Next on the list, Amnesty International! I think these guys are great. People, in general, are dicks, but Amnesty goes out of its way to protect against human rights violations for everyone (even if you are a terrorist/mass murder kind of guy). I really think it's a good organization (which is why I'm a member) and I'm glad that Jamnesty turned out well, and after Folabi spoke it really seemed like people cared about what was going on, so I think it's safe to say Jamnesty was a success.
Anyway, my favorite act was these two guys, Mike Pilger and Jordan Balaber. They played two Grizzly Bear songs, and then played one of my favorite songs ever, Fireworks by Animal Collective. Maybe I am a little biased (because they played songs that I know and like), but I really thought they were the best there. The mandolin really added a lot to these songs, and they had some spot on harmonies. During Fireworks, they had some really good energy, and even the large bro/ho population of our school seemed to be enjoying it. They had some really cute/goofy banter (they're best friends) and they really were a great pair. Also, Jordan Balaber's got some pretty cool tunes on his myspace
My next favorite were these two, a brother and sister pair, who hail from the Czech Republic. Her name's Kristyna Gocova, but I feel really bad, because I don't know his name! (he doesn't go to our high school). They played some Czech songs, and they were really good. She's an amazing singer and he's quite good himself. It was really interesting to me to hear the Czech lyrics, and even though I didn't understand them (they did give a brief summary of what the songs were about) the music and the way they sang gave you an idea of the feeling and the emotions behind the songs. They didn't play this at Jamnesty, but during their audition, the covered the song A Mighty Leviathan of Old, by Vandaveer, and I thought it was better than the original.
Last but not least, Lara Sagatov and Ben Draper. They played some covers that I didn't know the names of, but there last song was a song that Ben wrote, and it was pretty good (there was a good backstory to it as well). They're both great singers, and they had some pretty excellent harmonies on some of their songs. Lara also played banjo, which really helped their performance stand out I think.
While we didn't cover all the bands, none of them were bad, and everyone did a great job. It was quite a success, and we're looking forward to next year's (I'm trying to convince daniel to play with me).
-Alec
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