coincidence of Pont des Arts in Paris and Place des Arts in Montreal

A few months ago, when I was in Paris and I was walking in the streets, somewhere behind Notre Dame, I saw two young musicians who were playing John Lennon's "Imagine". I could say they didn't know Paris well enough and that they had just started their journey. I sat on the floor and listened. After a while, we started to talk and they turned out to be Czech. I told them how much I loved Prague and I had great memories during my 2 visits. They asked me what I wanted them to play and I said some folk Czech songs.

I then took them for a small tour around Rive Gauche, Place St Michel and finally to Pont des Arts, places where they could play and have more audience.
When we arrived at Pont des Arts, one of them said: "Wow! there's a party here". He was right. It was Saturday evening and as usual summer nights, this bridge was full of people who were sitting on it, eating, drinking and playing music.

After a few hours, we saw 2 other musicians who were playing tom-tom and accordion. The Czech guys started talking to them and one of them turned out to be from Montreal. I told him that I'm going to move to Montreal soon and we started talking. Then we all went down the bridge on the river bank where there were some more young musicians playing mostly tom-tom and so they played all together.
Here are 2 photos from that night. The rest you can see on my flickr page.

Today, after 3 months, without having any contact from the Montrealer, while walking my way in "Place des Arts" metro station in Montreal, I bumped into him!

What could be the probability of seeing someone you saw only once, in a place where it has a common word to the first place and that word happens to be "arts"?

Crazy world, isn't it?

Life in Paris II

Unlike what I thought in the first 4 months that I had arrived in Paris, she is one lively city where you can feel life in different aspects. In this post, I want to show you some of the frames of the street art scene in Paris. You can see more photos on my flickr set

Place Saint Michel is one of those places where you can find these sort of performers almost every evening.

Bastille was one of those other places where you could find street musicians and some of them were awesome.

This man was a painter who painted on the floor near Chatelet.

He changed his painting almost everyday!

Near Montmartre, there were street art performers,

as well as musicians. This was the first time I saw such an instrument. My friend told me it is called "saw". It was made of a thin layer of metal, as thin as a paper, and it had a sound similar to violin but higher. It's an American folk instrument having its roots in the 19th century but which has become worldwide from the 20th century. 
You might be surprised to know that Tom Waits, Sarah McLachlan, Penderecki and even Neutral Milk Hotel used this instrument in their music. If anyone has a video link of performance by these artists, please leave it as comment. 

This was in Paris XX. "One should not trust words". Do you agree?

Kiosk gig in Montreal

My next post on Paris will come after this one.

I'm back from Kiosk gig, the second one of their tour which has started on 5th of November. The first one was in Toronto and the rest is in Europe. Kisok will perform in Köln, Florence, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Oslo, Gothenburg and Stockholm. Tara Kamangar, the dexterous musician is accompanying Kiosk at this tour and plays violin. 
Only after 2 weeks of my arrival in Montreal, I was lucky to get a ticket to this gig through my friend, since they were sold out.
I got to know this band in Tehran, 4 years ago. The first song I heard was "Eshgh-e sorat" which was apparently the most successful song of their second album. This album also had a song called "Amoo Asdollah", which made reference to the characters in the very famous book of "My uncle Napolean".  I soon got their debut album, and found my favorite song, "road to happiness" in it.

Kiosk released "Global zoo" in 2008 and "triple distilled" just recently.
Like always, Kiosk lyrics are mostly inspired by social realities and changes in Iran. Arash wittily makes allusions to proverbs; In the case of "Agha! Nigah dar", he refers to a hero of our childhood stories, and challenges the listeners by questioning the famous cliche of "Is wealth better or knowledge?"

Although the lyrics are Persian, the music speaks to a wide range of people from everywhere; there were quite a few non-Iranians at the concert as well. Just grasping the words "Tarzan" and "cheetah" in "ay ay" from "global zoo", is enough for them cuz the music itself tells the rest.

If I want to describe Kiosk music genre, I would say a mix of blues, jazz and gypsy. The gypsy tone is very much highlighted by Ardalan Payvar's accordion and Tara Kamangar's accompaniment by violin.
During some pieces, I was reminded of "Gogol Bordello", not that they are similar but because both have gypsy influence in their music.

One interesting part in the concert was during "Bitarbiat", when the audience filled the gaps of the censored words loudly!

I managed to take some photos from the band tonight and I'm gonna share them with you here. To see all the photos, click on my flickr page, click on the slide show, below the search field and watch them.

Here's Ardalan Payvar, on accordion.

 

He also played on keyboard

Arash Sobhani, the founder of the band, also surprised the audience of Montreal, by singing a song from Leonard Cohen, the Montrealer artist and one of my favorite singers of all time. It was a nice gesture. 

 Shahrouz Molaei, the enthusiastic drummer of Kiosk.

Tara Kamangar, is initially pianist but she plays violin with Kiosk. Her artistry play, gave the whole performance, a remarkable charm.

Ali Kamali, the basist

and again Arash, who was really into it!

If you're in one of the tour destinations, don't miss their concert. And last but not least, after each song, the audience was asking for "yarom bia". But did Kiosk play this folkloric song or was just firing the audience up till the end of the concert and not quenching their thirst? You'll see...

Life in Paris I

Me: What do you advise? Any books to read? How can I become a good photographer?
Alfred: Just take photos, that's all I can tell you. You will not learn from books. You learn through the process of taking photos. Your photos should tell a story.
Reza: Take your camera with you everyday when you go to work. Get out half an hour earlier than you do and just take photos. When you come home, edit your photos you took on that day and get used to it.

And so that's what I did. I took my camera with me about 75% of the days and most of the photos I took, were on the way to and back from work.
I'm gonna share some of them with you here. You can click on the right of my blog to see more on my flickr page.

This is the one I shot on the first day that I took my camera to work with me. It was on the tram; I went 2 more stations after my stop to take it. The questioning look on the child's face is adorable. What do you think s/he asking?

In most big cities, people use metro on the daily basis and Paris is one of them. On this daily routine, some who travel a long distance, use this underground route and travel time, to sleep. This shows how people are sleep deprived and how city life has divested people from one of their basic needs.

This is another one, a poor woman, on the way back home at midnight. 

I think a river in a city, gives a totally different ambiance to it. There is a kind of liveliness that is brought by water, an inspiration for artists and a delightful peace for others who saunter by the river bank or stroll on the bridges. In the case of Paris, people would even sit on Pont des Arts, drink wine while enjoying their time with friends and socializing. 

Such a scene is something you can easily find in Paris, be it near the Seine, Bassin de l'Arsenail or Canal St Martin. 

As I said, not only near Seine, but also by Bassin de l'Arsenail, people, young and old, spend quality time together.

This one is also on the bank of Seine. Even seeing this scene made me feel peaceful.

"If your photos are not good enough, you're not close enough". This is what I remember of Robert Capa, when I see some of my photos, including this one. 

I'm gonna stop here since I have more posts with photos of Paris. Please let me know if you have trouble loading the page on my blog.