But can you hear a pin drop?
My ears are still recovering from the bludgeoning they received at the hands of the Rhythm Devils last night . Why WHY WHY!!! so loud? There is absolutely no reason for that music to be so loud in a hall the size of the Cedar with a sound system as fine as ours. Four plus hours selling beer in the bar at the back of the hall and screaming at patrons in order to take their orders and I was ready to just go somewhere quiet!
I know this is a delicate subject. I realize there are egos involved. It's not just the musicians' egos, it's their sound people. Our sound guys not only know our room and what volume sounds good there, they also will listen when another staffer makes a volume suggestion.
I have handled that careful conversation with various road managers over the years; you cannot just tell them "You're too loud!!" One has to use code phrases, talk about the intrinsic qualities of the Cedar's particular acoustics, explain about what our audience is used to....often it's easier to employ our sound tech as a go-between.
I like loud music. I get the noise. Really. I was there in The Entry for Dinasaur Jr. on the Bug tour once upon a time, probably the loudest show I remember. I go to metal shows once in a while. I had a great time at Balkan Beat Box a few weeks ago. It was loud-ish, but my eardrums were not in pain by the end of the night.
Looking forward to next month's Global Roots fest, Wednesday night's show promises to be an experience for the ears that will not only show off our sound system, but allow our hall to function in its best "listening room" capacity. All of which sounds really good this morning.
I can only hope the crowd for the Oreka Tx/ Portico Quartet show will be ready for the "listening room" scene and respectful of the quiet space such music deserves. I am also very much looking forward to the images from central Asia, Indian, Saami-land and Morocco in the Oreka Tx film, Nomadak Tx. At this point I don't have much to add to our regular website description of this show and the groovy weird instruments it features, but I can tell you this: the "x" in "Tx" is pronounced "ch" in Euskara.
Oreka TX
The Basques are a unique group of people whose origins are somewhat surrounded in mystery. They are believed to be prehistoric inhabitants of Europe and possibly the direct descendants of Cro-Magnon man; their language is entirely different from any other European language and it is apparently the only Western European language that does not belong to the Indo-European family.
But they have another unique thing … the TXALAPARTA.
This percussion instrument consists of some wood planks placed on two stands covered with an insulating material. Wood freely vibrates when two people (txalpartaris) vertically hit them, each one with two wooden sticks.
The origin of the Txalaparta is surrounded by myths. Some people place it in the prehistoric cavern , imitating their galloping sound. Or used as a way of communication among Basque tribes.
