London,Friday 22nd April-Hungarian Gypsy Jazz
Had a nice time chilling from one coffee shop to another, and of course spent a while in one of my favourite places in London-Waterstones on Piccadilly. I bought three books- "Natural Novel" by the Bulgarian Gosbadinov, "The Box Man" (Kobo Abe-the Japanese author who also wrote "The Woman in the Dunes" which was later made into a surrealist film) and "Der Golem" (also made into a film, in the 1920s).
Later on I met up with Kris and his girlfriend Toyah again. We made our way to the Hungarian Cultural Centre, which is just off the Strand;a crowd had gathered outside for the event, and initily it looked as if we weren't going to get in. In the end,the organisers just crammed as many people into the ornate upstairs room as they could, and opened the doors.
We were sat at the front,clutching our free wine. The three musicians were an older gypsy (on the piano),his cousin(a small,very young lad in a suit that was much too large for him) on double bass and his brother,a big lad in swish light tan outfit,on drums.
We hadn't been to a jazz concert before,but really enjoyed it.The interplay of the musicians was a treat to watch, and you had to admire the young lad struggling with the complexity of the double bass (and its size).They played for over an hour,and of course got a rousing reception. Kris kept a programme and said he would be going to more events(he has already been to the Czech Cultural Centre).
Had a nice time chilling from one coffee shop to another, and of course spent a while in one of my favourite places in London-Waterstones on Piccadilly. I bought three books- "Natural Novel" by the Bulgarian Gosbadinov, "The Box Man" (Kobo Abe-the Japanese author who also wrote "The Woman in the Dunes" which was later made into a surrealist film) and "Der Golem" (also made into a film, in the 1920s).
Later on I met up with Kris and his girlfriend Toyah again. We made our way to the Hungarian Cultural Centre, which is just off the Strand;a crowd had gathered outside for the event, and initily it looked as if we weren't going to get in. In the end,the organisers just crammed as many people into the ornate upstairs room as they could, and opened the doors.
We were sat at the front,clutching our free wine. The three musicians were an older gypsy (on the piano),his cousin(a small,very young lad in a suit that was much too large for him) on double bass and his brother,a big lad in swish light tan outfit,on drums.
We hadn't been to a jazz concert before,but really enjoyed it.The interplay of the musicians was a treat to watch, and you had to admire the young lad struggling with the complexity of the double bass (and its size).They played for over an hour,and of course got a rousing reception. Kris kept a programme and said he would be going to more events(he has already been to the Czech Cultural Centre).