Over the final couple of days on board the Cape Farewell trip to the Arctic, everybody on the boat seemed to be extra excited. We only had a little bit of time left together, and suddenly it felt like we all wanted to get as much done creatively as possible.
I’d been chatting with Leslie Feist about messing around with choirs and weird recording spaces (we tried to make a recording in the emergency lifeboat but it was snowed in!). Jarvis had brought a collection of lo-fi equipment, including a tiny battery operated amplifier the size of a pack of cards, a JVC mic that felt like a toy, a miniature battery powered electric guitar, and his piece de resistance, a toy turntable that played real records. (He also used the turntable in one of his many disko dj sets. One of the highlights of the trip was with Marcus Brigstocke and Jarvis, DJing from our iPods for the dancing voyagers until 4am most nights).
Shlo and Jarvis
Anyway, I was in the bar listening to an impromptu piano performance from Ryuichi Sakomoto (amazing guy, he’s an Oscar winning composer but was still happy to put his hat on backwards, don some shades, and take part in the beatbox battle on the last night!). Suddenly I was grabbed by Leslie and Jarvis, and taken up a cabin upstairs where they had set up all the lofi gear. The following jam ensued. We decided to name our newly formed super-group the Arctic Lofi.
You can listen again to Shlomo’s appearance on Loose Ends on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday October 11th, 6.15pm – 7pm. The show is hosted by Clive Anderson, and also features Glen Cambell and Bill Bailey.
Shlo talks about beatboxing in the Arctic, the Vocal Orchestragig on Friday 17 October, and performs live in the studio with a few of the choir.
Ryuichi Sakamoto and Jarvis Cocker. Photo: Nathan Gallagher
More images of crew members and their activities
Cabin chaos (representing the general state of the boat). Matt Wainwright edits video for the website hours before we leave the Grigory Mikheev in Kangerlussauq. Photo: Nathan Gallagher
Shlomo prepares for the world’s first Arctic beatbox battle. Photo: Nathan Gallagher
Ryuichi Sakamoto with Sam Collins. Photo: Nathan Gallagher
KT Tunstall’s guitar signed by all the gang. Photo: Nathan Gallagher
Some audio of Vanessa Carlton, KT Tunstall, Robyn Hitchcock and myself jamming in the ship’s bar before playing at the local hotel bar in Ummannak later that evening.
Vanessa Carlton performs Heroes and Thieves, backed by Shlomo, on the bridge of the Grigory Mikheev as we return south to Kangerlussuaq.
An MPEG 4 version of this clip is also available to download.
Oh my gosh I am in the Arctic. It’s my third day here and I am still a little overwhelmed. And cold. We just went out in a motorised dinghy and I saw my first ever glacier. As we approached this giant wall of ice, there was a sudden explosion, a loud crashing sound, followed by a mini avalanche and a minor tsunami as a large section of ice cracked off the glacier.
This is dramatic stuff, but I couldn’t help but notice that it’s really quite cold. I don’t think my feet have ever been so cold. I’m thinking maybe we should do something about it and warm this place up a bit. Maybe we if we just all made the effort to let out a bit of extra CO2 gas into the atmosphere, it might just have some kind of warming effect and we could increase the world’s temperature a little. I mean come on, these polar bears must be freezing. We could call it ‘international warming or ‘global heating’ or something along those lines. Anybody with me?
Anyway, yesterday was one of the highest ranking days of my life in terms of sheer awesomeness. Ludvig, our Inuit guide, took us through a snowstorm to Uumannaq, his hometown. For me, just a little bit of snow is a pretty exciting concept. As a child, the idea of there being even just a trace of untouched snow (i.e. that has not already been thrown at someone) was pretty rare. So the excitement of seeing pure white snow as far as the eye can see, completely untouched and about half a metre deep was a little overwhelming. I felt my mental age suddenly plummeting. Suddenly I was six years old again. The mass snowball fight was inevitable, but the local Inuit kids were clearly way more experienced and gave us quite an embarrassing pummelling.
In the evening we put on a special birthday gig for one of the kids from the local orphanage. The line-up was quite something. Imagine KT Tunstall singing lead, with Jarvis Cocker doing rhythm guitar, a backing vocal trio of Martha Wainwright, Leslie Feist and Vanessa Carlton, and of course myself as the walking rhythm section.
After the gig I tought a few beatbox sounds to an excited Laurie Anderson. I am now training her up for the Big Beatbox Battle Showdown between herself and Marcus Brigstocke, who does an impressive impersonation of Donald Duck (if he’d just accidentally swallowed a drum machine).
Later on today we are hoping to step out onto a glacier. I actually cannot wait. But I think I might wear a fourth pair of socks.
Hi. Shlomo here. I am pleased to announce that I have finally arrived at Disko Bay. And I am totally shellshocked.
Shlomo in Disko Bay, photo by Nathan Gallagher
In the past 36 hours I’ve travelled from Moscow to the Arctic, with a quick stop off for a performance at Wembley Arena. Somehow I feel quite surprised to have actually arrived. I spent the whole of the last week trying not to visualise what the Arctic would be like, seeing as nothing ever turns out to be how you pictured it.
This seems to have left me a little unprepared for the combined experience of a a) seeing my first giant iceberg (the size of a small bus station) and b) being introduced to Jarvis Cocker, KT Tunstall and Laurie Anderson, all within 10 minutes. Definitely time for a peppermint tea break.
So I’m writing this first blog post with a sense of sleep deprived self-detachment, not really taking in what is happening. Being with all these inspired people seems to have filled my head with a zillion ideas for musical endeavours that could easily save the world. But I think the sea is going to rock me to sleep before they ever make it out of my dizzy mind.
hey.. what an insane week. Just got back from Wembley Arena where the Onevoice project reached its conclusion. I’m going to miss everyone!
Yesterday morning we arrived back from Moscow and played our first gig with the new Vocal Orchestra at a tiny festival by the seaside in Essex. Tomorrow morning I leave for the arctic. bring it on!
