Who makes your heart sing

This sunny morning in Toronto, it is Daniel Lavoie, courtesy of my niece (who is much too young to understand what it means that "the eyes" closed in the singer's bed!)

Boule qui roule

Very nice!

For me it is Philippe Jaroussky and Nuria Rial. Their version of 'Pur ti miro' from 'L'Incoronazione di Poppea' is one of the most exquisite things I've ever heard.

oh christ that is fabulous.

well, I am in love, simply in love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zQX2XqAE8c&feature=related

#2

Oooh, faved pronto! Throw any Poppea my way you find!

#4

He's a pretty 'un indeed. I have his "Opium" CD, altho'... I'm off countertenors, overall. There's been an epidemic in recent years of shiny boys who want to be queens, I mean divas, and yet I cling to oldies--Rene Jacobs, Gerard Lesne, Michael Chance, some Deller...

I am right now listening to more Lavoie, because I'm in love. I wish he didn't insist on making his beautiful voice sound hoarse, but that's pop for you...

TomcatMurr, keep your sharp-clawed paws off Jaroussky! He is mine! All mine! ;-)

Lola, I think there's a glut of not particularly accomplished or special counter-tenors right now in much the same way that a couple of decades ago there was a plethora of mediocre mezzo-sopranos. It's the fashionable voice type and the Baroque revival going on provides ample opportunity for it to shine. That being said, and as much as I love earlier counter-tenors like Lesne (just listening to his Dowland album earlier today), Deller and Jacobs, I do really like Jaroussky and Max-Emmanuel Cenčić (who is not nearly as physically beautiful or as dulcet-toned as PJ but sings with enormous flair). I also think the voice type is undergoing a certain broadening of definition, as higher, lighter voices like Jaroussky's are allowed in-I'm fine with this last development but I know others who complain vociferously about the intrusion of "falsettists" and "sopranists" into the counter-tenors domain (I think these haters need to open their minds and chill out with some Jimmy Scott!)

Jaroussky was the subject of a recent NYT Magazine story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/magazine/21soprano-t.html?_r=1&scp=2&s...

Thanks for posting that, Makifat. I hadn't seen it before and I really enjoyed reading it.

I love listening to Rufus Wainwright singing opera, for example, in the Arcand movie 'The Age of Darkness'. The opening sequence is quite inspiring (don't mind the Spanish bit at the start, it's the only decent video there):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUxLDolQT3c
The music is taken from an old 18th C French opera-ballet, called 'Zémire et Azor', aria 13, by André Grétry.

From the same movie, there is 'Lungi del caro bene', 18th C, Giulio Sabino.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRt9YXJBWFs

amare ma (i think), especially as performed in the film Love and Anarchy

Lola, you may be sick of them, but I've only just discovered this current crop. I'm so out of it here on my Rock and I rely on my collection of old favourites. I'll post some of these up shortly.

This Jaroussky really is remarkable. I have been listening to him all day. The control, the ease, the sweetness, the artistry and sensitivity, the musicianship, the charisma, the charm! I love his ornamentation, it's graceful and seemly.

He's the real thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TQrbei8Z-4&feature=related

I'm relying on this thread to keep me informed.

In most cases, I'm a bit off countertenors too, though my Andreas Scholl disc is pretty good, and James Bowman can still make the air shake (in a good way). Have you come across the Hungarian male soprano Laszlo Blaskovics (now working in the UK with his wife, also a soprano)?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj7tHfupC2s

#13

Oh, I like Scholl a lot! Should have included him above. Bowman is very good too. Jochen Kowalski was my first live introduction to countertenors, a geological era ago.

#7

Max-Emmanuel Cenčić

Another blast from the past. I heard him several times when he was a white-voiced tyke in the Vienna Boys Choir. I know he's still singing, now that he's all grown up, but I'm not too eager to hear what that soprano turned into.

I know others who complain vociferously about the intrusion of "falsettists" and "sopranists" into the counter-tenors domain

Oh, LOL, I'd tell them, kettle, pot called! They are ALL falsettists, and even the best of them can't hide it--if they sing anything worth calling operatic.

And you're so right about fashions. Personally, I am waiting for the long-overdue contralto deluge.

But speaking of higher, lighter countertenors, I have heard recently someone whose name escapes me--initials MM, billed as covering the soprano range--rings any bells? In his twenties, Anglo.

#6

I really like that, Freeque. What does it say that I'm "discovering" metal at forty? That I'm all ready for my midlife crisis?

14> MegaMole?

Explain, O Cryptic One!

Beats me; but did you mean Michael Maniaci?

I have heard recently someone whose name escapes me--initials MM, billed as covering the soprano range--rings any bells? In his twenties, Anglo.

That's undoubtedly Michael Maniaci, a true male soprano (I believe he has atrophied vocal cords or an undeveloped larynx or something like that). I have his Mozart album; it's OK but nothing to get excited about. I don't think he's as fine or as interesting a musician as most of the current European singers or Bejun Mehta and David Daniels in the US.

Cenčić' latest Handel album is actually really good (it made my top 10 classical list for last year) and I've enjoyed his Rossini and Vivaldi as well. He's an agile but full-voiced singer with a real flair for ornamentation. I think of him as sort of the anti-Jaroussky: where Jaroussky is tasteful, sensitive, and projects an almost angelic quality, Cenčić is flamboyant, impassioned, and very obviously all too human. To my mind, both types are valuable and there is a place for both, even within the same repertoire (and they occasionally perform together in those super-duper, Baroque all-star productions beloved of record companies like Naïve).

Personally, I am waiting for the long-overdue contralto deluge.

Me too! There are a few good ones around right now though: Marijana Mijanović (her latest album, 'Barrochi Affeti', is fantastic!), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (I like the Vivaldi recordings she's made with Spinosi for Naïve more than her other work, although her recent Schumann record is pretty good), Sara Mingardo, and Sonia Prina. There must be some English ones out there, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

Ah, I see now that Myopic Bookworm already answered your question. Myopic must have posted while I was writing my wordy post. Anyway, yeah, I agree with Myopic, that you're likely thinking of Maniaci.

BTW, Lola, if you're now getting into metal, let me introduce you to my fave Japanese stoner/drone metal band, Boris

(OK, they're actually the only Japanese stoner/drone metal band I listen to, but...whatever!)

#18

Yes! I just remembered, but my bandwidth is delivered by snails, damn them to hell.

Michael Maniaci

Didn't hear that particular aria, just picked whatever has most views.

#10

Sonia, I'll get back to you on Rufus, I can't seem to get YouTube to obey today. Prelims: Rufus is gorgeous, and a true musician, has a beautiful tone... But. Personally I can only listen to him in short, well-spaced bursts. Similar problem to what I have with, oh, to mention someone ENTIRELY different--Bob Dylan. The very "thing" you like them for can grate on your nerves (mine at least) like nothing else. That, that WHINY thing they do!

17>

There's a "semi-professional" English countertenor who calls himself MegaMole. Seriously.

Although MegaMole has posted to the web quite a bit under that name, you might also enjoy this anecdote, related by his best friend.

NB: I know that he's not who you meant by MM, but I couldn't resist the "it looks like Silent's being a smart-ass again, but (dammit) he's serious" response.

And now for something completely different. Makes my heart sing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dixxse4dpQ4&feature=related

Enjoy, I hope.

I'm more of a Chocolate Jesus guy

22
Lola, you should be fine, the samples are only 2 minutes long, from the movie in which he sings, so you should be fine!
I am currently listening to my iPod playlist, titled 'patio music' which includes summer classics like the Mamas and Papas, crappy 80s French music (Etienne Daho, Rita Mitsouko...), some classics with Dusty Springfield, Natalie Cole, Ray Charles, some White Stripes, some Cure, etc.

