For those of us celebrating the Yuletide Season in much warmer climes, is Christmas still Christmas without the snow?
By: Ringo Bones
Given that most of the people on planet Earth, including most of the dry land, lies in the upper part of the northern hemisphere, it is more than likely that a significant majority of us will be celebrating the Yuletide Season with snow – i.e. White Christmas. But for those of us living in much warmer climes who still consider celebrating Christmas a big deal – thanks to our Anglo-Saxon Protestant Capitalist Consumer indoctrination – can still celebrate Christmas properly without the white stuff? (I mean snow, not cocaine hydrochloride, by the way).
I do admire brave folks out there who stick out their necks to make Christmas a more egalitarian holiday in which any person regardless of faith, color, or creed can enjoy. In which I am truly grateful for Mel Tormé and Robert Wells – two great Jewish composers who toiled in the Tin Pan Alley in order to create musical masterpieces – for bequeathing humanity that Yuletide Season perennial called White Christmas. In which Irving Berlin’s rendition that was made famous by Bing Crosby is probably the first Christmas song that doesn’t contain overt religiosity when paying homage to the Yuletide Season.
Sadly, the song White Christmas had managed to indoctrinate most of us who celebrate Christmas that Christmas without snow is not Christmas at all. Given that global warming is getting worse each passing year if we don’t drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, a White Christmas could become a relic of the distant past – like a Druid religious service. But is snow really an indispensable part of celebrating Christmas?
Just because there is no snow the Nativity Scene – i.e. the traditional portrayal of the night Jesus Christ was born 2,000 or so years ago – doesn’t mean that Catholics don’t know how to appreciate a “White Christmas”. That Yuletide Season perennial White Christmas might have an inescapable metaphysical dictum on everyone when it comes to celebrating a “proper” Christmas. Luckily, there is still quite a healthy number of Yuletide Season tunes that allow you to “properly” celebrate Christmas without the snow. Unfortunately, you have to root for them because they never have been a recent part of mainstream FM’s Yuletide Music airplay list.
The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album is a testament that you can still enjoy celebrating Christmas in the warm climes of almost perpetually sunny “Califor-nah-yeah”. And Leon Redbone’s Christmas Island and Jimmy Buffett’s Christmas in the Caribbean gives you a deep philosophical insight on why those rich folks at The Hamptons vacation into the Caribbean during the Yuletide Season given that they have a perfect “White Christmas” right at their doorsteps. There are probably others out there, so you have to root them out in better independent record stores - Unless of course you’re perfectly fine with playing Islamic Devotional Music by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan during Christmas Eve.
Showing posts with label Christmas Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas Music. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Heavy Metal Christmas Music?
Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s effort of “whittling” Heavy Metal music to fit seamlessly into this most joyous of seasons really does deserve a hearty commendation. But is it trend-setting contemporary Christmas music?
By: Vanessa Uy
Even though most people ascribe the band Bon Jovi for starting the trend of composing Heavy Metal Rock music for the holiday / Christmas Season, to me, Trans-Siberian Orchestra made it to perfection. By combining elements of a full-scale Classical Music orchestra with the late 20th Century immediacy of Heavy Metal Music, Trans-Siberian Orchestra probably started a trend in which no other contemporary musical outfit would dare follow.
My love affair with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra probably started when I was in one of those what if moments with my perennial rock bands du jour. Like what if Veruca Salt does a Black Sabbath song via the band’s own style, or Lunachicks with a Nina Simone song? Until finally my - what if Richard Wagner compose Christmas music, what would it sound like? Well, Trans-Siberian Orchestra probably made my musical wish come true.
Sounding like Handel’s Messiah under the baton of Richard Wagner in his more “manic Wagnerian moods”, this is what Trans-Siberian Orchestra – to me at least – sounds. The three founders of Trans-Siberian Orchestra – namely: Paul O’Neill, Robert Kinkel, and Jon Oliva finally created their own “unique” musical genre back in 1996. A genre that stimulates, excites, outrages, tantalizes, and finally blows away the folks under the age of 40’s prejudices on Classical / Traditional Christmas music which have kept this type of music “under glass” for probably more than 200 years! - Which is a high-praise indeed for a band that “just” wishes to transcend the tired old electric guitar-bass-and-drum sound of conventional Heavy Metal Rock music.
The New York City, New York-based band were even commended as “Princes of Peace” years ago when their debut album Christmas Eve and Other Stories gave birth to a not-so-apocryphal-legend about a musical tale of transcending the violence and strife of war-torn Sarajevo. One of the tracks on Christmas Eve and Other Stories is “Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12 / 24” noted for the tale of a cellist born in Sarajevo many years ago. This particular cellist is Vedran Simailovic who left Sarajevo when he was fairly young to study in the finest music schools in Western Europe so that he can fulfil his dream of becoming an accomplished musician. Vedran Simailovic did go on to become a well-respected musician and played with various symphonies throughout Europe. A few years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain, he returned to Sarajevo as an elderly man only to find his beloved city completely ruined by the on-going Bosnian War.
