Unless you count ba-dum-ba-da-pee-dum as a lyric, there is only one recognized set of lyrics to Libertango and those were written by Grace Jones and are known as I've seen that face before. Today's video, unfortunately not a live performance, provides some new lyrics written by Ghadi Rahbani and sung by Hiba Tawaji. The arrangement is by Ghadi's brother, Oussama Rahbani. The lyrics are in Arabic but the video provides an English translation.
The lyrics are striking but it is the musicians involved which make the video noteworthy. The Rahbani family, although largely unrecognized in the West, is one of the most important and successful musical families in the world. The father of Ghadi and Oussama was Mansour Rahbani who along with his brother, Assi, revolutionized the world of Arab music with their theater work - perhaps more appropriately labeled as opera work. They were poets and musicians who did not shy from illustrating the socio-political problems of their Lebanese homeland. Both Assi and Mansour had sons who continued in the musical world with Oussama perhaps becoming the most famous of the second generation Rahbani's. He introduced the remarkable singer, Hiba Tawaji, to the world. Together, they have recently issued an album titled La Bidayi Wala Nihayi which contains the version of Libertango featured today. Ms. Tawaji's voice transcends the usual cultural barriers which seem to increasingly separate the Arab world from the West and I expect we will hear more from her in the future.
Ghadi Rahbani has taken the title of Libertango quite literally and provided lyrics of liberty which like most good poetry can be understood at several levels. Perhaps the lyrics refer to past chapters of Argentine history, perhaps to chapters being written today in Arab history. Haneen, who posted the video from Benghazi, Libya, may indeed be part of that history.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
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Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Libertango - Bagpipe Version
We shall wait a bit longer for the Dixieland jazz version and the Cajun version of Libertango but the long wait for a bagpipe version has been ended with today's video of a performance by Galician piper, Daniel Bellón, with the group BellónMaceiras Quinteto.
If you are expecting Highland Pipes in the video you will be disappointed but bagpipes were in Spain long before they were in Scotland. The earliest drawings which contain bagpipes come, in fact, from the thirteenth century Galician Cantigas de Santa Maria. In Galicia, the pipes are know as gaita and Bellón is one of the young masters of the instrument. The folk fusion music of the BellónMaceiras Quinteto reflects much of the Galician folk music sound which shares Celtic roots with Brittany and Wales although Libertango is not the best choice for finding Celtic roots. If you want to hear more, I suggest you download a copy of their CD, FolkFusion, which does not contain Libertango but does contain some more representative samples of their work.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
Note added 8 October, 2011: There is a second bagpipe version of Libertango created through the magic of multi-tracking by Bulgarian piper, Evtim Ruskov. You will find it here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
If you are expecting Highland Pipes in the video you will be disappointed but bagpipes were in Spain long before they were in Scotland. The earliest drawings which contain bagpipes come, in fact, from the thirteenth century Galician Cantigas de Santa Maria. In Galicia, the pipes are know as gaita and Bellón is one of the young masters of the instrument. The folk fusion music of the BellónMaceiras Quinteto reflects much of the Galician folk music sound which shares Celtic roots with Brittany and Wales although Libertango is not the best choice for finding Celtic roots. If you want to hear more, I suggest you download a copy of their CD, FolkFusion, which does not contain Libertango but does contain some more representative samples of their work.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
Note added 8 October, 2011: There is a second bagpipe version of Libertango created through the magic of multi-tracking by Bulgarian piper, Evtim Ruskov. You will find it here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Libertango - Dame Evelyn Glennie
Eric Sammut created an arrangement of Libertango for marimba that almost every advanced student of that instrument plays at some point in their studies. It is so pervasive that I was quite surprised to hear an alternative arrangement - and a spectacularly good arrangement at that. The arrangement and performance is by Dame Evelyn Glennie and it is the featured video for the day.
The initial part of the arrangement suggests a familiarity with the Sammut version - the same weighted triplet form replaces the straight eighth notes of the ground - but it quickly moves on in directions never contemplated by Sammut. The syncopation in the latter parts of the first section catches the ear with its unexpectedness but it is the elegiac beauty of the middle section of her arrangement which is the highlight for me. Throughout, Dame Glennie plays with a wider and more variable volume (loudness) than most percussionists and the result is a heightened sense of musicality.
Remarkable as the music is, those who know the work of Dame Glennie know that the musician is even more remarkable. She became profoundly deaf at the age of twelve but went on to graduate with honors from the Royal Academy of Music in London and to successfully pursue a career as a percussion soloist appearing on stages around the world. In 2007, she was awarded Dame Commander of the British Empire, for her service to music and, in part, for her work toward extending education opportunities for physically limited students. Many find the talk she gave at a TED conference in 2007 to be a source of inspiration. I have included a video of that talk below today's musical video and encourage you to watch it.
I wondered how unusual it is to be a deaf musician. Ask a music lover to name a deaf musician and they will say "Beethoven." Ask Wikipedia and you will get a list of eighteen people (including Beethoven but not including Mozart who, inexplicably, is on the list). But when I checked each of those eighteen, it turns out that all but one had either lost hearing after a successful career as a musician or were "only" partially deaf. Guitarist Charles Mokotoff and Dame Glennie appear to be extremely unique in that they built careers as musicians while profoundly or severely deaf.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
The initial part of the arrangement suggests a familiarity with the Sammut version - the same weighted triplet form replaces the straight eighth notes of the ground - but it quickly moves on in directions never contemplated by Sammut. The syncopation in the latter parts of the first section catches the ear with its unexpectedness but it is the elegiac beauty of the middle section of her arrangement which is the highlight for me. Throughout, Dame Glennie plays with a wider and more variable volume (loudness) than most percussionists and the result is a heightened sense of musicality.
Remarkable as the music is, those who know the work of Dame Glennie know that the musician is even more remarkable. She became profoundly deaf at the age of twelve but went on to graduate with honors from the Royal Academy of Music in London and to successfully pursue a career as a percussion soloist appearing on stages around the world. In 2007, she was awarded Dame Commander of the British Empire, for her service to music and, in part, for her work toward extending education opportunities for physically limited students. Many find the talk she gave at a TED conference in 2007 to be a source of inspiration. I have included a video of that talk below today's musical video and encourage you to watch it.
I wondered how unusual it is to be a deaf musician. Ask a music lover to name a deaf musician and they will say "Beethoven." Ask Wikipedia and you will get a list of eighteen people (including Beethoven but not including Mozart who, inexplicably, is on the list). But when I checked each of those eighteen, it turns out that all but one had either lost hearing after a successful career as a musician or were "only" partially deaf. Guitarist Charles Mokotoff and Dame Glennie appear to be extremely unique in that they built careers as musicians while profoundly or severely deaf.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
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