Restlessness

 Mid-late 2019/Early 2020

 

In September 2019 my brother Marian and I visited Planta Baja Studio, a recording facility in Villa del Parque, one of the many neighborhoods in downtown Buenos Aires. We’d found the place while searching on Google for a studio with a grand piano available. It was for a, what I like to call, mega online cover that we wanted to make with LIGHT, our band. That song was “Hey Jude” by The Beatles.

Germán, the owner of the studio and recording engineer, captured Marian’s take beautifully with three pro mics while Gonza, a good friend of Marian and an always welcomed guest home, filmed his performance for the eventual video upload on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Around five months later the cover became a reality. It involved musicians from Argentina (Tigre, Santos Lugares and Olavarría -Buenos Aires-), United States (California and New Mexico), England (South Devon), Peru (Lima) and Canada (Québec). Completely unaware of it, LIGHT published the final video on 30 January 2020, exactly fifty years after The Beatles’ last live performance on that rooftop at Abbey Road in London. Pretty neat, don’t ya think?

Two weeks after this, on 16 February, the band released The Miracle Of Life, our second studio album. The whole of 2019 had been spent writing and recording the material, fifty-three minutes of music that, I’m happy to say, is worth every note in my book. Nicolas (Jourdain) and Leandro (Galera), both members of the band Resist, did an amazing job on drums and bass respectively. My compositions, just as the ones by Marian, were powerfully enhanced by their creativity and execution; undoubtely an invaluable contribution that’s been immortalized in the form of high resolution WAV files.

We got together for a second time for a photo shoot around Tigre, our hometown (they’re the guys from Santos Lugares, 24 kms away from where Marian and I live). The first time the four of us shared the same physical space was in February 2019 when Nicolas and Leandro came home for the initial meeting to talk about the project and how we’d proceed throughout the year until the record was done. (Leandro recorded all of the bass tracks from his home, whereas Nicolas and I visited Juan Estanga’s Custom Studio Recording in Palermo, downtown Buenos Aires, three times throughout that year in order to get all of the drum tracks down.) And done it was almost exactly one year after that first gathering.

Gonza was the photographer. Again, an ace under the sleeve, as we say in Argentina (“Un as bajo la manga”). The job was done in an hour or so during that Sunday afternoon, so we came back home and decided to deservedly listen to the full album together before Nicolas and Leandro drove back to Santos Lugares. It was great to comment on the experience, share feelings and thoughts triggered by each song, even certain passages from each track that somehow stand out.

Fortunately there weren’t any plans to play live. The idea was to focus on promoting the record, getting it out there by sharing videos of its songs, having independent radio stations play the edited (and non-edited) versions of the tracks, and so on. So when lockdown striked, it didn’t feel like such a blow. Yet things did inevitably slow down one way or another. That’s how I figured I’d move forward with everything that was on me regarding the next record. Actually by March/April 2020 all of the new stuff was written. My job was to prepare the guide tracks for eventual drum recordings, so that’s how I kept sanity going while confinement was taking place worldwide. Yet once that was all set, what then?

Well, LIGHT saw itself forced to stop for a time… But not Claudio Delgift.

 

Mid 2020

 

I didn’t find anything better to do than putting my mind to new solo music. There are two folders in My documents, LIGHT and Delgift, filled with raw mp3 tracks which contain guitar ideas recorded with the cellphone on the spot. When one of these ideas is captured, the next step is to decide whether it’s got to be saved inside either one of them. By that time there were a total of eighty-three files altogether. Some of them ran at between twenty-thirty seconds, even less! It may seem pointless or not really an inspired thing, you know? However, anything that I choose to capture is because it feels worthwhile, be it a chord sequence, riff, melody line, etc. It’s already been proven time and again that it’s indeed worth saving these. Anytime I listen to past albums I’m reminded of their importance. But with this new solo album -the self-titled one as it's got no deep meaning to it other than making music for the sake of it- I valued that Delgift folder even more. In the past the compositions would come out way more effortlessly, so those ideas were basically an aid to the spontaneous songwriting. I guess that after so many releases it becomes harder and harder to write full songs in just one session. So this time their structures were realized by approaching them in a more architectural way. I’d choose some of these files and import them into the DAW to see if they’d connect someway. Seeing the music and playing it back on a DAW helps because of the clarity it provides.

This process was the norm during those fall and winter months (Southern Hemisphere) of lockdown. And voilá! After a while, content running at thirty-five minutes divided into eight instrumental songs came to be. Luckily a solo album can get recorded with much more ease than that of a band thanks to the Internet and the many excellent musicians one can find available online and invite to play in one’s projects. Rodrigo Concha, a Chilean drummer who lives in Boston USA, was really enthusiastic about the new music and wanted me to pass on drum guides to him so he could create the drum parts and eventually record them. Four of the songs have him behind the kit, “Flying Sparks And Alien Warriors,” “An End In Sight?,” “The Wheel Still Spins,” and “Unleashed.” There are also Noé Keller from Switzerland on drums in the song “Drifting” (not a great fan of Instagram but I must admit it was totally worth creating an account there, otherwise I would’ve never come across Noé, who nailed it) and my long-time online friend Theo Heidfeld from Germany, who grooved it in “About To Break Loose,” a short Funk/Blues jam played as a trio with Isao Fuji from Japan on bass. Theo, Isao and I had already worked together in “Over The Hills And Far Away,” an online cover of the Led Zeppelin song, in 2017.

The remaining two songs, “By The Fireside” and “Desmond,” have me playing all of the instruments. Well, the first one is actually a one-take acoustic guitar piece. I remember fully writing and recording it in about twenty-four hours, a refreshing exception to “the norm” described earlier. “Desmond” demanded two or three days before being finished as it contains multiple instruments: acoustic and electric guitars, fuzz bass (with wah-wah!), drum programming, a bunch of synthesizer tracks, tambourine… even maracas! What’s funny about “Desmond” is that it was originally forty-something seconds long (raw mp3 file that’d been saved on that folder probably more than a year ago). I’m still amazed that the full three-minute song, structure-wise, is exactly like that raw file, just stretched in its rounds, what allowed the piece to develop as it should. This one in particular made me feel really good with myself when it comes to being responsible enough to capture anything that my gut says, “This will work one day.” It’s awesome that an ongoing arpeggio with mainly open strings, a “wrong” chord, going back to the initial arpeggio and a closing standard chord sequence captured one day just like that can become a round piece of crafted art. It’s a great feeling when you’re a witness of that day which proves all of the patience and constant work poured into it has finally paid off.

Late 2020

 

The fall and winter span of time inspired me to write the lyric for music that Marian had been playing for a long time. We usually work together like this: if he’s got any music of his own, he utters words, be them nouns, adjectives, verbs, anything that’d be related to the music that came out of him. Then I use those meaningful words to craft a lyric that’d fit the vocal melody line. This song ended up being named “Spring Is Coming,” and it’s a perfect representation of how it felt to go through lockdown and cold weather all at the same time, while looking forward to the arrival of warm days (and hopefully the end of quarantine as well).

It was such a relief to see that people said “enough!” when spring was here at last. Tigre has always seen lots of visitors walking the streets during weekends as it’s a touristic city. Now one sees almost the same amount of pedestrians on weekdays! “Spring Is Coming” feels really appropiate as I witness this outcome, kind of a soundtrack to that picture. (It'll be included on LIGHT's third album.)

So the self-titled solo album was finally released the first week of October. It fared pretty well, taking into account the fact that I’m a 100% independent artist with cero marketing experience, lol! Twenty-six people bought the digital download, almost one per day, and several more enjoyed the videos made for its songs on Facebook and YouTube. When the album was nearly finished I thought of yet two more solo releases before the end of 2020, a set of two compilations, one acoustic and the other electric. With a suitable remastering plus a remix of two of the rocking electric tracks it was going to be enough. An Inner World brings together what I believe are the best acoustic-ambient songs I ever wrote and recorded, whereas The Outside World gathers the most competent material that shows the power of Rock music that’s always inspired me.

These two sides of the same coin plus the self-titled album were the final steps to wrap up eight years of solo career. Now that I’ve taken the time to curate my art, I created the Bandcamp page where all of this stuff can be listened to and purchased. This is it when it comes to my activity as a solo artist. Now it’s time to resume what was pending regarding LIGHT.

The stars seem to align and let one lead their own way. In September I happened to message Germán from Planta Baja to learn about new prices and payment methods for future drum recording sessions. Let’s remember that the “Hey Jude” grand piano take Marian recorded there had been in September 2019. There isn’t any will to, say, celebrate anniversaries or anything of the sort, it just happens. Well, to my convenience, Germán accepts PayPal, an option still barely recognized here in Argentina. I took him into account for whenever Nicolas was ready to go. Turns out he bought himself some mics and a recording device to start working from home, indeed a game changer. It’s most probable that the drums will be 100% worked out by Nicolas himself from now on. Yet this didn’t stop me from pondering the idea of recording all of the vocals for the third LIGHT album in one session at Planta Baja.

