Great Canadian-Brazilian music coming to Ottawa this Saturday (July 8, 2023). Will see you there!
Plus, my own interpretations of bossa-nova classics in Russian.
Announcement:
This comes from a good old friend of mine, an award-nominated Canadian producer and singer-songwriter, Rachel Beausoleil, with whom I used to play and sing at our daughters’ school 15 years ago (you can watch a video of one of such performances in Appendix below) . I am not a professional singer or musician (I’m Data Scientist, who built excess death tracking Web App, as you know), but she is and a very talented one.
This Saturday (July 8 at 7:30) in Ottawa, she and her band will be giving a very special concert - dedicated to her latest two albums that she recorded during the p(l)andemic with her Brazilian musicians friends. You can read more about it and buy the tickets by clicking on the poster below.
What this music is to me:
For me, Rachel's bossa-nova music is particularly special. Here's why.
As some of you know, I've been a big fan of bossa-nova since my student years in Moscow in the early nineties, where I learned to play it on the guitar (it's a well-known 1/2+1/2 | 1/4 1/2 1/4 beat).
I did not understand Portuguese, and I always felt this beautiful music in my own way - in my words, in my mother tongue, which I've been dreaming of being able to put into writing one day. This dream became true in 2019 when I published my interpretations of Antonio Carlos Jobim's songs in a song-book that is now available at bookdown.org/gorodnichy/jobim
I also made own recordings and backing tracks for some of these songs, with acoustic guitar and synthesizer. A couple are appended below along with their English translations, for those who might be interested or understand Russian. More are on Soundcloud.
Enjoy! And see some of you at the Rachel’s concert on Saturday!
WAVE:
Wave
(Dmitry Gorodnichy)
Translation from Russian
Close your eyes -
And you will see the world
As it is, was, and will be,
Guarded by the sun.
And suddenly, all your worries
Will scatter like waves in the ocean.
Freeze for a moment -
And in that moment, you will hear
The universal chord of joy
And beauty. Let this sound enter you,
And everything will become clear to you instantly.
In this sound, you hear love.
And you know that it is with you...
And so it always is,
Nothing was or is
Except for your love alone,
Here and now.
Everything else is just a mirage,
Although sometimes you forget that.
It is with you.
And every time you desire,
You know how to enter
The world of beauty,
Feeling yourself as a wave
In the boundless ocean.
Everything you wanted to know - ask it,
And carry the answer with you...
MEDITATION:
Meditation
(Dmitry Gorodnichy)
Translation from Russian
At the hour when you're alone,
Standing at the crossroads,
Not knowing where your path lies,
Close your eyes,
And imagine that you're far away,
Far beyond the towering mountain.
There, you will see
An endless field of grass,
Of unseen beauty.
Step into it,
And you'll feel a gentle breeze
Suddenly brushing against your eyelashes.
Take a breath of it,
And magic will instantly unfold.
Instead of weakness аnd confusion
In the face of the unknown,
You will suddenly understand everything,
Why you exist in this world,
And where to go next.
«Shri Jobim» (Songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim reinterpreted in Ukrainian and Russian) by Dmitry Gorodnichy & IVIM on Soundcloud
Арго, Червона рута, Les Champs-Élysées: famille Gorodnichy chant à l'école Steiner-Waldorf en Ottawa: