I was on my way to a lesson, listening to my iPod. I heard a documentary about Cambodian music. I thought it sounded interesting, and made a note on my phone to look up whoever was on it. When I got home I listened again and looked up Mekong Delta Blues on iTunes. I found an audio sample, and the name of the artist, Master Ong. I looked him up on Youtube.
Inspired, I plunked away on my guitar until I came up with something. I recorded it using my MacBook, running my guitar through my PodPocket. I filmed it, and put it on YouTube for everyone to see.
Not long ago I would have had to tune into a radio station to be able to hear that song. Not long before that, I might have had to go to Cambodia to hear it.
I would have had little chance of finding a recording of the Cambodian banjo player on it.
I would have had to go to a recording studio to record my track. At the very least I would have had to buy a guitar amp!
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I heard the original documentary here: http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/dispatches_20081020_8460.mp3
Mekong Delta Blues is available for download from the iTunes store. Just search for it there.
Since posting the video yesterday I worked out how to put in cuts. I have been trying to do them for ages in iMovie 08, and finally found the solution yesterday.
I actually used a site called Yahoo Answers. It’s a fantastic site, you can post a question on almost any subject and get an answer. I posted an answer here and got an answer within a few hours.
You can ask very specific questions too. I asked a question about how much Portuguese is spoken in Macao, and got a detailed answer. (Aika and I noticed all the Portuguese signs around Macao when we were there a few weeks ago, but didn’t hear a word of Portuguese spoken at all.)
So anyway, hope you enjoy the new video, and if you have any question on any subject, hit up Yahoo Answers!
Another day has passed, and another tune that I’ve recorded.
My Pocket Pod has run out of batteries, so I’m taking a moment away from scrubbing away at the guitar.
Everything sounds really great. I have some isolating in-ear headphones, so the Pocket Pod, which models various amps and sounds, sounds fantastic. My playing is a bit all-over-the-place, particularly with a bit of a latency in my recording equipment (my trusty Apple Mac!) so it’s a bit floppy.
Listen to today’s track here. http://media.libsyn.com/media/maxiewawa/mozzle.mp3
Is anyone in Shanghai interested in playing together? Let me know if you’re out there!
I’ve gone and done it. We have a new baby in our family, her name is Les Paul.
I got a new Les Paul Standard electric guitar just this evening. I’ve plugged her into my Pocket Line 6 and started rocking off.
I’ve taken time off since getting it only to write this post, and to record this little tune. It’s not the shredding extravaganza that I’m planning, but it will have to do for now.
Thanks to ISpyShanghai for the recommendation, it was the funny shaped guitar that I saw hanging in the window that made me think “Hey, isn’t that the same guitar as that guy online has?” that made me go into the shop in the first place.
As I said, a short post, and a short tune. The tune is here: http://media.libsyn.com/media/maxiewawa/golden_valley.mp3 , and I’m sorry everything isn’t longer, I have a cool new guitar (as I just said!) and I’m getting to know it.
The tune is actually “Chattanooga Choo-Choo”, but Australians my age and older will always know it as “Golden Valley Fruit Snack” from an ad which sold them.
I recorded this the week before leaving for Hong Kong; I never got around to letting everyone know about it. It’s actually a tune by the band Weezer. They do it a lot differently to how I did it though. I’ve included my version and Weezer’s versions on this post.
Listen to my musical composition for today here. Or watch it here.
There’s an interesting story behind today’s tune. It’s not mine though, so I won’t bother telling it.
Callum Macrae of the BBC does a much better job of it than I ever could; he has made a documentary about the civil war in northern Uganda. The synopsis is that a militia leader called Joseph Kony has been raping and pillaging that part of the world, and forcing children participate.
While listening to the podcast of the documentary, I heard part of a song written by a blind Ugandan about the war. Although I couldn’t understand a word, and only heard a few seconds of it, it grabbed me. I haven’t copied it exactly (I couldn’t from the few seconds I heard) but suffice it to say that I didn’t have an original idea when it came to this little tune, all of it was taken from the Ugandan musician that played it on BBC’s podcast. Can you hear how the fourth of the chord part is a little bit sharp? Even that was his idea.
If you want to hear the original, have a listen to the documentary podcast here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/7609324.stm
The original tune comes in at 20 minutes into it. Don’t let that put you off, it’s an interesting podcast.
I called the tune “Free Uganda” because I couldn’t think of anything particularly profound to say, but thought I should mention Uganda.
Hope you like the tune! The whole explanation has been quite depressing, but I just in case you thought I pulled this composition out of thin air I thought I’d explain how I came up with it.
The first time I heard it in its entirety I just had to laugh. I had been trouble getting all the parts down just right, but when I heard the completed thing I just… well, I like it anyway. Funny in a gruesome way.
I made a video too, but the card-reader-thingy I have broke. I’ll have another tomorrow and you’ll be able to see me recording the recorder part. For all those people who didn’t believe I actually played the guitar in the last musical video I made (you couldn’t see my hands) I made sure to capture me actually playing something.
Cody put something interesting in his blog the other day; he’s drawn up a plan of action for this calendar month. In it he’s put everything that he wants to achieve. Good for him! I suspect that he’s been procrastinating too long on things that he feels that he needs to do, and feels that putting them up somewhere for everyone to see will help him do it!
Well I’ve decided to do the same thing.
I’ve always liked writing stories/blogs/making youtube videos, but have always been lazy. Well not this month.
From this week, and for the next four weeks afterward, I’ll have a post (or at least some kind of content) in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English, and have a new musical recording. I’m planning to have:
Music on Mondays,
English on Tuesdays,
Chinese on Wednesdays,
Japanese on Thursdays,
Korean on Fridays
If I forget a day, I’m sorry, but feel free to pester me by leaving a comment. Why not join our campaign by making a plan of your own?