The only time I recorded vocals anywhere else but home was on 31 May 2019 in London UK. I travelled there to see Dido at the Roundhouse, that was the reason for the trip. Once the plane ticket was bought and there was still plenty of time before the day of departure, I came across a video on YouTube about SARM Music Village, Trevor Horn’s recording studio, which is situated in London, precisely. It was said to be all-in-all affordable so I figured, “Why don’t I record a full song in England?” Needless to say, I loved the idea. Unfortunately, the people at SARM didn’t accept PayPal and they didn’t provide any instruments either.

I saw myself forced to let go of the idea. Unless… Of course! SARM can’t be the only recording studio in all of London, can it? Immediately I browsed Google and the first result that popped up was Greystoke Studio. Andy Whitmore, the owner, replied to my message saying he accepted PayPal and that all of the instruments in the studio could be used with no added cost. Bingo! Three hours were booked and the chosen song was “Aimless,” a shortened acoustic version of the LIGHT single “Let Go” from The Miracle Of Life (funny that “Aimless” was recorded and released before the original band version).

I was excited and yet a bit nervous given that this was going to be my first time working on a studio with non-Spanish speakers. I took it as a challenge, like “I must make myself understood.” And everything flowed nicely, exactly like working at studios in Buenos Aires with fellow Argentine musicians and sound engineers.

I loved everything from that session but if I had to choose my favourite moment I guess that’d be recording the vocals. There were only ten minutes left and I said to Princeley, one of Andy’s assistants, that I didn’t want to bother and the vocals could be recorded back home. He said, “Please, no. Go ahead and do it.” To this day I’m thankful for his encouragement, it allowed me to hear for myself the striking difference between recording with a combination of condenser mic/top quality headphones and plugging a Shure SM58 as a straight signal to the portable studio with basic monitors.

I was ready to revamp that experience at Planta Baja with Germán behind the desk. I asked for a set of two-three hours on Friday November 13 (coincidentally, AC/DC released Power Up that same day). I was determined not to just go sing the songs and do my job, I wanted that day to be something even bigger.

When I was fourteen, the friends I used to hang out with back then came home for a sleepover at the backyard on a tent. The next day one of them said, “Let’s ride our bikes to San Isidro!” That sounded like the wildest thing to me, never having left Tigre by bicycle before. We did it and just as recording vocals in London opened up something long term for me, so did that bike ride. It became one of the most liberating habits of all from that day on.

So my visit to Planta Baja wasn’t going to be by train or bus but by getting on the bike for those 26 kms with just a little sports bag with extra clothes, a turkey sandwich, the digital camera to take some pics and pendrive to bring the takes back with me. I got up very early for breakfast, got everything sorted out and went to the backyard for the ride. Dad helped a bit by placing the sports bag tight below the seat so I didn’t have to take it hanging from the steering. It was pretty windy that early in the morning, therefore I covered myself enough to stand it, not too much, knowing that once I picked up the heat lots of layers would be unbearable. Despite the wind, it was sunny and temperate, a perfect day for the two-wheeled.

For more-or-less fifteen years I’ve been hitting the side roads of the Buenos Aires North Access Highway back and forth. This access connects downtown in the South with the Northern Area of Gran Buenos Aires. Tigre belongs to the North. The train which also connects both places ends in Tigre, though the railways are further to the East and the North Access to the West. Villa del Parque, my destination, is to the Southwest. The best plan was to take it easy alongside the highway until reaching Gral. Paz Avenue. This one crosses the highway and goes from East to West for several kilometres. It also settles the boundary between the Northern Area and downtown. Around one hour since departing, I reached it comfortably, even if I’d risked getting quite lost for not paying strict attention to my quickly handmade chart the day before. Ha, ha. That chart proved worthless anyway, I veered away from the indicated streets too early in the journey. I realized on the spot that I could gain time by avoiding rounding a huge circle and simply cutting through a straight line as much as possible (no thanks to you, Googlemaps, ha!)

There weren’t any set backs other than actually losing perfect track of the streets near the studio. I knew I’d reached Villa del Parque because of being familiar with the surroundings. I wasn’t worried, but I had to check the time to make sure I was going to make it at 11 am sharp, the hour agreed with Germán. At a corner I stopped, took away the cellphone from the sports bag and read 10:06 am, all good. Googlemaps, in this instance, was helpful. I was just seven minutes away and about to get to Planta Baja by riding a few more blocks almost in a straight line.

                        

Since I got there forty minutes earlier I just relaxed. I wasn’t tired, really, but what else could I do? The thing is that not even two minutes had passed until Germán came up, also on a bike. I thought, “OK, there’s no time to kill then.” Better if there isn’t, let’s do this!

In the kitchen in front of the console room we had a glass of cold water and talked about this unusual year. Germán’s into Buddhism and Taoism. His view on the pandemic focuses on Karma. According to the Chinese horoscope, 2020 is the year of the Rat, and that means that the universe comes to collect our debts. Apparently we’ve been pushing the planet’s limits for far too long and somehow the world needed humanity to slow down. I’m more of a conspiracy theorist, meaning that all of this is, if not orchestrated, taken full advantage of by the powers of be to bring on that thing they so much love to repeat over and over on the 24-hour news: the “New Normal.” That phrase always sounded so off to me, and it saddened me to see so many people openly embracing the so-called New Normal without even a tinge of anger or, at least, suspicion. Germán didn’t discredit this way of looking at it, it’s just that he goes beyond the events happening in this earthy state. “Whether it’s a genetically modified virus intentionally released from a lab by perverse scientists ordered to do so by the Elite, or a genuine naturally poisoned bat soup at a Wuhan market, Karma was meant to manifest itself in front of our faces.” One way or another, we all had to make it through this weird circumstance.

The supposedly two-three hours to be spent there ended up being four. Yet that’s my fault, I wanted to go ahead and try out a Rush cover of “Resist” that’s been sketched for years. Maybe those vocals will make it to the final version of our cover. If not, there will be another session at Planta Baja sometime in 2021. The important thing is that all seven original songs from the third album were sung, among them, "Spring Is Coming." And just as my intuition told me, going to a studio for this task was the right move. At home, what’s supposed to be an advantage -all the time in the world- might as well be counterprudent. One easily becomes obsessed with each line and feels they aren’t being nailed no matter what. At a studio, the clock ticks away and one knows it’s way better to sing the full song straight and give your best shot for each take. I learned right there that the best plan was to sing each song from beginning to end twice, and if then there was something that didn’t work well in any of the two tracks, that particular phrase could be sung separately and overdubbed.

It was pretty exciting. I was happy I wasn’t nervous because somebody else was present, something that at home does put me off. Now, it’s still me and that’s my voice there, as it’s always been. There’s no extreme makeover to go crazy about. Nonetheless I hope this loosed vibe will positively affect the songs once we get to their ultimate form.

At three O’clock in the afternoon we stopped to prepare all of the tracks so they could be loaded to the pendrive. I opened my PayPal session from Germán’s computer and transferred 76 USD -19 USD per hour- to his account. I appreciated his professionalism, good manners, and interesting views on life, also the fact that he loved the lyrics I wrote for this new album. He saw me to the door, explained how to get to Libertador Avenue -the most direct way to Tigre-, and said goodbye, both of us looking forward to working together again in the future.

Before riding back home I had to sit down at a corner on the floor and have my turkey sandwich for once and for all. Yeah, I was starving, even if I wasn’t really aware of it during the session. Now with a full belly and the sports bag properly tightened back to the seat, I gladly got on the bike and followed the bicycle path along the left side of the street. A turn to the right and back to the left for several blocks and I was in Belgrano, over Cabildo Avenue. I knew there are two really nice record stores here: Jack Flash and Maniac. What’s more, while riding down Cabildo several wallpapers of AC/DC’s Power Up popped up. That convinced me to stop at the gallery and check if any of these stores was open. Maniac wasn’t, but Jack Flash was. Unfortunately the album isn’t available in physical format in Argentina yet, but the store’s owner was sure that it’ll be printed as a national product and distributed among stores very soon.

Quite a few more blocks to the East and I was finally on Libertador Avenue. This is a well known one that’s parallel to the North Access and the train railways. In fact its distance from the railways varies from cero to about ten streets wide throughout its full extention (28 kms). And contrary to other big avenues like it, it doesn’t change its name once the East-West Gral. Paz Avenue is crossed. At this point I was tired indeed. I’d been standing almost the whole session and this second portion of the trip with intense sunshine heating up the pavement plus so much traffic during the Cabildo segment wasn’t making it any easier. But on Libertador, which is a much friendlier path for bikers, I gained some strength back.

