Horses Brawl + Porico Quartet @ SOAS Concert Series

昨天晚上在 SOAS 的 Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre 聽了一場很棒的音樂會，其實之前就有看過 SOAS Concert Series 的傳單，可是一直沒有去聽過。這次會去聽是在定期看的 Timeout LONDON 上看到這場音樂會的消息，而且有標示 FREE & Recommend，確定一下地點發現就在 SOAS，那當然不可以錯過囉。

音樂會分成上下半場，上半場是 Horses Brawl Duo，下半場是 Porico Quartet，會將這兩個團體排在一起，是因為都有傳統音樂的調調。雖然是無意中發現的音樂會，不過卻是個美麗的意外，而且聽眾滿場，很多人在外面進不來。

Horses Brawl Duo 是演奏傳統歐洲民俗音樂的二重奏，Laura Cannell 演奏小提琴跟各式的笛子而 Adrian Lever 是演奏吉他。演奏的音樂內容是歐洲各國的民俗音樂，擷取其中的元素改編而成的，在介紹音樂的時候，Laura 也說不大出來到底每首曲子是混合了哪些國家的民謠。演奏了八首曲目，就看 Laura 一下用小提琴一下用各式各樣的直笛在演奏，雖然是傳統的曲調，可是卻很有新意，很吸引人。PART FOLK - PART EARLY - PART TRAINED PRECISION - PART WILD ABANDON。這是他們網站上的介紹，很貼切。

Porico Quartet，在中間換場的時候，當 Hang 搬上台的時候，發現這是我之前曾在 South Bank 街頭表演聽過的團體。當初就覺得這個團體很有意思，沒想到在無意中又遇見了，真巧。PQ 看起來是爵士的編制，可是音樂的感覺卻有濃濃的民謠味，尤其是用 soprano sax 跟 hang。soprano sax 的聲音本身就很有特色，介於黑管跟單簧管，反而不大像 SAX，感覺就很悠遠深長。而 Hang 是很少見的樂器，之前曾經看過一次，有點像鋼鼓，但是更稀奇。Hang 的聲音也很有趣，有點像鐵琴，敲擊出的聲音會帶著回音，很好聽。再介紹 PQ 的音樂時，有提到用了Celt 的元素，我也不大了解歐洲民俗音樂，不過很好聽就是了。

這次聽 SOAS Series 的經驗不錯，接下來的音樂會有空應該都會去聽吧，免費的耶。而且SOAS的音樂系是主攻世界音樂，所以音樂會的內容很多變，有各國的民俗音樂，多聽聽應該會發現不少好東西。

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I enjoyed an amazing concert at Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre in SOAS yesterday evening. I has seen the leaflet of SOAS Concert Series before, but I never attended that. Yesterday I attended because I saw the concert information on Timeout LONDON there I always got information form and it show the concert is FREE & Recommend. Furthermore, the venue was just in SOAS that why I can't miss that.

The first half of concert was Horses Brawl Duo and another was Porico Quartet. They all have the folk tone so put them together. The show was very hot and many people can't attend because the theatre was full of audience. Although I found the concert unexpectedly, but that was a beautiful accident.

Horses Brawl Duo play traditional folk. There are Laura Cannell who play violin and many kinds of recorders and Adrian Lever play guitar. There music compose the elements of early European folk from many country. Even Laura couldn't identify which country are their music from when she introduced their music yesterday. They played 8 songs totally. Laura changed violin and recorder each song and attracted audiences' eyes. Although their music is early folk but there are some modern feeling in there and very charming. "PART FOLK - PART EARLY - PART TRAINED PRECISION - PART WILD ABANDON" is the slogan on their website and very suitable.

The next role yesterday evening was Porico Quartet. When they set up the hang before their show, I found that was the group I saw in front of National Theatre earlier. I felt they are so interesting when I met them at first time, however I could meet them again unexpectedly. What is a coincidence! PQ has a jazz form but their music has more folk feeling as a result they play soprano sax and hang. The voice of soprano sax is characteristic. Not like other sax's sound, the voice of soprano is more similar to the voice of clarinet or oboe. That is more meaningful. Furthermore, Hang that I saw once before is more unusual than steel drum. It's sound is interesting too and similar to glockenspiel. That voice has little echo and very melodious. When PQ introduced their music, they mentioned that they use some Celt's element. Otherwise I don't understand European traditional music, but their music is great.

The experience I attended SOAS concert series was great. If I am available, I will attend the other concerts of series especially that are free. The content of concerts is about folk music of many country and various. I think I will get some different idea if I enjoy that.