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Thread: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

  1. #1
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    In the park the other day I played the gigue from Victor's "Suite for Ali" on my Fender Mandostrat solid body electric mandolin - with full heavy metal distortion - through my VOX amp - to a crowd of maybe a dozen trapped audience.

    It was marvelous.

    The gigue has cycles of "joyful bursting out" followed by "restrained energy" followed by another "bursting out". Kind of a pulsation or a more like a rocking back and forth between potential and kinetic joy. (Musical descriptions are never very good.) Anyway, I took full advantage of this, and with the dynamic range and the effects available in an all electric set up, and considerable liberties with the tempo, I made a pretty dramatic performance.

    It really worked. I took it from classical to a more mannerist style. Nothing subtle or left for the audience to do.

    I don't think I converted anyone to classical music, or the mandolin for that matter, but it was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Went well with the burgers and beer.

    One of the beautiful things about music is you can take a piece and totally mess with it - put a mustache and sideburns on the Mona Lisa, without affecting the original, which is still available for others (more talented) to interpret in a more restrained or perhaps appropriate way.

    A shout out to Victor for this lovely and very playable piece.


    Oh, and another revelation - I enjoyed it so much I forgot to be nervous. Not a common experience for me trying to play more classical pieces.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

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    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    Why... thanks, Jeff! All of a sudden, I feel oh-so-cool and hip-to-the-max, I think I'll just let my hair down and go for a stroll in the park myself. Needless to say, I agree 100% with everything you say. Only living music is real music.

    I once chanced upon a group of young Korean tourists on a New York City subway train. All of a sudden someone's cell-phone went off and the ring-tone was... one of my own arrangements of Greek folk music for mandolins! That totally made my day.

    Three cheers!

    Victor
    It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)

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  5. #3
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    Electric instruments seem to me to turn a melody into an anthem. Everything is headlines in bold. This is what happened, everything was emphatically stated, like a campaign speech.

    And with a dramatic retard in the last four measures and lots of over the top heavy metal crazy in that last note.

    Fun fun fun.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

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    Registered User DougC's Avatar
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    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    Oy...................... It must be springtime or something. Wish I could hear the tune. Any version...

  7. #5

    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    Sounds like you may need to give up your nickname—the innocent bystanding has gone by the wayside.

  8. #6
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    Quote Originally Posted by Scot63 View Post
    Sounds like you may need to give up your nickname—the innocent bystanding has gone by the wayside.
    I know. With that full heavy metal distortion, all I needed was a drummer and a skull mask.

    Reality is I lost my innocence the moment I bought a second mandolin. The rest is commentary.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  9. #7
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    The neat thing is how well Victor's piece did. It really sounds great played that way. It is part of the genius of the work, that it can be played and sound amazing in various different voices. There is a lot of drama in the piece, and I just brought it out and highlighted it. I didn't create anything new, I just shined a different kind of light on it.

    I will be doing it again, and hope to record it and post it here.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  10. #8
    Registered User DougC's Avatar
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    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    Here is the original version;starting at about 8 minutes on the video.
    Now I can't wait for Jeff to make his video.

    Decipit exemplar vitiis imitabile

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    Yes, the gigue starts 8 minutes in. And that is a great playing of it. I cannot play it that fast. I play it at the speed of a garden variety jig I might play for a dance, and for this party I varied the tempo too as the tune lead me.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  12. #10
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    Vote number 2 for Jeff's heavy metal version audio or video. Was it not recorded in the park?
    Jim

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  14. #11
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    It wasn't recorded, but I will do another one into a microphone.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

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    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    Vote number 2 for Jeff's heavy metal version audio or video. Was it not recorded in the park?
    Thirded. After years of folking, I find myself very very curious about rock-pig electric mandolin.
    And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')

    C.S. Lewis

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    This Kid Needs Practice Bill Clements's Avatar
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    Default Re: Victor Kioulaphides electrified

    I hope they filled your open case with cash!
    "Music is the only noise for which one is obliged to pay." ~ Alexander Dumas

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