FRANCOIS KLARK | stuff & life & music

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LISTEN NOW - Just click the link in my bio ;) #music #francoisklark

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DEBUT SINGLE NOW AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE! Click link in bio above. #newmusic #coldplay #johnlegend #toronto #music

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#NewMusic I’ve been obsessing about...

SEINABO SEY

Unbelievable vocals, passionate performance, and production right up my alley. ‘Still’ is probably my favourite track on her debut album. It is incredibly beautiful. Also check out ‘You’ & ‘Words’

JACK GARRATT

Mind blowing creative production. Awesome soundscape. Well written songs. I just came across this dude two days ago, so I’m pretty new to his stuff. My favourite so far is ‘The Love You’re Given’ https://youtu.be/bOWWLytfmnU?list=PLzksDuNyjw-PuDds4w8LsF78WfTFiKZbr

I found the video for ‘Weathered’ very uplifting, so here it is. Also a great song.

Make the world a better place - Peace. Francois

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Little acoustic performance @flarefashion with @satyandprathadiary

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https://soundcloud.com/francoisklark/georgia-on-my-mind-live-at-the-gibson-toronto

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Song #5 on the new EP being recorded

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Home Town Lovin’ at The Gibson Toronto with Kibs (Keys), Heather (Guitar) & Sekou (Drums)

Photos by: http://www.quinwest.com/

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photo: Quin West

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April 24, 2015 The Gibson Showroom, Toronto (Photo cred: Quin West) You can download the music here...for free

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Bomb show with these guys, and lady, at The Gibson, Toronto. 

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AHrKpQ9mpw)

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Chris Martin is my hero (5/5)

Over the last few years I’ve realized  that I’m a very visual person when it comes to creating or learning things. When I write a new song, the story plays out in my head like scenes from a movie. It is something that happens automatically when I sit in front of the piano. These ‘scenes’ help me to be more descriptive and imaginative with the words & phrases that I use to convey a feeling or to tell a story. As the music starts to take shape around the lyrics I jump between these movie scenes in my head (the story) & what I would like the live show experience to be for the audience (the music & production). I build the music production ideas around what I want to happen on stage or, allow me to dream a bit, what I envision for the production of a live stadium concert. 

I’ve been listening to coldplay since ‘Yellow’ was released, but it wasn’t until the release of the Mylo Xyloto album that I became a hardcore fan. I am crazy about the production and arrangements on this album and lost my brains over the live show stage production - it is incredible!  The band and their production team  seem to constantly push the creative envelope when it comes to stage production. I admire them for their forward thinking and innovative live show production ideas. 

If there is one thing that I’ve learned from watching a Coldplay performance, it is to never limit your ideas with the confines of what is currently possible. If you have an idea and it seems impossible, be relentless in your creativity to figure out how to make it possible. Don’t underestimate the power of creativity - it can turn the impossible into something extraordinary.

Here are two Coldplay performances that changed my life:

as soon as the song starts (4:00) and the lights go on I get overwhelmed by a bunch of crazy emotions...what an incredible moment! I wish I could’ve been part of that moment.

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Lauren Hill is my hero (4/5)

Some of you might know by now that my parents listened to a lot of Abba, BZN and classical music while I was still a preteen. Somehow Michael Jackson and Alanis Morissette miraculously managed to find their way to my ears during those years. Apart from these artists and the classical and folk music I sang in my children’s choir, I didn’t know of much else. Then one day my sister came home after just a week of high school and told me about a bunch of artists that were out there making sweet music. Erykah Badu, Limp Bizkit, Lauryn Hill, Alien Ant Farm, Top Loader, Skunk Anansie, Madonna, Pixies, Goo Goo Dolls...the list was endless. The floodgates opened and from that moment on my hunger to discover new artists and music would never cease. 

Out of all the artists that my sister introduced me to back then there was one voice that stood out to me and stuck with me for the rest of my life - Lauren Hill. She is my favourite vocalist to this day. I am amazed at how emotionally charged her vocal performances are.  With the richest full tone and unbelievable ease she sings the tastiest melodies and riffs that I’ve ever laid ears on. Allow me another cheeseball moment...get ready for it: Her voice is like a cascading waterfall filled with the most astonishing natural beauty. There, I’m done. That was only mildly unbearable, right?

I will always go back to her records and I will never stop learning from her performances - Thank you for being a teacher Ms. Hill.

This is one of my favourite performances by Lauryn Hill - From what I remember she was smack in the middle of a cold when this performance was recorded. She still kills it!

