Comas - Sylvain Barou live in Dranouter

pbar03 · Post by **pbar03** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 3:27 pm

57 minutes of live music on their website:

http://www.folk.be/comas/comas-dranouter.mp3

Only problem: a chunk of 54Mb to download.

Enjoy it.

Pierre

ChrisLaughlin · Post by **ChrisLaughlin** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 4:57 pm

Pierre,
This is incredible. Sylvain is just a mindblowingly good player. I'm amazed he doesn't have a higher profile on the scene.
Good stuff, thank you!
Chris

ChrisLaughlin · Post by **ChrisLaughlin** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 5:34 pm

Doh! The folks clapping out of time at 36minutes piss me off!!! I've had that happen when I was performing and it just drives me nuts. I wish people wouldn't clap along at all, they almost always get it wrong. Doh! We just got to 38 minutes and there are now a huge croud of people clapping out of time!
What is wrong with these people? Wicked, wicked, wicked fiddle though!!!
Chris

nashradus · Post by **nashradus** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 5:45 pm

Clare's Reel is simply mindblowing! I first heard the tune in the WFO CD. Beautiful, really.

~nash

pixyy · Post by **pixyy** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 3:02 am

Cool - thought the 54Mb download might pose a bit of a problem.

I saw Comas live last year. Very high energy playing. We ended up calling Sylvain 'Mr. Chromatic' with all the runs he makes in between.
...pure envy speaking

Steampacket · Post by **Steampacket** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 3:31 am

I'm not impressed with this band - I mean what's with all the rush - for example "The kid on the mountain" set just rushed through, what's the point in just playing the tunes so fast, just to get them over with in order to go on to the next set of tunes? Ok, this is a live show and they want to get the crowd going, fair enough, prehaps they calm down bit when doing a studio recording. Obviously they are musicians that have a command of their instruments, but why the high tempo on the tunes. It's early here I'll give them a listen again later and see if I think the same. Ah 35 minutes in is a newly composed tune played on the fiddle which is calmer

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 6:58 am

Downloaded in 1 minute 17 seconds.

I actually kind of agree with Steampacket; the musicians are obviously very, very capable on their respective instruments (in particular, this being the flute forum, Sylvain is mind-numbingly impressive!), but the band's style is too "speed-Irish" for me. I was at the concert Pixyy mentions, and at the end I just got an overload from too many "hyperspeed" reel sets with funky chromatic flute interludes.

I had the same feeling with Danu; the first few times I heard them live I found them absolutely great, but at some point the whole Tom-Doorley-shows-off-with-another-speed-reel-set just became too much for me. Their latest CD is a welcome break from that style.

/Jens

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 9:19 am

So you didn't like the rock'n'roll version of Kid in the Mountain?

Steampacket · Post by **Steampacket** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 9:56 am

"So you didn't like the rock'n'roll version of Kid in the Mountain?" Glauber.

No, but then they are using some trad tunes in a band setting, not a trad setting, so it's up to them, and it they like it ,and folks dig it then that's cool. Not my cup of tea (the expression, not the reel) , but more power to their elbows etc.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 10:00 am

Yes, i'm with you. Not my favourite way to hear that tune, but they're doing a good job of entertaining the crowd.

SylvainBarou · Post by **SylvainBarou** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:26 pm

Hello !

Just popped in to say hello to all, and also to confess that I really don't like this live recording at all

well, I mean, out of its context it doesn't mean anything, Glauber is right, the crowd was just very excited at this moment at the Dranouter Festival, and I think we played far tooooo fast (maybe we tried to follow the clapping ?)
People who know me here know that I also love to play quiet and slow

I think the Kid on the mountain track sounds horrible, especially because of the very aggressive and unprecise sound of the FOH desk recording. I cannot even recognize the sound of my pipes

anyway, Philip Masure posted this concert on the Comas website for promotion since we don't have any CD out yet. We are doing a live record on the 15th March in 't Ey, Belsele (Belgium) + some (nearly finished) studio tracks.
Somebody is also putting up a website for me, it will be finished in a couple of months, www.sylvainbarou.com
(By the way, I will try to finish my album after the summer, I was too busy playing with other bands (both breton & irish) I also met too many people complaining about the fact that I never have a solo CD for sale, so...)

thanks for your comments,

Sylvain

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:53 pm

A classy reminder for us all on the dynamics (in every sense) of playing live. Thank you, Sylvain!

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:56 pm

Sylvain, I've really been enjoying your playing on the recent CDs by Denez Prigent. There's that live one from a few years ago that starts off with electric hurdy-gurdy (!) and also the more recent Sarac'h. Incredible singing from Prigent of course, but your flute, whistle, and pipes (including biniou koz!) add a lot.

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 1:14 pm

SylvainBarou wrote:People who know me here know that I also love to play quiet and slow

Sounds good.

After all, Clare's Reel is quite a marvellous tune - one of my favorite slow flute tunes.

/Jens

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 1:53 pm

SylvainBarou wrote:Just popped in to say hello to all, and also to confess that I really don't like this live recording at all

Oh no, the Man's listening! I hope i didn't say anything harsh!

For the record, i posted in another forum that i really liked the "Clare's Reel", i thought it was nicer than the one in World Flute Obsession and it actually drove me to tears while driving from home to work (i'm not sure if the music drove me to tears or the idea of having to go to work!).

Anyway, keep giving us free concert recordings, and we'll love you forever!

g