Monday 18 July 2011

Das Weiße Pferd - San Fernando

Das Weiße Pferd - San Fernando (Echo Kammer / Piko's Yodelin Records)
This is a record by Federico Sánchez and friends from Munich, Germany. Federico once came here to The Gate, the arts centre I go to, and played a concert with his band Kamerakino - they were a very good group and I liked the concert very much.
The record is dedicated to Jorge Cafrune who was a Lebanese Syrian who lived in Argentina and was a folk singer. In Argentina at the time there was a military dictatorship who didn't like his music so in 1978 they ordered his assasination and he was run over by a truck. It was a terrible tragedy that happened because a lot of people liked him and Federico has dedicated the record to him so that other people can hear about him. I think it is very interesting to hear about Jorge Cafrune and it is a shame about what happened.



          The record starts of with a song called Everything which reminds me of Rhythm of the Falling Rain by The Cascades, it is simple song played on acoustic guitar and what sounds like a mandolin with clapping for percussion, it is a very good start to the record. Next up is a song called Soviet Schönheit which means Soviet Beauty in English. It sounds like a German folk song but is a bit more funky, it is sung in both German and English and features Seb on Drums. I know Seb because he works here at The Gate, he is a very nice person and a very good drummer.  After a short song with what sounds like children singing on it and a short instrumental there is a song called Sexuelle Raserei which means Sexual Rage in English, it is a slow song with saxophones on it. Near the end of the song the vocals get a bit shouty like somebody is angry and is arguing with their wife or girlfriend but I don't know this for sure because it is in German. I still listen to music in different languages and it doesn't matter to me because I like to hear music from different countries. The next song is called Der Marquez and Seb tells me it is about a man who went to the Spanish bookshop that Federico works in and ordered a book by Gabriel García Márquez but never came back for it. The song is in Spanish and German so Federico must know a lot of languages - I wish I knew more languages so I could understand the record better but the only German I know is Guten Morgen and Auf Wiedersehen and Sprechen Sie Deutsch? The only Spanish I know is Adios.  Next up is a song also in Spanish and German which has a disco beat and is very nice. The last song on side one has Federico talking over saxophone and drums and making percussion noises with his mouth before the guitar comes in and the song gets faster and then slows down again - the song changes a lot and now Federico sings either like he's a choirboy in church or he shouts out his words like he is very angry.
           Side two starts off with a cover of Townes Van Zandt's Nothin'. Townes Van Zandt was a very good singer and guitarist from Texas. Das Weiße Pferd's version of this song is very good and quite different from the original which you can listen to here:



         Next up is another song in German called Famile which reminds me of The Bachelors, a group from the sixties, there is an instrumental bit in the middle with what sounds like parrots crying in it, I liked this bit a lot. The song after this has fiddles on it and this makes it sound like gypsy music and then after there is a short song Brand New Toyota which is a rewrite of Brand New Cadillac, If I had to choose between a Cadillac or a Toyota I would choose a Cadillac but I don't drive and so have to get the bus instead. The next track is another song called Knistern which in English means rustle or sizzle, it is a good song with the funny children's voices in it again. After this is a song called Stranger than Paradiso, Paradiso is the name of a record Federico made with his band Kamerakino, I think the song is about change and how it is a good thing. After another song all in German is the last song which is called Girls around the Corner. This uses the same music as the first song on the record but has different words and a girl singing and sounds a bit like a sixties girl band song. Everybody likes girl band songs so this a good way to finish the record. 
           Overall I really enjoyed listening to this record, it has a lot of different styles of music on it and I would listen to it over again. I would give this record 10 out of 10.

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