Author: guillaume
Lhasa: Rising
After La Llorona (1997) and The Living Road (2003), Lhasa (2009) is the Mexican-American singer songwriter’s eponymous third album. It was also to be her last one since the recording was released only a few months before her death in 2010 at the age of…
Lhasa: El desierto
Born in the United States from American and Mexican parents, brought up through English and Spanish, travelling during her youth around North and Central America in a converted school bus, then spending her time between Canada and France, Lhasa de Sela (1972-2010) was a true wandering…
Jan Johansson: Visa från utanmyra
Jan Johansson (1931-1968) is a Swedish jazz pianist who sadly passed away at the young age of 37. He is best known (and revered) for his best-selling 1962 Jazz på Svenska recording. Translating as “Jazz in Swedish”, the recording provides interpretations of popular Swedish folk songs on…
Lubomyr Melnyk: The six day moment
Lubomyr Melnyk is a Ukranian pianist and composer who pioneered the concept of “continuous music” in the 1970s. “Continuous music” can be described as a never-ending and unbroken stream of notes played very quickly with both hands while holding down the sustain pedal. From a…
Cesária Évora: Mãe Carinhosa
A new song by Cesária Évora is certainly a good excuse to open the floodgates of nostalgia! The Cape Verdean singer passed away in December 2011 after a very successful “late” international career. The singer was 47 when she recorded her first breakthrough album La…
Tony Gatlif: Vengo
Tony Gatlif is a French film maker born in Algiers of a Romani mother. This family connection probably explains why almost every film by Tony Gatlif is concerned with the social, political and cultural alienation of gypsy communities across Europe. And why music as a…
Max Richter: The Haunted Ocean
Waltz with Bashir (2008) is a groundbreaking animated documentary by Israeli film maker Ari Folman. One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The…
Max Richter: Shadow journal
The Blue Notebooks “Shadow journal” was originally released in The Blue Notebooks (2004), the second solo album by German born British composer Max Richter. While classically trained, the musician is also influenced by Rock and Electronic music or by modern minimalists such as Philip Glass, Steve…