#19

Cenčić is flamboyant, impassioned, and very obviously all too human

That saintly little infant?! Must be the Balkan streak... ;) You have just placed him high up on my "to check out" list.

Big YES! to Mijanovic (my fave Caesar now), and Mingardo. But when will Ferrier reincarnate...

Ha, thanks for the Wiki link to Boris--"stoner" meant nothing to me, and "drone" I place vaguely in the hurdy-gurdy realm--sometimes stretching excitingly to the experiments of Charlemagne Palestine...

#23

You Shock me and you Awe me in the best possible ways. :)

#24

Yours AND mine, Atomic! Love 'im!

#26

Sonia, I liked that, must find the movie (of which I'd never heard). Oh look, Rufus is a daddy now! Good god, is Lorca Cohen Leonard Cohen's daughter? Okay, if that kid doesn't sing, we shall ALL be disappointed.

Adding to the countertenor links, I must mention one of my very dearest, although not for purely musical reasons.

The one and only Klaus Nomi...

HOT: Total Eclipse

FREEZING: Purcell's The Cold Song

29
The movie is all about imagination, as opposed to real life - the main character's imagination allows him to fantasise and be a seductive Don Juan, whereas, in real life, he is a loser, working in a Canadian government office.

Cultured? I joined.

OMG. Someone else knows about Klaus Nomi!!

I have him on my iPod and play it whenever I want to stop a party dead in its tracks, lol.

He was a true marvel of, um, something or another.

Ding, dong, the witch is dead!

Thanks for the links, I am really enjoying them!

Last Sunday I got to share the stage with Fabio Biondi and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.

Just been following the Klaus Nomi link. His "Dido's Lament" is stunning (and poignant). Must find more...

#35, share the stage in what way? Do share!

Accidentally trapped under the rostrum while fixing the lights?

Pretty much as #38. A buddy of mine has a gig recording the local classical concerts for NPR; he had permission this time out to also videotape Biondi and the SSO, and asked me to run one of his cameras.

Good concert, btw - it was the very same program they did a couple nights later at Carnegie Hall.

But I enjoyed the show from just about the same position as the NYT's photographer at Carnegie; sitting back with the winds (8 meters from the conductor!) is a pretty good seat....

The Biondi/Stavanger program sounds like it was a good one, Bob. I have most of Biondi's recordings with the ensemble he founded, Europa Galante. I like them quite a bit.

Lola, Klaus Nomi! I haven't thought of him in an age! After watching the videos you linked, I searched through some boxes, dug out his two albums, and loaded them to my iPod. I'm listening to Simple Man right now. Lovely music.

Yeah, it was a nice concert. (I'm almost embarrassed to admit that the only Biondi/Europa Galante I own is their Four Seasons on Opus 111.)

One of the many interesting things I learned that afternoon was that the working language for a Sicilian conductor and his Norwegian company was...English.

#41

Bob, that was the first Biondi CD I bought! Europa Galante is a lively bunch, I'd buy them blind. And on Veritas they are available cheaply.

#32

Enrique--HAVE AT IT! No need ever to ask about making threads. I'm looking forward to your much-needed guidance through the metal thicket and wire--hold my hand tight.

#38

I was hoping Bob streaked across the stage, shouting something classically radical. Maybe next time. :)

#34

*giving Atomic the secret Klaus Nomi fan handshake*

*and marietherese*

Only we know...

Marietherese, forgot to add, @ Maniaci--YES, that was just how I felt, back when, listening to a CD of his in HMV a good forty minutes, debating whether to buy him just to add to my collection of freak voices. And in the end it felt sufficient that I had heard it. Not that any in my freak collection get listened to for pleasure alone...

#11

Rick, I just noticed--did you by any chance mean Amado mio?

It's a pretty tango-bolero. Here's a version by Pink Martini (it's been covered a million times...)

Pasolini used it as a motif (and the title) for one of his boyhood-nostalgic autobiographical books, Amado mio.

No, but what a flick.

It's something close to what I wrote, but I think it's an old Italian countryside song that probably goes by nine spellings. Look up Love and Anarchy 2/9 on youtube about 9 minutes in. Beautiful falling in love scene.

Ahhh, Wertmuller. I thought you had meant something Anglo... As heard in the movie it is and isn't "folk", Nino Rota worked it over and they changed the words some. But I know the song, it's crazy famous old lament, Mare maje. (Amara me: poor me. A woman lamenting the death of her husband.)

Non mi rompere le balle...That's about all the Italian I know. I've found other versions of the song, but that one's still my favorite.

Wellll... it's all a bit moot if you can't follow the text, BUT, if you like that, google "canti antifascisti" or "canzoni della fronda" or "canti popolari" for similar works. The first two categories because due to long political repression, monarchic, fascist, and Catholic, Italians often used traditional melodies and texts to convey the--necessarily subtle--criticism of the state and the church; the third for obvious reasons.

There are also modern composers who used traditional idiom, here's my favourite, Matteo Salvatore: Il lamento dei mendicanti (The beggars' lament)

And for a change, a love song: Matteo Salvatore Mo ve'la bella mia da la muntagna

'it's all a bit moot if you can't follow the text'

it's a bit snoot...

Il lamento dei mendicanti--i love it

as you know canti antifascti is popolar hereabouts, both it. and slav

anyway, I don't know the words to Schnittke's piano concerto or any of Beethoven's quartets, but I know what I love

If you are one of those more inclined towards Fascist music, here's an album you could seek out:

http://www.librarything.com/work/9950943/book/60160463

Nothing quite as soothing as 8 million bayonets waving in the breeze.

According to the NYT Book Review, Il Duce made Will Rogers' heart sing. I'm still looking for a video of Mussolini doing the "jitterbug"...

eh, close enough...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0mSvc4UagM&feature=related

#49

Why don't you learn Italian and/or Slovenian already? Freakin' tourist.

#50

Oh yes. Italy never went after the fascist period's memorabilia and artefacts as zealously as Germany did (or at least tried to), and the (re)recordings of fascist songs never stopped. I bought MY little collection of nasties as a kid in Venice in the eighties.

I'm listening to Satie this morning. Haven't the stomach for bayonets so early in the day.

What about Orff's 'Carmina Burana'? I saw it live, played by the Toulouse national orchestra, led by Michel Plasson. It was an open air, fireworks display, with the orchestra leading the rythm. All three universities' students were there...

#54

Carmina Burana, open air, fireworks, THREE unis worth of students... no one slept in their bed that night, didn't they? :)

We didn't! :-)
Ah, memories...

# 54 I just heard that on the radio and could not recall the title, thank you! It's been stuck in my head all afternoon.

Lurker here...

I've been resisting the impulse, but I have to give in to it.
Unfortunately, there's a 24-second ad up front.

Inre: the subject line
In the case of the Troggs...

#58

YEAH!!! Thanks, WHL, that was a must for this thread... :)

Okay, okay, wayyyy overkill for a singer I haven't consciously listened to since I was six, but this is 1) better video 2) another performance 3) she wears a tux 4) it was part of the New Year's (31. XII 1968) programme on Croatian TV. I don't think my folks stayed home that night--mom was only three months preggo (with ME!)

Sylvie Vartan, AGAIN: Comme un garçon

How about some flamenco soul?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me7OmtUNDKM
Estrella from Black Flamenco.
I love her voice. She's from a famous flamenco family.

61
So cute.

BTW, when I clicked that link, one of the adverts on YouTube came up as "Fastest Internet in AZ". I mistakenly read this as "Fascist Internet in AZ". The sad thing is, I wouldn't have been surprised.

