CMU Weekly Editor's Letter

CMU Weekly – Friday 27 May 2011

By Andy Malt | Published on Sunday 29 May 2011

Hello from Denmark! I’m currently at SPOT Festival in Århus, familiarising myself with the latest Nordic music. After an epic ferry journey, I arrived here on Thursday afternoon and got straight into the action with the festival’s opening show by Our Broken Garden.

Our Broken Garden is a project led by singer and pianist Anna Brønsted, who was formerly a member of Efterklang’s live band, and this show was put together in collaboration with composer Gustaf Ljunggren. Staged in the city’s cathedral, the Århus Domkirke, the performers – a choir, guitar, viola and cello, bass clarinet, and harp – were spread on raised stages amongst the audience along the aisle, with Brønsted at the front calling down to them.

The cathedral itself is a grand, bright building with whitewashed walls inside and the sound of the music echoed around it as it was played. It was a show completely designed just for that space and that time – at this point, there are no plans to perform that show ever again, making it a real one-off. No audio or video recording could ever capture what it was like to be sat in that church with music reverberating around you from all sides. At times it was a little overwhelming, but so beautiful and I’m so glad I was able to see it.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the festival, which kicks of properly today (Friday). I’m excited about seeing Fallulah, who is a huge pop star in Denmark but has never played in the UK (though that will change next month). She’s one of the artists I chose to play on Now Playing @6Music, a show on (funnily enough) 6Music, presented by Tom Robinson, and on which I appear this week. You can listen here for as long as the Beeb keep that link live.

As well as that, you can also hear my voice on the CMU podcast as usual this week – well, I Skyped my bit in, so my voice might go a bit electronic at times. Me and Chris discuss Amazon’s Lady Gaga deal, Facebook and Spotify’s dealings, Sean Parker’s predictions, Katy Perry’s rider, the Phil Spector movie and Ringo Starr’s ramblings (more on which below). As usual, listen or sign up here.

Finally, I’ve got a couple of things to plug. No, don’t go! They’re good. First, we’ve just announced the dates for our next series of CMU Training events, one day courses in music promotion, copyright and emerging music business models. They cost £95 plus VAT each and people who have been on them say they’re very good, so they much be.

Next, I need to talk to all you students. Are you a student looking to get into the media? Or do you know one maybe? Our sister media ThreeWeeks, is the biggest reviewer at the Edinburgh Festival in August. It produces a weekly print newspaper, a daily reviews sheet and email bulletin, podcasts and more. It’s currently looking for students to join this year’s reviews team, who will given formal training and access to the biggest cultural festival in the world. It’s a fantastic opportunity, and you can find more information here.

Now, I’m going to go and find some sort of pastry to eat. Enjoy what’s left of your bank holiday weekend.

Andy Malt
Editor, CMU

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