Three-minute drum solo on a bodhrán

"The Maguires at the launch of their debut album, Little Giants and Other Oxymorons at Temple Bar Tradfest in January 2017.  This clip features a bodhrán solo from Seán Maguire, just 11 years of age at the time, followed by a set of reels from the band."

The instrument was totally new to me. Here are some excerpts from the Wikipedia entry:

Composer Seán Ó Riada declared the bodhrán to be the native drum of the ancient Celts (as did bodhrán maker Paraic McNeela), suggesting that it was possibly used originally for winnowing or wool dying, with a musical history that predated Christianity, native to southwest Ireland... However, according to musician Ronan Nolan, former editor of Irish Music magazine, the bodhrán evolved in the mid-19th century from the tambourine, which can be heard on some Irish music recordings dating back to the 1920s....

The drum is struck either with the bare hand or with a lathe-turned piece of wood called a bone, tipper, beater, stick or cipín.  Tippers were originally fashioned from a double-ended knuckle bone, but are now commonly made from ash, holly, or hickory wood...

...a pitch-varying technique that enabled the bodhrán player to closely follow the cadence and melodic phrasing of the tune being performed. This approach marked a significant technical advancement in bodhrán playing, shifting the instrument from a predominantly rhythmic role toward a more musically responsive one. 

Much more at the link.

"Starry, Starry Night" explained

I was going to introduce this music video by saying "I was today years old when I learned..." but I've recently realized that idiom is not understood or well received by readers here, so instead I'll just say...

Today in 2026 I learned that the lyrics of this old (1971) song refer to the life and works of Vincent Van Gogh.  How did I go 50+ years without knowing this??  I can only surmise that it's because by 1970 I had stopped buying records and albums and instead started copying from broadcast sources, so I never had the opportunity to browse an album cover/sleeve or (later) even a commercial CD insert.  Perhaps that's why so many of my 365 posts in the video-music category have background and explanatory material harvested from Wikipedia.  The joy of finding out.

Anyway, here it is.  Found it while searching for something else, was stunned by the Van Gogh paintings. and then saw the true title of the piece was "Vincent."  So, I learn something today; maybe a couple readers here will as well.

Plus, now for the first time (for me) some of the odd lyrics start to make sense.

I also found this cover by the MonaLisa Twins:

My personal bias is that most solo music can be improved by two voices in harmony. 

Three-year-old plays the piano

Via The Music Man.  Note this is done entirely by memory without looking at any sheet music.  I think I was eight years old before I could stumble my way through "Für Elise" (which I have just learned is one of two melodies played on Taiwan garbage trucks to alert residents of their presence).

"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" - Bob Dylan

I recently realized I've never blogged my favorite Dylan song.

The most amazing musical instrument is the human voice

I don't really have time to blog today, but I wanted to share this video I found last night at Nag on the Lake (which I invite you to explore if you like TYWKIWDBI).  

It took a bit of searching to find the lyrics (excerpted from Psalm 84) at Light on Dark Water:

"How beloved is your dwelling place,

O lord of hosts,

My soul yearns, faints,

My heart and my flesh cry out.

The sparrow found a house,

And the swallow her nest,

Where she may raise her young.

They pass through the Valley of Bakka,

They make it a place of springs;

The autumn also covers it with pools."

You don't need the lyrics to appreciate the beauty of the harmonies.  Had I heard this music without the video, I probably would have assumed it came from a synthesizer, similar to the many programs I've recorded from Music from the Hearts of Space.  But these are human voices.  Awesome.

Bob Dylan - Forever Young

I'm a "boomer," and Bob Dylan is one of the musicians who define my generation. "Forever Young" was written as a lullaby for his eldest son and released in the mid-70s; it appeals to an older crowd than those who were attracted to him earlier for his "protest"-themed songs.

There are lots of choices of venues for hearing the song. I've embedded the one from The Band's performance in The Last Waltz.

And if you don't care for the music, at least accept these lyrics as my wishes to you.

May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

Originally posted in February of '08.  Reposted now in response to today's announcement that Bob Dylan will receive the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature - in recognition of his skills as a lyricist rather than as a singer or musician.

Reddit Books discussion thread re the appropriateness (or not) of this award.