Another recent discovery by the fabulous Rosenberg Trio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd0X57FhOOk

Also some Django Reinhardt revival from The Hot Cub of San Francisco.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzXkzDm7bkE

let me think...northern Europe, maybe Scandinavian...late Viking treat?

ARE WE ALL AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE YET?!?!

Here's something to set the heart pumping--Chanson Yiddish!!

Chava Alberstein singing the anthem of shysters, con men, sly rebels, snake charmers, magicians, cheats, no-goodniks... Avrejml der Marvicher

Nice and peppy, but if you sit in the front row, better bring a plastic tarp!

Har! No, no, it is the labials one must fear!

Har? Hardly--they either get you or they don't. it's not our decision.

the song's great but i like another version much better--while listening to Chava it's at the top of the right column under Avreml.

At the moment, because of the sunshine, I am into Narciso Yepes (the best guitarist in the world, imo - died a decade ago, unfortunately). I have a CD of the best Spanish guitar classics (Tarrega, Rodrigo, etc.).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLHR8zaEsA8

Here's another one for the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg_xlyPoTV4

Mellow!

Here's a little flamenco for you and tros... Paco de Lucia

And
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HSOy6JoSe4&feature=related
Bireli Lagrene & Stochelo Rosenberg play Spain
My nomination for best guitarists in the world.

Paco is also great! Btw, remember that scene in 'Spinal Tap', where one guy from the band says that the amp the band is using is the best, because it goes up to eleven - well, Narciso plays the guitar with *12* strings! :-) There aren't enough fingers in my hands to try and play like that.

Mouloudji, La Complainte de la Butte

A poet greets a "street princess" somewhere on Montmartre.

This woman, along with El Niño de Almadén (accompanied by a very young Paco de Lucia) embody "flamenco" for me.

I'm again surfing with snails so must postpone listening, marietherese, but I want to say THANK YOU for inspiring me to check out Cencic. Actually, I'm comparing one of his and one of Jaroussky's CDs (Handel for the former, Vivaldi latter, both on Virgin Classics), and I must say, although my opinion of Jaroussky improved, I much prefer Cencic's tone, especially at the top, where he is vigorous and strong, whereas Jaroussky thins out into the dreaded colourless "little old lady" sound (major countertenor ailment!)

I still wouldn't prefer either of them to a good soprano or mezzo in this repertoire.

Jaroussky's instrument is fragile, but I wonder if Cencic could supply enough bottom to acquire tenorship? I can't help wondering whether these pretty, fey-looking boys aren't pushed into the countertenor game as much or more by marketing than musical inclination.

Hahaha, look at Paco with more ear than hair!! My god, he must've been born with a guitar in his hands.

Very interesting. I don't know anything about flamenco singing. I just love it when they rip their lungs out.

I recommend Estrella Morente very much - her voice is great. She also translated Leonard Cohen's songs, to sing them in Spanish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUJA52_oDn8

P.s. She is sexier than Paco, that's for sure.

That flamenco oooomph... Suddenly humans seem like gorgeous animals, nevertheless.

> 82/83: She's certainly sexier than Leonard.

But nobody SOUNDS sexier than Leonard!

Yes, fair point, even though I happen to be as straigth as a ruler. But, as a Dutch cartoonist (one of my mentors) once wrote: straight is something crooked that got bent.

LOL!

Yeah, one of my boyfriends claimed he would only ever flip for Leonard... at least as long as the man sang.

ETA: What the heck, anything's a good excuse to link it:

"I'm... your... maaan..."

@87 - beauty is not about gender, imo. Anything can be beautiful to us, it's all very subjective.

82
62 is Estrella Morente, but now she just calls herself Estrella. Check out
Black Flamenco cd by her.

Lola: I don't know anything about flamenco singing. I just love it when they rip their lungs out.

That's called "rajo" (raspiness or roughness-an unaffected expression of emotional intensity) and is, along with "duende" (roughly translated as "soul"), considered an essential component for a great flamenco singer.

Anyone here who has any interest in flamenco, particularly classic flamenco from the early 20th century on to about 1975 (the date usually given as the start of the Nuevo Flamenco movement, a type of flamenco I'll readily admit I do not personally care for or have much interest in, although I believe it's a musically legitimate and important development), should check out the recordings released by Le Chant du Monde in their 'Grandes Cantaores du Flamenco' series as well as the wonderful 'Magna antología del cante flamenco', which is considered essential listening in the flamenco community. I'm a more singer-oriented than guitar-oriented aficionado (there are plenty of great seguiriyas, saetas, etc. that are completely unaccompanied except perhaps by pitos y palmas), and both these series privilege singers so if you like primarily flamenco guitar, they're probably not for you. But anyone seriously interested in this art form (which was the focus of my ethnomusicological research so I'm a wee bit passionate about it) should seek them out.

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of reading Lorca's Teoría y juego del duende, here are links to it in Spanish and English.

SilentInAWay, I was just listening to Lorca and La Argentinita last night! She was not the greatest singer (although she had a fabulous sense of rhythm and was, along with her sister, Pilar López, and their fellow dancer, José Greco, one of the first to widely popularize the use of castanets in Spanish dance and song) and Lorca was not the finest pianist, but together they were something quite special. The recordings they made together in the very early 1930s are essential listening for anyone who loves Spanish music.

And just because that "sexy" thing came up earlier in comments on this thread-I can't imagine anyone of any sexual persuasion (even the committedly asexual) not wanting to shag the living daylights out of José Greco after watching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D3g1ZvR1io

(I suppose this should go in the dance thread but I'm too lazy to post it there.)

#91, 92

Yay, nollij! I had no idea about your ethnomusicological interests, marietherese. How long, how far...? Silent, wasn't part of your study ethnomusicological too?

#94

WOWWW!! Olé y olé y olé! Oh that slide off the stage! He never breaks a sweat! More, more, more!

Fantastic. I'll shag im.

MarieT, I saw Jaoquin Cortez years ago in London. I am very ignorant about flamenco, but I was hugely impressed with him, and with one of his singers, who was certainly ripping her guts out. Alas, I cannot remember her name: it was probably around 1997.

Is he kosher? Can you enlighten me further?

wasn't part of your study ethnomusicological too?

Not exactly...well, in a very small way, perhaps. Among my assorted and sun-dried degrees is a B.A. in Music History. During the coursework for that degree, I took a single class in "Ethnic Music" -- a class for which the instructor spent many years in preparation and yet which (due to a clear lack of student interest) was only taught once. But, hey -- where else would I have learned to distinguish between a Kayakeum and a Komungo (two types of traditional Korean court zithers) -- by sight, if not by sound.

Now, twenty-something years later, what remains with me (other than, perhaps, a heightened sense of cultural relativism) is a love of the now hard-to-find recordings in the Nonesuch Explorer series, a clear preference for the Sarangi over the Sitar, and an item on my bucket list to someday hear an adhan (or azan) called out from the minarets of a mosque.

BTW: There are a ridiculous number of gorgeous examples of these Islamic calls to prayer on YouTube (many of them from tourists in Istanbul). Here's a video taken in the park between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia in which the adhans from the two mosques perform an aural arabesque. Here's another in which the adhans alternate like a call and response.

And if you want to create a really freaky aleatoric version of your own, try playing these two videos (adhan 1, adhan 2) simultaneously on different tabs of your browser, leaving the syncronization to chance...

ETA: too bad we can't step back in time and hear how these call to prayer sounded in a time before amplification...

ETA: too bad we can't step back in time and hear how these call to prayer sounded in a time before amplification...

