Parranda navideña
Afro-Indigenous Christmas Music from Venezuela
December 8
Parranda navideña
Afro-Indigenous Christmas Music from Venezuela
Category: Stamps
Parranda navideña
Afro-Indigenous Christmas Music from Venezuela
In memoriam: Johnny Hallyday
Guinea 31.5.2013
The French singer, songwriter and actor Johnny Hallyday (actually Jean-Philippe Smet) was born on June 15, 1943 in Paris. With him, Rock Music came to France: with his rock songs, sung in French, he inspired the public since the early 1960s. In his long career, he sold an estimated 85 million records and even in 2017 his album “Rester Vivant Tour” was honored in France with a gold record. Johnny Hallyday completed 180 tours with more than 15 million listeners, and after hearing about five sold-out concerts at the Stade de France in 1998 with 450,000 sold tickets, even Mick Jagger expressed himself approvingly: “In France, Hallyday is unattainable”.
On December 6, 2017 Johnny Hallyday died in Marnes-la-Coquette from lung cancer.
December 7
God rest you merry, gentlemen
English Christmas Carol
Text from the 16th Century
Melody by John Stainer (1840-1901)
December 6
O come, all ye faithful
Melody by John Redding (+ 1692)
(Salvation Army Open Air Concert)
December 5
Dejlig er den himmel bla
(How glorious is the sky blue)
Norwegian Christmas Carol
Text: N.F.S. Grundvig (1783-1872)
Melody: J.G. Meidell ca. 1846
December 4
Old Time Cayman Christmas Yard Dance
December 3
Little Donkey
English children’s Christmas Song
Written by Eric Boswell (1921-2009)
December 2
Colinda
Traditional Advent Caroling from Romania
December 1
Te Harinui
(Not on a snowy night)
A Christmas Carol from New Zealand
Text & Music: Willow Mackey (*1921)
Stamp of the Month: December 2017
Monaco 12.11.1975
The French composer Joseph-Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure on March 7, 1875. He died in Paris on December 28, 1937. In December 2017 his death marks the 80th time.
Ravel began playing the piano at the age of seven years and has already received lessons in harmony when he was 13. In 1889 he began his musical studies at the Paris Conservatory with the target to become a pianist. However, since he several times failed in the midterm exams, he had to leave the master class in 1895. He joined the composition class of Gabriel Fauré in 1897. Although he also did not finish this studies with a degree, Ravel very soon made himself a name as a composer.
Ravel composed mainly chamber music and piano works. The contemporary audience responded very differently to Ravel’s works. Most concertgoers preferred conservative, harmonious pleasing works and often were overwhelmed with Ravel’s unfamiliar harmonies and rhythmic changes. However, many critics expressed sympathy for his new ideas.
The “Boléro” is Ravel’s best-known and most frequently performed work. It was written as a ballet music for the dancer Ida Rubinstein and was considered in the first performance on 22.11.1928 with thunderous applause. Ravel himself was suspect about the success of the work, which he described as “a simple orchestration exercise”. Almost dismissively, he once said: “My masterpiece? The Boléro, of course. Too bad that it contains no music”.