CONCERT OF BLIXA BARGELD AND TEHO TEARDO: Dark and energetic music theater in three languages
The genius frontman of the Berlin-based industrial band “Einstürzende Neubauten” and former member of “Bad Seeds” by Nick Cave, Blixa Bargeld and Italian composer Teho Teardo presented their second joint album “Nerissimo” in the Macedonian Philharmonic. After three years of their debut album “Still Smiling”, Bargeld and Teardo returned with a whole new material and fortunately the Macedonian audience had an opportunity to hear them live.
Four Macedonian musicians, three violinists and one cellist, as well as Italian cellist Laura Bisceglia and Gabriele Coen on bass clarinet, were on the stage beside Bargeld and Teardo.
In addition to the songs that are featured on the “blackest” album, they also played tracks on their debut album, “What If”, “Mi Scusi”, “Come Up And See Me”, but also a song by the Brazilian composer Caetano Veloso.
The music created by these top musicians can not be placed in a genre, on the contrary, in their musical expression we can find a bit of everything, but also something that can be found only here.
Bargeld, centered on the stage in a black luminous suit, as a true film star, translated the verses into three different languages - German, Italian and English. With the recognizable vocals, but also his inarticulate sounds, depending on which song he performs, he will take you to moments in the jungle, at times in the desert.
He is a self-taught artist, writer, composer, singer and director, who has lived in the San Francisco-Berlin-Beijing relationship for several years. Bargeld on the stage sings, recites, plays, plays on a harmonica, imitates animal sounds and talks to the audience among performances.
Probably, the part of the audience who was previously familiar with this duo was hoping to completely forget the reality, leaving everyday problems for a moment, ready for the musical journey. Through conversation and cute humor, Bargeld reminded us that Skopje’s fog and air pollution are worse than those in Beijing, and in Beijing it’s the worst.
Although Teardo is less known to the Macedonian audience than Mr. Bargeld, after a masterful performance yesterday, he created a serious base of fans who will follow his next steps.
He is the one who holds the situation while on stage, plays the bass guitar, maintains the electro-beats, plays the banging bells and guides the other musicians.
Teardo primarily works on film music, and their collaboration begins in 2010, creating music for the German-Italian movie “Quiet Life” directed by Claudio Cupellini. The film is a crime drama for a man who kills 32 people and fears that he will end up like those that he has killed.
All of yesterday’s concert was a rarely nice experience, and the full hall in the Macedonian Philharmonics is an indication that we have a good number of audiences for such musical experiments. Among them most of them were actors, directors, writers, musicians, hungry for such unique events.
Ivana Nasteska
photo: Boris Grdanoski