At the Northern Area, the part that goes from Vicente López to Martínez, there’s a coast path with the view of Río de la Plata, the widest river on Earth. In 2004 its sight inspired the lyric to “Is This The End?,” Part One of the 21-minute-long Our Spirit suite. Some verses of “To Think, To Say, To Do” from Vol. II (included on The Essential too) also came out while spending leisure time there after a regular bike ride from back in the day. It’s the ultimate place related to my teen years. Therefore I felt it more than appropiate to stop and get really close to the river again and capture the moment. At 7 pm I had to be back home for a guitar lesson so I didn’t spend too much time there, enough to rest a bit and feel content with that tinge of nostalgia. There’s been enough right-here-right-now/looking ahead for the day, if you ask me.

Around half an hour later, I got home. Marian was about to leave when I opened the door, dad came from the backyard a few minutes later. “You’re dead,” said Marian, laughing at my sweaty red face and gasps for breath. He asked about the recording, whereas dad was more interested in the journey back and forth. We chatted a bit and soon I climbed up the stairs to have a bite to eat before my student rang the bell.

                     

This Friday 13 felt like a much needed triumph over 2020. Something inside me said this year couldn’t end without doing something special. I’m proud and at the same time thankful for the experience lived. It’s always about getting it out of one’s system, anything that must be taken out. Each of our lives is made out of that relentless release of energy, it’s what makes a difference in the world, somehow, someway, every day.

“To answer the inner call and move on. Steps to a road that grows ever wider”

Claudio Delgift on virtual collaborations

Virtual collaborations began in 2005 when American musicians recorded a song written by one of the members of The Clipbandits, the first Internet band ever, each from their own home or at least separately. None of them had seen each other for real until they met at the Tyra Banks Show and played that song without even rehearsing once.

Valerie Spinner, aka: bassplayergirl, was the bass player of The Clipbandits. The Tyra Banks Show episode featuring the online group (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZaTIdAxUDI) is part of her You Tube channel: http://www.youtube.com/vineyardedge. Here’s an extract of her channel's description:

“I was invited to play in what became the world's first Internet band. My fifteen minutes of fame came with this band, The Clipbandits. We were on Tyra Banks Show, ABC World News and Good Morning America. I have done a bunch of other videos with the online bands Steve Cash,Virtually Rush and John Beagley.”

I don't know when it was that international collaborations began. The procedure, though, is the same as if playing with people all in the same country: no matter where you are, as long as you have a camera, recording software and instrument, you can take part in a collaboration video.

There's always a director, someone with the initiative and, of course, the musicians. For instance, I recorded the guitar parts for “The Trees”, a song by Rush, and directed that project. I invited all of the musicians who ended up participating except Amy McCann, the Classical guitarist during “Broon's Bane” -first musical piece on the cover- and the actual “Trees” intro, as she was the creative catalyst, the one who had come to me with the idea of covering that particular song. Dave Williams, an American drummer and professional audio mixer, got in charge of the audio mix; the video-editing was done by me.

“The Trees” ended up being quite an international collaboration:

Amy McCann (Classical guitar, Canada)
Vera Dora Dehon (synthesizer, Canada)
Theo Heidfeld (drums, Germany)
William Winsborough (bass, Scotland)
Tim Wardle (vocals, USA)
Claudio Delgift (acoustic/electric guitars, Argentina)

But as I've said above, it really isn't about the geographical place but the connection with like-minded people when it comes to making music. Say, one wants to play live, one then will look for musicians in their own area and play in a local circuit. What the Internet allows is a wider range of possibilities. My own experience tells that the Internet is not only beneficial to a musician who's intending to make virtual collaborations but also to someone who's trying to get out there and play live. That's how I got to take Delgift to the stage between 2012 and 2014. As you can see, one thing neither does nor should exclude the other.

Besides the importance of music in virtual collaborations, communication is essential. So many things are learned, and they don't need to be strictly related to music in every aspect. When communication is established, and starts well because of having things in common with whom one is working with, that's the passport to personal and collective growth.

Whether it's original music or covers, making virtual collaborations is a nice activity for anyone who's open-minded. Open-mindedness is what allows a collaboration video to ever be in the first place. Then it grows from that point on by the will of each participant until its culmination, and that's when the final video is published on social networks and shared with the world.

Acerca de colaboraciones virtuales (por Claudio Delgift)

Las colaboraciones virtuales comenzaron en 2005 cuando músicos estadounidenses grabaron una canción compuesta por uno de los miembros de The Clipbandits, el primer conjunto “online” que haya existido, cada uno desde su propia casa o, al menos, individualmente. Ninguno de ellos se había visto en persona hasta que se conocieron finalmente en el show de Tyra Banks y tocaron esa canción sin siquiera haberla ensayado una vez.

Valerie Spinner, aka: bassplayergirl, era la bajista de The Clipbandits. El episodio del show de Tyra Banks que contó con la presencia de esta banda “online” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZaTIdAxUDI) es parte de su canal en You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/vineyardedge. He aquí un extracto de la descripción de su canal:

“Fui invitada a tocar en lo que se convirtió la primera banda de Internet en el mundo. Mis quince minutos de fama llegaron con esta banda, The Clipbandits. Estuvimos en el show de Tyra Banks, ABC World News y Good Morning America. He hecho un montón de otros videos con las bandas ‘online’ Steve Cash, Virtually Rush y John Beagley”.

No sé cuándo es que las colaboraciones a modo internacional comenzaron. El procedimiento, de todos modos, es igual al que se utiliza para tocar con personas dentro de un mismo país: no importa dónde uno esté, siempre y cuando se cuente con una cámara, dispositivo de grabación e instrumento, se puede participar de un video colaborativo.

Siempre hay un director, alguien con la iniciativa y, por supuesto, los músicos. Por dar un ejemplo, grabé las guitarras para “The Trees”, una canción de Rush, y dirigí ese proyecto. Invité a todos los músicos que terminaron participando excepto Amy McCann, la guitarrista clásica durante “Broon’s Bane” (primera pieza musical dentro del cover) y la propia introducción de “The Trees”, ya que fue ella la catalizadora creativa, la que había venido a mí con la idea de cubrir esta canción en particular. Dave Williams, baterista estadounidense y mezclador de audio profesional, se encargó de la mezcla de audio; la edición de video estuvo a mi cargo.

“The Trees” terminó siendo una colaboración bastante internacional:

Amy McCann (guitarra clásica, Canadá)

Vera Dora Dehon (sintetizador, Canadá)

Theo Heidfeld (batería, Alemania)

William Winsborough (bajo, Escocia)

Tim Wardle (voz, Estados Unidos)

Claudio Delgift (guitarras acústica y eléctrica, Argentina)

Pero como he dicho anteriormente, no se trata realmente de la ubicación geográfica sino de la conexión con gente afín cuando hablamos de hacer música. Si uno quiere tocar en vivo, por ejemplo, uno va a buscar músicos que estén por su zona y armarse un circuito local. Lo que la Internet permite es un rango de posibilidades más amplio. Mi propia experiencia dice que la Internet no es solamente beneficiosa para un músico que está intentando hacer colaboraciones virtuales sino también para cualquiera que tiene intenciones de dejar su habitación y salir a tocar en vivo. Es así como logré darle vida a Delgift en directo entre 2012 y 2014. Como podrán ver, una cosa no excluye (o no debería excluir) a la otra.

Además de la importancia que tiene la música en las colaboraciones virtuales, la comunicación es esencial. Muchas cosas se aprenden, y no tienen que estar estrictamente relacionadas con la música en cada aspecto. Cuando la comunicación se establece, y comienza bien por tener cosas en común con la persona con la que se está trabajando, ese es el pasaporte al crecimiento, tanto personal como colectivo.

Ya sean canciones propias o covers, el hacer colaboraciones virtuales es una linda actividad para cualquiera que es abierto de mente. La apertura de mente es lo que en un principio hace que este tipo de trabajo se haga posible. Luego crece desde ese punto gracias a la voluntad de cada participante hasta su culminación, que es cuando el video final se publica en las redes sociales y se comparte con el mundo entero.

Delgift - Live At Home 2014 (English version)

One of the things that must be stood out from putting up a show at my house's backyard is that it turned out being the solution to the stressful matters that come with the renting of a venue miles away from one's own place, transporting the equipment via a special service and cope with the venue's limitations by contract. I perfectly understand the terms of such a contract before signing. That was the case of the previous Delgift concerts (2012-2013). But this abstract being has an alternative…

Some of you know that the 2013 concert had several complications, which fortunately didn't impact people's opinion about the performance, though us, organizers of the event, were left with a bitter-sweet taste in our mouths. The band couldn't finish relaxing so to enjoy themselves while doing what they like the most. Well, Live At Home brought us a different feeling, not only during the actual performance but also during the whole day and everything that goes with such an occasion.

