Art Rocks 2018 song is called “Ramses”

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Irene writes,

My Art Rocks 2018 song is finally coming together. I’m calling it “Ramses”.

I was inspired by the life of Ram(e)ses II and his legacy (as Basquiat obviously was), in particular the striking evidence of his love for Nefertari, his first wife. The tomb he built for her in the Valley of the Queens is stunning – a real labour of love. She’s depicted larger than life on some temples too. He called her “the one for whom the sun shines”. Some praise indeed!

Writing the song has taken a bit longer than usual, as I struggled to find a direct link with the painting and the artist. After the Art Rocks workshop day I participated in a few weeks back, I saw a way to pull it all together and I think it works. Here’s hoping the museum judges think so too.

Now onto the final stages of arranging the song, making the video and getting my entry in in time for the closing date, 22 October 2018.

 
Check it out:
Now you can take a virtual tour inside Nefertari’s tomb (2018)

Working on a song for Art Rocks 2018

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Art Rocks is a bi-annual competition linking fine art and music.

Irene took part in 2012, and has decided to try again. Last Saturday she attended one of the workshops, to gain inspiration and meet some of the other songwriters. She was the oldest of the bunch by far. The youngest was 15, not much older than when she first learned to play the guitar and started writing songs all those years ago.

Irene has selected this painting by Basquiat as her inspiration:
 
'Koningen van Egipte 2' by Basquiat

The song is evolving slowly, but she’s making headway. The challenge is to write a song that can stand on its own, but that is clearly inspired by and a response to the artwork. Good luck to all the others taking part.

The organisers hope for 250+ entries this year. Wouldn’t it be great if Irene made the museum round and then got selected for the finals in Paradiso? One can dream, can’t one?

In case you’re interested, here’s the link to Irene’s 2012 entry, “Mirror mirror”.

Website gets an overhaul

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We had no choice. The old wordpress theme wasn’t PHP 7.1 compatible, so it had to go.

It wasn’t easy finding something suitable. Margriet and I auditioned a whole series of wordpress themes this afternoon and settled on this one, called “Great!”. I hope you like it.

 
 
For nostalgia’s sake, here is a screenprint of the old site:
Can you spot the differences?

In songwriter-mode

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Irene writes,
 
In a recent blog post, Gary Ewer mentions Bob Dylan’s analogy for describing a good song: ‘It should be able to “walk by itself.” A good song has life. It has an identity, and it exists long after someone sings it.’ (source: www.secretsofsongwriting.com)
 
I’m hoping to write a few of those.
 
I’ve been in songwriter-mode for most of 2017, taking part in a year-long course with Lalalab in Amsterdam and attending some songwriting camps. Not that I’ve been prolific, but I do have something to show for it.
 
Some recent song tiles:
Be a little braver
Do you remember?
Secret garden
On the other side of darkness
It kills me

Busking in L.A.

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When we went to Los Angeles in November, we decided to take our busking kit with us, hoping to make a little money and to share our music with the locals.

This is us performing on Venice Boulevard, not too far from our Airbnb eco-cottage. We didn’t make much money, but we did make some memories.

Later in the week we put our kit to good use at the Taxi Road Rally too, as part of our act and our branding at the open mics.

 

A “gem of a memory” mini-concert

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I went to Lausanne for a meeting this weekend (lucky me) and took along my ukulele as I often do on trips, hoping for an opportunity to play and sing. It wasn’t to be. But towards the end of my journey back home, in the train to Rotterdam, I gave an impromptu mini-concert, singing the chorus of one of our Two Doors Down songs: “This is for you, this gem of a memory … this is for you to keep” (written on the ukulele, and easy enough to play from memory).

In fact, I got to play the chorus twice. My audience: a lapsed guitar player and two train conductors. I was sitting in a vestibule (I think that’s what you call it) near the door (and the toilet), surrounded by my luggage, and the guy next to me was drawn to my instrument in its mandolin case. So I took it out and we shared a “gem of a memory” right there, together with first one and then a second train conductor doing their rounds, with the sounds of the train and rushing wind as a backdrop to my little song.

I hope I have inspired my travel companion to pick up his guitar again, and/or get himself a ukulele. The few chords he played on my instrument sounded really sweet. And I hope the train conductors also have good memories of our brief encounter.

Irene

On the Fringes of the Fringe

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Margriet and I will be in Edinburgh in August, hosted by a good friend of mine. We’re taking along our instruments, so we can do some busking, on the fringes of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

We did consider the fringe festival busking opportunities, but soon realised our music would be drowned out by all the hustle and bustle on the Royal Mile. Instead we hope to find a listening audience in quieter parts of town, and maybe sell some CDs.

We’ll also be sampling some of what the fringe festival has to offer, and map out a strategy for participating in the festival next year, possibly on a shared bill with some singer-songwriter friends.