A lovely hello from Tijuana Cartel
Tijuana Cartel plays with verve and an infectious rhythm that brings a crowd gleefully to their feet. Paul George’s virtuoso flamenco guitar challenges the dance club keys of Carey O’Sullivan and the whole marvellous fusion gets thrummed into a frenzy by latin percussionist Daniel Gonzales. Frequent guest player Shannon van Horn blows into the frenzy with jazzfunky trumpet lines and some hipster swagger.
A Facebook friend I met through Gary got to go out dancing last night with TC, who I caught live and instantly fell in love with last summer at Peregian Originals while travelling in Australia. She picked them up at the Blues & Roots Festival in Freo (er, Freemantle as the english-speaking world knows it.) What could be better than that? Well, nothing. But almost as good is getting to meet the band. A distant third, but still grin inducing, is when your friend gets the band to write you a little greeting and posts a pic of it on FB.
Hi Patrick!
So I’ve been playing TC this morning. The vid above, Holiday in Baghdad, is a great track with great sound. But if you really want to sense the vibe at a TC performance, check out the one below. The sound’s a bit weak, and the song doesn’t have the intensity of Baghdad, or my favourite of theirs, Persian, but when you see a big audience pogoing in unison, well, it kinda makes your morning. The mob behind Peregian Beach’s Surf Life Saving Club last summer was smaller, but the energy just as bouyant and I was in it.
Mmmmmm, yah! BOING BOING BOING
6 Responses to “Tijuana Cartel takes a Holiday in Baghdad, but I’m wishing I was in Freo”
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[…] about getting caught up in a rearward look last night. Maybe it’s about the upbeat glee of a gift and a moment shared with a friend across the […]
[…] I danced myself into a sweaty madness for the nearly hour-long set which featured Persian, and Holiday in Baghdad and a slew of others. So, Australia, rejoice that these guys aren’t so popular yet as to have […]
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Oh, what a delight to wake up to read this blog…specially since I feel like the “star’ of the show! hehe
Tijuana Cartel were as good as you are describing. The energy and music was just pulsating from their venue and the crowd were dancing from the first number.
I thought it was a shame that they were allotted the same timeslot as “Crowded House”, a sure crowd pleaser and drawcard to the Festival, but I think TC managed to upstage them! In fact, at one point when I was dashing back to the Park Stage to get Beck & Evan to at least come listen for a bit (they hadn’t heard of TC) I passed a throng of people heading back the way I’d come, and I overheard someone say “*@#% Crowded House, this is waaay better over here!”
When I managed to get back to Beck & Evan, the crowd were standing around, a lot of them talking and not even listening to the band…why? They were playing new songs that no one knew and Becks words “Mum, you should have stayed where you were, this is boring!”
So, I talked them into leaving “our spot” and coming with me to listen to Tijuana Cartel…..end result? They loved it..
It’s not often “Mum” manages to introduce a new sound/band, but Evan actually thanked me and we all danced around and man, was I smiling!!
Tijuana Cartel were thumping, and the crowd loved it. I did too!
They announced another Perth visit in September….guess who wants to go with me? I suspect the CD called “They Come” which I bought (and had autographed) “will go” and find it’s way over to Becks house!
Glad you liked the pic Patrick….it was a bit of fun :)
[smile] Thanks for the marvelous compliment, Karen.
Loved the pic…really juiced up my morning. And thanks go to you for filling out the story. Mmmmmm…. Vicariously dancing.
Have you checked out their other incarnation, Audio Shaman? It’s a chill-out/lounge version. Beluga, for example, is a cut that finds its way onto compilations like the Cafe del Mar series.
You can have a listen on the MySpace page @ http://www.myspace.com/audioshamans
Something for a lazy afternoon on the beach with a book.
Thanks Patrick, I wasn’t aware of that page and have had a look and listen….another something new for me to check out from time to time :)
I have a few of those Cafe del Mar series and not sure why, but have never bothered to listen to them.
From memory I picked them up from a CD shop that was closing down and I went a little crazy with the discounts and ended up (this was pre ipods remember) with around 100 CD’s in one day.
I am going to dig them out one day this week, and am sure to find TC on more than one of them. See, I had that treasure in my keeping and didn’t realise!! :)
Hmmm… I’m looking it up and can’t find them in either guise on anything Cafe del Mar (a couple dozen editions!). However, a couple AS songs, both from the album Welcome Traveller do appear on compilations: Cafe Beluga appears on Elysian Vibes 4
which I own and love (a Christmas gift — thanks Kara!) while another song of theirs, Holi, appears on Villa Mercedes Ibiza Lounge.
Nonetheless, the Cafe del Mar series is a ton of fun, though as with most compilations they are often a bit uneven…you’ll enjoy much of it, I’m sure, and even find a couple or three gems per volume. :)