Menoizikul; Midweek Musicalisms

Spooky month! What can I find to fit that theme? Let's begin with a cello battle from Apocalyptica - the music is fab, the video, fabber! 'Sall I'm gonna say on this one - let me know what you think below. 

Menoizikul; Midweek Musicalisms

This evening sees the start of Pesach (Passover), so I bring you a simple, soulful cello piece by one member of Apocalyptica, Perttu. His own composition, called Psalm. That's all I really need to say on this one...

Menoizikul; Midweek Musicalisms

In like a lion? We've hit March already. To end February, I gave you a wonderfully meditative item from Apocalyptica. Let's begin this month with a much more truly metal offering. A cover of the Metallica instrumental, Orion. For this, the group is joined by a fourth cello. 

This piece has three distinct movements, the centre section being quite divine. So yes, the lion is there at the beginning but settles down with the lamb... then roars to the end. It is a virtuosic item, very lyrical. I am sure the inventor of the cello had no idea how far it would be taken! Now, a challenge - if you think that your ear is becoming suitably educated to these strong and strident sounds, how about popping over and checking out the original from Metallica themselves? Watch as these musicians own the platform, strut their stuff and pluck the by-jingoes out of those strings!!! If you do, come back and tell me which of these versions you prefer. I'll be frank, I love them both; Metallica's because, well, it's theirs and they are totally in their comfort zone with it; Apocalyptica's because - well - cello fellows! 

Menoizikul; Midweek Musicalisms

Let's end February with a soft metal sound. Metal? Yes! This Finnish chamber group is a neoclassical metal band... that is to say, they play metal music heavily influenced by "classical" music. (I don't make this up, it's a 'thing'!) The three cellists are all classically trained graduates of the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki. You heard that at work with the song Live Or Die last month. Today's piece is rather more sedate.

Sacra could be many things; 

• 
  the plural of sacrum - the seat of our physical structure, the base of the spine and the part connecting us to the pelvis - the centre of our skeleton, in a way. In meditation, the sacrum provides stability to our torso and connects us to the earth; it is
• the Swadisthaana chakra; its colour is orange; its sound is "vummm"; it is the pulling of the tides and the lure of the moon; it is the centre of our creative selves. When this chakra is balanced and functioning properly, we can expect our relationship with ourselves and the world to feel harmonious, pleasureful, and nurturing
• the sacra were private rites of worship in pre-Christian Rome, as well as the utensils used in that worship,
• or it may be a reference to one or other card from a set of three richly-ornamented cards, placed on the altar during a Tridentine mass, containing the texts of prayers (Catholicism)

Any or all of these might have informed the essence of this piece. Played in traditional chamber ensemble style, with a hint of the heavy and darker notes of metal, the gorgeous throb of the drum centres the composition like the beat of a heart, the thump of blood in the veins. Even the cellos manage a percussive sound. I bliss to this and play it often. Does it mesmerise you, too?

Menoizikul; Midweek Musicalisms

There's burning going on in this video - but it has nothing to do with Burns' Suppers! This is a companion song to last week's 'concerto' piece by Nightwish. Here we have another Finnish group called Apocalyptica. I will tell you more about the band in a future post, but I would like to point out that, in terms of per capita, Finland ranks number one in the world for heavy metal bands; 42.6 bands per 100k population. The second is Iceland; 31.9/100k. The third is Sweden; 22.2/100k.

This heavy metal is heavy on strings. Cello strings, to be precise. Written in response to COVID and general environmental and political concerns, it's a hymn of angst. The guest singer is Joakim from Sabaton. I provide the lyrics for this one.

Our soul shivers in the cold and the darkness

Our bodies crumble from the weight laid upon us

We're just the prey on the hunting grounds

There's nothing we can do than to fight it

'Cause no man will ever stand to survive it

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down

But if we wanted the truth we wouldn't buy their lies

And follow the fools and their battle cries

For nothing we lose, and does it matter, matter if we live or die?

Matter if we live or die

If we live or die

We're out of reach from each other in the shadows

We lost count of the numbers in the death toll

These are faked and distorted times

Crying out for desperate measures

For a vengeance that will carry on forever

But the king will never pay for its price

So if we wanted the truth we wouldn't buy their lies

And follow the fools and their battle cries

For nothing we lose, and does it matter, matter if we live or die?

Matter if we live or die

Our soul shivers in the cold and the darkness

Our bodies crumble from the weight laid upon us

Nothing we can ever do than to fight it

No man will ever stand to survive it

But if we wanted the truth we wouldn't buy their lies

And follow the fools and their battle cries

For nothing we lose, and does it matter, matter if we live or die?

If we wanted the truth we wouldn't buy their lies

And follow the fools and their battle cries

For nothing we lose, and does it matter, matter if we live or die?

Matter if we live or

If we live or die

If we live or die