2021 saw the coming back of two dear people into my life, when I subconsciously thought I was never going to hear from them again.
Francisco
Nogueiras is a musician, composer and arranger who I met through the Argentine
Tolkien Association Facebook group back in 2011. He’d shared some of his works
based on The Silmarillion, the set of
writings by J.R.R. Tolkien posthumously published by his son Christopher in
1977. That year I became a member of this association as I was interested in
playing my own Tolkien inspired music someday at any thematic event dedicated
to high fantasy literature that may involve ATA and its doings.
When I heard
Francisco’s stuff, I was impressed. He seemed to be very knowledgable about
symphonic ensembles, whereas I’ve always been a rock guy, which of course in
general it means guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals. I commented on his
post and added him as a friend. It most probably was during that very first
conversation that I suggested him to work together on “The Battle of the
Pelennor Fields,” this piece of mine that I’d written just a few months before
we crossed each other’s path, inspired by The
Return of the King. He accepted the invitation to create orchestral
arrangements to the already recorded rock ensemble (guitar/bass/drums +
additional keyboard). Tom Geisler, the drummer in “Pelennor” from Connecticut,
United States, said, “Sounding really RICH!” That was the result indeed,
compared to the unmastered raw, stripped-from-orchestra version previously
published on the DelgiftC08 YouTube channel.
An
explanation regarding Francisco’s way of working must be offered. People who
listen to his music generally say, “That’s a keyboard, isn’t it?” Well, this
isn’t necessarily the case, though a MIDI controler could be used. Francisco
owns digital libraries with high quality orchestra sounds. The compositions and
arrangements are created directly by transcription of each instrument chosen
for the overall ensemble. These written scores are then sampled with
state-of-the-art imitations of real instruments from those libraries. So what
Francisco provided once he finished his part for “Pelennor” was a final WAV
file with every instrument that’s part of the symphonic ensemble he’d come up
with. This audio file was put into the mixing session, along with the electric
rhythm and lead guitars, bass, drums plus the occasional keyboard during the
interlude and ending. Dave Williams from Alabama, United States, was in charge
of the final mix and master. That’s what can be heard on Vol. I, my debut album from 2012 (also on Claudio Delgift & Francisco Nogueiras - The Works 2012-2016, a
compilation EP with four tracks of us in collaboration).
Three years
later ATA’s Formendor, the Smial
(subsidiary) from the northern area of Grand Buenos Aires -the one I used to
belong to- had the honour to organise the 2014 National Tolkien Day. It was my
chance to perform live and fulfill this dream of mine that led me to become a
member of the association in the first place. A suitable line-up to present
folk prog rock stuff was put together by recruiting musicians I’d met from
different backgrounds. Between the creation of “Pelennor” and this event,
Francisco and I finished the three-part suite named “The End of the Third Age,”
which starts with “The Battle of the Pelennor Fields” (A), continues with “At
the Gate of the Morannon” (B) and finishes with “The Field of Cormallen” (C).
Part B is a Nogueiras piece 100% of his own, no rock instruments involved
whatsoever. Unfortunately, our efforts to hire a symphonic ensemble in time
were fruitless so “Morannon” didn’t make it into the set. The orchestral end of
“Pelennor” and Cormallen” could be rearranged for synthesizer with my reduced
adaptation of it. Axel Taglia, an accomplished pianist/keyboardist, was the man
who flawlessly executed it on October 11th that year.The set list
goes like this…
01 The Battle of the Pelennor Fields/The Field of Cormallen (Claudio
Delgift)
02 Different Strings (Rush)
03 Caras Galadhon (Claudio Delgift)
04 Easter (Marillion)
05 Hope (Rush)
06 Rubina’s Blue Sky Happiness (Joe Satriani)
07 Norwegian Wood (The Beatles)
Encore: “Clovers In The Field” (Claudio Delgift)
It’s worth
bringing up that during “Clovers in the Field” there was a power cut. The show
was being properly recorded! Needless to say, once the power came back we
restarted “Clovers” from scratch. However, the recording equipment needed some
time to be fully charged so we killed time with an out-of-the-blue upbeat folk
jam with Ale Sganga, the guest fiddler, leading the way. We marvelled at how
responsive the audience was to it: everyone began to happily dance and clap
along. At some point Julian (Bonino), the recording engineer, nodded towards me
giving the green light to resume the last song of the night.
