Broadway actress Jen Sánchez will debut her new music video for “Heartbeat” live in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. The music video for the pandemic-inspired song of resilience features real New Yorkers whose lives have been affected by the coronavirus and shutdowns.
The song was selected as a finalist and the Audience Choice Award winner in the Times Square Alliance’s Songs for Our City songwriting competition in June.
“Heartbeat” is a tribute to those working to keep their lives and cities afloat, as well as those who have been lost to COVID-19, while sharing an empowering and uplifting message of strength and solidarity.
The music video depicts scenes from Times Square and features real New Yorkers who are working each day to keep New York City running amid the pandemic, including Jason Clark, Co-Owner of Hold Fast Kitchen and Spirits; Ruth Levy, a Nurse Practitioner at Mount Sinai Hospital who worked in one of the hospital’s COVID wards; and Rob White, a Times Square Alliance Sanitation Maintenance Worker. The video was directed and choreographed by Broadway veteran Yani Marin and features performances by Broadway dancers Angelica Beliard, Natalie Caruncho, Albert Guerzon, Yani Marin, NaTonia Monét, Fredric Odgaard, and Brett Sturgis.
Viewers are encouraged to donate to NYCNext, an organization working to help the city we love recover and rebuild, and to energize and inspire others to act.
“Heartbeat” is written and performed by Jen Sánchez, directed and choreographed by Yani Marin, edited and filmed by Gregg Monteith, and produced by Jen Sánchez and Sophie Aung, for Times Square Alliance.
As the proprietor of hip hop, New York, carries certain expectations from the genres’ emcees. Take for instance that within the last half-decade alone we’ve seen top 10 records like “Hot N****,” “OOOUUU,” “All The Way Up” and “Dior” become staples of each respective summer. The inhabitants themselves walk around with a certain hubris, knowing that their fashion, demeanor and dialect is a valuable commodity within pop culture. With rap artists being a reflection of New York’s current state, there was bound to be an equal amount of historic moments and tragedy. As such, we take a look at the major events from 2020.
Young Artists Stake Their Claim
As cities like Atlanta and Memphis continue their surge within the genre, it is of importance that established young artists from New York continue their ascension, to keep pace with their counterparts. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie kept himself relevant with the release of his much-anticipated Artist 2.0 album. Pop Smoke (before his tragic death) continued his meteoric 2019 with a strong sequel to his breakout mixtape, Meet the Woo 2. Dave East dropped a tertiary edition to his Karma mixtape series and Brooklyn continued to make waves with projects from J.I the Prince of N.Y., Fivio Foreign, Sheff G, 22Gz, Curly Savv, Rah Swish and the surging Bizzy Banks.
Veteran Emcees Still Have Something to Say
Hip Hop is the culture of the youth. It always has been and always will be. Yet, many prominent veterans reminded fans that they still have stories worth listening to. Juelz Santana battled through turbulent times to release his #FREESANTANAmixtape, Jadakiss released a solid effort with, Ignatiius, M.O.P’s own Billy Danze dropped The Listening Session, KRS-One and Public Enemy dropped protest anthems. Twenty-twenty also saw the return of Nas, whose King’s Disease album showed an exceptional ability to blend his old school style with newer melodies.
Pop Smoke’s Death
In a year that saw one celebrity after the other pass away tragically, New York felt their fair share of grief. On February 19, 2020 New York’s latest rising superstar, Pop Smoke, was fatally shot at a Los Angeles home in a botched robbery attempt. His death came a week after the release of his Meet the Woo 2 mixtape. His death was followed by outpouring support from fans and industry peers, including his music rising atop the charts.
The Kids from Buffalo
Building upon their established buzz, the trio known as Griselda — Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine and Benny the Butcher – continued their takeover as the faces of New York hip hop. The Buffalo natives brought some much-needed attention to upstate New York.
I know people in Buffalo that have never been to New York City in they life and they 30 years old. So, we come from one of them type of cities, that kind of mentality.
Known for their gritty-hard hitting tales of the street life, the group kept themselves ablaze with multiple releases from each member throughout 2020. Westside Gunn kicked things off with his April release of, Pray for Paris, followed by Flygod Is an Awesome God 2 and his self-proclaimed retirement album, WHO MADE THE SUNSHINE. Benny The Butcher released his much-anticipated Burden of Proof record, while Conway the Machine’s From a King to A God rounded up a strong year for the upstate rappers. Their influence not only stems from their music, but also in the way they market themselves. That mentality perhaps comes from their head honcho, Westside Gunn.