Addendum:

Dylan has sculpted iron pieces for family and friends for the past 30 years, but it wasn’t until 2013 – at London’s Halcyon Gallery in an exhibition called Mood Swings – that his metal artwork was first viewed publicly. His works feature found objects, vintage scrap metal and industrial artifacts collected from junkyards. Dylan collects everything from farm equipment, children’s toys, kitchen utensils and antique fire arms to chains, cogs, axes and wheels. He then welds these curiosities into thoughtfully juxtaposed masterpieces. Commissioned by MGM National Harbor to envision an open entrance, Dylan hand-selected unique objects and will weld a stunning composition into a soaring archway.

Text and image from MGM National Harbor, via Minnesota Brown, the definitive blog about northern Minnesota's legendary Mesabi Iron Range.

Reposted from 2016 to add a recording of my favorite Bob Dylan song -

"The Third Man" theme played on a zither by Anton Karas

""The Third Man Theme"... is an instrumental written and performed by Anton Karas for the soundtrack to the 1949 film The Third Man. Upon release the theme proved popular, spending eleven weeks at number one on Billboard's United States Best Sellers in Stores chart. Multiple versions have been performed and recorded, selling tens of millions of copies, and its success influenced the release strategy of later film singles.

The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed. One night after a long day of filming The Third Man on location in Vienna, Reed and cast members Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Orson Welles had dinner and retired to a wine cellar. In the bistro, which retained the atmosphere of the pre-war days, they heard the zither music of Anton Karas, a 40-year-old musician who was playing there just for the tips. Reed immediately realized that this was the music he wanted for his film..."

Here's the trailer for the movie -

 

Baby, it's cold outside

Reposted from 2013 to add updated incredible numbers (see embed above) for this morning's weather.

In 2013 I added this video of Lady Gaga and Joseph Gordon-Levitt reversing the traditional male-female stereotypes for the song when they performed it for a holiday special with the Muppets:

Compare that modern version with the original from the musical romantic comedy "Neptune's Daughter" from 1949, where the heavy-handed seduction of Esther Williams by Ricardo Montalban is almost painful to watch:

And I'll close with a shout-out to young Lucas, who lives across the street.  At 9:30 last night after he finished his activities at school, he braved sub-zero temps to clear our driveway to facilitate our travel to a medical appointment this morning:

People having fun singing "Creep"

I've posted multiple versions of Creep in the past, so this might be a duplicate, but if so it's worth redoing because of the joy visible in the crowd - an emotion sadly seen too seldom nowadays.

Alexis conquers the hurdles - includes also the Scala Choir version.

Radiohead's Creep animated.

Creep covered by Chrissie Hynde/The Pretenders

Creep - featuring Donald Trump's "Walk of Shame"

and a reader sent me a link to a "bardcore" [medieval] version.

Children having fun with music

"El Cumbanchero" is a classic (1943) piece of Latin music whose title roughly translates as "party animal."  Lots of previous covers, including one by Liberace.

"Porgy and Bess" - the American folk opera

"Porgy and Bess was first performed in Boston on September 30, 1935, before it moved to Broadway in New York City. It featured a cast of classically trained African-American singers—a daring artistic choice at the time. A 1976 Houston Grand Opera production gained it a renewed popularity, and it is now one of the best known and most frequently performed operas.

The libretto of Porgy and Bess tells the story of Porgy, a disabled black street beggar living in the slums of Charleston. It deals with his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and Sportin' Life, her drug dealer. The opera plot generally follows the stage play.

In the years following Gershwin's death, Porgy and Bess was adapted for smaller-scale performances. It was adapted as a film in 1959. Some of the songs in the opera, such as "Summertime", became popular and are frequently recorded. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the trend has been toward productions with greater fidelity to Gershwin's original intentions, though smaller-scale productions also continue to be mounted..."

The "American folk opera" term derives from the fact that the musical score combines gospel, jazz, and blues influences and some vocals are of operatic quality, including this one.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

 

Those interested can read more about the event and the song.  Reposted again from 2015 to add illustrations of some of the ways ships sink in the Great Lakes -

Three more examples are illustrated here.

Reposted for the third time to add this video recording of a similar ship (a Ukranian freighter) actually splitting in the Black Sea:

The relevant action occurs in the first minute; there is a second segment showing the ship sinking.

Addendum:  PBS Wisconsin has a video presentation of a public lecture on The Storm that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald.

And reposted for the final time because today marks the 50th anniversary of the sinking.  Somewhere I hae seen a discussion of the phrase "The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead" being scientifically true because at depth the water is too cold for bacteria to generate decomposition gases to lift the corpse and/or because the hydrostatic pressure at depth prevents the bubble formation.

