“Les Notes Bleues”

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Those blue notes were performed by my friend Erik Truffaz and Christophe along the “Bassin de Neptune” (Neptune’s fountain) in the gardens of Versailles.
Christophe didn’t sing live since many years and he invited several prestigious guests to join him on stage.
It was a night to remember…

 

Christophe is a French famed singer and talented songwriter.
His first hit was “Aline” in 1965 and he is famous for his eternal songs “Les Paradis perdus” (“Lost Paradises” – 1973) and “Les Mots bleus” (“The Blue Words” – 1975).
Whenever he is performing he is illuminating the stage, gathering any kind of people from all generations.
Christophe is a decadent and flamboyant dandy who is a mysterious loner drifting apart from the showbiz scene.
He is notorious for being an uncontrollable rebel with panache and poetry.

 

 

Iconic Poetess

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” It’s all about laughter, love, and living fiction.
Poetry in Motion.
The stuff of dreams and making them come true.
The stuff of life…. Making tunes, making art, making in art and making out art.
Pink and Green.
Harmony through music, melody, loving Tai-Chi, Yoga, and things that nature teaches.
Reminder: Pay attention to your teachers and stay in the present tense…..”
(Yianna Katsoulos)

 

This is a portrait of Yianna Katsoulos.
The American pop singer became an icon of the 80’s and of Paris nights with her single “Les autres sont jaloux” which was a top hit in France.
She carried her amazing life following her heart while her music and sweet poetry remained in several movies and TV commercials.
The revival of the 80’s and the demand of her many fans made her come back with a new song, “Fais moi l’amour comme un français”, which should become a new hit on the dancefloors.
“Pour raison X, Y ou Z, French men are always better in bed
C’est le secret national, Les hommes français sont femmes fatales”
The video is being shot today and will be soon on internet.

www.katsoulos.com
www.yiannakatsoulos.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ghazal King

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“Nemidanam che manzel bood shab jayi ke man boodam;
Be har soo raghse besmel bood shab jayi ke man boodam.
I wonder what was the place where I was last night,
All around me were half-slaughtered victims of love, tossing about in agony.”

This picture belongs to a series of portraits of Jagjit Singh, the Ghazal King, shot a few hours ago.
Jagjit Singh is one of the most talented artist of India and a legendary name in the field of Ghazal Singing.
His ghazals do a wonderful job in delivering tranquility (where “mai-khana” is involved), passion, serenity, pain (“sweet pain” in love), deepness, grief, love and a reminder of one’s own personal past.

The gazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter.
A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain.
The form is ancient, originating in 6th century Arabic verse.
It is one of the principal poetic forms which the Indo-Perso-Arabic civilization offered to the eastern Islamic world.
The ghazal spread into South Asia in the 12th century under the influence of the new Islamic Sultanate courts and Sufi mystics.
Although the ghazal is most prominently a form of Dari and Urdu poetry, today it is found in the poetry of many languages of Indian sub-continent.

Ghazals were written by the Persian mystics and poets Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (13th century) and Hafez (14th century), the Azeri poet Fuzuli (16th century), as well as Mirza Ghalib (1797–1869) and Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), both of whom wrote ghazals in Persian and Urdu.

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Sade, the Smooth Goddess

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“I’ve lost the use of my heart
But I’m still alive
Still lookin for the life
The endless pool on the other side
It’s a wild wild west
I’m doin my best…”
(From “Soldier of Love” by Sade)

This picture was shot a few hours ago.
Sade was brilliant, same velvet voice, same elegance…
She is still this pure “Diamond” and a perfect “Soldier of Love” who knows how to arise so many memories to those who loved her in the 80’s…
Welcome back Sade…!!!

www.sade.com/in/home/

Queen of Sorrow

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“…I’m crying everyone’s tears
I have already paid for all my future sins
There’s nothing anyone
Can say to take this away
It’s just another day and nothing’s any good
I’m the king of sorrow,
King of sorrow…”
(From “King of sorrow” by Sade)

This is a picture of Sade while singing “kind of Sorrow” with her unique smooth and velvet voice.

A lesson of elegance by this everlasting star…

www.sade.com/in/home/

Official video:

Concert video:  

Everlasting Sade

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“Nothing can come Between us
Nothing can pull us apart…”
(From “Nothing Can Come Between Us”, lyrics by Sade)

This picture was shot a few hours ago.
Sade was brilliant, same velvet voice, same elegance…
She is still this pure “Diamond” and a perfect “Soldier of Love” who knows how to arise so many memories to those who loved her in the 80’s…
Welcome back Sade…!!!

www.sade.com/in/home/

“Il Desiderio Mio Di Te”

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“Il Desiderio Mio Di Te (My Desire For You)”

FRANCESCA:
Paolo! Paolo!

PAOLO:
O mia vita, non fu mai tanto folle
Il desiderio mio di te. Sentivo
Già venir meno
Dentro al core gli spiriti
Che vivono degli occhi tuoi. La forza
Mi si perdeva nella notte, uscitami
Dal petto, come un fiume
Terribile di sangue fiagorosa;
E paura n’avea l’anima mia.

[Più e più volte lei reclinata bacia sui capelli appassionatamente.]
(From “Francesca da Rimini” – Libretto by Tito Ricordi after the tragedy of the same name by Gabriele d’Annunzio)

This is a close-up of Svetla Vassileva & Roberto Alagna during the rehearsal of “Francesca da Rimini”.
First performance will start January the 31st.
Conductor: Daniel Oren
Stage director: Giancarlo Del Monaco
Costumes: Maria Filippi
Sets: Carlo Centolavigna
Lighting: Hans Rudolf Kunz

 

The Fatal Passion

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“Only he felt he could no more dissemble,
And kissed her, mouth to mouth, all in a tremble.
Sad were those hearts, and sweet was that long kiss:
Sacred be love from sight, whate ‘er it is.
Thne world was all fotrgot, the struggle o’er,
Desesperare te Joy.
-That day they read no more.”
(from “The Story of Rimini”, A poem by Leigh Hunt)

Svetla Vassileva & Roberto Alagna during the rehearsal of “Francesca da Rimini”.
First performance will start January the 31st.
Conductor: Daniel Oren
Stage director: Giancarlo Del Monaco
Costumes: Maria Filippi
Sets: Carlo Centolavigna
Lighting: Hans Rudolf Kunz

Secret Places of the Soul

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“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul”.
(Plato – Ancient Greek Philosopher, 428 BC-348 BC)

Into the ruins of a Madrasa from the fourteenth century which stands at Hauz Khas village in South Delhi, I met Jatin who was playing guitar with three of his friends.
They were sitting at a window in front of the large water tank.
Their music was echoing in several rooms of the Mughal building and bringing a pleasant atmosphere.
There was a storm like those we have at the end of summer forthwithing the begining of the rainy season.
I took several pictures, it was a nice break in my busy day, this place is so peaceful that I almost forgot I was in Delhi…

Amazing Malcolm

 

This is a portrait of Malcolm Persson Braff, an amazing and talented jazz pianist.
Malcolm is perfoming piano in Erik Truffaz’ album “Benares” and this is how we met.
I took this picture recently, I find his features very interesting, only curves without angles, 
His “yogi” look distinguishes him by a solar happiness and reminds me one of the two yogins from the Upanishad, the one who pierce through the “sun”.

This is a link in order to drink the nectar of his music…