I never considered myself really a rapper, I just curate. I love putting different people together and just painting a certain picture..
Westside Gunn
Shoot For the Stars Aim For The Moon
Despite his life coming to a tragic end, Pop Smoke’s musical momentum didn’t waiver, with his popularity in fact rising. His debut studio album was announced with 50 Cent as executive producer. The star-studded album became the record of the summer, with all 19 tracks simultaneously charting on the Billboard 100, eventually reaching platinum status.
Listening to Pop come into his own as an artist was a bittersweet feeling. Despite the commercial success of the album, many songs consisted of either duplicated or unfinished verses. Yet, his ability to melodize on records like “Something Special” and “Backseat” combined with his already strong delivery on his grittier records made him a rarity in the drill rap genre. In fact, he had long surpassed the label of “drill rapper” and was blossoming into a superstar whose charisma would have made hip hop just the tip of his monetary exploits.
Alas, that future was not meant to be. Instead, Pop Smoke’s music, exploits and legacy will be passed down from generation-to-generation where he’ll eventually become a fabled and mythical figure. In due time, the sorrow from his passing will turn into nostalgia, where we’ll remember 2020 as the year Pop Smoke ruled the airwaves.
Billy Joel welcomed 2019 with a 26 song, 160 minute set at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island. It was the first time in 25 years that Billy Joel played a New Year’s show at the Coliseum. At midnight he played the traditional “Auld Lang Syne” paired with “Only the Good Die Young.” The Coliseum was sold out and Billy really seemed to be having a good time, while he wore a New Year’s top hat.
Billy Joel kept New Year’s spirit by playing New Year’s themed songs like “This is the Time,” “I Loved These Days” and “Souvenir.” As it got close to midnight, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve with Ryan Seacrest appeared on the screens and the crowd counted down to 2019. As confetti exploded and Billy sang “Auld Lang Syne,” a banner reading “Billy Joel: 34 Sold Out Shows” was unraveled from the ceiling of the Coliseum, commemorating the milestone.
The setlist included all the usual hits. He threw in a couple of breaks throughout the show like Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” and Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla.” He also did a cover of Joe Cocker’s take on The Beatles “With a Little Help From My Friends.” Kevin James made an appearance during “Uptown Girl” and Gavin DeGraw, who opened the show, joined Billy on stage for the final song “You May Be Right.”
Setlist: Big Shot, Miami 2017, The Entertainer, Vienna, The Downeaster Alexa, Big Man on Mulberry Street, This is the Time, Movin Out, New York State of Mind, Don’t Ask Me Why, The Ballad of Billy the Kid, I’ve Loved These Days, Allentown, She’s Always A Woman, Auld Lang Syne, Only the Good Die Young, My Life, The River of Dreams, With a Little Help From My Friends, Nessun dorma, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man.
Encore: We Didn’t Start the Fire, Uptown Girl, It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me, Souvenir, You May Be Right (with Gavin Degraw).
Simone has our attention. Instantly hooked with off the cuff, blunt storylines and edgy alternative guitar, the 16-year-old singer/songwriter has crafted a name for herself, where music transcends beyond her years.
It’s justSimone. No fancy names or alter egos. The young and upcoming artist jumped into live performance at the age of ten at a Nashville open mic. “It was terrifying. I was definitely the youngest kid there and I was surrounded by these experienced, mature, 20 to 40-something-year-olds. I just remember begging my dad to take me home because I was so intimidated and nervous.”
But her music transpired. “I kind of blacked out while I was performing. The sound of applause and encouragement from the audience was so unreal and amazing. I immediately fell in love with performing and being able to share my songs to different people. It was a really important experience.”
The New York singer broke out two years later with her first batch of work in 2017. Stories in My Mind, Simone’s debut was released and arguably the most transformative, in her music and personal life. These years are life changing for most of the world, and to capture them through song and pure self-expression is quite magical.
