Music – Page 4 – OZTHOUGHTS

Palast Orchester – Ah, Those Weimar Days……

I came across this rather fine German band the other day, purely by accident, as so often is the case on the Internet. In this case a very happy accident.

This is a full size dance band who go under the name Palast Orchester, specialise in recreating the music and sound of the 1920’s and 30’s, as represented by German music of that tumultuous period, and which is being remarkably successful all over the world – Nostalgia anyone?

Before discussing them to any degree, I thought it best to offer you a typical example of their work to whet your appetite somewhat, so here goes with their version of this Weimar classic.

By the way, in spite of its appearance, this video does work OK, just click on the red arrow and off it will go.

This video gives you pretty well all the elements of this bunch of German musicians (well, except for the violinist, who is an Italian). In passing I would mention that for some reason whilst the band is essentially made up of men there is always the one woman in the band, the violinist, the current one (in this video) being Cecilia Crisafulli.

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The Many Faces Of Bach’s Toccata And Fugue

At some point about 1740, it is thought that Bach wrote what has become perhaps his most famous work for the organ, the extremely well known Toccata and Fugue in D Minor – well many people think that he wrote it, an equal number it seems are convinced that he did not write it. Perhaps it was written by Shakespeare?

However that may be, and to be honest, I don’t really care who wrote it, as it is simply a very enjoyable piece of music, which for me is all that matters. It has been interpreted by no end of musicians in an amazing range of styles and on all manner of instruments. I suspect that it has been subjected to more versions than just about any other piece of music, some good, some superb, and some – of course – God awful.

I have a number of different versions of this work in my music collection, and as I was listening to several of them the other day I thought it might be fun to have a look and see how many differing versions I could find, and I was amazed at what I found… Everything from organs, through banjos to Heavy Metal versions, all good in their way and enjoyable to a greater or lesser degree – depending on one’s musical tastes I suppose. Mine are extremely catholic (please note the small “c”) so I like pretty well all the versions that follow.

So, to set the scene, here is a performance of the standard version, on a church organ thus…

Splendid stuff I think you will agree. Such power and emotion in this extraordinary piece of music. I particularly love the second section where the organ runs happily up and down the keyboard… Such happy music. And then the sudden surges of the amazing power of a full size church organ.. Breath-taking stuff.

But, as I indicated above, there are many other versions of this piece, and some by their very nature are much less powerful, but still have the emotions of the original version, this one for example. I know that it has a sound a bit like an organ, but it assuredly is not one.

I love the ethereal sound of the glass harmonica, such a purity of tone and that vibration… goes straight through me, but I do have a very serious sound system with speakers more than capable of reproducing all those clear sounds… I am also always very impressed by the mere fact that anyone can play that collection of glasses, how the hell do they manage it?

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Serious Music Isn’t Always Serious……

Generally when people think of classical music (should that be Classical Music?) they do not immediately think of it as being funny in any way. Nope, it is a serious matter, to be listened to in an almost religious silence, and unless you happen to live in China, no applause between movements or at the end of solo passages… A serious matter is serious music!

Well, happily, this is not always the case. There have been no end of people who have taken the piss out of serious music in the most enjoyable fashion imaginable. And without in any way showing disrespect to the original piece of music in the case of pastiche performances of other people’s music, or in the case of people such as Hoffnung, the music that is written especially for his concerts, such as the Symphony for Orchestra and Vacuum Cleaner that was written for the first Interplanetary Festival.

Actually, most of the music that was played in those superb and anarchic concerts was rewritten classical stuff, such as the following two videos taken from that wonderful series of concerts.

In the first one, be patient…

or this wonderful bit of silliness.

It is well worth your while to get hold of the recordings of the entire concerts, as they are so wonderfully silly, but affectionate at the same time…

I am not quite sure what to make of this strange video, a Western Clown conducting an orchestra in Shanghai, and playing some Mozart on a bit of hose…. Not sure if it is funny, weird, or good…. But anyhow, here it is for your delectation…

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The Tuba – The Gentleman Of Instruments.

While I was friends with the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band many years ago, I purchased Vivian Stanshall’s Tuba from him as he wanted to buy a Sousaphone as he felt it had more character than his Tuba, and I was tired of playing a trumpet. I still have it with me – it has followed me from country to country as I have moved around the world, and whilst I no longer play it in any sort of a band, I do enjoy the occasional “Hurumph” through it.

