Paris Salon de Musique

Why does no-one from the UK ever go to the Paris Music Fair? It's been going for 13 years, it's almost half as large as the British Music Fair with, if anything, more exhibits, and it makes a great weekend out (especially if you avoid the public days).

Over there during September were Baz Watts, Sibi and Andy Skirrow of Simmons, demonstrating on the Musicland stand, Tony Reeves of MTR checking out the European distributors of his MTR/Aries mixers, Mick Jones of Joreth Music showing his French-version Casio CZ Editing Software, Dave Bristow demonstrating for Yamaha (in between bouts of a nasty ear infection), Gerard Bart of Capelle on the Vigier stand (well, he is French, you know), and large numbers of what can only be described as French people. The musos were really funny — desperate to look like wasted West Coast Rock stars, they've only half got it right (the 'wasted' bit).

The show's mainly for distributors and retailers, so most stands (such as Musicland and the other big Paris store Numera, who sell Sequential, Alesis and Oberheim) had many lines on show. So what was new? Musicland were showing the Kurzweil Ensemble Grand, as yet unseen in the UK although previewed at NAMM. It's styled like an upright piano, has sampled piano, organ, synth, string and other sounds, a preset/programmable drum section with auto fills available, and a huge real-time memory. It was demonstrated turning the typical Jazz trio into a Jazz soloist.

Also from Musicland, the Photon guitar synth, which uses infra-red pickups to compete with the Shadow and Roland models. Around £1500 if it ever gets over to the UK though.

From a new company called Digigram, a multitrack MIDI sequencer similar to Roland's MSQ700. Labelled MC5, it has black and white buttons laid out as a miniature keyboard so you can enter notes or chords in step time or in real time from a MIDI synth. The gimmick is the printer port on the rear edge — hit print and it transfers your composition to an Epson or similar cheap printer at around 10 times the speed of the Jellinghaus printing software and with quality twice as high. UK price would be about £800 if anyone was sensible enough to take it up.

From RSF, a new sampling drum machine, the SD140, which holds up to 14 user sounds plus 14 built-in sounds, has suspiciously Yamaha-like styling with membrane switches, and sounds like a whole band if you load up a few bass guitars, orchestral crashes and so on. UK price about £900 if anybody...

Orla were showing a new MIDI mother keyboard plus a MIDI sound module, while Syncom previewed their MIDI Merge 4, which combines up to four MIDI inputs with various information filtering abilities into one output. JL Cooper MIDI accessories were also out in force, including disk dumps for tape-based sequencers, MIDI lighting controllers and so on — if they're cheap enough to import into France, why not here?

Pianos were very popular — our favourite was the Beabourg, with curved edges and metallic paint very much in evidence, while MIDI accordions (11 different makes) being played by Jean-Michel Jarre impersonators abounded.

Lots of interesting computer software, most of it in French and some for non-UK computers such as the Thomson and MSX ranges (okay, we know you can get MSX over here, but they're not exactly HUGE).

Lotsa tasty hand-built guitars, but mostly the same cheaper Japanese models we know over here. Pearl's Syncussion-X electronic kit was given a thorough demo, as was the MIDI Bat pad interface system from Micro Performance. Look them up in the list below.

Musicland Distribution, (Contact Details)
Numera, (Contact Details)
Digigram, (Contact Details)
RSF Synthetiseurs, (Contact Details)
Orla, (Contact Details)
JL Cooper, (Contact Details)
Micro Performance; (Contact Details)
Pearl, (Contact Details).

Europe strikes back

These Teutons don't do things by halves... A major event in the European Music Industry lately was the opening of Dynacord's new factory in Straubing, Bavaria. The company's been around for roughly 40 years, but even so, the size and facilities of the new factory are particularly impressive, as a bunch of assembled hacks discovered when they were shipped over for the occasion. The factory is totally purpose-built, with a heavy emphasis on automation, but even so the company now employs over three hundred workers. Dynacord have diversified extensively from their early days as producers of PA and tape echo machines, and they're now extensively involved in digital technology, like their ADD1 digital kit and the Rhythmstick. Consequently a lot of the R&D work is software based, so that the factory possesses the computing power of a smallish university, with a VAX and countless various PCs. The company are eager to impress the public at large with the fact that they're a force to be reckoned with, and the new complex was convincing evidence of this fact. There was much talk at the opening about the company being a main bastion of the European musical industry, and if the Oriental gentlemen present weren't actually quaking in their boots, they did look concerned in an inscrutable sort of way.

Sisters are doing it for themselves

News has reached us of a pioneering project aimed at increasing women's participation in all aspects of music making. Ova Music Studio, in Highgate, North London, is the brainchild of four women — musicians Rosemary Schonfeld and Jana Runnals, sound engineer Livvy Elliot, and administrator Jenny Gibbs. Based around the women's band of the same name Ova has in the 10 years since its members first met continued to broaden its brief. Today, Ova the band still gigs, whilst back at base, in premises shared with a local community centre, there is a well-equipped four-track recording studio, low-cost rehearsal space, and regular courses in the use of recording and PA equipment, 'voice empowerment' (singing plus...) and rhythm and percussion workshops. Recently, Ova has branched out into independent record production too with their own label, the assertively-named Stroppy Cow Records. As administrator Jenny Gibbs puts it:

"Our aim is to provide a service which encourages and allows all women the time and space to make and record their own music."

