"Rolling in the Deep" in American Sign Language

I believe each one of us has at least once found the proof to the fact that we don’t value something strong enough until we lose it. To think about, we are so happy to live, to be able to breathe, hear and see the surrounding world, while some people don’t have even that. I’ve always been wondering in horror what it would be like to be deprived of some of the important parts of the world perception like seeing or hearing. And I honestly doubt I would have enough strength to cope with that and be able to enjoy life to the fullest. And people like this are actually not few, and I do look up to them for their willpower and character.

But even more of my admiration is caused by those who have gone a bit further and have made it possible for people who can’t hear to ‘see music’. Here is a great work (and it’s not the only one) that was created by a team of professionals, deaf professionals. The world famous hit by Adele “Rolling In The Deep” was re-created in American sign language. The music video was directed by Jules Dameron with Amber Zion starring as main actress. It is a very emotional thing to watch. I can’t put myself in deaf people' shoes but I do hope that they enjoyed it as much as I was touched by it.

Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah Belongs to Everyone

Hallelujah. A song-legend, a modern timeless hit with a long and most difficult past full of both obscurity and fame. Who could predict that the original song that appeared in 1984 and dragged immense effort out of its author would reach such a peak in world music?

Leonard Cohen did spend a lot of time and energy on writing this song, sitting on the floor and banging his head in despair not being able to finish the work. And even after he did succeed in that, and even after re-writing the verses for 80 times – the record studio did not accept the result calling it awful and not compatible with pop music standards of the time. And so it lay down there in the couloirs for years waiting for a second chance which came with the young and hungry musician Jeff Buckley and his rendition of the song. Since then a wave of recordings flowed, each and every interpreting Hallelujah in a different way – some artists were stressing the religious part, others – the secular. But even now the song remains so universal that it can be played both at weddings and funerals and sound equally to-the-point. Talent shows, movies, church ceremonies, dozens of artists famous and not (Bono, John Cale, Regina Spector, k.d. lang, Timberlake, etc.) – Hallelujah has dwelt everywhere.

In a few dozen years Hallelujah ‘lost’ its owner, it became an international song, belonging to everyone in a way.

Father Ray Kelly sings Hallelujah to the bride and groom

John Legend: “All of Me”

Some say that the key to creating a successful song is first of all hidden in its personal background. That’s precisely one of the reasons why Adele skyrocketed that high with her songs, for example. Not counting the unearthly voice of the UK star, of course.

from music video "All of Me" by John Legend

I believe the element of ‘personality’ is a must  in such a music genre as power ballad. It is in itself a very personal romantic love story told to the public and love stories are hard to be faked – it would be too obvious and unnatural. The piano ballad by John Legend “All of Me” is a very nice example of a successful love song that ‘has it all’.

The song was born as a dedication to John’s wife Chrissy and can’t be more personal (judging by the lyrics and the video). No wonder that “All of Me” knocked off Williams’ “Happy” single from the US Billboard and peaked high in other charts (the UK, Australia, Canada, etc.). Seems like John had been waiting for it for ages – “All of Me” became his first number 1 song.

Beethoven’s 5 Secrets, The Piano Guys

I already paid a little tribute to this great music band earlier but I so love their creative ‘quality’ work that I’d gladly talk more about their lovely music concept and the new music pieces that they bring in to our spoilt ear. ThePianoGuys, hi again.

This time my attention was driven by another crossover music work by this this band – “Beethoven’s 5 Secrets”. Like most ThePianoGuys’ pieces, this work combines elements of pop music – it’s a cover of OneRepublic’s “Secrets”, and classical music – it contains elements from all movements of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. All in all, 5 different melodies (and hence the title ‘5 secrets’) from the Fifth were used and the listener is left to discover where they are played.

But there is another explanation as to why ‘secrets’. Beethoven believed that art was a mysterious phenomenon and if you want to get closer to understanding it you should discover some of its little secrets. Apparently, the great composer himself, despite being deaf, was able to approach that great mystery more than anyone else did.

