Ana Popovic – Still Making History
I got my
first taste of blues Ana Popovic style at the Harmonie in 2005 so it seems
fitting to round off the year with a concert from Serbia's blues queen back at
the Harmonie, and to see both where the road has taken her, and which roads she
intends taking along the blues highway.
Last year
Ana's fansite organized a get-together in the garden of the Fiddlers pub. As blue music doesn't mean blue skin the
first fans I greeted were safely inside in the warm this time and tucking into
hot meals. They were up from Belgium. It's taken a couple of hours on the motorway
and will take a couple more back afterwards but everyone is smiling and looking
forward to the show. When I check back
at the Harmonie itself I find the same can be said of Ana and band – all smiles
in anticipation of a good show. Back at
the entrance and the fans are gathering in a mood of… well I guess you get
the picture. There is a list of bands
guaranteed to draw good crowds here: Julian Sas, Walter Trout, Sunny Skies,
AC/DC tribute band Dirty Deeds, and Ana is amongst them. If The Harmonie had a curtain it could be said to
have been pretty well a full house by ‘curtain up'.
In the
event, the ‘curtain' is represented by Bassman Ronald Jonker as he pounds out
the evenings first riff to announce ‘Miss Ana Popovic'. The lady takes the stage, clad head to foot
almost in white. The almost being beige suede boots. It's true that I never mentioned what Walter
Trout or Louisiana Red had on their feet but then, as in many things, Ana is
not your average blues musician.
Check out
almost any photo gallery of Miss Popovic and you will be sure to find at least
one shot of a foot – usually on a guitar pedal.
Strange but
true. There's a lot more to Ana than
sartorial elegance though – there's a little matter of living up to the ‘female Jimi Hendrix'
tag. The way things are going it might
soon come to Jimi being labelled ‘the male Ana Popovic'. She does just keep getting better and
better. There is a guitar break during
‘My Hometown' for example where she out basses Ronald Jonker which is quite a
feat. Then of course there is ‘Navajo
Moon'. The announcement of this song
used to split Ana audiences into two sets: guitar instrumental fans who settle
down with ears keenly pricked to enjoy every nuance of every note and rock fans
who's feet start itching to find the bar after two minutes. Not any more though. ‘Navajo Moon' in 2008 builds into a showcase
of blues/jazz guitar at its smouldering best – and then tilts over into rock
anthem territory. It's so crowded in the
Harmonie that no-one could head to the bar if they wanted to, but you get the
feeling everyone today is of the ears keenly pricked brigade and their ears are
bountifully rewarded.
Blinded by the light (or the blues?) – Ana Popovic
It's often
a sad thing that the Harmonie has a 10.30pm curfew and tonight is no
exception. Ana would happily have played
for three hours but she and us have to settle for two and a half. In the event she's won
everybody over after just a couple of songs.
"You get your moneys worth in the first fifteen minutes, and the rest of
the show is free" as the joke goes – only today it's fact. But there are inevitable casualties when you
have to cut half an hour from your set.
String problems mean there is no acoustic guitar and therefore no
acoustic set and no ‘Calenders' which sadly for me is a personal favourite that
bit the dust.
Another
staple number missing today was Hendrix' ‘House Burning Down'. I made a mental note to ask Ana if this was
an attempt to finally quash the ‘Hendrix' comparisons but forgot to file it in
my memory so never found out. Even
without such a crowdpleaser though the AP Band 2008 knows how to rock. It's hard to imagine Ana going back to the
trio days now that Michele Papadea on keyboard has so firmly established
himself alongside Ronald Jonker as a master of many musical styles. Drummer this evening is another
‘rocker' though. Ron Wright, like Andrew Thomas before him,
is an excellent rock sticksman but sometimes I miss the subtlety of Denis
Palatin at the back. Maybe partly because
of this there don't seem to be many ‘quieter' moments in the set Outside of
‘Navajo Moon'. There is the bluesy ‘U Complete Me' but otherwise everyone is
rocking and certainly when ‘Long Way Home' hammers into top gear it seems three
times as loud and proud as the live version on CD from 2005.
Ana and Ronald Jonker are all smiles
There's
time after the show for the Fansite to sit down with Ana and find out what's
happening. The ‘New' CD "Still Making
History" is now not so new. It's spent a
large part of it's life so far in the American Billboard Blues charts though, so
expectations are high for a follow up. A
re-mix of SMH has been finished just this very week we hear. It's a hip-hop, disco mix variation of the
original blues songs but Ana's new material to be recorded next year is, she assures us, going to be
more what we expect. I hope you realise
Ana that SMH has made us expect A LOT!
Anyone taking bets on a slogan five years down the line: ‘Joe Bonamassa
is the male Ana Popovic'?
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