Music & Entertainment Blog

The Martin dreadnought guitars are favoured by folk musicians for the full, expressive sound they produce, and the D-45 has truly earned its place amongst our list of Top 10 Guitars.

This week’s starring guitar is the fantastic Gibson Les Paul, beloved by the likes of Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.

Next to make our list of the top 10 guitars is the iconic and hugely popular Fender Stratocaster, played by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck.

The guitar is one of the most popular and emotive musical instruments of the last century – a powerful tool, many famous musicians have become legendary alongside their signature guitars. Here begins our look at 10 of the best classic guitar makes, starting with the Fender Telecaster.

A little known legend died on 28 June 2016. Well, not as well known as he should have been, considering his place in the birth of rock guitar as we know and love it. We were honoured back in 2006 to have Scotty Moore (b. 1931) write the foreword to our labour of love, The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock – an apt beginning to a book that told the complex and many-faceted story of rock.

As is the case with pretty much all stars, before the beautiful butterfly came the unremarkable caterpillar. Bowie was born in Brixton, South London on 8 January 1947, and named David Robert Jones. His father was a promotions officer for the children’s charity Barnardo’s and his mother a cinema usherette. He had one sibling – half-brother Terry – who had, like much of the extended family, sadly suffered from severe mental problems.

 

The sad news of the death of Leonard Cohen has prompted many to mourn the loss of the folk rock icon, whose most recent album – You Want it Darker – was produced by his son Adam and released just a few weeks ago. Covering such topics as politics, religion and love, his unusual and intelligent songs have always possessed a strangely addictive, dwelling aura, the words threaded with subtle power and wrapped in an unconventional singing voice. The acclaimed Canadian songwriter's influence can be felt in the works of many other music stars, including the likes of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Philip Glass, Tom Waits, Rufus Wainwright and U2, and his most famous works – including Hallelujah (1984), Bird on the Wire (1969), Suzanne (1967) and So Long, Marianne (1967) – will no doubt continue to capture the imagination of their listeners. As tributes continue to pour in for the great poet and musician, we take a look back over the early life of this captivating figure, whose beautifully enigmatic songs betray his early days as a cult author and poet. 

This Monday marked what would have been Elvis Presley’s 81st birthday. However, the passing of pop hero David Bowie slightly overshadowed the date this year. But now the dust has settled from that sad news, we thought it timely to give due attention to Presley, one of America’s all-time cultural icons. Starting Young Elvis received his first guitar aged 11. Already a member of several church choirs in his hometown Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley found some of his earliest musical influences via his gospel singeing sister, Rosetta Tharpe. In fact it was Tharpe who originally wrote and performed ‘Hound Dog’. The song performed in the Elvis Presley way (a very different sort of performance altogether), would of course later become one of his biggest hits of all time.

After the sad passing of David Bowie yesterday (11.01.16), there was some inevitable Bowie music-playing going on at Flame Tree. However, whilst we stuck on a playlist of his tracks, the question arose, which one was his best? So, I quickly took a survey of our staff’s top picks and whittled it down to a top 5. 

Joseph Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) was born in the town of Ciboure in France. His father was a very successful engineer and inventor and he and his mother greatly encouraged his musical interests. They sent him to study in Paris at the age of seven and by the age of fourteen he had performed his first public piano recital. From the very beginning his career was remarkable.