Some of the tunes that came through those flood gates:

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Dave Matthews is my hero (3/5)

My buddy Dirk Höll first introduced me to Dave’s music when we were in high school. He gave me the album ‘Crash’ to listen to. By the time I got to track 3 on the album I was obsessed with his writing. I remember thinking that his songs were like really well written poems. He strings words together in such a simple yet imaginative and colourful way to paint very vivid images of whatever he sings about. 

“...you came to me like wine comes to this mouth grown tired of water all the time. You quench my heart and oh you quench my mind” - Dave Matthews ‘Two Step’

“...funny the way it is, if you think about it One kid walks 10 miles to school, anothers dropping out Funny the way it is, not right or wrong On a soldiers last breath his babys being born Funny the way it is, not right or wrong Somebodys broken heart becomes your favorite song.” - Dave Matthews Band  ‘Funny The Way It Is’

It wasn’t until the summer of 2006 that I saw the Dave Matthews Band in concert. It was only my second summer in Canada since I moved here from South Africa. I couldn’t believe that I was actually going to see them live! As soon as they got on stage and started playing, I called Dirk. It must've been around 4am in South Africa. The music was too loud to try and talk over or even hear Dirk, but I had to share that moment with him as a ‘thank you’ for introducing me to DMB. The energy at a Dave Matthews Band concert is incredible. I was on my feet dancing & singing along with the crowd throughout the entire concert. I’ve seen them play quite a few summers since. Heather Crawford, my dear friend, fellow DMB fan and guitarist in my band, and I even made a road trip to see DMB play the city in which Dave started the band - Charlottesville, Virginia. 

It is because of Dave that I became serious about becoming a songwriter. His songs made me fall in love with the idea of painting stories with words. I admire DMB’s musicianship and aspire to play live performances of the same calibre. 

Since listening to ‘Crash’ that first time in high school, Dave has been the one  musician that I dream of writing and singing with one day. 

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Macklemore is my hero (2/5)

Toronto 2011 -  I stumbled across 'Otherside’ late one night while searching for some new music. I pressed play & was immediately sucked in by the beautiful photography (Jason Koenig), haunting intro vocals (Fences), and the sparse use of piano and strings (Ryan Lewis). This was my introduction to Ben Haggerty: Brutal honesty about a drug addiction that almost destroyed him. The urgency and intensity that he spoke with had me frozen in front of my laptop, unable to look away from the screen. I was taking in every single word of his story. I was drawn to Macklemore as an artist when I realized that this guy really cares about the well being of people. He cares so much that he is willing to lay bare his fight with drugs to show the reality of a destructive lifestyle that rap so often glorifies. 

I’ve discovered a new role model and a mentor. Not only did he make music from a very honest place, but he, along with his producer Ryan Lewis, were one of the best examples of hard working independent musicians that I’ve ever come across. 

I admire Ben & Ryan’s work ethic and perseverance and have learned so much just from the little that I know of how they do things. They’ve inspired me to treat the creative and the business side of music as two equal things. Though I am far from being good at the business side of music, I don’t let a single day go by without putting in everything that I have into this.

Hopefully one day I’ll be able to say thank you in person, but till then, I’ll send a big ‘Thank you Ben & Ryan’ into the universe.

Francois

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...is my hero

Five people that inspire me & the reasons why I look up to them:

My President is my hero (1/5)

South Africa 1994 - When it’s 36*C outside, and you're a barefoot elementary school kid, all you can think of during class is being outside playing hand ball tennis (handjie tennis) in the school courtyard. The bell rang to save us from whichever class we were being held captive in, followed shortly after by a second bell announcing the start of music class. My buddies and I very slowly made our way into music class, greeted the music teacher, and very dramatically collapsed into our uncomfortable wooden school benches. Our South Africa was about to change! “Today we are going to learn the new national anthem” the teacher announced.  As a kid I really didn’t know too much about the politics in my country, but at that very moment I was aware that something very exciting was about to go down in my country. It was incredible - I remember the first day the new flag was flown in front of the school office. Its colours were bold & very impressive. That very morning we sang our new national anthem for the first time as a school. We were so proud of ourselves for having mastered the anthem in all three of the languages that it is sung in. Everything was new and hopeful in our country - all because of a man known as Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, or as we would later lovingly call him, Madiba (Tata).

I am incredibly inspired by Mr. Mandela’s perseverance. I admire and strive to love how he loved even the ones that imprisoned or threatened to kill him. When push comes to shove, I pray that I have the balls to, like him, stand up and fight for what is right even when faced with sure persecution or death. It is my everyday goal to join in his dream of unifying people across cultural and ethnic boundaries, but unlike him doing it through politics, I will stick to music.

I love you Tata, and will forever be thankful for what you did for me and our country.