With B.I.O.S., I needed one more rehearsal of the Dream Theater and John Petrucci songs we were supposed to play together: "Six Degrees"/"Glasgow Kiss"/"Surrounded". Hours before the sound men rang the bell, Agustín Pullol (guitar), Agustín Espíndola (bass), Rodrigo Graña (drums) and I did the much needed checking of those pieces that had been chosen. It gave us a lot of confidence for the performance that was due. Not only had I that chance to rehearse but also to make a revision of the last song, "Würm"/"Apocalypse" (Yes) with July Valls and Marian (aka: ONE), and "Play The Game" and "Coil" (Queen/Opeth) with Marina Cifrodelli on vocals.

Apart from the exclusively music-related matters, there was another thing to pay heed to: the building-up of the stage. We all collaborated in that task, each by making one's own equipment ready, all well distributed far at the back of the yard, were the stage was being built up. We could have a proper sound-check once the sound men finished connecting every speaker and monitor to the mixer. Several minutes after it, the first members of the audience began to arrive. Middle, the opening band, started playing probably twenty minutes after the originally stipulated time: 9 PM. Their five numbers were more than well-received by the audience; a sound true to the one from the Seventies in Rock music.

Differently from 2013, this time Delgift wasn't forced to omit any song from the set list. The lack of time limit allowed for a complete show, as planned. The set consisted of…

With B.I.O.S:

01 Six Degrees (Overture)/Glasgow Kiss/Surrounded (Dream Theater/John Petrucci)

With Delgift (Nico Roldán, Nacho Gulich, ONE & C):

02 To Think, To Say, To Do (C)
03 Future’s Mystery (C)
04 Blind Judgment, Blindfolded Eyes/Cosmic Suspension (C)
05 Don’t Stand So Close To Me (The Police)
06 Universal Symphony (transition) - ONE

Acoustic set:

07 Caras Galadhon/… Of Memories (C)
08 Play The Game (Queen) - with Marina on lead vocals
09 Coil (Opeth) - also with Marina on vocals; Nacho on bass
10 Show Me (Yes) - Nico (soft percussion), Nacho (bass), July (electric guitar) and C (acoustic guitar and vocals)

Ending:

Würm/Apocalypse (Yes) - Delgift + July

Encore:

Play The Game (reprise)

Once we let go of our instruments, a monetary collaboration was asked from the audience in order to afford the renting of sound equipment and lights. The most important thing is that each note which was put into the guitar case that was moved around was accompanied by a positive comment about was had just happened. Neighbours, friends who had been elementary and highschool partners, virtual Facebook friends, performer's friends and family… people that, mostly unknown to each other, were congregated in a garden, satisfied with what had been prepared and presently shown. What's left from a gig is actually that, the impact that the performance can have, mainly in the listener. So a big "thank you" goes to everyone who attended the show and made it come true, each in their own way.

That's a summary of Live At Home 2014. I gladly write this as there wasn't any moment throughout that whole day in which I didn't get enjoyment from the experience. Again, thanks to all of you who took part in.

Delgift - Live At Home 2014 (versión en español)

Una de las cosas que destaco del haber vuelto a organizar una fecha en el patio trasero de mi casa es que resultó ser la solución a los problemas estresantes que implica el alquilar una sala de teatro lejos de casa, transportar el equipamiento en un flete de ida y vuelta y lidiar con muchas de las limitaciones que, por contrato, quien alquila impone. Comprendo a la perfección los términos impuestos antes de firmar y terminar de pagar el lugar elegido. Así fueron las fechas previas de Delgift. Pero en el caso de este ser abstracto existe una alternativa...

Algunos saben que el show dado en 2013 tuvo bastantes complicaciones, que por suerte no hicieron mella en la opinión de la audiencia al final del show (aunque sí en el gusto que nos quedó a los que organizamos: agridulce). Es verdad que los músicos no pudieron terminar de relajarse como para que ellos mismos pudiesen disfrutar de lo que más les gusta hacer. Bueno, Live At Home trajo otra sensación durante la jornada completa, no solo durante el tiempo dedicado a la performance.

Con B.I.O.S. necesitaba hacer un ensayo más de las canciones de Dream Theater y John Petrucci que se habían elegido,"Six Degrees"/"Glasgow Kiss"/"Surrounded". Horas antes de que la gente del sonido tocase el timbre Agustin Pullol (guitarra), Agustín Espíndola (bajo), Rodrigo Graña (batería) y yo hicimos el necesario repaso de estas piezas, lo que nos diera mucha tranquilidad para cuando llegase el momento de hacer nuestra presentación. No solo hubo tiempo para ello sino también para que July Valls (guitarra), Marian (teclado) y yo pudiésemos definir el armado de la versión que se preparó de "Würm", Parte C de "Starship Trooper" de Yes, con el gran final de "And You And I" ("Apocalypse", Parte D de esta otra gran obra del británico quinteto sinfónico) agregado para el cierre definitivo (exceptuando el bis que el show tuvo). Y con Marina Cifrodelli, invitada especial en voz, pude hacer un repaso de los temas acústicos que habíamos acordado mientras se terminaban de hacer todas las conexiones eléctricas necesarias.

Además de los asuntos exclusivamente musicales, sin grandes apuros nos hicimos el suficiente tiempo como para armar lo que pasó a ser el escenario. Entre todos colaboramos, dejando cada uno su equipamiento listo para cuando llegase el momento de la prueba de sonido. Pasados largos minutos desde su conclusión, los primeros espectadores empezaron a llegar. Middle, banda soporte, habrá comenzado su función veinte minutos después del tiempo de comienzo de espectáculo estipulado originalmente (21:00 hs.). Sus cinco números fueron más que bienvenidos por el público; un Rock fiel a como los rockeros de los Setenta solían componer y ejecutar sus instrumentos.

A diferencia de 2013, esta vez Delgift pudo cumplir completamente con el repertorio planeado, sin tener que sacrificar ninguna pieza debido a límite de tiempo alguno. El set consistió en...

Con B.I.O.S:

01 Six Degrees (Overture)/Glasgow Kiss/Surrounded (Dream Theater/JohnPetrucci)

Con Delgift (Nico Roldán, Nacho Gulich, ONE & C):

02 To Think, To Say, To Do (C)
03 Future’s Mystery (C)
04 Blind Judgment, Blindfolded Eyes/Cosmic Suspension (C)
05 Don’t Stand So Close To Me (The Police)
06 Universal Symphony (transition) - ONE

Set acústico:

07 Caras Galadhon/… Of Memories (C)
08 Play The Game (Queen) - con Marina Cifrodelli en voz principal
09 Coil (Opeth) - también con Marina en voz; Nacho en bajo
10 Show Me (Yes) - Nico (percusión), Nacho (bajo), July (guitarra eléctrica) y C (guitarra acústica y voz)

Cierre:

Würm/Apocalypse (Yes) - Delgift + July

Bis:

Play The Game (repetición)

Una vez liberados de nuestros instrumentos se pasó “la gorra” (“funda de guitarra”, para ser más precisos), pidiendo una colaboración para poder cubrir los gastos de alquiler de sonido y luz. Lo más importante es que cada billete dejado iba acompañado de un comentario de felicitación. Vecinos, amigos, ex-compañeros de la primaria y secundaria, amigos virtuales de Facebook, amigos y familiares de los músicos... personas que, muchas de ellas entre sí, no se conocen, congregadas en un jardín, satisfechas con lo preparado y presentado. Lo que queda al final de una presentación en vivo es eso, el impacto que haya provocado, ya sea en los músicos como en la audiencia (principalmente en estos últimos). Así que se le agradece enormemente a todos los que se hicieron presentes e hicieron realidad esta fecha, cada uno a su manera.

Ahí fue un resumen de Live At Home 2014. Me alegra escribir esto ya que no encuentro momento alguno en el que no haya disfrutado de la jornada. Nuevamente, gracias a todos los que formaron parte de esta nueva experiencia.

A musical odyssey

The early days:

Lenny came into this world in mid-2006. Even before the actual line-up, there were Emiliano, a drummer whom I used to make music with when I was an early teenager, and Hernán, a local bassist who was a member of Desamparados ("Homeless" in Spanish), a Rock & Blues band from Tigre. This trio was more of an idea than a real band. We didn’t go further than four or five rehearsals with Emiliano, who left pretty soon as his real band was his priority. Even with Desamparados as his priority, Hernán didn’t quit the idea of taking part in this trio I had in mind.

