#pianos
Daring To Dream: A Carpenter Tries To Build A Piano In Rwanda
Désiré Mulumeoderwa, a carpenter of 20 years, is on a quest to make the Rwanda’s first upright piano.
It would be the first instrument produced in Africa since South Africa-based Dietmann, a German company, shut down in 1989.
But the road to victory is a difficult one. Much like Rwanda, which is known as the “land of a thousand hills,” the mission to build a piano faces a series of challenges, from accessibility of parts to the skills necessary to make it a success.
With Mulumeoderwa’s piano-building partner Marion Grace Woolley, they founded Kigali Keys & set up a crowdfunding campaign. In June, they raised $8,000. For 1 day a week, Mulumeoderwa works on the piano. But he’s needed help finding materials for the nearly 12,000 piano parts.
Post link
Strike up the band! This paper sample advertises uncoated paper from Beveridge Paper Co.
Newberry call number: Case Wing folio TS1220 .N49, Beveridge Paper Co.
Post link
MEDIUM WELL
(Music and Other Media)
Yōsuke Yamashita - “Burning Piano”
In 2008, jazz pianist Yosuke Yamashita improvised a piece on a burning piano, and in doing so, launched a thousand news reporter puns about his “burning” passion for music ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) .
(I’m filing this under Medium Well, because the art really isn’t in the music, it’s in the act itself. Thus, it’s a lot closer to performance art than it is to a concert.)
What I love about the performance is how Yamashita mirrors the growing fire and the disintegration of the piano in his playing. Part of it, of course, comes from the fact that as the flames grow, the piano wires begin to snap and twang, adding little arhythmic stabs to the piece. But watch and listen to how he’s playing. As the flames grow, his playing becomes more frantic and panicked, rushing over the keys as though he’s desperately trying to find the ones that still make sound, trying to find the music before it’s lost.
But, like everything, eventually it is.
- TWG
Pianos on Parade with the stars #minneapolis #minnesota #exploremn #firstave #pianos #pianosonparade #downtownmpls (at Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Post link
Pianos on Parade with the stars #minneapolis #minnesota #exploremn #firstave #pianos #pianosonparade #downtownmpls (at Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Post link
Pianos on Parade with the stars #minneapolis #minnesota #exploremn #firstave #pianos #pianosonparade #downtownmpls (at Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Post link
So it feels kinda weird writing this because Total Slacker is one of those bands that has always been on my radar for one reason or another but that I’ve never really latched on to. Not that it matters–people fucking love them and they’ve started this sort of residency-but-not-quite at Pianos lately. Life Size Maps has opened for the show in the past and they had Lodro in the night I went (more on them later). Convulsions were had on stage, guitars were smashed together in an only-homo-erotic-because-you’re-in-a-weird-mind-place-right-now way, and Zoe kept her shit entirely together while Tucker extended one song into the noisy abyss of until-I-feel-like-it’s-over.
I almost posted a video of their latest Newtown session but I prefer to include stuff that reflects live show vibes more.
Enjoy.
Post link