“I was dealing with a lot of mental health struggles. And realized that instead of holding all of these emotions inside, I could write about them. I have changed a lot since that first EP, as a songwriter and just as a person. I would’ve liked anything that came out of those first recording sessions because I was just so excited to be there. It was something I dreamed about for so long.”
Aside from her professionalism, Simone gets to the point. Her song titles first make you chuckle, proving to be point blank and ever reliable. “It took awhile for me to arrive at the full transparency and honesty of my current songwriting process. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that when I started writing, there was a lot in life I had never experienced, or could even understand.” Songs like “Fuck, I’m Tired,” prove this point to be evermore true in a witty, clever way.
Now that I’m a little bit older, and get to watch R-rated movies and know a lot more about the world, romance and emotion. I find that people connect more to songs that are truthful. At the end of the day, we all go through a lot of similar things, and it’s so much more valuable to talk about it then to pretend it doesn’t exist.
Simone takes on independent singer/songwriter with her June 2020 release ofSad Songs For Depressed Girls, a three-track EP written and produced all on her own accord. This release featured “Fuck, I’m Tired,” as well as a sentimental “Julia.” The the heartfelt tenure of Simone’s guitar and falsetto will perk your ears. It’s as if you knew “Julia” better than she knew herself. Perhaps a lifelong, childhood best friend. The story is vivid and of self preservation.
Julia smoked weed alone in parking lots she said it helped her thoughts stop wandering off. And for a moment she felt free, but it all was temp-or-ar-y. And she stopped wishing for a heartbeat.
If you’re not into getting goosebumps, try the airy pop tracks of To Be Honest, released March of this year. This five-track EP, produced by Danny Ross, puts Simone’s songwriting in a different light. The songs are ones you dance to, and soundtrack worthy. Syncopated drums and grooving bass create foundation for the hooks of “The End of the World” and “Can’t Get Enough of You.” To Be Honest gets a little more sentimental as the record plays on.
Danny and I listen to a lot of tracks as a reference point when beginning a session. There’s a ton of pop influence, like Conan Gray, Taylor Swift, Troye Sivan, Lorde… the list goes on. I wrote the songs at different points in my life, but they all tell different stories about love and youth. Some were inspired from personal experiences and others from plot lines in TV shows. I’m excited to see what people will think.
Danny Ross is an indie rock frontman turned mad scientist pop producer mining new sounds for the TikTok generation with classic songwriting craft. He features Simone countless times on his Spotify portfolio.
Simone has crafted her skill and knows what it takes to make a hit song. “What I like about a song, either one that I write or one that I’m listening to, is a good hook that gets stuck in your head. If I write a song that’s all over the place and doesn’t have a lyric or a melody that people want to listen to over and over again, then I’ll usually leave it behind.”
A catchy chorus is so important to me, because it keeps the listener entertained throughout the song and excited when the chorus comes back around. I’m a sucker for a catchy chorus.
From the beginning Simone watched a lot of TV shows and movies surrounded by music that influenced her career. She was obsessed with soundtracks from Lemonade Mouth and High School Musicial. “That was a huge phase in my life and it got me really interested in performing and singing.” This was supported by her parents, a backbone in her path. Music was always around.
Currently Simone is listening to Taylor Swift – always. But has been into curating other up-coming female artists, like herself. Search, Holly Humberstone, Silver Sphere, and beabadoobe. In Simone’s words “They’re all killing it.”
Simone has more planned for 2021. After a strong year of music, her latest releases are the best yet. “I’m really proud of how I’ve grown in my songwriting and vocals, and I hope that comes across. I made these new tracks with Danny Ross, who I made the To Be Honest EP with. He’s amazing, and It was so fun to work with him again. I brought new songs to him and he brought them to life, and I’m so happy with how they turned out. I don’t wanna give too much away, but I’m really excited.”
Hey, if you like Taylor Swift, Conan Gray, Lorde, or anyone in that arena, you might like my music. I’m a 16-year-old singer/songwriter and I am influenced by a lot of pop and alternative artists. My songs are relatable, sometimes depressing, and sometimes fun. Whether you need a good cry or a good dance, I got you.
