Lucia Micarelli

The last time I blogged extensively on Lucia Micarelli was on the "Analytical and Intuitive Minds" thread on FOJG.  I was upset that she was not going to be on the Illuminations tour.  The thread was deleted.

In case you didn't know, she was on the Closer and Awake tours.

Lizzie asked the mods if they had deleted the thread.  They denied doing so, which left us with the strong suspicion that Josh had deleted it himself.

I felt a bit badly.  It must have been a sensitive topic, which hadn't really occurred to me, though perhaps it should have.  I had strongly suspected before that Josh had read posts of mine on the website, but I had never been sure.  Now I feel fairly strongly that he must.

Anyway, Lucia's on TV now on the Treme show on HBO.  While she does sometimes perform on the show, she is primarily there as an actress.  Of course, part of her appeal was her high drama stage presence -- including an incredibly mobile and expressive face -- so it should not be a surprise that she is a great actress

BTW, I don't regard the word "actress" as offensive.  I've noticed that some people do.  I can't imagine why.  I used to live in France, where many words had male and female forms, and I became convinced that France was the least sexist country in the world.  They had a saying <<Vive la différence>>, meaning "long live the difference."  I like that.  I think the difference is good and nice and that women should not be junior men.

Nevertheless, she has done some rather extraordinary things as a violinist on that show including playing the violin like a ukele, and learning how to do jazz on the violin.   She has also started singing, which surprised me.  She sings in a dark, soft, bluesy way, which is interesting given that she often prefers a bright, loud, crisp sound on the violin.

What I really like about Lucia's violin playing is the way she can make that instrument have so many voices.

I first heard her doing a cover of "Kashmir" in a Youtube video taken from Josh's "Awake" DVD.  I was instantly riveted.  I had never heard anything like that on the violin.  Lucia demonstrated the ability to take an ancient instrument and make it new -- make it something it had never been before.

Since that time, I've seen that ability over and over with Lucia.  She can make that violin sound like a tired old blues singer in a dive bar, like an electric guitar, like a jazz tenor sax, like a cello, like a ukele, and mostly she does this soaring, unique sound that is so sweet and clear that it is almost impossible to believe that this is the same instrument that I was used to listening to in classical music.

On the second Treme DVD, her jazz violin on the song "Heavy Henry" is another transformative interpretation.  Whereas previously one might have thought much of her playing to be mournful or angry, this one is so full of light-hearted joy that again it is hard to place it as the same instrument that other violinists are playing.

Her "One More Cup of Coffee" with Steve Earle stands out on the Amnesty International "Chimes of Freedom" album -- at least to my ear -- as the most extraordinary and brilliant Bob Dylan cover out of the 75 on the 4 disc set.  The reason why this amazing recording is not a runaway hit escapes me.

I am baffled as to why this unique performer, such a genius, is not more widely appreciated.  I suppose it is partly that she is shy.

Anyway, not that anyone is likely to read this or anything, but I've made a playlist of those Youtube videos of hers that I found most exciting, which is practically all the videos I could find.   Here it is

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiv74vm_F0Y9z1Su09f1jldG74QRND_A3

I hope, if you do listen to these videos, you will come to agree with me that Lucia is not just a violinist but a paradigm changer, someone who does things with the violin that no one else does, a genius.  Also, I hope a lot of people buy her albums -- the third of which she is hoping to have out fairly soon -- so that she can make more albums.  I adore the first two and would like many more.

I also have this faint hope that she might perform with Josh again, but perhaps that is not the musical direction she is going in right now.  Still, she has great merit on her own.