Bristolian Spring/Morgan Van Sessions

The last weekend, I had a recording session in and around Bristol, UK. Mike Hembury and Mark Maddrell wanted to record a demo CD and I helped them playing the organ and I did some engineering. Due to a lack of money, we recorded in an old shed in Bristol and in Mark's caravan. It was an amazing session. On Saturday, Julian Rowlands (Bandoneon) and Ros Stephen (Violin) of UK's leading Tango band Tango Siempre joined our session and recording in the van was just lovely. Well, IN the van is not the right word. As the spring reached this country, is was really warm and I set up my equipment outside in the sun, while the others were playing in the van. This was quite something.

Ros Stephen and Julian Rowlands during the session

Mark Maddrell, Mike Hembury and me in front of the infamous Morgan Van Studios

For music addicts, Bristol is definitely a place to go. Three different genres - drum'n'bass, trip hop and dub step - were born here. Due to 80.000 students there's a lot going on and London is just 100 miles away. The city is dominated by the old harbour and...graffiti.For the next weeks, I'll do an internship at the Modern World Studios in Tetbury, which is about 30 min north of Bristol.

talking plane home delay blues

Alright. Here comes the next song of our last recording session. It is called "talking plane home delay blues" and was written on the WOMAD songwriting workshop in Bath by Mike Hembury and me.

As I already noted, it contains some common lines with one of Andy White's new songs.The amazing voice in the beginning belongs to Hikmat Al-Sabty of the fantastic ensemble Ourud Elmahabbe. Thanks to him and all the other musicians involved.

Mike Hembury in front of the "Castle" in Bath, the birthplace of the WOMAD songwriters.