Vinyl lives

Once CDs arrived, the general belief was that vinyl was finished. There were still specialist record shops in London that stocked the black stuff- les galettes noires - particularly jazz records. I grew up with vinyl: singles, EPS and LPS, Extended plays, listening and dancing to them across a few decades. It was still possible to hear the music, amid all the scratching and hissing. The time came to move from London and the vinyl got jettisoned. In any case by then, we had no means to play them. We'd got rid of the deck and needles were increasingly difficult to come by and were well over £50 a shot. 

Back in the late sixties I worked in a record shop in Eastbourne. The manager knew everything there was about classical music, equally he needed someone like me who knew their way round the contemporary music scene. We learnt a lot from each other. Both of us also knew the stock inside out, every single record and where it was in the store, whatever the music. It was old fashioned in that you could request a record,  go into a booth (there were four) and listen to it. If we had a quiet moment I'd put something current on for Brian my boss to listen to - usually he hated it - he do the same for me. It's where I learnt about Carmina Burana, Mozart's Requiem and Tosca and every single record produced by Johnny Mathis, as we had a passionate J.M. fan of his living nearby who was in every week, checking the lists.

Our record store quickly became the  place to go. We could get you any record from anywhere. We were even outstripping Boots music department in sales at one stage!! Not bad for a small independent. We built an American Import side as well - which became one of my responsibilities. All of course in vinyl.  

So it was a surprise to read in a French newspaper the other day, about how sales of vinyl in France have tripled in the last four years, and are now well into six figures, out-performing sales in the USA. Inveterate fans and DJs have been keeping the whole thing going. To the extent that young groups who sell their music directly on the web seem now to be going for a combination of download and vinyl. 

Not a glimpse of vinyl though at the music festival in Chinon over the last weekend. Voyages en Guitare is an annual event which runs over both Saturday and Sunday, throughout the day and well into the evening. Music in the day can be found all over the place and is mostly free, although if someone's playing in a café or restaurant, then it's the price of a drink and something to eat. 

Both evenings wound up with gigs in Sainte Même, a deconsecrated church, that regularly hosts music events which we regularly support. And it was standing room only both nights. The Saturday gig was just stunning - the Angelo Debarre Quartet . He is regarded as one of the best Manouche players in France and is always surrounded by fabulous musicians.  All four of them took your breathe away:  Angelo Debarre/guitar, accompanied by an outstanding violinist - Marius Apostol, Tchavolo Hassan/rythmn guitar and Antonion Licusati on double bass. The link is to their gig at Montreal. Just pure magic. Standing ovation. Sunday night - HO HO - The Popes! Led by Shane MacGowan formely of The Pogues. A blend of Rock and Irish folk, sometimes called the Paddy Beat. The place was jumping. Being a Sunday the start time was much earlier - 6pm. Another standing ovation. The Popes are a tough touring band, so the whole style and presentation was really in your face showmanship, which quickly got everyone tanked up. Whereas Saturday night, these extraordinary musicians, who in every way are quite brilliant, were totally laid back and by comparison absolutely motionless. The Popes were dashing about the stage, jumping off the stage. Totally mad but equally memorable. 


www.hilaryshearin5.wix.com/imageshms