Mystery solved

While taking my daily walk with my dog in the forest near my house, called Gréngewald in Luxembourgish, I finally discovered something that has been intriguing me for some time. 

I have often come across this photograph in signposts scattered along this forest but I never knew what it was about.

I have to say that despite not being a scary cat I always thought the signposts looked a bit spooky. Even more so when walking late in the evening or in vary dark and stormy days. I even speculated about different stories these girls could have possibly had, and they were usually something along the lines of The Shining.

Well, today that mystery came to an end as I took a path I never took before. 

As Luna, my lovely dog, sat down to have  a little rest from retrieving sticks and running all over the place I noticed a junction in the forest with an info panel of some sort. When I approached it I realized it was precisely about the six girls of the spooky picture I had seen many times.

So the story goes that these six girls were actually princesses, their names were Marie-Adelheid, Charlotte, Hilda, Antonia, Elisabeth and Sophie, daughters of Great Duke Guillaume IV of Luxembourg. They were born between 1984 and 1902 and they seemed to have loved nature around this area where they spent time while some family members were busy hunting. 

A red oak was planted for each of the six princesses and they are still there. Only one of them was replanted since the original one came down after a heavy storm. 

So these are the six red oaks planted in honour of each princess, and that was the mystery solved. No more speculation about terrible stories that could have happened to these six girls. Now I know that those six beautiful red oaks are as old as 121 years of age and they have a little story to tell.

Note: Pictures taken with a mobile phone so the quality isn't brilliant.

International Women's day

It's the 8th of March, a day every year I celebrate doubly, one for my birthday and one for all the women I admire, those who I know well and those I don't know at all. 

I am a firm advocate of women's rights and I am also convinced women who have managed to become brilliant and successful in the arts, science, sport, or in the fight for rights and equality play a key role in giving example to young girls and the rest of us. 

So here’s my small celebration of this day with some photographs taken during some of the best performances I have seen in the Philharmonie of Luxembourg.

It is a small selection of images but one that shows diversity of styles, cultures, age & ethnicity. Because art and womanhood know no cultural, age or ethnic barriers.

Ana Moura at the Philharmonie of Luxembourg

Fataumata Diawara @ Philharmonie of Luxembourg

Omara Portuondo @ Philharmonie of Luxembourg

Janine Jansen #@ Philharmonie of Luxembourg

Years

I wonder how these trees would sound if played in the record player developed by Bartholomäus Traubeck. 

For the project entitled 'Years', the artist and engineer made a record player that could play trees instead of vinyl, creating a different melody based on the tree's age. A tree's year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data then serves as basis for a process that outputs piano music using both analog and digital technology.

This mix of nature and technology, sound and shape, age and rhythm is one of the most original concepts I have ever come across. 

The pictures above were taken in the Black Forest region of Germany on a photo trip I did last year with some friends and fellow photographers. I had already discovered at that time Traubeck's project and having listened to the incredible music coming out of the tree sections and his record player I could somehow listen to their music in my head while wandering in the forest.

To be honest this is not the type of music one would listened to while driving or in the house in a daily basis. However, if you are out in the forest, and especially if you are off the beaten track, it can certainly provide a unique experience in which one feels closer than ever to all those living things that often only catch our attention in a visual way. 

I would advise you to do just that, get some music player device, use headphones and go off the beaten track in a forest. Play this music and imagine how time and nature produce music for you.  

Check the video below and this link if you want to find out about Bartholomäus Traubeck's project. It is well worth listening to this uncanny music.

A record player that plays slices of wood. Modified record player, wood, sleeves. 2011 Thanks to: Pro-ject Audio, Karla Spiluttini, Ivo Francx, Rohol www.traubeck.com UPDATE: Years is out as MP3.Download the digital release: http://traubeck.bandcamp.com/album/years To get the 12" vinyl release please go to http://www.ordia-muszc.com/shop/

Tigran Hamasyan

I haven't had a musical obsession, as the one I have over the past year with Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan, for a long time. I saw him playing live for the first time last year at the Philharmonie of Luxembourg, where I work as a photographer.

While I look through the viewfinder of my camera, I'm often moved by musicians who are expressive and absorbed during their performances. In a way it is a rather intimate moment I share with them even though they are not at all aware of it. Shooting most of the time from a dark control room, zooming in with my lenses and looking through a small viewfinder brings a sort of closeness that I love.

With Tigran Hamasyan I wasn't only moved but was also totally thrilled. His performance has left an imprint in my musical taste and preferences. The reason is that he encapsulates all those things I love about different musical styles and musical attitudes.

I have quite an eclectic taste when it comes to music, as I have listened to many and varied styles over the years. From rock, heavy rock, instrumental virtuoso guitar players, flamenco, classical music, jazz, blues, singer songwriters, world music, you name it. 

So when I saw Tigran Hamasyan and his musicians playing at times like a heavy metal band, next minute like the finest jazz ensemble or giving us the most refined and beautiful melodies and singing I was immediately taken by his grasp of  the essence of all those styles I still love. He was giving me in a sense a condensed formula of all the music I love into one beautifully conceived style.

His wildly complex beats and eclectic mix of styles go hand in hand with fragments of gentle folk music of Armenia's cultural heritage. If on top of all that you add that he does not shy away from improvising and using multiple keyboard instruments, the result is that his audience vibrates with so much energy it doesn't look like you are attending just another jazz concert. 

If you would like to listen to some of Tigran's music you can do so in his youtube channel 

All images are exclusive © of Alfonso Salgueiro.

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