REVIEWS
Focus in South-America, 2003
Pictures from Focus in Chile - March, 29 - 2003
Focus en La Nación
MARTES 25 de marzo de 2003
Noticias | Espectáculos | Nota
Visita
FOCUS TOCA EN BUENOS AIRES POR PRIMERA VEZ
Llega el grupo holandés de rock progresivo
Está liderado por el flautista y tecladista Thijs van Leer
El show será esta noche, a las 21, en el teatro Astral
Los amantes del rock progresivo podrán darse el gusto de escuchar
por primera vez "Hocus Pocus", en vivo. El tema se convirtió en
símbolo de Focus, la banda holandesa liderada por el guitarrista
Jan Akkerman y el flautista y tecladista Thijs van Leer. Este
último fue el mentor de este regreso -aunque del original sólo
quede él y el nombre- que los trae a Buenos Aires para
presentarse hoy, a las 21, en el teatro Astral, Corrientes 1639.
"Pero no fui yo el que eligió a los nuevos músicos -dice en
charla telefónica desde Río de Janeiro, haciendo un alto en la
prueba de sonido en la que estaban tocando "Eruption"- , ellos me
eligieron a mí." Y, con un inglés que por momentos recurre al
francés y al castellano, cuenta que fueron el guitarrista Jan
Dumée, el bajista Bobby Jacobs y el baterista Ruben van Room
(ahora reemplazado por Bert Smaak) los que lo convencieron, luego
de preparar en secreto los temas más conocidos de aquella banda.
"Cuando me llamaron al estudio tocaron "Hocus Pocus", "Sylvia" y
otros. Lo hacían tan bien que me puse a llorar."
Habían pasado veinte años de la disolución de Focus y, en
principio, Van Leer aceptó, con la condición de tocar en lugares
chicos, y con el nombre Hocus Pocus. Pero el asunto creció,
grabaron un álbum ("Focus 8", no editado en la Argentina) y
comenzaron las giras. "Esta es la segunda vez que venimos a
América latina, pero nunca antes estuvimos en la Argentina."
Todos estos años no había estado ocioso. Como solista, grabó
varios álbumes que se numeraron bajo el nombre de
"Introspective". "La diferencia es que ésos son más clásicos, y
prácticamente sólo toco flauta, a veces acompañado de una
orquesta -cuenta-. En cambio en Focus me ocupo principalmente del
órgano Hammond y la flauta tiene un rol más pequeño y siempre fue
un cuarteto eléctrico."
Por supuesto, agrega, en el concierto de esta noche se escucharán
algunos temas nuevos, pero también una antología de la carrera de
la banda que se extendió hasta fines de los años setenta.
Van Leer asegura que, gracias a la guitarra de Dumée, ya no
extraña la de Akkerman. "Pero sí lo extrañé todos estos años que
no estuvimos en actividad. Le propuse tres veces reunir a la
banda y las tres veces dijo que no. Ahora, tocar con Dumée es tan
placentero que ya no lo extraño aunque soy todavía un gran fan y
las cosas que está haciendo son fantásticas."
Tampoco extraña el rock progresivo que brilló en los setenta. "Es
que aparecieron grupos y músicos muy buenos como Weather Report,
Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul. Músicos que realmente podían tocar,
mucho mejores que la mayoría de los de rock and roll. Pero no es
una crítica -agrega con una risita-, porque la pereza es una de
las mejores cosas del mundo. Igualmente, también había muchos
grupos buenos de rock progresivo, especialmente en Italia."
Si siempre se habló de la influencia de Bach en la música de
Focus, Van Leer dice que esto es lógico porque es su compositor
favorito desde la adolescencia .
"Creo que Bach te da la oportunidad de nadar en sus aguas, en
lugar de intentar capturar tus sentimientos como Brahms y la
mayoría de los compositores románticos. Bach no trata de
capturarte, pero sí podés nadar en su canal y encontrarte a vos
mismo. Incluso, al ser tan claro, es usado por los psiquiatras
para curar a enfermos mentales. Por eso le pusimos Focus a la
banda, porque el intento es el de ser un catalizador para otros.
Sé que todo esto suena ridículamente serio -ríe un poco-, pero en
la música de Focus también incluimos el humor. No parece muy rock
lo que digo, pero uno de los objetivos que tenemos con la banda
es que ciertas mentes que están perdidas encuentren su dirección.
Tal vez nunca tengamos éxito, pero vale el intento."
