Music Mondays - Me and My Arrow

This week I pay tribute to a band I used to play with in Minneapolis before moving to Oklahoma: Me and My Arrow.

Several years ago, when I lived in the Twin Cities, I dabbled in non-classical music - Scandalous, I know! I made so many dear friends, went on some crazy (awesome) tours, played some wild shows, and collaborated with so many respected musicians during that time, it is a real cherry on top of my classical music education.

One of the bands I regularly played with was Me and My Arrow (MAMA). They were super fun! When I joined the band, it was like a traveling circus; There were strings, drums, guitars, keyboards, trumpet sometimes, and vocalists galore. I think at its very largest, MAMA had 12 band members. I don't really remember exactly how we got ourselves to gigs. I know we couldn't fit all of those people and equipment in one van! I tagged along with them to SXSW a few times after I moved to Oklahoma (I mean, it is literally on the way), played massive block parties with 10,000+ attendees, and recorded a few tracks for one of their EPs.

At the 2011 Pizza Lucé Block Party, Minneapolis

Recently, I have been working on a few new tracks created by former MAMA front man, Jacob Grun. Jacob and I have always been dear friends, but after his move to Los Angeles several years ago, we fell out of touch. It is so awesome to be collaborating again! I've been listening to the new tracks on repeat, trying to figure out the violin parts and to gather inspiration I went back and visited some of MAMA's music.

Even though I didn't record for them, the last few tracks MAMA recorded and released are some of my favorite jams, and I did get to perform them live several times. They get stuck in my head, and I find myself dancing around singing the lyrics on repeat. The band has since disbanded, but it was always a good time, with some very talented people. I have so many memories of these people and this music - I just had to share the music with you!

Erazor

Disco Elementary

Music Mondays - Menuhin and Shankar

With all of my dissertation research, I spend quite a bit of time reading about Yehudi Menuhin's love for Indian culture, yoga, music, and food. It is almost unfortunate that my dissertation focuses only on Menuhin's relationship with yoga and, specifically B.K.S. Iyengar because he met and collaborated with some amazing, and very influential people besides the famous yogi. I guess I'll just have to geek out about all the other stuff I'm not 'dissertating' about on my blog.

Did you know that, contrary to popular belief, it was NOT the Beatles who discovered Ravi Shankar but Yehudi Menuhin?! I'm telling you, this violinist was way ahead of his time: a true Indigo Child.

In his autobiography Unfinished Journey, Menuhin discusses Indian Music as follows:

"Despite my predisposition in India's favor, I have to acknowledge that Indian music took me by surprise. I knew neither its nature nor its richness, but here, if anywhere, I found vindication of my conviction that India was the original source...Melodically and rhythmically Indian music long ago achieved a complex sophistication which only in the twentieth century, with the work of Bartók and Stravinsky, has Western music begun to adumbrate." (257)

Menuhin goes on to explain the genius of Shankar as "He does not interpret; he is." (260) - Wow! What a compliment!

Here is a little intro to traditional Indian music from Menuhin and Shankar filmed in the 1960s:

Menuhin brought Shankar and his band to the Bath Music Festival in June 1966, 10 years before the Beatles stumbled upon ragas, sitars, and Indian traditions. He was absolutely enthralled with the traditional Indian music. After a successful performance together at the music festival, they released an album together called 'West Meets East' in 1967. The album was No.1 on Billboard's Best-Selling Classical LPs for 18 weeks! And, truth be told, it is pretty incredible!

Recently, free spirited intensely exciting violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja collaborated with Ravi's daughter Anoushka Shankar to recreate the experience in the 21st century.

I hope you enjoy!

Music Mondays - Duo Caprice

This week Music Monday is dedicated to Peter Schickele and his Duo Caprice for two violins. This is yet another shameless plug for my upcoming performance with friend and colleague, Emily Bishop.

This performance is part of concert series that supports a wonderful cause, and I encourage anyone, and everyone in the Bentonville, and Northwest Arkansas region to attend! Our program is pretty rocking, but the impetus to even start performing as a duo came from hearing Peter Schickele's Duo Caprice.

For reasons that are unclear to me this piece does not get the recognition it deserves, It is tough, but very cool and always receives great reviews from our audiences. Although, not to be confused with the super hilarious duo performed below by Itzhak Perlman and the composer himself.

That duo makes me laugh out loud every time I watch that video!

Peter Schickele, to those unfamiliar with the name, also composes under the psyeudonym P.D.Q Bach and his music is generally amusing and pokes fun at famous classical music.

Anyways, below you will find the 'serious' duo that we will be performing Saturday. This is the only performance I could find on Youtube, so I hope to see you at our upcoming performance! 

Enjoy!