Category — Music

A few nights ago I went to the Meet the Artist event, featuring Alicia Hall Moran. It was an interesting event that I found to be very enjoyable, although I did not expect to like it at first.

In the beginning of the program, Mrs. Moran spoke to us and explained that she has a unique style of music. She sings opera, but with Motown lyrics. These two genres of music are very different, and I didn’t know how well the two would mesh. I admit that I was very skeptical about her approach.  However, when she began to sing, I realized that her style of music actually worked well. She was singing opera, but instead of the typical opera lyrics, these lyrics were Motown, as she had explained to us earlier. I thought that it was cool that she was able to merge two very different types of music. Her voice was beautiful and she sang a few songs, which to my surprise, I enjoyed. I never really liked opera music, but for some reason her performance entranced me. The music was soothing and I truly enjoyed the performance

Last night (its Tuesday, November 22) I went to Meet the Artist at the Macaulay building. The artist performing that night was Alicia Hall Moran. When I RSVP’d I saw that she was a musician/composer so I expected some musical performance.

I arrived ten minutes late because I miscalculated the time it would take to get to the building. I walked in to a room with a stage and Mrs. Moran was standing on it with another fellow holding a guitar. She talked, for around 10 minutes, about the influence Motown music had on her style of music. She then told us she was going to perform a mash up of a Motown and opera. I’m kind of familiar with Motown but I don’t know much about opera so I was expecting a Motown sound.

Mrs. Moran started to perform and the first thing that came out of her mouth was a very high pitched note that you would usually hear in an opera. Since I was expecting Motown, I was extremely surprised but interested at the same time. (I found out later that in the ten minutes I missed, Mrs. Moran explained that she sings opera with Motown lyrics and feel so I shouldn’t have been surprised at all).

This mash up was a very unusual sound to me. It at first intrigued me but then, after realizing I’m not a big fan of opera or Motown, I started to get bored of the music. Nothing against her, its just that I don’t particularly like that genre of music.

I did, however, enjoy the guitarist and flutist (Yes she brought someone who can play the flute with her) performances very much.

After she finished the song she talked for a little while about performing, choosing a career, and life in general. She performed another song she composed (Motown-opera mash up) and talked for a little more. She closed with one last song and offered us some tickets to her show tonight (which from what I understood  she was an understudy).

It was an interesting night which I learned another genre of music and some music history.

First of all, I must thank Professor Ugoretz for urging me to rsvp for this Meet the Artist session. I was hesitant at first, but soon realized that the earlier I get over with it, the better.

I must also apologize, because, while it may seem that I am trying to kill two figurative birds with one stone, I could not post one without the other. After that session, I truly felt the connection between Clinton Curtis’s music and my feelings towards NYC. Therefore, I do hope to post again about Clinton Curtis, but for now, I hope this suffices.

Unfortunately, the way there was riddled with boredom; as I was busy beforehand, I did not have a chance to prepare something to challenge my mind during the trip. Luckily, I prepared myself a personal brain-teaser: figure out where I’m going as I improvised my route and so caused myself to get lost. I appreciate the fact that because I got lost, I stumbled upon a small art gallery hidden within the train station. As we were passing in between stations I glanced upon the walls to find little slits which opened up to a huge gallery of different pictures and shapes, all of which were flashing before my eyes as my only point of view was through slits. It was beautiful, and yet flashing, lingering for less than a second before disappearing from both my sight and my mind.

And then I arrived at my stop, got off and arrived at the Macaulay Building 10 minutes late.

During the talk, Clinton Curtis frequently revisited his childhood, his past experiences, and his excitement about living in NY. As he started his first song, I started to get a feel for what he was talking about. His view on music in NY clarified so much about the city. He truly made me feel different about the music. And his music changed me as well. It was blues/reggae/western/country/a whole lot more, but it made sense! I truly enjoyed it.

The music he played really exemplified NY, at least for me. The highs and the lows, the quickening of the pace to the slowing down at other times.

Just listen to the media file attached! His song, Best You Can, really makes you feel what he feels, and really portrays the world (he said that he wrote this song in response to John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change”, which he felt was the worst song because it symbolized passivity instead of activity.) And it is also what NY is about: being active, doing the best you can do and being the best you can be. That is what NY is for me.

