Everybody brings something to Cat's Art MusikCircus and the magic is you'll never be sure up-front just what it will be. Mario Zecca was known first as a poet and he has done live readings in Second Life but tonight he brought it all and played a set at the Circus with his guitar. This was his debut performance at the Circus and he surprised everyone there. The surprise isn't whether he is good as you expect that but what will he do.
Mario Zecca is a bit of a subversive ... which is to say he thinks. He can't resist bringing that to his lyrics and why should he. The content of his subversion is not for this article but it's fair to say his thinking is about the observation and isn't with a design to polarize attitudes, it's not his purpose to be incendiary. The ability to notice things other people may not see is a gift and Mario brings that to his lyrics.
There's another kind of subversion in his poetry as it's not a fixed meter but it still has to hold to a rhythm to make any sense in a song. That makes it a somewhat open verse which is inherently chaotic so the trick is bringing sense to that. Sonya Jevette and lefty Unplugged have a similar style at times and that's not to say they do the same things but rather they break rules in similar ways.
The first thought on hearing Mario Zecca is one of Delta blues but he's not playing a fixed twelve-bar structure. My concern was a Robert Johnson recital as many try to do that but the Old Bluesman said you've got to take it beyond and that's what Mario works to do. Mario remarked several times about working hard to craft his songs but it's different at the Circus as there often will be musicians in the audience, all of whom know the trick is to make it look easy and not let anyone know how bloody hard it was to learn to make it look that way.
And then, after all those years, people dance like this when you play.
Left to right: Mario Zecca (on-stage), Silas, Cat, Luna, Julie
Cat said after his show she wants to invite Mario to the MusikCircus family and it was beautifully touching. To welcome him yourself, come to the Circus next Thursday as he will play after Vandengroef.
Mario Zecca is a bit of a subversive ... which is to say he thinks. He can't resist bringing that to his lyrics and why should he. The content of his subversion is not for this article but it's fair to say his thinking is about the observation and isn't with a design to polarize attitudes, it's not his purpose to be incendiary. The ability to notice things other people may not see is a gift and Mario brings that to his lyrics.
There's another kind of subversion in his poetry as it's not a fixed meter but it still has to hold to a rhythm to make any sense in a song. That makes it a somewhat open verse which is inherently chaotic so the trick is bringing sense to that. Sonya Jevette and lefty Unplugged have a similar style at times and that's not to say they do the same things but rather they break rules in similar ways.
The first thought on hearing Mario Zecca is one of Delta blues but he's not playing a fixed twelve-bar structure. My concern was a Robert Johnson recital as many try to do that but the Old Bluesman said you've got to take it beyond and that's what Mario works to do. Mario remarked several times about working hard to craft his songs but it's different at the Circus as there often will be musicians in the audience, all of whom know the trick is to make it look easy and not let anyone know how bloody hard it was to learn to make it look that way.
And then, after all those years, people dance like this when you play.
Cat said after his show she wants to invite Mario to the MusikCircus family and it was beautifully touching. To welcome him yourself, come to the Circus next Thursday as he will play after Vandengroef.
No comments:
Post a Comment