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It is not new that I complain here about my noisy neighbors and about the apartment building where I live, which seems like a real acoustic shell, which amplifies any type of sound. Therefore, I will not go back to the details of my problem.

Today, I would like to shed light on the solution. No, unfortunately, I do not bring a “one-size-fits-all” solution, that will suit to all your problems, just a strategy that worked for me and that might work for you, too. It has to do with getting out of your “acoustic shell”. Oh, yes, you do have one, trust me on that.

In this case, what I am calling the acoustic shell has nothing to do with where you live, that is, with external influences, which you, ultimately, cannot control, but with what resonates inside your head. The pattern repetitions that we develop have to do, of course, with such external factors, but they usually go far beyond that.

Our acoustic shell will resonate accordingly to how much we nurture this reaction. Asking yourself; “Is my reaction proportional to the action received, or am I adding a generous dose of other problems to them?” may help you take that step aside, whch allows you to have a provileged view of the situation, thus making it easy to manage a problem or critical situation.

Practical example? I recently finished a task which, in theory, was very pleasant (producing the second season of a podcast about comic art research), but turned out to be a nightmare to medue to my, say, technical diffculties.

During over ten weeks I was busy recording and editintg episodes, repeating to myself “get real” mantras (“I volunteered for the chore, nobody asked me to. I did it because I wanted, I made my choice” etc). Despite my goodwill, it did not work at all and I spent the whle time feeling a mix of self-pity and anger.

Okay, but where is the magical solution?, you ask yourself.

The solution (I never said it would be magical), darling is to take things as a grown up. Am I saying you should mute your inner child? Yes, but only for a short time, just enough for you to remember that doing stuff we would rather not is part of life, but it is not the only one.

Grown ups know that, although most of our life is fullfiled by obligations that do not always make sense to us there is also the other part: the things we do because we are passionate about, because we believe they must be done, we believe they must exist.

Stepping aside for a moment, I finally could see the situation through a diffferent perspective and, suddenly, there was no room for feeling miserable anymore. I did what I had to do, and I did it professionaly. Frankly, the result is quite good (check it out), despite the circunstances.

Another thing that grown ups know is how great it feels to get the job done.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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Jazzkantine is is a musical collective founded in 1993 in Braunschweig, Germany. Their first album, Jazzkantine , released in October 1994 won the “Echo Award” in 1996, the most important award for German music.I first heard them during dinner at the home of a member of another German band, TreSimul, quite sucessfull during the late 1990´s. It was love at first heard.

Just like Nouvelle Cuisine, Jazzkantine also uses gastronomic analogies to describe the sound proposal of Matthias Lanzer, owner of the Rap Nation label. The team includes rappers Aleksey, Cappuccino and Tachiles, and producers Ole Sander (DJ) and Christian Eitner (bassist). The result can be defined as a mix of fusion, jazz, funk and German rap. Their albums also featured partnerships with international jazz musicians.

In addition to their first album, I also have their follow-up work, Heiss und Fettig (1995). Awesome music, the kind that you have to check out, trust me.

It is noteworthy that as of 2016, the titles of the Jazzkantine albums no longer contain references to gastronomy, and their latest release, Discotheque (2022), moves even further towards a change of direction. The group embodied one of the strongest trends of the time in the world of music: collective projects, but as many similar projects, they needed to readapt with the arrival of the self-centered 2000s.

I am not talking here about the transition from physical music to digital format, but rather about something that has become a kind of collective mentality, consolidated through the expansion of the tools provided by the internet to produce and consume music.

Dazzled by the idea that we were now all living in a new era of equal conditions of production and dissemination, the musical community moved away from the modus operandi that characterized the collectives and embarked on projects that, although musically increasingly similar to each other, are now sold as “unique experiences”.

Well, it is (past) time to admit that the golden days of no gatekeepers (if they ever existed) are gone. Even if a few names raised and nourished their audiences on the early days of social networks by keeping a rather quantitative than qualitative production, these same names had to turn to some kind of “paid content” strategy in order to have their material visible.

After all, the gatekeepers have not disappeared! They just outsourced the service, and since then, they are stronger than ever. Our entire focus now is trying to understand and to please this new entity: the “almighty” algorithm.