It is, quite simply, a huge honor for me to live in NYC, and I love it here. The atmosphere is amazing, and it keeps you on task, towards your goal of becoming the best you possibly can. The rush that you feel here is the rush of keeping your objectives and your priorities intact and keeping yourself on the right path to success. Clinton Curtis mentioned that NY is the hardest place to stand out, but if you do, it is the most rewarding. NY is, for me, the perfect place to become the best I possibly can, and as long as I have this blessing with me, I know I will strive for that perfect version of me.

Joey Kabariti

**Update: I added the youtube video so that everybody can see what I mean.**

Besides sounding amazing, this song is played with so much emotion. This emotion is what makes it so good for me as a listener. I could tell that this song was written to express true and raw emotions, not to make money, like most songs today are written for.

The story behind this song (the meaning as intended by the artist) is that the singer’s (Dan O’Conner’s) little brother passed away from leukemia and this is what’s going through his head as he tries to get through this tough time.

My favorite art is music (mostly rock) in which you can feel the emotions and meanings of the artist and writer. That is one of the reason that I love this band and encourage all of you (especially those who like rock music) to listen to this bands songs.watch?v=2-QvnZRMwqU

In order to fully grasp what I am trying to capture, you must first imagine yourself on a rooftop during the dead of night when no lights illuminate the streets but the twinkling stars and the bountiful, gazing moon. Next, I want you to remember your best friend, the one person to whom you can be yourself around. I mean your true self, not the front that we put in public for conformity. Now, click play so that the song may start.

This is “Clair De Lune,” originally composed and performed by Debussy, but, in this rendition, the song is performed according to the stylings of the APM Orchestra.

A few years back, my best friend and I went to the rooftop of a building in Ireland during a school trip. It was the dead of night, and the two of us were just completely awestruck by the beauty of the night. Then, we decided just to add a bit more to the ambiance by playing “Clair de Lune.” Admittedly, we giggled quite a lot for it felt like a scene in a movie. Then, we just talked. And, it was not just a simple conversation. No, my friends. We delved deep into what troubled us the most in life, what our goals and plans were, and what was to become our future. Frankly, I must say that we most definitely were surprised at the fact that we could both be so open to one another. That was the first time in my life that has ever happened. And, what makes this even more bittersweet is that I have hardly seen her for about two years.

So, my friends, I am not trying to capture the picturesque landscape in which we were in, nor the music that constituted as our background.What I am trying to convey here is the beauty of our moment. The moment we had together, letting our thoughts intertwine. We could have done this anywhere: a park, the beach, a mall or even a pink berry. So, one does not really need to do my instructions in the beginning for this to happen. The point is that my friend and I had a beautiful moment together in which we could just be us. And, honestly, that was one of the most significant, beautiful and touching moments of my life: the moment of just being who I am.

– Maryam Esperanza F. Razaz

There are so many beautiful things in the world. And I had to choose one. After much contemplation and thought, I decided to post this specific video, showcasing beautiful graphics and footage, but even more importantly (in this case), an immensely beautiful score with tremendous lyrics to boot.

I find beauty mainly in the deeply entrancing and melancholic, especially pertaining to music. This piece is called They’ll Remember You composed by John Ottman for the soundtrack of Valkyrie. Not only is the music deeply enchanting and melancholic, it is hauntingly beautiful. The way the choir sings the lyrics. The way the music and the voices complement one another. And just as beautiful are the actual lyrics (the German and English translated lyrics are on the video). The lyrics are actually from the poem, Wanderer’s Nightsong II by Johann Wolfgang van Goethe.

Here are the lyrics and translations (as taken from Wikipedia):

Über allen Gipfeln
Ist Ruh,
In allen Wipfeln
Spürest du
Kaum einen Hauch;
Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde.
Warte nur, balde
Ruhest du auch.

Up there all summits
are still.
In all the tree-tops
you will
feel but the dew.
The birds in the forest stopped talking.
Soon, done with walking,
you shall rest, too.