Alessandra Ferri and Sting - Enchanting Short

Look at this amazing short film starring principal ballet dancer Alessandra Ferri alongside Sting, who plays Bach's 'Prelude' from 'Cello Suite nr.1 in G major' on acoustic guitar. Set in an abandoned city building, complete with water damage and dark, misty atmosphere, this film is something different and plainly beautiful.

Musical Magic: Adele - Someone Like You

This sent shivers through my whole body, I hope it brings a smile or mends a broken heart...

French Friday

I have no idea where I got this picture, but I needed to share it because it is too lovely not to.

So if it's yours, thank you and feel free to let me know!

Then listen to and read the English translation of the mellow, yet playful L'amoureuse by Carla Bruni to start your weekend! The music video is unbelievably cute...

Happy Friday!

Carla Bruni "L'amoureuse" by naiverecords

L'Amoureuse

Carla Bruni

It seems someone conveid hope

Streets are gardens, I dance on the sidewalks

It seems my arms became wings

That in every moment that flies I can touch the sky

That in every moment that goes by I can eat the sky

The bell towers are tilted, the trees are in a nonsense

They collapse under the flowers on the most red of autumn

Snow doesn't melt anymore, rain is slowly singing

And even streetlights have an impatient sight

And even stones want to look important

Because I'm the lover, Yes I'm the lover

And I hold in my hands the only of all things

I'm the lover, I'm your lover

And I sing for you the only of all things

That needs to be here, that needs to be here

Time stopped, hours are changing

The minutes are freezing and the boredom makes wreck

Everything seems unknown, everything crunches under the teeth

And the noise of sorrow slowly goes away

And the noise of the past is just silent now

Oh, the walls change their stones

The sky changes his clouds

The life changes manners and dance mirages

It was seen was I told that destiny showed up

He looked like nothing, seemed to take everything

He got your look, your manner of speak

Because I'm the lover, Yes I'm the lover

And I hold in my hands the only of all things

I'm the lover, I'm your lover

And I sing for you the only of all things

That needs to be here, that needs to be here



Musical Magic: Mumford&Sons

I discovered that this band even exists a few days ago and I honestly love every song they have ever sung. Their influences include some of my other favourites: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, as well as Kings of Leon and I just find their music to be such a breath of fresh air and sincerely beautiful. They write inspiring songs whisch one can identify with... Here is the music video of Winter Winds, but do yourself a favour, check out their website and listen to their other songs (especially Awake my Soul, After the Storm and Little Lion Man).

The band consists of Marcus Mumford (vocals, guitar, drums, mandolin), Ben Lovett (vocals, keyboards, accordion, drums), "Country" Winston Marshall (vocals, banjo, dobro), and Ted Dwane (vocals, string bass, drums, guitar). The band formed in October 2007, rising out of what some in the media labelled the "West London folk scene."



The Harry Potter Generation

I was eleven when the first one came out and every subsequent year, there has been another one: another Harry Potter film to accompany my journey to adulthood. I believe this makes me a part of the Harry Potter Generation, so with the last film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, being released on the 15th of July, it is bound to get sentimental at some point and it starts with this, a video "summary" of all the films...

Enjoy!



Autumn

Even though Summer has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere and I envy those who live there, over here it's the end of Autumn and I feel cold to my bones. However, it's not the end of a new script I wrote, titled "Autumn" about a girl, a guy, a saddened father, a burnt-down, charcoal barn and a beautiful greenhouse on a farm. You'll find out more about the story in due course, but here are some inspirations I drew from to write the script. I hope you agree that they are beauty itself!

To Autumn

by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.



Two lines from Keats's original manuscript.


Paolo Nutini - Autumn



Musical Magic: Find Love by NLX

I heard this song on the Brothers and Sisters episode Righteous Kiss the other night and fell in love with it. Ironically, it is called Find Love and is performed by spectacular band, NLX. It is from their album, Bitch Get Fit.

The song is just purely inspirational and I especially adore the piano sequences (it reminds of of the type of melodies I like to compose.)

