One Fine Day...

Usually in a persons life, there are only a handful of defining moments that occur, which we relive in our minds... usually because we know of the profound effect it has had on us. For me i've only had a handful of these, and in all honesty most of them have been on the other side of the spectrum (ie. bad, painful, soul-breaking).

Tonight was one of the few that will always remain in my mind as a truly amazing evening which i'm sure will be the result of positive actions soon made by myself in the coming days.

I got to see a guitar player whom i've known of for a very long time, and admired and been inspired by many a time, but never imagined i'd get to see live... and of all places in Cairo Egpt.

I am of course talking about the virtuoso musician Stanley Jordan.

Stanley is one of these people that trancends mere lables. Calling Stanley a guitar player would be like calling a gunshot to the head a minor flesh wound... Stanley has transcended the concept of being a player.... he doesn't play the instrument... he is at One with the instrument.

Watching Stanley perform, you see the music flowing through and from himself... His soul is communicating with every ounce of movement and inflection.. He's not bound by the instrument, but freed by it.

Musically to call Stanley a jazz musician would be a gross misjudgement.... Stanley is just a musician, not bound by his instrument or his influences or the surrounding world of music... Stanley has found his sound, and it is simply music, pure, formless, and encompassing all the art forms which allow a musician to express and create something unique.

The workshop included pieces he is known for, and afew which i hadn't heard or seen before. For me, i think my euphoric state reached it's peak when Mr.Jordan walked over to the piano and proceeded to play the guitar and piano, at the same time. He did not do so for flamboyance.. he did so for the composition... to have the guitar and piano become one sound, one instrument if you will.......and that's exactly what i heard.. these beautiful dynamic phrases intertwining... it's almost as if the two instruments were alive and were living out a moment of clarity....

I've seen and met allot of astounding musicians... but Stanley hands down is something else entirely... only way i could describe it would be to say that he is the Paginnini (not sure i spelt that right!) of guitar. Paginnini Did things on the violin which made the audience assume he was the devil.. Now.. Stanley is way too nice of a guy for that... But what he did on the instrument today was truly just beyond what people do on guitar.

I've been playing for 11 years... my two handed abilities are not up to scratch... and i know that even if i did spend 8 hours a day practicing... i'd just get tendonistis... I couldn't fathom where to being to build such a full connection with the music & the instrument. And in all reality if by some miracle i manage to get atleast 1/10 of that ability... in all reality.. i'd just be mimicking instead of creating.. which i guess will be my excuse for not trying to achieve such a unique command of the instrument.

After the concert, after bumping into some friends, i went over to the blue nile, where i met raquy!! was great seeing her, and meeting her two friends, Natalia & Adamaa. I had a beer for dinner since my head was a mess... and after helping the ladies with their luggage, got my sorry ass back to heliopolis and typed this lond winded thread. It's 3am... i have work in afew hours... guess it's going to be another sleepless night. Actually i could try and get some sleep, but i know that's not going to happen. so intead of kidding myself, i might have some Baileys Irish Cream, listen to Jeff Buckleys Grace, and think soothing thoughts.....

Thanks Bill for coming with me tonight! And thanks to you Stanley, I'll remember this night with fond memories for as long as i am allowed to.

Rain, ill Again, Mundane,

Howdy. That's a shot of the library building at night, when it rained on Monday. I was on campus for a meeting, and turned out there was no 8:15 bus.. it was 8pm.. I'd missed it by about 3 minutes, and got caught in the rain, till the 9:15 bus....

In retrospect it was kinda cool to be out in the rain, considering just last week i'd performed "Echoes Of Rain" for the faculty showcase. I was pleased by how that went.. I'd never played it live infront of a silent audience, so i'm glad i managed to play it without screwing it up.....
On a duller note though, I'm fairly Ill.. and managed to break my voice on Tuesday, from a mix of having a cold/flu from being out in the rain, and for lecturing for like 5 hours. I had to take Wednesday off because i literally had no voice whatsoever... But i had to go in on Thursday.

Guitar classes i can reschedule or miss if i'm Ill, but actual classes i cannot miss without prior notice, and have to make them up. So i went in, and since it's a sight reading class i managed to get by. That's the beauty of the language of music, it doesn't need words. After having one of the students read out a note explaining the situation, I proceeded to clap out some basic quarter note and eighth note rhythms, which the students had to transcribe.