The Painted Birds, a quartet out of Rochester is led by singer songwriter Alex Fortier (Juicy Connotation, i. am. tru. starr.), The band was created to surpass borders between influences, creating stories and sounds with both depth and clarity. The group features drummer/percussionist Chris Palace (Juicy Connotation. Dream Float, Funklopian Tubes, Siena Facciolo) guitarist Will Schantz (P.V Nunes Band, Archive Ravens, Red Hot & Blue Band) and bassist Robert McPartland (Charlie Hayley and the Band, Ryan Benthall).
In the spirit of diverse sound and personality, their influences come from a variety of disciplines and genres, including artists like Paul Simon, Billy Joel, and The Band; folk crossovers like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bob Dylan; funk and soul artists like The Meters, TAUK, and Donny Hathaway and even contemporary jazz projects like The Bad Plus, Yussef Kamal and Weather report. All of which can be heard in their 10 track album titled Under The Wing released in November, 2020.
The four piece band stretch out on the entire album mixing in their influences with their own voice led by Fortier’s season changing lyrics. Sounds like it could have been recorded at “Big Pink” in West Saugerties, NY. There is even a stand out saxophone solo on “Square Cars” by saxophone player Sam Schachter. Peaches are deciduous fruit trees that enter into dormancy during the Winter. During dormancy trees are quite resistant to the deleterious effect of freezing temperatures. After this period of rest and temperatures begin to warm, peach trees become more physiologically active. This album does just that with its nod to the changing four season landscape in which it was written in. “Midnight by the Woodline” brings you outside an old camper on a quiet New York summer night. Fortier’s lyrics even cross the great divide in the track “(She’s Got) Colorado Whispers”
Overall the band helps create comfort music for the cold winter ahead. Keep an eye out in the Finger Lake region for a possible socially distant concert at one of the various wineries that the band live near to hopefully perform these tracks live for you!
Key Tracks: Square Cars, No Peaches:(Late Frost), Under The Wing
Christmas is here. Which means it’s time to deck the halls with bars of the holiday. So grab your cup of eggnog, your Santa hat, and enjoy this list of Christmas raps.
“You’re A Mean One Mr. Grinch” by Tyler, the Creator.
Inspired by the music and animation of Dr. Seuss’s “How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” Tyler took the reigns and composed a soundtrack to accompany the 2018 Universal Studios animated film The Grinch. Although a whole EP full of songs inspired by The Grinch can be found on Tyler, the Creator’s Spotify, something about Tyler’s typical cartoonishly deep vocal inflections make this song a true holiday standout.
“Christmas in Harlem” by Kanye West featuring Teyana Taylor
There’s something almost ironic about how Kanye, a man known for calling himself “Yeezus,” would release one of the 2010s most critically acclaimed Christmas songs. Originally released on December 17th, 2010, “Christmas in Harlem” brings us the best of both worlds around the holidays. Produced by Hit-Boy and originally released as part of Kanye’s GOOD Music series, “Christmas in Harlem” exhibits the raw talent West possesses when it comes to the meticulous process of arranging music.
“Santa Clause Goes Straight To The Ghetto” by Snoop Dogg featuring Daz, Nate Dogg, Tray Deee, & Bad Azz
Have you ever wanted to hear a gritty, G-Funk Christmas song that simultaneously critiques the modern commercialization of Christmas? Well, “Santa Clause Goes Straight to The Ghetto” is the song for you to hear this holiday season. Again, this song is a perfect blend of Snoop’s typical West Coast cool, calm, and collected rap flows while flipping the typical narratives driving Christmas songs. This song is sprinkled with social commentary and full of joyous Christmas cliches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVkg5FM59NA
“Christmas in Hollis” by Run D.M.C.
If there were ever to be a rap song synonymous with Christmas, it would be Run D.M.C.’s “Christmas in Hollis.” This song may owe some of its notoriety to the hotly contested Christmas movie, Die Hard (yes, it’s a Christmas movie! ). Run D.M.C. trade-off shouted verses about stumbling across Santa in the park.
“Christmas Rappin’ ” by Kurtis Blow
For the next song on our list, we go back to the early days of rap when its popularity as genre was just becoming mainstream. Curtis Blow’s “Christmas Rappin’,” was released in 1979 and found instant success, capitalizing on two popular trends, rap and holiday music. “Christmas Rappin’,” was a product of two Billboard employees who recognized the potential for a hit song. They then enlisted Curtis Blow as the MC who would deliver this rendition of the Christmas classic “Visit from Saint Nick.”
