Dec 10, 2004 06:08 AM
8564 Views
(Updated Dec 11, 2004 03:39 AM)
I hope this review will be enjoyed by Yanni fans. If you are not, kindly read this in full before rating it. Thanks!
When I returned to Edmonton in mid October this year after an 11000 kms round trip to Atlantic Canada, I had a pair of tickets for Yanni's Live Concert on 25th November, waiting for me, courtesy of my daughter.
I was hooked on to Yanni's music not too long ago when a friend of mine sent me a dvd(vcd) of his album TRIBUTE, featuring his concerts at the Taj Mahal and in Beijing. Mostly all of them were instrumental music played by a host of international musicians specializing in their particular instruments, with Yanni at his keyboards and piano.
The entire music was conceived, written and organized by Yannihimself. He became a master piano player in Greece at the age of eight.
On November 25th, 2004, Yanni arrived in Edmonton with his huge orchestra at the Rexall Place seating 6000+ people. His stage people were already here a few days ahead to set up the lighting and sound arrangements. Fortunately, we had good seats near the stage.
The concert was started with a splash of lights and thundering sounds with the curtain very quickly disappearing right in front of your eyes. After the opening number, Yanni announced that he was very glad to be back in Edmonton, and that he was in a great mood and he would be playing non stop without any intermission.
It was a great two hour performance. Yanni was dressed in a grey sweater and black pants, a change from his traditional'all white' clothes. His 60 member orchestra included many violins, harp, trumpets, different type of flutes including a 2000 year old dudook from Armenia, drums, fiddle, tuba, didgeridoo and some of other exotic instruments.
As I stated earlier, the members of the orchestra were selected from all over the world. Pedro Eustache - the master flute player is from Caracas, Venezuela; David Hudson who played didgeridoo so skilfully came from Australia, Alfreda Gerald - the high pitch lead singer from the USA and so was Charlie Adams on drums. Most of them were with Yanni for years, and years of practice made them perfect in every way.
Love and Tolerance are the main theme for Yanni's music. You learn to love your fellow men and neighbors without looking at their skin color or worrying about their religious belief. At this age we need some one to convey a strong message like that. He is ahead of our time, The'New Age Music' performed by Yanni is accepted universally. He has millions of fans around the world. Even in China where he performed twice, he was greeted by millions. He made a profound impression in India.
During the Taj concert, Yanni was approached by a group of farmers in Agra to complain that their watermelon harvest was poor that year due to the space and renovations taken by the concert.'and with the God's help, it will be better next year'- the head farmer told Yanni. This sentiment touched Yanni deeply. He raised nearly 3 million US dollars(about One Crore and 350 Lakhs of Rupees) and donated the entire money towards the restoration of the Taj. For him it was a challenge to perform in front of the Taj- a monument built on LOVE. Financial reward didn't matter. I can't think of any other individual or corporation donating that kind of money to restore a monument in India.
For the viewers, the stage was equipped with a giant screen and two other smaller screens on either side. The stage was also equipped with dozens of remote cameras that was controlled by an expert team of technicians to capture the best of the orchestra.
Yanni turned 50 just days before he arrived here(he was born on the 14th November 1954 in Greece and migrated to the US when he was 18, obtained a degree in Psychology from the University of Minnesota, wrote his own music and built his own multi-million dollar studio - all these are explained in his book YANNI - IN WORDS, published recently by Miramax. Not surprisingly, audience around us were talking about this book before the commencement of the concert).
All the 6000+ fans gathered here for that concert enjoyed a wonderful evening of music. Yanni played some of his all time favourites including the Nightingale, the Storm, The Last Dance, Santorini, Love is All and some of his new hits, now available on cds. He closed the concert with the traditional Santorini. The sound system was wonderful and very soothing.
Our tickets cost$95.00 each. Just before the Santorini, Yanni introduced his orchestra, and they received a five minute standing ovation from the entire crowd. It was money well spent for an enjoyable evening.
This was part of Yanni's Live Concert(2004) around the world. His next stop was Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
