There is a certain place I would like to visit and I really hope one day I will do so. There is a special attraction to this which makes me want to be prepared to go there, not just like you would with any other place, but with the right feelings in you heart and the right thoughts in your mind. This certain place is Cuba.

The fact is that Cuba is a country so particular in its way, so full of history and of cultural meanings, that I feel like you really have to go there with the proper state of mind in order to benefit of all the learnings. Therefore, I am waiting for the perfect time to do so.

Meanwhile, I am wondering how it would be like:

• is it still possible to sit in a small cafe in Havana and drink some rum and listen to this kind of music, played really low ?
• can you do the same on a beach ?
• can you walk around in the city through a real maze of narrow streets with tall buildings colored in bright colors ?
• are they still driving this kind of cars ?
• how is it like in the Sierra Maestre mountains ? how about in Santa Clara ?
• where can I buy the best cigars from :)?
• can I play chess with a Cubanese old man?

…and so on.

Hopefuly, we will find out soon enough. There is only one way to it ;).

As you may noticed, there hasn’t been much activity going on around here, mostly because I have been quite busy and tired in this period.

Still, some fresh stuff I was inspired into a few days ago by S. is worthwhile to be mentioned and probably deserves the title for the “most impossible to hum” song of the year :) It is Mika with Grace Kelly (youtube link). A fresh song with some strange voice from the guy which it is almost impossible to follow up.

To understand what he actually says, the lyrics are here.

As some of you might know, I had the pleasure of starting 2007 in a ski resort, in Zell Am See – Austria.

The trip was excellent and Zell Am See is a fantastic resort for the ski lovers. The slopes are excelent, very decent prices and the resort itself is very nice. The only low mark can be given to the Apres-Skis, which are not that popular. But you can always go for the ones in Kaprun or Kitzbuhel, which are very close to Zell Am See.

Another good point can go to the excelent conditions for snowboarding in Zell Am See – the snow was excelent, quite a lot of powder and a lot of oportunities to go off-piste.

And since this blog is mostly about music, the track of this trip is one I heard in Kaprun, in an Apres-Ski – Michael Jackson – They Don’t Care About Us. Quite an old song, but very popular in its time and still very nice for some after-skiing entertainment. It was a fantastic image to hear all the people in the bar singing this in the same time – really a great atmosphere !

Pictures from this trip are to be found here.

As I was not able to attend, Diana offered to share her experience on the Samael concert. Therefore, here it is, the Samael concert in Romania reviewed. Thanks a lot, Diana !

The day of the Samael concert finally arrived on the 2nd of December – a day awaited by many – and so many to be disheartened. Judge me with indulgence if you please, but this is not the same band you sordid metalheads used to listen years ago.

With Dies Irae as an opening act, things didn’t quite indicate future excellence, for they encountered as many technical problems as a band could in only one 30 minute show. As for Avatar, things worked out remarkably good, their show being sustained by Costin Chioreanu’s outstanding projections. Inauspicious, the audience got uninterested just a bit before the usual, but this is comprehensible if we keep in mind the forthcoming band.

When Samael eventually came into action, many people left the concert hall, unaware of the fact that this band changed style a while ago. Nevertheless, the ones who chose to remain were uttermost enraptured, for the guys offered an incredible hour and a half of pure musical spells.

One by one, they played songs such as Jupiterian Vibe, Reign of Light, On Earth, On Earth, but their genuine moment of grace was probably symbolized by Baphomet’s Throne, for that’s when the band manifested their real endowment and received the well deserved feedback.

Moreover, it is probably widely agreed that the half an hour encore added a tint of awesomeness to the show. The band waved goodbye and promised to come back next year (don’t they all?). Overall this has been indeed a good concert, backed by a remarkable sound system and an exceptional set list.

Jupiterian Vibe
Inch Allah
Reign of Light
The Cross
Telepath
Oriental Dawn
Baphomet’s Throne
Rain
Nautilus & Zeppelin
On Earth
Moongate
Choosen Race
Infra Galaxia
The Ones Who Came Before
________________________
Intro/Shining Kingdom
Black Trip
High Above
Year Zero
My Saviour

Apparently the band also had a very good time wandering a bit the next morning and I’ve heard rumors…Nevertheless, I’m glad things started to prompt to musical action in Romania and since we’re having Laibach in the offing you should prepare for a plump year. At this pace I sometimes wonder if we’ll ever get to see Deine Lakaien. Loading…

Thanks to the I am fuel, You are friends blog, I had the chance to experience one of the greatest moments in music recently – Pearl Jam playing a native Hawaii-an song, composed by Israel “The Gentle Giant” Kamakawiwo’ole.

The song is extremely powerful, covering the ancient theme of the land of the native Americans and the industrial revolution destroying their beauty.

The original version is sang by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, one of the most appreciated Hawaiian artists. He started singing at the age of 11 and dies at the age of 38, suffering from a breathing illness caused by obesity – he was about 340 kg.

The Pearl Jam interpretation of the song preserves the power and emotion behind the original version, adding the power of Eddie Vedder’s voice. The performance was during a Pearl Jam show in Hawaii and is covered in Surfline magazine.

Courtesy of the I Am Fuel, You Are Friends blog, you can find both versions to listen to below:

Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – Hawai I ’78 – original version

Pearl Jam – Hawai I’78 – cover.

