A special treat for our fans on our Facebook page – an extended video excerpt of the track Django Tango. Check it out!
(edited by Nomad 9 Design)
Rachel Golub
“PLANETARY COALITION” – FULL ALBUM (HD)
Here it is! A full album-excerpts video, which helps visualize the regions covered by the varied musical styles and instruments, and gives a glimpse of the musicians during the recording process.
“It started with a lone, handwritten sentence on a notepad, describing a musical vision: “An ethnically flavored collective of musicians from all over the world, driven by acoustic guitar and bringing together inspirational melodies, in-depth improvisation and the passion of the musical styles of Gypsy, Middle Eastern, Indian, Latin, East Asian, Mediterranean, Balkan/Eastern European, African and other indigenous lands.”
“The reality: coordinating over two-dozen musicians from five continents.”
“Yet despite the numerous logistical challenges, Planetary Coalition has been guided by a single hope: that by weaving the threads that connect musical expressions with regional identities, we can bridge the gap between diverse cultures and people, and increase awareness of the ecological and social issues facing the planet, our island in the sky.” – Alex Skolnick
Video compiled and edited by Maddy Samaddar (NOMAD 9 DESIGN)
Violin Vignette
Violin Wednesday!
The multifaceted and multi-talented Rachel Golub lent her musical skills to the tracks “Django Tango,” “Old World Dance,” “Sleeping Gypsy” and “Passage to Pranayama” on our album.
Here is a short clip of her recording for “Sleeping Gypsy,” a track she has played live at several venues with Alex and his team.
You can find out more about Rachel on her website at rachelgolubmusic.com
If you have joined us on ArtistShare you can see her interview by Alex. And you can see her perform as part of the ensemble that will play on OCTOBER 29, 2015 at Zehler Hall, for an ArtsLIve event at the College of Arts & Sciences, Dayton University, Ohio. Details here: https://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/initiatives/artslive/events/event_3.php
(video clip: filmed by Tom Couture; edited by Maddy)
“Island In The Sky” live performance
On Earth Day, last Wednesday, we posted a video of the CD version of the track “Island in the Sky.”
For #FlashbackFriday, here’s an early version of the track performed live in January 2013 during the launch of Alex’s book “Geek to Guitar Hero.” There are some improvisations here which are possible only in a live performance. Plus Rachel Golub joins us on her violin which is absent in the final CD.
Which version do you like better? The final CD one or this earlier live version? (Mind you, the audio is not that great here in the live performance as the camera was far away and the audience sounds get in the way.)
Album Excerpts and Preview Part 3 – tracks 10 to 14
This is the last of the album excerpts’ series for Planetary Coalition – with glimpses of the last 5 songs on the album. On Novermber 25, 2014, our itunes sales commenced and within a day the album had already climbed to the top 20 world music albums at number 13. Please help support the project – the link to buy the album on Amazon is here: http://www.amazon.com/Planetary-Coalition-Alex-Skolnick/dp/B00OTVQ0L4 and on itunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/planetary-coalition/id934930381
This series of excerpts begins with a composition with Cuban influences – with the great Grammy award-winning Cuban percussionist Horacio “el Negro” Hernandezand his daughter Jennifer who co-wrote the piece with Alex.
Following this, both countries of the Holy Land – Israel and Palestine are featured – with renowned Palestinian oud player Adnan Joubran of Le Trio Joubran co-composing a track with Skolnick (a piece with surprises in its full version where the melody takes a rather unexpected turn) followed by a duet with famed Israeli percussionist Gadi Seri (a frequent accompanist in the group of Israeli singing sensation Noa) in a piece inspired by travelling through the Negev desert. Initially both Seri and Joubran were to feature on the same track but, due to different rhythm styles, decided to have two separate pieces.
The fourth excerpt is the first guitar-pipa duet ever performed of a popular Chinese melody – with Skolnick and pipa virtuoso Yihan Chen playing on a variation of Wang Huiran’s tune Dance of the Yi People as “Return of the Yi People” and the colorful landscapes featured in the video are indeed from the region of South China where the Yi people reside. To see the very first meeting of Chen and Skolnick and how they clicked instantly go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G-ymgp5e-8
And finally, an excerpt of the popular signature tune of the project – the very first track which Skolnick had composed in 2012 when he conceived of the Planetary Coalition series: Sleeping Gypsy which includes visual clips of the dancing crowds in Union Square where he kick-started the project in 2012 and later performed once again in the summer of 2014.
On Saturday November 29, 2014, about seven of the twenty seven musicians of Planetary Coalition will play at the Liberty Science Center coinciding with an exhibition on the history and development of the acoustic and electric guitar.
Twenty Seven Musicians. Five Continents. One vision.
Planetary Coalition’s musicians represent over two dozen countries and five continents and numerous ethnicities. Here is a photo montage of the extremely talented and eminent musicians who are part of this recording. (Click to enlarge.)
From left to right:
Row 1: Alex Skolnick, Kiran Ahluwalia, Rodrigo Sanchez, Yacouba Sissoko, Yihan Chen, Pablo Aslan, Tamer Pinarbasi
Row 2: Raif Hyseni, Gabriela Quintero, Adnan Joubran, Dario Boente, Gadi Seri, Jose Luis Terzaghi
Row 3: Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, Moto Fukushima, Nitin Mitta, Rachel Golub, Jose Armando Gola, Vasko Dukovski, Juan Casanovas
Row 4: Jennifer Hernandez, Max ZT, Shane Shanahan, Luke Notary, Panagiotis Andreou,Engin Kaan Gunaydin, Fausto Nascimbene.
