Tonight is Xmas eve but I'm not listening to carols. Not because I don't like carols, it's just that I don't like Xmas. New Year's celebrations with hope for the coming year is more up my alley, although I'm not optimistic that 2026 will be any better than 2025.
My littler sister got me rolling with a stunning new piece which I know means a lot to her, so I include it here:
This exciting gift from Chris set me thinking... why not share some favourite music around?
So just to start the ball rolling, I went on a journey through some of my personal favourites which are on my YouTube special list.
You may know a few of them but I don't expect you will know all of them.
They range from singers to instrumentalists, male and female performers, solos and duets!
From many parts of the wide world.
Why don't we just start with this most unusual number...
"Tonada De Luna Llena"
Natalia Lafourcade with Gustavo Guerrero
I have a great admiration for songs from Latin America, all over!
Many friends have sent me gifts which have changed my life, introducing
me to new artists performing songs which may not be new, but like
"Tonada De Luna Llena" were new to me. Lila Downs, Chavela Vargas,
and Elis Regina.
How about this wonderful song "Atrás da Porta" by Elis Regina?
But I also love guitar music from all round the world.
Many different styles of music from folk to classical, from performers of
many different nationalities.
Here's a classicalpiece played by very fine guitarist,Drew Henderson,
"Zapateado"by Joaquin Rodrigo from "Tres Piezas Españolas"
And another famous guitar solo played by Kyuhee Park
"Choros N°1" - by Heitor Villa Lobos
In case you're thinking I'm just stuck on classical guitar (and why not?) I would
like to introduce a piece from Gotan Project, I'm sure you all know it.
I love this video clip for many reasons beyond the musicality, I find it quite
unusual in style and structure and I think it informs the music obliquely...
How about this lovely crazy duet by Nikita Koshkin...
Scott Joplin eat your heart out!
Koshkin Guitar Duo Ragtime (Cambridge Suite)
(Asya Selyutina and Olga Kamornik)
Finally, this lovely video made by one of our friends Camelia Mirescu.
The aria is one of my operatic favourites, I first heard it sung
by my grandmother, Gertrude Pippey when I was very young.
Over the years I also heard it performed by many famous
divas, and then I discovered that Camelia had made a tribute
film to Romanian-born mezzo-soprano Elena Cernei, it seems
like that was yesterday but I guess it was about 10 years ago.
"Printemps qui commence..."
from "SAMSON ET DALILA" by Camille Saint-Saëns
Well folks, I hope you enjoy some of the offerings!
Our friend Nigel Buesst. A friendship of so many years, 62 years since we first met. Plenty of water under the bridge. Nigel at home with his minder, Jedda photo by Ivan Gaal I was just starting out in my life as a filmmaker, working at the State Film Centre in the library section. One day I was on counter duties, receiving films returning from borrowers and handing out films to other borrowers. In walked Nigel with a bundle of films under his arm, returning them from a film society he was involved with at the time. I think it was the CSIRO film group and Nigel was collecting another bundle which they would run in an upcoming programme. A short conversation of a few minutes at the counter established that we were both interested in making films and soon enough we became close friends. Nigel was about to shoot “Fun Radio” which was a real buzz for me. He asked me to shoot a few shots from his fancy sports car so I got to operate his new Bolex camera for a tracking shot or two as ...
Eyeless in Gaza... Footnotes: I wanted to leave these images up clear of any text. My friend Richard suggested we should acknowledge the sources so I've made a big effort to track them down out of respect for the incredible job they do, and especially for their courage, working in the dangerous zones where so many aid workers and journalists have lost their lives. But some are not credited on the pages of publications I drew them from. Here's a list I've just completed, numbered from the image No.1 at top of page down to the final one, No.9 1. Abdulqader Sabbah/Anadolu 2: Mohammed Dahman/AP 3. P hotograph: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu/Getty Images 4. Photo: WFP/Ali Jadallah 5. April 18, 2024. (AFP) 6: Mahmoud Issa: Reuters: Redux 7. Photographer: Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images 8. P hotographer: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu/Get...
A ward in a major hospital in Gaza, image courtesy of Médecins Sans Frontières Australia Well, I hope I will never have to be admitted to a hospital with facilities devastated like this. In fact I have a great aversion to hospitals even when they are relatively clean and well run as I have found here in Australia. Even at my worst moment in 2015 at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, I was never confronted with a ward such as we see in the image above. The procedure I was in hospital for required an operation in the middle of the night, in a theatre which was "under construction"... it was being "renovated" while still being used for serious operations! I was aghast at the situation but had I had no choice, it was an emergency and I was happy to be looked after by people who cared about my wellbeing and did their best under the circumstances. The news we endure every day and night shows us that we are a most privileged society... it's far from perfect here, but you ...
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