Davos Newbies

Odyssey

There were a number of firsts at the cultural evening tonight. Bono,
introducing the evening, thanked the sponsor, Vivendi Universal’s CEO,
Jean-Marie Messier, for being “a corporate motherf***er”. He honestly meant
it in the nicest way (I guess I’d translate it as: he’s a mensch). What
followed was a remarkable panoply of world music, choreographed by Quincy
Jones.

The highlight for me was a tiny singer from Benin (I didn’t catch the
name, which displays my reporting inadequacies), who was joined by a chorus
from South Africa and saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Her song, Af-Africa,
was a distillation of energy and joy. Other memorable moments included the
84-year old Henri Sabador from France, singing Mademoiselle, and Ravi
Shankar introducing his daughter on the sitar.

Unless I’m very mistaken, it was the kind of event that could only
happen in a metropolis. There are a lot of things I love about Davos, but
an alphorn trio pales in comparison.

Compaq chaos

There’s a nifty new iPaq from Compaq for all participants. We’ll be able
to receive and send messages (like last year), but also sign up for
sessions, read the news and even see clips of sessions to judge whether we
want to go.

But after weathering the crush this morning to get my iPaq, the poor
folk at Compaq suffered database problems. A few hundred of us have been
asked to return in an hour. I shrug at these events, but there are plenty
of people here who aren’t used to it. One, who was standing beside me, was
the governor of a major swathe of Saudi Arabia. I don’t think he’s used to
being told, “Come back in an hour.”