FOCUS SECOND SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR UPDATES - Part 5
News from Rodrigo Werneck, Rio :
Here's the next chapter on the new Focus Tour in Latin America!
March 16th - Sunday
Early in the morning, and it's time to get the car and drive to Leonardo's
(Nahoum, organizer of the tour) house where a barbecue was planned. We
arrived there and organized things, bought some of the goodies, started to
prepare the food and put the beers into the fridge. At 2pm the van arrived
with the Focus guys, plus of course Willem Hubers, Geert Sheijgrond and
Will Plooster, the roving reporter who came with the band to register
everything. Brazilian music playing in the background for the Dutch folks
delight, lots of good food and chat, and even a visit to some of Niteroi's
most beautiful beaches.
At the end of the day, we went to the Orquidea bar, the very same place
where they jammed last year. Every Sunday, keyboard player Marvio
Ciribelli, drummer Marcio Bahia, and other great musicians, receive guests
to play with them, and this time was Focus again. Jam sessions, lots of
improvisation, and some bits of Focus music here and there: Hocus Pocus,
Sylvia, Focus 2, Harem Scarem, and other songs, were played. The perfect
ending for a wonderful day, that included an absolutely perfect weather
(sunny and hot!).
March 17th - Monday
After some rest, it was time to get prepared for the night's gig: the
charity concert featuring Jan Dumée and guests. Unlike the day before, it
was raining quite a lot, which make things a bit harder as the traffic
immediately gets worse. But, anyway, the Focus guys' hotel was close to
the venue (Mistura Fina), so it was easy to go back and forth when needed.
Jan spent the whole afternoon rehearsing and soundchecking with his guests,
as the gig was planned in such a short time. But the night came and
everyone seemed to be ready for it. The "Mistura Fina" club was completely
packed, which was awesome since we were raising money for INCA, a cancer
treatment organization, specifically for their children's section. At
10:30pm the show started, featuring songs by Jan himself ("Rodinha",
"Cekajuci Tebe", "Eva", "Mumulher", "Peace") as well as from others ("So
What" by Miles Davis, etc.). The regular band was formed by Jan on
acoustic and electric guitars and piano, Xande Figueiredo on drums, Beto
Cazes on percussion, Marvio Ciribelli on keyboards, and Arthur Maia on bass
(shameless plug here: he was playing one of my custom basses - D'Alegria -
www.dalegria.com). All outstanding players, and highly ranked amongst
Brazilian and international ones. Other guests were eventually called to
the stage, during the 3:15 hours (!!) of concert: Carlos Malta and Mario
Seve (saxes, flutes), Marcio Bahia (drums), Rodrigo Lessa (mandolin), and
the other Focus guys: Thijs van Leer on the piano and eventual improvised
vocalizations, Bert Smaak on drums and Bobby Jacobs on bass. On one song,
two bass guitars were heard, and the version for "House of the King" with
both Malta and Seve on flutes, and Thijs on piano, was absolutely
incredible. A lot of people mentioned that it was the best ever
performance of the song they heard. Judging the whole gig, it was surely
one of the best instrumental shows I've ever attended!
After the gig we still went to a bar to have a pizza and some more beers,
and when they arrived... so did Jan and Xande! So they did join us and we
shared the good stuff. At 4am, it was time for us to finally get some sleep.
March 18th - Tuesday
Well, today it was a rather low profile day, and although I haven't met the
Focus guys, I know they were supposed to go to a TV station here (called
"TVE"), to record some stuff for promotional use: some songs and an
interview. This will be broadcasted tomorrow, the day of their concert in
Rio, on the "Atitude" TV special.
More news soon...
All the best,
Rodrigo Werneck
From: Claudio Szynkier - claudioszynkier@yahoo.com
To: NEUROTIKA HOMEPAGE
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2003 8:38 PM
Subject: O show do Focus em São Paulo
O Focus passou por São Paulo de novo, na última sexta feira,
14/03/2003. E, assim como ocorrera em 08/11/2002, deixou saudades.
Foi um show de impacto sonoro. A banda, sobretudo o baixista Bob
Jacobs, esteve ainda mais solta. Jan Dumée (com seu amigo - o boneco
Popeye Hubbers, em cima do amplificador durante todo o show), mostrou-
se mais uma vez um guitarrista acima da média: seguro, improvisador
talentoso, impecável (NENHUMA nota errada nas peças "escritas" - ou
seja, naquelas sem improvisos) e selvagem. Além disso, foi parceiro
de Van Leer em várias vocalizações - entre elas Sylvia - e cantou
sozinho sua música, Tamara´s Move. Thijs Van Leer mostrou a mesma
idolatria à entidade-música. Vibrante. E o grande destaque foi Bert
Smaak, o baterista, que está fazendo do Focus uma banda desta
presente década - além do mito setentista que é.
