're working in a studio with western
       musicians, normally there's ... there's a common language: go
       back to the middle eight, cut, take two, whatever. Do you find
       the process more difficult, trickier, interesting, when you
       actually have to go through ... everything through an interpreter.

Kate:  It takes longer maybe to actually communicate but in some ways it's
       the most exciting communication I've ever had with musicians because
       we can't communicate intellectually because we don't have the
       language. So we speak to each other emotionally really. We ... we
       sort of feel each other. That's what it feels like.

     The programme cuts to Kate and Yanka (without her regional costume) arm
in arm and recording a song, while Eva "conducts" Kate.

Kate [in voice over]: This is a traditional song that Yanka wanted me to
       sing with her. I just hold a drone underneath while Yanka solos.
       Eva's showing me how to come in with a ...

    Here the tape seems to go haywire and there is an odd squeaking noise
which was supposed to be an "eeeyah" kind of sound but came out as if the
edit had been totally screwed up
     The song finishes with the "eeeyah" sound, with Kate coming in when
Eva signals, and Kate and Yanka turn and smile broadly at each other.
The next cut is to the Trio singing "Dva Kornie" (in their regional costume
again). (This features some of those "eeeyah" noises). This is followed by
a cut back to the three members of the Trio being interviewed.

Eva:   [translated] Music does not recognise the existence of two systems.
       Music travels around the world without a visa, without a passport.
       Music is international. The opportunity our Trio had to record with
       Kate Bush was very important to us and we consider it a great
       honour. I think that everything went well. We coped well with the
       variety of rhythms and our composer [sic. probably arranger was
       the correct translation] Dimitar Penev was a great help. I think
       that Kate Bush was satisfied with the work we did together. I think
       she chose to work with Trio Bulgarka because we are folk singers
       with strong musical roots and able to meet any musical challenge
       we are faced with.

     Cut to the Trio singing "Strati Angelaki".
     The rest of the programme featured the clarinet player Ivo Papasov.
     There was no evidence from this programme that Kate had recorded with
the Trio at her own studio. Kate mentions the work they have been doing "the
last two days" but does not say whether it was at this studio or her own.
Certainly, the programme gave the impression Kate was recording the Trio
at the Islington studio. However, it is possible that her studio resembles
the Islington one sufficiently for me to get confused (I will need to
see the tape again). The KBVI piece could have been set up for the TV
cameras but I think this is unlikely.
     As for the piece of music itself, then, I would say that it definitely
had a feel of a "choir-synthesiser sound" as described in the NME
interview (and so this suggests it indeed was a piece of KBVI).
Since the Trio were definitely singing in Bulgarian on this piece
one must assume that it was their choice rather than Kate's. There were
definitely "lyrics" not just open-throat sounds. The overall feel of the
rhythms was however definitely western and was not a westernised version
of a Bulgarian tune.
     Sorry I am such a complete flop at describing musical sounds. It
sounded good to me anyway.
     Regards.

-- Neil