My 19th Concert
Latin American Themes: Thur-Sun, Aug 6-9, 2009
Moliendo Cafe, Tico-Tico, Tico-Tico, Take 2, Sway (Quien Sera)
Moliendo Cafe
My piano interpretation of a Latin American tune
HAIKU, Maui, Aug 6, 2009 - About a week or so ago, I got Elizabeth a collection of Latin American tunes so she can dance to it while she makes all the delicious jams and other delicacies from guava, passion fruit and bananas. While she was playing it for the first time on my iPod, I was doing some work at the office. Suddenly, I heard a familiar tune that reminded me of something from my childhood.
I jumped our of my chair and ran over to the piano, joining the South American group of performers half way through the song. It turned out they were playing it in a weird key (G#m for the music connoisseurs), at least on the piano. So I had a hard time keeping up. But eventually, I got it. And after working for about a week on my own version of what turns out to be Moliendo Cafe, I decided to share it with you. It's still a "work in progress," so I hope you won't be too harsh a critic. :-)
Moliendo Cafe (3:56 mins)
Recorded on Aug 5, 2009
My piano interpretation of an old Brazilian samba hit
HAIKU, Maui, Aug 9, 2009 - Ever since I recorded Moliendo Cafe three days ago, another Latin tune has crept into my head. I had no idea what it was and neither did Elizabeth. So I last night, I played a rough "work in progress" version of it for my friends in the hope that some of them may be able to help me identify it:
An Unidentified Latin Tune - by Bob Djurdjevic on Piano (08 08 2009) (2:05 mins)
Sure enough, by this Sunday morning, I had received quite a few responses from all over the world. It turns out the music was an old Brazilian samba tune, "Tico-Tico," which was immortalized in several movies as well as on many records, including by Carmen Miranda in "Copacabana," a 1947 Groucho Marx film.
So here is Tico-Tico now in my piano rendition...
Tico-Tico (3:24 mins)
Recorded on Aug 9, 2009
Tico-Tico by Bob Djurdjevic on Piano (8 09 2009)
Take 2: Adding Double Classical Guitar Interpretation
HAIKU, Maui, Aug 18, 2009 - I rarely play from sheet music anymore. And even if I do, it's only a starting point. I play what I hear in my head... or soul, or wherever it is that music comes from. I don't choose the tunes. They come from a celestial iTunes library. Sometimes, I don't even know what the songs are, as you have seen from my concerts. I just play them the way I hear them, creating my own arrangements along the way.
For example, I've just added another segment to Tico-Tico, the little Brazilian sparrow (Tico-Tico) wouldn't leave me alone. It was inspired by two South American classical guitar masters (Carlos Barbosa-Lima of Brazil & Berta Rojas of Paraguay), whose two-guitar version of the Brazilian tune I loved. So I am trying to emulate two guitars on my piano in this "Take 2" recording of Tico-Tico...
Tico-Tico, Take 2 (4:49 mins)
Recorded on Aug 18, 2009
By the way, another interesting thing I discovered while working on this version of Tico-Tico is that if I closed my eyes while playing the new part, my hands and fingers would "dance" better... another thing that connects music with yoga and meditation.
A piano version of an old Spanish/Dean Martin Hit
HAIKU, Maui, Aug 9, 2009 - Finally, here the part three of my Latin American concert. It is a song popularized by Dean Martin under the title "Sway." But it was actually written by a Mexican composer, Pablo Beltran Ruiz (1915-2008) under the title "Quien Sera," and was also used in movies. Here it is in my piano version...
Sway (Quien Sera) (2:40 mins)
Recorded on Aug 9, 2009
And that's all she wrote on this Latin American musical weekend.
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Bob Djurdjevic
E-mail: bobdj@djurdjevic.com
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