And I'll add a link to the lyrics, because they are hard to discern in the embedded video.

World championship boogie-woogie dancing

 

Finals of the competition held in Fauske, Norway in 2012.  This is high-quality video that looks great on full-screen.

The origin of the term boogie-woogie is unknown, according to Webster's Third New International Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary states that the word is a reduplication of boogie, which was used for rent parties as early as 1913. However, Dr. John Tennison, a San Antonio psychiatrist, pianist, and musicologist has suggested some interesting linguistic precursors. Among them are four African terms, including the Hausa word "Boog" and the Mandingo word "Booga", both of which mean "to beat", as in beating a drum. There is also the West African word "Bogi", which means "to dance", and the Bantu term "Mbuki Mvuki", which means, "Mbuki—to take off in flight" and Mvuki—"to dance wildly, as if to shake off ones clothes". The meanings of all these words are consistent with the percussiveness, dancing, and uninhibited behaviors historically associated with boogie-woogie music. Their African origin is also consistent with the evidence that the music originated among newly emancipated African Americans.

Via Nag on the Lake.  

Reposted from 2013 as a break from other grim topics.

Bohemian Rhapsody in isiZulu

There are approximately 10,000 covers, variations, and adaptations of Bohemian Rhapsody.  Over the years, all of them have been posted at Neatorama.

The Ndlovu Youth Choir was formed in 2009 at a childcare facility in Elandsdoorn, Limpopo, South Africa. They are all grown up now, but are not about to change the name. They released their first album in 2019 after appearing on the TV competition show America's Got Talent, when they made it to the final round. 

The Ndlovu Youth Choir got authorization from Queen to cover "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the isiZulu language of the Zulu people of South Africa. Or partially, because some of the song is in English. It is also partially a cappella, with a band joining in halfway through. The singing is sublime, the staging is sumptuous, and the video is pure eye candy. You can see more from the Ndlovu Youth Choir at their YouTube channel. -via Damn Interesting 

A pianist with phocomelia

VERY impressive. This seems to be part 1 of several parts, but I haven't located the others yet.

Credit to Alex at Neatorama for finding and posting this.  Reposted from 2009.

Canine freestyle

YouTube link.

This is better than some of the ones I've seen presented at Crofts.   I can't begin to imagine the countless hours these two have spent together developing this routine.

The music is Stevie Wonder's "Faith."

Via Neatorama.

Reposted from 2017 because I'm assembling a playlist for someone and wanted to move this up from the archives.

Alexis conquers the hurdles

This video has been featured widely on the internet.  I'm going to repost it here because it struck a chord with me on a very personal level, which I'll explain at the end.

This is a remix; the original video (which you can view here) shows an 8th-grade girl named Alexis participating in her first school track event.  The YouTube poster comments "This video is 6yrs old. Alexis did run the hurdles again and didn't fail. She did give me permission to post the video and all of her friends have seen it, while they do find it funny they do support her and her courage."

The remix adds the audio of the Scala and Kolacny Brothers' version of Radiohead's "Creep."

The classically trained Kolacny brothers, Steven (piano) and Stijn (conducting) have turned this Belgian girls’ choir into an international phenomenon, performing imaginatively reworked covers of Radiohead, U2, Rammstein and Nirvana songs...

One can debate whether the lyrics for Radiohead's "Creep" are totally appropriate for the hurdles video, but the rendition by this girls choir is so beautifully executed, and some phrases are so perfect that the remix really "works" for me.  The original hurdles video was time-stretched to match the audio, and the resultant slo-motion effect is quite dramatic.

I've reviewed the comments about the video at 3-4 different websites.  Not surprisingly perhaps, given the shallowness of many websurfers, the dominant theme is that this is a "fail" video.  That the girl is a loser, that she missed a hurdle, that her coaching was dreadful, that this is the funniest LOLs video they've ever seen.

I have a different viewpoint.  And for that I need to tell a story.  In 1952 I contracted polio; after recovering I was left with some residual atrophy of my right quad, so I could ambulate, but couldn't run very fast.  I attended a school where participation in sports was mandatory all three seasons of the school year.  In the spring the school also held an all-school track day in which everyone was required to participate in several events.  I was entered in the discus and the 220 yard run.  For the latter event I can still remember being in the back stretch when the leaders were crossing the finish.  By the time I got to the finish line they were setting up for the next heat.

