Quarantine Music Calendar

A little something to pass our time in quarantine, both for the author and the readers. A little something to explore everyday. I am recommending one album each day until the end of April or until the end of my quarantine / self-isolation period or until this thing is over. Think of it as a sort of a Christmas calendar for the lockdown. No chocolates involved, only music. You can also follow my accompanying playlists on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/11149083744 I will update it as we go along. Join me for a musical ride.

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 388: Coldplay - Everyday Life (2019)

What are the characteristics of great art? In my opinion great art provokes feelings, it pinches ones conscience and it makes you think. It may be soul-soothing or provoking and unsettling. It can be because its beauty only, but it can be because of its topic as well. And the best art manages to combine both. And some people prefer art and music to be happy, beautiful, uncomplicated and soothing, so they can get carried away from problems of the real world. Music and art do have that power. That’s nice and relaxing and sometimes very useful. I do see the value of that. But I always had a thing for artists who not only make great art of its own great value, be it music, literature or visual art, but who simultaneously point to ethical questions and issues. Simply put, I do like artists who grab my attention and point it towards the faults, failures and wrongdoings of us all as a society. I have a soft spot for conscience-jerking music. And we are not a majority, but I am definitely not the only one.

While loads of artists support and perform for charitable causes, there are really only few who take these topics and incorporate them directly and permanently into the fabric of who they are and make it a part of their core identity. I know of several others less famous ones (Nick Mulvey, Moddy just to name a few), but among the really big globally successful names, there are really only two: U2 and Coldplay.

Coldplay is a band I have a long long love-hate relationship with. 19 years ago, when they released their 2nd album, A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002), it felt like a gust of fresh air in a slightly stuffy and stale pop music scene. It was a mix of an alternative indie rock with a sprinkle of pop added for better accessibility. And similar to U2 they were not afraid to speak about uncomfortable topics: politics, global trade, environmental and humanitarian issues. They mixed great music with ethics and conscience in an authentic and a very cool way. That record was raw, wholesome and beautiful and yet with a palpable sense of urgency. They built on the sound of their first album, which was marked by moody vocals, bright guitar instrumentals littered with pop hooks and added heavier piano lines, more electric guitars and some darker lyrics. And I loved it. It’s still one of my top 5 albums ever.

And then, after 2 critically acclaimed albums and a 3rd one which was criticized for lack of evolution sound and style-wise and being too predicable, they decided a bit more commercial success wouldn’t hurt and traded being personal for commercial viability. They moved towards bigger electronic sound. Viva La Vida (2008) sounded distinctively happier, warmer, colourful and more orchestral then their previous albums and at the same time it contained many of the stylistic features from their previous albums. After that they lost me completely. I love their first 2 albums, Parachutes (2000) and A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002). X&Y (2005) and Viva La Vida (2008) were OK. I missed the depth of the topics and sounds from their earlier production, but it was OK. On Mylo Xyloto (2011) they lost me completely. Their records were catchy, but just a generic electronic and shallow pop with vague silly lyrics. There was nothing for me on it. Same goes for their 2015 record A Head Full of Dreams . In between these two records they’ve put out Ghost Stories (2014), which were still pop-ish, but more ambient and softer. More quiet, reflective and minimalist. With some exceptions. It felt like they found way to get back to their roots. To be honest, since about 2003 Coldplay seems to be in a permanent identity crisis.

Yet, in 2019 they released Everyday Life. A fairly experimental double album. And after nearly 2 decades it’s finally something I can enjoy again. It’s an eclectic collection of styles (alternative rock, world music, gospel), but it somehow works. And there’s not a single EDM song on it (sigh of relief). It’s stripped-back set of songs about the current state of the world which showcases their versatility. The fact that they decided not to tour the album even before they recorded it probably gave them freedom to create a stripped-back set of songs about the current state of the world showcasing their versatility without having to worry too much about the sales and the commercial side of it. As Charlotte Krol described it, the album veers frequently between the topical and timeless highs and lows of love, war, racism, faith, gun control, friendship, climate change and police brutality. It’s an unflinching contemplation on the state of the world.(1) Opener Sunrise sets the tone beautifully with a major/minor string arrangement that could be from a war film soundtrack – not the work of one of the planet’s biggest bands. The lead violin plays an at once mournful and hopeful timbre: a perfect representation of Martin’s note on the duality of good and bad. (1) Church is an ambient, moving, transcendental pop track. And one hand it’s clearly about love and the acceptance, peace and comfort as well as passion that only a love can give. And as the same time the swells of strings, cascading guitar arpeggios and the beautiful part sung in Arabic by Norah Shaqur turns the song onto a wonderful all-encompassing all-accepting space where everyone is welcome. The song is about worship. And in this case it’s worshiping his lover, rather then a particular God of any specific religious tradition, but the song   does have the qualities of a spiritual sanctuary. Arabesque is another highlight. It’s one of Coldplay’s most atypical songs, with Nigerian brass arrangements blasting over a hulking, psychedelic prog-rock backbone. Three generations of the Kuti family appear on the record – so does Palestinian oud group Le Trio Joubran and Belgian superstar singer Stromae – which makes for a fittingly globetrotting record that espouses unity in the human race (“we share the same blood”). (1)

The closing title track, Everyday Life, is another of the wonderful one-world ballads. And it’s a really good one. Its blooming strings and repeated chants of “Hallelujah”, sets you up for a ‘Fix You’-style cry fest but slightly short-circuits the whole thing. Still, it’s an interesting decision for a band that trades in build-and-release euphoric pop – and maybe that’s the point. (1)

For environmental and other reasons Coldplay decided not to tour the album. Instead they recorded a live concert from Jordan, from the old Citadel in Amman. First part was shot at sunrise and the second one at sunset. And the backdrop of the rooftops of the old Amman city is simply stunning. The choice of the location being right next to war to Syria and in the country that took in so many of refugees of that civil war is of course intentional and well thought of. Unsurprisingly. I do recommend watching the whole live performance:

Happy Saturday, relax and enjoy.

Album highlights:  - Sunrise - Church - Arabesque - Everyday Life

Links and references:     - Coldplay - Wikipedia    - Everyday Life (album) - Wikipedia    -  (1) C. Krol (22 November 2019), Coldplay – ‘Everyday Life’ review: a confounding experiment from a deceptively forward-thinking band. NME.

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 369:  Jan Dismas Zelenka - Missa Paschalis

As I mentioned last year in April in this blog (Day 12: Jan Dismas Zelenka - Selected works), Jan Dismas Zelenka is possibly the best kept secret of Czech baroque music. He is one my best musical discoveries of the past few years.

Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679 – 1745) is one of the greatest phenomena of European musical baroque. He was born in Louňovice pod Blaníkem (about 70 km southeast of Prague) and works most of his life at the court in Dresden, composing mostly sacred music for the catholic court church of the Wettin Electors of Saxony. His work is so distinctive that it can be recognized at first listening. It’s characteristics are excellently crafted melodies, he works impressively with the text, brilliantly uses colorful instrumental effects, creates a constant tension that results in catharsis as effective as when listening to Bach's or Handel's masterpieces. (2)

One of his best works is the festive Easter Mass, Missa Paschalis (ZWV 7), composed in 1726. It was recently recorded by the baroque orchestra Ensemble Inégal, conducted by Adam Viktora. They also included the 1735  Litaniae Omnium Sanctorum  (ZWV 135) on the album. Their take on this Baroque masterpiece sounds dynamic, captivating and fresh. And in my oppinion it’s one of the nicest Easter music ever.

Happy Easter Sunday, relax and enjoy.