Soon enough, I was asked to occupy the guitarist’s role in Desamparados. Lucas, the guitarist I was supposed to replace, was quitting. (Desamparados always had two guitars, though both shared the job equally. It isn’t that one was lead and the other rhythm.) I accepted the invitation, and even before becoming an official member of this band, I’d agreed on playing some keyboards on one or two of their songs for an upcoming gig. During the rest of that night’s set, I played backing guitar except for “Mary Had A Little Lamb” (S.R.V.’s version), in which I was special guest on lead guitar.

The whole point is that a rehearsal at my house had been arranged for this show. However, I was taken by surprise when the band rang the bell that evening. I had completely forgotten about it! It was no big deal though; we ended up rehearsing anyway.

This was the day I met Lenny’s future drummer: Gogui. Maxi Larreta, a great drummer from our city (and drummer in my original song “Heaven”) had stopped playing in Desamparados too. He neither quit nor was kicked out. It’s just that he has never been an official member. He had been only helping the band until they could find another drummer. Gogui has been friends with Martín, Desamparados main rhythm guitar player, for several years. Back then, he was Maxi’s apprentice. Martín asked him to join the band. He got into it.

When the rehearsal came to an end and I was seeing the band to the door, Gogui started to ask me about my musical tastes and such. We had a short yet fulfilling conversation about it. Eventually, we grew fond of each other. Our good musical relationship made me want to invite him to play with Hernán and me on our side project. It became a promising trio. However, we couldn’t develop as much as I would’ve liked to, but it was enough for me to see that this long-time idea of mine had potential.

One of the songs Hernán, Gogui and I managed to play right was “Friends” by Joe Satriani. We only played live once as openers for Desamparados during a gig that took place at my backyard. I remember we played “D.O.A.” and “Learn To Fly” by Foo Fighters as well. But “Friends” remains in my mind the biggest achievement with these two guys.

The truth is that Desamparados wasn’t my kind of music, honestly. It wasn’t bad, mind you, but my musical direction had a different path to follow so I couldn’t go further than a couple of gigs. Gogui wasn’t very comfortable either. He also left at the same time I did. Hernán quit the band too, but he stopped playing with Gogui and me at the same rate. The inevitable dissolution of Desamparados happened to be, and Hernán felt sad and even angry with the whole situation, not strictly with the members of the group, totally or partially. At least I didn’t get that feeling.

Gogui and I agreed on keeping our project alive even though there was no need of seeing each other until finding a bassist. Four months had passed before he phoned me with the good news: he asked Nicolás Morales, a friend of his, if he wanted to play with us, who in his turn said yes.

When we finally met each other at Gogui’s house, I realized I already knew Nico from somewhere else. It was during private math lessons. Gogui and he needed them for things related to university, and I for high-school stuff.  And here we were, together again but under very different circumstances (and surely more welcomed ones).

Nico was a Police fan. That suited some of our musical ideas. “Message In A Bottle” was the first song the new trio ever played. “New World Man” by Rush (one of their most Police-like songs) used to be a frequent number during rehearsals when Hernán was bassist. We kept on playing it, now with Nico on the 4-string.

This line-up looked more official to me; more time together, more songs rehearsed. At some point we had quite a few numbers down so we put up another gig at home. It was on March 24^th, 2007, the same day The Who was supposed to play live in Buenos Aires for the first time in their career. Unfortunately, the South American shows had been cancelled with months of anticipation. The coolest thing though is that Lenny (we already had the name of the band figured out by then) played “The Seeker” that night (based on Rush’s version). The point is that after all, music by the British group made itself heard in Argentina that day. Besides “The Seeker,” Lenny played these other songs as well: “Purple Haze” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” (The Jimi Hendrix Experience), “Message in A Bottle” and “Synchronicity II” (The Police), “New World Man” and “Closer To The Heart” (Rush), “Couldn’t Stand The Weather” (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble), “Learn To Fly” (Foo Fighters), “Money" (Pink Floyd) and “Aeroplane” (RHCP). As you can see, all covers. Two originals made their way in later shows. One of them is nowadays pretty ruled out in my book, maybe with the exception of its guitar solo. But the other one works fine and it's ready for its official release.

Three or four shows were the only thing Lenny could do until calling it quits. Nico and Gogui were becoming increasingly busy with their university careers and jobs. I kept on playing music by and to myself, writing in the comfort of my bedroom. Some of the stuff that’s now available at my site is in fact music that was born during those days. It took years to finally be recorded. But time shouldn’t matter as long as things become real in the end.

Another chance to shine:

In 2010, we had another chance to play live. We took advantage of a Rock festival that the town hall organized. It was “The coming back of Lenny,” as it were. The most transcendental thing this time was, to me, Nico bringing up a Camel song: “Chord Change.” I only knew Camel by its name, never heard a song before. Nico searched it on You Tube the day we got together to talk about the upcoming gig. He wanted us to hear it and gave him our opinion. I immediately started playing my guitar on top of the recording, figuring out the single notes on the first part. “It sounds like a difficult song to play,” I said. But Nico said I was already nailing the notes and it was only on my first listen. So I gave myself time to learn it in its entirety during the following days.

Something kind of magical happened when I was in my bedroom sitting in front of the PC with the same You Tube window open on the next day: suddenly, I was inspired to extend the guitar solo by realizing it could be perfectly linked to “Aquatic Ambiance,” a David Wise composition he wrote for my favorite video game: Donkey Kong Country. This piece has marked my childhood. As a teenager, I stopped playing video games at all. For years, this tune had escaped me until one day my father, brother and I decided to have the Super Nintendo repaired. Next thing I know, my father got on the car and drove downtown to the service store, taking the Super NES with him. To his great surprise, the technician said the system was working perfectly and that there was nothing to repair. It was only rusty after all those years of not being used. Even all cartridges were in good conditions except for one: International Superstar Soccer, DELUXE!, another game I played tons of times when I was a kid. Pity, but both, DKC and DK2 (Diddy’s Kong Quest) were working fine and those were the most important to me.

     

By using the Super Nintendo again, I was able to learn “Aquatic Ambiance” on the guitar. My brother would select the first underwater stage on the island and go through all its difficulties, and I would listen carefully in order to figure out the tune’s main melody and bass notes.

Apart from the guitar solo, what follows in “Chord Change” is an organ break in F minor and Bb major. Now, if there’re two different kinds of solos and two different video games from the same saga my brother and I played over and over again at some point, DK2 OST (Original Soundtrack) mustn’t be left out of this musical/inner-child experience. “Forest Interlude,” the poignant main theme from the island’s haunted area, became the extension of the keys solo (Marian, my brother, was invited to play the keyboard in this number). This turned out to be my favorite part of the cover.

So all this made “Chord Change” the gem of the stuff we were going to play at the festival. We played it in every rehearsal prior to the final day. The other songs were “Sweet Miracle” (Rush), “Spirits In The Material World” (The Police), “All Along The Watchtower” (Bob Dylan, The Jimi Hendrix Experience version), “No Way Back” (Foo Fighters), “Couldn’t Stand The Weather” (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble) and “Kashmir” (Led Zeppelin). The latter was only rehearsed one week before the day of the festival. I had the intention to make Marian play in not just one number. We opened with it on September 26^th, 2010 (Gogui’s twenty-fourth Birthday). Several local bands signed up in order to perform so there were only twenty minutes per band. After “Kashmir,” “Chord Change” followed (we had to make sure we were going to be able to include it!). Next came “All Along The Watchtower,” a very reliable and fulfilling song on many levels. That was the wrapping-up of our turn onstage.

And again, Lenny was put to rest for some time…

Present day:

The engine was restarted in late-2011 when Cristian Kukar, a drummer from my city, wanted to get together with me to jam and see how it went. I got to know him via Facebook through another drummer and Rush fan, Marcelo Camisay. I’d known this other guy because of his Blog dedicated to Rush: VT suena mal (Vapor Trails sounds bad). Please, don’t be fooled by its name. He loves that album, but he also has an acid sense of humor, and we all know many Rush fans aren’t happy with VT’s mix (it’s worth clarifying I’m not one of them).

Marcelo is from Boedo, one of the many neighborhoods downtown. So here’s a crazy thing the Internet allows: I finally got to meet a really good drummer who not only Rush is his favorite band but also likes bands such as Genesis and King Crimson (and lives just seven blocks away from home!!!) thanks to a stranger (almost) downtown, who I met face to face only once and had contact with via Blogger (nowadays via Facebook). What should it be made out of this?

Our first rehearsal together was as a guitar/drums duet. The first song we tried out was “Dreamline.” We were pretty amazed at one another and the way we pulled it off on that first run. It made me aware of how much Cristian was into Rush, especially Neil Peart. “Dreamline” is a song that I’d suggested to Nico and Gogui when Lenny was an actual band. They never felt O.K. with it for some reason, neither with “Omega Man” by The Police. These two songs waited a long time to make it to the stage (by Lenny obviously. “Dreamline” has been frequently played live by Rush ever since it was released as part of the Roll The Bones album, and “Omega Man” could’ve been performed somewhere by somebody else than the British trio between 2006/2012). With Cristian, it was easier to choose songs thanks to our mutual musical tastes. 