A factoid I carry in my head from the days long before Google comes from some long-forgotten bio of Mozart, where it was mentioned in passing that in Wolfie's day, urban life was SO quiet that the fire alarms were raised by voice from the town's church steeples - and the punchline being that this wasn't in sleepy little Salzburg, no, this was from his days in the imperial capital of Vienna.

And Nonesuch Explorer series - represent! David Lewiston changed my life.

Funny how one never knows what is special while one is living it. ;) For eight+ years of my life I was hearing unamplified adhans morning, noon, and night, and times in-between. Hardly ever noticed them. Like birdsong.

And yet today, when I go home and the bells of the bloody church next door wake me up and up and up and up and up and up and up--why, if I didn't still have some plans for the future, requiring liberty and sound body, I'd torch it.

Unamplified ones may be fine: wasn't the idea to be called to prayer by the natural human voice instead of the artificial sound of the bell? But I once slept in a high room at roughly loudspeaker level with the minaret in the next block. Being woken by the sound of some guy coughing and hacking into a microphone at dawn did not endear me to his religion.

If you don't like bells, why do you live next door to a church?

100> If you don't like bells, why do you live next door to a church?

I believe that "home" refers to Lola's family residence in southeast Europe, not her current one in Toronto.

I agree completely about the amplification. There's a big difference between Lola's ambient birdsong and Myopic's hacking muezzin.

>101 SilentInAWay:

Wow: they must be loud bells if you have to flee to Canada to get away from them!

Lola's family residence

Which, alas, has been standing next to said church for a better part of 400 years, and neither is likely to move...

Just another instance of rampant religious oppression.

Well, if you stayed up late enough carousing, you could take the morning bells as the signal to go to bed.

That works in the summer! Too bad I've taken to visiting for Christmas.

tomcat way back in #96 I saw Jaoquin Cortez years ago in London. I am very ignorant about flamenco, but I was hugely impressed with him, and with one of his singers, who was certainly ripping her guts out. Alas, I cannot remember her name: it was probably around 1997...Is he kosher? Can you enlighten me further?

Oh, lucky you to have seen Joaquín Cortés live! While Cortés' stage shows are definitely on the "spectacular" side with all the attendant amplification and pop instrumentation one would expect from that (non-Spanish percussion, flutes, bass, etc., ala The Gypsy Kings) , he employs really fine, very traditional singers and he is one hell of a dancer. I don't know that I'd say he's "kosher" but he's extremely good at what he does and that's really all that matters to me.

For those that haven't seen Joaquín Cortés, this extended YouTube video gives an idea of what his shows are like (and displays the skill of the singers he employs):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEUP1G6hF1o

Watch out, it's hot stuff!

SilentInAWay, your single "ethnic music" class sounds quite impressive! I took two years of courses devoted to ethnomusicology and I doubt many of my fellow students had nearly as much knowledge of world instruments as you do.

Lola, I pursued ethnomusicology for a couple of years until I realized that my tragic lack of perfect pitch was always going to keep me from realizing my Bartók-based fantasies of effortless transcription in the field. Well, that, and increased urbanization and industrialization inevitably changing the landscape and soundscape of my teenage fantasy Europe.

As an older, wiser and much more forgiving (of myself and others) woman, I now believe this modern Europe is as worthy of documentation as the romantically isolated, agricultural other of Bartók's youth (and my misplaced teenage nostalgia) but the best way to document it in its many-faceted splendour is via digital multimedia. Perfect pitch isn't necessary anymore but a keen eye and a total commitment to ever-changing technologies is a must. I don't have those either. Plenty of other people do though, and it's wonderful to see and hear what they come up with. Sometimes they even publish a paper about it too! ;-)

This is what has been making my heart "sing" today:
http://youtu.be/K8224-3SwAs

Maria Grinberg's Beethoven is a relatively new discovery for me (I acquired her complete survey of the sonatas just last year) but I find her interpretations totally convincing and she now shares a seat near Egon Petri and Solomon in my pantheon of great Beethoven performers.

Thank you marieT. The JC video is incredible. I love love love the music.

#108

Whoa, chesty goodness!

#110

To die for.

Inspired by Marietherese's singing post, I am going to muddle through a description of some recent musical encounters. I know nothing about music, but in the stirring tradition of bumptious political debate, I won't allow my near-complete ignorance to prevent me from expressing a few opinions.

These are more or less from the standard repertory. First, a Richter performance of Beethoven's 3rd, 7th and 19th Piano Sonatas on Denon Classics, available both as a CD and as a download for something silly - under $5 (I prefer CDs.) The provenance is not clear but it's apparently from the 60s, caught live, and though some have complained about the sound, I don't understand how it could be improved. There is of course a great deal of coughing and applause and the like. However, the piano is sonorous, and Richter's power has been caught in all its intensity. At least two of the sonata recordings are new to the discography, and according to one reviewer the third might be duplicated on EMI, but this is only speculation. At any rate, it's impressive.

Second, Anievas' recording of Rachmaninov's Preludes on EMI, from the 70s if I am not mistaken. I fully expected to be disappointed, buying this almost on impulse, and being more than content with Ashkenazy (not everyone's preferred choice in individualistic piano playing, I know, but I think that he's actually more dramatic/treacly than many contemporary pianists.) However, Anievas convincingly accomplishes what many pianists strive for: the complex passages are rendered with all their density and texture preserved, sounding orchestral, instead of blending into a sonic mush, and those jaded from the abuse of Rachmaninov in popular cinema might be open to appreciating the latter's harmonic brilliance again.

Third, a CD that I had absolutely no intention whatsoever of buying, since my finances are well beyond strained, intentions identical to those I have for most of the other CDs I buy, and despite having told myself that I was not - at all - going to spend a single dollar, merely being in a CD store facing rows of CDs out of simple, innocent curiosity, the kind that a child has when it wanders into some new house, shop or office that contains items it otherwise has no use for but whose novelty piques a temporary curiosity - oh never mind. It's a brand new release, and I've only had it a few days: Anderszewski playing Schumann's less well-worn pieces on Virgin (part of EMI) - Humoreske, Studien für den Pedalflügel, and Gesänge der Frühe. This is the first time I've listened to Anderszewski, and his playing is formidable yet affecting, helped in no small part by the excellent sound. Though I generally avoid new releases unless they're long-desired re-issues or contain repertoire I am curious about, I would recommend getting this CD (if you don't mind more Schumann in your library, etc.)

I just listened to Beethoven's pieces for cello and piano, performed by Richter and Rostropovich on Decca (formerly on Philips), and have also recently basked in a) some of Poulenc's gently melancholy, through a now out-of-print recording on DG with the Ensemble Wien-Berlin accompanied by Levine (the conductor) at the piano (here's a video of Jean-Pierre Rampal and Poulenc himself performing the 2nd movement of the Flute Sonata); b) Konwitschny's Bruckner 5th on Berlin Classics, a reminder of why I love this symphony; and c) Zimerman performing Bacewicz on DG (new repertoire, so very little to say except that it was much closer to early 20th century Modernism than I expected and hence more accessible; I liked it but should probably give it another go-round to get a better picture.)

I just listened to Beethoven's pieces for cello and piano, performed by Richter and Rostropovich on Decca (formerly on Philips)...

(Hi, Existanai!)
Huh - I'm currently working my way through the EMI/France "Beethoven" box, and just listened to the Paul Tortelier/Eric Heidsieck versions.

(And, on the other hand, one of my kids just made me go to a Chris Cornell concert.)

Existanai, the Anderszewski Schumann sounds very tempting. I have his his recording of piano works by Szymanowski and I highly recommend that. His Carnegie Hall recital disc is good too.