When I crossed that finish line, the school's track coach came over to me.  Mr. Bettels was a man who knew what impairment was.  He had what I think in retrospect was severe kyphoscoliosis, but he was an inspirational coach and classroom teacher.  He came to me and very quietly and privately congratulated me on finishing the race.  I hadn't viewed my circling of the track as anything heroic; I was just doing what was expected.  He viewed it a bit differently, and it took me some time to fully appreciate the import of his commendation.  In the decades since then I've won a variety of non-athletic honors and have a smattering of trophies and plaques, but those words from Coach are one of the treasured memories of my youth.

So... I offer my congratulations to young Alexis.  I don't find the video to be funny at all - it's inspirational, and it choked me up to watch it.   It's also a good reminder that every day there are children whose bravery and courage goes unrecognized.  We all need to take moments now and then to commend the "losers."

Reposted from 2010 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Radiohead's initial release of this, their debut song.

See also this animated version and Chrissie Hynde's cover of the song.

Reposted from 2012 because t's been thirteen years since I created this post.  It needs to see the light of day again, however briefly.  Lots of courage needed in our current world in the U.S.

"Take Five" - the Dave Brubeck Quartet

Y

Brubeck at the piano, Paul Desmond on alto sax.

"Time Out" was probably the first jazz album I ever purchased, back in about 1962. I've embedded the signature piece ("Take Five") above; in 1961 it became the biggest-selling jazz single ever recorded.

The album, released in 1959, was revolutionary for its era because of the unusual times used in many of the pieces. Blue Rondo a la Turk (video here) "starts in 9/8 (the rhythm of the Turkish zeybek, equivalent of the Greek zeibekiko), but with the unorthodox subdivision pattern of 2+2+2+3 (the normal pattern for 9/8 is 3+3+3), and the saxophone and piano solos are in 4/4."

Originally posted in 2009 to note the death of Dave Brubeck at age 91.   Reposted in 2016 because I happened to hear this piece played while I was shopping in Target this weekend.

Word for the day:  "Written in the key of E-flat minor, the piece is known for its distinctive two-chord piano vamp; catchy blues-scale saxophone melody; inventive, jolting drum solo; and unusual quintuple (5
4) time, from which its name is derived."

In music, a vamp is a repeating musical figure, section, or accompaniment used in blues, jazz, gospel, soul, and musical theater. Vamps are also found in rock, funk, reggae, R&B, pop, country, and post-sixties jazz. Vamps are usually harmonically sparse: A vamp may consist of a single chord or a sequence of chords played in a repeated rhythm. The term frequently appeared in the instruction 'Vamp till ready' on sheet music for popular songs in the 1930s and 1940s, indicating that the accompanist should repeat the musical phrase until the vocalist was ready. Vamps are generally symmetrical, self-contained, and open to variation. The equivalent in classical music is an ostinato, in hip hop is the loop and in rock music is the riff. The slang term vamp comes from the Middle English word vampe (sock), from Old French avanpie, equivalent to Modern French avant-pied, literally before-foot.

Reposted from 2016 because it's been hidden deep in the blog for so long, and because today (5/4) is Dave Brubeck Day.*

*cue the rest of the world pointing out the "error" in this mm/dd/yy notation.  Let's skip those comments this time...

100,000 people having fun

This video is the happiest thing I have watched or blogged in a very long time. 

Pub Choir is a musical act founded in Brisbane, Australia, directed by Astrid Jorgensen.  At each Pub Choir event, Jorgensen arranges a popular song and teaches it to the audience in three-part harmony, concluding with a performance that is filmed and shared on social media.  There is no formal recurring membership; participants purchase tickets to attend each individual production, which is usually held at a licensed venue...

Jorgensen created a form of musical notation incorporating colour-coded contoured text and comedic visual cues to teach at Pub Choir, so that musical literacy is not required for audience participation...

As Miss C notes at Neatorama -

At every Pub Choir show since 2022, one of the things they did was record all the participants singing at least one line from Queen's operatic anthem "Bohemian Rhapsody" for a project almost three years in the making. Now all those shows have been compiled into one video. The participants totaled more than a hundred thousand singers! 

This video is a convincing reminder of the truth of the old axiom that "nobody cares if you don't know how to dance - just get up and dance," substituting "sing" for "dance."