Tag Archives: music

The time that slips away

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One of the things that struck me most when a few months ago I watched The Lobster, the latest film by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, was its varied and highly eclectic soundtrack, which features music from Beethoven and Stravinsky to Schnittke and Nick Cave.

The piece, however, that left the strongest impression on me was Apo mesa pethamenos (“Dead from the inside”),  a Greek tune from the 1920s which accompanies what I think is the most beautiful scene in the entire film:

The song, with its melancholy mood and words (alluding to loss and the ensuing pain of past love), was written by Attik (artistic pseudonym of Kleon Triantafyllou), a prominent composer of popular music in Greece in the beginning of the last century, and sang by Danai Stratigopoulou, widely acclaimed for her interpretation of several tunes by Attik.

In fact, the fleeting nature of love and the passing of time are recurring themes in Attik’s songs, as suggested by titles like My Wasted Youth, The Passenger of Life, or Love is a Chimera. Another piece from that era with similar theme is the 1938 valse Poso Lypamai (“How sorry I feel”), written by composer, conductor and pianist Kostas Giannidis, an important figure in Greek art music at the time.  The interpretation by singer and actress Sophia Vembo (who retains legendary status in Greece due to her performances of patriotic songs during World War II) remains an absolute treasure and a personal favorite from that era.

Some years ago, the song  was given a new life through a remix by Imam Baildi, a band that has become famous for its renditions and remixes of old classic Greek tunes, thus contributing to a wider revival of of rebetiko and assorted musical styles (much like Gotan Project and Argentinean tango).

The reemergence of this unique music and its use in new media, as in the case of soundtracks or remixes, is a welcome opportunity to revisit Greek music (as well as social) history and try to familiarize ourselves with the sounds that accompanied the struggles and aspirations of the  generations preceding and following the outbreak of WWII.

And perhaps it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that songs from that troubled era still deal with the same timeless and most human of themes: love, loss, and the time that slips away…

Take a sad song and make it better: Led Zeppelin, Bach, and music plagiarism

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Last week, one of the most important legal cases of music plagiarism in recent years came to an end when a jury in Los Angeles cleared British musicians Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (authors of the iconic Stairway to Heaven) of stealing the opening riff of one of rock’s most famous and enduring anthems.

The lawsuit had come from the estate of Randy Wolfe (aka Randy California), guitarist of the  LA-based psychedelic band Spirit, on the grounds that Led Zeppelin had used the intro of Taurus (an instrumental composition by Spirit from 1967) for the opening of Stairway to Heaven (released in 1971), pointing at certain similarities between the two passages.

Drawing by Mona Shafer Edwards

A courtroom illustration from the recent trial showing Jimmy Page (right) and Robert Plant (left) / drawing by Mona Shafer Edwards

It is not the first time that Led Zeppelin have been accused of lifting musical passages; other famous examples include claims on behalf of blues masters such as Howlin’ Wolf and Willie Dixon (whose names have subsequently appeared on song credits on some of the band’s reissues), or American songwriter Jake Holmes, whose Dazed and Confused was covered by Led Zeppelin in their debut album without credit (a lawsuit by Holmes was eventually settled out of court in 2012).

News of the latest lawsuit against Led Zeppelin brought to mind some older instances of alleged music plagiarism, such as the copyright infringement suit against George Harrison for his hit song My Sweet Lord in the 1970s (where he was found guilty of ¨subconscious¨plagiarism) or the debate around the similarities between Hotel California and We Used To Know by British rockers Jethro Tull.

As Ian Anderson puts it, ¨it’s not plagiarism, it´s just the same chord sequence… it’s difficult to find a chord sequence that hasn’t been used.¨ Now that’s a very interesting remark because it appears that musical ¨borrowings¨ have actually been around as long as music itself. As  a matter of fact, even Bach himself lifted entire passages or melodies from other composers, a practice that was not uncommon or unknown to musicians before (as well as after) him.

It was only with the advent of modern notions such as intellectual property and copyright infringement that such borrowings came to be considered as violations rather than simply loans. Musicians, not unlike scientists, make advances and breakthroughs by building on previous discoveries. Isaac Newton’s famous maxim “if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” might as well have come from Bach or, for that matter, Led Zeppelin.

As with all arts, there can be no parthenogenesis in music. Picasso’s ¨good artists copy, great artists steal¨ remains as valid today for visual artists as for music composers. Building on a previously existing body of work should not be reprehensible; on the contrary, it is necessary, if not inevitable. The important thing is not to avoid borrowing from past masters, but to successfully use and mold the old knowledge into something new that has its own value and significance.

