Before the Modern Electronic Music

You’re going to enjoy this blog of mine today because it’s bombarded with Youtube videos - 9 videos to be exact. Today, I’m going to talk about something that I always have thought to be amazing, and that is music through electronics. The following images show the two instruments which have survived throughout the history of music along with the Electric Guitar.

Though I detested synthesizers for a large part of my life, I am still amazed by how people were able to find music from electronics, the following two instruments are just some of them. The Moog Synthesizer (pronounced /moug/) and the Theremin (Sounds like a drug to me).

Moog Synthesizer & Theremin

When you listen to video game-like music or maybe bizarre versions of classical pieces in the 1970s which doesn’t have a single note coming acoustically from any instrument from an orchestra - like the one you’re going to encounter on one of the Youtube videos below - you might have stumbled into a music done through Moog Synthesizer. It was developed in the 1960s by Robert Moog. The very first Moog Synthesizer was produced in 1964 and there have been large followers of the instrument which may have been the cause of its continuing existence today despite the steady rise, encroachment and popularity of modern synthesizers which can play any kind of instrument. The Moog unfortunately was not a pioneer analog synthesizer though; but it is much better to have than the old ones invented in the 1920s.

I was able to discover the Moog because of a popular musical piece called “Popcorn” by Gershon Kingsley.

Here’s a documentary video of how it works as well as an interview with the inventor himself Robert Moog. Further info here.

Here are some videos of people playing the Moog Synthesizers.

The next instrument is called “Theremin”. It’s not a drug, but I guess you might consider it one if you couldn’t figure out how to use it and see that there are actually some people who are addicted to it [jokes].

The Theremin is the very first instrument that doesn’t involve touching the instrument itself too much compared to a piano, a guitar or a saxophone. It was developed in the 1920s; it was invented in 1919 by Russian inventor Lev Theremin (now we know where the name came from).

You can find more info here. The antennae produces the pitch while the loop at the side produces the volume of the sound. You basically use it with your two hands. The closer your hand is at the antennae, the higher the pitch you can produce. The farther your hand is at the side loop, the louder the sound you would produce. Some people would do techniques like shaking a bit of their hand closer to the antennae to make a lively sound than a cold note which almost sounds like pointing the microphone directly at the speakers creating a really annoying sound.

Here are a couple of videos on the Theremin. The first is a Documentary from BBC (I started checking out Portishead after watching the doc). The second video shows Samuel Hoffman performing with the Theremin. The video after that shows a band performing Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” using a finger drum machine, 2 theremins (high-pitched & low-pitched), a moog synthesizer, an ordinary electric synthesizer, an electric bass guitar and my favourite: the carpet. The last video shows Lydia Kavina playing “Claire de Lune”.

Portico Quartet

At last, after months of searching videos, I found a really good quality video of Portico Quartet, a British experimental jazz band which is well known for its hung drum rhythms.

Here’s one video that I would like to share:

“Cittagazze” by Portico Quartet

There’s no other jazz bands so far that could replace this band which have moved me so much ever since I learned about them almost 2 years ago.

Jazz have become a source for my life full of turns and tricks. The unstable beats, the aggressive and defensive expressions, the interpretation of a culture or an idea; a multi-sided perspective of life played all in one piece, all in one genre; it links the honest and the humble to the pretentious and the hypocritical, the joyful and cheerful to the sorrowful and miserable, the uplifting to the disparaging. Two sides that we have to accept in life.

Nothing can ever replace jazz in my mind.

Hiromi Uehara & Chick Corea

“Spain” by Hiromi Uehara & Chick Corea

I read a Toronto Japanese magazine (well not to the fullest understanding) called “bits” [www.bitslounge.com] and searched youtube for the Japanese Jazz sensation Hiromi Uehara. Uehara is basically a Jazz artist hailed from Japan. She continued her music career in Boston where she got involved with a Jazz group which became successful.

I found this video with her and Chick Corea - an American Jazz player who is a Scientologist, reason being is because he found Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology as the main inspiration for his works; both of them were playing “Spain” which is Corea’s composition.

Never did I felt so great seeing two Jazz pianists play out their hearts. In music, there’s nothing better than its eliciting of imagination and beauty, and that’s what I felt in that performance shown in the video. As the title of the piece suggests, “Spain” is indeed a mystery. It suggests a place of rest in the heating sun, the matinée theatre plays running to conceal it’s intelligence to the literate. It depicts the old buildings and structures left behind by historical triumphs, wars and golden ages. It’s where the people speaks with a rapid yet flowing intonation; its languages rich in idiomatic and stylistic expressions. It’s where bullfights take place where people care less whether the bullfighter will get killed or not because they’re more enchanted with the beauty of the event. It presents a culture influenced by religion and academics where which led the kingdom (and still is) into becoming one of the greatest civilizations in world history. Its people show belief in freedom which brings about change and improvement from oppressive traditional ideas which finally brought them to today, the modern Spain.

“Spain” definitely have been one of the best Jazz compositions ever created and I’m definitely admiring Chick Corea now for that.

Nice work Hiromi & Chick! Long Live Jazz!

Naturally 7

I got another inspiring video to share to everyone out there. This is Naturally 7, as the name of the group suggests, they use their natural voices to create really good pop music. I found them performing in Toronto’s morning show and looked for more videos of them in youtube.

This is apparently them performing in a subway train. It’s just brilliant! Enjoy!

btw… the title of the song is “Feel It (In The Air Tonight)” by Naturally7. This song was originally sung by Phil Collins. I’m a big admirer of Collins, but I’m happy Naturally 7 pulled off this song real good.

Earl Klugh

Earl Klugh has definitely been one of my inspirations in life. His music brings up that very sophisticated person in myself as I move on in life each day. How come his very smooth Jazz Music bring about that feeling?