Braving the nightly shelling by the Serbs – not to mention the approaching winter chill - Vedran Simailovic started a “musical routine” by playing in the Sarajevo town square in a pile of rubble that had once been a fountain and began playing cello pieces by Bach and Beethoven. Since the Christmas Season was fast approaching, the repertoire then included traditional Classical Christmas carols played on his cello.
Vedran Simailovic’s regular routine was soon photographed by a war correspondent. It was a powerful image of a white-haired man silhouetted against bursts of artillery fire, playing timeless classics to both sides of the on-going conflict amid the backdrop of rubble and devastation of his beloved city. Later on, a reporter managed to interview Vedran Simailovic and asked why he did this “insanely stupid stunt”. Vedran Simailovic then answered that it was his way of proving that despite all the evidence to the contrary, the spirit of humanity was still alive in that place.
Though a number of people still harbor doubts about the authenticity of the story, an overwhelming majority say that there might be some truth to it because as soon as the conflict in Sarajevo subsided, the semblance of normality returned much faster in comparison to other conflict zones. And we have the Trans-Siberian Orchestra to thank for spreading this tale of transcending unbearable conflict, proving that peace and goodwill towards humanity can outlast the atrocities of war. Maybe Richard Wagner did miss out on writing Christmas Music?
By: Vanessa Uy
Even though most people ascribe the band Bon Jovi for starting the trend of composing Heavy Metal Rock music for the holiday / Christmas Season, to me, Trans-Siberian Orchestra made it to perfection. By combining elements of a full-scale Classical Music orchestra with the late 20th Century immediacy of Heavy Metal Music, Trans-Siberian Orchestra probably started a trend in which no other contemporary musical outfit would dare follow.
My love affair with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra probably started when I was in one of those what if moments with my perennial rock bands du jour. Like what if Veruca Salt does a Black Sabbath song via the band’s own style, or Lunachicks with a Nina Simone song? Until finally my - what if Richard Wagner compose Christmas music, what would it sound like? Well, Trans-Siberian Orchestra probably made my musical wish come true.
Sounding like Handel’s Messiah under the baton of Richard Wagner in his more “manic Wagnerian moods”, this is what Trans-Siberian Orchestra – to me at least – sounds. The three founders of Trans-Siberian Orchestra – namely: Paul O’Neill, Robert Kinkel, and Jon Oliva finally created their own “unique” musical genre back in 1996. A genre that stimulates, excites, outrages, tantalizes, and finally blows away the folks under the age of 40’s prejudices on Classical / Traditional Christmas music which have kept this type of music “under glass” for probably more than 200 years! - Which is a high-praise indeed for a band that “just” wishes to transcend the tired old electric guitar-bass-and-drum sound of conventional Heavy Metal Rock music.
The New York City, New York-based band were even commended as “Princes of Peace” years ago when their debut album Christmas Eve and Other Stories gave birth to a not-so-apocryphal-legend about a musical tale of transcending the violence and strife of war-torn Sarajevo. One of the tracks on Christmas Eve and Other Stories is “Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12 / 24” noted for the tale of a cellist born in Sarajevo many years ago. This particular cellist is Vedran Simailovic who left Sarajevo when he was fairly young to study in the finest music schools in Western Europe so that he can fulfil his dream of becoming an accomplished musician. Vedran Simailovic did go on to become a well-respected musician and played with various symphonies throughout Europe. A few years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain, he returned to Sarajevo as an elderly man only to find his beloved city completely ruined by the on-going Bosnian War.
Braving the nightly shelling by the Serbs – not to mention the approaching winter chill - Vedran Simailovic started a “musical routine” by playing in the Sarajevo town square in a pile of rubble that had once been a fountain and began playing cello pieces by Bach and Beethoven. Since the Christmas Season was fast approaching, the repertoire then included traditional Classical Christmas carols played on his cello.
Vedran Simailovic’s regular routine was soon photographed by a war correspondent. It was a powerful image of a white-haired man silhouetted against bursts of artillery fire, playing timeless classics to both sides of the on-going conflict amid the backdrop of rubble and devastation of his beloved city. Later on, a reporter managed to interview Vedran Simailovic and asked why he did this “insanely stupid stunt”. Vedran Simailovic then answered that it was his way of proving that despite all the evidence to the contrary, the spirit of humanity was still alive in that place.
