SOUNDTRACK: USMAN RIAZ-Tiny Desk Concert #349 (April 19, 2014).
Usman Riaz is an amazing musical prodigy. I almost don’t want to say anything about him, I just want you to watch the video and have your mind be shattered.
Riaz is a 23-year-old Pakistani man and is as humble (and soft-spoken) as he is talented. He trained on the piano as a six-year-old child. And then, at 16, he learned how to play the guitar (in a most unconventional way called “percussive guitar”) by…watching YouTube. He transposed his piano style to the guitar and has developed his own style within the genre. The first song,
His song “Boneshaker” starts with some intense drumming on the guitar and then… well just watch it below.
Next he plays his piano song,”The Waves” a song he wrote at 16. And it is simply gorgeous. There’s a bit of showoffiness in it, but it never sacrifices the song.
he returns to the guitar for his third song, “Shimmer” which uses more percussive guitar techniques. It is also mesmerizing (and absolutely gives “eruption ” a run for its money).
Riaz is a shy, quiet man, but his love of technology and his belief that anyone can pick up any skill if they just watch it enough is really quite infectious. He also shows off some “parlor tricks” like body percussion and harmonica (perhaps real harmonica players might be insulted by calling this a parlor trick) that he learned from videos. He has also created a short film that was accepted at the New York Short Film Festival.
He’s all over the place, but give this guy 30 seconds and you’ll be hooked.
Riaz also did a Ted talk/performance with Preston Reed, which is pretty amazing too. You can watch that here.
[READ: June 19, 2013] Return of Zita the Spacegirl
I was excited to see a new Zita–I really enjoyed the first two a lot. But it took me a while to get up to speed with this one. It has been two years after all–I think maybe a recap was in order.
We see that Zita is on trial in a strange land. The judge calls her Zita the Crime Girl–so you know things aren’t looking too good for her. And the judge’s exhibit A is Pizzicato the Plunderer (or, as we know him–Mouse), who is all shackled up. She is found guilty and is thrown into a jail cell with a pile of rags and a skeleton. Both of them can talk, of course. And they encourage her to escape–even those the skeleton says that anyone who escapes is caught and sent right back to jail–or to the mines.
While this has been going on we’ve seen glimpses of a blue ghost-like creature who helps her in small ways. He helps her to escape, but he her that she needs to help only herself–she can’t save everyone. This just makes her mad. But like skeleton said, she is caught and is sent to the mines. In the mines there are coals with eyes (which reminds me of the Susuwatari in My Friend Totoro (those are the little black soots that carry things). Everyone is told to smash the coals to look for the one with the crystal inside. No one knows if the coals are alive, but one of the coal pieces hops into Zita’s pocket.
Meanwhile, when Zita’s uniform was thrown out, bits of her star floated into space and soon, all of her old friends knew she was in trouble, So they reunite to rescue her. It was great to see Strong Strong and One and even Piper and Madrigal, who are working together (temporarily). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 