Radical Roots

Nuit Sans Lune

Radical Roots

Large men playing tiny lutes. To Cargo in Shoreditch last night for Luc Bongrand’s Nuit Sans Lune, a documentary on rebetiko, the Greek blues.

SOAS Rebetiko

After the movie, soaked in the pity of Greek modern history, a dozen members of the SOAS Rebetiko Group set chairs in a circle for a jam session.

DJ Seb Merrick picked up his fiddle to join Luca Gatti’s Dr Cat Experience while Elif Tarakçi belly danced hypnotically. (You can see her at Luca’s Myspace page.)

Jewish hip-hop klezmerbass group Emunah were still playing when pumpkin hour struck. I hadda headfa bed, but not before hearing their two men vocalists, one Jewish, one Palestinian, perform a magnificent unsentimental piece about reconciliation.