Though a number of people still harbor doubts about the authenticity of the story, an overwhelming majority say that there might be some truth to it because as soon as the conflict in Sarajevo subsided, the semblance of normality returned much faster in comparison to other conflict zones. And we have the Trans-Siberian Orchestra to thank for spreading this tale of transcending unbearable conflict, proving that peace and goodwill towards humanity can outlast the atrocities of war. Maybe Richard Wagner did miss out on writing Christmas Music?
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Just Say Noël: The Next Phase of Christmas / Seasonal Music?
Just say Noël not only capitalizes on the preexisting chic of contemporary or Rock & Roll oriented Christmas / Seasonal Music but also the core values of this season of giving; Christmas music but not as we know it?
By: Vanessa Uy
Released back in 1996 primarily as a humanitarian campaign / fundraiser for Peter Gabriel’s Witness (visit them at www.witness.org), Just Say Noël – like what it said on the album cover – really made the song fresh for years to come. Plus the guarantee of the holiday spirit and the music remaining in your heart long after the tannenbaum has gone brown – or gets composted into organic fertilizer. Whether this is proof of David Geffen’s late 20th Century marketing savvy is anybody’s guess. But twelve years after the fact, the songs on this album still has the power to compel, even to the under 18 crowd.
Other than the very first Special Olympics benefit album – A Very Special Christmas – which was released back in 1987, an overwhelming majority of “contemporary” Christmas / Holiday Season albums seem to be found wanting when compared to old perennial Christmas Morning war horses like Handel’s Messiah. And other Classical oriented pieces like the Christmas in Vienna series of concerts, An English Ladymass by the Anonymous 4, Sergei Rachmaninov’s The Liturgy of St. John. Which unless the under 18 kids in question are “hyper-sapient”, won’t easily find Classical Music oriented Yuletide music as being to their liking.
But Just Say Noël is not your typical run-of-the-mill contemporary Rock & Roll oriented Christmas / Holiday Season album. With circa 1996 artists as diverse as Beck with his “Little Drum Machine Boy” sounding a cross between an electronica-heavy hip-hop and a test and burn-in CD – with the emphasis on the burn-in. As in that horrible chainsaw-like nose designed to break-in / burn-in – i.e. make them sound better - your new audio gear way faster than Marilyn Manson’s first two albums.
The Aimee Mann with Michael Penn track “Christmastime” is probably one of those really good songs just begging to be used in some TV or movie soundtrack. The “humor” behind Sonic Youth’s “Santa Doesn’t Cop Out on Dope” wasn’t lost on me. Most Americans – like then President Clinton – were really having fun at the disdain of the extreme right. One of my favorite track here is The Posies’ “Christmas”, which with the help of Velocity Girl (probably the only band who kept the record label Sub Pop afloat after Nirvana) vocalist Sarah Shannon.
You might be surprised to know that there are a countless number of rap / hip-hop oriented Christmas songs out there. The reason radio stations aren’t flooded by them or your mom and pop listening to them, is that 99.9999999% of them are very, very bad. With the exception of Run-DMC ’s “Christmas in Hollis”, The Roots’ “Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa” is probably one of the very few rap / hip-hop Christmas / Seasonal songs that pass muster to me at least. The funky lo-fi aesthetics of this recording really epitomized the artistic side of what makes a good rap / hip-hop song, old school or not.
Southern Culture on the Skids’ version of “Merry Christmas Baby” is - to me at least – a bit better than the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band version on the “A Very Special Christmas” album. SCOTS “Merry Christmas Baby” is my second favorite song on this record.
Before he sang for the title soundtrack of the Superman based TV series Smallville, Remy Zero wrote a quirky Christmas song for the Just Say Noël album simply titled “Christmas”. This could be my favorite song in this album, if it had not kept reminding me of being caught in the middle of the pouring rain many miles away from the nearest shelter. Elastica’s “Gloria” is probably an “Alternative-Britpop” fave for bass-heads, a bass-heavy song which –to me – that’s were this particular song’s charm ends. But still way, way better that the majority of today’s / 2008 Billboard Top 40 offerings.
Wild Colonials’ “Christmas is Quiet” despite being domestic abuse and misogyny, is my favorite track on this album. Not only on the songwriting and musicianship aspect, but also it is so well recorded it even rivals some well-known “Audiophile Label” offerings. Or will put some of them to shame.
XTC ‘s “Thanks for Christmas” is well – XTC. Given the scant number of their songs I manage to hear on our local FM dial, this is probably an archetypal XTC song – to me at least. The Musical Cast of Toys Featuring Wendy and Lisa made a soundtrack for the movie Toys back in 1990 called the “Closing of the Year”. This is probably one of the few times that Robin Williams gets away with being “dramatic”.
