Accessing Universal Intelligence.
Human Ingenuity and Creativity. Our Cultural Heritage.
Favourite things. Music and Movies. Nature. Items that interest me on any topic.
Three
years ago we embarked on an insane archeological quest: To conquer all
Seven Wonders of the World. With music. Why? As Henry Jones (Sr) once
said, “Illumination.”
What began at The Great Wall of China
continued on at the Christ Redeemer Statue and the pyramids of Chichen
Itza. And now we present the ancient, stoic “Rose City” carved into
rock: Petra, Jordan!
Yes, this is a real place. Not just a
figment of a set designer employed by Lucasfilm, LTD. We say real, but
we should actually say “unreal.” Hard to believe a city half as old as
time, carved out of sheer rock in the middle of the desert over 2,000
years ago still stands, whispering stories of its history through
weather-worn stone artistry and intricate waterways.
Just to give
you an idea of its scope, Petra is home to over 800 monuments,
buildings, halls, tombs, temples, and gateways sculpted from
kaleidoscope sandstone. Its access is guarded by a narrow, protracted
1,000 ft high (300 meter) canyon. This remote desert city thrived in its
prime because of an intricate, ingenious aqueduct system that carried
water over great distances to store in cisterns. Arab tradition believes
that Petra was the site where Moses of the Old Testament struck the
rock to draw forth water.
Petra has also been the site of many
Hollywood movies. The first that comes to mind? Maybe something to do
with seeking the Holy Grail in a fedora hat and a whip sidearm?
Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade launched Petra’s “Treasury” Tomb into stone
celebrity status — casting it as the lost home of the Holy Grail. What a
movie! And what a soundtrack! Thank you, Mr. John Williams! How could
we choose any other theme to laud the epicness of Petra’s Wonder? But
the lively, adventuresome “Indy” theme needed a more Arabic flair in
honor of this relic-city. As we often do, we turned to classical music
for inspiration, motivation, and more compositional content.
In
1888, a Russian composer named Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov composed a
landmark symphonic suite entitled, “Scheherazade,” based on a collection
of Middle Eastern folk tales collected over many centuries. You’ve
definitely heard of some of them — Alladin, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves,
and the Seven Voyages of Sinbad. The book is called “Arabian Nights,”
and the storyteller in the book is the woman, Scheherazade. It is
considered an international treasure among storybooks.
Just listen to the incomparable melody written by Rimsky-Korsakov at 0:52. No “wonder” it is timeless! Listen to the entire “Scheherazade” Suite here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNym...
We
present to you an amalgam of old and new, a marriage of then and now — a
mashup of film score and historical – the hiscorical, “Indiana Jones
and the Arabian Nights!”
Many of our Petra scenes were filmed
carefully amidst sky-high canyons using a drone’s camera. And in case
you were wondering, we did actually go in the middle of a bustling
Jordanian street market and film a cello playing classical music. In
fact, just as we were leaving a man grabbed us and asked if we’d play
more over by his cart so he could sell more fish. It was a tempting
offer.
Jordan is an incredibly beautiful country with friendly
people, tasty food, and so much to see. If you get a chance, go check
out: http://visitjordan.com Many
thanks to the people of Jordan for being so hospitable to us, to
Abercrombie & Kent, and especially to Moawia ”Moe” Quataish, our
incredible on-site production manager, translator, and dry humor
specialist. Moe, you’re such an awesome shabb!! Also, special thanks to
Tobias Bradford for helping us realize this dream.
If you’ve made
it this far in the description we bestow upon you an honorary doctorate
degree in archeology from TPGU. To celebrate your induction, tell us
your favorite Indiana Jones line in the comments. One of ours is,
“Sallah! I said no camels. That’s five camels. …Can’t you count?!”
Credits “Finale
and End Credits” from the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Soundtrack
written by John Williams; “Scheherazade” (Op. 35) written by Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov The Piano Guys arrangement produced by Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson Arrangement written by Al van der Beek, Jon Schmidt & Steven Sharp Nelson Performed by The Piano Guys: Jon Schmidt, piano; Steven Sharp Nelson, cello & cello percussion; Al van der Beek, percussion Recorded, mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG studios Video produced filmed & edited by Paul Anderson & Shaye Scott Line producer/ Location manager: Moawia Qutaish, Ark Productions, Moawia@arkmotions.com
We were so stoked to hold the first copy of our new album, Uncharted,
that we immediately went to Lynns Supermarket and Wal-mart to go see how
people would react to it. We hope you enjoy the video!
We've
titled our sixth album with Sony “Uncharted” for several reasons. First,
we’ve now ventured deeper into “uncharted” territory than we could have
ever dreamed of traversing. We’ve been more places, met more people,
and had more opportunities than we could have imagined possible. We feel
blessed to have been supported, even guided in this journey by so many
people that have given us the purpose behind pushing through the
underbrush.