For the next
couple of years Francisco and I kept on working together and catching up from
time to time. By 2017 he got married and moved to Lanús, a town in the southern
area of Grand Buenos Aires (until that time he lived in Villa Devoto, a
neighborhood downtown). He’d left ATA as he got more interested in the
activities surrounding the Stars Wars related 501st Legion, him
being a huge fan of the franchise. He even made it to the cover of La Nación magazine
with his stormtrooper suit! Episode VII: The Force Awakens was about to be
premiered and a friend of his got him that chance to be photographed for that
number.
And just like
that, he disappeared as if by magic.
*
Pam Pendleton
is a fan of the band Yes from Ohio, United States. I met her on Facebook in the
early 10’s. It’s hard to remember which Yes cover was the one that I’d shared in
the FB group we were both a part of, but it was definitely music by this
British quintet the one that set off a cherished artist/fan dynamic between the
two.
The first
album of mine Pam bought was Vol. II
from 2013. As already mentioned, this record includes “The End of the Third
Age,” a track that can only be classified as purely symphonic rock. Even though
it doesn’t really sound like Yes, it makes sense a Yes fan would most probably find
it appealing all the same. To my surprise, this was just the first of many
purchases from her as I kept on releasing stuff. One particular aspect of the
material offered that Pam always loved was the “dynamic duos,”
Delgift/Noguieras and Delgift/ONE, that is, the latter being my brother and
keyboardist in our band, LIGHT. Years went by and time and again she stopped by
to get a selection of new songs, sometimes even full albums. Yet the duets were
consistently chosen to keep on expanding her ever growing music playlist. And when Francisco released his 2015 album Nexus (which features me on acoustic guitar and being credited as lyricist in the song "Hidden Land") she didn't think it twice and went and bought that work too.
A couple of
weeks after ordering any new stuff, Pam would send me a message with her
feedback. Hers have always been the warmest and thoroughest responses to this
day, completely honest and heartfelt, so open when it came to genuinely express
how the songs made her feel. These words do really encourage one to keep on
going, no matter how frustrating it may get at times.
And just as
it was with Francisco, one day Pam vanished. She’d already left Facebook years
ago but now even her e-mail address was down. To quote John Deacon, “But life
still goes on/Got to make it on my own.” It wouldn’t be fair to call on
Francisco and Pam alone, several other people came and went throughout last
decade. I was in my twenties, still naïve and irrationally hopeful, so every
time touch was lost with people that I cared for it felt like a huge
disappointment.
It happened
that during those years of Francisco and Pam’s absence -and others as well, may
I insist- my mind understood that life’s a journey and people do come and go,
there’s no control over it (and it never ought to be). Fortunately I found
peace, and that unhealthy feeling of immature attachment was gone. A true sense
of inner freedom filled me and never really went away. Music kept on coming,
more albums have been released. LIGHT had already been formed before Pam went
off the radar, she bought the self-titled album’s opening track “The Deepest
Roots.” The fact that music didn’t stop and new people came into the picture
made me realise that one’s happiness can never depend on someone else, that the
attachment one feels comes from lack of emotional intelligence. To share and
interact with people is healthy, no question about that. We’re social
creatures. But first and foremost we’re individuals, and to know oneself is not
a luxury, it’s a responsibility. And it’s responsibility that gives life
meaning.
*
It was in
late March this year that I got a comment on a post with one of the guitar
solos in “Silent Train Of Thought,” an electric guitar driven song that was to
become a track on Moment Of Truth, my
tenth album. It was Francisco. While we were in touch I added him to an Argentine
Facebook group called La Terraza Progresiva (Progressive Balcony), knowing that
his music could be easily shared and welcomed by prog enthusiasts there.
Apparently the post with “Silent Train Of Thought” that I shared in that group came
up on his News Feed. He commented the following, “About time!” To which I
replied, “About time for what?” “For new music, Claudio! Last time we talked
you said you didn’t want to make any new music.” There’s some truth in that,
I’m afraid to say. But it’s already been stated that things didn’t stop, which
I’m grateful for after all.
Five days
later he wrote again, this time to say hi through a private message to Delgift,
my FB page. We had a good time catching up that night. I learned that he
continued being a member of the military orchestra, a job he’d gotten in 2015,
and that he’s been doing custom-made music for videogames through his
independent company called Drunken Dragon. Still curious as to what happened to
my musical activity, I made clear to him that I kept on writing, recording and
releasing stuff, that what seemed a long overdue hiatus never came to be.
Around half-an-hour later I said goodnight and logged off.
