I came across cellist Philip Higham rehearsing in Farnham Parish Church. He was very good, ideally suited to the church acoustics. I was tempted to buy a CD but at £20, no way. I left, returned, and bought. Had it been £10, I would have bought two. It was though a double CD.
Invitation to the Voyage, looped cello, electronics and found sound.
From the album Asperities by Julia Kent. Released last week and album of the week in Resident.
Last Sunday in North Laine in Brighton, I picked up Divers on a whim from Resident. I regret I did not pick up Asperities.
Resident, an indie record shop shop in North Laine literally doubled in size at the weekend.
Resident has expanded, now double its previous size. It is good to see an indie record shop doing well, but then Resident is one of the best in the country. I never understood why the passing of HMV was mourned, as it was a terrible record shop, and its demise, gave a breathing space for indie record shops like Resident.
A destiny is not realized until we let go of the illusion of control. — Master Oogway
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. – Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
It had always been the dream of ThePianoGuys to play on the Great Wall of China.
Since ThePianoGuys began, it has been our impossible dream to put a grand piano on the Great Wall. People laughed at us when we said we were determined to do it. It is done. All of us at ThePianoGuys would like to dedicate this music video to the visionary behind it all and the man whose dream this has always been: Paul Anderson.
An invisible hand guided us, for which we are eternally grateful. This was a life-changing experience for us.
When we found out we had been granted a permit to film on The Wall we were intimidated by the prospect of choosing what song to write. A pop song arrangement seemed irreverent! We talked about writing an original tune, but we wanted something more relevant. We’re big fans of the Kung Fu Panda movie series (and we’ve all got kids that love it too.) We had what we call a “chills up” moment as we listened to “Oogway Ascends” from the soundtrack. Steve was inspired to figure out how to create a sound on his custom electric cello (named Bruce Lee) that mimicked the Chinese fiddle (Erhu) and the plucked instrument, Guqin. As we often love to do we wanted to include a classical influence. There are over 30 million piano students in China. That’s more people than the entire population of Australia! It’s probably safe to say the great Polish pianist/composer Frédéric Chopin has more groupies in China than anywhere else. We had been working on an arrangement of his Prelude No. 20 (nicknamed “Chord” or “Funeral” Prelude). It fit the theme and the vibe of Oogway’s “Ascension” AWESOMELY (as Po would say). Between it all we wanted a bridge that sounded like a Kung Fu battle. Once the concept had solidified the song seemed to write itself.
We only had a day to film. Wow. Capture the epicness of the Great Wall in 12 hours or less? Add in the challenges of weather (lighting), limited equipment and crew, and, of course, the people climbing the wall – many were very nice and stayed back as we filmed, but we couldn’t keep everyone off which eliminated a lot of shots. We wished we could have done so much more, but we’re grateful for what we were able to do.
The portion of the Great Wall where we filmed is called “Huangyaguan.” It was originally built in 570 AD and rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). The Great Wall is over 8,000 Kilometers (5,000 miles) long. It can be seen from space. It is arguably the most iconic Wonder of the World. Our new dream is to put a piano and cello on ALL SEVEN WONDERS. Which one should we do next?
If you’ve read to the end of this description then you are unofficially inducted into ThePianoGuys Secret Kung Fu Inner Circle. Skadoosh!
The amphitheatre at the base of the Acropolis in Athens, is a must for ThePianoGuys to film and perform a concert.
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