By Musallam Kanafani
The four-member Irish group played delighted a large audienece who gathered around the perfromers at the floodlight Colonnade Sunday at the Jerash festival 2000.
Jordanians and foreigners buzzed informally admiring the musical flow of two guitars, a violin and a pulsating Bodhran ( a type of Irish drum ).
The improvised program included Irish folkloric music, traditional English melodies, and many other musical styles , earning the musicians a prolonged applause.
After the sparkling performance , the audience demanded more but the group, clearly heat stressed, promised their fans of a second performance Monday.
The Monkey Puzzle group, named after a type of exotic tree that grows in England, consists of four musicians, Lura Targett ( violin ), Luci Randall ( Irish drum ), Peter Gazey ( guitar ) and Derek Smith ( Oboe and Guitar.) It is claimed that monkeys cannot climb the Monkey Puzzle tree. The audience thronging the colonnade, however, had no problems scaling the music heights of the group’s soaring performance.
Although the group specializes in Irish music, they come in fact from Kent in England. Established six months ago, the group has played at many venues in England and Ireland but this is their first visit to an Arab country. Their varied repertoire includes Irish music, Gypsy music, Jazz and traditional Russian pieces. Guitarist Peter Gazey told Albawaba.com “we really enjoyed our time here, the people like what we do, we’ll continue our show for the rest of the festival.”
“We’ve been to the Dead Sea and that was great fun, and we’ll be visiting Petra tomorrow Inshallah (God willing)” he concluded – Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