Enjoy!

Purple Art and Melody

Here it is: the video with Eugene Paprocki's La Madeline, Johannesburg architecture and the incredible Yann Tiersen song, Comptine d'un autre été: L'apres Midi (heard in Amelié and Goodbye Lenin.)

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Some Rock'nRoll

It's only rock 'n' roll, but I like it!
-- It's Only Rock 'n' Roll [song by the Rolling Stones]

Musical Magic: Kate Nash

You've probably guessed that I'm an indie/folk/rock girl when it comes to music. I love all types of music (sometimes I can't get enough of Beethoven), but I' always find myself drawn to the original, the wacky and uniquely beautiful. This singer encompasses these traits: her music tells of crazy adventures, useless love affairs and even imaginary friends (listen to Skeleton Song for that one.) She's different and that's why she's excellent. Her website: http://www.katenash.co.uk/ displays the personality of her music in visual form.

Her album art reminds of the typical 60's and 70's LP artwork:

Made of Bricks                     My Best Friend is You

Check out of my favourite Kate Nash Songs: Foundations

The Zooey with a Chanel Name

I saw this unique and utterly inspiring actress for the first time in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as astrophysicist and white mice keeper, Trilian (or Tricia Mcmillan) and knew she was something different. She grew up in a showbiz-orientated family (with a cinematographer father and actresses for a mom and sister) and even spent a part of her childhood in my native South Africa. He roles are known to be out of the ordinary and sometimes downright wacky (Elf, Yes Man), but that's what makes her refreshing.

Zooey Deschanel

 Definitely my favorite Zooey D movie so far...

Not only does she excel in the acting world, but her musical talents have brought on the band She & Him (with M. Ward). This indie band is known for using 60's influences in both sound and style.

The official She & Him music video for Don't Look Back

Such an Extraordinary Thing

Photograph: Ben Hassett

 "It’s such an extraordinary thing, music. It is how we speak to God finally – or how we don’t. Even if we’re ignoring God. It’s the language of the spirit. If you believe that we contain within our skin and bones a spirit that might last longer than your time breathing in and out – if there is a spirit, music is the thing that wakes it up. And it certainly woke up mine. And it seems to be how we communicate on another level."- Bono

Musical Magic: Farryl Purkiss

This South African artist, who has taken the world by storm (he reached the top of the French charts, has perfomed extensively in the USA and has even had his songs feature on Private Practice) is, to me, a mixture of Neil Young, Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson. Not only are his songs unique, well-written and refreshing, but his guitar skills prove how incredibly talented he truly is.

Check out his website http://www.farrylpurkiss.co.za/ and make sure to listen to Times Like These and Better Days.

Musical Magic: Van Rissegham

What's better than a beautiful, mellow song on a mellow Friday. I accidentally discovered this artist from Oklahoma and fell in love with not only the sound (a Jason Mraz quality with a unique voice), but the music video itself is pure art. Enjoy!

For more (check out "We are all Full of Love" and "The Motions") go HERE

Rocky Horrifically Spectacular

I've seen this crazy musical on stage twice, I've done the "Time Warp" for wacky show, I've listened to both the CD and the Vinyl LP record (my parents are huge fans) and last night I finally experienced the 1975 film with Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, the great Meatloaf and creator Richard O'Brien.

Scary? In a good way.

Questionable? Definitely.

Shocking? Of course

Not for the Faint Hearted? NOT for the Faint Hearted.

Good? Yes.

Fun? Without a doubt!

Frank: "It was strange the way it happened. Suddenly... you get a break! All of the pieces seem to fit into place. What a sucker you've been, what a fool. The answer was there all the time. It took a small aciddent to make it happen. AN ACCIDENT! And that is how I discovered the secret. That elusive ingredient, that... spark that is the breath of life... yes I have that knowledge! I hold the key to life... ITSELF!"

Film Cast and LP Record Cover

Live Perfomance at the Barnyard Theatre in Johannesburg

Go HERE for the trailer.

More Madness at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073629/