Music

Speaking the universal language of Jazz

It's the music that captures you, mind, mood and spirit. It's the language that speaks to the very core of your being.

Jazz is a language of subtle nuances, amazing highs and lows, rich experiences. It is sometimes intimate, often animated, but always layered with experience and life profoundly lived. Most genres of music engage the listener into the realm of the completed work as it was scored.

Jazz, however, draws the onlooker on to the deeper league of a partnership, where each phrase, each movement and each note is rendered anew by the interaction with the audience. In this sense, jazz is truly dynamic and soulful.

Now one has the opportunity to give into the allure of jazz at Jazz at Dusk, the monthly jazz evening at Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo. On Friday May 14, this exhilarating fiesta of jazz will take place at the tranquil poolside of the hotel, from 7.30 pm.

The evening features two popular local jazz bands - Trans Jazz Quartet and Revel Crake & Co. Trans Jazz Quartet comprises Gavin Sen on saxophone, Alston Joachim on bass and electric guitar, Shiraz Noor Amit on drums and Dilrukshi Sirimanne on keyboards and vocals.

Revel Crake & Co. features Rodney Van Heer on saxophone, Revel Crake on guitar, Ray Gomes on bass and Christopher Prins on drums. Both groups are renowned for their excellent music, so you can expect nothing but the best on this evening!

The thrilling, seductive and eclectic repertoire will feature the music of great jazz legends, such as Diana Krall, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck, George Gershwin, Billy Strayhorn, Chic Corea, Sadao Watanabe, Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour and Larry Carlton, to name a few, covering a cross-section of the early years of traditional jazz to the exciting and innovative modern era. The vast array of tunes will cover styles as diverse as swing, traditional jazz, blues, Latin, jazz funk and strict tempo. Entrance is free and enhancing the ambience is a great menu, including batter fried prawns, hot butter cuttlefish, Hokkimien Singaporean noodles, action stations from which you could take your pick and a well-planned selection of choice wines by the bottle. The perfect way to end your week! For inquiries call 2491998.

Bringing out the Spanish Momma

Style and ostentatious pride, is pretty much the core of Spanish life. Spanish men tend to maintain eye contact with females for longer, although this does not mean anything.

Eating out in Spain is relatively cheap and meals are usually substantial instead of gourmet. The Spanish tradition of Tapas is a good way to sample the local food. Tapas are small dishes of snacks which are served anytime especially in small bars. They cover all types of foods from seafood to vegetables. But one tradition that is deep-rooted in Andalusia like American jazz lies soul to the US, flamenco dancing; a spanish art form with emotion that if done right creates a profound moving experience.

The combination of acoustic guitar playing, singing, chanting, dancing and staccato handclapping with the synonymous attributes performed by the dancers will be the highlight at the Empire Ballroom which will be transformed to a Spanish Bodega.

Flamenco dance by the Laura Segovia flown especially from Madrid by Qatar Airways will perform an expressive dance form that mixes percussive footwork with intricate hand, arm and body movements backed by the band "La Tuna" along with Javier Garcia - Guest Chef from Spain that will also highlight the tradition of Spain with reference to whetting your appetite will be on the cards.

Justin Bieber doesn't know what German means

Justin Bieber had no idea what `German` was when he appeared on New Zealand television this week.

The pint-sized Canadian pop star was being interviewed in a New Zealand television show when the host asked him if it was True or False if Bieber was the German word for Basketball.

"I don't know what that means," he asked inquiring about what "German" was. The TV host showed him the question to which he replied, "we don't say that in America".

Thank God for Canada that Bieber suggested he was American and not Canadian.

Later in a Twitter post Bieber tried to explain that he thought the interviewer said "Jewman".

On Twitter he wrote, "because I thought this interviewer in NZ said "Jewman" instead of "German" people think I dont know what German is?"

That still doesn't explain why even after shown the question he still didn't know what it meant. Music-News