"Pachelbel's Everywhere!"

Pachelbel's Canon, also known as Canon in D major (Kanon und Gigue für 3 Violinen mit Generalbaß in German) is the most famous piece of music by German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel. It was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue in the same key The circumstances of the piece's composition are wholly unknown. The Canon may have been composed for Johann Christoph Bach's wedding, on 23 October 1694, which Pachelbel attended.{W}

The song has been covered and re-imagined time after time:

Some years back, comedian/musician Rob Paravonian came to my university in which he performed this same skit. As a former cellist, he points out the repetitiveness of the same chords. I had never forgotten this skit as it was so hilarious.

Then comes the Axis of Awesome, an Australian group who points out the same aspects - including that all the top pop songs use the same 4 chords...

And most recently I stumbled across this woman named Karen Cheng who gave a talk entitled "How To Solve a Song" using music and math at Seattle's IgniteShow.com

Sick of Pachelbel yet?

"Starving Artists"

Some relatives recently sent me an e-mail with a YouTube link of North Korean children playing instruments. One video showed guitars as big as the 5 year-olds playing them. I've seen similar videos in the past, still, the talent of these kids always astounds me.

I suppose Korean culture combined with Communist instilled discipline (either out of fear or nationalism) brings out talent.

Take a look at these:

Their expressions and choreographed head-bobbles are a little creepy

Those little fingers sure fly...

This little boy is amazingly good. I couldn't play the clarinet that well when I was his age. But I was sure happy not to have to practice 8 hours a day like he probably does.

How about these pint-sized percussionists/singers?

Political issues aside, one thing I have found simply fascinating is the North Korea Mass Games, where according to wikipedia:

(The) Mass games or mass gymnastics are a form of performing arts or gymnastics in which large numbers of performers take part in a highly regimented performance that emphasizes group dynamics rather than individual prowess. The effect of displaying huge images is achieved by a having large number of individuals each being dressed in a particular color or holding a colored hard paper above their heads. Because of the vast scale of the performance, with often tens of thousands of performers, mass games are performed in stadiums, often accompanied by a background of card-turners occupying the seats on the opposite side from the viewers. The rapid change of images was achieved by changing a card with another in swift and synchronized movement. The synchronization is achieved after several hours-long rehearsals and employs much choreography.

I would love to see this first hand someday...

"Mint Condition"

This past weekend I visited the "Grand Mint Festival" held at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu (Bangi) -- and not too far from Jamsil Sports Complex.

I didn't know what to expect, as I was offered free tickets by my girlfriend who needed to scope the venue out for her company, as they may want to use it for their own festival.

Grand Mint? As I approached the park area I saw a scattering of tents and stage set-ups. Was this going to be a festival promoting mint flavored products? I expected tea, candies, scented candles, and air-fresheners. Why was there a stage? Were they going to have groups come out and sing and dance about mint?

As it turns out, the festival is a mini-Woodstock rock festival, showcasing all sorts of music. (I think it's sponsored by the paper company "Mint Paper") I found the bands to be pretty entertaining, and was surprised at the large, yet young crowd. The event wasn't very foreigner friendly - probably because the groups were not very popular and didn't sing in English.

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

 SOUP Loving Forest Garden -- weird name for a staging area. (SOUP is a company name)

The food was good though - albeit expensive. There was also a lot of alcohol served - good for the crowd. -- I didn't see any mint juleps though....

Surprisingly delicious for Korean Tacos...

Who drinks nachos and/or art?

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

Overall it was a nice little festival with many vendors and I got a lot of free stuff - bags, buttons, coupons, trinkets, and too many flyers.