First Time Hearing
I didn’t know about these guys before. I love them.
After that one I watched the Pavarotti Nessun dorma one and had to stop watching any for awhile, it was so emo.
Now I’m going to see what they think of Johnny Cash.
Tip Jar
I didn’t know about these guys before. I love them.
After that one I watched the Pavarotti Nessun dorma one and had to stop watching any for awhile, it was so emo.
Now I’m going to see what they think of Johnny Cash.
Anybody know which recording of Pavarotti singing Nessun dorma JBLethal (in the middle) is reacting to?
No, but he looks quite young, so that might narrow it down if you’re searching. She said, pointing out the obvious.
Lady M, it’s from The Three Tenors in Concert with the LA Phil (1994), so Pavarotti would have been 59. At the time of that tour, for him to be the biggest name (of The Three Tenors), as far as careers go, he might have been slightly past his physical peak, but at just the right time to leave a legacy.
Another take on Nessun Dorma by the East Village Opera Company (subtly quoting the opening riff from Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” when the whole group plays).
Heh. I like that.
I’m fond of vocal coaches reacting to live performances:
Beth Roars reacts to Rammstein
… and to Kamelot
… and to Marilyn Manson
Ken Lavigne reacts to Diana Ankudinova
… and to Arch Enemy
Thanks, Dave.
Speaking of reaction videos, one of the weirdest things for me to come out of lockdown is that, for the last couple of months, I’ve been involved in quite deep, philosophical discussions with a Quebecois Franciscan friar on the meaning of the lyrics of various metal songs. His day job, so to speak, is textual analysis, and he’s also a lover of rock, metal and prog, so once a week he reacts to a song and then follows up with a second video diving deep into the lyrics. He recently finished the new Nightwish album and is currently going through the Epica back catalogue. His name is Guylain Prince and he’s a lovely chap.
Ah, metal. ‘Tis truly the Lord’s music.
I’d recommend Alcest for a francophone metalhead, especially Ecailles de Lune. It’s like a synthesis of shoegaze and black metal filtered through a hazy, childhood daydream of faerie on an endless midsummer afternoon.
I mean, just look at this cover art. Gah!
Graham,
I bet he had a field day with Hallowed Be Thy Name by Iron Maiden.
Opps, I see that he has only been doing that for 3 months and hasn’t gotten to it yet… he will have a field day with it, when you suggest it to him Graham.
Hearing Sidney Bechet for the first time, when I was fifteen. The soprano saxophone bursting forth on ‘Really the Blues.’ I became a musician in an instant. Though, oddly, I ended up as an opera singer.
So these are a whole genre? I didn’t know that.
I didn’t even know that reaction videos were a thing! I’ll have fun watching these when I get a little time to myself.
Meanwhile, in response to the Drunkard above, I submit this TEDx talk, by Norwegian jazz saxophonist Håkon Kornstad, explaining how he sort of got tired of jazz and took up opera singing instead.
His album Tenor battle is worth every penny, many time over.
Oh, and while I was looking for that oldish video, I stumbled upon a much more recent recording: Håkon Kornstad once more, with his trio (accordion, double bass, and tenor saxophone / vocal) and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. If you have 55 minutes to spare for a mix of jazz, operatic singing and classical and more modern music, here you go. There’s a couple minutes of talking (in Norwegian) initially. Skip over it, or turn on the subtitles.
Um, I wrote harmonica, but meant accordion. (I got temporarily confused by the Swedish word for accordion …)
OB@13,
Yeah. There’s plenty of “person reacting to hearing musical artists” videos, and beyond that there’s also “doctor reacts to medical tv drama,” etc.
I don’t usually watch them, but I did come across one last week of a guy encountering “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” for the first time.