Till We Find Our Place.. In The Circle of Life

Yeah, I will be that person to write about The Lion King.  Here’s some background information if you either managed not to see this film or you’ve gotten so old, that you’ve forgotten about it.  The Lion King came out in June 24, 1994, it surprisingly came out again in November 18, 1994.  The movie is about a pride of lions that are under the rule of Mufasa who heirs a son named Simba. Simba after witnessing his father’s death was then manipulated, by his power hungry uncle, Scar to run away.  After a few years of living with a meerkat and a warthog he is found by an old childhood friend, who then becomes his lover, Nala; and she convinces Simba to return and take throne on Pride Rock as rightful ruler.  Simba faces his uncle in a fiery war and after defeating him, banishes Scar from the pride lands.

So now that you’re all caught up time for  the song, the joyous song that many pet lovers celebrate to. The song that nobody really knows how to say the Zulu words, and seems to be  generational repetitiveness of butchery, the song that starts the whole movie off, The Circle of Life.  Now there are two versions of the song, both of which are equally amazing, the other more pop version of the song is sang by Elton John himself, he takes away the African language and switches some words around, but who can complain he wrote it after all.  The Circle of Life was written by Elton John and Tim Rice, the version that is played in the movie is sang by Lebo M and Carmen Twillie.

 

Before delving into the Zulu language, lets talk about the all over song, the song consists of two main sounds, being vocals and percussion, there is at one point where some sort of wind instrument is being played. The song starts softly and stays that way with a consistent beat and calm singing, up until a minute and thirty seconds in, then the crescendo erupts.

As previously stated the song starts off in an African language called Zulu, the words being:

“Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba
Sithi uhm ingonyama

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama
Ingonyama

Siyo Nqoba
Ingonyama
Ingonyama nengw’ enamabala”

The translation of the language turns to be

“Here comes a lion, father Oh yes it’s a lion

Here comes a lion, father Oh yes it’s a lion A lion We’re going to conquer A lion A lion and a leopard come to this open place”

Its hard to tell who speaks the words, I personally assume it has to be a creature in the crowd. Anyway, I found the incorporation of the language to be beautiful, I personally believe that inclusions of other cultures with your own can help make the world a wonderful place, one of harmony.

The overall song is quite self explanatory, talking about the circle of life and all, but I will note that the chorus is the big take away, the part everyone in unison can sing with no falter:

“It’s the circle of life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the circle
The circle of life”

So till we all find our place, I hope you enjoyed todays blog and live happily.

Marshmello

Electric dance music or better known as EDM is a range of percussive electronic music genres using a “repetitive beat” and “synthesized backing tracks”.  EDM artists also perform their music live in a concert or festival setting, such as nightclubs, raves, and more famously know festivals such as Governors Ball, Coachella, and EDC (Electronic Daisy Carnival)

EDM has become more popular with these few upcoming generations. Made popular by DJs like DeadMau5, Daft Punk, Zedd and Skrillex they helped EDM hit the charts.  Today I’ll be profiling Marshmello a new uprising DJ that has made a name of himself in a matter of a two years.

Marshmello like DeadMau5 and Daft Punk wears a mask, keeping his identity a mystery.  His character, literally a marshmallow.  He wears all white with a white bucket looking mask that consist of two X’s as eye and a smile.

Marshmello always created tracks, but started releasing music in 2016. With his single Alone,  with the most hits on Spotify, coming out with over 140 million plays.  Marshmello began to gain attention in 2015 by Skrillex, after he had remixed, Where Are U Now, a song Skrillex worked on with Diplo and Justin Bieber.  After that Skrillex immediately, booked Marshmello to open for him in the New York Pier of Fear.

Since his debut with Skrillex, Marshmello has collaborated with many other artists, such as Anne-Marie in the song Friends, Selena Gomez in Wolves, Migos in Danger, Logic in Everyday, and so much more.

As previously stated before, like Deadmau5 and Daft Punk,  Marshmello wears a mask and has his identity hidden.  Though it has been assumed that Forbes has uncovered his identity, being that he is Chris Comstock, who’s other alias is known as Dotcom.  In the Forbes article they make the connections with the managing company both artists use which is Red Light Management, also having the same manager Moe Shalizi.  That could just be a coincidence but there are other things in the article that can be convincing  that Marshmello is Chris Comstock.  But that doesn’t really matter because, both Shalizi and lawyers for Marshmallow decline to release or comment on his identity.

