Yanni

  I was home alone last Monday evening; Jan had to run to Juneau for a dental appointment and I was left to fend for myself, which was fine.  When I'm fishing I spend many a night alone and after the first few days or so of loneliness, I adapt to the dinners out of a can or from my good friends at Stouffer's or Swanson's. In any event, I had to work for a few hours that night and when I returned home I decided to listen to my latest  Yanni CD. The dog was laying in his bed, under his sleeping bag, the TV was off and I put down the book I've been reading and just listened. Frankly, it was heavenly. For anyone not familiar with Yanni, I guess his music is described as New Age, which in my opinion isn't quite accurate, but I'm no music critic, so what do I know? New Age conjures up images of people chanting or doing yoga or listening to some bonehead expound on spiritual awareness of which he has no idea, while he takes their money and sends them off to die in a sweat lodge.  Anyway, I can't accurately describe the music Yanni produces. Every album is different. As you can see I have several videos and a DVD as well as eight CD's and three cassettes. One of the videos, Live at the Acropolis, shows Yanni standing between two pianos and playing them both at the same time. On that video he's playing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His mother and father are in the audience and the stadium is packed to the hilt. He plays a song that he wrote for his mother called Felitsa- his mother's name. It is one of the most beautiful melodies I have ever heard. On the Tribute video his live performances occur at the Taj Mahal in India and also at the  Great Wall of China. His Live DVD takes place in the Mandolay Bay in Las Vegas. Like all of his concerts, the auditorium is packed. He's got a worldwide fan base and tickets to his performances can run into the hundreds of dollars. All of  his performances that I've seen come with a light show, coordinated with the music, so it's a feast for the eyes as well as the ears.

   I was watching Good Morning America years ago, back when Joan London and Charlie Gibson were the hosts and they had him on as a guest and he played one of the songs from his concert in Athens. I was hooked immediately. Incidentally, I first heard Enya on GMA too, another one of my favorite artists. I don't know why so many musicians go by their first name only. If I went by Tom alone, I doubt that I would be famous at all. Most likely I'd be considered a world class nut case. I guess that's the price I pay for not having any musical ability.

  If you haven't heard Yanni before, I would encourage you to take a walk on the wild side and give him a try. If I had the technical ability to reproduce one of his songs with this blog, I most certainly would. He's a musical genius and he's used his God given gift well. I hope he continues to produce what in my opinion is some of the most beautiful, stirring music a person could listen to. I've listed the titles of his music that I own  below.

 Live at the Acropolis  

 Tribute

 Yanni Live

 Snowfall

 If I Could Tell You

 Voices

 The Ultimate Collection

 Ethnicity

 Truth of Touch 

 In the Mirror

 Love Songs

 Devotion