It has been six months without live music in Hungarian concert halls, but we can still have music in our life. Müpa Home has been continuing to broadcast concerts for us in our homes: symphonic orchestras, chamber music, world music, folk music, jazz, blues, and many more. Anyone could find the right one for their taste. Soon we might get back to the place where magic is born, but until then, throughout April and May, we can peek in the concert hall and experience the ecstatics of the creation of music in the very moment.
On 30 April, we can recall the powerful and joyful music making of Danish bass guitarist and composer Ida Nielsen from a 2019 concert video taken at the Müpa. Nielsen – who also uses the stage names Bass Ida, Bassida or Ida Funkhouser – studied at the Danish Royal Academy of Music. She started off in Danish pop-rock bands, but in 2010, Prince saw her and invited her to his formation The New Power Generation. Shortly enough, she became part of 3rdeyegirl, a female only background trio for Prince, alongside guitarist Donna Grantis and percussionist Hannah Welton. They toured around Europe and North America, and also published a record in 2014 titled Plectrumelectrum.
They toured together until Prince passed away in 2016.
“It was a wonderful gift to make music with Prince. The most magical journey in music, a constant learning process, that exceeded all expectations”
– said Nielsen about this cooperation. Since 2016, she is pursuing a solo career and plays in her own band, The Funkboots, too. Her 2016 album Turnitup is dedicated to the memory of Prince, then in 2018 she published another album, Time 2 Stop Worrying (bout the weird stuff). On the latter, she plays every instrument apart from the drums. Fast-paced songs and lovely ballads are both represented on this disc that mixes old school funk with nu soul and hip hop, and contains a lot of virtuose bass lines.
While playing in Budapest in May 2019, she might have been working on her newest album, 02022020 – which was released on the palindrome day –, which is deeper, more intimate, softer than her previous works, with a lot of brilliant bass guitar solos.
It is no surprise that Ida Nielsen was voted to be on the MusicRadar list of the best ten bass guitarists around the world: her meditative, intelligent and deeply felt music making also enchants people who are not that familiar with funk rock.
At the concert broadcasted by Müpa Home, Nielsen plays bass guitar and sings. She is accompanied by Kuku Agami (rap), Phong Le (keyboard instruments, vocals), Oliver Engqvist (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Dorcean (percussion, electronics). It is absolutely worth watching this online broadcast: if you were at the concert, you can see it now from another perspective, and if you are new to the mixture of funk, soul and hip hop, you can discover a whole exciting and enchanting new world here.
Entrance is free to the Müpa’s virtual concert hall.
Article: Zsuzsanna Deák
Translation: Zsófia Hacsek
Comments