O ponto forte foi exatamente a maior carga de (boas) composiçoes
provenientes do último disco, Focus 8.
Vivemos uma noite gostosa, um show coeso e pesado para os
espectadores atentos em geral, altamente musical, diga-se de
passagem, e mais uma celebração, um "sentimento", para aqueles que,
como eu, são fãs ardorosos do conjunto. Apesar de, sem dúvida, a
emoção do primeiro show (o de novembro), exatamente por ter sido o
primeiro, ter sido maior.
Alguns comentários sobre a apresentação:
Tamara´s Move - com o mesmo sentimento do CD Focus 8, o que é um
grande mérito. O adágio foi precedido por uma rufada de 1 minuto na
caixa, pois Jan Dumée não achava a tarraxa para colocar a correia da
guitarra. A primeira parte é toda com o violão. Coisas de banda que
ensaia demais...parecia uma corda bamba. Outra banda poderia ter
escorregado feio.
Eruption - a banda tocou com ênfase no peso desta música (aliás, fez
isso com todas as músicas), que foi introduzida por Thijs como
um "verdadeiro drama". Interessante foi o fato do quarteto ter
dobrado (e redobrado) a seqüência inicial de 'Answer', caracterizada
como uma escala complexa tocada de forma circular.
Blizu Tebe - faixa final do Focus 8, tocada com drama e lirismo, como
acontece no próprio disco, aliás. Só que ao vivo é mais emocionante.
Bela e inusitada adição para o set-list.
Hocus Pocus - mais arrebatadora do que no show de novembro, presumo.
Fez a galera se empolgar e foi tocada de forma bem pesada.
Sylvia - como já foi dito, teve a participação de Dumée. O
guitarrista cantou as partes agudas.
La Cathedrale de Strasbourg - solene, sem o piano original no entanto
com o orgão. Mais uma vez, um dos pontos altos e emocionantes do show.
Improvisação de Thijs antes de Hocus Pocus - o músico encontrou uma
melodia flamenca na improvisação. Então, descobriu a América dos
índios. Juntou, em uma trilha melódica simples, de milho, partes até
chegar em...Hocus Pocus. A harmonia flamenca confunde-se com esta
música do Focus. E é verdade.
De Ti o de Mi - outra do disco novo. Composição de Jacobs. Tocada com
clima.
Focus II - igualzinha há 30 anos atrás.
Neurotika - a síntese do novo Focus, foi tocada com punch e maestria.
Claudio Szynkier
FOCUS SECOND SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR UPDATES - Part 4
Sao Paulo - March 14, 2003
FOCUS PRESENTATION IN SAO PAULO AT DIRECTV HALL
Once again the FOCUS presentation in Sao Paulo city was a great success.
We had a big audience: 1,200 people were at the Directv Music Hall. I went to the theather at 4:00 PM to watch the rehearsal. So I got a little example of what would be the presentation and some tunes for the next album. 'Tamara's Move' and 'Neurotika' performances bring me a great expectation for the concert, with new songs on live versions. Surely one of the best concerts of an international band in Sao Paulo this year. I met the guys from Kiss FM at the theather and they told me that Focus did a jam session on the restaurant 'O Garimpo' on wednesday. I'll try to get some pictures from this night.
After the overture band 'Violeta de Outono', Daniela Mel, from Kiss FM (the band became impressed by the beautiful presence of Daniela on the radio show on wednesday - me too !!!) came to the stage to announce Focus. She was wearing a pink dress on the classical dance style, and the audience starts to applaud and to shout a lot. After 'Focus I' Thijs announced a music from the new album, 'Tamara's Move'. 'Blizu Tebe', 'De Ti o de Mi' , 'Neurotika' and 'Rock & Rio' - all new tracks - was played too. The band came back to the stage for 3 encores. The audience went crazy ! I think the entire set list was: Focus I, Tamara´s Move, Eruption, Sylvia, Focus II, Blizu Tebe, La Cathedrale de Strasbourg, Harem Scarem, Neurotika, De Ti o de Mi, Thijs improvisation on the clavinet, Hocus Pocus, Brother, (encore) Sylvia, Rock & Rio, Hocus Pocus.
