Hurricane Records - Various Artists - Gouveia Artrock Festival

Various Artists - Gouveia Artrock Festival (DVD)
Home Utily 5311039040542

Genre: Prog-Rock
Recorded: 2004
Released: 2005

feat. Isildurs Bane, Fernando Guiomar, La Torre Dell'Alchimista, eriferia Del Mondo. The second Gouveia Art Rock (GAR) Festival took place on April 24th and 25th 2004 at the Teatro-Cine de Gouveia in Portugal. The additional day meant that six bands, from Portugal, Italy, England and Sweden were able to perform, double that of the previous year. Performances by Italy's La Torre Dell'Alchimista and Periiferia Del Mondo, Portugal's Fernando Guiomar and the superb Isildurs Bane from Sweden are captured on this 3 hour DVD but, sadly we are given just brief glimpses of Portugal's Forgotten Suns and England's Richard Sinclair Band. Like 2003, the organiser's choices for 2004 were far from safe in the sense that I imagine that only a few people in the audience would have heard the music of all these bands prior to the festival. Try something as daring in the UK and hardly anyone would turn up. Clearly the audience at Gouveia is open-minded and willing to try something new and that is to be applauded. It could be said that the music on this DVD is for intellectuals, which is not to say that it isn't accessible, but it is perhaps not so accessible for those with smaller and perhaps more mainstream prog CD collections. There is a theme running through of the jazzier side of prog, and very good it is too. The unlikely looking bunch that make up La Torre Dell'Alchimista add a touch of medieval folk-prog, neither Gryphon nor Tull but hovering in that area. Prog has never been about looks or dress sense thankfully, and the vocalist for this band, Michele Giardino, has a remarkable voice. Periferia Del Mondo are again hard to pigeonhole but veer on the jazzier side of things but once they get into their groove they really rock. Trape-Zape guitarist Fernando Guiomar performs a contrasting complex yet relaxing acoustic piece (Ibero) and the stars of the show, Isildurs Bane perform a similar set to that of their Mind Vol:5 DVD but with a slight difference in line-up - missing are the two girls (the cellist and guitarist both providing vocals) but in their place is violinist Joachim Gustafsson. The DVD extras include a short selection of interviews including Richard Sinclair, and a further incite into Gouveia's history and culture (the more I see of that place, the more I want to be there).

22.99 EUR