What an amazing young talent, evry detail soo beautifully articulated. Listening to the rich sound of this rhythm queen is truly a listener’s delight. I think the Gundecha Brothers, on front row in the audience, will agree with me.
Author Archives: Pieter de Rooij
For those funky lines and great soulgrooves… MonoNeon! (my favourite bass player on YT)
Gosh, I really love this guy’s playing. I embedded only two examples here, but he has tons of stuff on his YouTubechannel. It’s Dywane Thomas Jr., as an artist going by the name of ‘MonoNeon’. He’s a young bass player from the United States. I found his videos a year ago on YouTube.
Yes, once I stumbled upon his channel I couldn’t of course miss his funny colourful presentation and his peculiar way of playing (and dressing up) his instrument – while being right handed, Dywane plays a right-handed bass guitar upside down with the left hand! – but right from the start I was infatuated by his bass playing alone. Awesome funky lines and soulgrooves all over the place.
It’s also obvious from MonoNeon’s videos that he’s an adventurous musician, looking for ways to try out new things and further develop his playing. Outside of his blues- soul- and funky homebase his playing of other genres is also pretty amazing. He knows his Zappa and his Coltrane and he even does a few videos where microtonal playing is involved, ranging from Indian raga-related to modern Western stuff.
I made a YouTube-playlist with a great selection of his videos, you can play my playlist from here. Otherwise, you can of course also visit his channel. This dude’s playing is a real delight, so check out what he’s got in store for you. Enjoy!
Levensechte verrijzenis van Egypte’s zanglegende Umm Kulthum
Voor even herrezen en levensecht op het podium. Umm Kulthum, als hologram in het leven geroepen ter gelegenheid van de openingsceremonie van de MBC Egypt Channels in oktober 2012.
Happy 2013! Muziekfeest zonder grenzen: zeven uur exotisch grooven!
Tabla genius Zakir Hussain: “music is one of the only positive energy forces left in this world”
Something we easily tend to forget is well put here by tabla genius Zakir Hussain. When asked “what is music?” he reflects on the positive energy of music, while questioning at the same time the mindset of politicians who only hear the drums of war.
My Top 10 of World Music releases 2012
01. Shankar Tucker – The Shrutibox (Vol.2)
02. Wu Man and Master Musicians from the Silk Route – Borderlands, Music of Central Asia, Vol. 10
03. Ebo Taylor – Appia Kwa Bridge
04. Debashish Bhattacharya – Madeira
05. Alex Wilson – Salsa Veritas
06. Kala Ramnath – Aavartan
07. Blue Flamingo – A Search for CMS
08. Estrella Morente – Autorretrato
09. Saskia Rao de Haas – The Indian Cello
10. The Touré-Raichel Collective – The Tel Aviv Session
I also published this list at Concertzender’s weblog, where you can find 2012 world music top 10 lists by other afficionados.
What were your highlights among new releases in 2012? Let me know, I’d love to hear about it!
Music by accident – Gabriela Montero’s ‘Piece for Ruth’
Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero is known for her musical multitalent. She’s an internationally renowned classical pianist and equally famous as a brilliant improviser on the keyboard. Add to that her talent as a composer. Proof of this is A Piece for Ruth, her first composition for piano and violin. The title of the composition refers to Ruth Palmer, one of Britain’s finest young violinists, who was hit six years ago in London’s Fleet Street by a motorbike driven by… the younger brother of Gabriela’s boyfriend. This accident – you can read more about it here – inspired the writing of the music for Ruth, who’s now a good friend of Gabriela. On Friday December 7th 2012 A Piece for Ruth premiered in the Caspary Auditorium of New York’s Rockefeller University – see the video below – with Gabriela Montero on piano and Ruth Palmer on violin. Wonderful music and performance. Lovin’ it! 🙂
R.I.P. Otto Ketting (3 sept. 1935 – 13 dec. 2012)
R.I.P. Ravi Shankar (7 Apr. 1920 – 11 Dec. 2012)
“When I am silent, I fall into the place where everything is music.”
Rumi (1207-1273)
Concerten fenomenaal slidegitarist Debashish Bhattacharya in Amsterdam (08/12/2012), Utrecht (09/12/2012) en Brussel (10/12/2012)
Begin december 2012 is India’s slidegitaar-fenomeen Debashish Bhattacharya op tournee in Nederland en België: op zaterdagavond 8 december in het Tropentheater in Amsterdam, op zondagmiddag 9 december bij RASA in Utrecht en op maandagavond 10 december bij BOZAR in Brussel. Al eerder besteedde ik op m’n blog aandacht aan deze fantastische ragamuzikant uit Calcutta en ook in enkele van mijn programma’s op de Concertzender en bij de Wereldomroep gaf ik ruim baan aan zijn zingende snarenspel.
Ragaslider Debashish (rechts) en z’n broer Subashish (links) op tabla
Bij zijn optredens wordt Debashish ritmisch ondersteund door z’n broer Subashish, een van India’s beste tablaspelers. De optredens in het Tropentheater, bij RASA en in BOZAR zijn een must voor de liefhebber van de Noord-Indiase raga, maar ook voor muziekliefhebbers die minder vertrouwd zijn met ragamuziek is een optreden van Debashish Bhattacharya absoluut een geweldige muzikale belevenis.