It sounded promising: a boundless music adventure in which pop singer Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) takes his music friends from Mali for a fusion of pop and classical with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In the beautifully refurbished Gashouder, it looked more like a clash of cultures than a smooth merger on Friday. It is not without reason that Albarn thanked the people who had made his rather basic music sound so great afterwards.
With his flat voice, Albarn effaced himself with the Mali Music project, in which the kora of Mamadou Diabaté and the djembes of his six-piece Malian company played a central role. It became stiff with some pieces from his pop opera dr. dee, which in the overwhelming performance with the KCO was drawn to the megalomaniac ambitions of a pop star seizing beyond his power. Countertenor Christopher Robson had a noble but meaningless role in an opera that was not to be called an opera.
The fragments played by the KCO from Olivier Messiaens seemed just as taken out of context Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà, beginning with the ninth movement, which consists entirely of the twittering of birds. Performed by musicians in a circle around the audience, it was an impressive effect; one of the few moments when the KCO did not have to contend with the still rather soggy acoustics of the Gashouder. Two other pieces from ‘Éclairs’ especially made me long for the moment when the KCO will once again interpret this magnificent work in its entirety.
tricks
The boundless aspect had to come from the Malian musicians, who sparkled when the rhythm of the djembes and the infectious vocals prevailed. The RCO made valiant efforts to pick up on the rhythm, with the clarion blasts of the brass players in ‘Danse de l’Amour’ reminiscent of a herd of onrushing beasts. The Malians gave swing to the evening.
The world premiere of Albarn’s orchestral piece ‘Loops’ seemed primarily intended to see what strings the Blur singer could pull to get the orchestra to do different tricks. Again: megalomaniac, meaningless and certainly not destined for eternity. After a monotonously sung Gorillaz song, the question remained why Albarn hadn’t committed himself to the dignified, original orchestral music of his recent project. The Nearer The Fountain† Now it remained a messy mishmash.