And of course, as always, the guys found a beautiful natural spot for filming their video: this time it’s St. George Mountains in Utah. Enjoy the view and the music:

Two Arabesques by Debussy

We know Debussy as one of greatest impressionist composers of all time, if not The greatest (‘the’, however, is not quite the right thing to use when talking about art). Anyway, what we know is that the French master of piano set a very high music standard. We also know that it took Debussy quite a while to come to impressionism, even though he preferred not to be called impressionist himself. At the early stage of his career he was experimenting and seeking.

Claude Monet. Clifftop Walk at Pourville

One of the first delightful works of composer’s early impressionist style are represented by the Two Arabesques that he composed around 1890s. Those are the remarkable examples and early standards of the romantic impressionist form of art. The lines of music match those of nature, the light touch of innocence and a daydreaming character – it’s all in these wonderful baroque arabesques. But there’s more than that. Both music works have something of a danceable kind of music form, and that was clearly noticed by the American R’n’B singer Alicia Keys. She sampled Debussy’s 1st Arabesque in her song “Like The Sea”.

Bob Marley: Some Facts About The Legend

The unparalleled impact this man made on the world music is and will be remembered and acknowledged for many years ahead. So much has been said, filmed, sung, written about Bob Marley and his rebellion music that there is hardly much to be added. However, those who are familiar with Marley’s life and work only superficially might find some of these facts curious and useful. I’ve picked a couple of those that seemed lesser known. Enjoy:

• Bob’s original name is actually Nesta Robert, but since comments were made that Nesta sounds quite feminine, his parents swapped the name of the kid. And that’s not the only thing to be ‘false’ in his passport: Bob was in fact born in February, on the 6th, but it took his mom quite a while to register the kid so the passport had it as ‘April, 6th, 1945’.
• Bob Marley used to be able to read palms and surprise people with the things he could see and predict looking at their hands. However, after starting his music career, Marley quit the habit and never got back to it again.
• Bob was born to a white British naval captain and a dark-skinned Jamaican mom. His skin was lighter than that of an average Jamaican boy and that made Marley very uncomfortable as he didn't like being called a “white boy” by his peers. 
• Bob Marley was sure that smoking weed makes you a free person.
• The legend of Jamaica used to be quite a ladies’ man – the official number of his kids is 11, though there were more. “Yuh wan have ma baby?” – one of Bob’s popular phrases.
• Knowing how hard the poverty can be, after earning enough money Bob would often buy his friends houses and offer money to the poor of Jamaica.
• Bob Marley drove a BMW, but not because he liked the mark but because he read the abbreviation his own way: BMW = Bob Marley and the Wailers.
• A devoted Rastafarian, Bob Marley was a vegetarian. Rastafarianism was also the reason for his refusal to amputate the toe when a melanoma was found there. That decision ultimately deprived him of life, when the malignant illness spread further.
• No one still knows what ‘reggae’ actually stands for or how exactly this term had been born.

The music of Bob Marley is still listened to in most countries of the world. This year, in less than a fortnight, on May 11, Bob Marley will be remembered on the 33rd year of his decease (he died on May 11, 1981 in Miami, not being able to make it to his motherland).

The Hobbit: I See Fire by Ed Sheeran

They say the most memorable parts of a work – be it film, book, music piece and so on – are the impressive beginning and the powerful ending. The latter sometimes even more important as it carries the aftertaste that will stay with us for quite a while forming the impression of what we’ve just watched, read or heard. Therefore, director Peter Jackson was quite careful when selecting a person to compose music for “The Hobbit” end-credit song.

The candidacy of Ed Sheeran, a young English singer-songwriter was suggested by Jackson’s daughter, Katie who got her father acquainted with Ed’s music. Being a fan of Tolkien, Ed Sheeran watched the film on the same day. The surprising part is that the song itself, its recording and release were all done ON THAT SAME DAY TOO. Only some overdubbing was added next day and the song was ready to go and capture people’s affection. Ed was so excited about the work that he even learnt to be a ‘violinist’ in a day – through overdubbing.