On the afternoon, Valdir Montanari's wife gave to Thijs a white overcoat that she made herself, decorated with moon and stars. He was wearing it when back to the stage on the encores. We could see a little Popeye Sailor Puppet besides Jan Dumée on the stage during the show. Other fans told me that he bought it on a local store because found it looks like Willem Hubers, the FOCUS manager! :-) Someone notice the Focus style is now a little bit heavy.
After the gig, still in the theather hall, and after meeting some fans for autographs, Thijs ask me if would be possible to get back to the garoa bar one more time (the bar were we went on the thursday with Bert Smaak and some fans). "- Is it too late?" he ask me, looking at his wristwatch. "- I don't think so" I reply. So I take my car to drive Thijs, Jan Dumée, a Dutch friend who Thijs met at the hotel and people from Rock Symphony (Nahoum, Werneck and Marcelo Moura). Once in the bar, Thijs fastly sit at the piano to sing for a very small audience, I think 15 people at all (it was at 3:00 AM). He started with 'McArthur Park' one of his prefered compositions. After a lot of improvisation Thijs plays 'FOCUS V', 'Le Tango' (from the Focus 1985 album), Imagine (from John Lennon) and I can't contain a personal desire, so I ask him if would be possible to play the song 'Moving Waves'. He immediately begins to play and sing the song, so one of my dreams came true one more time! He told me later that compose this tune at 16 years old, and it's a free poetical idea, because the waves are always moving, there's no stopped waves at all! Jan Dumée follow Thijs on the acoustic bass in a song, and sit at the piano also to presents his new composition about a girl, called 'Dorien' that will reach the next Focus album. At 4:30 AM more or less, Jan Dumée remeber that was time to back to the hotel to rest, for travel to Rio on Saturday. It went on a perfect end for a Wonderful night. What a night !!! More updates as I get them.
Bye for now,
Rodrigo Mantovani
PS: I noticed the Dutch Queen are visiting Brazil this month too - what a coincidence. So we have here the Queen and 'The Kings' !!! :-)
FOCUS SECOND SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR UPDATES - Part 3
Sao Paulo - March, 13 - 2003
Last night we meet Focus at the Hotel. Thijs told us that would like to watch a presentation wich he thinked was a tribute to maestro Tom Jobim. So we went to Sesc Pompeia, a kind of club here in Sao Paulo, with restaurant, art schools, and theather. The rest of the band stay at the hotel for a meeting with Leonardo Nahoum, so only Thijs and Bert came with us. During he presentation Thijs not recognize any of the compositions, so we got information later that was a tribute to maestro "Joban", not "Jobim" - an speeling mistake, but not so bad at all, as Thijs and Bert liked very much the show, based on brazilian instrumental music, and with a lot of invited musicians, like
Banda Mantiqueira, Bocatto, Alex Bessa, Silvinho Mazuca, between others. After the presentation we went to the backstage to talk with the musicians, so then invite us to join them on a jazz bar called "Garoa" (www.garoa.com.br), a small place with a stage and decoration inspired on jazz cover albums. After we eat and drink something Thijs ask for a microfone and began to sang with the band, on a nice improvisation. One of the musicians at that place, Michel Freiderson, loved the Focus V song, and told Thijs that it was the 'soundtrack' on his marriage. So Thijs play it for us. On the stage there was an acoustic bass, so Elias Frederico, a friend of us and Focus fan, realize the dream of his life - to play with Van Leer! After the jam session on a joyful night we drive back to the hotel. Pictures will be availabe soon. So one more time we had memorable moments to remeber forever. So tonight is the great night - The Focus presentation in Sao Paulo !
More reviews soon
Bye for now
Rodrigo Mantovani
FOCUS SECOND SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR UPDATES - Part 2
São Paulo - March 12, 2003
On this wednesday afternoon Focus was invited to an interview
and plays live on a local classic rock radio station
called KISS FM ( www.kissfm.com.br ). The radio is knowed by
to play only classic rock songs, from the 60's, 70's and 80's, I think
the only radio which plays Focus songs every day here.
Last week I was seeing the radio web-site and saw pictures of the
Status Quo band on that radio program, called 'Kiss Club',
so I ask to Willem Hubers if there's an interest on to be
on that show too. He said me that's ok, so it happened.
