Madame Pamita's Parlour of Wonders

Tuesday May 19th, The Cricketer's Arms, Keighley

Recently we were sent a copy of Wax Works, a new album by Madame Pamita, the singer, musician and fortune teller. The beautiful package contained a copy of the album, a paper fortune teller, a tarot card (the seven of cups), a small, wax-sealed envelope containing a lucky penny and our handwritten fortune ('Many choices lie before you. Do not be hasty. Gather information before making your decision').

The album was recorded on wax cylinder equipment from 1898 using a recording horn once owned by Thomas Edison and no changes were made to the finished pieces. The result is a sometimes haunting, sometimes warm, but always original sound complete with plentiful portions of crackle.

While the music is great, it is completely overshadowed by the truly inspired liner notes, where Madame P gives a short synopsis of the plot of each song. For example, Willie The Chimney Sweeper (an alternate version of Cab Callaway's Minnie The Moocher) is described as follows: "Enticed into a shop of dubious repute, our heroine embarks on adventures therein". Her track Do Whatever You Please is "A minute digression of great import directing the reader to the secret font of unfettered happiness".

Madame Pamita is bringing her Parlor of Wonders show to The Cricketer's Arms, Keighley, on May 19th. She promises "the most tantalizing, most mesmerizing, most edifying experience of augury and prognostication the world has ever known". Sounds good, right?

During the show she invites audience members up to the stage for a tarot reading then sings a song relating to the meaning of the card. As well as her trusty ukulele she uses an array of vintage instruments including an Imperial banjeaurine, a banjolele, a ukelin, a Marxophone, a Polka-Lay-Lee, and a Tiple.

As the lady herself eloquently says, "Step right up, ladies and gents, and be prepared to be dumbfounded and delighted by Madame Pamita's prodigious powers of prognostication and melodic merriment!"

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