The new website is now On Air!
http://www.jcschutz.com
Let me know what you think of the new design. It's supposed to be responsive, so it looks almost the same both on big computer screens and small mobile phones. I used some big background photos from Sweden this time. Maybe they can be slow to load if you're on an old machine...
Please spread the link to your friends!
=)
Today my grandpa Calle passed away.
The news filled me with a great sadness. He was not my real grandfather, but he was part of our family as long as I can remember (my real grandfather died when I was 3, so I have no memories of him).
I always loved visiting Calle's and grandma's house. Unfortunately it was 4 hours by car to get there, so we just met once or twice a year.
When I was a kid, Calle introduced me to Swedish poetry - especially Dan Andersson and Nils Ferlin - but also to music and the actual playing of music, as he was playing the accordion. I also remember the electric keyboard he had, which I was allowed to play whenever we visited. Maybe I was 6 years old.
A bit later, when I had started playing the guitar, he went into the big, narrow closet you often find in Swedish houses, and fetched a vintage series of books on how to play the guitar, which he passionately lent me, happy to be able to support my interest in music. Maybe I was 9 years old.
We talked about death sometimes, and it never scared me. He seemed so sure it was nothing to fear.
He loved to read me his favorite poems, and he knew that I loved to listen. He was writing poems too, and I was inspired. We sat on opposite sides of the table and wrote poems, with the mosquitos from Dalälven humming in the background - one day I got 100 bites. Maybe I was 12 years old.
Our connection was not by blood, but by heart. My music, and my heart, would not be same without you. I'm 37 years old, and life is humbling.
Thank you for everything.
May you rest in peace.
Here's a song I'd like to dedicate to you, to wish you a safe trip back to the stars.
Sarah McLachlan - "Rainbow Connection"
Du, grabben!
Tack för allt.
Vila i frid.
The White Silk Dress (Ao Lua Ha Dong) is an incredible Vietnamese movie from 2007 by Luu Huynh, which was Vietnam's official submission for the Oscar Academy Award 2008.
The movie, which is one of the most beautiful and touching I have ever seen, shows the hard life of a very very poor family in 50's and 60's Vietnam and how a simple white silk dress (ao dai) is closely linked to the fate of all of them. It starts when Gu gives it to Dan as a wedding gift with the promise of a proper marriage sometime in the future, and the young couple soon runs away from their slave-like lifes as servants to find a better life together.
The acting is touching and understated, especially Truong Ngoc Anh, as Dan, is amazing. The movie's wonderfully filmed, with rain-soaked landscapes and beautiful colors, and Duc Tri's music is also really good. 2 hours and 20 minutes may feel long for a Western audience, as Vietnamese movies often don't always follow the same dramatic structure as Western movies, but that's what I like about it. It's unpredictable, and there are always things to surprise you, and plenty of space for the viewer to breathe and reflect on the message.
Here is some kind of trailer:
I can't find this movie at Amazon, but here's a link to the movie wIth English subtitles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3twvSiZWxo
Soundtrack:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004AV ... mp;sr=8-12
Watch this movie!
It's amazing, and you will never forget it.
Just for a laugh, I want to share this "honest trailer" for the Les Miserables movie.
Please note that it's a joke =)
Cuban pianist BEBO VALDES has passed away aged 94. He was one of the greatest musicians ever to come from Cuba, and I just want to wish him a safe journey.
He lived in Sweden from the 1960's, and I have several friends who have worked together with him from the 1970's and onward.
One of his best albums was the amazing collaboration with flamenco singer Diego El Cigala - LAGRIMAS NEGRAS (black tears).
Thank you Bebo for all the beautiful music. Rest in peace.
The album on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Lagrimas-Negras-B ... B0001EKZOQ
Being a 'long-nose' is not easy anywhere, my friend Mikael Wiehe wrote to me last year regarding being a foreigner. It doesn't matter which country you go. As long as you look different or have a strange-sounding name the police, the customs officers, etc, etc, etc, will treat you with suspicion.
In Sweden, the not-so-intelligent Minister of Justice Beatrice Ask supports the police's harassment of foreign-looking people (in their search for "paperless immigrants"), and yesterday, Swedish author Jonas Hassen Khemiri wrote an open letter to her in DN, Sweden's biggest daily newspaper.
Within one day (!) it was DN's most shared article on the web ever.
Please read this. It may open your eyes to the situation of foreigners in your own country, wherever you live. Because it's the same everywhere. It's not just about the police. It's rooted in our collective consciousness, the "foreigner", the "stranger", the "weirdo", the "strange name", the "big nose", etc.
The letter google-translated into English
http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... mp;act=url
Original Swedish text:
http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/basta-beatrice-ask
It's FANTASTIC.
And unfortunately very very true.
Jonas Hassen Khemiri and Beatrice Ask.
Just found the music video for my song Think Of Me, from 2003!
I wrote the song especially for the short-film Marcus & Medelhavet by my friend Johan Pettersson, and the song & music video were also made in 2003. Maybe, it was the first song I wrote for my debut album Passion, released in 2004.
I say maybe, because it's 10 years ago, and I don't remember...
Filmed on location in Norrköping, Sweden.
http://jcschutz.bandcamp.com/album/passion
Enjoy!
I was just informed that NINA RIPE's first album Apaixonada - Brazilian Stories, for which I was giving artistic direction, is nominated for Best Jazz Album 2012 by OJ, Sweden's biggest jazz magazine!
If you live in Sweden, you can vote online:
http://www.orkesterjournalen.com/index. ... ;formId=18
I also wrote 3 of the song lyrics:
Picture in Black and White (Retrato em Branco e Preto)
A.C. Jobim/Chico Buarque de Holanda. English lyrics: J.C. Schütz.
Möten och Avsked (Encontros e Despedidas)
M. Nascimento/F. Brant. Swedish lyrics: J.C. Schütz.
Return (A Volta)
R. Menescal/R. Boscoli. English lyrics: J.C. Schütz.
Here's the album on iTunes;
http://itunes.apple.com/album/apaixonad ... d542465903
And Nina's website:
http://www.ninaripe.com
The first sunrise of 2013:
as viewed from eastern Japan as the sun slowly climbed in over the mountain-filled island in the Pacific Ocean.
I feel that this will be a good year!
Starting from January 2013, I'm offering Guitar Lessons and Songwriting Master Classes.
If you live in Japan, there's also the choice of taking a Music Producing Master Class and Group Guitar lessons.
Please check this link for English:
http://www.jcschutz.com/lesson/index.php?l=en
and send me a message to get prices in other currencies.
2013年1月スタート！ギターとマスタークラス・レッスン！
ギターレッスン：
グループレッスン
個人レッスン
マスタークラス：
作詞作曲 ・ ソングライティング
音楽プロデュース
是非、もし良ければ、連絡下さい。良いな音楽のお年を！
http://www.jcschutz.com/lesson
85% of the songs I have released are being played in radio. I was REALLY surprised myself to find that out!