Highlights: - Missa Paschalis (ZWV 7) - “Kyrie. Kyrie eleison I” - Missa Paschalis (ZWV 7) - “Gloria. Gloria in excelsis Deo” - Missa Paschalis (ZWV 7) - “Gloria. Quoniam.” - Missa Paschalis (ZWV 7) - “Gloria. Cum sancto spirito.” - Missa Paschalis (ZWV 7) - “Credo. Et resurrexit.” - Missa Paschalis (ZWV 7) - “Credo. Amen come nel gloria.” - Missa Paschalis (ZWV 7) - “Benedictus”

Playlist: shorturl.at/fEUX4

Links and References: (1) Jan Dismas Zelenka - Wikipedia (2) L. Stehlík, M. Slimáčková Michálková, M. Freemanová (16 January 2009). “Jan Dismas Zelenka - Missa purificationis Beatae Virginis Mariae D dur (1733) ZWV 16, Litaniae lauretanae „Consolatrix afflictorum“ (1744) ZWV 151’’. Harmonie.

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 366: The Barry Sisters - Shalom (1961)

Tonight is the night when Passover and Easter meet. So to mark the Jewish origin of Easter, here’s a bit of klezmer flavoured swing/jazz sung in Yiddish.

Clara (1920 - 2014) and Merna (Minnie) Bagelman (1924 - 1976), Bronx-born daughters of Ashkenazi Jewish parents from Russia and Austria-Hungary, started performing in the late 30s, first as The Bagelman Sisters, but as they got more popular and joined a show on a mainstream radio, they changed their stage surname from Bagelman to Barry Sisters. They sung popular Yiddish tunes with the best jazz / swing orchestrations and became glamorous stars of the Jewish-American cultural circles. They performed as resident artists in Las Vegas and appeared in variety shows such as  “The Ed Sullivan Show.” They were one of the few American acts to tour the Soviet Union in 1959.

Passover Medley was composed by Moshe Oyshern. It’s a funny medley consisting of 3 traditional Passover songs. The first song included is “Dayenu”. The word “Dayenu” means approximately “it would have been enough for us”, “it would have been sufficient”, or “it would have sufficed”. This traditional Passover song is over one thousand years old. The earliest full text of the song occurs in the first medieval Haggadah. The song is about being grateful to God for all of the gifts he gave the Jewish people, such as taking them out of slavery, giving them the Torah and Shabbat, and had God only given one of the gifts, it would have still been enough. (The Haggadah is a book that Jews read on the first night of Passover. It tells about our slavery in Egypt and the miracles G-d did for us when freeing us. The word Haggadah means “telling,”) The song appears in the Haggadah after the telling of the story of the exodus and just before the explanation of Passover and matzah. The second one is “Chad Gadya” which means ‘One little Goat’. It is one of the best known songs of the Seder and is sung after the meal towards the end of the evening. Its earliest known inclusion is in the Sefer Rokeach was about 1160–1238. The song’s canonical text is almost entirely in Aramaic, but in the Barry Sisters’ interpretation “Chad Gadya” sounds in Yiddish.What were they singing here about? Actually it’s a story that tells how one father bought a little goat, which is eaten by a cat, which is bitten by a dog, which is hit by a stick and so on. At first the song seems to be a child’s story but has traditionally been interpreted in an allegorical way, each of the verses connecting the song to one of the themes of Pesach and referring to the many persecutions of the Jews who, according to the song’s optimistic ending, will be redeemed by the one true God ‘slaying the Angel of Death’. In Yiddish slang, the term “chad gadya” is a euphemism for jail. A prisoner is said to languish in a chad gadya — that is, all alone. The third part of the medley is “Ki Lo Na’eh, Ki Lo Ya’eh” and it dates to the 15th century and is one of the later constituents of the Haggadah. It is constructed in eight stanzas, and it’s meaning is “For it fits and befits him…”  Words na’eh and ya’eh are near synonims, both meaning "befitting, appropriate, proper" (2) Beltz is a melancholic ballad looking back at the childhood spent in the poor Eastern European town of Beltz (Bălți in today's Moldova). Roshinles un Mandlin (Raisins and Almonds) is a lullaby written by Abraham Goldfaden (1840 - 1906) and based on an old traditional tune. It’s lyrics go: “Under baby's cradle in the night - Stands a goat so soft and snowy white - The goat will go to the market - To bring you wonderful treats- He'll bring you raisins and almonds - Sleep, my little one, sleep.” Chiribim Chiribom is a happy tune with a playful lyrics centered around children and the Purim holiday. Shein Vi Di Levonne (Beautiful Like a Moon) is traditional Yiddish folk song adapted into a popular swing ballad by Joseph Rumshinsky and Chayim Tauber.

Happy Thursday, relax and enjoy.

Highlights: - Passover Medley - Beltz - Roshinled un Mandlin (Raisins and Almonds) - Chiribim Chiribom - Shein Vi Di Levonne (Beautiful Like a Moon)

Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2Uy4DUM

Links and references: (1) The Barry Sisters - Wikipedia (2) A. Gurevich (25 March 2015), Unveiling a secrets of ‘Passover Medley‘ by The Barry Sisters,  What were they singing about?/Medium.com

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 351: Thomas Dybdahl - Fever (Extended Version) (2021)

About 7 years ago a friend of mine from my university days, a Norwegian who studied music (and international relations) and plays in a rock band, with whoom I used to occasionally discussed music (and politics), mentioned Thomas Dybdahl and recommended him as someone worth checking out. I did. But at that point, apart from 1 or 2 songs, I thought he was a little too mellow, too sleepy, too bland. I wasn’t in to soul back then. It’s the same with jazz. It takes time and one has to mature into it. It just didn’t click.

And then I have rediscovered him 6 years later. By then, he has recorded 3 more studio albums. The Great Plains (2017) was a good one, but too country infused to my taste. All These Things (2018) was saturated with ballads. I could appreciate the sonic quality, the technicality of his compositions and his warm vocals, but it was not my cup of tea. On both of the albums I found 2 songs I liked, the more upbeat ones. The rest somehow didn’t hold my interest. I’m a picky listener. I know what I like and what’s not for me almost immediately I hear it.

Thomas Dybdahl is a Norwegian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, originally from Sandnes (south of Stavanger). He was part of Quadraphonics, who released one album and its sound could be described as a mix of funk, groove, soul and electronic. A bit like Jamiroquai, but less dance-like and bit more soul. In 2003 Dybdahl embarked on a solo career and 17 years later here we are ... 

In the spring of 2020 Dybdahl released his 8th album, Fever. And then he finally caught my attention. The album was well received by moth critics and public, the one critical point which was mentioned over and over again, was, that the record was way too short. With 9 songs clocking just under 29 minutes, it really is a bit too short. Either way, it is his first record that I really really love and I can have in on repeat for a whole afternoon and don’t get bored. Last week, exactly a year since the release of Fever, he has released an extended version of the album. He added 5 more songs and in my opinion, this extended one is his best work yet.

It’s a groovy soul guitar driven album, full of lush vibes without any come downs. In comparison to his last album, there are hardly any subdued folksy ballads and the album is overall more mainstream and ore accessible. As Raul Stanciu pointed out, the album harkens heavily to late ‘60s – early ‘70s pop, soul, R’n’B and blues rock music. (2) Compared to his previous records, this album is even more D.I.Y. Dybdahl played virtually all the instruments and tracked almost all vocals. (3) The first 9 songs were released just when the whole went into lockdown for the first time, but with the additional 5 ones recorded during 2020 and added to the extended version there was no other choice. D.I.Y. was the only way to do it at all. It was then mixed and co-produced by Håvard Rosenberg.

The opening track 45 is a catchy song reflecting on life crisis and feelings of failing and not living up to ones potential. Hard Liquor is one of the 5 songs that were added to the 2021 extended edition of the album and it already reflects the bizarre life we have been living in the past 12 months of lockdowns and restrictions, trying to get by by all kinds of means, even resorting to booze to ease the tension and pain occasionally. Both songs are uplifting, breezy and downright infectious. Fever is a sensual ballad and I don’t think I need to describe or analyze it any more. Just give it a listen and use your own imagination.

