Guil turned up at the
pre arranged time and I went down to meet him.
He told me of the great response to the session and how many messages
had been posted on a message board and the number of calls and
texts he had received. I asked him about the smoke plume I had
seen and he assured me that it was not a bomb.
"Rasta, a bomb
is a big ting here. It would be on the radio and TV and everyone
would know".
Hmmmmm...........If you say so Guil.
Guil asked if we wanted
to do the radio show for 106 FM now or get something to eat first
and then do the show. The show was an hour slot, so when Aba came
down we agreed to do the show first and then we would have the
rest of the day free.
We boarded the MPV and off we went to do the radio show.
The show is hosted by Yigal and is pre recorded for later broadcast.
Yigal records the show in his own studio setup which is in his
lounge.
We arrived at Yigal's
home at 14:55 and he was standing outside to greet and escort
us into his home.
We remembered him from the session as being off those that stood
out from the crowd.
We entered his home and were offered refreshments as Yigal's previous
show which was being broadcasted was playing over the speakers.
After an hour of general reasoning it was time for Aba to record
his slot.
Aba started playing a selection of tunes from record, minidisk
and cd's and all the time building up the vibe. I watched as Yigal
with his eyes closed, skanked
his way across the lounge floor.
He was getting his own private Aba Shanti-I session.
Yigal realised after 40 minutes that he hadn't set the recorder
to record. So he quickly hurried behind the desk and set it off.
The vibes increased and a serious meditation vibe was in the place,
summed up to me not by the people, but by Yigal's
cat. This mottled coloured cat curled up right in the middle
of the floor and stayed there, even when another of Igal's cat
came to play with her, she just boxed him away and went back to
her position in the middle of the floor. Wicked!
Aba was supposed to play for an hour but ending up playing for
over two, and even then Igal asked if Aba could just do another
40 minutes to an hour, but we had to decline.
The time was now 18:55 and we were getting hungry and we still
had to go and check Ras Natty Congo at his yard, for he had invited
us the previous evening and we had accepted his kind invitation.
We bade farewell to Yigal and friends and headed off into the
evening air to find a restaurant.
We headed for the old
city of Jaffa for there some really nice quality food places there.
Guil wanted us to go to a Brazilian restaurant near the commercial
district, but when we are on the road we like to eat at places
what we know and have eaten there before.
You can't risk getting food poisoning or even an upset stomach
when you have planes or long road trips to take. So Guil recommended
another place and we headed there.
We parked up the MPV and started to walk back to the restaurant
when Aba said, "Guil We have been to this place before"!
Sure enough we had just passed the clock shop which 4 years earlier
Aba and Blood had brought a clock as a present for their mother,
which ended up being left on the roof of the car as it drove away
from the airport car park. The clock was never seen again.
We turned and went back to the MPV and ended up going to Guil's
preferred first suggestion, the Brazilian restaurant What a good
call.
We entered the restaurant
and were shown a table and we sat down. A waitress came over and
explained how the ordering process worked in this place. Basically
you pay a set fee and sit and eat and eat all kinds of cuts of
meat except pork. Just then one of the other waiters rushed over
and started shaking us by the hand shouting out excitedly to his
colleague in Hebrew and pointing to Aba. All eyes in the place
then centred on our table.
It transpired that he was asked to go to the session the previous
night by some friends and had no idea who Aba Shanti-I was, but
went along with his friends anyway. He told us that he had never
danced so much in his life and was gushing in his praise for Aba
and the vibe that he generated. He wanted to know when we ere
coming back to Israel for he will be definitely be attending the
next session. and bringing more of his friends to check the vibe.
By now we had quite a few of the waiters/waitresses around our
table. even the receptionist came to check out what all the fuss
was about.
We got fed dread, well fed. Every minute we were being presented
with food. What a place. What hospitability. We will be definitely
going back there to eat next time we are in Israel.
After eating our fill and saying our good byes to the staff we left the restaurant and headed off into the night air to go and check Ras Natty Congo.
We arrived at Congo's
place in the suburbs of Tel Aviv at 22:10. We were warmly greeted
by Ras Congo and taken to his music
hut he had constructed at the bottom of his garden. Very reminiscent
of 'Black Ark', 'King Tubby's' or even 'Southern', just not as
large.
We settled down and chatted with Ras Congo about his set up, sound
systems and other associated musical topics.
We were joined by Sister
Ellen and Ranking Levy, selector and Mc respectively of 'My
Lord Sound System'. The chat went on into the night and come 02:20
it was time to leave the good company and head back to the hotel.
Sunday: 02/10/2005
Guil collected us from the hotel at 12:15 and he was still excited
about the session. It seems that he had received more and more
messages and texts in regards to it.
We went to 'Sheinkin Street' to get something to eat and to meet
up with Robbi. Whilst on 'Sheinkin Street' we visited Yigal's
record shop and said our goodbyes.
After having something to eat we walked backed to the MPV which
was parked in a nearby car park. and as we were passing a pizzeria
a man ran out and shouted out "Aba Shanti"!
We turned to see a man still with his apron on, running up behind
us. Yep you guessed it.
He too was at the session and thought it was a wonderful experience.
He shook our hands and invited us into his pizzeria for a free
meal, but we explained that we were on our way to the airport.
As we walked on a woman stopped us and started to talk to Guil
in Hebrew and the only words I could make out were 'Aba Shanti'.
She had not been at the session but had heard so much about it
from her friends that had been. Tel Aviv was buzzing with reports
about it.
As we drove through Tel Aviv to the airport, we had people in
cars and on the street hailing us.
The celebrity status of a musician pon de road, you can't fault
it.
So from the Humble Lion and Aba Shanti-I we would like to extend
our warmest thanks to all the peoples of Israel, regardless of
gender, sect, denomination or creed for a very, very wonderful
trip.
One Love to you all, and may Peace and Love abound.
One Love The Humble Lion
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