You know, this is nice and all, but a piece of the puzzle was still missing: the bassist. Now, you can have a show without keys and/or rhythm guitar if you strategically choose Power Trio songs. But in Rock and Popular music in general, drums and guitar alone can’t survive. The bass is what links both instruments as it works rhythmically with the drums and hits notes at the same time, which work hand in hand with what the guitar does. A keyboard player yielding synth bass notes with his/her left hand or feet (in the case of the latter, by triggering sounds with foot pedals) may do, yet an actual bass player is the real deal… and that was missing.

Gustavo Centurión is a very good, experienced bass player. He’s a member of Chop Suey, a band in which my father sang in the Nineties. He was the only one who commented on my Facebook Status addressed to any bass player in the Northern Area of Buenos Aires saying that I could count on him. We rehearsed “Dreamline,” “Omega Man” and “All Along The Watchtower” as a duo only once. I was eager to arrange a rehearsal with the three of us after having jammed with him. But as good a bassist as he is, it’s obvious that he’s on constant demand. He had too much projects on with other people already, and after a summer tour with Los Hermanos Butaca (The Butaca Bros.) he realized he wasn’t going to be able to join Cristian and me. This initiated a new search for the much needed bass player.

My phone number guide still had Gervasio’s number in it. He’s a guy I met twice in my life. Now for another crazy anecdote, though the Internet isn’t involved in its craziness…

In December of 2008, I went to Jardín Musical (Musical Garden), a CD/DVD store that has everything I’m interested in buying when it comes to music. If that desired product isn’t right at the store, the ones who run it ask for it from abroad. This time, I had to pick up an Eric Johnson album I’d ordered long ago: Ah Via Musicom. As I was wearing my Fly By Night T-shirt, the one that Carlos Prete painted for me in Villa Gesell (a coast town where tourists go to for holidays), this complete stranger approached me, pointed at Carlos’ drawing and said “Hey, go Rush!” That sparked a half-an-hour conversation that simply began with him introducing himself: “Hi, I’m Gervasio.” That name took me instantly back to San Isidro, around a decade ago when I was just a child…

Javier, my childhood friend and neighbor, had invited me to one of the McDonalds in San Isidro as it was the only one nearby with a ball pit so kids could have some fun besides eating their hamburgers (IMPORTANT: It’s been many years since I visited any McDonalds for the last time). His mother drove us to this place. During that night, another kid spent the whole time with Javier and me. He was called Gervasio, a very unusual name for sure. It was one of those typical moments when you become friends with strangers of your own age just for the moment. When I heard that name again at Jardín Musical and saw the guy straight in the face, I couldn’t believe it: it was the same person indeed, though much taller now. I didn’t say anything because it felt kind of strange, plus I would’ve found it hard to explain at that very moment (I guess that, in his turn, it would’ve been hard for Gervasio to understand). It was the wisest choice after all. It allowed us to focus on music right from the get-go, which was the whole point. For instance, he’d gone to the CD store in order to buy a copy of Foxtrot, that classic Genesis album.

Before saying goodbye he gave me his cellphone number and the name of his band: Girana Clown. I gladly accepted those contacts of his even though I wasn’t into playing live in those days.

Quite a long time had passed until I finally searched Girana Clown on You Tube. I was a bit confused when I read comments left on one of the videos and channel. They were encouraging and supportive towards the members of the band more than the band itself. After reading a bit more, I understood them: Santiago Urbani was their guitar player, a young boy from Tigre who was murdered. I was shocked, and all I could think about was the injustice and terrible sadness that’s attached to such a hard thing as that. I preferred to stay away from the band. It felt too sensitive, and I could notice such a strong bond between the members of GC (understandably so).

By this same time, my cyber activity saw its beginnings. (More on this is found in “Dreams…”, a post from the past available at this same Blog.)

Cristian and I were still in Limbo. We couldn’t move forward without a bass player. That’s how I fell for coming back to the general phone number guide at home to search Gervasio’s number again. Seconds after doing this, I encountered a major drawback: the number didn’t apply to a client in service anymore. The only way I could contact him was through Girana Clown. My Facebook account had been reactivated by then after six months of being put down because of me getting fed up on that social network. I browsed at their page (an alternative to Girana Clown’s You Tube channel) and read a lot about Santiago again, which made me stop in my tracks once more. I saw they were closer than ever, and once again that made me feel awkward. You know, to ask the band a contact of their bass man in order to invite him to play in something else that GC. “How would they take it?” was the burning question I was making to myself. But in the end, it proved to be silly because my plan wasn’t to form a band, let alone steal Girana Clown’s bassist. That’s what I eventually explained to Gervasio after he replied to my message, the one I sent to Girana Clown’s E-mail address, two weeks later.

The idea of this thing I was building up was to present music that was, in my opinion, worth it. I typed a possible set list and sent it to Gervasio. Eventually, most of those songs became a part of the final show. He was enthusiastic about it and showed commitment right from the beginning. He had his hand insured after a soccer match he’d had with his friends so he couldn’t rehearse the first time, but he wanted to be present at the rehearsal anyway to listen to the stuff Cristian and I had been working on. Fortunately, he liked everything, covers and originals alike, and was eager to start learning the songs as soon as his hand was back in shape.

Some stuff, as I said before, works well as a Power Trio, but other songs that were worth playing needed something else. That’s the case of “Cosmic Suspension,” one of my originals. This song incorporates keyboard sounds, and they’re far from being secondary. Marian was the one who tackled the keyboard part in the end. His input made the song sound different from the virtual collab version, in which I played keys myself, even though the structure didn’t change. Now it was improved and more adventurous.

It wasn’t in my plans to play something by Yes as I’ve never found a way to cover their complex music live properly. Gervasio was a bit insistent about adding a Yes song to our repertoire, though. I knew there was no chance, let alone if the idea was to play something by the classic line-up: Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman & White, which was Gervasio’s mind in the first place. Well, I was wrong. Life showed me the way by randomly making me select (from a folder filled with more than a thousand songs) “Ritual” twice, not in a row but the first time during one night and the second right on the next. I grabbed my guitar and started to figure out its parts without even listening to the recording. I went for it with no boundaries at all. Here’s when I understood there wasn’t any need to strictly respect the structure of a Yes song in order to make your own version of it. This 21-minute+ epic has so much to it, one can learn many parts and put them together the way they think it’s better. The results were a 7-minute+ cover (the 40-second guitar intro wasn’t part of the virtual collaboration with Dave Becher, Ron Hall and Cees Van Ooijen, neither of the live version as the latter’s intro was treated with the keyboard’s Strings sound).

Regardless of having come up with this manageable version, more viable and rewarding, I kept on believing Lenny wasn’t going to make it work. Gervasio suggested that we should at least take between one and two minutes of material out of the 7-minute track. My ears pricked. This made me think of a seamless connection between the “Ritual” experiment and “Cosmic Suspension.” Both songs require keyboard, and Marian already knew how to play the latter. “Ritual” became kind of an extended intro to “Cosmic.” We only played from 5:00 onwards plus the addition of the strings intro, which suited Marian coming onstage for his spotlight during the show.

All this matter wasn’t making Cristian happy. He’s more inclined to the other face of Yes: the late-Eighties and early-Nineties. Besides, I’d already announced on Facebook that we were going to play music by the English quintet, and two minutes of one of their songs connected to another one that wasn’t even written by the same artist wasn’t enough. He had a point. We discussed it though Facebook Chat and finally came to the conclusion that adding “Soon”, third movement from “Gates Of Delirium,” was the solution to this particular issue. I know, it’s also a Seventies piece, but it’s one of those Cristian likes all the same.

The other original song that didn’t work well as a Power Trio was “The Battle Of The Pelennor Fields,” one of the two originals I wrote inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Its official version contains the following elements: lead & rhythm guitar, bass, drums and orchestral arrangements (sampler sounds). There were a total of twenty-nine audio tracks for it before Dave Williams (sound mixer) was sent all of the files to do the final mix.

When playing live, the responsible for the creation of the music that’s meant to be presented wants to do the original version as much justice as possible. In the case of “Pelennor,” I was far from expecting an eighteen-piece orchestra to share the stage with the Rock ensemble. At least, I saw that I could edit the master orchestra track by reducing it to a 30-second intro (live sampler), which was a nice touch. However, a rhythm guitar was essential to pull “Pelennor” off.