Ted Hawkins’ rendition of “Amazing Grace” - to me – is simply to die for, despite the relatively mediocre recording (freak occurrence?). His musicianship nevertheless, saves the day. Amazing Grace is a very relevant inclusion here because the music represents the Santa-friendly stance of American Anglo-Saxon Protestantism – which the rest of the West attributes as the “conventional” birthplace of Santa Claus.
By: Vanessa Uy
Released back in 1996 primarily as a humanitarian campaign / fundraiser for Peter Gabriel’s Witness (visit them at www.witness.org), Just Say Noël – like what it said on the album cover – really made the song fresh for years to come. Plus the guarantee of the holiday spirit and the music remaining in your heart long after the tannenbaum has gone brown – or gets composted into organic fertilizer. Whether this is proof of David Geffen’s late 20th Century marketing savvy is anybody’s guess. But twelve years after the fact, the songs on this album still has the power to compel, even to the under 18 crowd.
Other than the very first Special Olympics benefit album – A Very Special Christmas – which was released back in 1987, an overwhelming majority of “contemporary” Christmas / Holiday Season albums seem to be found wanting when compared to old perennial Christmas Morning war horses like Handel’s Messiah. And other Classical oriented pieces like the Christmas in Vienna series of concerts, An English Ladymass by the Anonymous 4, Sergei Rachmaninov’s The Liturgy of St. John. Which unless the under 18 kids in question are “hyper-sapient”, won’t easily find Classical Music oriented Yuletide music as being to their liking.
But Just Say Noël is not your typical run-of-the-mill contemporary Rock & Roll oriented Christmas / Holiday Season album. With circa 1996 artists as diverse as Beck with his “Little Drum Machine Boy” sounding a cross between an electronica-heavy hip-hop and a test and burn-in CD – with the emphasis on the burn-in. As in that horrible chainsaw-like nose designed to break-in / burn-in – i.e. make them sound better - your new audio gear way faster than Marilyn Manson’s first two albums.
The Aimee Mann with Michael Penn track “Christmastime” is probably one of those really good songs just begging to be used in some TV or movie soundtrack. The “humor” behind Sonic Youth’s “Santa Doesn’t Cop Out on Dope” wasn’t lost on me. Most Americans – like then President Clinton – were really having fun at the disdain of the extreme right. One of my favorite track here is The Posies’ “Christmas”, which with the help of Velocity Girl (probably the only band who kept the record label Sub Pop afloat after Nirvana) vocalist Sarah Shannon.
You might be surprised to know that there are a countless number of rap / hip-hop oriented Christmas songs out there. The reason radio stations aren’t flooded by them or your mom and pop listening to them, is that 99.9999999% of them are very, very bad. With the exception of Run-DMC ’s “Christmas in Hollis”, The Roots’ “Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa” is probably one of the very few rap / hip-hop Christmas / Seasonal songs that pass muster to me at least. The funky lo-fi aesthetics of this recording really epitomized the artistic side of what makes a good rap / hip-hop song, old school or not.
Southern Culture on the Skids’ version of “Merry Christmas Baby” is - to me at least – a bit better than the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band version on the “A Very Special Christmas” album. SCOTS “Merry Christmas Baby” is my second favorite song on this record.
Before he sang for the title soundtrack of the Superman based TV series Smallville, Remy Zero wrote a quirky Christmas song for the Just Say Noël album simply titled “Christmas”. This could be my favorite song in this album, if it had not kept reminding me of being caught in the middle of the pouring rain many miles away from the nearest shelter. Elastica’s “Gloria” is probably an “Alternative-Britpop” fave for bass-heads, a bass-heavy song which –to me – that’s were this particular song’s charm ends. But still way, way better that the majority of today’s / 2008 Billboard Top 40 offerings.
Wild Colonials’ “Christmas is Quiet” despite being domestic abuse and misogyny, is my favorite track on this album. Not only on the songwriting and musicianship aspect, but also it is so well recorded it even rivals some well-known “Audiophile Label” offerings. Or will put some of them to shame.
XTC ‘s “Thanks for Christmas” is well – XTC. Given the scant number of their songs I manage to hear on our local FM dial, this is probably an archetypal XTC song – to me at least. The Musical Cast of Toys Featuring Wendy and Lisa made a soundtrack for the movie Toys back in 1990 called the “Closing of the Year”. This is probably one of the few times that Robin Williams gets away with being “dramatic”.
Ted Hawkins’ rendition of “Amazing Grace” - to me – is simply to die for, despite the relatively mediocre recording (freak occurrence?). His musicianship nevertheless, saves the day. Amazing Grace is a very relevant inclusion here because the music represents the Santa-friendly stance of American Anglo-Saxon Protestantism – which the rest of the West attributes as the “conventional” birthplace of Santa Claus.
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