On this program the invited band plays live an it is
transmited live. Between the songs the presentation girl called
Daniela make some questions to the band, and was very interesting
to hear Focus talking about its musical influences, origin
of the yodel style, and other nice information. The transmission
delay some time because some difficult in the sound check,
the guitar sound wasn't so good, but all was solved in a safe
time. A Hammond organ was lend to Thijs plays the songs,
because there's no organ on the radio studio. A strongest
version of Hocus-Pocus was played, and House of the King
and Sylvia were togheter in a medley. After the live songs
the radio plays 2 tracks from the new CD, Neurotika (a sugestion
by Thijs) and Flower Shower, because the girl Daniela loved
this song - she told me that it remember her the song of the seven
dwarfs from Snow White movie... :-)))
After this magnificient presentation, the band had time to give
some autographs to the fans on the hall and lots of pictures
was taken (check it on the Focus sites soon, as an audio file from
this presentation). Brazilian fans can check the radio web-site soon
for more information on this presentation. At night the band went
to a restaurant in a near city called 'Embu das Artes'. The name
of the restaurant is 'O Garimpo' and is a kind of partner of the
radio station, so there's a lots of rock bands presentations there.
I don't have more details as I don't went with the guys for personal
problems I had to back to my house soon to rest. I don't know
if Focus plays at night on that place, but I'll send more
information as I get then.
Bye for now !
Rodrigo Mantovani
FOCUS SECOND SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR UPDATES - PART 1
MARCH 11 - FOCUS PLAYING WITH "BLUES AND BEER" BAND AT "BOURBON STREET" BAR - SAO PAULO - BRAZIL
(as it's a fast update, sorry any mistake concerning my english grammar....:-) )
Hi Friends !
" - FANTASTIC... FABOLOUS... TERRIFIC... ENORMOUS... !!! "
There's no expression to describe the presentation of Focus in the Bourbon Street House in Sao Paulo at March 11.
I met the guys at Pathernon Hotel at night, after beeing working on 'Brasilplast' during all the day long (the biggest plastic industry fair from Latin America) - so I was a little bit tired, but when I saw Willem on the Hotel hall, I got an 'extra' fuel for life. After a big hug , Willem told me that the presentation in Mexico City was a tremendous success, Focus was the best presentation of the "Baja Prog Festival" so far from the other bands ( included italian bands like Premiata Forneria Marconi and Balleto de Bronze ). I was on the hotel hall with my French friend and Focus fan Antoyne, and Willem told me: "- Common to the Restaurant Rodrigo !" - So I'd met the Focus guys one more time in my life ! The band was so excited as ever to be touring and we began to talk a lot about the Mexican Festival and other things. We drink some beers and wine and a little bit after we met the guys from the blues band called "BLUES AND BEER" that is based on Rio and was hosted at the same Pathernon hotel. They told us that will playing in Sao Paulo at Bourboun Street Bar. So one of the guys were at the Focus presentation in November and recognize Thijs Van Leer (he almost unbelieve that were Thijs in person on the same hotel...). So he invit Focus to play with them at that bar and one more time I get the chance to see my idols in live performance !!!
" - FANTASTIC... FABOLOUS... TERRIFIC... ENORMOUS... !!! "
There's no words to comment this presentation - the 'Bourboun Street Bar' was inspired on the New Orleans houses architetour, and the atmosphere is of a jazz club or something like that, with guitars, horns, saxophones, etc. on every part of this house. The 'Blues and Beer' presentation take place more or less at 11 PM. Me, Focus ( Jan was out to meet a girl ) and Leonardo and Robinho (from Rock Symphony) was eating and drinking very well and watching the guys on the stage. After 6 numbers I think, the guys from the band invited Focus to play on the stage with them - so theres begin the high point of the night: Geert ( the sound engineer) take the guitars, Bert on drums, Bobby on Bass and Thijs on the vocals and Clavinet - as he told me its the better instrument to the Blues than flute, and... The dream begins !!! A 16 minutes presentation playing beside the guys from the 'Blues and Beer', a lot of improvisation and for my surprise, Geert play the guitar very well !!! The audience receive the band very well and every one became happy with this 'extra' jan session on this beatiful night. After that the band receive a lot of applauses, and the vocalist from the Blues band divulge the Focus presentation at Friday in Sao Paulo, so we got extra audience to the show ! The Focus guys was very happy with all the things, and we drink more beers and watch the second part of the 'Blues and Beer' presentaion. After that I drive Focus (on my littel golf car) back to the hotel, that were very near from this bar. A memorable night to me and the people who had the luck of to be on that bar yesterday.
Bye bye for now,
Rodrigo Mantovani