“I See Fire” was released as a digital download and was soon nominated for Satellite Award. In the video you can follow the whole one-day process of collaboration in a behind-the-scenes style, with Peter Jackson present himself. And, of course, some favorite movie parts are added too. All in all, nice song, great lyrics, good work.

Air on a G String

Air on a G String is a popular aria from the orchestral suite No.3 in D major by Johann Sebastian Bach. The aria was composed in honor of Bach’s patron Prince Leopold of Anhalt and became the first composer’s work ever recorded. The recording was made in 1902 by the Russian cello player Alexander Verzhbilovich and an unknown pianist.

 The curious title is believed to come from August Wilhelmj who arranged the piece for piano and violin and by changing the key and lowering the melody from D major to C major was able to play the whole piece on a single string of his violin, G string – thus Air on a G String. However, that’s only one of the versions. Some contend that the piece was originally meant to be played on one string.

Image by Diego Corte "Death plays violin"

Now, looking at the piece’s usage in ‘pop culture’ I was kind of perplexed. It turns out that this music – sounding most lightly and tenderly to me – has been quote popular for using in various horror-related ventures. For example, it was featured in the crime thriller Collateral, played when the villain fed his secretary to a shark in “The Spy Who Loved Me”, or was chosen for the video game “The Evil Within”. Maybe that’s meant to highlight the contract between beauty and violence? Of course the list of occasions when the melody is used is not limited to horrors only, but this very fact just was a bit of surprise to me.

Talking about arrangements (that are numerous, taken the popularity of the aria), I specifically like the one by Michael Silverman. His solo piano version of "Air on a G String" was recorded for the "The Good Wife" TV production on CBS last year 2013.

WOMAN

No woman, no cry – Bob Marley sang. Perhaps =) But no woman would also mean no love, happiness and eternal spring generators in our life! It’s no wonder that the International Women’s Day is also celebrated as the holiday of spring, beauty and awakening nature. Dear Ladies! From the whole heart, let me express my deepest admiration for such unique creatures as you are! You are truly wonderful, inspiring and unpredictable. We love you just as you are and are happy to have you as an indispensable part of our lives. Shine as the spring sun and always stay our guiding stars!

…she takes care of herself

She can wait if she wants

She's ahead of her time

Oh, and she never gives out

And she never gives in

She just changes her mind…

My favorite lines from the song of Billy Joel “She's Always a Woman” – a woman will always be appreciated and adored with all her virtues and flaws. Happy Women’s Day!

Navarra de Pablo de Sarasate

Talent is to shine brighter when spotted at the right moment. That’s the case of the Spanish composer and violinist of the Romantic epoch Pablo de Sarasate. At the age of 8 during his first public concert the young violinist was noticed by a wealthy patron, which let his take a good leap in his music studies and performer’s career. Studying under the most renowned teachers like Manuel Rodriguez and gaining the favour of Queen Elizabeth II herself, Sarasate soon became a prize-winning violin virtuoso who toured half the world mesmerizing the public with his unique playing technique.

Caricature of Pablo de Sarasate

So what distinguished Pablo’s playing that made his music stand out? As for performing, it is believed that his tune was unbelievably pure – no rhapsodic or sentimental inclination. Add the Spanish flavor to it and you got a rare Romantic style. Sarasate was also one of the very few composers who wrote original music for violin at the time. No wonder that his influence spread on numerous works of his contemporaries and on later compositions: to name Bizet’s Carmen, or Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, or Saint-Saens’ Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso among a few. Composer’s most famous show-works for violin and orchestra – Zigeunerweisen, Carmen Fantasy, Navarra, Souvenirs of Faust – remained almost untouched by the severe critical remarks. It is in his original compositions that Sarasate managed to demonstrate and highlight his unsurpassed performing style. This rare talent inspired many composers who dedicated their works to Pablo de Sarasate: Wieniawski, Lalo, Bruch, Mackenzie, Saint-Saens. One of composer’s violins still bears his name – Sarasate Stradivarius kept in the Musée de la Musique in Paris.