Marshmello repeatedly announces that his identity will not be revealed by himself, and it seems he wouldn’t want it to be discovered by journalists. This can be known by in a video interview he did wit KIISFM, and also a tweet saying:

“I don’t take my helmet off because I don’t want or need fame. I’m genuinely trying to create something positive for people to connect with.”

And for the fans, I doubt they even care, who Marshmello is, all they know is he makes great music, and that is all they need, speaking as a fan of course.

Marshmello is the uprising DJ that no one should miss out on, if other artists can see the talent he has then there is no reason everyone else can’t.

A Little Friend of Mine

Although many musicians hope to find fame and fortune through their art, there is also a number of people who simply use their love and passion for music to help them navigate their way through life. Falling in this category is Nic Torres, an 18-year-old musician from New Jersey.

Born in the City that Never Sleeps–Manhattan, New York–Nic entered the world and almost immediately delved into her passion for music.

“I started singing since around the age of four,” explained Nic. “I started learning how to play the violin when I was seven or eight.”

Although an interest in singing and playing the violin might seem like regular hobbies for a child to pick up on, for Nic, it was almost as though it were a predestined love laid out before her by her father.

“My dad taught me guitar and I learned piano because my dad bought me one, so I taught myself,” Nic elaborated.

Her father enjoyed music, as well, playing both the guitar and bass. His interest was passed along to his daughter.

Since her toddler years, Nic has loved to sing and even performed in front of an audience at an early age. One of her earliest memories of her singing is of her at five years old.

“[I was] five years old in church, singing Jesus Loves Me for a talent show and then after I was done singing, I said–in an Elvis voice–‘thank you, thank you, thank you very much.'”

Her spunky personality as a child was influenced by her love of Elvis Presley and “oldies songs,” as she describes it. Along with Elvis, Nic also enjoys listening to The Archie’s, The Temptations, Johnny Cash, Frank Valentine, The Four Seasons, and Michael Jackson.

Nic’s musical performances in church didn’t stop after that talent show ended. In fact, music was what drew her to develop a deeper relationship with God and strengthen her faith.

Growing up in a pentecostal Assemblies of God church, Nic was surrounded by music being an important part of how one serves the Lord. The worship portion of Sunday services stood out to Nic.

“I felt a calling to lead worship,” she said. Nic soon answered the call and became a youth worship leader at 14 years old. Her voice–being able to sing as both a soprano and alto–allowed the church congregation to ease into a holy worship. Many who were in the worship services that Nic led often felt as though her voice was able to usher in the Holy Spirit and claimed it was a gift.

Along with leading worship, Nic also likes to write her own music. In her early teen years, she often wrote her own song lyrics and coupled it with music she created on the piano. Lately, however, she has been faced with an unwelcome obstacle.

“Writers block. When I get it, I stop doing a lot of artist things,” she explained, referring to her other artistic endeavors, such as drawing in addition to playing music. However, she hopes that when inspiration strikes she will be able to start up again.

Although her love of music was very strong in her younger years, as Nic got older, she did not feel compelled to pursue it professionally.

“I didn’t wanna be broke,” Nic claimed. “I’m just kidding! I found a greater passion: helping people and science and a fascination of the brain.”

Currently, Nic is in her first year of college, studying biology and psychology, hoping to one day become a neurosurgeon. However, her love for music will always remain a constant in her life, being one of the main things that makes her genuinely happy.

Rock ‘n’ Roll

Coming out in the mid 1950’s the genre of Rock and Roll had featured in the United States.  Being a combination of “black culture and white spending power”  the sounds we all know and love had come to form.  The hard-driving, blues rhythmic of rock and roll was notably claimed by Alan Freed, he was amongst the few to say their music on the radio was rock and roll.  But lets be real, we all know who was the face of rock and roll, none other than The King himself, Elvis Presley.

