If we his ignore always distracting showmanship, Tommy Emmanuel's genius surely extracts from this much interpreted tune everything it contains.
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The chronicles of Ruin, continued. Call me Ishmael said....intelligence is knowing what to do when you don't know what to do. Anonymous said... When I don't know what to do,I come here. 10 September 2009 22:59
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19 comments:
Genius.
Baron
Tommy does know some tasty licks
Not being particularly musical I don't normally follow your music links.
But I did this one. For 1:30. As you say, distracting showmanship.
Went to a school music thing a couple of years back. Kid in my daughters class, 13 then, grade VIII violin playing (flawlessly no doubt) Beethoven's something-or-other.
Thing was, same as this bozo, somebody had obviously told her that she must show some 'emotion' so there she was twisting and arching and generally looking like she was having an epileptic fit while playing the violin. Now, I might not know the music but I can tell when somebody is moving in time to the music.
And she wasn't.
And neither is this clown.
Weird thing is, I'd have thought it would be easier to show 'emotion' in time to the music than not.
He left so much space between notes that several times I forgot what tune he was playing.
He left so much space between notes that several times I forgot what tune he was playing.
How how has has that that happened happened ??
It is a Divine artistry, Emmanuel's, inspired, adroit, inventive yet respectful and dignified; his stage presence is an irritant but pianist Glenn Gould can be heard mouthing and breathing over his Bach recordings and whilst they would have been better served by his silence they are nonetheless expressions of genius; so it is with Tommy, the most gifted popular music interpreter of our time. Be told.
It has to be admitted, Mr I, that the man plays damn well - probably better than I know. But I do not warm to him.
In passing, the urchins are again watching the X Factor and some terrible bastard slaughtered the same song this very weekend. It was like a stag do karaoke. Jesus. But my lot lapped it up. It turns out they had never heard the song before.
Try some of his Beatles medleys, mr mongoose, I knew they were accidentally superior but I never knew quite how very musical they were, try Tommy Emmanuel, Here Comes The Sun medley, they are joyful performances in which his showiness seems less bothersome.
That old timbered pile of yours, no cellar in it, or priesthole, in which to lock the family, whilst Cruelty TeeVee is on?
He's to acustic guitar playing what Andre Riue is to the violin.
Take a look at a real maestro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4JUqOyh06g
I am glad that I watched this and will get some more of his recordings but all the same I prefer the old drunk John Martyn's version of somewhere over the rainbow.
He was a dissolute old bastard but he he was a genius who didn't take himself too seriously.
I have said previously, mr mark, that I despaired and still do, at John Martyn's epic of self-destruction; I could so easily have been him, not musically but characteristically. I watched a rockumentary about his final days and I wanted to climb inside the telly and slap some sense into him.
Tommy Emmanuel is a much lighter encounter and a much more developed player; more accomplished and eclectic than Richard Thompson, if much less important. Even his jazz pieces hold me safe and tight, he makes me gasp but mostly he just makes me smile. Bless the weather.
Martyn was a bit like Orson Welles - they both sprang into the world as fully formed geniuses and then slowly destroyed themselves before our eyes.
Their careers could have played in reverse - but that would have been less interesting.
All a bit too much Peaches Geldof for me, now, that artistic self-destruction, even though she wasn't.
I watched that, mr mike and I'm afraid I disagree entirely. That, in my opinion, is a drab piece, played in a mono-tonal, lacklustre and lifeless fashion, all the right notes in all the right places certainly but I struggled to discern any enthusiasm or interpretive joy, maybe nobody could bring charm to it; technically, Paco was totally surpassed by Emmanuel's blizzard of styles - jazz, blues, rock, flamenco; Paco's static hammering-on was eclipsed, completely, by Emmanuel's harmonic glissandi; fingering, shaping, picking and strumming were all notably more complex and challenging in Somewhere Over The Rainbow. I have seen Emmanuel play Mozart, Duke Ellington, Jimi Hendrix, blues, pop, country and bluegrass, and on a variety of stringed acoustic and electric music; I doubt that Paco Pena strays far from what he is known for. I am not a great lover of the Spanish guitar but starting with Segovia and Julian Bream I can think of a score of performers I would consider preferable to Senor Pena. I would have thought you might at least tolerate Tommy, 'snot as though Australia is awash with internationally renowned instrumentalists, leastways, not now that the cobbers are one short, seeing as how Rolfie's in the jailhouse.
.....stringed acoustic and electric instruments....
Well Mr I, we will have to disagree on that. Its true its a very sombre piece, with dark overtones, but you have to reflect on the origins of Flamenco in the tin mines and the misery of central Spain. Also its a 35 year old recording. Hear it in the flesh, and it brings tears.
I'm afraid I'm too old now to fall for the culture of celebrity.
I'm trying to learn to play the guitar, but I know I will never achieve it.
When Paco dies, if they give me his right thumb as a relic I will build a church; for a hand it will be a cathedral.
PS there is a debate in Flemenco between the traditional approach (epitomised by Paco Pena) and the more modern interpretational approach (see Paco de Lucia for example). All Flamenco is to a certain extent improvised and many pieces are never written down, (which makes it hard for people like me); but my personal preference is for the traditional and Paco Pena is arguably the greatest exponent who ever lived. Im looking forward to being at the Cordoba festival next year, when I hope he will be there.
That's a Road to Calvary, mr mike, learning the guitar, good luck on it. I would also respectfully suggest that it is a wasted journey, if it only arrives at the generally miserable and po-faced contortions of Flamenco. I like the dancing, though.
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