Enjoy Navarra for 2 violins and orchestra:

Stromae: Life Lessons

Despite having a specialized music education behind his shoulders and years of musician’s career, this young man from Belgium entered the world music stage quite all of a sudden and conquered people’s affection with his first really popular single “Alors on Danse” (fr. “and then we dance”).

Stromae (Paul van Haver)

Paul van Haver (Stromae’s real name) switched from rap to electro and pop to “evolve”, according to his words. And he did, changing his stage name from ‘opsmaestro’ to ‘stromae’ (inversion) and soon becoming a real stylish 'Paris Dandy' singing about what moved people deep in their hearts. I’ve always been into classical kind of stuff, particularly music but I do find the creative work of this man interesting and not devoid of a new exquisite flair.

Unfortunately, today’s Pop music genre has widely turned into a “I-love-you-do-do-do” empty-ish kind of thing that doesn’t have much about it except the catchy music that is soon forgot. Good lyrics and pop music is not a combo commonly met. After getting acquainted more with Stromae’s work I quite liked the idea behind his music. He calls himself artistically a pessimist but the idea is to talk about the worse and expect the best to come, maybe that’s why the topics raised in his songs usually touch the most controversial themes of the society. They are like life lessons that are taught through music. Thus, matters hit are violence, peace, family break-up, despair, life losses, child’s up-bringing. All that is something that relates to people, as they faced some of that in their lives. “Papaoutai” song (fr. “Dad where are you”) quite particularly touched me, the more effect when you watch a video to it. A boy trying to communicate with his motionless mannequin-like father but in the end becoming as rigid as he is. The background of the song is quite sad, it did consider Paul’s own father who was Rwandan and was killed during the genocide.

All of Stromae’s songs bear that meaningful accent and are small masterpieces in themselves. I do wish this man further inspiration for creation such wonderful music works.

Year 2013 in Music: What's New?

This spectacular year of the Snake is almost over and the Horse is waiting to take over the post and become the symbol of the oncoming year 2014. It’s exciting to see what it will bring, but before it’s officially here let’s have a brief look at the slipping-away 2013 and go through some of the music events it gave us, both positive and sad. So what do we have here?

Music Events 2013
Some of them include getting back on stage of David Bowie, Fall Out Boy; leaving the stage of My Chemical Romance, Jonas Brothers, Attack Attack. Such events as the 33rd Brit Awards (Feb 21), Eurovision (May 14-18), Ruisrock rock festival in Turku, Pori Jazz Festival took place.

Concerts 2013
Among the brightest concerts are Depeche Mode world tour, Pink Floyd show in St. Petersburg, Green Day tour concerts, 30 Seconds to Mars Moscow show.

New Albums 2013
Artists keep recording new albums and there are way too many of them to enumerate but some pretty successful include Hurts’ Exile, Bowie’s The Next Day, OneRepublic’s Native, Bon Jovi’s What About Now, Lara Fabian’s Le Secret, Demi Lovato’s Demi, Placebo’s Loud Like Love, Moby’s Innocents, Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience, Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz, Katy Perry’s Prism, Lady Gaga’s Artpop, Robbie Williams’ Swing Both Ways and numerous others.

Anniversaries 2013
This year became a round date for the anniversaries of many outstanding composers. Among them: Wagner, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Brahms , Verdi.

Losses 2013
Unfortunately, this year was also marked by some sad events, when the world lost some of the really talented and remarkable people – Patti Page (American singer), Sammy Johnes (American country singer-songwriter), Pham Duy (Vietnamese songwriter), Van Cliburn (American pianist), Ray Manzarek (American musician, producer, songwriter, The Doors’ founder), Lou Reed (American rock musician, poet, The Velvet Underground founder), Maria Pachomenko (Russian and Soviet singer), Jimmy Fontana (Italian composer, actor and singer).

Let’s hope that 2014 will be full of new bright achievements and will pass with minimum reasons for being upset!