Music

Music and I have always had a slightly complicated relationship. Despite playing (/torturing) two musical instruments with varying degrees of success throughout my childhood I have never felt the seemingly visceral connection others seem to feel to music. To me it has always been closer to acoustic wallpaper than anything else; something to have on rather than hear the oppressive sound of silence. Even then I would usually far prefer Radio 4 most of the time.

On the plus side, this reticence has meant I've saved a fortune in portable listening devices over the years. I have owned a walkman and discman over the years but they were principally used to listen to talking books and standup comedy. I have owned an ipod in the past but for a large part of the time it sat at the bottom of a drawer. I accidentally put it through the washing machine a couple of years ago and have never really found the need to replace it.

Before I sound like a total philistine I should clarify that there are some pieces of music I do passionately like and I do listen to from time to time. However most of these have a significance beyond the songs themselves. Listing them would take too long but suffice to say, for varying reasons they were played a lot during significant events in life and so serve as contextual cues to memories of those events.

Other groups I like because they are funny. Tom Lehrer would be a good example of this. Also the Otherguys who I have talked about previously (although the St. Andrews connection probably helps there). Amateur Transplants is another favourite; they re-word well known songs with their own rude, smutty and hilarious lyrics. The only problem with them is that I frequently have no idea what the original song was!

I am also more fond of classic disco cheese than is socially acceptable to admit to. I will generally view a club is rather good if it belts out the Macarena or something similar... I don't go clubbing much probably for that reason! When faced with music that is deemed "cool" in clubs I can usually be heard (or as close to hearing one comes in these establishments) muttering that music should have notes in a similar way to Giles in Buffy.

At the moment I'm going through a bit of a phase of bagpipe music. I'm probably being a typically nostalgic  Scotsman abroad but I genuinely love the sound of the pipes (as long as it's not in an enclosed space). I'm not quite at the stage of stopping and listening, teary-eyed, to buskers but I will generally mutter the name of the tune to nobody in particular. I have also set myself the challenge of learning the pipes when I have a) the time and b) the money. Being able to play them, I think, would be a really rewarding experience. Plus, it would be an excuse to get the kilt on and drink copious volumes of whisky... what's not to love?

I have always rather enjoyed opera too. Recently I have been horribly spoiled by being able to attend a lot of operas at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. It was one of the major perks of volunteering with St. John Ambulance; I got in for free on the proviso that I treated anyone that fell ill. Now given the demographic of the people in the auditorium, that was playing with fire a bit but luckily incidents only happened in boring performances or the second or third time I saw a particular show. By far my best experience was seeing Aida in the opera house in Verona. The only word that really does it justice is "magical".

Having spilled out a stream of ambivalence I'm going to change tack and talk about one musician who I like for the music and not much else. She is called Lizzy Parks and is a jazz/soul singer. Neither of those were genres I'd had much to do with prior to encountering her and, to be honest, I've not had much to do with them since.

I first heard her at a jazz festival in Canary Wharf about three years ago. Initially I was quite reluctant to go since I don't particularly like Canary Wharf but eventually I relented (I was promised there would be beer). It turned out to be a great afternoon. Not only was there beer but there was also sunshine and some rather excellent hot dogs. Most of the music washed over me in a pleasant way. I didn't not enjoy it but I certainly wasn't blown over. It was enjoyable for the instant it played then I forgot it just as quickly. However just as we were beginning to consider making a move Ms Parks came on. We agreed among ourselves to stay for one more set/round. None of us were quite ready to make a move and we thought we would make the most of the last of the sunshine.

So on came this (extremely pretty) girl and let forth. Within the first few bars I was captivated. Her voice was wonderful. It had a gentle, ethereal quality to it which had me spellbound. She also had an impressive vocal range without sounding screechy or croaky at either end. Her performance was gentle but passionate and by the time she finished I realised that I wasn't the only one that was impressed. The whole party I was with (all four of us) was sat there absolutely spellbound.

Since then I have bought both of the albums she has released and although I don't listen to them often, they are still every bit as good when I do listen to them.

I would highly recommend you look her up either on youtube or spotify. Even if your reaction isn't the same as mine, I'm sure you won't regret it.

JR