I disagreed with him strongly about the Sousaphone having more character than a tuba, whatever that might mean, as I consider the tuba to be one of the Grand Old Men of musical instruments – the other being the double bass of course.

So with this in mind, as I was wandering the dark and dusty corridors of Youtube the other day, hunting for weird and wonderful instruments, I obviously came across a lot of tuba players, both serious and funny – all of which I duly noted down, with a view to sharing some of them with you here in due course.

And I feel that perhaps that moment might well have arrived, so without any more ado, here are some splendid examples of people taming the tuba for your amusement and pleasure.

When one thinks of the tuba, one’s mind goes straight to that wonderful English eccentric, Gerard Hoffnung, who made the tuba his own in a number of ways, both by playing them, and by his cartoons of them. So to start us off, here he is.

This is a quartet of tubas giving us their version of a piece by Chopin…. Such delicacy of touch and emotion…

This wonderful performance shows clearly what a subtle and gentle instrument the tuba really is. A sort of loving Grandfather of an instrument. Capable of being both smooth, gentle or abrupt and growly at need..

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More Strange Musical Instruments

As I discussed a couple of days ago in a post about odd musical instruments, the world is full of apparently totally insane individuals who feel a drive to invent weird and wonderful instruments. This set me off in a hunt for more such inventors. and one I have come across is obviously a serial inventor of ludicrous – but fun – instruments. A guy by the name of Len Solomon, who is responsible for such extraordinary instruments as The Bellowphone, The Oomphalopompatronium and the splendidly named The Emphatic Chromatic Callioforte.

These, and a myriad of other equally odd instruments are things he has created over the last 40 or so years, and which he uses in his performances as a solo musician in schools, festivals and other venues.

Before I entertain you with a couple of videos of him performing on some of his creations, here are a couple of photos to give you an idea of what his instruments look like……

So now you know what both he and some of his instruments look like, it is time to hear what he creates with them. So here we go, have fun……

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Musical Oddities – Weird Instruments

Every so often, strange and twisted people sit down and invent a new and frequently totally insane musical instrument. So I thought it might be fun to have a look at some of the weirder examples of this particular human quirk.

From what I can see, these seem to fall into two broad types, the first being instruments that can be played and used with other musicians playing on more traditional instruments, and the second type are those devices that are played by the wind, water or other non-human forces.

I thought I would have a look at a couple of creations that are “played” by the wind or water first, just to start us off before I head off into the truly strange world of instruments intended to be played by humans.

The Zadar Sea Organ.

So, to begin with, here is a rather beautiful concept, a sort of organ that is played by wave action. This is what Wikipedia has to say about it…

The Sea organ (Croatian: Morske orgulje) is an architectural object located in Zadar, Croatia and an experimental musical instrument, which plays music by way of sea waves and tubes located underneath a set of large marble steps.

Actually, it says rather more, but the main points are in the quote above. Now to listen to the rather pleasing noise it makes as the waves go in and out. I would love to hear what it sounds like in a real storm, when the waves are huge… but I can find no recordings of that, sadly.

Beautiful and haunting isn’t it? I could happily sit on that sea-front all day simply listening to the sound of the actual waves and the sound they generate in those tubes…. What a wonderful concept!

The Singing Ringing Tree.

The next one is visually beautiful too, and the noise (music?) it makes has much the same ethereal quality as the sea organ, but yet it has a very individual voice, that is for sure.

So, for both your aural and optical pleasure, here is the Singing Ringing Tree from near Burnley in the English Pennines.

Isn’t that the most amazing and peaceful sound you have ever heard? Can you imagine standing near to that construction, gazing out over the beautiful views of the Pennines with that calm music surrounding you….

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Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band – Odd Guys

Way back in the dim distant past, while I was a student at Saint Martins School of Art (studying sculpture under Tony Caro, Phillip King and other similar luminaries of the ’60 British Art Scene), I also came into contact with the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, most specifically with Viv Stanshall, who we all knew as Uncle Vick (no Idea why he was called that, but that was his daily use name).

He was a very tall and remarkable figure, dressed elegantly at all times, with a very Oscar Wilde manner about him, and also in how he spoke. Basically in anyone else it would have been considered highly affected, but he carried it off with great conviction, so it was totally acceptable – though it remained a bit disconcerting to be addressed by a guy who was the same age as me as “Dear Boy”.

