music
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It thought it was time for me to do a Saxy blog(pardon the pun). Om June 28 1846, Adolphe Sax patented the instrument named after him, the Saxophone. However this nearly didn’t happen, not because he forgot to submit it but because he must have been either the luckiest or unluckiest man,depending on how you…
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It is hard to believe this musical giant passed away this day 34 years ago. I still vividly remember the news reports. It had only been a few days after it was announced he had aids that the world heard that Freddie Mercury died at the age of 45 at his home in Kensington. The official cause…
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Glenn Miller, an American big band leader, disappeared under mysterious circumstances during World War II. On December 15, 1944, his plane vanished over the English Channel en route from England to Paris. Official records attribute his death to bad weather and an overloaded small aircraft. However, conspiracy theories surrounding his disappearance have persisted. Among these,…
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In general, I am not a great fan of songs in the Dutch language, and I don’t know why not. It could be because Dutch is not the most poetic language. However, there is one exception, “Het Dorp” by Wim Sonneveld. The original was titled La Montagne by Jean Ferrat. But the lyrics from Het Dorp evoke…
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Some people might recognize the title of this piece as the title of a Billy Joel song, and you would be right. It is a beautiful song which has a sad intonation, in a way it is a haunting piece of music, a story of something that is no longer there. Billy Joel’s grandfather Karl…
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The Holocaust was and still is the biggest crime ever committed in the history of mankind.Additionally it also killed music by killing the talent that produced and created music. Some of the composers and musicians in this blog were killed only because they were Jewish.or because they defied the Nazi rule, for as musicians they…
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I don’t believe people who say that they don’t like music. They might not like certain types of music, but everyone loves at least one bit of music. Without music, life would be boring. I am always amazed by the number of tunes and songs composed using only eight notes or less. The music scale…
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Compared to other concentration camps ,Westerbork was ‘reasonably’ safe and life was less harsh there, But that is also what made it a more sinister place. From 1942 to 1945, Westerbork was a transit camp (Durchgangslager) located in the Netherlands. As a transit camp, Westerbork served as a temporary collection point for Jews in the…
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There dwelleth a fair lady, convinced that all that doth glitter be gold,And she doth seek a stairway to yon celestial abode.When she arrives at her destined place, she shall perceive,If all the shops be shuttered, with but a word, she can cleaveTo that which she hath long sought—O, and she doth purchase a stairway…
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This blog will be confusing to some people because it will be about Pink Floyd and yet it won’t be. I will not be talking about Pink Floyd but rather about Pink and Floyd. Pinkney “Pink” Anderson was an American blues singer and guitarist. Anderson was born in Laurens, South Carolina, on February 12,1900 and…
History of Sorts 