Aside from afew students, i was suprised to see just how bad it went. Allot of the students aren't studying enough, and when my voice returns, i'll be sure to make that point on tuesday.....

The worst part though was when i moved onto scales... i wrote out a scale and they had to tell me what major scale it was.... it seems none of them has bothered to memorise the Circle of Fifths & Fourths....... Very tedious trying to get students to learn stuff which makes their studies easier...

Unfortunately i can see as plain as day that a large percent of the people in that room took the course looking for an easy grade, and didn't expect the amount of work involved, or a professor with high standards, who's not a push over.... Infact i've made it quiet clear.... i don't care if a student wants to jerk off... bottom line though when i flunk em... don't come whining to me about it...........

I've been working on the zentar allot, but i'm not going to go into details till i actually get the bloody thing to work.

Also on a brighter note, Raquy Danziger, Middle Eastern Drumming Extrodinaire is coming from istanbul next week or so, so it'll be great to see her again and catch up. Later in the month Rami Is also coming, so it'll be good times for me this month. No more being a reclusive studio rat....

Just hope my health picks up... last 3 months have been a real bitch....

The new semester begins...

And i'm already not in the mood....
My infection has cleared up thankfully (was getting into serious/life threatening territory), and is in the healing stages... so hopefully there won't be any complications...

The new semester has commenced, earlier then last year.. last year it was the 4th, this year the 1st, which caught me abit off guard i must admit... Not that i particularly care...

I'm going to be taking it much more easier then i have, since i've seen how i'm rewarded for my efforts by the AUC administration.... This semester, a far more laid back, but take no prisoners attitude is in motion.

That said i do seem to have a good bunch of kids in both the sight reading class & the guitar tuition course. An interesting mix if you will... albet we'll have to see as the semester progresses to see wether they have what it takes to keep up with the programs that i teach, which are a mix of practical musicianship & more advanced stuff which requires the students to be taking their studies far more seriously then before. This semester i am being far more tough on this kinda thing, because i cannot be bothered to deal with slackers anymore.... waste of my fucking time... believe it or not i do actually have better things to do....

I'm currently mixing the new track i wrote especially for tommorow... yep... that's right....tommorow is the Faculty Showcase for the PVA faculty. Last year i was asked to participate in this one since it was well recieved.... this year i will be playing "Echoes of Rain" & the new piece with a Saxophonist by the name of Tamer Fahmy. It's been interesting since i've never written or played with sax...

I've spent allot of time on it actually since originally it sounded like garbage, and i was not keen on performing bad music infront of my peers, whom are respected musicians and are putting together a very tight show apparently. Naturally if it were up to me, i would have ducked out.. since the rest of the faculty are mostly classical musicians performing classical music... so i really do feel out of place at these things... although at this point in my life i have no ego left that would make me actually care about something like that. I just don't like being the Odd-Ball so to speak.... Plus we have to wear a tie and jacket.........electric guitar + Tie & Jacket = Mega Dork!

Once again though, i'm not fussed since it's not a DFZ gig or anything... should be interesting none the less. I wasn't too worried about it since it was only for the board of trustees... but now it's open to the general public... not that i see anyone coming, but none the less that raises the stakes up abit... just a smidgen.... yeah... where's that ego when i need it?

I'm planning on writing more in the upcoming weeks, one for my follow up album (vocals this time...), two for this project which i've wanted to do for awhile... i'll be fusing electronic stuff with middle eastern type stuff... so.. now i have a sax guy (he likes to play oriental stuff), and an Qanun player (a damn good one at that....).... So i'll be writing like crazy, and building my fretless guitar and hopefully put a record together.

So, two records, this semester, a showcase, books to read, courses to teach, students to inspire, and a few pizzas and cheeseburgers to devour...........sigh............it's ALLLLLLLLL GOOOOD!

Health Issues / Friday Nights

Hello,

Sorry for not posting in awhile, but i've had health problems and issues... Nothing like having the flue and a nasty infection to start off the year....