Both you and Bob remind me that I have a Brendel and Brendel (pianist Alfred and his cellist son, Adrian) recording of Beethoven's complete works for cello and piano kicking around the house here somewhere. I got it "used" but unopened, ridiculously cheap. I need to listen to that soon. The cello as a primary string instrument doesn't seem to have inspired Beethoven in the same way that the violin did but even mediocre Beethoven is pretty darn enjoyable.

This afternoon I devoted myself to listening to one of my favourites of a new generation of pianists, the young Frenchman, Alexandre Tharaud. His recent Scarlatti recording is superb and I like his Rameau and Couperin recordings a lot too (not to mention his Chopin and Ravel). I very rarely listen to pianists playing Baroque or early classical keyboard music as I'd much rather hear a harpsichord or clavichord in this repertoire but Tharaud really does "get" this music; his touch is light, playful, elegant and crisp, his ornamentation is both tasteful and original, and he has a fantastic sense of rhythm (a must for the Scarlatti). Tharaud is also a very fine chamber music player; his work with cellist, Jean-Guihen Queyras is especially notable. I think I have all their recordings together and each is a gem. Highly recommended!

Heh! I guess we probably need a classical music thread here in Hell (so that some of us can ramble on endlessly without putting others to sleep). If I could think of a catchy name, I'd post one myself. But since I'm fresh out of witty one-liners I'll leave it to my literary betters to come up with an appropriate title.

(And, since I am feeling generous, here is more Tharaud for French speakers and music lovers. His Chopin is so lovely!)

MyopicBookworm made a general classical music thread here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/114251

And Existanai made a recordings thread here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/114235

(Extra points to Myopic for naming the thread in German, the classical music tongue par excellence! Now I take away those extra points for his incomprehensible tendency to make fun of Canada! Kanada ist nicht vunnie, mein Herr! Machen Sie mich nicht laffen, mein Herr! Now I give him back an extra point because I am starting a campaign to become a nicer, kinder person! Now I take away half a point because I don't want to become too nice, too kind! Now I go take care of my breakfast before this snowballs!)

Julio Sosa makes my heart sing! In vain did I fight--my favourite tango singer is a macho to end all machos, and now the world may know it.

For some reason Sosa vids with good sound quality are rare, so I took what I could find, like this one of El Firulete--set to football ("soccer" to you crazy Anglos) footage. Avert your eyes if you must, but have a listen!

Jane:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1oEiCeXzOQ

It is time... TO HOUSECLEAN!!!

And when I clean I put on

SOMETHING LOUD AND VATERLAND-PROUD!!!

Look at all those lily white cryptofascists adoring the old Nazi. Look at all the creepy comments about our European Kultur. I loathe and I scrub in 4/4 time!

I've been trying to train myself to never, ever look at YouTube comments...and at YOUR behest, I broke my resolve, and looked.

AAAA! MY EYES!!!

Ha, SORRY. YouTube is the only internet place that makes IMDB look smart and enlightened.

#120-22 Too funny.

This says it all really:

Karajan is not the composer. JOHAN STRAUSS is the composer.

2/4 time, surely?

4/4 for Radetzky

The Delta Rhythm Boys make Verdi swing in the Rigoletto Blues

I was talking about the audience...:)

What's making my heart sing this April Monday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8Cq80UGpc0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GURXkvyUhg&feature=related

>128 tomcatMurr: 'Murr, how lovely!

Marianne Faithfull, young, beautiful and perhaps pharmacologically enhanced, doing Noel Coward's 20th Century Blues, in 1973.

Ok, tonight I am a bit *pissed* as in 'had-a-little-too-much-to-drink'.
Because I was doing my treck from Milton Keynes to Windsor then London for a conference this week, I came back to find friends who had organised a party tonight.
Hitting 35 years of age is what you might call as nice, wise enough to be called an adult, but still enjoying youthful modern music, you might say.
But I kept having this melancholic Catatonia tune in my head (I had suggested it on another forum a few months back), but here it is for your enjoyment, 'Strange Glue':

http://youtu.be/QSbqbUG8q94

Very nice, but Strange Brew is more my style...

She's some kind of demon messing in the glue
If you don't watch out it'll stick to you, to you
What kind of fool are you?
Strange brew, kill what's inside of you

Taraf de Haïdouks - Waltz From Masquerade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8vHB9WjjOs

Response, tros!--Hop Hop Hop from Emil Loteanu's Tabor uhodit v nebo (Gypsies enter heaven), a movie that entranced me 30 years ago.

That scene, with the gorgeous, regally defiant Svetlana Toma, grabbed my kiddie soul and never let go.

Nice!
What's she smoking in her tiny, little pipe?
I think I'm in love! ;-)

Wasn't hop hop a character from Poe or something?

How beautiful is she?! And eyes that stop wild horses. We can all be in love.

In my dreams....

;-)

I must be thinking of Hop-frog, the Poe short story.

whoa...

Hop hop hop!

You bet.

Her pipe put in mind of one of the sillier videos I know of:

William Christie and Les Arts Florissants' reconstruction of Rameau's Les Indes Galantes, with the lovely Patricia Petibon improbably cast as (a French Baroque imagining of) a Native American princess.
Complete with pipe. (See the flash as she turns at 2:26.)

Christie comes out for a bow and indulges in the Bangles-inspired choreography.

Which sort of needs to be seen to be believed. Looks like everyone involved had a good time, though.

That's GREAT! I have an older Christie version, but I must see that one! You can't help having a good time with Rameau--gorgeous music, outta-this-world themes...

You can't help having a good time with Rameau--gorgeous music, outta-this-world themes...

I'm not big on opera, but it's hard not to love a show that brings you Turks, Incas, an Indian princess, a chorus of buffalo-headed dancers, AND an erupting volcano.

Pretty much 'one-stop shopping' for all your entertainment needs.

I have an older Christie version, but I must see that one!

It's available: besides most or all of it being on YouTube, the DVD is at Amazon

I'm definitely getting that. Loved Petibon, and that tall tall Indian hunk. I could wish for richer scenery--always seems a pity to go for minimalism with baroque opera--but that's the least concern.

I think there are Peruvians in it too. The buffalo heads were great. There was one dancer in the middle who quite obviously LOOOOOOVED his buffalo head, he was striking the best poses to display it. Reminds me of the book I started yesterday, The centaur in the garden, a boy is born with the lower body of a horse.

And now I'm reminded of Cordwainer Smith's Norstrilia--remember the cat people etc.?

And for a final OT remark, am listening to Alexis Weissenberg playing Bach, and strange strange it is, crazy fast tempos, and so much rubato it sounds almost jazzy. Interesting gentleman, Weissenberg. Always a sharp dresser too. And now I'm reminded of...

:)

And now I'm reminded of Cordwainer Smith's Norstrilia--remember the cat people etc.?

Poor C'mell.
Not six hours ago I picked up a (spare) copy of The Planet Buyer, the first half of Norstrilia. I'm a great fan of Cordwainer Smith - I don't know anybody who gets you into his world faster and easier - in fifty words, he somehow gets across the impression of a vast and ancient society just offstage.

...listening to Alexis Weissenberg playing Bach...

I have his BWV 828/830/971 on DG, and two discs of him playing Chopin. Not my first choice for Bach.

I'm a great fan of Cordwainer Smith

He impressed me like no other during the recent "rediscover sf" mini-mission o' mine. I just picked up Stardreamer and The Instrumentality of mankind too.

Not my first choice for Bach.

No, he wouldn't be, not quite the standard... By the way, that's exactly the CD I was listening to, the partitas and the Italian cto. I still prefer it to, say, Hewitt. She puts me to sleep.

And this morning... this morning, I feel acutely I'll never get out of this world alive.

