Lovin’ those Latin lessons
SOME people are just effortlessly cool. They listen to cool music, they wear cool clothes and they speak with a coolness that’s way beyond what you or I could aspire to. We’re reminded of this from the very first syllable uttered in HUEY MORGAN’S LATIN MUSIC ADVENTURE, a music travelogue starting tonight on BBC Four (9.30pm). “Hey,” begins the effortlessly cool New Yorker, “I’m Huey Morgan.”
There you go, see. He doesn’t greet us with “hello” or “good evening” or “I’m awfully pleased to make your acquaintance”. He greets us with “hey”. More to the point, he gets away with it.
If you’re Huey Morgan, frontman with the Fun Lovin’ Criminals and a super-cool DJ, you can do that – introduce yourself with a casual “hey” and sound not remotely ludicrous.
If I tried that, the least daft I could hope to sound would be like
Joey from Friends. I wonder if it helps that Huey has Puerto Rican roots.
It certainly helps as far as this new series is concerned, as he celebrates Latin American music’s unique appeal.
Indeed, Puerto Rico will be the final stop on his journey.
The first is Brazil, where, among other tales, we hear how a style of music known as Tropicália was considered so radical that its pioneers were thrown into jail.
Imagine that happening here, eh? Mind you, if I’d been in power during the heyday of Stock Aitken Waterman ....
Elsewhere, we have a particularly generous helping of CELEBRITY MASTERCHEF, with two tasty episodes squished together (BBC1,
7.30pm, 8.30pm) into one delicious dollop. (I’ve no idea why I’m speaking like this, by the way. I suspect I have a touch of heatstroke.)
By the end, two of the four contestants will have made it to the semi-final.
The other two will politely thank Gregg and John, exit the MasterChef kitchen, grab their coats from their lockers, slam the locker doors so hard that the hinges buckle, punch a hole in the wall, call the judges every rude word in the book, stomp off into the street, then realise the producer is calling them back to record their post-exit interview where they’ll say it’s all been lovely and they’re thrilled for the pair who’ve gone through.
Guest judging tonight, by the way, are three of 2019’s contestants – Greg Rutherford, Vicky Pattison and Dom Parker.
It was Greg, you may recall, who actually won.
The year before that it was John Partridge.The year before that it wasAngellica Bell.The year before that it was Alexis Conran. Shall I go on? Oh, right. Sorry. But do let me know if ever your pub quiz team is a man down.