The track On My Way to California is an intimate ballad that would fit well to any of his last 3 albums. It is crowned by dusty guitar solos and groovy bass notes, sweet croons and falsettos. It’s one of the best songs on the album. (2)

Happy Thursday, relax and enjoy.

Album highlights:  - 45 - Fever - Hard Liquer - On My Way To California

Playlist: https://1url.cz/nKtT9 

Links and references:   - Thomas Dybdahl - Wikipedia   -  (1) R. Olsen (25 May 2020), Thomas Dybdal annonserer Cabin Fever: Ufrivillig åpen kalender ble til ny musikk. Musikknyheter.no. - (2) R. Stanciu (15 March 2020), Thomas Dybdahl: Fever. SputnikMusic. - (3) T. Jurek (13 March 2020), Thomas Dybdahl: Fever. AllMusic.

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 348: Dietrich Buxtehude - Abendmusiken

In 1705 a young twenty year old musician walked 380 kilometers from Arnstadt in Thuringia to the port city of Lübeck to hear a pre-eminent organist from Marienkirche, the main parish church of the port. The young musician stayed nearly 3 months to hear him play and learn a thing or two about composition. The famous organist was Dietrich Buxtehude. The young man who walked 2 weeks to hear him play was Johann Sebastian Bach.

Baroque music has a special ability to touch the heart. Personally I feel that it can touch the heart twice if it’s religious baroque music. And if it’s German Lutheran religious baroque music then I am at my happiest, because I am somehow specially tuned to it. There’s something absolutely unique, beautiful and profound at the same time about the musical tradition that sprang from the German Lutheran choral and peaked in the form of magnificent oratorios by Bach. It’s something that gets me every single time. The works of Dietrich Buxtehude are one of the best ones of that tradition.

The Danish / German Dietrich Buxtehude (1637 - 1707) was born in Helsingborg, an old port town in northern Scania, which was part of Denmark at the time (nowadays Sweden) and was strategically placed at the narrowest point of the Øresund strait. His father was the organist of the St.Olav parish church and Dietrich followed quite naturally in his footsteps. He was first employed as an organist in his native Helsingborg, then in Helsingør (directly across the Øresund strait) and in 1668 he moved to the German port of Lübeck to take the post of organist and Werkmeister at the Marienkirche. He married the daughter of his recently decided predecessor, Franz Tunder, and he also continued the tradition of evening concerts. These series of evening musical performances on the 5 Sundays preceding Christmas, known as Abendmusik, were started by Tunder at Marienkirche and sponsored by the city establishment, attracted musicians from near and far away places and remained a feature of the church until 1810. In 1703 Friedrich Händel and Johann Mattheson visit the elderly Buxtehude in Lübeck. The visit is productive but ends quite abruptly when he offers them his post at the Marienkirche on one condition: That person will have to marry his eldest daughter. Händel and Mattheson decline and leave Lübeck the next day. Couple years later, in November 1705, Johann Sebastian Bach makes his trip to Lübeck to hear the famed Abendmusik condert series. He stays for Christmas as well and finally leaves in February 1706. Dietrich Buxtehude may not be the greatest or most progressive organist ever, that title would most likely belong to his visiting student Bach, but his compositions and style have influenced the whole upcoming generation of German composers. Not only Mattheson, Händel and Bach, but also Telemann and Brahms.

The 2018 Abendmusiken album recorded by the voices of Vox Luminis combining with the vitality of the instrumentalists of Ensemble Masques is the best interpretation of Buxtehude’s evening music series I have found. This collaboration of two ensembles who both specialize on old music makes for lively, authentic and expert performance that is pure pleasure to hear and dive into. My personal highlights of the set are the following: Gott hilf mir, denn das Wasser geht mir bis an die Seele  (BuxWV 34) is cantata of 6 parts on Psalm 69, 14-15. I have decided to include the first 3 of the total 6 parts of this work. The somber yet beautiful 1st part, the purely instrumental Sonata, perfectly paints a picture of water raising up. If you don’t hear the water rising in it, then there’s probably something seriously wrong with your imagination. The following part, Gott hilf mir, is prayer lamenting and pleading with God. In contrast, the third part, Fürchte dich Nicht, is much more uplifting. Trio Sonata in B-Flat Major (BuxWV 255) is a lovely playful tune for violin, viola da gamba and basso continuo.

Herzlich Lieb hab’ ich Dich, O Herr (BuxWV 41) is another cantata, this time based on a older Lutheran hymn of a same name, written in 1569 in Amberg (hist. region Oberpfalz - nowadays Bavaria) by Martin Schalling.

Happy Sunday, relax and enjoy.

Highlights:   - Trio Sonata in B-Flat Major (BuxWV 255) - Gott hilf mir, denn das Wasser geht mir bis an die Seele (BuxWV 34), Parts I-III: I. Sonata, II. Gott hilf mir, III. Fürchte dich Nicht - Herzlich Lieb hab’ ich Dich, O Herr - Part I. Herzlich Lieb hab’ ich Dich (BuxWV 41)

Playlist: shorturl.at/fEUX4

Links and references: - Dietrich Buxtehude - Wikipedia  

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 278: La Folia 1490 - 1701 - by various composers, played by Jordi Savall et co. (2017)

La Folía (Spanish), or Follies of Portugal (English), also known as folies du Portugal or folies d'Espagne (French), La Follia (Italian), and Folia (Portuguese), is one of the oldest remembered European musical themes (1), a simple chord pattern that was as common in the 17th century as the standard blues progression is for rock bands today. (In both cases, the chords are merely backdrops for expansive and, ideally, virtuosic variations.)(2) The theme exists in two versions, referred to as early and late folias, the earlier being faster. (1) In my selection I have included both. Savall, a Catalan conductor, viol player and music historian manages to transform the early music, which can sometimes be scholarly and for the ears of a 21st-century-individual hard to follow into a genuinely entertaining experience, warm and full of wide range of emotions.

Most of these folias lie on the foundation of four chords in various progressions upon which the players improvise. (3) The interpretations by Jordi Savall and his ensemble are graceful and full of melancholical lyricism. The percussion played by Pedro Estevan evoke a feeling of hearing military drums. Savall enthusiastically probes the Iberian background of these pieces, supplementing the “diferencias” by Antonio Martín y Coll with castenets, a questionably “authentic” touch but one that certainly adds to their implicit flamboyance. (3)

If this is the sort of music that was played at the Spanish court in the 15th - 18th century, I really wouldn’t mind going back in time and visiting for an evening.

Happy Sunday, relax and enjoy.

Highlights:   - Folia: Rodrigo Martinez, 1490 - Improvisations D'Après Le Villancico Du CMP (Anonyme) - Recercada Ottava Sobre La Folia, 1553 (Ortiz)   - D'Après le Mss. Flores De Música 1357-60, Madrid Bibl. Nacional (1706-1709) (Martín Y Coll) - Folia: Para Quien Crié Cabellos, 1557 (De Cabezón)

Playlist: shorturl.at/fEUX4 Links and references: - Jordi Savall - Wikipedia   (1) Folia - Wikipedia (2) A. Kozinn (12 May 2007) Soft Sounds, Subtle Shadings: What Would Have Been on Louis XIV’s iPod. The New York Times. (3) La Folia. ClassicsToday.

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 269: Michael Praetorius - Lutheran Mass for Christmas Morning (Christmette)

I don’t know any music that is more Christmassy then the Mass for Christmas Morning, lutheran Christmas hymns, reconstructed and directed by Paul McCreesh and recorded by the Gabrieli Consort & Players ensamble in 1994. Not even Bach’s Christmas Oratorium.

