muzycy:
Mikkel Ploug - electric, acoustic guitar solo
Editor's info:
These are trying times. Our climate is writhing and a global pandemic is upon us, threatening our lives and livelihoods. What was once a movement toward international cooperation has morphed into isolationism and nationalism reinforced by virtual and literal/physical walls. Despite all this, Danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug reminds us through his music that we all still sleep under and gaze up at the same stars in the same sky. He does it with his accessible and refined musicality, rather than with the heated political statements one might expect from an artist of his caliber. At the beginning of the pandemic, he embarked on a musical journey, resulting in BALCONY LULLABIES – a solo guitar response to the lockdown and reflection on the coronavirus’s impact on everyday life around the world:
“It began out of frustration over the isolation, and a sad realization that my kids suddenly had to learn to stay away from other people. So, one night I took my guitar and amplifier out on our little balcony and tried to play something beautiful, something moving. Maybe I was trying to send a message to the world. I don’t really know. I was just going to play. I didn’t know it at the time, but my neighbors opened their windows to listen and then clapped when I was done,” the guitarist shares.
And so began Mikkel Ploug’s concert series from the balcony of his apartment in Copenhagen. At 6:15pm each evening, Ploug plugged his guitar in and launched into a new arrangement of the material he had been working on that day. The guitarist had performed all over the world but suddenly found himself sitting on his balcony and playing not only for the empty streets, but also to open windows, hearts, and minds. As darkness settled over the globe, he managed to create a spark of life. The results are nothing short of dazzling, and they reflect the full range of human emotion – tunes that are soot....... more
Solowa płyta Mikkela Plouga - duńskiego gitarzysty, założyciela kilku cenionych formacji, jak Equilibrium, Mikkel Ploug Group i The Unusual History of Ether.
Ten wybitnie utalentowany przedstawiciel tętniącej życiem kopenhaskiej sceny muzycznej zdobył popularność w kraju i za granicą. O poprzedniej płycie Plouga tak pisano w światowych mediach:
“Extreme beauty” (Faroe, 2018) Downbeat, USA
“Stunning!” Wall Street Journal, USA
“One of the most intriguing and best-recorded acoustic guitar albums of recent years.” All About Jazz, USA
“Some of the most beautiful and unexpected solo guitar music one might wish to hear.” WholeNote Magazine, Canada
“Mikkel Ploug is the latest sensation on the European jazz guitar scene with a personal voice and a sound that sings!”
La Vanguardia, Spain
“... the danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug is on his way into the Champions League of contemporary jazz guitarists.”
Jazzpodium, Germany
Album “Balcony Lullabies", powstały w covidowej rzeczywistości pandemicznej Kopenhagi to mistrzowski przykład „muzycznego teatru jednego aktora”, w którym na plan dalszy odsunięto kwestię kolektywności i interakcyjności zespołowej. Jesteśmy świadkami intymnej, introspekcyjnej wyprawy w głąb ludzkiego wnętrza. Ploug niczym teatralny demiurg odkrywa przed nami to, co sekretne i wewnętrzne.
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Najsłynniejszy balkon świata znajduje się w Weronie, to rozsławiony przez Williama Shakespeare'a średniowieczny balkon w Casa di Giulietta. Kopenhaski balkon mieszkania Mikkela Plouga, na którym nocną porą koncertował 28 razy w ramach akcji crowdfundingowej "Balcony Lullabies", nie może konkurować z tym w Weronie. Jednak Ci, którzy mieli okazję być świadkami tych wyjątkowych koncertów mają prawdopodobnie inne zdanie.