I won't go into details about it, instead i'd like to mention Schon Kornfelds New album, which is a refreshing change to the sterile crap being pushed out there these days. The album has some A list names involved with making it a killer of an album.

Go check it out here http://www.fridaynightsmusic.com/

Liner Notes from the INFINITY Soundtrack

A production that took place in Cairo Egypt, which was dubbed "A multimedia experience in seven colours", which featured the music of Dreamfullofzen.

The soundtrack is an electic mix of eastern and western influence, fused with percussion, beats, synths, and a spiritual element which is the signature sound of Dreamfullofzen.

The music was created in a four month period and was a departure from the kind of work that DFZ would normally do, mixing world music with electronic elements and more restrained guitar work.

The song of life was a big challenge for DFZ, since having never done anything with arabic vocals or the sufist ideals and musical stylings, this was probably the hardest piece to conjure up in the entire project. The talented Samia Asaad featured on the track, supplying the beautiful and soulful spoken words on the song.

Dreamfullofzen would like to thank the following people for their hard work and efforts on the project: Salma Fodi, Dina Abdel Aziz, Maria Constanza Garrido, "mo" Fadl, and last but not least, Robert Beshara & his folks.

Insomnia, Lethargy, And Bleh...

Well, it's 7am... yep... yowser...yawn.

My sleep patterns have been all over the place, and my thought patterns have been just the same.

Trying to keep motivated, and get the work ball rolling but my mind seems to be unable to focus for some reason. I think perhaps i need to cut off the reclusive stint i've been on and hit the gym again.. healthy body, healthy mind.

Hopefully i'll get my shit together in the next few days and make the most out of the rest of January before i have to start work again in February.

End of January should be interesting (i entered a competition for Guitar Player Magazine, and submitted some music for a film... so fingers crossed).

January 9, 2009

amazing how 6 years go by, in the blink of an eye it seems, yet seldom much changes in its wake.

I've been trying to keep productive and busy to keep myself focused, but naturally that all comes down like a bunch of building blocks. The insomnia and weird trains of thought are starting to take their toll on me, add to that the lack of dietry balance, exercise, and general social normalcy, and i guess you end up with the state that i am currently in.

Crazy to see just how left of field my life has gone in that amount of time, and how things have progressed.

I've spent most of my time either catching up on my reading (currently reading Zen & the art of motorcycle maintenance), And trying to get some social interaction in whenever possible, but that's something i seem to be losing an insight into. Heck i can't even get people i know to talk to me on the ever growing facebook.. which is ridiculous to say the least.

It's fairly known that the life of an artist (a real one that is...) usually involves solitude, reclusive & detached periods.. but i didn't expect them to grow with age... well not to the proportion they have (considering i'm not all that old).

I find it difficult to be around someone and maintain conversation now without feeling the weight of the surroundings on me, aswell as an overblown sense of awareness which makes me even more uncomfortable. A small part of me thinks that maybe i'm slowly losing my grip on reality, and another part of me wonders just how tight that grip was in the first place...

As my mind weaves around various thought patterns, the one thought that does not escape the ducking and weaving is that of the future... the long and winding road ahead. My career as a musician started last year with the release of my debut album, since then it's gained favour amongst many. Now INFINITY is not a followup or a real DREAMFULLOFZEN album, just a soundtrack, which is my first commercial release. Now i'm currently working onto the follow up album (which if all goes as planned will be out later this year).

The main thought is a somewhat pessimistic thought: "Why Bother?" Naturally most people think like that, but in the jaded industry known as the music biz, one can only ponder about the point of trying to make a living in an industry which focuses on material based around imagery & lyrical content of a questionable nature. Songs focusing on sex and boys and partying and drugs and being a rockstar are what is being asked for.... and i have absolutely no desire to glorify those things or even be involved in making music for them.

And unfortunately, making a living in music production has dwindled down.. and landing contracts now... well... it's kinda reached Lotto status odds. I've tried afew new things to see and give them the benefit of the doubt... but i'm not hoping for much. Would be nice to be proven wrong though....

Naturally that won't stop me doing what i do.. I'm just thinking about the focus of what i do... would be nice to sleep without having to think about that kind of stuff.. For anyone contemplating music as a living... i sure hope you're willing to make ALLOT of sacrifices....