Trosa Music

Time and a place

Normally I find classical music about as interesting as a four-hour conversation on the subject of biodiesel storage tanks. In fact, there is only one classical CD in my vast CD collection, and that’s only because it has a part that is used by my favourite soccer team when they run onto the pitch at the start of the game! But the other weekend my hubby and I had gone away for a few days to stay in a caravan by the sea (a very old, married couple thing to do, but it was also very cheap) which had a terrible TV reception AND we hadn’t thought to bring any CDs, thinking we’d be out exploring the whole time. Turns out the weather had other plans and we spent most of the weekend indoors, reading, playing Scrabble and heating tins of soup that we bought from the on-site store for a vastly inflated price.

Rather than sit in silence, we decided to listen to the radio, something I haven’t done for any length of time. It soon became clear that radio stations fell into three distinct categories; “youth” stations which played abysmal X-Factor-style pop, local stations with DJs who loved the sound of their own voice far too much and Classic FM. As the best of a bad bunch, we decided to give the classics a try and it actually turned out to be a great choice. Inane chatter was kept to a minimum, I recognised a lot more of the tunes than I expected (thank heavens for adverts!) and they even played quite a lot of music from film soundtracks, which is, apparently, the ’new'classical music.

It was the perfect soundtrack to a chilled weekend of middle-aged and middle-class activity, and I’ve even found myself listening to the station every now and then since we got back. It suits a chilled-out evening when there’s nothing on TV and the rain is lashing down outside. Oh, and I beat my hubby at Scrabble, in case you were wondering…

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Jingle bells…

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Fernando’s Kitchen

The Junction, in Cambridge, might sound like the kind of place which driving-horror-stories are made of, but in fact it has nothing to do with cars or rages. What it does have everything to do with is great live music, and Fernando’s Kitchen are one of those rare bands who you just have to hear live – that’s the only way to do it, if you ask me. They’re fantastic on CD as well, don’t get me wrong, but their recent gig at Cambridge’s top live music venue was mesmerizing.

What struck me immediately about the band was how​up for it they were

The Junction, in Cambridge, might sound like the kind of place which driving-horror-stories are made of, but in fact it has nothing to do with cars or rages. What it does have everything to do with is great live music, and Fernando’s Kitchen are one of those rare bands who you just have to hear live – that’s the only way to do it, if you ask me. They’re fantastic on CD as well, don’t get me wrong, but their recent gig at Cambridge’s top live music venue was mesmerizing.

Comprised of a number of musicians – I believe there are eight in total – FK are very unique: one of those bands who you see and think How come everyone hasn’t heard about this band?

But that, in a way, is also where they excel. FK are an intimate band who love to play. You can tell that they’d much rather be out there playing loads of these kinds of gigs – to real music lovers, rather than just revellers looking for background noise – than stuffed in some dim venue, performing just for the sake of money and their name on a flyer.

Fernando’s Kitchen, if you’ve never heard them, are an eclectic mix of Latin American acoustics and folk music from europe. That might sound disjointed, but the effect – as my good friend

Rowan Dartington put it – is “fantastically weaved together, natural music”. None of it sounds rehearsed or over-practiced.

And that’s why they are such a success and rapidly becoming more well-known. In this day and age of so-called progressive music, Fernando’s remind us that some of the best music comes right from the heart.

I have to admit, I am basing this opinion on more than one gig. I have seen FK twice: once at the Junction and once in the street. The market square, Cambridge, to be precise – and that was how I heard about them.

What struck me immediately about the band was how up for it they were. The female lead singer didn’t care that only a few people were watching, and she didn’t care that it looked like it might rain. She sat there through the drizzle and performed as if this was just as important as any other occasion. Which is another reason why you have to love this band: they take their music seriously, whatever the occasion, however many people might be tuning in.

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