Gonçalo Pereira - Nenufares Cintilantes

Found this original guitar improvisation by Gonçalo Pereira, a Portuguese guitar virtuoso. The title is Nenufares Cintilantes (Google translation: "Sparkling Water Lily", not sure how accurate it is tho).

I really hope Gonçalo Pereira has recorded a studio version of this melodic guitar music, which I couldn't find further info on the internet, it's just so amazing! I'm not gonna talk about his guitar skills and techniques, no one's gonna question about that.

The elements that made this improvised instrumental music sound amazing are his musical vocabularies, and great sense of music, the other thing that I'm not sure is that my guitarist friend said his "big hand" is part of his great music creations because it can stretch so wide to play something impossible to be done by guitarists who have relatively smaller hands... hmm......

Enjoy~

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Steve Vai - Being With You (In Paris)

It's Christmas~ and I wish I were in Paris (nope, I've never been to Paris) now listening to this sweet waltz music by guitar great Steve Vai, imagining myself walking down some Parisian streets or sitting in some quaint cafe with someone "special" :-)

*From Steve Vai's live album "Alive In An Ultra World (2001), featuring Scott Palacios on Accordian, and John Pustai on narration.

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Merry Christmas!!

I'd like to take this chance to wish everyone in this world a very joyous, peaceful Christmas & New Year.

And not forgetting about a daily dose of feel good music on this Christmas Eve:

This is not your typical Christmas music, it's Steve Vai's jazzy rock version of "Christmas Time Is Here"~

(From Steve Vai's "The 7th Song" album & Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas compilation)

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Is Stevie Ray Vaughan famous among young generations or non-blues music lovers? To me, he's a legend, a great musician, guitarist.

Here's one of the very first few SRV songs I listened to, it's a nice, soothing, bluesy / jazzy instrumental "night tune" - Riviera Paradise, very easy listening, perfect to go with a cuppa coffee, relaxing in the evening or even midnight.

Let's chillout with the one & only SRV~

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Stevie Ray Vaughan - Lenny

SRV is one the modern guitar gods who played blues music and guitars through his heart and soul. He has inspired many other musicians and guitarists like Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, John Mayer, etc.

The 10th track of Stevie Ray Vaughan's debut album, Texas Flood, Lenny is a beautiful piece of guitar solo SRV wrote for his wife Lenora "Lenny" Bailey.

According to a comment on YouTube, "Stevie saw a guitar in a music store window and wanted it but he couldn't afford it. When his wife, Lenny, heard this, she pooled together with a group of her friends to buy it for him. when they gave him the guitar he was so thrilled, he stayed up the whole night writing this song on it. He even named the guitar Lenny." (I ain't sure if this is true but sound convincing to me, though)

So let's just listen to this wonderful, bluesy and easy music of SRV, and you gotta feel the love in it!


Texas Flood (1983)

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Yanni - Santorini (Live at the Acropolis)

The first time I heard Yanni was through a Singapore TV program where they used Within Attraction as their opening music, and I didn't know who Yanni is during that time, until again, I watched Yanni's Tribute Live on Singapore's TV channel back in the 90s. Then, I fall in love with Live At The Acropolis too!

I love Santorini of Live At The Acropolis the most! The energy flows with the melodies smoothly, and it creates an impact in your heart, with its musical impressiveness! It's strong, but just nice that you'll be able to receive the energy that it delivers.

The other part I love about Yanni is his progressive style, and the slow keyboard solo of Santorini gives me an asian, oriental kind of feeling. It's just so imaginative, like taking you from where you are to Santorini to somewhere in the far east area and back in Santorini again...

It's gonna be a long weekend here in Malaysia, I'm going back in my home town and sure gonna play this song on my way home!



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Final Fantasy X OST - Besaid Island (Besaido-jima)

I'm not a gamer, but was introduced to Final Fantasy X OST by my ex-boss. I actually skipped almost all tracks of the 4-disc set except for this one, Besaido-jima @ Besaid Island by Japanese game composer, Masashi Hamauzu (浜渦正志).

The song tile has best described the song. It really makes you feel like you're spending a wonderful holiday on a beautiful island, waking up early in the morning to the sunny beaches and cooling breeze.

I love the simple arrangement of the song with the touch of oriental kind of new age style. Hmm... feel like taking a break to a special island on earth...




Final Fantasy X: Original Soundtrack (2001)

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Kiko Loureiro - Anastácia (Universo Inverso)

They say Kiko Loureiro should be arrested for being too good! Some say he's a jazz guy who plays heavy metal guitars... Well, this Brazilian guitar virtuoso is simply fantastic at blending all sorts of musical elements in his solos. He's got it all: music sense, song writing and guitar skills, and most importantly he nailed them!

Anyway, Universo Inverso is Kiko's solo album and nothing related to Angra. In fact I wasn't aware of Angra until I heard Kiko's solo work. Anastácia is the very first piece of music that introduced Kiko Loureiro to me.

From breezy easy guitar intro to energetic jazz improvisation, the quartet blends so well together giving each other their best in this progressive, Brazilian, fusion format. I especially love the piano part in this tune, because it makes me feel like going to the pub in town, sit down, unwind and have some drinks with a bunch of good friends!

Bravo Kiko! You guys rock!

Album recording


Kiko performed Anastácia live on Bem Brasil


Universo Inverso
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