In keeping with this women-only, open door policy, rates for rehearsal, recording, and workshop activities at the centre are all pitched very low, with further concessions for unemployed women.

For further details on all aspects of Ova's operation, call the studio on: (Contact Details).

International Musicians of the Year Competition

With the closing date for entries to our International Musicians of the Year competition behind us, a selected panel of judges spent a day locked in the boardroom listening to and evaluating the entry cassettes.

Those around the table included representatives from Marshall, Limehouse Studios, Akai, the Boys Clubs, Washburn, J Hornby Skewes, HW International, Gateway and, of course, IM&RW.

Fifteen rounds of sandwiches later and the 12 semi-finalists were chosen. By the time you've read this the semi-finals would have been held and well be down to four finalists who will perform at London's Ronnie Scotts club.

In the meantime, the chosen 12 bands are: South Of The Border, Incognito, Mood Index, Vital Force, Blood and Fire, Ice Child, Touch, Jester's Foe, Design, Yrresha, The Worry Dolls and Ultimate Vision.

Watch this space for details of the final...

High Tekke

Coveting a Conga? Trying to track down a Talking Drum? You could do a lot worse than getting your mitts on a Tekke product. This small Hackney-based workshop has been turning out handmade 'ethnic' instruments for over three years now, its team of four full-time workers and various part-time helpers drawing inspiration from traditional African instruments. 'Drawing inspiration', because John, Errol Ronald and Sonny aren't averse to updating the 'ethnic' image, which too often simply stands for difficult to tune, poorly made parodies of the real thing. The shells of some of Tekke's most popular lines, for example, substitute colourfully finished fibreglass for traditional woods, and in the case of the hour-glass shaped talking drum, nylon cords for the traditional hide tensioners (pulling on these as you strike the drum head with the distinctive crook-shaped stick gives that famous 'bu-oom' detuning sound featured on Peter Gabriel 3).

Another hot item at the moment is a hand-sized sansa harp (also known as a Mbira or Thumb-piano) fitted with an internal piezo pick up to allow the marimba-like sound to be amplified. You get a bit of handling noise, and the output needs pre-amping to make much of an impact, but the instrument is such a supremely tactile, fun thing to play (pinging various lengths of sprung steel) that it doesn't seem to matter. I was staggered to see that sansa harps range in size up to a mammoth 24 'keys' (strips), and down in pitch to a massive five-key bass, played slung around your neck, and with a beautiful, penetrating basstone.

Inspiration has also led to the development of an entire range of 'Alikali' drums — square, tunable and very brightly coloured single heads stretched over a wooden frame, with a musical, roto-tom-style sound. Also in Tekke's list you'll find Shekeres (beaded gourd rattles) shakers, woodblocks, the Djembe system — tunable fibreglass 'bongo'-style drums, and two kinds of Congas — traditional hardwood, or fibreglass, with cast head rings. Tekke's products have had some 'pro' exposure through Sonny Akban's work as a session musician for Eddy Grant, and are available from a number of London stores, including Pro-Perc, Footes, and Rose Morris. Strictly speaking, Tekke are trade only, though occasional visitors to the small workshop are welcomed, where they may purchase some of the more esoteric instruments at a (unspecified) discount, or put in orders for custom setups, finishes etcetera.

As a guide line, expect to pay around £120 for a small talking drum, and around £25-30 for the 'electronic' Sansa harp. Business is good, and Tekke hope soon to move to larger premises, and extend their distribution beyond London's music shops. If you're interested in any of their products and would like to know where you can see them, call Tekke on: (Contact Details).

Ode to a Burns

Ye slinky, towering, thunderous beastie.
Lurking in the windae misty,
Wee relic o' a bygone age,
O' wharye play'd by Jimmy Page?

I've seen yon spotty shop assistant,
He says ye're price is nae sae distant,
I'll plug ye in an' awa' ye'll go,
Ye'll makmair noise than Status Ouo.

Ye're strings are noo a wee bit rustie,
Ye're whammy bar is braw but dustie.
Butoch we'll maksich sounds taegither.
She'd nae approve, mae dear auld mither.

Ye're carved, they say, frae the trunko'a tree,
Tak'sa stonking great strap tae carry thee,
My muscle's ken ye're awfu' heavy,
Ye've mair bricht chrome than a fiftie's Chewy.

Ye're macho shape is noo quite dated,
Yon Strat's production's unabated,
Wee yellow men wi' slantie eyes,
Ca' the tune, and standardize.

But och these plywood replicas,
Canna pleaseyon aulder pickers,
There's mony a muckle tune wi'inye,
Ye've won mae heart, noo than I've seen ye.

Sae noo I'll gang and save my monie,
Yon wee assistant fears I'm funny.
I'll hock my sporran, write tae Santa,
Ye're mair tae me than Tam O' Shanter'.

Ian Hartland