More Rosey Chan
Can’t resist posting another Rosey Chan video (previous here).
Listening on a lazy Saturday afternoon: Rosey Chan
Piano performer Rosey Chan — “A day in the life…” (J S Bach).
Isn’t it a pity: Eric Clapton
Singing merrily in Rome: Russell Crowe
For celebrity watchers, this is fun. Russell Crowe was in Rome yesterday promoting his new film, Robin Hood. And singing. See local news report here.
Crowe also appeared as a guest on popular Italian talk show Che Tempo Che Fa and he and his fellow co-stars sang again.
For always and always: Francesco De Gregori
Francesco De Gregori – “Sempre e per sempre”
Globalization as music: Syrian National Orchestra
This is globalization that isn’t from the business pages, for a nice change. That was my thought when I saw the article today in the Global Post about a different style of music that the Syrian National Orchestra is creating (“Classical music, with a Syrian twist” by Theodore May, May 10, 2010.)
As May describes it, the orchestra is blending “the classical music of Europe with traditional Arab sounds, violins and French horns against an oud and a tambourine.”
Wow. Curious I went looking for a video so I could hear a sample of the music. Found a news report on YouTube from The National Newspaper (Abu Dhabi). It features an interview with the orchestra conductor, and a brief selection of the orchestra performing.
Excerpt from the interview with Conductor Missak Baghboudarian:
I’m sure that we’re going to have more than one hundred orchestras in Europe playing better than us. They have tradition and they know how to play that music. And nobody’s working to have the oriental music in the classical style, in the classical language. So maybe you have to try to do this, and it’s going to be our speciality…
Fools: Diane Birch
Love this. “Fools” from the cd Bible Belt – Diane Birch
Art’s got to be controversial: Jovanotti
Q. What do you think the Iranian government is afraid of? Essentially the question is, why do governments censor music?
A. Of losing control. They’re just afraid of losing control, I think. Control is what they’re afraid of losing. Because a free guy.. a guy who is free to express himself is… uh… how do you say in English? … is a pain in the ass. For the power, for the government, he’s a problem. (Excerpt from Jovanotti talk at Harvard)
The world has many wonderful musicians. And then, in those rare cases, there are musicians who also are poets. Jovanotti is one of the latter. (Bios here and here.)
His music often celebrates joy and expresses a deep love of living. He also is a political and social activist, especially in regard to human rights.
Last month, Jovanotti was invited to be the star speaker in a panel discussion at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. The subject was about how music and social activism intersect (“Music and Human Rights: Success and Limits” April 27, 2010).
Fortunately, the Harvard people made a video of the talk (1:40 — not the best production, but pazienza) which I’ve posted below. I’m also first posting a video of Jovanotti’s extraordinary music video (and one of his most famous songs) – Mi fido di te (I trust you).
Three glasses of Italian red and a little Eric Clapton
Friday night and reaching back in time to a favorite Eric Clapton classic, to a time (early 70s) when his band was Derek and the Dominoes. Bell bottom blues – this performance Japan 1999, live.
Buon compleanno, Vivaldi!
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Antonio Vivaldi – March 4, 1678. He was born in Venice. Vivaldi is especially famous for his concertos. One of the most well-known is “The Four Seasons.” Another of his best-known works is “Gloria.”
In this video, cellist Yo-Yo Ma is performing selected segments from both these works.
