Venue:
The Temperance Cafe,Leamington Spa.
Date: 30/07/2021
I am a big fan of Andy Kershaw. Firstly for his musical taste but also for his love of travel in off the beaten track destinations which I find intriguing. I would love to see North Korea for example but doubt very much I would want to do more than one trip whilst Andy has visited 3 times. His love of Haiti is well documented in his autobiography No off switch as his marriage breakup which caused much opprobrium to be thrown his way mostly by people who had little or any knowledge of the situation he and is familty found themselves in. I find it telling that after the dust settled his children chose to spend more time with him, his son permanently and his daughter with regular visits. Still all of that is in the past and he is now doing the DJ circuit and so it is we found ourselves at the splendid Temperance Cafe in Leamington on a friday night to listen to his splendid playlist of World music the vast majority of which was completely new to me. It started of with a lively African section – 4 tracks in there was a really lively track with some wild synthesiser – I managed to ask Andy what it was and it was Congolese artist Tchico – he told me he had acquired it over 25 years ago and it was hard to come by. Later that night I managed to locate it on Discogs which was a bonus. Africa was followed by the Caribbean, some Latin
and them some quite eclectic stuff. There was a track that sampled a Jim Morrison quote ‘out here on the perimeter there are no Stars’ which I have not yet been able to source. The set was exciting, most were dancing and everyone was happy.
I got to speak to Andy before the set and he was as interesting as I thought he would be – a night with him in a pub chatting would be sure to throw up some great tales and perhaps even some challenging views.
The audience:
Capacity was 50 and I would say there were 30 in the main room and 12 in the adjoining lounge area.
The room is a cellar with little air circulation so it was hot and sweaty which suited the music perfectly.
It made me think..
This was very much a niche event but that didn’t detract from the level of enjoyment. I doubt that he would make a fortune from a night like this but he is getting paid to do something he clearly loves very much – how many of us can say that?
Andy drove me to my wedding. He has started doing podcasts. Half Man Half Biscuit are doing a special session for him.
@Beany yes saw that – how was he as a chauffeur?
It was on Andy’s show that I first heard Orchestra Baobab perform ‘Utru Horas’, and on his lovely compilation album ‘Great Moments In Vinyl History’ that I first had my own copy to play when I wanted to hear it again. It still gets a spin every now and again just to hear the otherwise unavailable tracks that he recorded himself out in the field somewhere exotic (e.g. the Shetland Isles). The man is a legend in this house; he’s cost me a small fortune over the years, the sod.
Guess his appeal has become more selective. I have been through a marriage break-up with children involved and it was the worst thing that happened to me. We may not know the whole story, but his behaviour at that time seemed to be incredibly troubling.
@dai we dont know either the level of provocation or the veracity of the tabloid reports. I too went through divorce and thankfully whilst traumatic it never reached a violent stage but had I have been told I couldnt see my son it might have been totally different. For that very reason I am always cautious to believe what is written about those in the public eye going through something that should really be private. It is very unlikely that any divorce is the sole fault of one of the party.
Aside from this he played very good music and was very approachable. He certainly didnt have the demeanour of a nutter.
This is true, his main issue may have been alcohol. That and divorce don’t mix too well.
Agreed there. I offered to buy him a drink last night but he said he limits himself to one beer ‘otherwise I will be running to the toilet all night’.
Tis so difficult. Loved him back then. Listened/recorded all his shows, devoured the books. Then all those tales. Too too many sad and disturbing tales to be fully discounted.
Sincerely hope the demon drink is firmly locked away but somewhat akin to Van and Eric the dream is broken, most probably forever.
Tchico Tchicaya came to Australia in the mid eighties. He had with him Master Mwana Congo on guitar who has the chorus on guitar turned up to eleven. Great player alas deceased.
The “promoter” had them playing at a small pub in the poorer part of town. No promotion, no posters, no radio advertising on indie stations, no media. So typical of the way African bands just arrive play to hardly anyone and leave before you know it.
I was doing a show on 3RRR and got wind of it. About 10 people there. I was appalled it was classic Congolese soukous. The real deal.
So I got on to the Age newspaper and was interviewed. As luck had it, the article came out on a Friday in the what’s on section.
Their next 3 shows had queues around the block. Everyone was elated.
I asked Master Mwana Congo about a performance he had done at Melkweg in Amsterdam. He was unaware of it. Before they left I managed to dub a copy of the VHS tape. I hope his family git so see him on it.
Good times.
That is a great story Junior and for me epitomises what Andy Kershaw is about – when the Bhundu Boys came to UK they were skint and to help them he had them stay at his house and they became close friends.
I wish I knew a fraction of the African music that he (and you) know about. Hats off to you both.
I’ve just listened to the first 3 episodes of his podcast ‘Andy Kershaw Plays Some Bloody Great Records’ – the description is very apt, it is superb.
Where else can you find John Prine, The Congos, Little Richard, Robert Johnson, a ton of Cajun & heartbreakingly beautiful High Life in rapid succession?
A treat for the ears & salve for the soul.
Less than a minute into the first episode and he’s already cost me 25 quid. Oh crikey…
He’s a sod like that, ain’t he?
I confess that most of the programming could have been done exclusively with me in mind – I’m now on show 5 & I’ve been relishing Spooner Oldham, John Shuttleworth, Warren Zevon, Candi Staton, Kevin Coyne – & there’s a Half Man Half Biscuit session coming up!
@Junglejim thanks for the nudge – I plan to listen to these at the weekend when I am home alone.
I’m pretty confident you won’t be disappointed.