Mata Hari’s Sister
The super-power of the songwriter to distract.
In the great scheme of things, unless you are a genealogist or a direct descendant, whether Mata Hari had a sister is not that important. Yet I found myself pondering this question recently halfway through writing some HTML code for a client.
When working, it is my habit to have music playing, depending on my mood, the project, or the time of day, the music may be on shuffle or may be playing complete albums.
On this occasion I stopped in my tracks thinking “…did Mata Hari have a sister?” It was a Kev Walford song playing in the background. The lyric “The wolf at the door like Mata Hari’s Sister” had somehow penetrated my thought process and off I went down the rabbit hole.
Exactly who was Mata Hari, did she have a sister, was she younger or older? So may questions! The album had continued whilst I was talking to my good friend Google. Now which track was that, please tell me I didn’t mis-hear those lyrics. Being on shuffle I then had to go through all of Kev’s albums and EPs to check I had heard correctly, and this time I had to listen to every track. (It was “Lost my Fear of Falling” from the Acoustic Sessions EP by the way.)
The invisible songwriter had done it again, used their secret superpower to connect with me and influence what I did. And the amazing thing is that Kev knew nothing about it – he was probably tucked up in bed or walkin’ his dog along a beach somewhere.
This is what I love about music, you can immerse yourself in it and soak up every nuance, tone, and key change or it can come knocking when you least expect it and drag you off by the scruff of the neck demanding attention.
I tell this story because we are on the brink of Independent Venue Week – celebrating the places and the people who give musicians their first break. To us mere mortals who take up a “sensible” occupation with progression paths, 360 reviews, promotions, and company perks like cars, computers and phones, it beggars belief that anyone would put five grands worth of their own equipment in a barely MoT-able five-hundred pound car, travel fifty miles and do so for “exposure”
But they do. I have seen so many at Open Mics, at small gigs in the community centre or tucked away in the corner of the pub competing with the general hubbub and Sky Sports on the TV.
If you head off to an Independent Venue between 26 Jan and 1st Feb this year you may not meet Mara Hari’s sister, or find out anything about her. But you will find new bands and solo performers to get excited about.
Need an Independent Venue Week Gig list? Here is one the team at the East Anglian Festival Network compiled earlier:
