Transmissions VI festival in Ravenna – 16th March 2013 – Bronson Club
Day three of this annual festival celebrating experimental arts and culture featured musical acts from Italy, USA, Britain and Finland. This is a brief eye-witness account of what went down:
Julie’s Haircut from Northern Italy played a lively and quite enjoyable set. They started out sounding like Joy Division and wound up some interesting variations of Krautrock. The hugely talented Valerio Così on sax and laptop was a special guest but not used to the best effect. Disappointingly, his contribution was all but buried in the mix.
The star of the show – Daniel Hiiggs onstage at the Bronson.
Daniel Higgs was a revelation. I’ve long been a fan of his solo recordings but wasn’t sure what to expect from a live show. With his ragged grey beard, hobo clothes and astonishing banjo playing, he both looks and sounds he’s stepped from the 19th century.
He commanded the stage for well over an hour to force a rapid rethink for anyone who might have dismissed the banjo as a quaint, but rather limited, old-timey instrument.
His lyrics are mystical, semi-biblical tracts containing pearls of wisdom buried in surreal flights of fancy.
His are poetic missives from an upside down world where fishes fly and birds swim and where, as he says a wise man once told him, to live with freedom in your soul “you have to be mad but not crazy”. Continue reading
