Pre Christmas Nikita Gig

Bit late for a pre-Christmas post about anything really. There I was all inspired by Sarah's flowing stories on her blog http://mogwaii.wordpress.com/ that i realised how daft it is to sit back and think for too long about what happened.

So what happened was the end of Nikita's autumn term and as pretty much the solo drummer in the school, he has joined THE band. So they had to practice like crazy and get a couple of songs lined up. As the band transport slave I secured a sweet spot up front at the gig...

This is a middle school - along the lines of the French set up: 2 years of this pergutory between primary and secondary school. Can't really see the point, but he seems to get on OK. It's yet another soulless set of concrete blocks piled up alongside each other. Why is this the most used design for schools everywhere? Every heard of an inspiring building people ?

Back to the concert. First up was the eight year singing along in unenthusiastic fashing to some French pop song. The venue was the school gym, so the music was bouncing all over the walls generating a cacophany of chaos by the time the soundwaves bounced back to your head.

Next up - the next year up, or those learning Spanish or something. Slightly better, bit more gusto though it was going to take a lot to get the crowd behind them. Nikita, and his guitarist friend, Ricardo, burst in with some drum and geetar solos which sounded a bit all over the place, but the crowd went wild. A cheer soars across the stands. This was better.

The bagpipes were next. the Galician version, the Gaita i think they call them. Played by a girl with long messy dark hair, and thoughfull, almost mournfull expression. In contrast to the previous hullabaloo these pipes offered sanctuary in a mellow celtic, oddly familiar way.

Finally Nikita's big moment: their rendition of Joan Osborne's 'one of us'. Their singer, another girl brave enough to stand up in front of the jittery crowd, over a hundred of them. Kira (who'd bailed school to accompany me) looked at me when she launched out, and winced. Bit off key, but she pulled it off later on and got the whole grown doing mexican waves and generally getting into it. Nikita didn't get too many drum roll chances, but he looked pretty cool anyway, bit like Enrique Iglesias with a beany pulled low and long sleeved t-shirt and all that.



That's it, the band are launched. I tried to pursuade them later to integrate the Gaita into some modern trad music thing. Or just go trad and they'd get tonnes of gigs on the Galician side as the Youth Celtic Thing.

Next day: Early door start to Porto - London - Edinburgh. Where we awaited the arrival of Monica from her homeland trek.