Second, we feel like our music isn’t limited to a specific
genre or “chart” — we hope it transcends conventional classification and
instead reaches beyond boundaries, finding audiences from all walks of
life that want positive content and fresh takes on old and new music.
Third, it is actually very difficult to accurately “chart” our music
into sheet music since it features so many unprecedented and
untranscribable sounds. In this sense we are playing off the chart, so
to speak. :-)
And lastly, two of the tunes on the album feature two more
locations that further fulfill our Wonders of the World quest, Chichen
Itza and Petra — both of which are considered two of the greatest
“uncharted” archeological finds in history! Combine all of these
elements with more of our signature fusion of film score, classical
music, pop and original music, our first vocal single, and even more
groundbreaking textures and sounds, we believe this to be our best
record yet. We can’t wait for people to hear it!
Fun facts about the album:
“Uncharted” is the SIXTH album The Piano Guys have released since signing with Sony in 2012
7 of the tracks on “UNCHARTED” are brand new, never-heard-before tunes.
“Uncharted”
includes a dream-come-true collaboration with the man, the myth, the
legend, Mr. Hans Zimmer — world renowned film score composer. He wrote
an arrangement for TPG of several themes from his soundtrack, "Pirates
of the Caribbean"
“Uncharted” includes The Piano Guys very first
vocal single, entitled “It’s Gonna Be Okay,” featuring the vocal skills
of TPG’s music producer Al van der Beek
There is no kazoo on this album
Two
songs on “Uncharted” are the continuation of TPG’s Wonders of the World
Quest — Themes from Jungle Book performed in front of Chichen Itza,
Mexico and themes from Indiana Jones performed in front of Petra,
Jordan.
“Uncharted” features several pop/classical mash-ups,
including Adele’s “Hello” combined with Mozart’s “Lacrimosa” and Rachel
Platten’s Fight Song woven into Amazing Grace
Despite its title,
“Uncharted” is already slated to be among the worldwide top ten
Billboard albums when it is released on October 28th.
The deluxe edition of “Uncharted” includes NINE music videos as well exclusive Behind the Scenes content.
One
of the music videos on “Uncharted," “Fight Song / Amazing Grace” was
filmed with a pipe and drum band in front of the world famous Eilean
Donan Castle in Scotland, where countless blockbuster movies have been
filmed.
If you look close, on the cover of “Uncharted,” you’ll
see Paul has a very mischievous “assistant” "monkeying around" with the
drone
Story behind the song: We’ve all had that phone call. That email or that message. That conversation.
Bad news.
We’re all struggling with something – a debilitating weakness or illness. Or someone we love is barely holding on.
We watch the news. We see the tweets, the Facebook posts. The YouTube comments!
We
hear about hate, terror, and despair. But just because what sells, what
goes “viral,” or what gets attention may try to drown out the good in
the world, it doesn’t mean that goodness is gone. Just because choruses
of controversy and scandal shout louder than quiet symphonies of
service, it doesn’t mean that inside most of us still genuinely want
happiness not only for ourselves, but also our family, our friends, and
our fellow human beings.
Media can make the world look bleak.
They’ve given themselves this job description, in part because there’s a
darker side on the surface of human nature that feeds on fear and
cynicism. But deep down, we are beings of light. And in the end, since
darkness is merely the absence of light, light will inevitably overcome
dark.
This is the essence of hope. And the essence of this song.
“No matter what you’ve been through, no matter if you think you’re
falling apart, it’s gonna be okay.”
Maybe not today. Maybe not
tomorrow. But we believe that someday, somehow, all things will be made
right. And as the Proverb says, “They that sow in tears shall reap in
joy.”
In the meantime, there are so many more things to hope for
and to work at while we yearn for the outcome we want so badly – more
gratitude for what we have, more love for those we’ve taken for granted,
more faith in ourselves and those we hold dear, and more confidence in a
Divine purpose.
We felt like the best way to spread the message
of this song was to supplement our standard classically-influenced
instrumental niche with a more pop-driven tune featuring Al’s superb
vocal skills.
As Oscar Hammerstein once said, “It is a modern
tragedy that despair has so many spokesmen, and hope so few.” Please
share this song with someone you think might need it today. Thank you!
CREDITS
“Okay” written by Andy Grammar and Dave Bassett The Piano Guys Arrangement produced and written by Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson Performed by The Piano Guys: Al: Vocals Jon Schmidt: Piano Steven Sharp Nelson: Cello, cello percussion Mixed and mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios, Utah Video Produced by Paul Anderson Co-Produced by Shaye Scott Filmed by Paul Anderson & Shaye Scott Stage Jib Operator: Bobby Fisk Audience Cameraman: Dustin Topham Edited by Shaye Scott
