Slightly baffled as to why he'd use this type of guitar as opposed to a GJ guitar. Are there upsides to using it? It's the first time I've seen one used (or is it because he was bored of using regular GJ guitars and because it's an amplified gig it's not going to make a lot of difference). Thanks in advance
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Like "this new band I heard measures 86.4 BGJU".
Birelli is so awesome, he only needs 1 string to compose a solo.
Birelli saw Django's astonishing clip of J'attendrai, laughed, and then ripped an exact note-for-note replica...with ONE finger.
Birelli is so bad, he does two handed tapping....with only one hand!
Birelli saw Freddie Green's 1-1/4" inch string action and wondered "why was it so low?"
He currently favors guitars that are set up in such a way that he can use hybrid techniques and mix different influences.
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I think Gipsy Project was his first foray back into the GJ style after over a decade if I remember correctly. People were so happy to see him back to playing the style that they clamored for the album.
Personally, I love to see this music breathe and grow. I love the standards but I also enjoy things like the Lost Fingers re-doing 80s pop standards or Robin Nolan doing AC/DC. After all, Django was just playing his own versions of pop standards of the day similar to Wes Montgomery during his later years. Bireli has definitely played in a style that is unique to him blending all his influences and shown his virtuosity.
For me, it is hard to be playing a show and announcing a song that was "a #1 tune just about 100 years ago" and looking out at a sea of 30-50 somethings who have no idea and never heard it. The basic GJ repetoire is great, there are some beautiful melodies, etc. but I think every style either has to live and grow or it becomes "museum jazz" where people sit down and politely golf clap after every song. Far better IMHO is to get them up and dancing as that was the intent of this music all along. If it takes an interpretation of a more modern dance song that they know to do that, then all the better in my mind. Pepper in some of the older tunes along the way and you can bring them all under what I think should be the big tent of the Django style.
I just tell 'em I wrote it! JK
Actually, that's one thing that is cool about the genre. Most people have never heard it (at least that they know of). I've even had pro jazz musicians come up to me at a gig and ask me "what was the name of that song" for obvious GJ standards like Douce Ambiance. A lot of people think you've invented something new :-)
Why is that you hear a lot about this music originally being meant as the music for dancing?
I think that's just a romantic notion, this idealized picture in people's mind.
For musicians of the day though, why would you think they intended the music to be made and played for dancing? I think that was a lucky accident, the sign of the times. It's was popular at the moment. But the musicians and Django, he and they just had an itch to express themselves through music. The music got composed, arranged and played for whatever paid the bills. If I had to guess and pick what Django might have preferred, between the room full of dancers and a bar full of people admiring his skills and his artistry, I'd pick the latter.
Sure when it comes to the tempo, I like to play and listen to it when it can be danced to because that's what I'm more comfortable with and the melodies don't get lost like they sometimes do at the breakneck speeds.
This thread deviated quickly...
So back to Bireli, I'd actually like to hear what is it that he would like to do musically if he didn't have to worry about paying the bills whatsoever? There isn't a whole lot he didn't do. His career has been more varied than anybody's else I can think of that I listened to and followed in my lifetime.