[Jim Moonan]

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A clarinet like no other:

https://youtu.be/0U-IXWaapx4?si=_2Kc2-1RMwqkPzQw

And a pianist who plays ravishingly.

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[Julie Steiner]

Very nice finds, Roger and Jim.

I consider this Guardian article to be a wickedly brilliant piece of performance art, but almost everyone I shared it with after the 2017 eclipse told me they couldn't read the article because they weren't Guardian subscribers. (Nope, that wasn't the problem.)

Hoping the joke lands better this time:
How to tell if you damaged your eyes during the eclipse

[RCL]

Jim!

What a day! That’s the clarinet accomplishment I dreamed of through ten years of practicing, often within earshot of my mother, who one day said, “You’ll never be as good as Benny Goodman,” after which I never played clarinet again. Gorgeous Georgian Khatia on piano looks alarmingly like my young mother! Blazes!!

[Roger Slater]

I'm always amazed at how a cover version of a song can sound so different than the original or better-known version. "He Called Me Baby" was a hit for Patsy Cline, and while her voice is great the arrangement kills the song. Here's Patsy's version. While Patsy has a better voice than AJ Lee, I think that AJ's version totally kills Patsy's and takes the song up several notches. Here's AJ's version.

[Carl Copeland]

In recent days, I’ve been under the spell of a Hindi ghazal sung by Kavya Limaye, backed by Indian musicians and the Budapest Symphony Orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUcSdta05Q4

The ghazal by Bashir Badr (b. 1935) was set to music by Jagjit Singh (1941-2011) and popularly sung by his wife, Chitra Singh (b. 1940). There are only four shers, each line being repeated several times in the song. The radif is “you are,” which works well in a language that likes verbs at the end of clauses. I found an English translation and played around with Google Translate, but the result is still unsatisfactory even as a crib:

So it seems that you are life,
you are a total stranger.

Now there are no desires left,
you are my last quest.

I am the darkness on the earth,
you are the moonlight in the sky.

Expectations of loyalty from friends,
you are a man of what era?

[Jim Moonan]

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Originally Posted by Carl Copeland

In recent days, I’ve been under the spell of a Hindi ghazal sung by Kavya Limaye, backed by Indian musicians and the Budapest Symphony Orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUcSdta05Q4

The ghazal by Bashir Badr (b. 1935) was set to music by Jagjit Singh (1941-2011) and popularly sung by his wife, Chitra Singh (b. 1940). There are only four shers, each line being repeated several times in the song. The radif is “you are,” which works well in a language that likes verbs at the end of clauses. I found an English translation and played around with Google Translate, but the result is still unsatisfactory even as a crib:

So it seems that you are life,
you are a total stranger.

Now there are no desires left,
you are my last quest.

I am the darkness on the earth,
you are the moonlight in the sky.

Expectations of loyalty from friends,
you are a man of what era?

This is stunning. I'm enthralled. Thanks for sharing.


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[John Riley]

Than you, Carl. I’m having knee surgery tomorrow morning, going to get me a new one!, and I’m certain I’ll listen to this many times while I’m immobile.

[Carl Copeland]

Yeah, I’ve been listening to it several times a day, and I sometimes feel it’s singing in my sleep, so maybe for you it’ll work under narcosis. A new knee is good. I’ll need one of those myself soon.

[Jim Moonan]

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Karine Polwart – I Burn But I Am Not Consumed

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[Julie Steiner]

Not exactly performances, but each of the recent SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base (formerly Vandenberg Air Force Base) that I've seen in the skies over San Diego has been a breathtaking spectacle. The first one I witnessed, several months ago, took me unawares as I was driving on the freeway. It was very, very distracting to all the drivers, including me.

I'm too far south to see the initial part of these launches, but the breakup of the rocket components (note the large white dots in the opalescent wake, lit by the already-vanished sun, about three minutes into this video) and the controlled return flights of the re-usable parts, while the satellite part keeps going, are mesmerizing. Enjoy.