I spent the
first half of 2021 fiercely focused on the completion of Moment Of Truth. This album was so loosed in its creation process,
everything went smoothly, without any considerable delays on behalf of any
musician involved. All tracks were finished by May except “The March of the
Raged,” an instrumental that was going to have Pablo Pucheta, a local drummer,
behind the kit and myself on guitar, bass and keyboards. It was actually the
keyboard end of things that was bugging me. I couldn’t really figure it out in my
head, I had this feeling that they’d be far from enough to make the song truly come
alive. I took my time but I knew the answer was already here at last. Not
without a bit of apprehension, I sent Francisco a message on May 11th,
inviting him to compose and arrange the orchestra that’d mingle with this
threesome of guitar, bass and drums; no keys at all. “I’m totally in. What do
you have in mind?” was the answer.
*
Moment Of Truth was finished and released on August
10th 2021. It features a great cast of musicians: Rupert Kirby (fiddle, England), Jeff Donohoe (acoustic bass and Native
American flutes, USA), Jeremy Sibson
(percussion, Australia), Alex Carl
(drums, USA), Giordano Thomas
(drums, Italy), Rodrigo Concha
(drums, Chile/USA), Pablo Pucheta
(drums, Argentina), ONE (keyboard,
Argentina) and Francisco Nogueiras
(orchestral arrangements, Argentina). As it’s usual with my albums, there’s a
lot of variety going on, not a specific genre being favoured over another. On
MOT there’s electronica, nylon-string fingerpicked guitar, hard rock, symphonic
prog, ethnic, celtic folk and pop rock. So far it’s doing quite well, people
who’ve been following me on Facebook for several years who never purchased
anything finally did, and they’ve done it by downloading this new record. And
there’s someone else who’s now enjoying it… Someone who also came back into the
picture.
“Hello, Claudio. I've been delving into your music, as well as
your brother's, the past few days. The
song that's really resonating with me today is 'Silhouettes.' I'm lovin' your
guitar solo and the bass. Obviously, I'm still in awe of your talent, and will
always be a superfan.
“I'm interested in
purchasing some of your new music. Also,
have I missed any other digital releases lately? Please let me know. I've been very busy advocating for justice.
“BTW, I have a
different e-mail address.”
That’s the
comment Pam left on the Moment Of Truth
official release video by the end of October. We continued the conversation
through e-mails, which resulted in her catching up with all of the remaining
discography, Claudio Delgift
(self-titled) and LIGHT’s The Miracle Of
Life (2020) plus Moment Of Truth.
Of course, with the download of the last two things came full circle: Pam got to
enjoy new music from both her favourite dynamic duos once again.
That’s the
story of how two dear people whom I thought were never going to come back into
my life actually did. It seems fate wanted it this way, specially with
Francisco being around again exactly ten years after we first met. This,
however, doesn’t change the fact that naivety is gone in my book. The lesson
learned from 2015 to 2021 still has relevance and makes sense. I take this…
let’s call it a blessing, as a gift granted, not a sign that things
are finally back to how they once were. There’s no going back, ever. Yet any grace that
comes down from providence is undeniably appreciated and welcomed when it decides
to show up, as in this case.
It’s fine from time to time to look back on the years of prime. However, reconnection time is up, now looking
forward’s on.
Bonus track
To add to
this full circle phenomenon, another interesting thing happened in 2021.
Nicolas
Jourdain (drummer) and Leandro Galera (bassist) are both members of a local
band from Buenos Aires called Resist, named after Rush’s song. Leandro's
brother, Ariel, is their guitarist. Resist is a quintet of guitar, bass, drums,
keys and vocals. However, the core of the group is these three guys, who have
been friends and bandmates since childhood.
Fast forward
to early 2019, Nicolas and Leandro were invited by me to join and be official
members of LIGHT. Together we worked on the band’s second album, The Miracle Of Life, and covered
"Hey Jude" by The Beatles at the beginning of 2020. For three or four
years a demo of a LIGHT version of “Resist” has been on the back burner and this
year it was the only thing we were able to go back to and produce. Ariel is
featured as a special guest on electric guitar so in the end the proverbial
full circle manifested in this form as well: the core of the band Resist
joining forces with LIGHT to cover the perfect song for this marriage, also at
the right time as "Resist" belongs to Test For Echo, an album that on September 10th 2021
celebrated its first quarter-of-a-century anniversary. LIGHT obviously made
sure to upload the final video on YouTube and Facebook -and an excerpt on
Instagram- on that exact same date.
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