Maybe that is why we no longer have time to collectively appreciate the fine products servend on the jazz canteens.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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Krusty the Klown is one of my favourite characters from the sitcom The Simpsons. A recurring situation for the character is having his name mentioned in a scandal, usually related to his fast food chain, the “Krusty Burgers”. The few times he is the target of positive comments, Krusty is always frightened by the fact that such a thing as positive publicity might exist.

I often remember Krusty when I see phrases that have become so common that they may no longer catch your attention: “Please like and share”, “please leave a comment”, “help us share this video” so on and so forth.

These much-too-much-overused phrases do not represent bad publicity per se and I use them too, ok?, but it is very worrying how the hunt for likes or a position in the trending topics has become the focus of a huge number of people, either because apart from the entertainment, there is not much to show in terms of talent, or because they simply do not know any other way of behaving not only professionally, but also in any other field of their lives.

The change from the style of “what you do on stage is important” to “what happens on stage is just a detail” may be wonderful to those who make a lot of money by sharing every single moment of their day, reporting on their lives, personal problems (even the most embarrassing ones), but from the point of view of the musical quality it is a disaster.

Remember when the answer, “That is my personal life” was not only acceptable but respected? It used to represent a limit for the others.

The fact is not to be nostalgic or stuck in relation to the past. Actually, this sort of shallow arguments are usually used to mock of critic thinking and, consequentently to praise the choices someone else took for us. The point here is to call attention for the impoverishment of music in relation to the musical field itself. In other words, it seems that music has become a guest of show business.

Everything is more important: where, when and in which hip restaurant the band had lunch, the new sneakers of the singer, the new mansion of the drummer, the private jet of the band, the new diamond implant in the tooth of the guitarist, the new silicone prosthesis of the producer, everything seems to be more important than the composition process, the stories of the songs, the arrangement, in short, the music has become a mere supporting role in the musical scene.

I say this fully aware that there is fantastic, pulsating music, the kind that can truly be called art, that is being made right now, at this moment, all over the world. Even though I did not know it before, my 2020 experience interviewing 39 musicians from around the world for the QuaranJazz: listen while you are home podcast proved to me that, fortunately, outside of the mainstream, music is doing just fine, thank you.

So why is what we hear, in most radio programming and major events, so uninteresting, and sounds just more of the same? My guess is that there is a configuration of factors that include from an impoverishment of our listening capacity to an infantilization of society as a whole. For a wealthy minority, making a living from music has become increasingly distant from making a living doing anything merely related to music.

My point is summed up in a delightful 2007 film by Claude Lelouch called Roman de Gare (Airport Novel). a man reveals himself to be the ghost writer behind the successful detective novels by a hip writer, who lives the life of we usually call a celebrity, including endless parties, frequent trips and flashlights.

Faced with the disbelief of one of her fans, he argues: “And how do you think she would find time to write, with all the parties, manicures and interviews?”

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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I am not very good at putting things together, but I am great at finding the information I need. This is the reason why, no matter what I do, there will somehow be research involved in it.

Recently (or rather “finally”), I have acquired a microphone stand and a portable recording booth. The purchase happened after a lot of research on models, features and, of course, prices. After a long while, I believed to find a suitable model for my needs. Purchase made and received, it seemed like the end of the story. Big mistake.

Why? What could go wrong?, you may ask yourself. And the answer is quite simple: the assembly. Apparently, the producers think that everyone knows exactly what to do, when it comes to puting the pieces of their products together, and the precise place my unskilled fingers should place each so-tiny-you-can-barely-hold-it piece of metal.

Only a solid belief in the abilities of others can explain the lack of an instruction manual. I looked for information on the box. Nothing. Then I tried the official page of the manufacturers. A lot of bad pictures, but no information about the assembly. At these times I feel terribly embarrased, you know? I mean, I have a PhD, for crying out loud! It should mean something! Okay, my thesis is not about assembling and disassembling sound accessories, but still.

I thought about calling for professional help, but first there was one last thing I wanted to try. The ultimate way to go. After all, I was ready and willing to go to the last consequences to assemble my new appliances! The approaching end of the trying period also counted a little, I might add.