Sugarpie DeSanto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlKtx74AH-Q&feature=list_related&playnext...

Cool. Somehow I never warmed up to soul and r&b... nice to get a hear occasionally.

Hm. In the related videos on that page...

Etta James & Sugar Pie DeSanto, In the Basement

Little Cow from Hungary.
http://www.myspace.com/littlecowband/music

Or the Amsterdam Klezmer Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZdIwJsLQXk

It's sunny here in Normandie, as I am working on my final BA essay in the study, looking at the overgrown garden, and I have this song in my head - 'Chardonnay' by my favourite Welsh singer, Cerys Matthews:

http://youtu.be/lpIZClFeotc

listen and weep. Weep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbdakZjHTys&feature=related

Lola, this one's for you, babe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JytXR0qzsvs&feature=related

Thank you for the links, tomcatMurr! That's so beautiful!

#153

Aw, thanks, pussycat!! That was grrreat!

Murr, if you get a chance, sample this album: Piazzolla (Les Violons Du Roy/Jean-Marie Zeitouni); I have it and think you will love it.

Lucero, she's such a hottie. Muy caliente:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPbfnsue56E

Ah, Lucerito - I couldn't agree more.

A couple of years back, after a career of playing sweet young things in movies and telenovelas, she took a turn at vengeance, and created one of the more memorable villains in recent history. Check out this montage of "frases celebres" from Mañana es para siempre

Hace cantar tu corazón una diferente tonada, ¿no?

Ooo, I LIKE her.

Telenovelas! The very great loves of my misspent youth. *sigh*

My favourite was the already creakingly elderly and hilariously melodramatic yet somehow deeply touching Mexican telenovela 'Muchacha Italiana viene al casarse' (Ricardo Blume's sideburns were about the sexiest thing I had ever seen!* Note to dudes everywhere-they still turn me on. Where are the sideburns people, where?!? Grow that facial hair. STAT!)

The "Italian Girl's" little sister, Gianna (Silvia Pasquel) , was later to appear as the villain in a number of my favoured novelas, including the Mexican uber-melodrama, Al Rojo Vivo. I cannot find a good video for this but should note that this telenovela starred the queen of late 20th century Mexican TV melodrama, Alma Muriel, as well as Silvia Pasquel as a total manipulative two-timing bitch villainess, Frank Moro as a buff but really dumb hero, and Miguel Palmer as a suave, smart but deeply loathsome villain. It was novela gold and I ate it up with a spoon!

The last novela I watched to the end, the best novela ever, the novela to end all novelas in my mind was the Argentinian 'Que Dios se lo pague' starring Leonor Benedetto and Federico Luppi. I'm not quite sure why, but it's virtually impossible to find fully enabled clips of this novela online (sound is disabled at YouTube and there is not much elsewhere). Anyway, it was great. Benedetto was heartbreakingly lovely (although I now realize she looked awfully like Stevie Nicks) and Luppi played the ghostly suitor to perfection (this was well before anyone knew who he was in North America). Lots of super popular character actors from Mexican telenovelas managed to get secondary roles in this too. It was in vibrant colour with gorgeous costumes (it was supposed to be set in the 1940s) and the acting was stellar. Highly recommended if you can find it.

* I was only eleven years old at the time. I think that's a fairly good excuse. As for my finding them sexy later...er... I claim ongoing trauma or something. Although, watching Ricardo Blume now, as an adult, I'm amazed at how much he reminds me of Colin Firth, an actor I wasn't to discover until about a decade later and with whom I fell in love at first sight. I find both actors extremely attractive across roles (I have seen Blume in other novelas and, of course, Firth in virtually everything he's done since that Priestly miniseries and the movie with Rupert Everett). I guess I have a "type".

I actually came onto this thread not to blather about telenovelas and hot novela actors but to post this: Boris-Partyboy

Boris! My favourite heavy band of choice is releasing three new albums this year. Bang your heads, imbibe the poison of your choice and enjoy.

marietherese, the multitudes you contain are dizzy-making. Speaking of Argentinian telenovelas--the only time I saw a few episodes of any creation in the genre, sick in bed and tended to by mummy--it was something set in Argentina just pre-WWII, about Italian immigrants, and one of the sets was a piano shop. Could've been the fever, but I loved that piano shop. Any bells ringing? The language was fascinating too, real or fake lunfardo. Not that I'm particularly eager to find it and ruin fond memories.

Last month (up at #140) I mentioned William Christie. And I got to wondering how a nice American boy got hisself elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Googling around, I learned that Christie is a French citizen today because he's a political refugee: born in Buffalo in '44. a ROTC kid in college (Harvard, then Yale, then maybe grad school at Dartmouth?). And when his academic deferments ran out in '71, he fled the country to avoid the draft.

Christie in the NYT (1992) on exile:

"I don't know how many times I've woken up and thought how happy I was that I lived six or seven thousand miles away from a Jesse Helms or a Pat Buchanan. By a great quirk of fate, and I thank the good Lord for it, I can ignore them. But I pity those who have to put up with it."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsuGUmxVhBY&playnext=1&list=PLBFFF9A135C4...
pink martini - U Plavu Zoru

If this doesn't get your heart pounding, you must be dead!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOLak47jipk

Eleni Vitali - The Song of the Gypsies

Evidently the song is from a spanish flick called "I Come" (Vengo).

Well, now. Bandoneon... bassoon... and... harpsichord!...making cabaret music?

I can't tell whether it's awfully good or god-awful; either way, there's something hellish about that triple alliance.

Bataclan: "Dandy"

mmmm. I quite like it. Has a kind of louche quality.

I'm looking to get into some Bruckner, whom I hardly know. Can anyone recommend which recordings of the symphonies I should get.? An old Classic, or something new and exciting, both are ok.

168
You need to talk to Existanai.

Check out the class. music threads, Murr...

Leon Redbone, singing Irving Berlin's My Walking Stick, from the Champagne Charlie album.

Leon Redbone! Always puts me in a good mood! Makes living on Earth more bearable! Love him for the music he loves!

>170 LolaWalser: Couldn't agree more, Lola! And he's perfect for an autumn day. I'm off to play him now...

Yes, yes he is. Autumn day or summer evening. I first picked up the Redbone habit in New Orleans--fitting, I think.

I bust out singing Big Chief Buffalo Nickel for my kids sometimes, and they look at me like I'm nuts. Actually, that's how everyone looks at me most of the time...

A way out on the wind swept desert
Where nature favours no man
A buffalo found his brother
Lying baked on the sun baked sand
He said: My brother what ails you
Has sickness made you this way
His brother never said
'Cause his brother was dead
He'd been dead since way last May

Awww! Don't worry, all kids think all parents are nuts. First Redbone song I heard--and that was all it took--Dancin' on Daddy's shoes. Maybe try that one?

Well, I'll try it, but it doesn't seem to have the whiff of morbidity that I'm aiming for...

You ARE nuts!

Also, "My walking stick" is on "On the track" album, not "Champagne Charlie". But collect 'em all!

Speaking of whiffs of morbidity and droll menace, I always loved & cracked up at that song of his that goes "you flirted with the butcher, you flirted with the baker... now you're flirting with the undertaker..."

This song I love too--dedicated to all of us who talk to our favourite pieces of furniture:

Harry Nilsson, Good Old Desk

Ok, I have not been very active these last 2-3 months, as I have started my MA, I moved house to another region and I have been teaching part-time in the new place. BUT, in spite of the stress of all this, I wanted to share something...*special* with you all, as I have discovered the new burlesque and, specifically, the very androginous Amador Rojas - THE beauty of hot flamenco, who is my favourite performer in Barcelona's burlesque venue, El Molino (go there if you have the chance!!!) Here's a video:

http://youtu.be/snxr-Fgb61k

P.s. He is about 2.26 minutes in...

that is fabulous. Thanks for sharing!