A glimpse of some of the sounds and textures of Planetary Coalition
This video consists of a few excerpts from live performances giving an idea of the sounds and texture of the music of Planetary Coalition.
Founded by guitarist Alex Skolnick, the group includes a core team of musicians and artists in New York and will include special guests from across the world. The final recording will constitute of other international musicians from various countries, as explained in detail in our Welcome video.
Planetary Coalition will be making its debut recording through ArtistShare® To support this project go to: http://www.artistshare.com/v4/project…
The beautiful artwork and graphics of Planetary Coalition, as well as compilation of its welcome video and others available for purchase on artistshare, is made by the incredibly talented architect and landscape architect Maddy Samaddar (of Nomad 9 Design, New York & Open Building Research, Italy,) who has worked on over 80 design projects in 15 countries in five continents. She will also be co-ordinating the project’s artwork and its ecological and environmental aspects.
Thank you for your interest and we hope you’ll join us in this process, and on this musical journey with Alex Skolnick and his musical guests.
As described in our welcome video, you can contribute through your ideas, essays, artwork, photos, postcards as well. An address will be placed soon for receiving mail on this site.
For those who want to help fund the project through small or large contributions go to: http://www.artistshare.com/v4/projects/experience/325/439/1/6
Planetary Coalition: a world music project by Alex Skolnick. An artistshare fan-funded project. (Artwork © 2013 Maddy Samaddar Nomad 9 Design.)
Thanks for the Union Square turnout!
Thank you for that great turnout in Union Square for the Make Music NY, New York’s largest free outdoor music festival, and Guitar World and NYC Guitar School’s “Mass Appeal: Guitars on June 21” event.
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Among music enthusiasts and NYC guitar school students, spot novelist Bradford Morrow in the crowd!
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Better quality videos will replace this one, but for now, this amateur clip from a member in the audience:
Here’s a link to the websites of the peformers:
Alex Skolnick: http://www.alexskolnick.com/
Rachel Golub: http://www.rachelgolubmusic.com/Rachel_Golub.html
Max, Luke and Moto: http://houseofwaters.com/
Planetary Coalition kick starts on Summer Solstice day
Planetary Coalition kick starts on Summer Solstice day
Join us today at 4:00 p.m. at Union Square, in the heart of New York City, as we start our first global-musical journey with the sounds of the guitar, santoor, violin, drums and much more! Planetary Coalition performs at 6:00 p.m. sharp. See you there!
From Guitar Aficionado: The full article is here: http://www.guitaraficionado.com/alex-skolnick-to-appear-at-mass-appeal-guitars-event-in-new-york-city.html
ALEX SKOLNICK TO APPEAR AT MASS APPEAL: GUITAR EVENT IN NYC
In association with Make Music NY, New York’s largest free outdoor music festival, Guitar Worldand NYC Guitar School are hosting Mass Appeal: Guitars on June 21.
Players of all ages, styles and skill levels are invited to join a massive ensemble of guitarists in Union Square to collectively play pre-selected songs.
The festivities begin 4 p.m. in Union Square with mini-practice sessions and booths by event sponsors, including Guitar World, NYC Guitar School, Lagunitas Brewery, Agile Partners (AmpKit, GuitarToolkit), La Bella Strings, Marshall Headphones and more. Live music will be provided by The Spanish Channel, a New York City band.
The play-along will begin 5:30 p.m. Participants will need to bring their own guitar. The following songs will be performed as a group:
01. “One Love” by Bob Marley (led by Brooklyn Guitar School Director Shane Chapman, Queens Guitar School Director Cariad Harmon and NYC Guitar School Director Jenn Elliott)
02. “Wonderwall” by Oasis (led by local high school students from KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program)
03. “Horse With No Name” by America (led by Jay Moran of VH1, VH1 Classic and VH1 Save the Music Foundation)
04. “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes (led by Laura B. Whitmore, GuitarWorld.com blogger and producer of The Women’s Music Summit)
05. “Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendrix (led by Jimmy Brown from Guitar World)
06. “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele (led by voice instructors Clara Lafano and Rebecca Rossi from Brooklyn Piano and Voice)
Mark Feldmen of Bang The Drum will perform percussion for the play-along.
Following the first six songs, guitarist Alex Skolnick of Testament and the Alex Skolnick Trio will be joined by some of his favorite New York-based musicians to premier his new world music project, Planetary Coalition.
“I’ve often flirted with the idea of putting together a mostly acoustic, ethnically flavored combo of diverse improvisers from all over the world,” Skolnick said, “one that ties together metal music’s power and passion with that of Gypsy, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Asian, African, Latin and other international and indigenous cultures. So when the opportunity arose to perform at Make Music New York, it felt like the perfect situation to try out such an endeavor.”
Skolnick will conclude the play-along with “Smoke On the Water” by Deep Purple.
For more information, song charts and instructional videos, visit meetup.com.
http://www.meetup.com/mass-appeal-guitars/events/63987342/?a=ed1_l6
PLANETARY COALITION 