Big news! I’m really excited to announce my Live Acoustic Show ‘Life Is A Miracle’ at Ritz Music in Richmond, on the 18th of October 2015 from 6pm.
I’m really looking forward to playing my originals to all of you!
Tickets : £5-00. Booking: Please phone Ritz Music on 020 8332-1488
To get updates on my show, please join here.
Thank you. So looking forward to this one!!!
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I recently got a mail from Reverbnation and I have YOU to thank for this one – because YOU are the ones listening to my music, enjoying it, like I enjoy making it! Thank you for listening to my music. Thank you being cool about me exploring other genres. Thank you for allowing me the ability to live my dream. Just thank you all around.
Hello, Beautiful,
You look perfect today
Just like yesterday,
And the day before
You’re so lovable
And with that killer smile
You could save someone’s life
You’re incurable
It’s not hard to tell
Where are you going now
He’s waiting for you
On the other side of the town
So, put on your lipstick
He’s gonna find out
Who’s the queen of desire
Day after night
One quick look in the mirror
The last thing you do
Put on your make-up
He’s never gonna break-up
With you
All that he wants from you
Is just a’ whole lotta loving
He needs a little huggin’
From a doll like you
You look so natural
Your face shines like a star
One can see who you are
Nothing artificial
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Deborah Azzopardi. Photo by Cristina Schek
By James Brewer
It is remarkable that just one painting can show how small the world has become, says London artist Deborah Azzopardi.
Deborah has long enjoyed global renown for her piquant and playful Pop Art portraits of faux romantic episodes involving smart young people. One of her best loved pieces is called Sshh… It shows a glamorous female with her well manicured, red-nailed finger seductively pressed against her lips. Prints of the illustration hang on living room walls world-wide and those who possess it proudly consider it part of the furniture.
Life Is A Miracle… Sometimes Unpredictable. By Deborah Azzopardi
By chance, Deborah found out not long ago that one such collector – a young Hungarian folk/blues musician living in Transylvania 1,800 km from her London studio – had been inspired to compose a vibrant and moving melody in honour of the print.
Deborah says of the tribute: “How wonderful that was – millions of editions of the image have been sold, and one man with his guitar comes along and dedicates a song to it.”
It was the first time that anyone had applied a musical interpretation to one of her canvases – and there are few contemporary parallels, the best known being the Don McLean 1972 hit song Vincent written as a tribute to Van Gogh and his painting The Starry Night after the American singer read a biography of the Dutch artist.
Deborah happened to find the song celebrating her work on the internet, and the upshot was that she met the singer/songwriter from afar, Noris Schek, in London, which led to the two collaborating on a unique new combined music and visual art project.
Deborah Azzopardi’s work at London Art Fair. Photo by Cristina Schek
Noris said: “Deborah Azzopardi’s art is global – I had the Sshh… on my wall, back in Transylvania. In 2011 I had written The Quiet Song inspired by the painting. I didn’t plan to write the song, it just came to me. It just happened: it was meant to happen!
“A couple of months before my wife Cristina and I came to live in London to find a wider audience for my music, the song was recorded and shared with the world on the internet, along with a short explanation telling people where my inspiration came from. A year passed and, in July 2013, I got an email. Deborah Azzopardi, the artist of ‘our’ beautiful Pop Art painting was writing to me, saying she had come across my song.
“How often do such things happen? Was it the accident of finding something extraordinary, or just one of life’s miracles? Take your pick, I go for the miracle,” said Noris.
Noris Schek
“Deborah said she very much enjoyed listening to the song, and that she wanted to meet me. I had a concert in Kew Gardens, asked her if she would like to come, and that’s how we met. After that we became good friends.
“My newest composition is called Life Is a Miracle. I recently recorded it, Deborah heard it, and the next thing I knew she was showing me her beautiful, new, larger-than-life painting, inspired by my composition. And she has named it Sometimes Unpredictable, a line found in the lyrics.” Continue reading
Look around, what do you see?
Animals are dying in the air, on land and sea,
Everybody’s watching but there’s nothing you can do
You can cry, but no one cares about you.
People are talking; ”That’s the way of life”
It’s easy to say this, when you’re holding the knife
Do you still believe we’re the almighty race
Praying to God, to fall into His grace.
Did you ever think about,
How would be your life without
Animals and natural sounds?
Why do we have to destroy all?
Fighting with our guns for oil
Wake up! It’s all a bloody lie.
Deep in your heart you know we’re the same
Down in your soul you’re calling my name
Inside your mind and inside your brain
We’ll all dissapeare and that’s not a game
What is the reason of killing all the species
One by one, they’re gonna be just memories
All you can say: ”It’s in the name of science”
Little by little we’ll reach eternal silence.
Thinking that we’re the best is a big mistake
For thousands of years we continue to take
Their lives; when we should care about them all
We’re playing God but one day we will fall.
Did you ever think about
How would be your life without
Animals and natural sounds?
Why do we have to destroy all?
Fighting with our guns and oil
Wake up! It’s all a bloody lie.
Set me free…
…
There is NO EXCUSE for Blood Hunting. All we need is human decency and a little more Common Decency.
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Everyone loves a good story. I don’t have to hang a storyteller sign around my neck for you to believe I am one. I am no wordsmith, though. I prefer telling my stories by word of mouth, the same way I prefer listening to live music; – but, ever so often I find myself having to write a story down, so as to reach as many story-lovers as possible. Why? Because this one is a magical story.
Here we go!
In May 2012, Cristina and me started recording some videos in our new home, which we were to leave soon and move to London. The series was to be called The Acoustring Sessions.
We got to work. Two of the songs were my interpretations on Lewis & Clark by Tommy Emmanuel and Scott Joplin’s ragtime – The Entertainer. But it’s the third song that really tells the TALL story.
Sometimes the best things that happen are the things that you didn’t plan. Let me explain. I didn’t plan to write a song, it just came to me. I didn’t plan to get inspired by looking at the beautiful painting we had in our living-room, called Sshh…. It just happened. It was meant to happen! The painting inspired me to go to that beautiful creative place that I always long to revisit and write a song – The Quiet Song.
Josh Barry (vocals) ad Noris Schek (guitar) join 1Take TV in EAB Recording Studios in West London for a performance of ‘Locked out of heaven’ by Bruno Mars.
Sound production by Elliot Bradley. Filmed by Jonah James, Beatrice Black and Cillian Farrell. Edited by Jonah James.
I bid you welcome to Norris St, St. James’s, London SW1Y 4RJ, my friends!
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A beautiful, acoustic collaboration with Josh Barry
Sound production by Elliot Bradley. Filmed by Jonah James, Beatrice Black and Cillian Farrell. Edited by Jonah James.
I must confess that I’m still blown away by the unbelievable amount of talent I’ve had the honor of sharing
the stage with, at The Troubadour – starting with my band mate Josh Barry, who’s got a phenomenal voice, the soulful Lizzie Deane and her awesome jazz band Richard Laws, Jo Phillpotts, Paul Williams, Roger Evan, who did not come empty-handed, but with a beautiful debut album ‘Set Me Free’, the sensational Jumoke Fashola, who set the house on fire, the charming Ellie Rose performing her 100th gig (!), the powerful duo made of Phil Gibbs & Martin J Stephens, and last, but definitely not least, a surprise appearance from the legendary Peter Howarth, the current lead singer of ’The Hollies’. The event was hosted by Carly Wilford & Danny Williams.
Photos courtesy of Cristina Schek.
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NORIS SCHEK 