Bach’s works are definitely superior in their artistic quality, but we’re talking Christmas. And Christmas music should be sung in church. By the congregation. So Bach’s Christmas Oratorium, however beautiful and flawlessly performed, it is and will always remain primarily a concert performance piece. On the other hand, these hymns written by Preatorius and arranged into a set in style of a reconstructed Lutheran Christmas mass as it may have sounded around the year 1620 somehow give a feeling that a decent parish choir comprised of only moderately trained amateur singers would be able to perform it on a level decent enought. Simply put it somehow sounds more real, more like music that a community of a parish may enjoy together. A bit like today in the Czech Republic groups of amateur singers come together and perform the Christmas Mass by J. J. Ryba. And the joy of singing it (at least partially) together, that alone makes it more Christmassy. And for my personal preferences, well I have said multiple times  that I am a sucker for old classical music, so there’s no wonder.

Michael Praetorius (1571 - 1621) was born as Michael Schultze close to Eisenach, Thüringen. Praetorius was the conventional Latinized form of this family name, Schultze meaning "village judge or magistrate" in German. He wrote a vast number of Lutheran church hymns, which were translated from German into other languages, and you will be hard pushed to find a protestant hymnal today that doesn’t include at least some of his works. He also wrote  secular music, particularly dances.

Praetorius, the first great composer of Lutheran church music, wrote countless pieces based on popular Lutheran chorale tunes, ranging from simple harmonizations to flamboyant fantasias for multiple choirs with instruments. He also provided detailed instructions regarding various performance options --including ways to involve the congregation. Paul McCreesh put these instructions into practice and reconstructed an extravagant Christmas service. We hear elaborately scored Mass movements, simple harmonizations, the Creed (with Luther's own music), lusty congregational singing, and spirited organ improvisations. (1) Today he is probably best know for the Christmas hymn / song Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming).

In a true Lutheran way, the lyrics of the hymns are sung in latin as well as the local language, i.e. German. The record includes several “protestant Christmas hits”, Wie Schön Leuchtet Der Morgenstern and Uns Ist Ein Kindlein Heut Geborn are two of the highlights and this is imho probably their best recorded version. Credo, the hymn Wir Glauben All An Einen Gott, is set to text by Martin Luther.

My absolute favourite is the 2nd half of the Sanctus Motet “Jesaja dem propheten das geschah”, from around 03:25 almost till the end. Something about the harmony and modulation, and I’m still not quite sure what it is, makes me want to scream and cry from joy everytime I hear it.

Merry Christmas, Happy Friday, relax and enjoy.

Album highlights:   - Introit: Puer Natus In Bethlehem - Kyrie (Missa: Gantz Teudsch) - Pulpit Hymn: Quem Pastores Laudavere - Sanctus Motet: Jesaja Dem Propheten Das Geschah - Communion Motet: Wie Schön Leuchtet Der Morgenstern - Final Hymn: Puer Nobis Nascitur

Playlist: shorturl.at/fEUX4

Links and references:  

- Michael Praetorius - Wikipedia  -  (1) www.gabrieli.com

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 267: National - Sleep Well Beast (2017)

Sleep Well Beast (2017) by The National is one of my favorite albums of the last couple of years. It came out 3 years ago and since then I’ve been coming back to it at least every three months. No matter the emotional state I’m in, happy, gloomy or hopeful, it’s a brilliant album and there’s always something for me on this album.

Introspective, dark, moody, yet very catchy is the a signature combination of this  Ohio five-piece. Josh Modell has summed up their typical approach in his review of the album: “Albums by The National are like your friendly neighborhood lush: In just an hour or so, they’re able to drink you under the table, say something profound enough to make the whole bar weep, then stumble out into the pre-dawn, proud and ashamed in equal measure. They also tend to be sneaky, both lyrically and musically—it’s kind of their trick, to insinuate themselves slowly over time, appearing at first to be more meditative and less hooky than they actually are.“ (1) And as with most records of this band, this an album that rewards repeat listens and uncurls its beauty slowly over time.

Topic-wise, the album is partly political (as is to be expected) and partially a marriage counseling diary depicting the relationship of Matt and his wife/lyrical collaborator Carin Besser.

The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness is a song about the current troubled  state of affairs the US is experiencing politically with the rise of dark ethno-nationalistic elements selling people a twisted hate-based faith of sorts. Matt Berninger said the song is about the "darkness before the dawn" in that the system (our society) and  the only cure for this new dark time we've found ourselves in is to eradicate this twisted dark faith.

Day I Die contains a spectacular drumming part and it’s song so energetic, that I often use it as a soundtrack for “getting things done“. Works every single time. The song is a meditation about ones direction and his status in his final hours, yet somehow I feel it’s a quite optimistic one.

Carin at the Liquor Store is a gorgeous love song with inorganic beats replaced by a very human piano and Berninger’s baritone voice. In fact, it’s one of the album’s only love songs. But of course, The National being The National, it comes at the subject sideways and paints a picture of a pretty dysfunctional attachment.

Nobody Else Will Be There is an intimate track with a simple beat and bare piano line  and it paints a picture of a relation struggling under the weight or a boring reality of a ordinary family life.

Turtleneck is a raw primal song about the frustration of mob psychology and the current state of the politics. And although Trump is not explicitly mentioned, one doesn’t have to read too hard in between the lines to find the references (“Just another man in shitty suits that everybody’s cheering for”).

Three (of the six) albums immediately preceding this record are really really good ones. But I’d say this one is their best so far. Their 7th album carries a sense of quiet urgency about it. The band has expanded their sonic palette even more since their 6th album. It’s particularly noticeable that Bryce Dessner has developed massively in his alternate career as a composer of classic and art music, writting several concert works for  symphony orchestras, collaborating with Nico Muhly and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. “Electronics are used for texture and shade, vocal harmonies glide through the mix, pianos anchor a couple of tunes -- all subtle gradients within the National's recognizable formula, but they're enough to give Sleep Well Beast a distinct character.“ (2) The texture and shade, vocal harmonies glide through the album effortlessly. And the record also contains an untypical amount of guitar solos.

Happy Wednesday, relax and enjoy.

Album highlights:   - The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness - Day I Die - Carin at the Liquor Store - Nobody Else Will Be There - Turtleneck

Playlist:   https://spoti.fi/3bB5lH7 

Links and references:   - The National - Wikipedia  - (1) J. Modell (6 July 2017), The National doesn’t rest on the excellent Sleep Well Beast. The AV Club. - (2) T. Erlewine (8 September 2017), The National: Sleep Well Beast. AllMusic.

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 254: Kaizers Orchestra - Ompa Til Du Dør (2001)

There aren’t that many rock bands who incorporate a string bass, a wheezy pump organ, brake drums (yes, from car wheels), oil barrels and crowbars into their standard instrument setting. But the Kaizers Orchestra from Stavanger (western Norway) does just that. And they do it well. Well, they did. They went into an indefinite hiatus at the end of 2013, in the same year when I discovered them. But I managed to see them live in concert twice that year, it was amazing both times and it will remain stuck in my memory as some of the best concerts I have even seen. Once in Prague Roxy which was absolutely packed with about 2000 people and exploding with energy and then 5 months later again in Bergen, but this time in an open air concert with 30.000 people in audience inside the old Bergen fort. It was electric both time, just in a very different way.

For little over a decade Kaizers Orchestra were the biggest band in Norway. But Outside Scandinavia they are almost unknown. Their image and sound of jingly drums and wheezy old organ and their theatrical art of an evil circus band or a carnival freak show makes for a mysterious dark atmosphere and very entertaining concerts. It’s a bit of a Balkan gypsy music meets punk rock and there is something distinctly Tom Waits-esque about them. Janove’s gritty and raspy voice and his singing style, very syncopated and almost on the verge of rapping, yet intentionally quite erratic, enhances his image of an evil circus director even more. Watch that and imagine this is someone who studied to become a teacher. And to top their theatrics even more, there’s Helge Risa, aka Omen Kaizer, aka Mr. 250% who plays the old organ and accordion wearing a gas mask. He’s portraying this weird character who always stoically enters the stage before the rest of the band, in his gas mask (bought in a charity shop in Stavanger for 40 NOK back in the days), wearing a suit and holding a briefcase.

