A rap rhyme review of “The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzales”
What if your inner voice just started speaking out?
And everyone could hear what you really are about
Would you have the guts to lay it down on wax? Lire la suite
October 20th 2012, Barbican Hall, London
The piano has become an instrument of the masses again. Thanks to one man, who brought the giant in black and white to life again: Chilly Gonzales. His recipe sounds simple: modification and adaptation. Instead of putting a good portion of pop into existing classical music and brewing a cheesy, unenjoyable pomp-chowder, he uses the rules of classical composition to create piano pearls in poplength and –structure. Lire la suite
Gonzales often says that his Solo Piano songs are 2-3 minute pop songs played on the piano. At the heart of that assertion is that fact that a good melody is universal – from Mozart to Smashing Pumpkins; it’s coded in our constitution. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Canadian artist K’Naan picked up a couple of Solo Piano snippets to use on his latest album. What should be surprising is that way, way more artists haven’t done the same! Gonzales recently tweeted that his piano ‘ghost’ appears on two track of K’Naan’s latest album
Proud to be a part of @knaan ‘s new album (my piano ghost is on « Gold in Timbuktu » and « Waiting is a drug »)
— chilly gonzales (@chillygonzales) November 2, 2012
Here how « Armellodie » (from Solo Piano) was used as a theme for K’Naan’s song « Gold in Timbuktu »
K’Naan also used an « Oregano-like » sample as a backdrop to his song « Waiting is a Drug ». Gonzales indicated that he re-recorded the sample to better suit K’Naan’s song
There’s no doubt that the pure pop potential of songs from Solo Piano II will also be realized and sampled on subsequent records. Some people will abhor the idea of Solo Piano songs being used to underscore pop songs, but as Gonzales likes to say, the best way to save music is to make it a product of modern times!