Perhaps the essential difference between imitation and originality is best captured by Ernest Hemingway, who once said: “In any art you’re allowed to steal anything if you can make it better.”

The Sound of Primavera

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Sure enough, this year’s Primavera Sound included all the necessary ingredients of a grand festival: ping pong between stages, losing friends along the way, rushing for beer, fighting for a good spot, finding your friends only to lose them again. But the most important ingredient of all came in abundance:  an overdose of uplifting, inspiring music, much more that one man alone can handle (I still tried my best!).

But let’s take it one day at a time…

Day 1: Taking off

It’s only fitting that the music journey about to begin kicks off with names such as Explosions In The Sky and Air. As the Barcelona sky is gradually being painted in shades of purple, the air is filled with the sound of miniature instrumental symphonies and electronic art pop from the Texas post-rock band and the French duo respectively.

Once everyone’s mood and spirits are lifted, Australian psychedelic rockers Tame Impala take the stage. With a set comprising mostly of tunes from their excellent last two albums Lonerism and Currents, they give a dynamic performance marked by colorful, trippy visuals and Parker’s precise delivery of the vocal and guitar parts (almost identical to the actual recordings – perhaps a more relaxed take would be even more effective).

The night goes on with LCD Soundsystem and smaller electronic/dance acts that keep the audience going until the early morning hours. But not me: I feel like I only want to go backwards (toward the exit, that is) and charge my batteries for the following days.

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Day 2: Losing one’s self

I arrive in time for Beirut, whose Balkan folk feel and sound gets the blood flowing. It’s already getting dark and I rush to the main stage to secure a decent spot and get a glimpse of Radiohead, the festival’s biggest name and arguably the most important rock group of our times.

The experience is thrilling. It’s been almost a decade since I had last watched them in Amsterdam, and their sound has evolved significantly in the meantime. I know it’s not just me who waits in great anticipation: a deafening silence hovers over the huge crowd that has gahered to watch the revered band from Oxfordshire. And mind you, silence here in Barcelona is not exactly normal during rock concerts.

The first notes of Burn the Witch finally break through, followed by the first half of the band’s  acclaimed new album A Moon Shaped Pool. Radiohead proceed to cover their entire catalogue, including tracks from Kid A, The King of Limbs, and In Rainbows. But it’s with the opening melody of No Surprises that the audience’s silent, reflective mood suddenly changes to open endorsement and unrestrained excitemet. And it’s the spontaneous reaction to Karma Police, another track from OK Computer, that marks the concert’s perhaps most memorable moment, as a sea of people keeps singing “for a minute there… I lost myself, I lost myself…” well after the song is over.

Impossible as it seems to follow such an act, the show must go on and The Last Shadow Puppets are next on the bill. Not knowing quite what to expect,  I am delighted to see the band accompanied by a string quartet on stage. Alex Turner takes the lead and together with Miles Kane, they give a quite remarkable performance which ends with nothing less than a lengthy jam over the Beatles guitar-heavy dynamite I Want You (She’s So Heavy). That’s a good time to call it a night, and by this point I am pretty exhausted anyway.

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Day 3: The witching hour

Today I have a date with pop history: Songwriting genius Brian Wilson performs the entire Pet Sounds album together with a band of seasoned veteran musicians. His voice has lost its old sparkle (and much of its range) and his stage presence can only be described as ‘static’, but somehow the brilliance of his music makes up for all this. And when Good Vibrations comes up as an encore, I just don’t need I could ask for anything more.

But of course there’s more. I pass by indie rockers Deerhunter before moving on to another stage to catch English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey. Her presence is captivating and she delivers an atmospheric performance that blends well with the surroundings as the Barcelona sky turns dark.

The clock strikes midnight and instead of demons and witches, a different kind of supernatural beings appear on stage. It is the Icelandic post-rockers Sigur Rós with their otherwordly, transcendental sound. It seems impossible to grasp how this kind of music is made by human beings; frontman Jónsi Birgisson’s hunting falsetto, ethereal bowed guitar, and the bewitching background visuals resemble more some strange magic ritual than a music show.

Still mesmerized, I stick around for a little longer to explore some more of the festival’s vast territory. As dawn breaks, I am on my way home full of images, impressions and a music playing constantly in my head: I cannot quite pin it down, but I know it is the sound of Primavera.

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Lee “Scratch” Perry in concert

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Few artists can claim to have played such a defining role in the development of reggae and dub music as Lee “Scratch” Perry (b. 1936). With an astonishing career spanning well over 50 years, the legendary  Jamaican music producer continues to excite audiences despite his advanced age. Just one day after his 80th birthday, Perry performed at the Apolo, Barcelona’s landmark music hall; quite a special gig indeed.

