Universal La Folia

La Folia is perhaps the oldest and one of the most fundamental music themes created in Europe. Even though a few countries of origin are possible, it is believed that it was created in Spain and was published for the first time in 1672. There are two folias out there – early and later – the former going back to the 16th century. It was the 15th century Iberian quick-paced dance upon which the early folia was based. It is thus much faster compared to the later folia. However, it is the later folia that lies in the basis of many compositions we know. This standard 16-bar chord progression, normally in D minor, can be found in music compositions by 150 famous composers, among which are Bach’s “12 Variations über die Folie d'Espagne”, Liszt’s “Rhapsodie espagnole”, Scarlatti’s “29 Partite sopra l’aria della Folia”, Vivaldi’s “Trio Sonata”, Salieri’s “26 Variations on La Folia di Spagna” and many others.

Some say that after Rachmaninoff’s revival of the theme in his “Variations on a theme by Corelli” as well as Ponce’s use of it in “Variations on "Spanish Folia"” and “Fugue for guitar” in the 1930’s, La Folia slowly left the stage. It’s not true! Many contemporary composers keep using it in their works, experimenting with this historic tune. There are even sites dedicated to La Folia, where old and modern versions are being gathered and analyzed.

La Folia’s interesting feature is that it can be played in most unusual music instruments but sound absolutely natural. Doesn’t matter, whether you play a mandolin, or carillon, or rebab, or ukulele and what not – La Folia can be a good start for your own unique improvisations.

The 'Freed' Happy Birthday Available for Creative Arrangements

I’ve my birthday coming soon so I thought I’d dedicate this post to one of the most famous, if not ‘The’ most famous, birthday songs on the planet – “Happy Birthday To You”.

I bet many people playing and singing these few well-recognized 8 notes to congratulate their loved one rarely took time to think that there was a big company behind them, a company that earned huge sums of money annually on it. Happy Birthday was perceived a ‘people’s song’ already, it seen belong to everyone. But until recently, it wasn’t actually like that. The Warner/Chappell publishing company was charging for the song since 1988 after it bought the successor of the Summy Co. that, in its turn, held the copyright to the song previously given to it by the Hill sisters – Patty and Mildred – who wrote it. Yeah, a chain that long. The original lyrics were meant to greet the kids at the kindergarten and sounded like ‘Good Morning, Dear Children, Good Morning To You’ – this song was published by the Hill sisters as part of the book “Song Stories for the Kindergarten”. That’s when the Hills assigned the copyrights to the above mentioned Summy Co.
The 80-years story behind the song is actually very complex; it dates to as far as 1893 and it’s already hard to track all the copyright twists.

Let’s leave that apart and savor the main news – in September 2015, the court has finally decided to free the Good-Morning/Happy-birthday song from any copyrights. It means that anyone – musicians, filmmakers, artists, etc. – can use it publicly without the fear of having to pay a huge sum for it.

Within this short period since the Happy Birthday song was freed there have appeared lots of music arrangements celebrating the opportunity to create own versions of the century’s birthday symbol. Happy Birthday on guitar, cello, trumpet, oboe, in a jazzy style or in a classical manner - looks like many musicians have been anticipating the moment!

The World For Christmas

My favorite time of the year is about to settle in completely and entirely on most of the planet and that gives me some special holiday chills! Christmas is of so much sincere joy and inspiration to me that I look forward to live it through again and again. The ambiance that reigns in December is like nowhen else – even the coldest spots of the world get filled with special warmth, family love and unity of the souls.

Like with most important things in life I perceive Christmas musically as I can’t imagine it without music. The magic Christmas carols and songs that accompany this holiday are so deeply planted in my heart. Despite the list of old Christmas songs that have been around for years, ages, I keep looking for new Christmas melodies that appear every year. I love to observe how modern composers see this holiday and therefore look for new music portraits of Christmas.

This year one of my curious finds is represented by a contemporary choral piece by Anders Edenroth – “The World For Christmas”. Below is the video of The Real Group performing it. The amazing thing about the composition is not just the great music in general but the message of the song. We are all used to listening to Christmas songs that are an ode to joy, holiday and the happiness of the moment. But in this case the compositions aims for something of a bigger scale, much bigger. This song is an expression of a huge concern for our planet and the ecological problems it has to face. A call for global action and change. And it does make me want to act. Below is the beautiful video of the song made the guys. Just watch it and get inspired.

Devil's Trill Sonata

I fall in love with some music works only for their background story. And if the piece sounds gorgeous too – even better!

One of the music compositions that drew my attention in this sense was the sonata composed by Giuseppe Tartini – “Il trillo del diavolo”, which is translated from Italian as “Devil’s Trill”. We know that many composers (as well as mathematicians, scientists etc.) sometimes saw some useful clue or even their work-of-a-lifetime while sleeping. That’s what (almost) happened to Giuseppe. One night Devil himself showed up in his dream (he came for his soul, composer said) and started playing violin. The melody was so beautiful and breathtaking that Tartini was fully encaptured by it. The morning he woke up the first thing to do was grab some paper and try to save what’s was still playing in his head.

As a result we now have a beautiful music composition for violin and piano now. Tartini humbly mentioned that what he made is only a vague reminder of the powerful music he heard in his dream. But in memory of that night, he decided to call his music work a “Devil's Trill Sonata”.

Steven Tyler’s Duo With a Street Musician

I do love it when a music star is not some far-away idol for his fans but rather a ‘close friend’ who gives you the feeling of confidence and reliability. Some big pop and rock stars today are trying to keep a safe distance from their fans, and it’s quite clear – you never know what people can turn out to be there in the crowd. But how great it may feel you music lovers can approach their favorite artists and feel close to them not just in music but in real life too. Even better if you are trying to follow the steps of your music idol playing his/her songs yourself.

I was so delighted to watch this piece of video where Steven Tyler proved to be so open-minded and easy-going with a fan of his. The Aerosmith vocalist was having a walk around the downtown of Moscow and suddenly that guy is there, playing the Aerosmith hit of all time – I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing. Instead of regarding it as trivial street art attempt to reproduce the hit and just passing by, he chooses to join the young man and make a spontaneous duo with him. You can judge by the guy’s face expression that it was a mixture of shock, embarrassment and joy all in once. For an accidental music duo it was quite a good job!