MUSICIANS.
I will tell you about not a very popular and famous musician. His
songs sound wonderful, and be has an interesting way of making his
melodies. Ed Alleyne-Johnson is a composer and violinist. Ed leant to play
the violin at school. He played in the school orchestra, but he did not
really enjoy playing classical music. It was too rigid. He did not go to
the music college. He studied painting at the school of Drawing and Fine
Art in Oxford. But he carried on playing the violin in rock bands and folk
bands. He tried to make career as a painter, but it was too difficult so he
went back to music. He started playing on the streets in England, and then
he traveled around the Europe and the States. He met a lot of different
musicians in different countries and leant some of the styles. He does not
imitate them. Not many people play electric violin on the street, so people
are usually interested. His violin is also a special one. Normal violins
have four strings. Ed is violin has got five. He painted it purple as his
first violin which he inherited from his grandfather. It became a sort of
trade mark. When he is playing it, it sound like more than one instrument.
It has a device that records music he has Just played, and repeats it again
and again. It is a sort of high-tech, one-man band. He has also made a CD.
It is called «The Purple Electric Violin Concerto». At the moment he is
recording a new CD. He is going to go back to Europe and give free concerts
on the streets and in record stores. His music was inspired by the streets,
and he would tike to take it back to the people who helped him to write
it.And here is another man who has been in the music business for about
twenty years .His name is Paul Keгак. He never had another job. He started
playing when he was just a kid, he taught himself to play. He tried few
instruments , First there drums-it was when he was only five. After that it
was there piano and then later the keyboards. He plays guitar also. He
started playing professionally when he was still at school. He left school
at sixteen. He was playing in a band, working on Sunday evening in pubs and
clubs. When he left school his only ambitions was to be in a pop group. He
was played with «Roxy Music» and »THE Smiths» . And he made records with
«Pretendness» and «Madness». It is very important to him because he made a
first hit record with them. That was in 1974 . The song was called «How
Long» and it was a big bit all over the world. Since 1985 he is with «Mike
and the Mechanics». He is the singer -vocalist and Mike plays the guitar.
He always wanted to work in America. He was pleased when his records were
successful there. And last summer he made an own record. It came out in the
October and it is called «Groove Approval» . It is doing quite well,
especially in America. His records are often played on radio there and
there are more people that have heard of him then in Britain. He is not a
superstar of course. But people know his name and buy his albums.
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