#61 NSL
Through my (music) student years, I worked at the Sibley Music Library. It might be too late to study for a library science degree now.Otherwise, I would love to work there. One of the best kept “secrets” is a note left by a former student worker. It a secret, only because the note is posted…
#60 Sweet D-Flat
In the world of equal temperament, the extra-musical meaning associated with a key is an hommage to a composer, isn’t it? (Pianist friends, please educate me if you have thoughts on this) I have always been drawn to “sweet” music, and slowly over time, I have realized that quite a few of my favorite pieces…
#59 Chorei
Been indoors all day rehearsing. As I got home and the sun was still out, I couldn’t help and went for a bike ride. Not only was it too cold, but at some point, tears started dropping for no reason and I couldn’t open my eyes. Air was too chill? Staring straight at the sun?…
#58 Ernest Shand
The guitar has always been my true love, and although I have been having an affair with the mandolin in the past few years, I just can’t help myself and fell in love with the Portugues guitar. As I was busying looking for the method, A Complete Method for Portuguese Guitarra by Havelock on the…
#57 The Lick
Made some long drives over the weekend with my buddy Mike, and as the driver, he also had full control of what we listened to. He showed me a live reggae show that he enjoys: Rockpalast Live 2019 by Richie Spice and the Element Band. While I loved how tight the band and the arrangement…
#56 Why reggae – episode #3a
It must just be a self-romanticized thought, but I have always felt an indirect connection between Jamaican and Hong Kong – both were British colonies, and both are islands with extremely hot and humid weather. Yes the connections are superficial, but for a Chinese teenager to make a reggae connection, that was more than enough.…
#55 Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez
Listening to Leo Brouwer’s arrangement of the Adagio (second movement) of the Concierto de Aranjuez (from the collaborative album Leo Brower Con Irakere), I was reminded of two arrangements of the same piece performed by jazz musicians: Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio) by Miles Davis (on his album, Sketches of Spain, arranged by Gil Evans); and…
#54 How it all started – 7
Back in the day (90s and early 2000s), students in Hong Kong had to do two public exams: the HKCEE and HKALE. They were the type of exams that could determine one’s life, as the results would count toward university application. I took my HKCEE in 2000, and having achieved a big task (without knowing…
#53 Leo Brower con Irakere
Visited the Bop Shop the other day, and thought I would spend some time to dig through the classical guitar and “world” sections. It turned out I did not check any classical guitar records at all, because there were already too many cool “world” records I would like to buy. Of the 4 records I…
#52 Jules, why? – 3
(Continue from Jules, why? – 2) Giulio Regondi did not leave us a guitar method. Just for fun, I looked a bit at his New Method for the Concertina and Rudimenti del Concertinista, hoping it might give hint of his musical insights. Maybe even an explanation of why a guitar virtuoso picked up the concertina?…
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Ken Luk 