The internet

[vkioulaphides]

Each and every day, I am delighted by the new capabilities offered us by this not-so-new-any-more medium, the internet.

I just got an e-mail from Sendai, Japan, where a mandolin aficionado expressed great eagerness to hear Carlo Aonzo perform my Canzona at the local concert hall tonight. Said aficionado is no stranger to my work, however, having seen/heard Ralf Leenen's fabulous performances of it online, and having contacted him regarding my Quartetti Classici. One thing led to another, and...

In short order --I cannot resist the pun-- I send to Sendai my six quartets. I hope that Japan's wonderful (and plentiful!) mandolinists use them to the fullest, and to their hearts' delight.

Arigato, internet. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[JeffD]

It is a cliche I know, but its true, the internet has made the world a very small place.

(I sometimes worry that the internet will obliterate regional culture, but perhaps not in my life time.)


Congratulations!

[vkioulaphides]

Thanks, Jeff.

As for your philosophical remark, indeed... it has ALWAYS been this "tango" between the local and the global; albeit to a lesser extent, this was also the story of the Hellenistic world, of the Roman Empire, of the Renaissance, of the Industrial Revolution, et al. I see the two not as opposite but as complementary drives of human culture.

But I cut myself short, lest I indulge in TOO much philosophizing... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[Bob A]

I suspect the very nature of "regional" will come to embrace communities of interest, rather than of a geographic nature; we're seeing the early wiring of the global mind developing. Whether it will develop into an intelligent lifeform is a question whose answer is rooted in another question: is there intelligent life on Earth?

[vkioulaphides]

"I suspect the very nature of "regional" will come to embrace communities of interest, rather than of a geographic nature."

Yes, I second that, as both de facto true AND desirable.

Economics-professor-in-residence Bob Margo will surely see the nail-to-hammer-to-blacksmith-(back)to-hammer-to-nail circle: a Greek citizen of the U.S. writes a mandolin piece (soon to be published by a German firm) for an Italian mandolinist, who is currently on tour in Japan, where a Japanese mandolin aficionado hears the piece and, as directed by a Belgian mandolinist, contacts the initial New Yorker asking for more, who then composes and disseminates MORE mandolin music for all.

I, for one, cannot think of ANY geographically local enclave where such things could have ever happened. As a tangent to Jeff's comment, "local flourishes", the likes of which we have seen in Vienna, Paris, London, etc. will always exist in some form or other; by sheer size, breadth, and volume, however, the Linked World will effect vastly greater "economies of skill and talent".

My $0.02 -- or 0.014 euro http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[margora]

"I, for one, cannot think of ANY geographically local enclave where such things could have ever happened."

Not on the scale possible with the internet to be sure but the basic principle is one of the economic advantages of physical "agglomeration" of people (i.e. cities) -- the sharing of information. The internet has flattened this particular type of economy of scale but has not eliminated it -- indeed, economists think that certain cities, like New York, which are intensive in the production of ideas will flourish while other (American) cities intensive in the production of goods will not.

[Eugene]

Indeed. I have met many wonderful folks and achieved a few things in very far away places of which I'm rather proud, all thanks to my magic box. ...And in spite of the relative rarity of intelligent life on Earth (or at least within my wee melon).

[Got8Strings]

Victor,

Here's an item for the "its a small world" file. We had an exchange student from Sendai who has become a close family friend and visited us many times. What is the name of this aficionado? I'll ask our friend is she knows this person.

BTW, I'm sitting here playing the de Meglio as I read the new messages on the board tonight!

[vkioulaphides]

Ah, yes, the de Meglio, from the estate of a deceased Englishman who once vacationed in, and was enamored of Italy, sold by his descendants to a Greek in New York via eBay... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif


The Japanese mando-aficionado's name is Tatsuya Kikuchi-- who may be (if I understand the implication correctly) a member of the local mandolin orchestra, with which Carlo is performing.

Also, assuming I understand the request correctly, I will be e-mailing my six Quartetti Classici to Japan tonight. My "orchestral" works are of limited applicability: not many groups around the world can do my Concerto a pizzico (as Het Consort and the PMO have), while my Concerto da camera is as of yet unperformed, and thus Ralf and La Napolitaine have "premiere rights" reserved until they do perform it.

All in all, it's a small world and a good place to be. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Cheers,

Victor

[vkioulaphides]

"...economists think that certain cities, like New York, which are intensive in the production of ideas will flourish while other (American) cities intensive in the production of goods will not.

How true, how (sometimes) painfully true! I am no economist (although I aspired to become one in my youth) but, speaking merely from the experience of a bass-player, traveling around the Rustbelt a couple of decades ago, auditioning for the great American orchestras in the industrial heartland --during the "DE-industrialization" of the U.S.-- I can only remember boarded-up storefronts, abandoned properties, and a general aura of decay. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

But I must cut this tangential topic short, lest we all get dragged into mando-irrelevant discussions of economics or --Heavens forbid!-- politics. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Back to the mandolin!