The last night of the festival started on mainstage #2 with the rhythmic magic of Bassekou Kouyaté and his ngoni band.
That's Bassekou in the brown. His wife sings, his two sons also play ngoni as does his brother (far left). Another brother plays drums. An interesting spherical drum. And there's also a percussionist, who I think was not related to him, but I'm not sure as my French is quite limited.
They are from Mali and the ngoni is a guitar-like instrument. It was amusing seeing these handmade instruments with guitar cords coming out of them. It was joyous, rhythmic music. I loved it. I stayed for the whole set. Ninety minutes standing on the concrete floor--it was worth it.
The percussionist was the most amazing. He played a drum like a... Let's see if I have a picture.
Well, you can sort of see it. It looks like a rolled up Sunday New York Times under his left armpit. He played it with a wooden stick with a hook at the end and with his hand. His hands were moving so fast they were just a blur.
Next, I headed over to mainstage #1 to hear French trumpeter, Ibrahim Maalouf. He had 4 trumpets, including himself, guitar, keyboard, bass and drums. It was a photographer's nightmare. The stage was either bathed in red light or there were white spotlights shining out into the audience. My iPhone camera and I were not up to the task of capturing it. It was fun, high energy music, but I was unable to get a seat and couldn't stand up any more, so I only stayed for the first few songs.
I have set myself a task for my last night in Switzerland to spend all my Swiss francs. I can change bills back into US dollars at home, but I mostly have coins. They have 5, 2, 1, 1/2, .20 and .10 coins. So I head over to the store to check out the T-shirts. 29 francs for a T-shirt. Expensive, but it'll make a better souvenir than a bunch of coins. I need 6 for the train to Lausanne tomorrow and another 6 for my midnight waffle fix. That leaves just enough to try the hot spiced wine at the tea vendor. Perfect. Rosé wine and not a lot of spice. Okay, not so perfect, but it was worth trying.
It's not quite midnight, but I'm ready for that waffle! I opt for the Grand Marnier waffle tonight. They have the Grand Marnier in what looks like a Windex bottle. When you order they spray on the booze--both sides! Pretty darn yum.
After 10 days I'm a little festivaled out. But there's a soothing tenor sax sound coming from Caveau des Amis. They have the stage set up so you can just see the piano from street if you stand at the door in just the right spot. I hang out on the street for the end of "Misty". It's just piano and sax. Quite enjoyable. They take a break after "Misty" and I wander off.
Caveau de l'Union has advanced a decade from 60's rock to 70's rock. It looks a lot like the band from last night also, except the keyboard player is on the right tonight.
The place is packed, but I manage to make my way in and find a place to lean on the bar. Wow, it's getting even more crowded. Ooo, the guy in front of me has a nice jacket. Feels like cashmere. I wasn't trying to feel it. He just backed up into me as the crowd swelled. It was fun, I love 70's rock. That's my era. I think the music you listen to in high school always has a special place in your heart.
After a few songs I realized I wanted to hear more of that sax and piano duo. I also started getting into jazz in high school. And you all know how I feel about that art form. Back at Caveau des Amis they were still on break and I was able to get in and get a seat. Yippee! They started the next set with "Ain't Misbehavin", but with the bridge from "Misty". On every chorus. They must really like that bridge. They did a stride piano version of "Softly" which I thought was a little odd. And a beautiful rendition of "Georgia". And on "Blue Monk" the sax player really got to honking!
Well, on that note I'm ready to leave Cully filled up with le jazz.
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