AtiBlog

Saturday, March 16, 2019

You Speak Jive?

It is true that jazz music is a language in its own right but is there literally a language for jazz?
Well maybe first you should watch the below video in order to decide...

Cab Calloway - "Mr. Hepster's Dictionary"

Apparently there is a language for jazz, or should we call it the "Jazz Slang" or "Jive"? Guess they are all the same coming from Harlem and dating back to the 40s. But how did it evolve?

The era following the first World War and the Great Depression was quite a unique period for the US. Everything was changing very fast, jazz music was highly popular and mostly dominated by the African-American musicians. Obviously behind the scenes (and sometimes on the scenes too) there were some crazy things going on... And these things needed to be somehow communicated. That's how "jive" appeared mostly among the people of jazz.
So it's sole purpose was not only to describe jazz or the jazz life but also to help to secretly communicate for certain acts that I mentioned above...

Cab Calloway, one of the leading jazz figures of Harlem has introduced the "Jive Talk" in 1939. The charismatic bandleader not only had a way with words, his love of them led him to compile a "Hepster's Dictionary” of Harlem musician slang. This dictionary initially featured 200 expressions used by the "hep cats" when they talk their "jive" in the clubs of Harlem. It was also considered the first dictionary written by an African-American.

You may click on the below link to have access to the whole dictionary.

Follow the Link for the Hepster's Dictionary

Here is another video that might be worth to look at on the topic.

Jazz Slang

That's it for this post hep cats, how about some mitt pounding for the great Cab Calloway... And don't forget who the real hepsters are especially when you see the dudes riding fixies with big beards and plaid pants...

Cab Calloway - "Minnie the Moocher"

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Five Songs for the Weekend - XXI -

Hello dear readers, I just noticed that I have already posted 100 songs in the weekend songs posts already...I hope each one of you has found at least one song or artist that quickens your pulse.

As the Swedish proverb says;

“Those who wish to sing always find a song.”

Here we go with this week's list;

Damon Albarn - "Everyday Robots"

The Lounge Lizards - "John Zorn's S&M Circus"

Aphex Twin - "T69 Collapse"

Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs - "Back On The Street Again"

Andy Milne & Dapp Theory - "Three Way Mirror"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Saturday, March 9, 2019

A cool website: https://beehy.pe

From time to time, I do wonder what's happening on the local music scenes all over the world. After all, we all are surrounded by the big media that is trying to push us, the music lovers, to the mainstream.
Unfortunately, even during this time, that really limits our reach to local artists and music if we are a bit lazy to do the research ourselves.
Thanks to the creators of the website https://beehy.pe/, we can now have a global reach to many different artists and music genres.

And of course, a big thanks to my dear friend from Basel (www.cereyanlimusiki.net or @cereyanlimusiki on instagram) who introduced me this website.

This is how beehypers define themselves; "beehype is run by music journalists, bloggers and DJs from around the world. We collect and carefully select what is best in our local scenes and present it to the global audience.To date, we have introduced around 3000 musicians from about 140 countries, and organized four exhausting and exciting marathons: Best of 2017, Best of 2016, Best of 2015 and Best of 2014."

From the homepage of the website you can click on any continent and any country to have access to a specific country's local music scene which offers the listener many options to discover.
You can also check out the "Best Of" lists based on years and if you are really really lazy there is also a radio for you.

This is how the web page looks like but please give it a try and visit the page, you don't need to register or anything, just visit and enjoy the music.

Here is a track I found on beehype called "We Are All" from the Chinese musician Moxizishi...

I hope you enjoy the site as much as I do...https://beehy.pe

Beth Gibbons singing Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)

Cross genre collaborations are becoming more and more popular in music but most seem as commercial efforts to me and they do not contribute much to the true soul of musical art.
However I recently came across a project that is worth mentioning and I strongly believe the outcome will be different than the experiences I mentioned above.

Actually let me make a correction, this is not a new project, dating to the last months of 2014, but the recordings and the film will only be available later this month.

This amazing collaboration brings together Portishead's Beth Simmons together with Krzysztof Penderecki, the Polish composer and conductor. And the composition they team up on is again Polish composer Henryk Górecki's "Third Symphony (Symphony on Sorrowful Songs). Penderecki is conducting the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The cover of the recording

The original performance took place in the National Opera Grand Theatre in Warsaw. You may view the official trailer in the below video.

If you are further curious about the project, one of the best websites is Beth Gibbons' own website to learn more on the insights. And here is the link;

Click for more info about the project

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Five Songs for the Weekend - XX -

Here I am with the 20th post for the "Five Songs for the Weekend" series. I can't believe it's already been 5 months.I hope you are enjoying the songs I pick. As you might have already noticed by now, I am trying to post the songs I like from different genres and eras in order to reach each one of you. If you find the selections too eclectic, bear with me, I am sure one day you will listen to a song that you will say "hey, this is my song!"...

As Richard Nixon once said;

“If you want to make beautiful music,

you must play the black and the white notes together.”

And here is our list for this weekend;