No problem! :-) There's plenty of him on UTube anyway, just take your pick!

What just came up on the radio:

Cab Calloway, Minnie the Moocher

The question we pose today is, Is There Enough Schmaltz In Your Life? Have a helping, it's healthy in dour wintertime:

Richard Tauber singing "At the Balalaika"

Wir lieben das (?) Schmaltz - mit Griechischer Wein!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeiI4GNBt4s

You just HAD to up the ante, did you!

I am sorry - but I love Heino! When I hear his voice I think of a warm hearth and a cold ale, a meaty dinner underway, the captives trembling in the cellar.

Here's one for this cloudy and rainy day:
http://youtu.be/XvfRUVDDdVA

Not so sure about Schmaltz, but you can never ever have enough Richard Tauber: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kVrbz_oJ3g (plus, since we were referring to Leonhardt as Bach in another thread, I thought a somewhat more convincing impersonation of a famous composer by a musician might be amusing).

Tauber was great. In the top five German lyrical tenors--possibly top three (interchanging on rainy days with Peter Schreier).

Here's my Nummer Zwei (with Sena Jurinac):

Peter Anders & Sena Jurinac - Love Duet from Madam Butterfly

Wow! Cool thread (although I prefer it if people label their Youtube links somehow so I know if I want to look or not, but as a newcomer I shouldn't grumble, I guess)!!

Any fans of fado music? Here's the great Mariza:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3f_eLHebhY&feature=related

Then there's Coltrane (sorry about the ad at the beginning):
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7nk3_john-coltrane-i-want-to-talk-about_music

A little fado goes a long way with me. Have you seen Carlos Saura's Fados? Mariza is showcased with a great number.

My favourite is Argentina Santos, here is a clip of her from Saura's movie:

Vida vivida

I confess I bawled my head off the first time I heard this song--as is only proper with fado. But I try not to have that happen too often!

The first strophe goes something like this (I'm keeping it as literal as possible): "Turn back, the life I have lived, so that I can see again that life I lost and never knew how to live."

And then you go jump off the nearest bridge.

Other people say fado helps them get suicide out of their system, go figure. *I* suspect they don't know Portuguese. ;)

Well I don't know Portuguese, though I love the sound of the language. I think I need more alcohol than I can manage at this time of day to appreciate fado: I did enjoy the only live performance I have ever encountered, at the extraordinary Arsenio's restaurant in Funchal, Madeira, where some of the waiters (and some of the customers) join in.

Because someone just quoted from the poem to me:

Jacques Prévert's Barbara, performed by Les Frères Jacques

I cannot read anything more as my head is in a bad place right now but i wanted to say thank you to all the beautiful things shown, i wish i could join in but at least i can be here.
hollis

You're welcome, Hollis.

I'm glad this thread revived, because I have something to share:

Rachele Gilmore's 100mpg Fastball

Wow!

Aww, thanks for that, Bob! Some debut!

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing Schubert's Sei mir gegrüßt

great.

Autres temps, autres moeurs...

yeah, kind of innocent.

this has been haunting me recently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saG7EELIfMM

Ah yes. Fantastic soundtrack--and pretty much pure improvisation.

That was the second Criterion I bought...

Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me

an old classic, nice.

Lola, what was the first?

JB, that's FAB! Straight into favorites.

Murr, Renoir's Grand Illusion--opportunistically, there was a great sale.

Is it crazy I remember such things? It comes from ratting about used bookstores, no doubt.

French pop's coolest couple ever:

Françoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc: Brouillard dans la rue Corvisart

Bill and Monica.

No, not that Bill and Monica,

Bill Evans Trio and Monica Zetterlund - "Waltz for Debby"

Very cool. Love it.

It's Monday, and gray, and cold, and November ("the 11th 12th of a weariness"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb5R5HlFV98

My name is David Smith and i am a lurker. Thank you all for sharing, what a lovely thread.

The title of this piece, hamba khale, is a zulu expression said to a close friend on parting company, it means go well.

http://youtu.be/Xk7amU08aC4

Sawubona, David Smith! Very nice. It's funny, I had an imaginary Mr. Smith for a friend when I was little, I don't suppose you're related...

#212

Stepford wives convention in that hotel in Marienbad!

Suggested cure for ennui mortel:

(voice: Juliette Greco, visuals: Marlene Dietrich)

But that's then.

This is NOW.

I am directly related to The Imaginary Smiths, Lola. Sizobonana, perhaps.

Very good, but I'd prefer a shot of ye-ye misreeya. So'aad Hosni:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ssmlc6dU_8

Marion Montgomery and Dudley Moore - "Close Your Eyes"

A friend introduced me to this - er - incomparable piece of classical music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd0bUHvN__0

Mr. Smith, I count on it.

That's a jolly belly dancer.

That's hot.

That's a jolly carrot.

Mary Hopkin - Those Were the Days

They were indeed.

Heh. I listened to that a couple of days ago...

How I love them:

The Mills Brothers: Yellow Bird

In memory of warmer times: Chaino: Jungle Chase: http://www.divshare.com/download/19346398-898

(slides finger between neck and collar and dabs forehead)

... here is something a little cooler,

http://youtu.be/tnXEtu6nwFY

224 & 225

Hot & Cool! Confusion of the senses!

Here's two versions of Gloria Gibbs' Kiss of fire:

the cleaner-sounding, but maybe a touch perfunctory one

the slightly muddier, but lilt-ier one

We choose mud over perfunct, here are my third-glass-of-on-a-cold-saturday-evening choices; heart humming, not singing...

http://youtu.be/TXAXHWnfRQo
http://youtu.be/yze10kM1fyI

Enrico Macias: La femme de mon ami

I wonder if there are any Jews left in Algeria...

Françoise Atlan, otoh, left France for Morocco:

Françoise Atlan: Ya nass

Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus — Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg

That IS delightful.

I came across a non-musical mention of Cleo Laine the other day in some writings by John Lennon, saying how at the height of the racist/xenophobic witch hunt (because of his relationship with Yoko Ono) he thought to turn to Laine and Dankworth for advice, as they were the only other biracial couple he knew of in the UK.

I got to interview Cleo Laine, once. She was quite delightful.

Wow, how cool is that.

People I wish I could interview: Bessie Smith, Tom Waits.

Rimbaud, John of the Cross, Meyrink; gardaa, vieux Pontarlier and background music to taste...

http://youtu.be/ERS7pAL_n0I

Very nice. I have some Toure somewhere... what's that about Rimbaud?

There was one summer when I listened almost exclusively to Bonga:

Paxi Ni Ngongo

235: He screws and he smokes too much: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHybmFlBPHA

And people say *I*'m bad.

Well aren't you?

I wouldn't say I screw and I smoke too much, no.

Speaking of smoking, someone talked me into trying a Cuban cigar after a rather extravagant lunch and I liked it inordinately. Lucky for me, the things cost 40-50 bucks apiece, so I'm in no danger of developing a habit. Just a note that it was unexpectedly fantastically pleasant.

I didn't finish the whole thing though.

Well that's good, I suppose. But does that make you less bad or mo' better?

I can enjoy a cigar, as long as no one else is smoking one. To me, smoking cigars in public is sort of like having a "kill me, please" sign taped to your back. No one dares, but they are tempted.

does that make you less bad or mo' better?

Just perfect. ;)

I am ignorant of cigar lore and customs. This was semi-public, I guess. A very stunning woman at another table was smoking a pipe.

