When i first saw Didi performing That’s all on the uke, i knew what i’d like to do with it. I heard the beauty of that simple earnest sound, and the combination of his classic vocals, and knew that’s the vision i had for not just P+M but also for myself.
The ukulele, has of late, become such a fad, everyone plays it, and being so friendly an instrument, it converts even guitarists who either wanted to go economical with weight on their gig load, or female players who can’t juggle barred chords (and guilty as charged), etcetc…
But it doesn’t become a little guitar just because of our needs, or incompetence in understanding and appreciating its loveliness on its own, as a hawaiian 4-stringed instrument (as my student Viv would aptly define).
I thought about my gig with Didi as Polkadot + Moonbeam (www.polkadotandmoonbeam.com) last night and the responses that we had gotten from that. They were terrifically sweet, and encouraging. Sandy and company were such an amazing audience, sitting by from the start till the end, with breaks that i felt were way too long, honestly. And with each song, they followed our trails,… I was very moved.
There were also dear friends, Donna and her sister and my baby sis and her man, and of course Mark who’s soon to be going on Eastside Radio! I’m excited for him, though he claims its a late night training thing. My 2nd time in Velluto, and its strange to see familiar faces such as Wally from the radio, and Jon Hawley (www.jonlemon.com.au) who gave me a certain currency that would make me rich with HUGS. I have a few ideas conjured up as i spoke w him. And pray the likely collab will go well with another friend that i’d tie him up with. There was also Annique, and what a unique name, a fellow singer, who does mainly Latin Jazz. She’d requested for a bossa to which we did Corcovado. I love conversing with Didi on those ends, improvising with new bunny trails.
Like the uke, the pianica or melodica if you’d have it, is a long forgotten instrument, and it was first given to me as an idea from Kangyang, a wonderfully versatile and well-skilled dear friend of mine, who’d arranged 完美之旅 on my album using fingerstyle guitar, and other acoustic (and how i’d like to say it, very mechanical) instruments, including the pianica for instrumentation for this arrangement. I love organic sounds, sounds that are true to themselves, unaltered in their original form. I love electronic sounds too, sounds that create textures etc.
Perhaps, at this point, i can’t quite see where things will go with the choice of instruments i’m focussing on practice on. But this morning, i decided, i won’t ‘use’ them anymore.
I am determined to keep every original idea as original as they were meant to be, and every instrument as true to their original sounds as much as possible.
It’s time to resume to school work.
Sometimes, i really need a reminder that school is a choice to help me reach my goals. Oftentimes, it becomes lost in its purpose, and like a dinosaur it chases me, and i let it.
And here’s our latest {Cosy} video as we trot about the city playing our theme song, Polkadots and Moonbeams.