All of their song lyrics are in Norwegian, specifically in jærsk dialekt (valley south of Stavanger), which some may find even more fascinating (e.g. nerds like me), but clearly the absolute majority of people outside of Norway won’t. But I find that sometimes listening to lyrics in a language I don’t understand can be also liberating. 

If you want to enjoy their unique rock / brass / industrial sound, their 1st regular record, Ompa Til Du Dør (2001, Ompa Til You Die) is the one to go for.

The album is a collection of stories about strange characters on the social periphery: sailors, soldiers, Mr. Kaizer and his gang and others like this.

If you ask what “ompa” is, it’s quite hard to translate precisely, but it is an interjection word that describes the cling and musical tone of a brass band of the janissary tradition, possibly close to Balkan folk music. So loosely translated, Ompa Til Du Dør means something along the lines of “make loud music with a kick till you die”.

Kontroll På Kontinentet (Control over the Continent) has a distinct fairground / circus band feel about it. And in live concerts it’s the song when the crowds go wild and sing along like mad. Story-wise it’s song of a mafia boss showing off and listing his conditions of how his successor should look and act like should he himself loose his life.

Resistansen (The Resistance) is a story of a mafia gang and their headquarters. The song features a brilliant group chorus before culminating in the euphoric chant of the album title

The song 170 is a story of a soldier stuck in a war trench, who is called by his general not by his name but rather by his number “170”. The melody reminiscent of an old shanty song, but its banjo line and a very slow, almost tired and clumsy, rhythm gives it more of a wild west - high noon sort of feel. Either way it adds even more character to the record.

My personal favorite of all Kaizers’s songs is the single ballad on this album, Bris (Breeze). It’s sung from the perspective of a character called Kristoffer, a ex-solder who came back from war wounded and crippled and now lingers on the periphery of society. He is pondering his war memories, the sacrifice he had to give to the war and society and while casually talking to the wind at the same time.

Happy Thursday, relax and enjoy.

Album highlights: - Kontroll På Kontinentet (Control over the Continent) - Ompa Til Du Dør (Ompa Til You Die) - 170 - Resistansen (The Resistance) - Bris (Breeze)

Playlist:   https://spoti.fi/3bB5lH7 

Links and references:   - Kaizers Orchestra - Wikipedia  

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 251: The Verve - Forth

The Verve may very likely be the band that holds the record for breaking up the the most. As of writing this in late 2020, they have split 3 times now.

And The Bittersweet Symphony may be their biggest hit and also their biggest pain, given the royalties issue that took over 20 years to settle (Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have eventually given up their share of the song and gave it to Ashcroft in May 2019), but in my opinion the best record of The Verve is not the one with The Bittersweet Symphony on it. Urban Hymns (1997) is a very good album. But I would argue that Forth (2008) is even better.

Forth, as well as many of Ashcroft’s solo albums, is also a window into a creative mind dealing with issues. Having nearly ended on anti-depressants in my early thirties and getting away with a doing “therapy only“ for few months myself I did have a taste of the sort of dark place Ashcroft’s songwriting is coming from. I know the swings between ecstatic creative and dark paralyzing episodes. In this scenario, creativity can come from an euphoric place full of joy and energy or even from a dark melancholic place where you shut the world off, but your senses are so sharp and focused that you can come up with something dark yet brilliant. On this album, the best illustration of the state of mind first mentioned is Love Is Noise. Sit and wonder or Numbness on the other hand have a kind of energy about it, that makes me think it’s coming from the latter one. Both beautiful songs, but very very different. And then there are the truly paralyzing periods of dark deep sadness where, in the best case scenario, one only wants to melt into the background and not be anymore. And to be honest, without these mental conditions a lot of great art work and music would never even exist. I don’t want to glorify it in any way. It truly sucks when you’re dealing with it and it depends a on what specific condition it is. But whereas some disorders are only crippling and destructive, other ones, a bipolar disorder for example, can come with a period of heightened creativity or sharpened senses as side effects. My point is, that many great works of art would probably never even came into existence without the mentally altered minds of their creators. So at least something good comes out of it. Sometimes. Valium Skies and Appalachian Springs may be also reflections of experiences of mental health issues, but these are coming from a good place of calmness and confidence.

Musically, the record sounds totally like The Verve we know from the 90s, yet at the same time it’s more confident, consistant, streamlined and elegant. And the fact that it’s also less raw and a bit more polished my be a bit detrimental, but it is to be expected. It would be  quite weird and even suspicious if musicians didn’t get better at their craft with age.

Love Is Noise is an addictive dance - rock epic. It’s full of hooks and over spilling with energy, yet it’s a comment on the destructiveness of human encroachment and a warning that once we lose something, it's gone forever. 

Although they are individually very distinct and very different, Rather Be, Columbo and Valium Skies could have come from the Urban Hymns (1997) record. They would fit right in. Ashcroft’s anthemic instincts melt beautifully with guitarist McCabe’s experimental streak to be greater than the sum of their parts. In that, they are typical Verve songs. (1)

Valium Skies is a love ballad and it’s about living with depression as well. In an interview with BBC Steve Lamacq, Richard Ashcroft explained this song: "The term Valium Skies has been in my mind for 10, 15 years. You get them all over the country but back home, up North, sometimes that grey, grey, grey cloud seems so low you can almost touch it and, but it was also a metaphor for depression and it's about being with someone who recognizes almost where you can go, how dark you can go but still is with you. He's in a band and he knew every time when you're breaking down, you know. 'When it comes to my Valium skies, she don't mind if I cry,' and I think that's a test of any relationship, I think, and really I was trying to get that across, I think. It's one of them songs that you first hear and then after a couple of listens it, the chorus had me for about a month after we recorded that. I was just, I couldn't get it out of my mind and it, yet it doesn't seem like an obvious single song or anything and again good playing by everyone, great guitars and good work." (2)

Rather Be is a statement against the constant information overload we’re living in and the human need to live “in the moment”. The song was apparently way more experimental and psychedelic at an earlier stage of the process, but at the end it was decided to put the more song-like version on the record. But I am really curious, how did it sound like. It may not be a constant hit, but have a feeling I would like it better.

The musical highlights of the whole album are easily Colombo and Appalachian Springs. Colombo is a shoegazing epic with a shamanic guitar line and a hypnotizing beat. Appalachian Springs is an atmospheric giant with wonderful guitar swells. And it’s one of the best songs The Verve has ever recorded.

Someone has summed the record up in one of the user reviews saying “It’s a great album, but it won’t be anyones favourite.“ And I do agree. But I would also add “who cares“. It may not be my favourite album of the decade, but it’s a good one and it’s totally worth listening.

Happy Monday, relax and enjoy.

Album highlights: - Love Is Noise - Rather Be - Columbo - Valium Skies - Appalachian Springs

Playlist:   https://spoti.fi/3bB5lH7  

Links and references:   - The Verve - Wikipedia   (1) P. Stokes (14 August 2008) The Verve – ‘Forth’ review. NME. (2) Valium Skies by The Verve. Songfacts.com

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 248: Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows) (OST)

The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) is a 1959 French New Wave film, and the directorial debut of François Truffaut. The film is one of the defining films of the French New Wave and is considered one of the greatest films ever made.

It follows Antoine Doinel, a misunderstood rebellious 14-year-old Parisian boy who struggles with his parents and teachers.

And the musical score of Jean Constantin is superb. The score conveys a bittersweet nostalgia through his lushly orchestrated melodies, and he contrasts this with fast-paced, 1950s Latin jazz passages that embody Antoine’s youthful boisterousness. And there’s a bit of chanson as well. It’s cheeky, magical, mysterious, melancholic and it perfectly mirrors Antoine’s moods and adventures and mischief.