My Facebook activity made me cross paths with many good musicians from Buenos Aires. However, I couldn’t get anyone to fill the rhythm guitarist’s spot for the show, which anyway was still on its foundations. In all this, I was having frequent Facebook conversations with Nico Haut, my brother’s friend and band partner in Shimatria as guitarist. During one of these conversations, I said to Nico “Wait a minute… you’re a guitar player.” “Ah… yes” he said, replying to my obvious affirmation. “I’ve been looking for one in order to cover ‘Pelennor’ live. How is it that I didn’t think of you in the first place? You’ve been right here all this time!” Needless to say, I invited him right then. He gladly acceded. 

Apart from the rhythm guitarist, I needed an alternative bassist too. Gervasio learnt most of the stuff in time. “Pelennor” was the only song he couldn’t learn with the necessary anticipation. (A date for the show had already been set by this time so we couldn’t fool around). I thought of Gustavo Centurión again. It was only one song, not an entire set list now. Maybe he would agree on playing it. He replied days after I messaged him saying that, in his opinion, the song was awesome, but he was still very busy giving shows with other people so he had to decline my new invitation.

You could say Nico (Morales) was probably the obvious choice right from the beginning. But given that he’s also a very busy person, though maybe in a different way than Gustavo, I let the chance of inviting him pass. For almost two years we’ve been working together on DelgiftC08, my website (apart from being a bass player, he’s also a web designer). This means that we’ve been having contact recently, no matter if it’s been through E-mails mostly.

“Pelennor” was such a great number, maybe the most important out of the four originals that made it to that tentative set list I’d sent to Gervasio months before, as it’s some sort of a fan-favorite. It would’ve been a shame to leave it out so I went ahead and invited Nico to learn and play it. Glad I did because he didn’t hesitate in saying yes.

Late-September, 2012:

Two or three months before the Lenny gig, an alternative one came out of nowhere. I called it Prog at the Gallery given that it was going to be part of a series of gigs at Art galleries in Buenos Aires, where other musicians were also going to perform. Lancelot, the organizer whom I met through Ale Sganga (more on him later), wanted me to be in charge of the September Gallery Night. My mind was busy enough with Lenny, but I said to Lancelot that if I came up with something good for this in time, I would do it. And so it was.

The Prog at the Gallery concept was… well… Prog. I took it as Classic Prog Rock rather than Neo Prog, therefore, the following numbers:

1) Panacea (Rush) - guitar & vocals by C

2) The Clap (Steve Howe) - guitar by July Valls

3) A los jóvenes de ayer (Serú Girán) - piano by Axel Taglia

4) After The Ordeal (Genesis) - by Axel (piano), July (acoustic guitar) & C (electric guitar)

5) Epitaph (King Crimson) - by Ale (violin) and C (guitar & vocals)

6) Soon (Yes) - by Ale, Axel, July & C

7) Ritual (Yes) - “virtually live” by Dave Becher (drums), Ron Hall (bass), Cees Van Ooijen (synths) & C (guitar)

What a great experience was to perform at that gallery! Each track had a life of its own. “After The Ordeal,” to pick up one song, ended up in there because Axel had watched “Chord Change” virtually covered by Dave, Ron, Marian & C after I shared the link to that video on his Facebook Wall. If Lenny played that song a little less than two years earlier it’s because Nico had seen Axel’s band, The Farm, play this instrumental by Camel before we got together again. When I shared the virtual cover of “Chord Change” with Axel and explained all this to him, he said he was in for any other virtual collaboration project. I told him to choose a song of his preference. Genesis was his choice. He suggested “After The Ordeal,” a song I’d never really heard before, and I even have a copy of Selling England By The Pound! But up to that point, I’ve only been paying attention to the first three songs on that record, “Dancing With The Moonlit Knight,” “I Know What I Like… (In Your Wardrobe)” and “Firth Of Fifth.” I took my copy upstairs and played the CD on track #6. I was glad to see that the guitar part was just melodic lines and not chord sequences. It’s easier to figure out single note patterns rather than complex chord structures, especially if you aren’t familiar with the original composer’s style, which was my case even though people generally comment on my videos saying that they can hear a bit of Steve Hackett in my playing. Cool, but I haven’t heard much of his music except for these Genesis songs plus the A Trick Of The Tail album. Maybe I’ve been influenced by guitarists who, in their turn, had been influenced by Hackett at some stage in their careers, I don’t know. 

There was no need to play the record again to learn the bass part. It’s incredibly easy. In fact, I came up with my own bass work. As usual, I helped myself with the kick drum. Dave was the one in charge of the drumming and tambourine on the virtual version.

July came into the scene via You Tube. For years, he’s been friends with Julie Rupp Oakes, a mutual virtual friend of ours from Florida, United States of America. I got a positive comment from him in one of my originals. Two comments actually, one in “Clovers In The Field” and the other in “The Battle Of The Pelennor Fields.” When I entered his channel to thank him for his words, I learned that he was a guitar player too, and from Buenos Aires! Small world, huh? Months later, I found out he had a Facebook account so I added him as a friend. Many conversations we had until one day, we agreed on doing something together. That night at the gallery was the first chance we had of doing so. Instead of my playing both parts on “After The Ordeal,” as I did on the virtual cover, we split the job in two: he played the lead during the first half on the acoustic guitar and I played the electric guitar from the middle to the end.

On Ale:

Ale Sganga was my fiddle teacher in early-2010. I wanted to play Celtic music with a proper instrument for it for the first time. I commented this to Nico, who also listens to Irish Celtic music (this is also why we hit it off), during an early meeting this same year. His only recommendation to me was Escuela de Música Celta de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Celtic Music School). “Ale Sganga is the fiddle teacher,” he simply said. 

I searched this Celtic Music school on Google. I found its site rather quickly. Ale’s personal E-mail address was at the bottom of the site’s home page. After exchanging E-mails, a first and private lesson was arranged. I took some more after this one, one per week. I think it was during the third when I had my Test For Echo T-shirt put on (another Rush album cover painted by Carlos). And how odd, this other T-shirt sparked a new conversation based on music, as it happened with Gervasio less than two years earlier. It made Ale say that during his teens, he was really into playing bass, and that there was constant talk about Rush’s bass player, Geddy Lee, for he was very skilled (and still is). That inevitably led us to Prog Rock in general. King Crimson was the second band we talked about. Ale played the riff in “21^st Century Schizoid Man,” though I didn’t know the song back then. But when he brought up Yes, the only thing I heard coming out of that violin was “Soon,” its vocal line. Right there, I knew it was a MUST. Ale’s been a Yes fan for more than thirty years. I’m sure it was second nature to him to play melody lines from his favorite songs on the violin. But it was something quite special to me, something that lingered inside.

I contacted Ale again months later, but now I did because I wanted to make a virtual cover of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2, based on different Celtic instrumental versions I’ve heard on some of my Celtic compilation CDs. Lance Reed from Minnesota, USA, a percussionist I met through one of his videos on You Tube, was going to play Bodhrán. My job was to add the acoustic and electric guitars plus a little bit of synths and soft percussion. The essential fiddle was missing though. It was already envisioned on the arrangement. I wasn’t good enough and by then I’d stopped taking fiddle lessons and practicing at home at all. (But I feel the eagerness to play fiddle is coming back to me, little by little.) Whatever, I only needed someone to lay the fiddle track down. Ale agreed on adding the missing piece.

We both felt “I Still Haven’t Found…” was going to work better than “Soon” for some reason. Now, I know the problem with the latter was the lack of a meaningful excuse to present it. When Prog at the Gallery came to be, and July and Axel were met and in for this project, Ale and I finally found what we were looking for: the right people, and everything under the right circumstances. This is also how Lenny itself eventually ended up performing this Yes piece of music. 

Prog at the Gallery ended up being a very spontaneous thing, even though you may find it hard to believe. I’m amazed by the fact that I was able to put four musicians (without counting the virtual ones for “Ritual,” who were displayed on a giant screen) together in such a short period of time. It worked fine. It had the advantage of being a non-official opening act to Jon Anderson just ten blocks away. Ale and I attended that concert after our gig. Some of the people in the audience did too, all of them Facebook contacts. It was a great night for sure.

October:

Now there was one month left before Lenny at Cendas so rehearsals for that kept on going. As we already know, the Yes issue was thankfully left behind, but there was one more thing to pay heed to… I had promoted the event saying that King Crimson’s music was also going to be part of the show. But the truth is Cristian, Gervasio and I had only thirty seconds of “In The Court Of The Crimson King” as outro to “Son Of Mr. Green Genes” by Frank Zappa, a far worse case than playing “Ritual” for two minutes and that’s it. Fortunately, the solution was already there: “Epitaph,” but now in its rocking version, not the acoustic Ale and I had played at the gallery. And what’s even better, it connects perfectly with the KC “wink of the eye” as the latter finishes in B major, the dominant chord for E minor, which is the first in “Epitaph.”