Now Rock and roll always had a sense of sexuality, and Presley the handsome young man he was sure had some of that sense in his music.  But it wasn’t merely his devilish looks and seductivemusic that helped rock and roll become what it is, it was that he was the merger for both black and white people to go past their, problems and issues, and just rock out and listen to music.  It also helped black singers fit with “rockabilly” performers, who were generally white.  The unique merger also went off to appeal to one great audience,  American teenagers, because let’s face it parents and adults didn’t really listen to music then, like really, really listened.

As Rock and Roll began to hit the big screen, being played in movies; that had key characters that marked defiance, it started becoming something new for these teenagers.  It started to become a s symbol of rebellion, and defiance.  With this newfound attitude, many parents, and religious folk began calling it the “devils music”.

Needing to find a way to amend the backlash to what Rock and Roll gotten, the music industry chose to have less  risqué versions of previous songs re-recorded but they were done so by different artists.  This led to a change of Rock and Roll, because by now it was closer to the end of the 50’s and Presley was in the army and other artists either died or changed their genres.  The once was feeling of rock and roll changed into something different, the music seemed more planned and more thought out.   Now it is more considerably known as just Rock, and not so much with the roll.

To listen to some tunes click HERE to see the Spotify playlist with many popular songs from the beginning of rock and roll. (feel free to add some songs too)

When Life Leaves Us Blind, Love Keeps Us Kind.

YouTube Live performance of: Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington.

The world entered a state of shock on July 20, 2017 when news broke that Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington had died from an apparent suicide.

Music lovers all across the world began to mourn his death and even casual listeners shared their grief as one of the US’s most popular alternative rock bands suffered an unanticipated blow. Bennington’s death hit the music scene especially hard, following the death of musician Chris Cornell of Soundgarden–and one of Bennington’s close friends–which occurred just two months prior. Many have speculated that it was Cornell’s death that caused Bennington to suffer from depression, leading him to take his own life.

In response to his death, Linkin Park chose to cancel their North American tour. However, three months later, they held a concert in honor of Bennington, called “Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington.”  Held in the Hollywood Bowl, but was streamed on youtube live, for everyone to see worldwide.

The tribute opens with Mike Shinoda, co-founder of Linkin Park,  at the keyboard playing a medley of the band’s songs Robot Boy, The Messenger, and Iridescent. 

(Opening number from 2:00-7:40)

By starting the tribute with Robot Boy, the audience is welcomed with a sense of comfort and belonging. The melody of the song reflects the meaning behind the lyrics:

 “And you’re sure you’ve hurt in a way that no one will ever know. But someday the weight of the world will give you the strength to go.”

Although Shinoda doesn’t recite the lyrics, the message behind the words is still carried in the music since the audience understands the meaning behind the song. Shinoda then starts playing The Messenger:

“when life leaves us blind, love keeps us kind” 

The lyrics resonates with the audience due to the relevance of the words; the world was left blinded and taken off guard by Bennington’s untimely death, but with the love of one another, they can continue to find a life worth living. This message of hope is continued on when Shinoda begins to sing Iridescent, with the lyrics saying:

“Remember all the sadness and frustration and let it go.”

The concert continues with many more of Linkin Park’s hits along with appearances by other bands and artists, such as Blink-182, members of Avenged Sevenfold, Steve Aoki, Ilsey Juber, and more.

However, the one song that stands out the most among the others on the setlist is One More Light from their recent album that goes by the same name.

The lyrics state:

“Just ‘cause you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
If they say, who cares if one more light goes out in a sky of a million stars? It flickers, flickers. Who cares when someone’s time runs out if a moment is all we are? We’re quicker, quicker. Who cares if one more light goes out? Well, I do.”

The song’s lyrics supported the concert’s hope to raise awareness regarding depression and suicide.

After a rendition of one of the band’s most popular songs, In the End, with Bennington’s vocals being sung by the audience, Talinda, Bennington’s wife, entered the stage and shared a moving speech. In her speech, Talinda declared that it was time to give mental health the same importance that physical health is given, partnering with a foundation entitled ChangeDirection.org which raises awareness regarding mental health issues and addiction, two battles that Talinda watched her husband face in his lifetime.

The tribute ends with the chorus of Bleed It Out, with all performers on the stage. The song soon shifts back to the chorus of The Messenger, repeating the words that Shinoda sang at the beginning of the concert:

“When life leaves us blind, love keeps us kind”

Leaving the audience with the message of hope and love that welcomed them.