Happy Friday, watch the film, relax and enjoy.

Highlights: - Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows Main Theme & Police Car) - École buissonnière - Comment voulez vous ? (chante Juliette Gréco) - Balzac et gymnastique

Playlist:   https://spoti.fi/3olSv5X

Links and references:   - The 400 Blows (film) - Wikipedia - Jean Constantin (songwriter) - Wikipedia

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 243: Henry Purcell - King Arthur

When it comes to festive and ceremonial classical music, there is no other period when it sounded more festive and ceremonial then in the baroque period. Some composers have a gift to write more festive and ceremonial music then most. Henry Purcell was one of those. It may be because, having been a court composer, “festive and ceremonial” was the sound his employer wanted more then anything, but regardless of the reasons, his signature sound simply is “festive and ceremonial”. It also required having a fairly wide brass section at the orchestra at his disposal.

Purcell was born into a family of professional musicians just few streets south of the Westminster Abbey. His father, brothers end even his uncle were all in some capacity linked to the royal court of the late Stuart kings. Henry Purcell himself started as a boy (child chorister) in the Chapel Royal, then became an assistant to the organ-builder and keeper of wind instruments to the King and eventually became the organist of the Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal, which meant he became the chief supplier of king’s music, sacred as well as secular. He may not be Händel or Bach, he is right behind them in the second tier. He is definitely the most influential of the English baroque composers.

He is probably best known for an anthem and two elegies for Queen Mary II's funeral, known as Funeral Sentences and Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary (1685). But has also written many other works. His opera Dido and Aeneas (around 1688) is thought to be the first English opera ever. My personal favourite is one of his 3 semi-operas, King Arthur, or The British Worthy (1691).

It’s a semi-opera, a combination of spoken and sung drama, and it follows the story of the battles between King Arthur's Britons and the Saxons and their king Oswald who has abducted Arthur’s fiancée, Princess Emmeline. It is a baroque spectacular and includes supernatural characters such as the gods Cupid and Venus as well as plus references to the Germanic gods Woden, Thor and Freya.

“King Arthur was conceived as a libretto by John Dryden as early as 1684 but since it conveyed extreme partiality to Charles II, the King's death a year later determined its quick demise, if indeed the text ever saw the light of day. Seven years later it re-emerged when Purcell famously collaborated with Dryden in an original semi-opera, rather than merely composing music around an existing adaptation of an older play where the music rarely entered into the dramatic spirit of the whole. Dryden was doubtless forced to make several changes to his initial conception not least because courtly allegory had to fit the monarchy of the moment or else royal noses would have been put out of joint. More important, however, is the willingness of Dryden to collaborate with Purcell in an almost operatic manner. Indeed, as far as we know, the composer did not again enjoy a librettist – let alone one of Dryden's reputation – who would state unequivocally, ''I have been obliged to cramp my verses, and make them rugged to the Reader, that they may be harmonious to the Hearer''. If the co-operation led to a unity of vision in terms of music's expressive role in the overall drama, Purcell was limited to a historical patriotic fantasy with little room for the magic and pathos  .... Yet in the context of a stage presentation, Purcell's music shines through strongly.”(1)

Happy Sunday, relax and enjoy.

Highlights:   - King Arthur (Z.628): Act I. 1. Overture - King Arthur (Z.628): Act II. 14. "How blest are the shepherds, how happy their lasses" - King Arthur (Z.628): Act II. 15. "Shepherd, shepherd, leave decoying" - King Arthur (Z.628): Second Music - Air - King Arthur (Z.628): Act IV. 30. Passacaglia: "How happy the lover" - King Arthur (Z.628): Act V. 38. "Fairest Isle"

Playlist: shorturl.at/fEUX4 Links and references: - Henry Purcell - Wikipedia - King Arthur (opera) - Wikipedia (1) Purcell King Arthur (June 1996). Gramophone.co.uk

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 239: The Tallest Man on Earth - I Love You. It's a Fever Dream.

Kristian Matsson (born 1983) is a Swedish singer / songwriter from the Dalarna region. He played jazz and classical guitar in high school and messed around in a few garage bands before falling in love with Bob Dylan. Soon after that he started to record rustic folk music under the name the Tallest Man on Earth.(1) His first two albums, Shallow Grave (2008) and The Wild Hunt (2010), were and raw, scruffy and Dylanesque so much it would be on the edge of a strange caricature of Bob Dylan. Since then he has developed his own distinct style and while the inspiration by Bob Dylan is still present and clear, nowadays he confidently does his own thing. And it’s much better. He also got divorced and since then and worked through the emotional aftermath of that earthquake on his 2015 album Dark Bird Is Home. It’s a good one.

But the album I would really like you to go and listen to is his latest one, I Love You. It’s A Fever Dream. (2019). It’s more daring and more consistent, elegant and significantly barer then any of his previous records. It’s confident, uncluttered and pleasant, clever in it’s straightforwardness and perfect in it’s minimalism. It’s not overproduced, it carries just the right amount noise and none of the distracting and unnecessary embellishments. It feels a lot like a late summer breeze.

Matsson has lately been preoccupied by ideas about of creative sustainability and burnout, catastrophic effect of lack of downtime in our modern lives on our creativity. (2) It’s a reflective and hopeful record. Where his 2015 album Dark Bird Is Home was fixated on his recent divorce, here he turns to constant touring to escape the pain of that separation and reflects losing touch with himself in the process. (4)

Atari has perfectly summed up the beautiful opening track in his review of the album for Sputnikmusic, so I am now going to try to reinvent it in any better way. He wrote it: “Hotel Bar might be one of the most haunting portrayals of loneliness I’ve ever heard. The opening act of “I Love You. It’s a Fever Dream” contains more of a personal touch than any Tallest Man on Earth album before it. The poignant guitar strumming and Kristian Matsson reassuring himself that things will be fine resonate with me unlike anything he’s written. It’s far from just a somber song with a soft guitar, however. The track bursts to life as it progresses - warm brass and harmonicas giving it a sturdy backbone and sense of hope. It’s musically gorgeous and a bit depressing, but man is it an effective portrayal of one man’s isolation.” (3)

In recent years Matsson has been mostly living in New York. He turned his adopted home city into a backdrop for one of the songs on the album. The Running Styles of New York is a folk masterpiece with an enticing cinematic feel flowing from pianos, strings and horns so subtly it’s almost too easy to miss the first time. It’s a strangely grand yet delicate one. From the first listening you know it’s a special. But it gets even better on a second, third, fourth, ... eight one. I'm a Stranger Now is an uptempo and deceivingly optimistically sounding song with joyfully strumming guitars. But there’s a more serious topic hidíng behind the melody itself. Matsson is in fact reflecting on losing touch with himself in touring.

What I’ve Been Kicking Around is by far the most Dylanesque track on the record. By the way, if you are curious, Kristian Matsson is 170 cm tall. So not the tallest man on Earth in fact. The name started as a bit of a joke and he thought it would be a good name for a band / stage act.

Happy Wednesday, relax and enjoy.

Album highlights: - Hotel Bar - The Running Styles of New York - I’m A Stranger Now - What I’ve Been Kicking Around Playlist:  https://spoti.fi/3bB5lH7  

Links and references:  - The Tallest Man On Earth - Wikipedia  (1) Collective of authors (16 June 2010) Band of the Week: The Tallest Man on Earth. Rolling Stone. (2) W. Richards (6 July 2019) The Tallest Man On Earth finally feels at home again. DIY Magazine. (3) Atari (21 April 2019) The Tallest Man on Earth: I Love You. It's a Fever Dream. Sputnikmusic.com (4) F. Thomas (28 June 2019) The Tallest Man on Earth? I Love You. It's a Fever Dream. AllMusic.

