Motherfish #22- Le Poisson d'Avril

So I’ve got more than just an album to discuss today, and over the next couple of months most likely. Myself, my roommate, and our good buddy have begun the arduous process of adapting Forgive Durden’s Razia’s Shadow for the stage. It’s going to take a while, but we hope to perform it here at school. And while many of you don’t know what I’m talking about, or don’t care, the project is interesting enough that I’ve decided to share with you. Who knows, maybe you’ll actually enjoy it. Today’s album is… odd, to say the least. Odd because I can’t understand it. No, I’m not an idiot, it’s just in French. Or Spanish. Or both. I think it’s both. Well at least one track is in French and the rest are Spanish. Regardless, it’s good.

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Este Mundo by Rupa & the April Fishes

Rupa and Co are quite a musical collection. I’m working with very little experience (none) with their previous endeavors, but I honestly don’t think that’s necessary. Este Mundo is not for everyone, that’s Fer Sure. Lead singer/guitarist Rupa Mayra has a background just about as diverse as Epcot minus the fireworks. She makes me feel super inadequate; I’m spending all this time in school attempting to master English, the language I’ve been speaking since I crawled from the womb, and here we have this lovely musician who decided that while she was in med school (yeah, fucking med school) she would not only start an internationally renowned band and tour the world, but would write songs in every language she knows. How many languages does Rupa speak? Well, the album has some Spanish and French and, that’s right there’re more, English, not to mention Hindi and the Roma language. Damn, girl. This raises an interesting issue; whether the music loses its validity when you can’t understand the lyrics. Hands down, the message is lost. But the idea is still there. What Rupa brings to the table with Rupa & the April Fishes is a multicultural experience drawing influences from the many different locales that she frequented growing up, and that comes across beautifully on the album. You can hear a pinch of France in C’est Moi, the second song, which relies heavily on the accordion to carry the melody. The same can be said for the title track, Este Mundo, and its Spanish-influenced horns. I can’t exactly reflect on how poignant or smart the lyrics are, she could be babbling about monkeys and wheat bread for all I know. But, when you consider how effectively Rupa achieves her musical goals, Este Mundo is no less of a success than, say, The Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place, an album by Explosions in the Sky totally devoid of any vocals whatsoever. I enjoyed the album immensely; it’s a nice break from the archetypal band configuration of guitar-bass-vocals-drums. If you enjoy Gogol Bordello, you might want to give Rupa & the April Fishes a listen.

The Razia’s Shadow stage adaptation is an interesting project. We are working with the story presented in the lyrics of all of the songs from the album plus the narration and from that attempting to construct a rich epic focused on some of the specific themes like envy, disappointment, destiny, and love. Doesn’t that sound cute? Right now we’re in the process of writing the first draft of the script, which is progressing slowly but surely. Even though we have a lot of source material to work with, we’re still pulling a lot straight from our asses. Though the narrator provides us with some dialogue to work with, most of what our characters say is entirely made up. While this is fun and gives us a lot of room for creativity, at the same time it presents the potential to royally fuck up what is an amazing story. Some of the characters, specifically O, are more difficult to write for than others; they have such distinct quirks and tendencies that come across on the album that are very challenging to keep alive in our written in scenes. I can’t tell you how many times Ahrima has come off as an insensitive douche bag rather than a jealous lover. Also, as we write we’re jotting down notes for the choreography that goes along with the songs. This forced us to realize that the culmination of all of the theater training we have translates to jack shit. If you know anything about choreography and you’re interested in this project, email me at motherfishmusic@gmail.com, subject line Razia’s Shadow.

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Alright that wraps up my portion of today's post. A few things from around the world that you all should be aware about-

First:
*EDIT EDIT EDIT*

The Jagafest has undergone a few changes and is currently not going down on November 20th. Keep your ears open folks, I'll update you when I know more. BUT!!! Tonight at Rutgers they are hosting some AWESOME workshops that you should DEFINITELY check out if you're in the area. Hit up their website (www.jagazineonline.com) for more info!

Second:

www.myspace.com/hotelofthelaughingtree

My roommate's band who made it to the Top 2 for this year's MTVu Best Music On Campus!