Well, the nominees list has been published. You can find it here. The ceremony is to take place on February 11th, 2007.
Here are my 2 cents on who I’d vote for in each category:

• Record of the Year – even though I don’t think it is the best record of this year, I’d go for Mary J Blige – Without you. Actually, I really like this track and I definetely think it is the best out of the other nominated songs.
• Album of the Year – Definetely the Stadium Arcadium should take this one. There is no debate about it, it just rocks and all the others are quite crap.
• Song of the Year – This award goes to the songwriter and in my view the writer of Not Ready to Make Nice should take it.
• Best New Artist – Even if I don’t really like that over-romanced music, I’d go for James Blunt on this one.
• Best Female Pop Performance – Wow, I can’t believe KT Tunstall is nominated. Yes, she should take home the award.
• Best Male Pop Performance – Daniel Powter, with Bad Day…maybe.
• Best Pop Group – Even though most of the indie blogosphere would probably go for Death Cab for Cutie, I would stick to Black Eyed Peas on this one, even if “My Humps” was lower than expected.
• Best Pop Collaboration – I’d go for Mary J Blige & U2.
• Best Solo Rock Performance – I have a special attaraction for Tom Petty with Saving Grace
• Best Rock Group Performance – Again, R.H.C.P. with Dani California.
• Best Hard Rock Performance – I’d go for System of a Down.
• Best Metal Performance – Slayer, no doubt about it !
• Best Rock Instrumental Performance – again, a pretty straight one should go to David Gilmour.
• Best Rock Album – Again, I would go for Tom Petty.

And for the other categories I’m going to write something soon – to be continued…

Blender published a top 50 worst music artists of all time. As this is and should be considered as a highly subjective initiative, I would have some remarks to it:

I Agree with:
- Crash Test Dummies (no 28) – they didn’t impress with anything, released the Mmm Mmm Mmm … song which was quite lousy for a hit, even though heavily broadcasted in its age. Poor performance afterwards.
- Celine Dion (no 26) – regarded by many as a Diva, I was never keen on anything concerning her, specially the song for Titanic. Everything was too “predictive”, all the songs follow the same line. Boring.
- Creed (no 23) – Again, nothing of interest in that form of rock.
- Michael Bolton (no 3) – Sort of a masculine version of Celine Dion, he made a good impression on depressed young teens but his music is poor, with no innovation and no substance after all.
- Insane Clown Pose (no 1) – Actually, I never understood anything from that form of “music”, so they must be lame.

I do not agree with: here the list can get longer…

- Manowar (no 44) – actually, Manowar had their quite distinctive sound and played good music. DeMaio is a good bass-player and all of the guys are pretty technical with their instruments. Also, the vocals were good. They also managed to be the “loudest band in the world” in Guinness World Records hall of fame.
- The Doors (no 37) – Doors played an unique kind of music and they have to be appreciated for this. They also created and supported a large movement in the hippie groups and influenced a lot of other bands. The End has one of the best guitar solos ever, so this is another reason to appreciate them.
- Yngwie Malmsteen (no 14) – As they said in the ranking, he was big on solos but short on songs. Actually, I trink he was that big on solos, that the lower songs can be overseen and he should be ranked much better. After all, this is his purpose, to create some great guitar sounds.
- Mick Jagger (no 13) – I think his great merit is that he actually created a great band and managed to make it play excellent music for dozens of years. Very few managed to do this and for this he should be greatly appreciated.

Actually, I could add a lot of Romanian artists to “the worst list” and also a lot of pop-stars…actually, 90% of them. But again, it is a matter of taste :)

Not much going on recently in my music habits, except for the recent discovery of two excellent tracks.

The first one is from the Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift movie – it is actually the opening track, sang by DJ Shadow and is entitled Six Days. I was just too impressed when I first heard it and I immediately searched for it – you can find the video here.

The second comes from the radio and it was a pretty hard challenge to identify it. It is one of the very few house / dance bands in Romania I appreciate and it is the first single out of their future album – Activ – Reasons. You can download it following the link – not hosted by musicblog – or you can just wait for the album to go and legally buy it.

Quite strange that both tracks are from the same genre, not one I would particularly like, but maybe it is just my mood of driving these days….

Browsing through the big and filled with music hard-drive recently, I just re-discovered one of my old obsessions in music, a track which I immediately liked the first time I heard it. I remember how I listened to it for dozens of times in a row for more than a week after hearing it…

It comes from a great Romanian musician – Ovidiu Lipan Tandarica – one of the members of Pheonix, but also an excelent artist on his solo albums.

Natalis – the song which made such a huge impression on me – comes from his Bachita album, released 2 years ago. The album is singed in Aromanian by Stelu Enache and is a collection of folk songs remastered in a rock atmosphere, resembling somehow to Goran Bregovic’s style.

You can find the song here – it is just for listening purposes only, please do not distribute and go buy the album !

Well, I am finally back from my 6-days-or-so vacation to snowboarding in Cervinia.

It was awseome, even though I had some bad-luck and only got 2 days of snowboarding – the rest were lost due to the high wind.

Cervinia is great as a resort, even though I found it in a not very populated time. Also, it offers a lot of opportunities to sky on all sorts of slopes, very well maintained.

Enough with the talking, some pictures are to be found here. Next stop should be Austria, for skiing on New Years Eve.