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Den 231: Můj revoluční soundtrack - Jaroslav Hutka

V létě 1989 mi bylo pět a televizi jsme doma neměli. Naši tvrdili, že v ní stejně nic není. Tím mysleli hlavně komunistickou propagandu a zprávy. Většina večerů u nás vypadala tak, že když přišel táta z práce z výzkumáku, chvíli si s námi hrál, pak byla večeře, pak máma šla uspat mladšího bráchu a já jsem mohla zůstat vzhůru ještě trochu dýl. A zatímco ona uspávala, já jsem s tátou umývala nádobí. A k tomu mytí nádobí si otec pouštěl zprávy na Svobodné Evropě nebo písničky z pár kazet, které jsme doma měli. Já jsem stávala na stoličce vedle dřezu a utírala jsem nádobí a táta stál vedle mě a umýval. A u toho komentoval zprávy, nadával na komunisty a vysvětloval mi, co a proč se děje, protože já jsem se ptala. A pak jsem byla nahnána do koupelny a do postele a u toho jsem vymýšlela tisíc důvodů, proč bych ještě nemusela jít spát. Občas, když jsem nemohla usnout, jsem dostala dovoleno s nimi sedět ještě nějakou dobu v kuchyni a poslouchat s nimi další večerní program na Svobodné Evropě.

Když jsme jezdívali na návštěvu k dědečkovi a babičce, já i brácha jsme naopak sedávali nosem nalepení na televizi a koukali jsme se fascinovaně na cokoliv, co tam dávali. Často to byl fotbal, na který se dědeček pravidelně díval. Nikoho jiného v rodině fotbal nezajímal. Nás ve věku 5 a 2 a půl roku na tom zajímalo jen to, jak se ti lidi v té televizi hýbají a že je to něco, co doma nemáme. A tak se nás nakonec prarodičům zželelo a někdy začátkem podzimu 1989 jsme od nich dostali naši první televizi, barevnou Teslu Oravu. Tím se naše večerní rutina změnila jenom tím, že jsme se po večeři dívali na Večerníček. Pak se pokračovalo obvyklým mytím nádobí, zprávami na Svobodné Evropě a dál podle zajetého scénáře. Brzo se ale ukázalo, jak perfektně byl ten dar načasovaný.

O zásahu proti demonstraci na Národní třídě jsme se doma dozvěděli z rádia právě při večerním mytí nádobí. Dost rychle mi došlo, že se děje něco důležitého, protože rodiče z toho byli jak na jehlách a celý víkend byli skoro permanentně nalepení u rádia. Začali jsme se najednou denně dívat i na televizní zprávy a otcovy komentáře byli najednou ještě emotivnější. A když pak o pár dní později v televizi konečně začali ukazovat zprávy o demonstracích, nemohl se udržel, vyskočil, chodil vzrušeně po bytě a nadšeně volal: “Tak tohle prasklo! Tohle už se nemůže udržet!“. Po víkendu v práci s kolegy z výzkumu a s vedoucím údržbářem založili buňku OF. A doma rodiče několik dnů diskutovali, jestli je bezpečné jít taky demonstrovat a jestli je nezavřou nebo nezbijí. Ale když už se v Brně demonstrovalo 3. nebo 4. den, šli naši nakonec taky demonstrovat. A nás doma hlídali sousedi.

Revoluci jsem prožila jako pětiletá nalepená na televizi a hltající zprávy. Máma byla doma s bráchou na mateřské, takže já jsem školky nechodila, byla jsem s nimi doma a sledovala jsem všechno, včetně přenosů těch velkých demonstrací na Letné. (Kdo by si býval pomyslel, že tam budu o 30 let později sama stát a demonstrovat, aby z vlády odstoupil premiér - bývalý komunista a spolupracovník StB.) U toho jsem spolu s davem v televizi skandovala “Jakeše do koše” a “Na Štěpána, bez Štěpána”, což můj brácha Štěpán obrečel, protože ve 2 a půl letech nechápal, že tím myslíme Miroslava Štěpána, pražského tajemníka KSČ, ale myslel si, že ho sestra nemá ráda.

Zpětně si říkám, že o tom, co jednou budu studovat, bylo asi víceméně rozhodnuto právě na podzim 1989. Tolik pětiletých děcek, tolik politicky zorientovaných a politikou úplně fascinovaných jako já, asi moc nebylo. Politiku jsem už pak nikdy hltat nepřestala. Někteří rodiče nechávají své děti předvádět, jak pěkně hrají na piano, já jsem v 1. - 3.třídě (1991-1994) našim rodinným známým vyjmenovávala ministry všech porevolučních vlád.

Jedna z kazet, které naši tehdy poslouchali na starém JVC kazeťáku, byla nějaká neoficiálně pořízená kompilace od Jaroslava Hutky. Kvalita byla dost mizerná. Jednak jsme ji doma hráli skoro pořád, takže páska dostala dost zabrat, jednak to byla asi tisícátá kopie přehraná od někoho, kdo ji měl přehranou od někoho. Dnes většina z nás uznává, že Hutkovy písničky nejsou textově ani hudebně nějak zvlášť kvalitní. Velká část z nich jsou jednoduché folkové odrhovačky. Ale na protest songy jsou jiné nároky. Nemusí být umělecky kvalitní, aby měli hodnotu. A pro mě jako pětilétého caparta, to byla ideální produkce. Jednoduchý, vtipný, chytlavý. To, že rodičům dost dělalo obavy, že jsem ty texty znala nazpaměť a že jsem si tehdy (ještě těsně před revolucí) při hraní s kostkama jako pětiletá, která by o rok později měla nastoupit do školy, zpívala “podle litery paragraf - šavle, teď dumej o právu, Havlíčku, Havle“, jsem se dozvěděla až o pár let později.

Happy Tuesday, relax and enjoy.

Zaslouží pozornost: - Hádala se duše z tělem - Morava - Haleluja, tramvaje - Litvínov - Havlíčku, Havle

Playlist:  https://spoti.fi/3bB5lH7 

Odkazy a reference:   - Jaroslav Hutka - Wikipedia  

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 230: Billie Holiday - Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia (1933-1944)

Eleonora Fagan (1915 – 1959), professionally known as Billie Holiday, grew up in a very unstable and unhealthy home environment, she left school after a 5th grade and grew up in speakeasy bars and brothels of the prohibition era. First in Baltimore, then in Harlem. The abuse she went through as a child, physical, emotional and sexual, was something she had carried with her all her life and it unfortunately influenced her choices of men and lifestyle and her addictions in later life. But what she lacked in family and stability, was outweighed by her musical talent.

Her voice had a rawness and intimacy to it that made people relate to her songs. As far as style and rhythm goes, she sang and articulated in a similar way how Louis Armstrong played. She sang behind the beat which was controversial in the 1930s, but that style was later copied by a number of high profile singers including Frank Sinatra. She reached the height of fame in 1940 - 1947 and then suffered a decline both professionally and personally in the following decade. But musically was at her peak in the 1930s when she collaborated with Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Teddy Wilson, Count Basie. And also with Lester Young who came up with the nickname Lady Day. It was originally a nickname for Holiday’s mother, Sadie Fagan, but Billie took it for herself. The songs I am going to recommend are from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia set. It’s a compilation of the complete known studio master recordings, including alternate takes, from 1933 - 1944. It is one of many compilations of her works, but having listened to all of the available ones lately, this one not only covers the era when her vocal performance was at it’s best, but the recording quality is also superb and it’s just so vast there’s simply a lot to dive into and explore.

Happy Monday, relax and enjoy.

Highlights: - My Mother’s Son-In-Law - I’ll Get By (As Long As I Have You) - Now They Call It Swing - God Bless the Child - Swing! Brother, Swing!

Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2Uy4DUM

Links and references: - Billie Holiday - Wikipedia

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 220: A Hidden Life (OST)

“But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”     Those words were written sometime between 1869 - 1871 by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) in her novel Middlemarch. The film (and the soundtrack to it), which I’m going to recommend today takes its name from this particular line from this Eliot's novel. This short quote also perfectly sums up the message of the film. The film in question is A Hidden Life (2019), directed by Terrence Malick, the film score was composed my James Newton Howard.

The film is a story of a quiet define and celebration of decency in the face of appalling evil. It’s based on real events and it tells the story of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer, devout Catholic and conscientious objector from Upper Austria, who refused to fight for the Nazis in WWII. We see him meeting and then marrying his wife, starting a family and leading a hard but simple and happy life on their farmstead in the Alps. And then Austria is annexed and becomes part of Nazi Germany. He is first called up for military training and despite his qualms, he reports for the training. Few years later, when war keeps dragging on, more able-bodied are needed and he is called up again, this time for actual military service. Franz and decides he cannot swear allegiance to Hitler or the Third Reich knowing that his wife and daughters will be ostracized in their village and he will be sentenced to death. And throughout the Catholic priests and church establishment either try to save his life for the sake of his family and suggest he should swallow the pill, take the oath or complacently support the Nazi regime by emphasizing the duty an individual to his county, Franz supported by his wife steadfastly refuses to give in, gets sentenced and executed.

This is a music blog, not a film review, so I’ll keep the next part brief. The film is pretty long, but it is visually beautiful and so it the soundtrack. The story is powerful and the weather in the valley follows the mood of development of the story. It’s sunny when Franz falls in love with Franziska, when he returns from the military training, heavy rain clouds gather as the situation gets more tense and heavens open with a downpour when he’s about to be executed. The film has received a number of film awards, very good reviews (81% on Rotten Tomatoes) and even the not so positive reviewers agree that it’s probably Malick’s best film in recent decades as he returns back to a format film.

As he usually does, Malick didn’t include only original score written specifically for this film, but also a variety of existing classical pieces. Dvořák’s suite in D major is nicely with lots of folk inspired modulations is reflecting the peasant environment. The opening of Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion oratorio (Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen) set to scenes of Franz saying goodbye to his children and mother, walking together with his wife to the railway station and getting on a train knowing he may never see them again accents the gravity of the situation and inescapable grave outcome of his conviction. The choice of this particular piece also links Franz’s conviction, faith and search for inner courage with the story of Jesus, particularly with the prayer at the garden of Gethsemane. Howard’s original music written by for this film is mostly a serene string affair. Sometime chilling and ominous, but always gentle and elegant. Howard mentioned, that besides the mood, obviously, he wanted to capture a sense of light and dark, good and evil and a sound of a rolling river. All of the original tracks are beautiful. But A Hidden Life and Hope are towering above the rest.

Howard described the background of the track Knotted: „Terry also wanted a piece, which we called “Knotted”, which was two solo instruments. They would be intertwined as Franz and Fani. He was very specific about the shape, and the arch that started with one instrument, then combining two counterpoints between the two and then just being left with the other instrument. The music was the voice of these two characters very specifically and architecturally.“

Happy Friday, relax and enjoy.

Highlights:   - J. N. Howard - A Hidden Life - A. Dvořák - Czech Suite in D Major (Op. 39): I. Allegro moderato - J.S. Bach - St Matthew’s Passion, Part 1 - Choral “Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen” - J. N. Howard - Knotted - J. N. Howard - Hope

Playlist: shorturl.at/fEUX4 Links and references: - A Hidden Life (2019 film) - Wikipedia - Terrence Malick - Wikipedia - James Newton Howard - Wikipedia - Franz Jägerstätter - Wikipedia (1) B. Ebiri (23 January 2020), A Long Talk With James Newton Howard, One of Hollywood’s Most Accomplished Composers. Vulture.

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 216: David Gray - Mutineers (2015)

David Gray is an introspective subtle British singer / songwriter, instantly recognizable for his raspy voice, poetic lyrics and signature quiet / build-up melodies. Twenty years ago, he was all over the radio air and his song Babylon was a huge hit. Now not so much. But I have discovered him when I was about 16-17 and he has remained on my playlists ever since. The difference is, that now I appreciate different parts of his discography more. Less of the pop leaning, more of the poetic and intricate.

To be honest, I knew already four months ago, that I want to write a blog post / article or whatever this is about David Gray. But it took me all this time to figure out which one of his albums to pick. I went through his complete discography several times and at the end I had to go album by album, put down notes for each album and rate each song. And at the end it was a very close top 3 selection: White Ladder (1998) is a classic, it’s his most famous album and songs like Babylon, This Year’s Love, Sail Away and Please, Forgive Me are the ones he’s known for even to wider public. But they have been played over and over so many times and I probably wouldn’t be introducing you to anything new. Foundling (2010) is the quiet double album, warm, minimalist and majestic in an intimate way. And I love it, but the one which came on top and which I want to introduce you to is his (currently) penultimate record: Mutineers (2014). Listening to the whole Mutineers album, it does feel like the best parts of all his previous albums. The quiet songs are on par with the best songs of his Foundling and Life in Slow Motion albums. The general vibe feels a lot like the White Ladder era, but it’s more polished. The only song on the album I don’t like is the duet with LeAnn Rhymes, Snow in Vegas. Too many country vibes to my taste.

Listening to the whole Mutineers album, it does feel like the best parts of all his previous records. The quiet songs are on par with the best songs of his Foundling and Life in Slow Motion albums. The general vibe feels a lot like White Ladder era, but it’s more polished. And it’s more accessible, a tad more mainstream, then the records from his “middle era”. The album is an optimistic one, it’s projecting a combination of balance, contentment and pursuit of joy that only come with age, knowing who you are and finding your place in world.

Mutineers is a track about loosing oneself in a moment. Its rocking rhythm and melody give it a comforting quality. And yet, quite typically for Gray, it grows steadily into a thunderous almost tribal finale featuring a wild harmonica part. Interestingly, even Gray doesn’t know what the lyrics of the song mean. The song came as a product of Andy Barlow (producer) taking a chord sequence of one of the songs that David written recently and brought to the studio, making David cut both the verse and chorus and creating a new song by expanding that short section they both liked. playing with almost random ideas and building a song out of them. You can watch David explain it here.

Birds of the High Arctic is sublime song with beautiful intertwining vocals, piano and strings. Listening to it, it’s actually so easy to imagine yourself sitting on a seashore somewhere up north watching birds flying and gliding in the wind currents above a cold sea. You can tell that it was written by an amateur birdwatcher.

Gulls is another song on this album that features windswept landscapes and birds. It’s a moody and atmospheric one, almost a musical sketch to a coastal scene. Its lyrics are inspired by a Belgian poem by Herman de Coninck called Just As This Island Belongs to the Gulls which Gray took and simplified and added some of his own lines.

Last Summer is a simple song about physical longing. It features a tiny toy harp and prominent cello line that plays almost a Chinese-like melody. It has a warm golden veneer of memories someone made with a loved one.

This album is both comfortable and comforting at the same time. The only song on the album I don’t like is the duet with LeAnn Rhymes, Snow in Vegas. Too many country vibes to my taste.

One song I want to add to this list, although it is not on this album, is Enter Lightly. It’s from the same era. It features as a new song on his 2016 Best Of album and came out as a stand alone single in the same year, two years after the Mutineers album. It features all the things I love about his music. The dynamic, the build up, a bridge in a different key and the rolling rhythm, but all of it jazzed up with a bit more electro parts then in his average song. It’s a driving songs and it makes me happy every time I hear it, so I tend to use it as a mood lifter as well.

Happy Monday, relax and enjoy.

Highlights: - Mutineers - Birds of the High Arctic - Gulls - Last Summer - Enter Lightly

Playlist:   shorturl.at/fEUX4

Links and references: - David Gray - Wikipedia - Mutineers (album) - Wikipedia - J. Carney (4 August 2014), David Gray - The TVD Interview. The Vinyl District.