The other day I was having a conversation about music with some people I work with in a Restaurant in Amsterdam. These two guys are younger than me and, being young Europeans, they could not conceive I don't like electronic music. I tried to explain that musicians are important for me to appreciate a song, and that leaving the generation of sound to machines was, for me, a last resort, in case the music was just too complex to be played by humans.
This reminded me of the song (or musical piece) called G-spot Tornado, written by Frank Zappa. Zappa wrote that song for the Jazz from Hell album, and said the piece was too difficult to be played by humans, so he used a Synclavier DMS to play all the parts. I showed them that song as an example of the electronic music I could listen to. They were surprised at what they were listening.
This whole event, in turn, reminded me of the performance of this song by the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Germany. In addition to the ensemble playing a wonderful, amazing rendition of the song (which was being conducted by Zappa, for... show more
The other day I was having a conversation about music with some people I work with in a Restaurant in Amsterdam. These two guys are younger than me and, being young Europeans, they could not conceive I don't like electronic music. I tried to explain that musicians are important for me to appreciate a song, and that leaving the generation of sound to machines was, for me, a last resort, in case the music was just too complex to be played by humans.
This reminded me of the song (or musical piece) called G-spot Tornado, written by Frank Zappa. Zappa wrote that song for the Jazz from Hell album, and said the piece was too difficult to be played by humans, so he used a Synclavier DMS to play all the parts. I showed them that song as an example of the electronic music I could listen to. They were surprised at what they were listening.
This whole event, in turn, reminded me of the performance of this song by the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Germany. In addition to the ensemble playing a wonderful, amazing rendition of the song (which was being conducted by Zappa, for his Yellow Shark album), behind Zappa -- and therefore in front of the orchestra) Canadian Dancer Louise Lecavalier was making a dance adaptation of the song. Her performance is as mind-blowing as the song, and the two together make for a show that is worth seeing many times.
Thus, here's the video to the song:
. Played by the Frankfurt Ensemble Modern. Written and Directed by Frank Zappa. Arranged by Ali N. Askin. Performed in dance by Louise Lecavalier