Upsetting the music business

Born into a poor family, Perry’s beginnings were humble.  As he relates: “I went to school, first in Kendal, then in Green Island, ‘til fourth grade, around 15. I learned nothing at all. Everything I have learned has come from nature. My father worked on the road, my mother in the fields. We were very poor.”

Perry decided to move to Kingston, Jamaica in order to pursue his passion for music. In the late 1950s he started working at the renowned Studio One hit factory, known as “the Motown of Jamaica.” In 1968 he went on to form his own label, Upsetter Records. Perry, by now an experienced and daring producer, released numerous recordings during the following years, further developing and experimenting with new approaches to music production.

Lee "Scratch" Perry

 

 

”Everything I have learned has come from nature”

Lee “Scratch” Perry

 

The Ark is on fire

In the early 1970s Perry built his his own personal studio, named the Black Ark, in the back yard of his family home. Using basic and unsophisticated equipment compared to the state-of-the-art recording studios of Jamaica’s big producers, he gained total control over the production process, thus giving birth to a diverse array of exciting new sounds and advance innovating recording techniques.

It was during this extremely creative period that Perry worked with notable musicians such as Bob Marley & the Wailers and Max Romeo. Around 1980, however, work at the black Ark was stopped as the studio was burned to the ground. Although there is some controversy about the actual circumstances, Perry has claimed that he set the Black Ark on fire himself in order to “cleanse” it from undesired spirits. In his own words: “[T]he atmosphere in the Black Ark studio was changing; it wasn’t like it used to be. Then I decided to make a sacrifice as the energy wasn’t good anymore.”

The legend lives on

A highly eccentric figure and a man with seemingly inexhaustible resources of both physical and creative energy, Perry continues his long and extraordinary career to this day, having produced several notable albums and collaborated with distinguished musicians over the last years.

What is more, his flamboyant presence and unique performing style make him a great entertainer on stage, as was aptly demonstrated last Monday in Apolo. An eternally young and heretic spirit, Lee “Scratch” Perry has given music his body and soul; as to the rest of us, he has given an abundance of intoxicating sounds, new ways to make and approach music, as well as constant inspiration to listen to it with a new set of ears.

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All you need is love (and ears)

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More than a Beatle

If there ever was someone worthy of the title ‘fifth Beatle’, that man could only have been Sir George Martin (1926-2016). The legendary English producer, arranger and composer not only signed The Beatles and produced almost all of their albums, but also played a key role in shaping their sound, especially after the band stopped performing live and focused on recording and experimenting in the studio.

A token of Martin’s ingenuity and creativity can be found in the story behind the recording of Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! from the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album: John Lennon had asked Martin to give the song a “carnival atmosphere”, and wanted to “smell the sawdust on the floor.” After putting together multiple recordings of fairground organs and calliope music and a great deal of unfruitful experimentation, Martin and recording engineer Geoff Emerick finally achieved the desired effect by chopping the tape into pieces with scissors, throwing them up in the air, and re-assembling them at random. Now that’s quite an imaginative recording technique!

But George Martin was much more than the fifth Beatle. A classically-trained musician (he had studied piano and oboe at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama), he worked for the BBC before joining EMI in 1950, where he produced numerous comedy and novelty records working with artists such as Peter Ustinov, Peter Sellers, and Sophia Loren.

A visionary producer

Following his collaboration with The Beatles, Martin went on to produce many successful records and worked with acclaimed musicians such as Shirley Bassey, Stan Getz, Jeff Beck, and Elton John. He also worked as a producer with the rock band America, the jazz-rock fusion group Mahavishnu Orchestra (Apocalypse, 1974) and the experimental jazz ensemble Paul Winter Consort whose album Icarus (1972) was according to Martin “the finest record” he had ever made.

A few years ago I read Martin’s marvelous autobiography All You Need Is Ears, first published in 1979. It is an exciting  account of his personal story and an excellent read I highly recommend not just for Beatles fans or aspiring record producers, but for anyone interested in the cultural history of the 1960s (much like White Bicycles by American producer Joe Boyd).

A true visionary who changed the musical landscape of the second half of the 20th century  and pushed the boundaries of  music production and studio recording, Sir George Martin knew well that, distinct genres and labels aside, all music basically aspires toward the same goal: “Rock and roll has the same function as classical music,” he once said, “to make sounds that are appealing to a mass of people and are of some worth.”

God only knows where pop music would be without George Martin’s unmistakable ears and love for melody…