exploremusic

This is not a good time for a hockey fan to be in Norway.  The damned Canada-Sweden game didn’t start until well after midnight local time and with the shoot-out—hell, I don’t know what time I got to bed.

I did manage to struggle downstairs for breakfast where Karl Bartos (the Kraftwerk dude I mentioned yesterday) was having a nice meal with his wife and chatting with people.  Whilst perusing the buffet, I found what looked like tiny travel tubes of toothpaste.  Upon closer examination, they were actually filled with caviar.  Not the good stuff, but still, what good Scandinavian would like a shot of mass-market fish eggs out of a tube every morning?

Fortified by coffee that squirted out of an angry-looking piece of Scandinavian hardware, I made my way to a seminar by Bill “KLF” Drummond who proceeded to convince everyone in the room that the era of recorded music is over.  Instead, he wants music to become a thing of time, place and occasion.  A lot of what he said made by brain hurt, so let me just direct you to his website that offers a manifesto on the whole thing.

Once you read that, this story I’m about to retell will make some sense.

A few weeks before Christmas, Bill was in Haiti for a performance of The 17.  In this case, it involved setting up 100 people 50 metres apart around a long block in Port Au Prince.  When given a single, the first person turned to his left and sang “HEY-YO!”  Once he finished, the next person did the same thing to the person on his/her left.  The goal was to make this sing-song go around the block—a five kilometer journey—five times.

Apparently, it was one of those you-had-to-be-there things because those who participated—and remember, it’s all about time, place and occasion—said it was extremely powerful.  What made it ever greater was that for days afterward, people were heard singing “HEY-YO” through the streets.  It was a musical event that bonded people in a unique and lasting way.

Then came the earthquake.

I’d be interested to know if HEY-YO is still ringing through Port Au Prince.  If it is, now you know why.

FYI:  As part of the KLF, Bill Drummond and his partner, Jimmy Cauty, once burned one million pounds in cash in front of a group of journalists.  Seriously.