A little late getting this entry out - it's been an interesting day. A couple hours left in it, and I'm ready to collapse...no vampire-like alertness tonight.
Anyways, last night I was reminded of the importance of giving different styles of music a chance. To actually live by the stuff I spout here. Remember my first blog entry, "At Last"? I said that any self-respecting music nerd and/or musician will deliberately expose him/herself to everything - to new experiences, new artists and new sounds.
There's this new-to-me DVD of Wynton Marsalis, Congo Square, which I checked out a couple weeks ago thanks to Netflix. [brief description: "Congo Square" is the ground-breaking 2-hour co-composition by Yacub Addy and Wynton Marsalis that celebrates the historic Congo Square in New Orleans. The only place in America where African slaves were allowed to perform their own music and dance in the 1700s-1800s, it established the roots of American music by providing a means for African music to enter and mingle with American forms."]
I am not typically a fan of African music, but figured I needed to stretch a little. And I remained true to that a couple weeks ago --- I did not like this performance. Lost interest in 15 minutes and switched to Psych. Well, last nite while hanging out with some musician friends, we began to watch this. And I wanted to leave the room. Yep, that's how much I didn't like it the first go-round.
And.....I am soooooo glad I didn't leave. By halfway through the performance, I was totally mesmerized. And the Finale was Amazing!!
Pay attention to the ENERGY here - everyone's moving, singing, dancing....just totally LIT from the inside out. What started out a little slow-moving to me built to an awesome climax at the end. And Mr. Marsalis is dancing?? What the heck? This. was. FUN! When is the last time you or I did anything THAT fun? I tell you what...I've got some stuff planned now. I suggest you get to it...
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