Van Morrison is a great explorer of the power of resonance and in “Listen to the Lion” he gives us a powerful example. It’s basically a love song, but it explores territories which are older and deeper than most love songs. It still resonates with me years after first hearing it. Let me try and tell you why.

Thanks to you, my readers, who, in a world of constant calls to look elsewhere, take a moment to follow this blog. Merci à vous, mes lecteurs et lectrices qui, dans un monde où l‘attention est constamment attirée ailleurs, prennent quelques instants de votre temps précieux pour suivre ce blog. Most of the posts you […]

Voici le deuxième volet d’une conversation avec Chester Kamen, guitariste de rock, qui réfléchit sur l’apprentissage de son métier. Il partage ses expériences de musicien autodidacte dans un milieu très compétitif, ainsi que ses rencontres avec Bryan Ferry, David Gilmour et Madonna entre autres. Il parle également de sa nouvelle vie de musicien de rock dans le monde du jazz, un nouveau défi d’apprentissage.

My all time favorite automobile has to be a grey Morris Oxford Series II with red leather seats. It was our first family car which our dad turned up with one evening after work shortly before we moved house in the summer of 1964.

This is Part 2 of the Learner Tale told by Chester Kamen, a musician mainly known as a rock guitarist, in which he reflects on how he learnt his craft. He walks us through the experience of being a self-taught musician in a competitive field where he met and worked with Bryan Ferry, David Gilmour and Madonna among others. He also reflects on his new life as a rock musician in a jazz context. A whole new challenge.

Le chemin le plus court vers la réalisation de soi est rarement une ligne droite. Apprendre à y arriver peut occuper toute une vie. Pour ce nouveau Récit d’Apprentissage, notre témoin est Chester Kamen, guitariste, qui raconte comment il a appris son instrument suffisamment pour en faire son métier. Il évoque le parcours d’apprentissage atypique qui lui a permis de jouer avec des artistes tels que Bryan Ferry, David Gilmour ou Madonna.

The shortest path to becoming yourself is rarely a straight line, and learning to get there can take a lifetime. The Learner Tales series continues in conversation with guitarist Chester Kamen talking about how he learnt his craft and became a professional musician. He reflects on the learning path it takes to get to play with people like Bryan Ferry, David Gilmour and Madonna.

Composers have tried to put the seasons to music, so we can have them all year round. Antonio Vivaldi dominates the field with his Four Seasons from 1725. But since 1999, thanks to an arrangement for classical orchestra called Eight Seasons by Leonid Desyatnikov, a concert programme now alternates movements from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi and those by the Argentinian Astor Piazzolla from his tango suite The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, also known as Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas. Let’s take Piazzolla out from the shadow of Vivaldi by taking a closer look at his Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.

Ce nouveau récit de voyage raconte une scène de bagarre entre supporters de football à Greenwich, Londres, qui révèle les tensions territoriales qui émergent même après un match. Le texte explore la nature compétitive du sport, similaire à la guerre selon George Orwell. Une simple bagarre qui en dit long sur notre sentiments d’appartenance à un territoire en ces temps guerriers.

This next travel tale has a sporting flavour. A fight on a station platform at Greenwich between rival football supporters recalls George Orwell’s connection between sport and war. What can this fight tell us about territory, identity and the sense of belonging in these war-driven times?