Even before encountering this other problem, Gervasio had said that the ending on “The Wreckers,” a Rush song from their latest album we were rehearsing, could be linked to “Epitaph” pretty seamlessly too given that the ending I’d come up with (the original studio version fades out) was in E minor. But “Epitaph” wasn’t part of the set back then, not even Prog at the Gallery was in existence yet. Of course, it was eventually thrown in there anyway, though it had nothing to do with "The Wreckers" after all. We even changed the ending on this Rush song after the band set off with their Clockwork Angels tour. Cristian preferred the more energetic ending, the song’s intro in the key of D major played as outro.

And finally, thanks to the fact that we went through all this necessary process, the ideal set list saw the light:

1) Xanadu/Dreamline (Rush/Rush)

2) Caras Galadhon (C)

3) The Battle Of The Pelennor Fields (C)

4) Omega Man (The Police)

5) Future’s Mystery (C)

6) Between Sun & Moon (Rush)

7) Soon (Yes)

8) Ritual/Cosmic Suspension (Yes/C)

9) The Wreckers (Rush)

10) Son Of Mr. Green Genes/In The Court Of The Crimson King/Epitaph (Frank Zappa/King Crimson)

11) All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan, The Jimi Hendrix Experience version)

Now, it was all about playing these songs together every Saturday night until the final one on October 27^th.

And that night finally came…

The set went as planned… almost. Marian turned around while the audience was applauding and cheering us after “Ritual/Cosmic Suspension” to say he was actually playing his keyboard song. One week before the show during lunch he told me he wanted to include a keyboard solo he’d been writing. I said that if he felt comfortable with it, he was more than welcome to do it. His composition seems from another dimension, as it generally happens with what he writes on his own. That was the kind of vibe many people at the audience claimed to have felt.

Apart from Marian’s solo, the other unexpected thing that occurred was that instead of us saying goodbye before “All Along The Watchtower,” we played everything we had prepared non-stop. People asked for another song but there wasn’t anything left… Unless… “Panacea!” I remembered it from Prog at the Gallery, of course. It was just one more tune, which didn’t even need band. So there was actually a real encore, a thing that came completely out of the blue. At the gallery, I played and sang it better, in my opinion. We should take into account that I had been rehearsing it a lot for that first 2012 gig. I didn’t play it anymore and suddenly, I was right there onstage, facing an audience eager for more music. It was the perfect song to wrap the night up though. Even someone cried “Something else by Rush, Claudio!” Hope he liked it. During the Gallery Night, an unexpected band was playing inside one of the places where pictures were at exhibition. They stopped when July followed with “The Clap.” I saw myself forced to sacrifice “Panacea,” the opening number, in order to make them shut up as it was our turn. I took this encore as life wanting this beautiful and peaceful Rush song to have a proper spotlight, the one it always deserved.

Homeward cyclers:

Something had been making me restless ever since this live gig was put up: how was I supposed to come back home from the show? I knew the best way was to make it a bike ride, but I needed to put things in order if I wanted to do that.

On Wednesday night, I called my friend Juani to ask him if he’d like to be my riding partner. He’d told me he was preparing himself to travel to North-Western Argentina, province of Salta, in February of 2013. He’d go by bus with his bike disassembled as another piece of luggage. He didn’t intend to visit places in there if there wasn’t any biking involved. My invitation came in handy for him, kind of an excuse to train his body for the upcoming trip. He immediately agreed. As he did, he got inside the front cabin's truck, the one rented to move all of the equipment plus the bikes from home to the venue, with me once the driver arrived in perfect time that Saturday.

After saying hi to everyone who approached me after the show and receiving a really nice gift from my friend Odalis (strawberry jam made with organic sugar) Juani and I left the building. I had to make sure everything was packed and ready to go before allowing myself to return home. My father, who apart from renting the venue also rented a van to bring friends from Tigre to the show, was going to bring all of the equipment back by the means of this same vehicle. Once everything was checked, Juani, Juampi (responsible for the filming during Lenny’s performance) and I, three friends still together from our days in school, went to the first corner that was at our right on the opposite sidewalk as there was a pizza house: Zapi. I never eat before singing live. I don’t want to feel heavy, as it were. It always works, but now I needed to regain energy after so much work, whether it was during the setting-up or the performance itself. Either way, both things were physically demanding.

We didn’t have pizza after all. The food house also had veggie empanadas and Napoli cheese cake on its menu, and that’s what we had for a bite.

The guys in Pitagorax Anselmo, a Progressive Metal band from Quilmes (Southern Area of

Gran Buenos Aires) came to the show. Gastón “Gatex” Bernstein, their keyboardist, guitarist and singer, is the one I know from Facebook. He came and brought his girlfriend and two other friends, one of them being Pitagorax Anselmo’s bass player, Pablo Chamorro. When Juani, Juampi and I sat down on a table outdoors, these people were already there having their meal at the next one. I had a short conversation with Gastón. He said he’d like to do something together in the future. There’s plenty of stuff that could be done so we’ll surely join forces sooner or later.

Around a quarter of an hour later both groups left the tables and started to walk towards the streetlight in which the bikes were chained. “I was sure you were joking when you said through the microphone you were coming back to Tigre by bicycle,” was Pablo’s comment when he saw our non-motorized vehicles for himself. Another comment I got from him, related to music this time, was that executing “In The Court…” and all of a sudden switching to “Epitaph” was surprising; a good move, so to speak. In a way, that was the idea, similarly to what I first intended by playing “Xanadu” (intro only) and adding a “Permanent Waves” sound (the one at the end of “Natural Science”) to Theo Heidfeld’s electronic percussion sampler at the end so Cristian could start with “Dreamline” while the wave sound faded out.

It was time for Juani and me to ride back. We said goodbye to Juampi, who drove to the gig and now had to cross the street to reach his 4-wheel. Pablo wished us a “bon voyage” while we were bidding Pitagorax Anselmo farewell.

The night was the best you could ask for: great weather, not a strong wind but a refreshing one. We felt maybe one or two drops of water coming down from the sky, but luckily, it never rained.

Downtown is full of bike paths. They helped us to avoid the typical traffic that can be found in this area. However, on Saturday nights it isn’t as crowded as, say, Monday at midday. We took advantage of all the bike paths in our way to make the best time possible. Following them eventually led us to Avenida del Libertador. Here’s when I turned around and cried at my partner, who was a few meters behind me: “Now I feel as if I’m already at home!” This is an avenue that covers around thirty kilometers. It stretches from downtown’s central train station to San Fernando, right in its limit with Tigre. We only had to ride it almost in its entirety. (Even though we had to reach its furthest point and beyond, we hadn’t been led from the last bike path to Libertador’s point of start at Retiro - train station mentioned above - but a bit closer to the Northern Area where we belong to, therefore, “almost in its entirety.” I thought it was worth clearing that out.) Anyway, both of us have ridden this whole area, whether it was together or alone, many times in the past. We knew where to take a parallel and more comfortable road if we had a mind to do it.

Juani had ridden his bike with Cristian Caceres, another friend of ours and riding partner on “The Tale of the Great Journey,” at noon on this same Saturday, which was now early-Sunday really. He was, understandably, a bit tired and needed a rest. We stopped at San Isidro’s main park next to the hugest cathedral I’ve ever seen. What I clearly remember from this stop was Juani’s comment about my riding back instead of getting on the rented van with the rest of the people who were coming back to Tigre that way. “Now you’d be there, still talking with everyone about the show and such, yet you aren’t.” He completely understood, without my having to explain anything, why the bike was my choice. A show is an occasion in which a lot of time is spent with people. That’s something I truly appreciate a lot, the fact that family members, friends and Internet contacts alike come to enjoy the music you’re delivering. Then you get their much welcomed feedback (if the job was done well and they know how to appreciate it). But that nice moment should stop in time, not be stretched for too long. The bike gave me that sense of freedom, an escape from that stream of comments about something that had just happened. Time on your own allows reflection, and that’s also much appreciated. Plus it was an emblematic ending, a celebration of everything I’ve been doing for so long, all in one single night.

We hit the road again a few minutes later. Maybe a little more than half an hour after our stop we finally arrived at our city. At the first bridge we encountered, the nearest to Tigre’s train station, we said goodbye to each other. But just before the two of us parted ways, Juani said another thing that was really simple, yet nice and true: “Well, everything ended up perfectly.” It really was like that. It felt great to be so close to conclude months and months (not to say years) of experiences and quickly look back and realize everything worked out in the end.

It didn’t even take me five minutes to arrive at my house. When I took the keys out of my bag, Liu came from the shadows to greet me with her gentle meowing and tender body caress between my ankles.