Any ways, at least this guy didn't smoke too much:

http://allpoetry.com/poem/8515133-A_Ramble_in_St._Jamess_Park-by-Lord_John_Wilmo...

Magnificent Rochester!

Loved the comment about the f-word...

"All-sin-sheltering grove": may we all find ours.

Or not lose it!

>235 LolaWalser:
for an interview. i have always been fascinated by his restlessness,

http://youtu.be/_EHl8KZsRqg

now that ben has stretched the boundaries, and as the gainsbourgs keep surfacing....

http://youtu.be/Ot_tRRlxe1A

"Physicians shall believe in Jesus,
And disobedience cease to please us"

I'm going to read him all over again.

for an interview.

Oh, YES.

WHAT was it all about, Arthur?!

I'd ask him whether he really never wrote another verse and if not, didn't he ever want to, and if not, WHAT does it all mean. How is it EVEN POSSIBLE.

But by all accounts he was really a terrible person. He'd probably punch me in the face before I got it all out. Unless I offered to pay him, lots. I think he'd open up to a tabloid and 50K.

#250

You sure it's Hermes and not the Cyprian you need for that?

No, I got other stuff for that. For the luck, the thieving luck. And the timing.

He'd probably flick lice at meyrink and john, i'd have to step in to spare their discomfort.... and become another manifestation of the bourgeois values he was tilting at. I like the idea of the vagabond, but yes, maybe watching him pull my rarest books from their long established shelf spaces would be too much.... he'd want me to burn them, then maybe i could start to understand ?

It doesn't seem he tilted for very long. The African adventure was all about a desperate quest for money.

Maybe he wanted to do all his earning in one go, like taking your dog for a three thousand mile walk ?

I must get a dog if only to try that.

>237 Randy_Hierodule: he screws ... too much

Oh, is that possible? Am reminded of John Betjeman, on being asked if he had any regrets in life, when he answered, "not enough sex", or words to that effect.

So to try to avoid such regrets, with whatever success that we are capable of, is no bad thing.

And so, not to suffer another JB's frustration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fx5FdT_hZo

Monty Sunshine on clarionet, with Chris Barber's band, playing Sydney Bechet's composition - Petite Fleur

Ahhh! Me lorst youf!

I think Betjeman was right; all things considered, what's sweeter than fucking? (Anyone uttering "chocolate" will be spanked until they like it.)

#259

Ah, no, no, no, much too peppy, too andante for my taste. I'm stuck on Bechet's own slow, tremulous, blue version:

Sidney Bechet, Petite fleur

"chocolate" - oops :)

ASKING for trouble! As all are my witness!

Innnn the Booth of Truth with you my chappie, time for a Confession Session with Sister Lola!

Tim Buckley

Lovely!

This makes me suspect that I must (in shocking deviation from my normal adherence to the strictest discretion) have mentioned the episode of Sister Christina.

Not to me you haven't, dear heart. Oh my. I suspect we're looking at lengthier therapy here.

*ill-concealed glee*

In fear and trembling, I would fulsomely concur.

Special rates & cell for you my pretty! Bring your own hairshirt!

Nobody knows what's the proper spelling of the title of this song:

Alexis Korner: Corinna Corinna

This seems to cut across a few of the different paths this thread has gone down. Who makes my heart sing?

Who else?

#269

Ha! Always welcome!

I believe that i may be advertising this in the hope that others will suffer with me, emphasis on "will" as in "wish it to be":

http://youtu.be/2Ih7KzKLLWA

Or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZNTse7bafI

#272, 273

Really nice. Really neat. Puts all kinds of images in my head. Not to speak of the sounds. Noticed the absence of adenoidal chimps in the comments section too.

On throat singing; I'd never heard a woman before:

Female Mongolian Throat Singer

I have a cd of Tuvan shamanic healing, by a woman. I was hoping to find it on youtube, but, alas.... I did catch a Tuvan throat singing troupe at a local club in the mid -1990s. Quite entertaining.

Have you heard The Legendary stardust Cowboy? Such a treat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EEZAivzl1Q

Awww, thanks for that, my education thanks you! Loved the "no description available" comment!

Her name is Ai-Churek Oiun (you can find Tuvans on youtube speaking of her miraculous healing powers)... but it's mostly 50 minutes of clangor. Makes Scott Walker sound like Justin Bieber.

Clangor--was it here we chatted about noise music?

Is it time for a new thread. My heart's not singing. And every time it feels like it never will again.

Gavin Bryars: Jesus' blood never failed me yet

278: Oh, that one captivated me when I heard Bryars discussing it on BBC Radio 3. He told of accidentally leaving the original loop on in the studio when he went out, and coming back to find everyone sunk into an unaccustomed quiet. "Jesus' blood never failed me yet" never failed me yet.

Unfortunately, his Amor Dolçe Sença Pare seems to be around only as a tantalizing iTunes preview: I have the album (Oi Me Lasso), but most of it is much sparer in texture and bleaker in tone.

I heard it first in 1993, when I wanted to DIE in New Orleans. I can't believe I spent basically three out of five years there wanting to DIE, every day and every night.

Other people died instead.

Then I got his Sinking of the Titanic. Another excellent CD to cry to.

Yes, sorry all, this is now all about death and tears! Pandas and LOLCATS do not live here anymore!

273: I just saw this. Tried to sing along, and had to go for a glass of water after about 10 seconds.

275: Just tried that too. Not water this time. Off to find a glass of port and a Mozart string quartet...

Pandas and LOLCATS do not live here anymore!

How about dancing penguins?

Edited to add:
Or - if you're feeling misanthropic: perhaps Cyriak hates fun-fairs will cheer you up?

more penguins

You guys... are golden.

Thanks, I seriously didn't think I'd laugh again this month.

On the subject of animals, cuddly and otherwise, how about this: the only recording I know of jake Thackray singing a song not written by himself, The Gorilla

Birds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rKjOR-4964

#285

That's surprisingly good. JB, you made me a Jake Thackray fan in 2 e-z vids.

#286

Mind-blowing.

Reminds me of the birdsong lab at Rockefeller, a fave general hanging out spot for inmates.

Habitrail to Heaven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEEvpgx21fE

I can't tell if that's serious or not.

It led me to see Hamster Eating Popcorn On A Piano, so I thank you.

It wouldn't be so moving if it wasn't. To the tune of Dixie. Goddamn.

That's legitimately scary.

Kirsty MacColl - Miss Otis Regrets

Oh Kirsty. How I wish you'd never gone on vacation in Mexico.

Yes, she was wonderful... I have her "In these shoes?" on my favourites loop.

Dory Previn - Angels And Devils The Following Day

Kate Dimbleby sings Dory Previn

To be nauseatingly honest: my heart hasn't sung in a long time. But I do enjoy: Lovin' Whisky by Anouk : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1VYsEPEtoQ

Also nice, by the same artist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq1RFUN08qw

Curious, JB.

Ack, Matt, your vids are prohibited to Canada! I hate it when they try to parcel out the interwebs...

But what's with the old heart, you don't say.

I think it's time for a new thread, btw... I think I'll keep the title, seeing it's been nearly two years.

The pump is still fully functioning. Somebody I knew almost all of my life deeply let me down though. Depressed!

As for the interweb parceling: that seems to happen more and more. Grrr. Google "Anouk Lovin Whisky" and "Anouk Nobody's wife"; they should turn up somewhere. She's a Dutch singer/songwriter (lyrics in English though), and well worth hearing.

Is this the same as the vid you linked to?

Anouk Nobody's wife

Oh, there are places I'm gonna post that!

Essentially yes: same artist, same song, only I linked to a different (reggae) version.