Aidan Murphy

Darragh O’Neill to play Mermaid Theatre

admin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:48:47 +0000

Darragh O’Neill is an Irish classical guitar player. He is also a composer and will be perfomring his own work in the Mermaid Theatre in Bray, Co. Wicklow on Friday 11th September 2009.

Darragh is also going to be performing a solo concert in Carnegie Hall, New York, later this year.

Here’s a video of him hanging out in the National Stud (no jokes).

Jalikebba Kuyateh plays the Kora

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:43:34 +0000

Here is a video of Jalikebba Kuyateh (who is a griot from The Gambia) playing an instrument called a Kora.

Octopus New Media

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:24:03 +0000

My friends in Octopus New Media just launched a new website. It’s all shiny and nice.

They do all types of design including print, web, animation and video.

Schools Kill Creativity

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:43:27 +0000

Here is a talk made in 2006 at the TED conference. It features Sir Ken Robinson talking about how the education system worldwide works against children being creative.

Why isn’t dance taught as much as maths? Good question.

I Met the Walrus

admin — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:01:10 +0000

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room in Toronto and convinced him to do an interview.

38 years later, Levitan, director Josh Raskin and illustrator James Braithwaite have collaborated to create an animated short film using the original interview recording as the soundtrack. I Met the Walrus was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Animated Short.

Jamie Lidell Saves Funk Music

admin — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:02:41 +0000

Jamie Lidell is a funk/soul singer from the UK. His songs are so funky they wouldn’t sound out of place on a Sly Stone of Stevie Wonder album.

A lot of people try to play funk but never quite get the dirty sound and rhythm that is essential. Jamie Lidell not only has a great voice but he obviously knows how to make a band sound great. Reports from his live gigs say that he’s even better on stage than recorded. Which is quite a feet.

Here’s Jamie performing at the Royal Festival Hall. I think this is what Sly Stone would be doing today if he hadn’t snorted his brains out.

John Martyn Dies Aged 60

admin — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:16:15 +0000

John Martyn died yesterday aged 60.

I first heard him when I bought the album ‘London Conversation’. I learned all about open D tuning by working out how to play “Fairytale Lullaby“. Other standout albums include ‘Solid Air‘ and ‘Grace And Danger‘.

Here’s a video of John playing the song “May You Never” on the The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973.

Kris Rowley

admin — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:42:58 +0000

Here’s a video of Kris Rowley playing his song “The Ballad of The Existentialist”. He’s a singer songwriter from the UK.

I can hear a Nick Drake influence in his writing and singing (which is a good thing!). Especially on his song “Black Dog”, which reminds of “One of These Things First”. The pencil animation video for “Black Dog” is also worth a mention.

His website is a little hard to navigate. You’re probably best going straight to his YouTube profile page to watch his videos.

Acoustic Guitarist Blog

admin — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:57:33 +0000

I just stumbled across this blog dedicated to acoustic guitar. Written by Tony Hogan, it features video clips and free guitar lessons. Well worth a look if you play acoustic guitar.

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:56:21 +0000

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is made up of all ukulele players (and an acoustic bass guitar). The ukulele playing is impressive, but the vocal arrangements are also a highlight. Their show also includes comedy, which is very dry, English, “Dad” humour. In fact, if you’re reading this Dad, check them out, you’d love them.

This is a video of them playing an arrangement of the theme from”The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” by Ennio Morricone.