So I decided to go there, rock bottom: I looked for tutorials on Youtube. Nothing against tutorials, in principle, but the fact is that in order to save time, a lot of time is wasted.

This happens because the number of videos whose content does not match the title is huge. Sometimes, it is even worse: the title and description are ok, but the video does not add anything new to your precarious knowledge about the subject. Let us face it: this is a lot of useless content out there.

But bravely I waded through all the click baits and pubs, until I clicked on the one video that actually helped me. In gratitude, I subscribed to the channel and left a sincerely grateful comment. Later, I felt tremendously smart after seeing my stand and recording booth all set up.

This little adventurous got me thinking a lot about the dynamics of the relationship between fans and artists.

Just as I never would have landed on the right tutorial if it were not for a series of more less random search results (a video suggesting another etc), in the same way many people may come to my work (and to yours) through indirect ways.

Will they jump my content or become regular listeners and (ultimate blessing) true fans? There are lots of reasons involved in such a decision, but it also partially depends on my ability to solve a problem they have at that very moment.

An eastern proverb says that a friend is a person who knows how to play the strings of our heart. I think this comparison is beautiful and quite true. Did my song strike the right chord in your heart? Then, a bond emerged between us.

Despite of all the algorithms and paid tricks to get more likes on socials, I still believe there is a kind of fan-artist relationship that is purely instinctive. The kind that, luckly, does not need any intructions to be assembled.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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Nouvelle Cuisine is the name of a culinary movement born in France in the 1970s. Among its characteristics are the appreciation of freshness, lightness and delicacy of dishes. The “new kitchen” is based on the concept of exploring the natural flavors of each ingredient.

Preserving the “signature” element of the food to the maximum and equally careful about the visual presentation of the dishes, the nouvelle cuisine appealed for the senses to reach the soul of the gastronomic experience. The movement also lent its name and its concept to a very interesting and often unmentioned chapter in the history of Brazilian jazz in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In 1987, when rock and roll was the hegemonic rhythm in the Brazilian music scene, five musicians formed a… jazz group. The artistically daring act, in itself, would be worthy of note, but Nouvelle Cuisine, the quintet was much more than that, especially thanks to its vocalist Carlos Fernando.

Accompanied by Guga Stroeter (vibraphone and drums), Flávio Mancini Jr. (double bass), Luca Raele (piano and clarinet) and Maurício Tagliari (guitar), Carlos Fernando imprinted good taste and refined technique in a scene marked by excesses. I remember the strong impression the group made on me when I first saw them live.

Extreme care and good taste was present in each and evry element on stage, from the sober costumes of the musicians, to the lighting; from the repertoire to the minimalistic arrangements and, above all, the velvety, singing of Carlos Fernando.

I would achieve the same musical enchantment years later, attending a performance by the group Madredeus, and listening to Tereza Salgueiro and her divine vocals. The feeling of being in front of a special voice is not easily forgotten.

By the time I saw the Nouvelle Cuisine on stage, I was living in the city of Campinas, in the country side of São Paulo, studying History, and in charge of the vocals in a music band whose repertoire was mostly formed by Brazilian Jazz. I remember how excited we got, when the quintet came to town, and we all went to the concert. It was like facing a possible future for our quartet.

We were innocent, I know, but in our defense I might add that, at the time, Nouvelle Cuisine was at the height of its fame. They had just released a second album by Warner Music (which is, amazingly, still not fully available for streaming), and being treated by the mainstream media like stars. For us, all that buzz was like a sign that the jazz scene was definitely consolidated. Big mistake.

Nouvelle Cuisine recorded only three albums and Carlos Fernando recorded also a couple of solo albums. Certainly much less than this remarkable composer and performer would deserve. What happened? I dare to say, Nouvelle Cuisine was the right band in the wrong time.

While the fin-de-siècle scene created great expectations, the 2000s took a completely different path and there was no place for the good taste that Nouvelle Cuisine represented.

For those of you who want a taste of this delicatessen, there are tracks and compilations to be found on Youtube and Spotify. I leave here the link to my favorite one, a bossa-nova reinterpretation of the song by Stevie Wonder: Flower Power. Bon appétit.

Be seeing you!

G. F.