Tevin Arrington

Reporter

If students were looking for entertainment last week, then they could have gone to hear the musical styling of Claude Bourbon. He was invited by MUW French instructor Robert J. Raymond to play medieval blues.

Raymond hosts a monthly house concert that is usually held in his home.

“Usually everyone bring a little something to eat and a little something to drink, and we have these musicians that are most of the time passing through on their way to something big. And they just need to place to spend the night. So it’s fun for us and nice for them,” said Raymond.

This time Raymond decided to have the concert here at the W through an event hosted by the French Club.

Bourbon is a Frenchman himself and currently lives in England. He has performed all over the world with his fusion of medieval, Spanish and blues guitar playing that he calls “Medieval & Spanish Blues”.

“All these kinds of music are made of the same notes. And whether you play classical music or Spanish music, they are all made of the same notes. So you can mix everything up quite easily I would say,” said Bourbon when asked about his fusion of different musical genres.

The crowd was small, less than 30 people attended, but they were varied in terms of who showed up. Not only did students from MUW attend, but also people from the community of Columbus and students from Mississippi School for Math and Science were in the audience.

Bourbon performed 10 songs. His first song was roughly eight minutes long. It started off sultry. One could hear elements of Spanish guitar playing as he strummed the guitar chords, and then his playing began to get earthier as the blues elements began to kick in.

The Spanish style of playing the guitar and the element of blues were prominent throughout his set. He also incorporated some of his French background with the fourth song he played. The song was sung in French, and it meshed well with his playing.

At the end of his set, he played a blues number that had people in the crowd bopping their heads to the music.

“I can’t be in Mississippi and not play the blues,” said Bourbon right before he treated the crowd.

He received a standing ovation. The crowd seemed to be quite pleased with what they heard. Julie Rose, Linda Newton, and Darlene Scoggins were in the audience. They found out about the event through Raymond’s Facebook page for his monthly house concerts and decided to attend. They said that they really enjoyed the set and that they would certainly come again.