RSS

Hosted by Celeste Lee

Stories by: Marilla Steuter-Martin, Milos Kovacevic, Caitlin Spencer

Produced by: Emeline Vidal

Presented by l'Opéra de Montréal

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Samson and Delilah, a brief summary of the story as presented in the opera will precede the review of the show:

Act 1 – A Square in Gaza
The Hebrews are being held in slavery by the Philistines. Samson, bestowed with incredible strength by God, encourages them to have faith in their God and hope for the future. Abimélech, governor of the city, arrives with guards to mock, discourage and oppress them. Samson beats Abimélech in a fight and encourages his people to revolt. They win and the High Priest of Dagon (one of the gods worshipped by the Philistines) is angered.

The Hebrews express their gratitude for their victory after the battle. As everyone is celebrating, Delilah Queen of the Philistines, comes along and attempts to seduce Samson. A wise old man tries to warn Samson against following her, but he seems to find her charm overpowering.

Act 2 – The Valley of Sorek
Delilah prays to the gods to give her the strength to seduce Samson to find his weakness. The High Priest of Dagon comes to tell her that Samson and the Hebrews have defeated the Philistines and offers to pay her to find the secret to Samson's strength. She refuses his money, saying that she will complete this task out of her hatred for Samson.

Samson meets Delilah in the Valley, where she attempts to seduce him into revealing his secret. Samson believes that the brewing storm and thunderous clouds are a sign from God to resist her. He succumbs to her when she accuses him of not loving her and leaves. He is captured by the Philistine soldiers when he follows her.

Act 3 – Scene 1. A dungeon in Gaza
Samson's hair, the source of his powers, has been removed and he is chained and blindfolded in a dungeon. He is deeply remorseful over his actions and he pleads to God to spare his people.

Scene 2. In the Temple of Dagon
The Philistines celebrate the downfall of Samson and ridicule him mercilessly when he enters the temple. Delilah reveals that she used him and lied about ever loving him to learn the secret of his incredible strength. During a celebration to Dagon, Samson prays to God to restore his strength. His prayers are answered and he destroys the temple.

Place-des-Arts was transformed this Thursday with an incredibly immersive and minimalistic set, music written by a Romantic era genius, and incredible performers that brought the stage and music to life. A simple, slanted platform and two walls became everywhere from a desert valley to an ornate temple with the use of beautifully crafted projections and gorgeous, vibrant costumes.

The first scene opened to a darkened stage with an abstract, sky-like image projected on the background. The inky sky and incredibly quiet orchestra began the story somewhere bleak, drab and macabre. Mysterious voices began in a barely-audible hush seemed to arise from the ashes of the earth. The lights faded in like a dismal sunrise and only then were the hopeless noticed, lying motionless on the ground as if the weight of their slavery was too great a burden to bare. Their gradual movements made them look like maggots struggling for a meal in the dirt.

The first brilliant splash of colour was the red of the guards' uniforms, a colour theme that presented itself each time safety or sanity was compromised. It occurred again in the temple, when the High Priest learned of the unconquerable rebellion, and in the Valley of Sorek when Delilah manipulated Samson into revealing the secret to his power. Even as the women sang of the beauty of spring and we met Delilah for the first time, their elaborate garments and the world that surrounded them had a reddish-orange tinge to it.

Red wasn't the only colour that played a valuable part in expressing the mood and subtext of what was happening on stage. A recurring pale blue described hopelessness and despair in the beginning, and when Samson was alone in the prison cell. This colour theme was accompanied by a dynamic motif in the music as well. Much like in the beginning, the haunting voices of the Hebrews emerged as if from nowhere when Samson was imprisoned. Only this time, Samson's solitude was accentuated as the Hebrew brethren he betrayed sang from where the audience could not see them.

The last recurring colours that told the story were the use of grey and gold to represent both God and Dagon, perhaps as a beautiful way of subtly unifying these two opposing spiritual entities. As Delilah seduced and manipulated Samson in the Valley of Sorek, the intricate, abstract red designs were the foreground to a treacherous grey thunderstorm. In the Temple of Dagon as the people worshipped, artistically shot, nude contemporary dancers performed in grey-scale as wisps of grey and golden light surrounded and encircled them. It was beautiful. The temple itself was golden, lit aflame with red as a sacrifice of golden jewelery was made to Dagon. Lastly, Samson reduced the temple to a desolate, grey dust.

These carefully crafted colours were the work of artistry brilliant enough to rival Saint-Saëns' music itself. Each performer brought outstanding life to their roles, their powerful voices filling the entire hall. The orchestra was flawlessly expressive, creating a foundation of unrivalled support for the performance as a whole. The show runs until January 31st at the Wilfrid-Pelletier Hall at Place-des-Arts. The chance to see this outstanding work should not be missed.

--Tune in to The F Hole for everything under the massive "Classical Music" umbrella! Mondays from noon to 2 PM only on CJLO.