In spite of his high camp way of behaving, and dressing, I am pretty sure that he was absolutely not gay in any way, it was more a case that he had invented a sort of character to present to the world in preference to the “real” Viv Stanshall. I later gathered that his background and relations with his father were bumpy to say the least.

However, I knew nothing of this at that point, I merely knew this tall and eccentric tuba playing bloke, and in due time, also the whole group of them (the Bonzos that is).

Uncle Vic was a student at the Central School of Art at this point, as were most of the Bonzos, and their music was no more than a sort of hobby for them all. They got together as a group and played their favourite music, which was basically dance music of the 1920’s, and only later developed their weird and insane comedy routines. When I first saw them playing it was in a pub in Shepherds Bush in London. They played there regularly to a more or less attentive and appreciative audience in exchange for free beer and a small amount of ready cash.

Here is Uncle Vic in typical Oscar Wilde mode……

Curiously it was in that pub during one of their gigs that I saw my first pub fight, and bloody scary it was too. I was sitting on a high stool at the bar, the Bonzos were playing happily away, when with no warning, my stool was whipped out from under me, the guy standing next to me had a broken bottle pushed into his face, the Bonzos disappeared from the stage, and the guy next to me lay there in a large pool of blood… all in a matter of a couple of seconds. A very scary and salutary experience. The speed of it all astounded me.

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Alone Again, Naturally – Sad, Sad Song

I found this version of the old Gilbert O’Sullivan song, Alone Again, Naturally last night as I was indulging my taste for Youtube surfing, and fell in love with it.

It is by the German jazz group called Tok Tok Tok, with their amazing singer, Tokunbo Akinro, who has a simply incredible voice. A voice which really lends itself to this song too, I feel.

Sadly Tok Tok Tok no longer exists, as they broke up in 2013, but we have no end of recordings to remember them with, including this version of that song. So before I go any further, I shall let you enjoy their take on this classic song. Stand by with the paper hankies though……..

See what I mean? Isn’t that simply beautiful? I could listen to that for hours and hours, simply letting it repeat and repeat, so calm, gentle, introverted and sad.

As not all the singers I shall be playing to you next are so clearly understandable as the girl we have just listened to, here are the lyrics of the song. Not a bad poem actually.

In a little while from now
If I’m not feeling any less sour
I promise myself to treat myself
And visit a nearby tower
And climbing to the top
Will throw myself off
In an effort to
Make it clear to whoever
Wants to know what it’s like When you’re shattered

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Bagpipes, Not Everyone’s Taste – But I Like Them

Bagpipes, that most maligned of instruments, is actually an instrument that is capable of all manner of emotions, ranging happily from deeply melancholic (like a good Scot drunk on a Saturday evening) through happy to totally weird.

To set the mood, here is a very standard sort of pipe playing, to give a measuring point to judge the ones that will follow against.

I am not sure whose funeral this was, but the music is pretty standard pipe music Not the real Celtic thing thus.

Whilst for most people, the video above more or less typifies the general conception of what bagpipe music is, the reality is very different, as you will hear in the next video, which is a lament, and is deeply thoughtful and introspective. Rather beautiful in fact I find.

The first time I actually heard the pipes being played was during one of the winter tours of Scotland we used to make with the Little Angle Puppet Theatre, when we were up in the highlands, miles from anywhere, and dimly through the mist we heard the sound of the pipes being played in the fashion of that lament.

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Vladiswar Nadishana, Extraordinary Musician

The world is full of the most amazingly creative people – happily – and one of them is assuredly this guy, Vladiswar Nadishana, a multi-instrumentalist musician from Siberia of all places (name me one other Siberian musician….), who plays an amazing range of percussion and blown instruments, as well as developing some very odd, but captivating ones, such as this unlikely instrument, a saucepan lid and a bowl full of water.. Unlikely, but enjoyable.

Isn’t that amazing? Strange little voice it has…. Personally I find it extremely endearing.

He also plays what I assume is a Siberian version of a Duduk, that haunting Armenian instrument, the Siberian version being called a Duclar, similar name, similar music.

Here he is playing the Duclar with a fellow musician who is playing what I believe is called a RAV drum, a variant on the oil can drums of the Caribbean musicians….

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