PETRU GUELFUCCI - CORSICA

I'm coming back to this blog to update the messages, after almost 15 years elsewhere, I'm resuming my blogging activities. 15 years is a long time, many messages are no longer up to date.

My new research tells me that Petru Guelfucci is no longer with us. In this month of November, traditionally dedicated to the deceased, I am resuming this post to introduce him to you again

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009, I wrote . . . . . . 

Petru Guelfucci is a Corsica singer, born in 1955 in Sermanu. Emblematic figure in the revival of Corsican polyphony, he helped create the group Canta U Populu Corsu ....

This group will rekindle the flame of nationalism within a generation. "This was the period of reclaiming our heritage, sayd Guelfucci. It was the plague of the time. We were forbidden to speak Corsican in schools. »....

Petru Guelfucci did not succeed at first in his country France, but in Quebec. He then started an international career and earned a gold record in Canada. Petru is a real personality of the Corsican song, with a tone of voice quite unusual and a real sense of melody. Wikipedia He wrote one of the most beautiful songs about the Isle of Beauty: Corsica (1991), and when I heard it on the radio, I got the cassette without hesitation. Corsican singing is captivating, it is a harmony that opens the heart and soothes the mind, it is voices full of color and passion. 

CORSICA

His work will live forever.

Rest In Peace Petru Guelfucci

March 6, 1955 - October 8, 2021

Boogie Woogie Piano man, Tommy Johnson

I'm coming back to this blog to update the messages, after almost 15 years elsewhere, I'm resuming my blogging activities. 15 years is a long time, many messages are no longer up to date. 

My new research tells me that The Boogie Woogie Man Tommy Johnson, a character who fascinated me at the time, is no longer with us. In this month of November, traditionally dedicated to the deceased, I am resuming this post to introduce him to you again

Rest In Peaece Tommy Johnson, a super nice Boogie Man who enterained us in bewitching Boogie Woogies 

R.I.P. TOMMY JOHNSON

March 8, 1940 - February 23, 2021

The Hurdy gurdy ( wheel fiddle )

My niece came back from France with 2 memory cards full of pictures and video. I offered her to arrange it all on DVD with my Roxio program. I am working on this project since 4 months now, finally ... not all of the time, but I will be very happy to finish it. This will be his Christmas gift.

She stayed at a friend in the countryside of Burgundy, and I found on her memory card an amazing video showing a guy playing a strange music instrument. He was playing folkloric music and the dynamic sound seemed to come from another era.

- What is this?
- I think it a kind of a vielle. He's Mic's friend and he plays mostly at festivals.

Long life to the internet.....................

I find this instrument, I must say, quite impressive in its mechanical design. Work of a luthier, the hurdy-gurdy has evolved and today it includes over 200 pieces.

It appeared in the Middle Ages, around the ninth century, after the invention of the manievelle and it's in the 12 th century that we found the first representations of this instrument, the organistrum. It was used mainly in churches and abbeys, to accompany choral music, and it was played by two people.

In the 13th century appeared an ancestor of the hurdy-gurdy, the symphonia. From a form almost square, the wheel was under the housing cover. At that time, the troubadours were using it to accompany their songs across Europe, both in village squares and in castles.

In the 15th century appeared the renaissance style hurdy-gurdy. The instrument began to feature in courtly amusements, Bâton, Vivaldi and Leopold Mozart, father of Wolfgang Amadeus, have composed several songs for it. And the old hurdy-gurdy was dethroned by the pianoforte. The French Revolution will cause a profound change in practice and in the century which followed the instrument enjoyed much favour in big city wine bars, and rural dance places.

In the 1970s, the "folk" movement appropriates it and groups called "celtic" are formed. Today, the instrument continues to evolve, violin makers refines it, they are looking for a pure and accurate sound and still further the quality of the hurdy-gurdy.

This instrument has a sound often compared to the bagpipes. The musician actuates a crank with his right hand, which turns a wheel that rubs on a rope "Bourdon" continuously, and a continuous sound is heard until the song stops.

From the left hand, the musician presses keys similar to the piano ones to play the melody. The keybox is located on the body, part of the instrument that makes the sound resonate. The keys are connected to a mechanism called tangents that come in contact with the strings when you press the keys.

In addition to strings, which give the melody, is added percussion! And yes, the hurdy-gurdy are also contained it's own drummer! By cranking the wheel harder, one of the drones can be made to vibrate rhythmically and a rap beat is heard .

On this smal youtube clip, listen to Arnaud Lachambre playing a folk air
"le Branle des Chevaulx" on a nice Hurdy gurdy, Renaissance style
made by Chris Allen (an U.K. violin maker).

Sources and some links:

Wikipedia

The Hurdy-Gurdy symphonia

Note Books

Arnaud Lachambre, hurdy gurdy player

Music Aloud.com
Olympic Musical Instruments
Earthly Delights Historic Dance Academy
Interesting thing of the day by ITotD

THE BUTTERFLY LOVERS

When I drive, the radio plays the Concerto for Violin "Butterfly Lovers", but never completely because this masterpiece is too long. This work was composed in 1958 by the chinese composers Chen Gang and He Zhanhao. The concerto lasts around 30 minutes and is one of the major works of modern China. You will remain hooked to the beauty the violin's music... It's a real treat that confirms what was said Claude Debussy: "Music begins where words are powerless, it is made for the inexpressible ..."

But before moving on to dessert, I would like to introduce you this little video taken in June 2006. These accrobatic dancers of one famous Guangzhou Circus School have practiced 9 years to realize these acrobatic feats. What seemed impossible has become reality by dint of passion, work and mutual trust. I can hardly find words to describe this perfect show!

THE ACCROBATIC BALLET

YouTube url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1DqfJtd3sU

Butterfly Lovers is a Chinese legend which origins were traced in the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907). Adapted in traditional Chinese opera, Tsui Hark has made known this legend in cinema with the film called "The Lovers", produced in 1994, starring Charlie Young and Nicky Wu.

SYNOPSIS It is the story of a young girl, Zhu Yingtai, a native of Shangyu, her parents dressed her as a boy so she can go to study in Hangzhou, a school prohibited to girls. During her trip, she meets Liang Shan Bo. They studied together for three years during which their ties are strengthened. When it came time to leave, Zhu offers him to marry her sister (nonexistent). The young man then stays with his friend, he discovers her true feminine nature and they become lovers. Unfortunately, the two lovers are issued from different social environment, and parents refuse to marry them, especially that Zhu is already promised to Ma Wencai. They then decided to commit suicide, and they turned into butterflies. "THE LOVERS" MOVIE PARTS Liang Shan Bo has to write a letter (of Blood) to Zhu Yingtai to tell her that he is no longer in love with her and kill himself... Zhu Yingtai opens the paper parchment and sees blood. Shan Bo dies and the lyre's strings break... Zhu Yingtai tries to find for Liang Shan Bo's grave In bitter despair , Zhu Yingtai begs for the grave to open up and throws herself into the grave to join Liang Shan Bo in death (The end).

This album is the best interpretation of the Concerto I know, but I have not found a free music player to play it in its entirety.