Somewhere between all the websites, social networks, email blasts and free downloads, there's a song. The intellectual property of a musician that fuels the business.
It's a renewable energy source, constantly evolving and regenerating. It comes from a pure emotion, a universal truth, a rhythm, chord or single note. Seemingly sometimes out of thin air. It's purpose can be to peel back the layers of life, reveal depth of the human psyche, tell a story of humanity, resonate the eardrums of the human body. It can pause life or lapse through time within a measure, creating an image in the mind or compelling the body to move and dance.
It's powerful stuff, people.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Throw Down Your Heart
I've known the music of Béla Fleck for most of my life, and have been lucky enough to see him perform multiple times, from an intimate practice/jam session in the Boulder music store HB Woodsongs (back when it was downtown) to the Telluride Town Park stage for multiple years of Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Not to mention a few shows with the Flecktones in Boulder at Chataqua Hall and a stop on the Holiday tour in Beaver Creek at the acoustically spectacular Vilar Center. I'm constantly impressed with Béla's musicianship, creativity and persona on and off stage, and always find his music and performances inspirational on many levels.
After watching "Throw Down Your Heart", a documentary on Bela traveling through Africa and finding the roots of the banjo, my admiration for Bela and his music has grown tremendously. Throughout the journey, Bela plays improvised music with local African musicians, starting in small villages with handmade instruments and outdoor performances/recordings, and ending in a modern city w/manufactured instruments and a recording studio in which he invites his new musician friends and records two albums of music inspired by African culture. It's hard to describe the feeling that's inside every song performed, and many of the interactions between Bela and the African musicians, but it's a feeling of innocents and observation. It's like watching a master learn from his pupil. It's amazing to hear the rawness of the African instruments in the recordings; the scratch of fingernails on the fretboard, the buzz of the metal keys on a hand made kalimba, and the pure vocal resonances of the African singers. Every song is pure and feels like its coming from the connected musicians as much as it's coming out of the air surrounding them. The film is as beautiful as the music, and I quickly watched it again with my girlfriend and loaned it to a friend afterwards. I also bought the albums recorded as part of Bela's series "Tales From the Acoustic Planet" featuring the songs recorded in the studio as well as some recorded in the villages and on location.
This is more than a film, a music album or any other packaged good. It is a journey taken by an inspirational human being that sends a message of unity and equality as well as musicianship and creativity. After watching this documentary and having seen him in many amazing venues already, I still eagerly await the next time I get to see Bela perform and share in the musical air surrounding us.
After watching "Throw Down Your Heart", a documentary on Bela traveling through Africa and finding the roots of the banjo, my admiration for Bela and his music has grown tremendously. Throughout the journey, Bela plays improvised music with local African musicians, starting in small villages with handmade instruments and outdoor performances/recordings, and ending in a modern city w/manufactured instruments and a recording studio in which he invites his new musician friends and records two albums of music inspired by African culture. It's hard to describe the feeling that's inside every song performed, and many of the interactions between Bela and the African musicians, but it's a feeling of innocents and observation. It's like watching a master learn from his pupil. It's amazing to hear the rawness of the African instruments in the recordings; the scratch of fingernails on the fretboard, the buzz of the metal keys on a hand made kalimba, and the pure vocal resonances of the African singers. Every song is pure and feels like its coming from the connected musicians as much as it's coming out of the air surrounding them. The film is as beautiful as the music, and I quickly watched it again with my girlfriend and loaned it to a friend afterwards. I also bought the albums recorded as part of Bela's series "Tales From the Acoustic Planet" featuring the songs recorded in the studio as well as some recorded in the villages and on location.
This is more than a film, a music album or any other packaged good. It is a journey taken by an inspirational human being that sends a message of unity and equality as well as musicianship and creativity. After watching this documentary and having seen him in many amazing venues already, I still eagerly await the next time I get to see Bela perform and share in the musical air surrounding us.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Reverb Nation & iLike
I've created an artist profile on a few more social networking sites. Myspace has slowly become a bit of a junkyard, but still holds the ability for musicians to upload new tracks, shows, and receive comments and direct emails regarding localized gigs, etc. I've gotten more than a handful of emails inviting me to play in music festivals and compete in a battle of the bands in "my area" and actually followed up w/a few. But it's time to expand the online musical presence.
Reverb Nation was the first music app for Facebook that caught my attention. It has a music player (that takes you out of FB to play, however), attractive design, and linked directly to my Facebook profile. I'm still haven't completed my profile yet, but keep my music tracks and pics updated, and receive weekly emails w/stats, telling me my rank against other local artists. Best I've gotten is #3 in my area. That's kinda' cool.
I then created a fan page for Kevin Heinz Music, hoping to gain a following through my online friends that are addicted to facebook, and have all deleted (or never even had) a myspace account. I wanted to be able to promote a facebook.com/kevinheinzmusic link on posters, handbills, etc. It looks/sounds more current. I then researched more music players that would keep you on the Facebook site and found iLike. A few music and picture uploads later, and I have another outlet for my online musical presence.
The trick will be to keep all the different sites updated, and hopes are one, if not, all of them will continue to allow me to grow credibility as a performing musician and land bigger gigs. I'm as ambitious today as ever to make music my fulll-time job, and keep it my life passion.
Reverb Nation was the first music app for Facebook that caught my attention. It has a music player (that takes you out of FB to play, however), attractive design, and linked directly to my Facebook profile. I'm still haven't completed my profile yet, but keep my music tracks and pics updated, and receive weekly emails w/stats, telling me my rank against other local artists. Best I've gotten is #3 in my area. That's kinda' cool.
I then created a fan page for Kevin Heinz Music, hoping to gain a following through my online friends that are addicted to facebook, and have all deleted (or never even had) a myspace account. I wanted to be able to promote a facebook.com/kevinheinzmusic link on posters, handbills, etc. It looks/sounds more current. I then researched more music players that would keep you on the Facebook site and found iLike. A few music and picture uploads later, and I have another outlet for my online musical presence.
The trick will be to keep all the different sites updated, and hopes are one, if not, all of them will continue to allow me to grow credibility as a performing musician and land bigger gigs. I'm as ambitious today as ever to make music my fulll-time job, and keep it my life passion.
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