I’m specialised in different kind of vocal sounds and techniques and that is the reason Värttinä asked me to produce the Miero album. And after that they thought that i might be good choice to take Mari’s place for awhile. If music is the thing and not one musicstyle, if you are openminded then you can join any production and still have your own artistical style..
22. 7. 2006 | read more...
His playing is everchanging and full twists like an imaginary landscape. No wonder, the chamamé accordion style is a “mestizo music”, rooted both in European polkas and Guaraní Indians culture. When Spasiuk played at Womex in 2001, many people wondered: “This music makes me dance, but also opens the gates of imagination. I never thought you can do this with an accordion!” This hard to define spirit is fully captured on Spasiuk’s last CD, Tarefero de mis pagos, produced by Ben Mandelson. I talked to Chango at the BBC World Music Awards Ceremony in Gateshead in January 2005, where he performed as a winner in the Newcomers category.
25. 1. 2005 | read more...
In my first album, back in 1986, there was a song that was speaking about one secret beach near Athens, where no cars could arrive. People had to climb for one hour inside a rocky pine forest in order to reach this natural sea paradise, where there were no umbrellas, no bars and lights and of course no… bathing suits. Few people knew Ramnunda then. But that song of mine became a radio hit.
9. 5. 2004 | read more...
The real “problem” is that for the last 50 years bands have been getting smaller and smaller in size till now you have 1 DJ spinning records through very loud PAs. This is all very modern but it means that it is harder for live musicians to “learn” an audience, and vice-versa. Also, as radio & TV has got worse or at least more limited over the last few years (with a few notable exceptions), this does not help… So people have to keep playing, and doing interesting things.
9. 11. 2001 | read more...
If you want to hear some genuine Czech world music, listen to Antonin Dvorak or Leos Janacek. These guys knew well how important are the folk tunes for the healthy musical growth and development. But elaborating folk melodies into symphonic setting and bringing them into monumental opera houses inevitably prompts the overkill effect. The folk music looses its spark and appeal, the young generation searches for undiscovered pleasures until somebody reinvents the old time dances and ballads and brings them back into spotlight. The great folk revival that naturally evolved in Ireland, later caught a fire in Scandinavia and now is bearing its fruits in Spain and Hungary, has still a long time to go in the Czech lands. The coals are just starting to glow now – and opera is not the only thing to blame for the late start.
8. 10. 2001 | read more...