The seeds of culture grow in the strangest of places and I suppose therefore that it is no real surprise that those seeds have taken root in the less than fertile ground that is Easterhouse and become The Platform. Just don’t ask for directions – even using your best conversational Polish – for the residents will just laugh. A theatre here? More laughter.
A theatre there was though and in it was Wolf and Wolf, being solo, looked a touch lost on the vast stage. Nonetheless, she persevered and delivered her songs made of fragmented existentialism with a nervous yet infectious enthusiasm. A laptop was on hand to provide the necessary moral and rhythmic support although it was her melancholy fuelled violin that provided the cherry on top of her musical cake.
Next to occupy that expansive stage was Ela Orleans. Again alone apart from an array of electric toys, she demonstrated her mastery of making carefully constructed loops that sound immediately familiar and then using them as a foundation for atonal abstractions that would normally be resident in the sonic left field. Whilst that may sound like a journey into the abyss of the avant-garde, Ela Orleans was never less than accessible and, more often than not, downright hypnotic.
The headliners were El Hombre Trajeado and this was a one off revival show. Given that I had managed to miss them the first, and apparently the second, time around they, and their music, were new to me. They were a band with a sense of humour, however, and that was made clear by their startlingly realistic impersonation of seasoned session guys improvising their way through some, as yet unfinished, jazz funk backing tracks. The audience lapped it all up like it was Ambrosia creamed rice yet, and remarkably, they were denied the encore that they noisily requested. A case of always leaving them wanting more, perhaps?
Thinking of Ambrosia creamed rice has made me hungry. Not for creamed rice though but rather the Saturday night staple of chicken pakora and it is only seven minutes to the nearest decent kebab shop. Bet I can get there in six…