“Merry Muthaf****n Xmas” by Eazy-E featuring Menajahtwa, Buckwheat from the Lil Waskals, Will 1X, & Atban Klann
Eazy-E isn’t referred to as one of the kings of gangsta rap for nothing, the twisted spin “Merry Muthaf****n Xmas” takes on Christmas music and is a prime example of E’s close ties to gang life growing up in Compton, CA. Everything about this song rings true to West Coast rap: the beat, the lyrical narratives Eazy-E and company explore, and, not to mention, the yuletide sampling and mentions of Santa that classify this otherwise raunchy cut as a Christmas song.
The most recently released song on this list, “Chi-Town Christmas” is perhaps one of the most emotionally potent tracks from Chicago-born artist Chance, the Rapper. Chance released a whole album’s worth of original Christmas music this past month featuring longtime collaborator Jerimiah. In “Chi-Town Christmas,” Chance once again takes center stage as the rap game’s family man and recites verses depicting a lowkey Christmas in Chicago. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Chance dabble in Christmas music. However, this is by far his most organic attempt.
Christmas came early for Phish fans on December 24, with a 2pm premiere of December, an album from guitarist Trey Anastasio and Chairman of the Boards™, Page McConnell.
The sessions from the band’s recording studio, The Barn, in Vermont, were recorded over the summer, of which two songs were shared during The Beacon Jams series this fall.
The album features six tracks, all arranged for Page and Trey, offering a more melodic treatment of a few Phish ballads. The album leads off with Hoist track “If I Could” followed by “Mountains in the Mist,” and “Wingsuit,” “Joy” and “Miss You.” A 16-minute version of “The Squirming Coil” rounds out December, making it one of the longest versions of the song to date.
December was produced and mixed by Bryce Goggin, engineered by Ben Collette and mastered by Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Mastering, Nashville, TN.
Oscar winning filmmaker Peter Jackson has collaborated with The Beatles for the upcoming documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, due out in August, 2021.
Get Back looks at the Fab Four in 1969 and 1970, when John Lennon, Paul McCartney,George Harrison and Ringo Starr were preparing for their first live show in two years, showcasing the camaraderie and spirit between them, as they wrote and rehearsed 14 new songs.
The film draws from 56 hours of previously unseen footage of the band, shot by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in 1969, and includes more than 150 hours of audio. Also included in the documentary is the band’s final live performance as a group in London, England.
Paul McCartney said in a tweet:
Peter Jackson has released an exclusive sneak peek of his upcoming documentary “@TheBeatles: Get Back” for fans everywhere to enjoy.
In a video message, Jackson introduced an extended preview, noting that the film was due to be finished by now, but has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying “Hopefully it will put a smile on your face in these rather bleak times that we’re in at the moment.”
Jackson’s native New Zealand has COVID-19 under control, leading him to be able to resume work on the film. He stresses that the video shared is not a trailer, but a montage of scenes so far collected for the film, set to a rehearsal recording of the movie’s title track.
The Beatles: Get Back will be released with a new book of the same name, the first official book credited to the band since 2000’s The Beatles Anthology. The new book will be out on August 31, 2021, and features an introduction by Hanif Kureishi.
The Beatles: Get Back will open in theaters on August 27, 2021.
Charu Suri plays the piano and has since she was five.
At that point we decided that ‘the show must go on,’ and that You Tube and technology does offer us and many other voices, a solution.
On Dec. 18, Suri premiered her newest original single, “A Little Joy,” on YouTube. Since then, it has gained almost 25,000 views. Suri is one of many artists who hopped the online streaming bandwagon.
Throughout the pandemic, the music industry has had an influx of online performances. Although they have been hit hard economically, artists have proved to be ambitious with trying to make streaming work as much as they can.
At five years old, Suri started playing the piano. At nine, she was already performing. By 15 years old, she had won an International Piano Competition.
Suri has three albums behind her including, The Book of Ragas, A Jazz Trio and Sufi Sounds. Her latest accomplishment was recently becoming a Recording Academy (GRAMMYS) voting member. She also intends to release three new albums in 2021, with a mixture of holiday, jazz and new age music. Although she definitely has her work cut out for her. She also has a daughter and a husband to come home to in Weehawken, New Jersey.
