Ra Ho Tep
RA-HO-TEP
circa 1969 - 71
Tim James - alto-sax, tenor-sax, clarinet, electric-piano, harp and vocals (Tim played with Acme Electric Patent Band / Soul Sect / Bo Weevils / Monster Magnet / Last Fair Deal and others
Joe Craner - drums, trumpet and vibes
Phil Porter - bass-guitar, string-bass and acoustic-guitar
Ra Ho Tep was the name of an Egyptian sun god and an appropriate name for a band in the 60s/70s. Featured myself on alto-sax, tenor-sax, clarinet, electric-piano, harp and vocals, Phil Porter on bass-guitar, string-bass and acoustic-guitar and Joe Craner on drums, trumpet and vibes. We very often played one piece of totally improvised music per set, although the pieces developed strong formats as we played them, due to our almost telepathic understanding of each other. People would ask us how long it took to put these complicated arrangements together. I didn't have the heart to tell them that we "made it up as we went along". We also played "covers" by as diverse a collection as Marvin Gaye, Laura Nyro, James Taylor, and many more who would never have recognised their songs after we'd finished with them. Our finale was nearly always Concierto de Aranjuez, a moody piece by Spanish classical composer Joquin Rodriguez. We played all over the country ... people tended to love us or hate us, the latter if we were mistakenly booked to play college discos - where our style of music didn't fit in with "Brown Sugar" and the like.
I think we peaked in 1973 with the Polyglot Dance Group. when we teamed up with some student dancers from a college in Surrey and incorporated modern dance into the improvisational routine. After a few years Joe got other commitments and we did recruit temporary drummers. The band eventually folded due to our own other commitments and geographical difficulties "
Comment by The Broadgate Gnome from the original Vox Hobo site c 2008
Joe Craner , Percussion and Phil Porter, guitar.
Old mates from the Marquee days in the sixties ( Boll Weevils) and mad enough to agree to Sphincta handling them.
It was their desire to play in the ruins that started that all off.
I think their Arjens bag is in the gnome archive on here
P
Posted by: Broadgate Gnome | 03/26/2008 at 07:55 PM
Below - Ra Ho Tep at the Lanch Poly Coventry 1971 with Fresh Maggots and Al Docker's band Tsar.
Below - Ra Ho Tep at the Coventry Arts Umbrella Club - put on by Trev Teasdel 1971 but it was not the first time they played there. Advert from the Coventry Evening Telegraph.
The subject today is the blues, and the inspiring news that it is now being taught in Coventry schools.
The blues may be considered somewhat archaic these days, but it does form the basis of most popular musical forms that have developed over the past 90 years.
Tim James and John Alderson are blues musicians turned teachers; they go back a long way. John played in Wandering John, Snake, and the Travelling Riverside Blues Band and with Tim in The Last Fair Deal.
So I asked Tim how it came about.
"I was asked by teacher Steve Thomas, who was in the Travelling Riverside Blues Band if I would do some blues tracks for A-Level students.
"The kids loved the tracks and all got great grades.
"Then he asked if I would fancy teaching the blues to Coventry school kids and I said yes.
"When we started I didn't think it would be primary kids.
"It began in September, and we do four 45-minute sessions a day, two schools in the morning and two in the afternoon."
The 45-minute Story of the Blues sessions trace the blues back to its origins in the slave trade, when chained workers would sing crude 'field hollows' backed with stomp and claps or more often by the fall of a hammer or axe.
Through music, slide shows and plenty of interesting narrative, the children are taken on a musical journey punctuated with just the right amount of information on each time-line in the birth of this most real of all musical forms.
They are encouraged to join in, and by all accounts are willing to take part.
They get to hear about bottleneck guitars, Resonators (as played by John Alderson), harmonica or blues harps (as played by Tim James), mojos, delta, 12-bar blues and the effect this musical form has had on other music that would follow it.
As a blues fan it was a delight to hear versions of On the Road again, Cross Roads and Mustang Sally.
I asked those involved, Tim and John, Darren Sheldon and head of service Owen Dutton what surprised them the most about this course: "What surprised me," said John, "Is what genuine interest we get from these young people. They love it; I was amazed at just what response and questions we get from them.
"I was telling them about the 'bottle' I used to play the guitar; I mentioned that nowadays they tend to use a metal slide. It was wonderful to hear a child ask if he could hear the guitar being played with a metal one to hear the difference.
"We talk about guitars being made from wood," reveals Darren, "Then up pops John with a metal guitar, and straightaway, they are asking what a metal guitar would sound like as most of them have never seen one before."
"We are also involved in the history of rock, and rock school," said Owen. "Most of the children have heard of Elvis and The Beatles, and it's tremendously encouraging to think we are planting the seed for the enjoyment of music. I just wish we had this when I was at school."
You know what Owen, so do I!
I think most of us were subjected to classical music at school, I know I was.
I have since learned to love classical music, but in my own way, I got to see the fun side of it. Teaching music like this is all about fun. Okay, so some blues purists may say: "How can you teach the history of the blues in just 45 minutes?"
I know the blues, and I can assure you that what we heard was all the basics a young child needs to know. It's wildly interactive, educational, musical, historic and fun. Every school in the city should be involved in this, many already are.
Also encouraging is the news that 2-Tone is being taught in some schools, and my 2-Tone trail book is being used in the lesson.
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