Music
Renaud Garcia-Fons: The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow
Rob Adams
FIVE STARS
It was worth turning up just to hear the overture. Here was a world of music played on a five-string double bass: suggestions of the Orient that were in keeping with the film narrative that was about to unfold; a hint of flamenco in the phrasing; a flavour of Morocco; and quite a lot of Brazilian magic as Renaud Garcia-Fons drew on the berimbau's technique of flicking a stick on a string, except with an intricacy and multi-string dexterity to which the mono-string berimbau's repertoire doesn't generally extend.
Garcia-Fons is a one-of-a-kind musician who has all sorts of timbres and techniques - I'm not going to say tricks because they're much more than that - at his command. His instrument can sound like a violin, a viola or a cello, as well as, emphatically, a bass and while it might have been great to hear him and his band cut loose, or even play an additional set from his recorded work, his job here was to honour and accompany the onscreen action. And he played this very disciplined role magnificently.
Using vibes and marimba, accordion, an array of flutes and percussion, and the many stringed theorbo (think lute, oud and mandola in one) alongside his bass, he and his musicians created a fantastic atmosphere and some extraordinarily nimble, dancing motifs and marches in synch with the film's silhouettes. The tale of Prince Achmed with its witches, demons, danger, darkness and romance plays right into Garcia-Fons' hands. These are moods he can convey at will and he put his stamp into every quaver of a strictly measured but still wonderfully expressive score.
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