For Suri, “A Little Joy” is meant to represent a calm to the Covid-anxiety-storm that everyone felt this year. The single will be available for download on Jan. 30, but is up and ready to celebrate the holidays on YoutTube now.
The late, great Edward Van Halen wasn’t the first musician of Indonesian descent to set the world ablaze with his fiery guitar work. That honor goes to The Tielman Brothers, a quartet of Indonesian immigrants to Van Halen’s native Holland, who helped pioneer a new musical genre in the early years of rock-n-roll. It was a fusion of exotic world and American musics – a high energy, theatrical and largely instrumental guitar-driven variety played by Indonesian immigrants to the Netherlands dubbed Indorock. Although it was big in continental Europe for a time, Indorock has remained virtually unknown in the world beyond.
Tielman’s story begins in 1945 in Surabaya, Indonesia, then a Dutch colony. That was when four brothers – Andy, Reggy, Loulou, Ponthon and their sister Jane – were inspired to start performing traditional folks songs and dances at parties by their musically-inclined father, Herman. Within a year and half, they were on tour as The Timor Rhythm Brothers, playing the music and dances of their homeland with costumes and even war-like rituals employing spears and swords. The musical style they played, kroncong, was a fusion of traditional Indonesian music with Portuguese fado and saudade, sounds that came to these islands when European explorers arrived, with their guitars, in the 16th Century.
All that changed in 1951 when the Tielman’s heard the hillbilly rock of “Guitar Boogie” by Arthur Smith. In search of a harder, more American sound like Smith’s, they moved brother Loulou over to the kit drum set. They eventually began to add covers of hits by Les Paul, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Gene Vincent to their act – all propelled by the ferocious guitar licks and versatile vocals of Andy Tielman.
The Tielman’s joined the wave of more than 300,000 Indonesians who would emigrate to Holland. They brought spice to its culture, cuisine (the famed rice buffet, Rijsttafel) and music. In 1957, the family relocated to Breda, Netherlands where they began playing as The Four T’s. Their big break came in 1958 when they secured a gig in the Hawaiian section of the Dutch pavilion at the World’s Fair in Brussels. Hawaiian music was becoming a global sensation at that time. Naturally, it became another ingredient in their fast-expanding polyglot musical brew, along with a little country & western, rockabilly and their native folk.
The World’s Fair crowds were blown away by their frenetic brand of rock-n-roll. It was a roar of volume and energy complimented with showy antics like tossing their guitars, playing them with their teeth, their toes, behind their backs and heads, and upside down – all without missing a note or beat. It was Hendrix’s bag of tricks, minus the burning guitar, ten years before Monterey Pop. Their electrifying act quickly garnered bookings far and wide, including some in Hamburg’s notorious Reeperbaum red light district, commencing two years before the Beatles’ first stint.
A year later, they would finally be performing as The Tielman Brothers, in Holland and mostly frequently Germany. The year also saw the release their debut single, “Rock Little Baby of Mine,” widely considered the first-ever Dutch rock-n-roll record. Around the same time, brothers Andy and Reggy started playing their signature Gibson Les Pauls. It was something that would influence a host of European guitar heroes-to-be including Jan Akkerman. The blistering technician who led Holland’s most internationally successful Indorock band, Focus of “Hocus Pocus” fame, Akkerman got turned on to the Tielman’s and their Les Pauls at age 12, while watching a performance on German TV.
“Andy’s white Les Paul was cool, but seeing Reggy playing his Black Beauty, I knew that was my guitar and I would have to have one someday,” says Akkerman. “I had played a Gretsch White Falcon in a bunch of bands since my dad bought it for me in 1963. But I had wait around seven more years or so, until my days in Focus, to finally get a black Les Paul Custom. It was an instrument that became a signature of my sound and the bands through the mid-70s.”
The Tielmans stuck with Gibson guitars until the mid-60s when they moved on to Fender Jazzmasters. Lighter axes made their acrobatics easier to perform and became choice for the majority of Indorockers. Interestingly, Andy created a custom 10-string Jazzmaster in order to thicken his sound.
Much of The Tielman Brothers’ notoriety came as a result of high octane performances on Dutch and German television, ones that we can enjoy today thanks to YouTube.