As a high school student, I definitely wanted to become a different person. My friends would only listen to rock, pop and hip-hop. I wanted to be a Classical and Jazz fan to become different but what I forgot entirely at that time is the fact that I need a reason why Classical and Jazz is the thing for me. After listening to Klugh, Debussy and Gershwin, I suddenly had that boost to find out what it is to be a Classical and Jazz fan. I’m going to deal with classical in the future since the main topic of this post is a Jazz artist.

In order to become a Jazz fan, of course I had to become familiar with the popular Jazz artists of history and most especially the history and origins of the genre which was the blues. Sad to say I hate reading up to this point in my life, therefore I couldn’t create the most poetic blogs that I wanted and share knowledge that I should have possessed with regards to what I am personally passionate about.

Anyways, to at least get the sense of Jazz, I listened to Dave Brubeck, George Benson, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Lionel Hampton, Portico Quartet, Norah Jones, Antonio Carlos Jobim (Brazilian), Vinicius de Moraes (Brazilian), Bob James, Casiopea (Japanese), and of course more Earl Klugh.

I find Jazz heartwarming. It brings a lot more peace of mind than ballads and love songs. The best thing about Jazz is that it can be expressive even without vocals or lyrics to accompany the meaning of the music. Jazz speaks for itself and it can deal with themes such as austerity and voluptuousness, egotism and altruism, pride and humility, harshness and calmness, all in each performance and in every musical piece. I find Jazz to have all the characteristics of a person that you would find in a music much better than rock, pop, ballad, or hip-hop. The funny thing is that in Jazz, no matter what type of song/music the performers are focusing on - nostalgic, romantic, sporty, emotional, etc. - I don’t stay in a single emotional state.

Those in particular are what Earl Klugh first have brought in my life through his music which only expanded as I listen to all other Jazz performers throughout history and in modern times. Jazz through Klugh showed the struggle for our freedom of expression constrained by our own abilities, by other people, or by principles that have chained people into undesirable lives. Jazz frees our souls! Jazz brings us higher in life!

This passion for Jazz doesn’t make me think that Jazz is highest form of music from all other genres as people do have different opinions about music. But one thing that I want people to realize is that music is an instrument in our lives. It drives us into an adventurous life and a greatly fulfilled one too. And for me, Jazz doesn’t cut all that, so there are still other musicians out there from other genres who I admire such as The Carpenters.

I’ll leave the issue of being different for a later journal.

Ingrid Michaelson

“Take Me The Way I Am” - Ingrid Michaelson

I was able to watch a Chevrolet Commercial from Discovery Channel today - I was watching “Canada’s Worst Driver 3″ at that time - and I found the song really good!

I researched for the song and it comes out that I discovered a singer who I could put with the likes of American blues singer Norah Jones, Canadian pop-rock singer Leslie Feist, Scottish pop and alternative rock singer KT Tunstall, and Icelandic electronica and rock singer Björk.

Ingrid Michaelson is an American indie-pop singer who was able to get her song “Take Me The Way I Am” to play in the chevy commercial. It’s nice Youtube actually provided the actual song which has a music video and it’s the first one by the singer. I swear I would actually wait for every chevy commercial if ever I couldn’t find this song.

The music video is actually cute and it does give meaning to the song with the singer being different from everyone else who are dressed as clowns. I’m looking forward to see more of Michaelson in the future.

The Carpenters

Karen & Richard Carpenter

 

No one can ever replace the Carpenters especially the beautiful and angelic voice of Karen in my heart and this blog is to continue to spread the word of their legacy to all music lovers around the world.

 

Lately, I was able to watch a couple of documentaries of the Carpenters.

The one that I particularly got inspired to was the one made by BBC. They made the music and the progression of the story of the duo all fit together. I’m glad to see all the people in the documentary who were involved with the Carpenters’ success such as John Bettis, Tony Peluso, Paul Williams, Herp Alpert, Burt Bachrach, Petula Clark, Dionne Warwick and Richard Carpenter as well as the numerous videos frozen in time consisting of those moments when the Carpenters were active and when Karen was still alive.

It breaks my heart as I saw how the life of Karen progressed into tragedy due to anorexia nervosa which no one have ever heard of in her time. I sure wished I was alive that time to tell her that she didn’t need to lose weight just to look good in front of us her fans.

Other than that, I was so grateful for those who have kept those years - such a short time yet those years were just magical - and have given us the opportunity to listen to them through the documentary.

Some of the things I thought was so nice about the more than ten-year career of the Carpenters is that they worked not just to play what they wanted to play but also they worked hard to bring forth excellence in their music and Richard and Karen combined have proved that. Richard is the leader of the band composing songs and playing the piano while Karen becomes the drumbeat as well as the voice of the duo.

During the hiatus of Richard due to his rehab after his issues on drug abuse, Karen went to New York to do a solo album. Sad to say, it’s not the same when Richard is doing the music because only Richard knows how the music should be and how Karen would sound like in their music. It didn’t disappoint me because I’m listening to Karen, but I have to say the 80s is something I wouldn’t bear the Carpenters to be involved with. The notion of the music of the 70s with orchestras and old instruments is just enough for me to associate the Carpenters with. Which is why I guess God must be nice to us that he kept the image and music of Karen Carpenter in the 1970s and the early 1980s. She was adorable in those years and she deserves to be.

Today, I’m glad that there are people who appreciates the songs of the Carpenters and it’s not merely just the music or the voice or the career the Carpenters have painted to all of our minds whether we lived during their time or not (a.k.a. the new generation) the Carpenters had something to offer to us that we can never let go and that can never even disregard from telling our kids about.

You’re a star in heaven Karen. Your voice along with Richard’s phenomenal talents - which we are still aware of at this time - will be remembered.