Hosted by Danny Aubry

Stories by Celeste Lee, Emeline Vidal & Danny Aubry

Produced by Marilla Steuter-Martin

We Just Wanna Have Some Fun, Down At The Rock And Roll Club

In the fast paced world we live in it is sometimes easy to miss things, no matter how wired-in we think we are. So this past Tuesday when Prince Palu realized that there was not only a NBA team called the Pelicans, but that they have been in existence for almost two years, he yelled out to no one in particular, "What's going on? Am I alone here?" How was it possible, he wondered out loud, that (A) he did not know that the New Orleans Hornets had changed their name and (B) that they didn't change it to the Satchmos? He would go on mumbling about information as currency and the greatness of Louis Armstrong until remembering that he has a responsibility to not leave you alone to find out about shows after the fact. Hopefully this list will prevent any musical pelicans, so to speak, for you this weekend.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Tonight over at L'Escogriffe (4467 St-Denis), Analogue Addiction is throwing a killer rock and roll party that also happens to be a benefit show for their friend Billi Deraspe who recently lost everything in a fire. Montreal garage icons Les Breastfeeders will be joined by the bluesy garage rock and soul of Loose Pistons, and post-punk weirdness of Vulgar, You!. All the money collected will be donated so you can feel like you are doing something good for someone else while the bands do something good for you. Good karma goes a long way in this world.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Any band that categorizes their sound as 'psychedelic grunge jazz' has got to be worth the $5 it will cost you to get into La Vitrola (4602 St-Laurent) tonight to find out if this is true or not. The band in question is the Montreal band Fleece who will be launching their debut LP Scavenger, which was recorded by CJLO's own Patrick McDowall, with the help of a couple other local bands. The ambient shoegazing of Cult Classic and the psychedelic space trip of Starchild Aquarius and The Machine should make this a groovy kind of love-in. To get the full effec,t I'd recommend that you bring a large wool afghan to wrap around yourself and sit crossed-legged against the wall on the riser just off to the right of the stage.

If you're in the need of a little more ruckus on a Friday night, then L'Esco has got what the doctor ordered, if in fact you're in need of more ruckus due to a medical condition. Dead Messenger and The Von Rebels present a no-frills, no-holds-barred brand of rock 'n' roll that will have you stomping into your weekend.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Many years ago Stephen Malkmus of Pavement was famously photographed in a t-shirt with the slogan 'Fuck Art, Let's Dance', and on Saturday night there will be four bands at Bistro de Paris (4536 St-Denis) who will turn that t-shirt into a battle cry. It will also be the public and debaucherous birthday party for Lou Brassard aka Luis Bastard of The Shake Well Brothers, one of the four bands playing for the minuscule sum of $2. Joining in the celebration will be Count Ferrara, From Scratch, and The Strawberry Jam. From dirty rock 'n' roll to sludgy psychobilly, skronking ska to funky fusion, this night will have so many flavours that Baskin Robbins might be looking to take legal action.

Over at Casa del Popolo (4873 St-Laurent) there will be four bands who will go more of the 'Fuck Dance, Let's Art' approach. The stage will be filled with the jangley art-rock of The This Many Boyfriends Club, the vibrating pop-psychedelia of Two Year Carnival, the soundscapes of Archery Guild's sax player Huei Lin playing as his solo side project H U E I, and the Toronto/Ottawa cello and vocal duo of The Visit who have been described as "cinematic classical lyricism meets the virtuosic grit of the finest Metal traditions." Yeah, I don't know what the hell that means either, but you can click on their name and watch the youtube video and figure it out for yourself.

Down the street at Le Divan Orange (4234 St-Laurent) you will find the return of Santosh Lalonde's Gypsy-punk band Bad Uncle with equal doses of surf, metal, folk and science fiction. You haven't heard someone cover a Black Sabbath song until you've heard it squeezed through an accordion. Also taking part in bedlam that is sure to take place will be the deliciously named Street Meat, who also combine such divergent styles of music that it will almost seems blasphemous, and the Magic Crimea's JunkOye! Klezmer Band.

If you and your friends were more in the mood for going out and having a group of talented musicians create a cosmically charged soundtrack for your conversation, loaded with everything from Spaghetti Western themes, Kraut rock jams and reverb soaked experimentation, well, are you in luck! Jeunesse Cosmique is presenting La Nuit des Magiciens at La Passe (1214 de la Montagne). Featuring the curated sounds of Téléphone Maison, Hellenica, YlangYlang, Philippe Vandal, and Montagne Glacier. It all gets started at 9:00pm and is PWYC suggested $8.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

I don't know about you, but I tend to enjoy getting old timey on my Sunday evenings. With the dawn of another Monday mere hours away, it seems to make sense to let the weekend fade with the gentle pluck of a mandolin or twang of an acoustic guitar. If that is the case for you too, or just sounds like a good idea, you have two choices.

Your first options is the long running Bluegrass & Old Time Country Jam, which is in its 18th year of celebrating the legacy of Bill Monroe and his followers, at Montreal's best hole-in-the-wall Barfly (4062 St-Laurent).

If you would like to add a little bit more jazz to your twang, you could head over to Petit Campus (57 Prince-Arthur E.) to catch The Dustbowl Revival, the band that L.A. Weekly named "Best Live Band in L.A.". The Venice, California band combine the best of old-timey Appalachia-style string bands with the swinging sounds of New Orleans brass bands to come up with a sound that combines bluegrass, gospel, pre-war blues and swing. Grab a date and put on your dancing shoes.

--Prince Palu hosts The Go-Go Radio Magic Show, every Friday night from 6 to 8 PM. Tune in. Turn on. Freak OUT! Only on CJLO.