On January 23, 1960, Holland was hit with an earthquake of Indorock sound and sight… when The Tielman Brothers appeared on AVRO TV’s “Weekend” show.
The slim, sharply dressed brothers kicked off their performance with “Black Eyes.” It’s a sleepy Santo & Johnny-esque ballad driven by trills and tremolo at first, which then moves onto a stop-time tango beat, and finally, a Gene Vincent/Cliff Gallup-styled rockabilly rave-up to close. Brother Andy was centerstage with his inspired riffing and cool lounge lizard presence – using bends, slides, muted strings and classical-styled tapping to ring harmonics out of his guitar.
This TV performance also included “Rollin Rock,” six-minutes of the brothers pulling out all stops on their instrumental Indorock prowess and showbiz schtick. Drummer Loulou played Andy’s guitar with his sticks and solos repeatedly. He walked around his kit as he thumped away. Ponthon alternatively runs, rides and slides his big acoustic bass across the stage. Then positioned himself beneath it as he took his solo. Andy swung for the fences as usual – playing his Les Paul with his feet, his teeth and behind his back, the latter while dancing atop Ponthon’s bass.
The Tielman’s performance also included their radical new single, “18th Century Rock.” Could it be they started the whole European classical/prog rock thing with this rockabilly’d-up version of Mozart’s “Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major?” The stodgier segments of Dutch society were not impressed and criticized the band heavily in media. Interestingly, they would go on to enjoy greater success in Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland and Sweden than Holland.
The first Indorock bands I heard in Holland were the Poetiray Brothers, Electric Johnny and his Skyrockets, The Crazy Rockers and the Tielmans with Andy at the helm, who were the best of the lot. What a great talent he was, a genius in his own right who I had the pleasure to see and play with many times. Andy and the Tielmans were more of an influence on me than the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. I put him right up there in my favorites, with Jimi, Django and Julian Bream.
Jan Akkerman
“I remember seeing them one night in the ‘60s in the Hague at a chic place called Palais de Dance,” Akkerman recalled. “What I heard and saw was unbelievable, as it always was. They played high-energy rock-n-roll, romantic ballads and even instrumental covers of tunes from West Side Story. I heard from Andy that when they played at the Star Club in Hamburg, The Beatles would come listen and watch him play his guitar with his teeth!”
The original band of brothers would stay busy, add some new members and release a steady stream of singles and albums until a serious car accident caused two to leave the band in 1964. The band, then with only Andy aboard, scored their biggest hit in The Netherlands with the Hawaiian-inspired vocal ballad, “The Little Bird,” which reached #7 in the Dutch Top 40 in 1967.
Even after a move to Australia in his later years and the dissolving of the band in 1979, Andy continued to be a popular performer, returning to Europe to play and record and sometimes re-make his hits until his death in 2011.
“After I left Focus in 1976, Andy came to visit me often and we even recorded an album, R&R, Our First Love, which sadly never got released,” adds Akkerman. “A few month before his death, I ran into him at an Indonesian marketplace in the Hague. His daughter was playing violin; she was very good and he was very proud, more proud of that than anything at that moment. Shortly after that, I got the news he was terminally ill, but he kept playing till his last breath. Andy, for me, is still numero uno.”
The Tielman Brothers combined the very best of many good things. They boasted the intricate instrumental guitar stylings of The Ventures, The Shadows, Link Wray and Dick Dale, with rockabilly/pre-punk energy, relaxing South Sea islands folk balladry, some Great American songbook croonery, primitive prog rock with their classical interpretations and much more. It was all delivered with the kind of crowdpleasing antics that may obscure the instrumental brilliance at first glance.
As Akkerman relates, The Tielman Brothers were just the tip of the Indorock spear. Some lesser known groups of Dutch/Indonesian musicians slightly preceded them like The Real Room Rockers; and many more followed, including The Crazy Rockers and The Blue Diamonds. They are all well worth the listen.
Also worth a long listen and look is Akkerman’s work on the spectacular, new 9-CD,2 DVD Focus 50 Years anthology. This elaborate boxed set collects remastered editions of the band’s seven studio albums, plus assorted b-sides, alternative mixes, unreleased outtakes, demos and live and television performances from the Indorock/prog/fusion band’s peak years, 1970 -1976.
