"Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters!"

Less than two weeks left till one of the most mysterious holidays so loved by not just teenagers but also grown-ups and kids – Halloween. The time when witches and all the dark forces get out to this world and celebrate the ball. Fancy dresses everywhere, a lot of ketchup blood, drawn scars and of course scary music all around.

But Halloween music isn’t always about some creepy sounds and zombie groans. There have been a lot of scores dedicated to this holiday that are not somber at all. Having a certain amount of joking to it, Halloween is the time of fun, humor and mimicry. Some works written and filmed for it became huge hits just on their own, let’s remember Michael Jackson’s Thriller video at least – masterpiece!

As little kids, most of were a bit scared of and charmed by the other worlds, ghosts and external forces. And that is why movies dedicated to those phenomena were especially popular. One of such movies is Ghostbusters with its unforgettable theme song that we remember even after many years. The film score to Ghostbusters was composed by Elmer Bernstein, and the catchy song written by Ray Parker, Jr. It is believed that the famous song added about $20 million to the movie’s box office success. And the video to the song made it to #1 at MTV.

Young and Beautiful (Lana Del Rey)

Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful

Will you still love me when I got nothing but my aching soul…

They say youth is the most carefree time of our life, full of passion, enthusiasm and, of course, love. The time when it seems that none of that will ever end. But will it not? The apprehension of the inevitable aging and the changes it will bring is a strong emotional message conveyed through the recent song by the young and sensual American singer Elizabeth Woolridge Grant – or Lana Del Rey.

This alternative rock ballad performed by the dreamy Lana Del Rey was a long-awaited and quite an expected song for the charming singer’s fans. The song was recorded as the soundtrack to one of the most stunning recent movies “The Great Gatsby” – a TV-version of the same-named novel by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. Like movie like soundtrack – both well-received by the critics. Even though in most music journals “Young and Beautiful” was called a very somber song, a haunting one, it was acknowledged to perfectly fit the idea. Moreover, Lana’s unique vocals polished with еру early 20’s music style worked a good picture, helping to express the whole nostalgia, despair and tragedy in the movie.  The song was Lana Del Rey’s first single to get into the major US music chart, to the Top 10 best tracks. 

The popularity of Del Rey’s original style was thus preserved and passed on from her previous hit song “Video Games”.  

A Little Treasure for Piano Students

Some composers managed to get famous right from the first masterpieces, others got recognition only after death, and some great minds never got a chance to be revealed to the world despite their talent. It’s always a wonderful discovery when another genius gets ‘dug out’ of the history’s treasures. Ernst Levy was no doubt one of such precious findings.

Ernst Levy at work

Levy is first of all a prodigy Swiss pianist, and performing was what he was primarily admired for in his lifetime. But he was an amazing composer too, as well as a teacher in demand. After Levy left for the USA, a couple of universities offered him a teaching position, and he had to agree only for the necessity to earn money for living. How surprising it was when it turned out that during those years Ernst Levy composed Fifty Pieces for Piano Students. And not just a simple set of educational pieces but a work that is no less amazing than Bartok’s Miscrocosm. The manuscripts were long-lost in the dust of Basel Library until they were found and digitalized. How this wonderful edition is available online.

Piano teachers and students – for your attention!

Hometown Glory

So many words of appraisal and admiration have been said about one of the most successful young singers recently – Adele. Now observing her commercial and non-commercial success it’s hard to think that there are singles that were not ‘great’ from the very beginning – everything seems gorgeous. The author of well-known hits like “Someone Like You”, “Skyfall”, “Rolling In The Deep” and others, was usually torn apart by the public in applause. But some of Adele’s songs had their own long-ish struggle for fame and acknowledgement.

Adele

“Hometown Glory” is no doubt one of such compositions.  It was written for Adele’s first album “19” when the singer was being convinced by her mum to leave her native town and go to study in a university in London. So strong was the girl’s love for her hometown and so ardent the unwillingness to leave it that she composed a song about it in just 10 minutes.  The music work was hardly noticed then – only 500 copies were created and only due to the overall success of the “19” did the song manage to get into some UK charts.

