Postcard from Bishkek

I often get asked what sort of music I like to listen to.  It’s a difficult question to answer because I have fairly catholic tastes when it comes to music; I can listen to almost everything if I am in the right mood.

I remember that the first record I ever bought was an LP by Herman’s Hermits; straight forward pop music.  My brother wasn’t too impressed.  He was heavily into music and had quite a large collection, especially featuring artists of the Tamla Motown label and The Rolling Stones.  The record player was his, so I didn’t get to play much music, but that didn’t matter because I had plenty of other things to fill my time.

It was when I went off to college that I started to take an interest in, and started buying records having bought myself a “cheap and cheerful” Hi-Fi.   My choice was heavily influenced by my friends and one of the first ones I bought was Mud Slide Slim by James Taylor, which one of my girlfriends was particularly fond of.

Even so, music was not that important to me.  The records were just a way of filling the silence when I sat in my room in college.  The rest of the time, there was plenty of music being played wherever I went and I was more than happy to just have it there as a sort of Muzak, background music or mood music, a bit like a soundtrack on a film .  In a way, that’s been true all through my life.  Music is often playing in the background and if helps to shape my mood.  ”I know what I like”, but I often don’t know who is performing or the name of the song.  I remember, for example,  on one occasion I was sitting in a cafe here in Bishkek and sound system was blaring out “Califormia Hotel”.  My feet were tapping and I was humming along with the rest of the crowd, when someone asked, “Who is it that’s singing that?”  I had to admit that I hadn’t the faintest idea … although I am happy to say that I now know that it was The Eagles.

That’s not true for everyone, of course.  Many people take a keen interest in music, the performers, their repertoire and their pedigree; who performed in which group, when they left to form another, who took their place … and so on.

John, a friend of mine, can tell me not only say who performed a song that we hear whilst we sit supping a pint in a bar, but he can often tell me what year it was released.  He thinks back to what he was doing at the time when he was listening to it and pops up with things like: “I was listening to this whilst I was revising for A-Levels”.

Even now, I find that I turn on ITunes whilst I am working and it scrolls down the list of tracks on the hard drive, whilst I am working.  I can’t say that I concentrate on the music; I am busy working.  If, however, the next track is out of kilter with my current mood then I simply pass over and on to the next.

I have quite a number of tracks which represent a wide variety of genres.  I can listen to almost everything else: Classic, Pop, Soul, Jazz, Country and Western, Folk Music …  but I am not keen on Rap or Heavy Metal.  Some traditional music can also be difficult.  I remember being in London and coming across in one of the London record shops a CD of traditional Tatar folk music.  I bought it as a present for a Tartar friend of mine, and it was the most expensive CD I have ever bought.  When we sat and listened to it, I found it particularly guttural, discordant and difficult to appreciate.  To be honest, I was glad when he turned it off.  Since then, however, I have been to a couple of concerts where traditional Tartar folk music has been featured and so I have got more used to it.  Nowadays, in the right circumstance and when I am in the right mood, I am happy if it is there, in the background … although I probably wouldn’t actually select it as something to listen to.

Here in Bishkek, we are quite lucky in that there is plenty of music, of all varieties and genres.  There is a thriving classical community with performances of symphonies, chamber music, opera and ballet.  Jazz can be found almost everywhere.  There are Rock clubs, and Pop music can be heard everywhere – Russian and Western.  The Beatles are as popular as ever, and everyone seems to know the words to Yesterday – even if they don’t know English.  There is even a cafe/bar that seems to be modelled on someone’s idea of what the Cavern in Liverpool must have been like, called Sixties.

In short, there’s something for everyone.

The Kyrgyz, of course have their traditional music.  You can find more information about that on our website in the Traditional Culture series: www.sounds.kg.  There is also a thriving band of young Kyrgyz artists who perform Kyrgyz pop music and even Kyrgyz rap, although it’s a bit specialized and wouldn’t travel well to other cultures.

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So, you are probably wondering what all of this has to do with “Machine Gun Kelly”.

One of the tracks on Mud Slime Slim was called “Machine Gun Kelly”, (by Danny Kortchmar), named after the a notorious American gangster.   He might not be as infamous as Al Capone, John Dillinger (We actually have a nightclub in Bishkek named Dillinger’s), Bonny and Clyde, Don Vito Corleone or Tony Soprano, but Machine Gun Kelly’s story is quite interesting.

Kelly’s real name was George Kelly Barnes, but got his nickname from his beloved Thompson Machine Gun.  He was born and grew up in Tennessee and found “work” in Prohibition America as a bootlegger.  He got caught and was sent to prison where he served out his three year sentence as a model prisoner.

Kelly also performed many acts of petty crime, but then went for the “big one” by kidnapping Charles Urschel, an oil tycoon, and holding him for ransom – USD200,000 (!).  He might have got away with it, but hadn’t reckoned on Urshel who, despite being blindfolded, was able to remember and recount to the police lots of details about his incarceration … enough to identify his assailants.  Kelly and his gang spent 56 days on the run until they were tracked down by FBI agents.

As if the case wasn’t high profile enough, the FBI press machine, (yes, they even had what we would call “spin doctors” back in 1933), made sure to use the capture to promote their image.

Kelly then spent the next 21 years in captivity, including 17 years in Alcatraz, where, once again,  he was a model prisoner; nothing like the notorious gangster that everyone thought he was.  In fact, his image was largely the work of another “spin doctor”, Katherine – Katherine Kelly.

Eventually he was to die in prison.

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The song is one I often listen to and, like John, I find that it is one that brings back memories:

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It just so happens, Machine Gun Kelly, is one of those rare band of people who passed away on their birthday.  In his case, July 18th – today.

Born: 18 July, 1895.  Died: 18 July 1954.

 

 

 

Tags: History, Me, Music, People