However, after the re-release of the song in 2008 (as a debut single for the US market) the glory found the “Hometown Glory”: it immediately got into the UK Top 40, was used in numerous popular TV series, got a Grammy in 2010 and became one of Adele’s biggest hits, joining the list of other masterpieces.

Bossa Nova, the Music of Brazil

Brazil, the country of carnivals, beautiful people and eternal youth – can its music be different?

"Bossa Nova" is a popular music style that was born in Brazil around 1950-ies and is probably the best way to characterize it. These two words in the literal translation from Portuguese mean a ‘new trend’. ‘Bossa’ can also mean everything that is charming, natural and original. This term was first coined as a public reference to a music style in 1958 at the concert of the “University Hebrew Group of Brazil”. This curious style soon was first spread to the entire Latin American, then taken by the American Jazz players to the North America, and in a little while experienced a real worldwide boom due to João Gilberto and other artists like Gets, Jobim, etc.

Bossa nova music takes a lot from samba and jazz, though it doesn’t teem with percussion. The main instrument is usually the classical guitar accompanied by the vocals. However, piano is another popular instrument to be heard in such compositions – it serves as a certain bridge between jazz and bossa. The strings, though rarely used, can also add to bossa nova making it a more lounge style, so popular in America.

So widespread in the 60-ies, Bossa Nova is still attracting musicians from all over the world. Such famous artists as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, The Doors, George Michael, Shakira, The Black Eyed Peas and others used the elements of bossa nova in their music albums.

The Show Must Go On

The combination of these words has turned into a sort of a slogan that embraces a powerful message in it. We live freely and never know when the real tragedy might strike and take away the most precious we’ve got – our life. But that’s not as bad as the necessity to live with the knowing of the exact time and way of how you are going to leave this world. What would you do knowing that? How would you live the rest of your life in that knowledge?

Most people struck by the sorrow, panic and self-pity would most likely let their hands down and surrender to the misery and depression. But not people like Freddy Mercury. He know he would die from AIDS soon nut nonetheless he let the show go on. "The Show Must Go On" song is a strong symbolic tribute to the fight for life despite the inevitable. Too weak to perform the song with lyrics by Brian May, Freddy didn’t dodge – he hit a glass of vodka and with the words "I'll fuckin do it, darling!" proceeded to recording the song, handling the complicated vocal pattern skillfully.  The resulting track hit the charts equally well both when Freddy was alive and after his death too. This, is the hymn of the generation, an example of willpower and decisiveness.

Lady Ella Fitzgerald

The Jazz Queen would have had a birthday today which no doubt would have been widely celebrated not only in her motherland – the USA – but around the whole world, because this woman deserved a lot of praise and honors even after her death. “Lady Ella” was born today in 1917 to become the first lady of song and a remarkable personality in the world of music, particularly jazz. Let’s mark this event!

Lady Ella

When going through Ella’s bio one can’t but be astonished by the many hardships she had to live through but despite which she still managed to turn into American Jazz-Queen with impeccable diction and singing technique. Ella went through various phases, not to be the one who gets everything easy. She used to be married to a drug-dealer, was homeless, lost her mother when a child, was abused by her step father, had legs amputated and suffered from diabetes. But it didn’t stop her from becoming a strong woman. Music community can be thankful to destiny for discovering such a ‘rough diamond’ as Ms. Fitzgerald. A unique voice covering three octaves span got her a diverse repertoire: songs "A-Tisket, A-Tasket", "How High the Moon", "Sugar Blues" and many other are still up in the memory. During her almost 60-years career Ella’s albums were sold in 40 mln copies, brought her 13 Grammies and Medals handed by Reagan and Bush personally.

Happy Birthday, dear Lady Ella!