My picks for entertainment ~ suggested movies, TV shows, music, and books ~ so you can enjoy some quality ME time! (ATTN Korean drama addicts! This blog has lots of K-drama love.)
Almost everyone is familiar with the Nutcracker Suite and Swan Lake. But here is an informative article that was published via Forum Coin which discusses 3 one-act ballets. It is sure to pique your interest.
1. Carmen Suite. "The ballet has everything: Spanish passion, rejected love, and a cruel ending."
2. The Spirit of the Rose. "The girl has a dream that the Ghost of a Rose flies into her open window."
3. The Young Man and Death. "This is a psychological ballet."
The article peaked my interest and inspired me to write this article:
Watching Korean dramas is my guilty pleasure. I especially like the
historical period dramas, during the Joseon period. I have been contributing detailed reviews on PopGeeks.com since 2023. But I share K-drama love everywhere I can.
If you have not watched these, you should add them to your watch list.
If you have watched them, let me know if enjoyed them too!
The main character is a feisty little innocent girl who is fiercely
loyal to her family and friends, but has the courage, inner strength and
determination to break with tradition, and find her own way in a cruel
world that is not a very nice place for a low-born; especially not a
low-born young girl.
This series is 60 episodes, with an extraordinary cast, and based on a
true story. It is a real life love story between a king and a woman he
took to be his concubine: Dong Yi (played by Han Hyo-joo) and King
Sukjong (played by Ji Jin-hee).
It's a love story with a bold and daring hero who is not only an
expert swordsman but also knows how to handle a pistol and a rifle. His love
interest is an intelligent woman whose father is a scholar and allowed
her to learn (although she had to dress up like a man to attend school).
They both dream of their country, Joseon, as a land that will one day
be populated with free people. His enemies thought they had killed him,
but he was saved and taken to another country. He returned to Joseon
with a new identity and was determined to settle old scores. The first time
his beloved sees him again, she faints. He may be wearing different
clothes and using a different name, but he still looked to her like the
man she loved. She thought she had seen a ghost.
A baby who was born in a prison turns out to be a princess. But
before she learned her true identity, she was taught by a martial arts
master and first learned how to kick butt!! It's a handy skill to have
if you're going after the bad guys who caused your mother's death. The
main character is Ok Nyeo played by Jin Se Yeon, who is on my list for
favorite Korean actresses.
A young prince witnesses horrific bloodshed and commands that it be
stopped. Since he is a small child, his command is disregarded and he is
returned to his father; only to learn that it was his father who
ordered the bloodshed. To add insult to injury, his mother is
“accidentally” killed (really she was murdered). From that day forward,
he not only hates his father, HE HATES EVERYBODY! Everybody except his
close friend. He was forced into a marriage of convenience. His wife,
the princess, becomes pregnant by another man. In an effort to cover
this up, the father-in-law (the father of the princess) attempts to kill
the prince. The attempt fails. Trying to escape his assassins, the
prince falls down a slope and hits his head. A poor man finds him, takes
care of him as best he can while he is unconscious. When he regains his
consciousness, he does not remember who he is. The poor man tells him
that he is his daughter's husband-to-be and that they must marry
immediately or his daughter will be flogged.
For 100 days, he lives the simple life of a commoner and falls in
love. He is found by his father-in-law and brought back to the palace.
His memory has not returned. But slowly bits and pieces of incidents
from his past, like puzzle pieces, begin to come together. His story
begins … AGAIN! He realizes who he is and what he needs to do. He also
knows what he wants to do. He wants to marry the woman he fell in love
with as a commoner, who is also the little girl he met when he was a
child and had promised he would marry someday.
A young prince meets and makes friends with a nobleman's daughter when they were children. An accident happens on a boat, and the girl he
met is tossed overboard. Her father believes that she drowned. Her
sister grows up, and the prince, now king, chooses her to be his bride;
not realizing that she is the twin sister and NOT the girl he met when
he was younger. Corrupt officials arrange to have both King Lee Kyung
and his queen, Kang Eun Bo, assassinated on their wedding day. They
succeed in killing the sister but the king miraculously comes back to
life. The people are terrified of him. How can he possibly come back
from the dead? The twin sister realizes that her sister has been
murdered. She takes her sister's body and secretly buries it. Then she
returns to the palace AS IF she has also risen from the dead, just like
the king. The king not knowing that she is the young girl he had met as a
child, also believes his wife has come back to life. However, the twin
sister's main purpose for returning to the palace is to discover who
murdered her sister. For all she knew, even the king may have been
involved. But she eventually realizes his innocence and falls in love
with him. The problem is that she has already deceived him into
believing that she is the one who died. This makes their personal
relationship very complicated. As if life in the palace wasn't already
complicated with all of the scheming, conniving, ruthless, greedy
politicking that was going on. Oh! Did I mention the prophecy?
Goo Hae-ryung is a female historian. Prince Dowon (or Yi Rim) is a
young prince who has been sheltered from the outside world. These two
main characters are adorably cute! But they have had some tragedy in
their young lives. They both lost their fathers through violence. Of
course, the adults around them try to hide the truth. But the two of
them trying to uncover the truth makes for a good plot.
The time is during the transitional period between the end of the
Goryeo dynasty and the beginning of the Joseon dynasty, which is why it
is “The New Age”. A king, princes, military leaders, all engaged in a
power struggle to build a new country. Seo Hwi and Nam Seon-ho are two
childhood friends have the power of their friendship “tested”. Things
happen to them, they get separated, and become enemies due to a
misunderstanding about "my country." One of them decides his country is
“the country of the abandoned”.
“'Bossam' in the Korean title refers to a customary remarriage
procedure that took place during the Joseon period. At that time, a
widow could not remarry. A single man or widower would kidnap the widow
and marry her. Some of the kidnappings were agreed upon in advance and
others were by force.” (Quote Source: https://asianwiki.com/Bossam:_Steal_the_Fate)
Here's the story. Two friends earn their living by kidnapping widows.
It's a steady-paying job because … evidently, a lot of widows want to
be kidnapped and remarried. However, there is one widow who does not
have this on her mind. She just happened to be sitting outside, and the
kidnapper happened to go to the wrong house and … uh oh! … she is
accidentally kidnapped. You think this problem is easy to solve. The guy
made a mistake, so all he needs to do is take her back home. Right?
WRONG! The lady who was kidnapped turns out to be a princess. Her
father, the king, wants to see her. Since her father-in-law did not know
how or why she disappeared or where she was, HE LIED! He told the king
his daughter had committed suicide, having died from the grief of being a
widow. The king finds out that his daughter is alive and wants to use
this fact to trap the father-in-law and get rid of him for treason. The
father-in-law also finds out she is alive and the entire series is him
trying to have her killed so that he doesn't get caught in his LIE!
I grew up during the 60s and the 70s. Amy Winehouse recreated that throwback vibe. It’s a pity she departed so soon.
Amy Winehouse passed away July 2011. But her music endures.
“Back to Black” is the signature song by Amy Winehouse that she left for us to remember her by.
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
Enter Amy Winehouse. 14 September 1983
Exit Amy Winehouse. 23 July 2011
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
Music is my weakness. So many songs have left an imprint on my life and as life passes those songs still move me. No doubt, it’s that way with everyone.
But in my generation, so many talented souls departed this life way too early than they should have — like Janis Joplin (1943–1970), Jim Morrison (James Douglas “Jim” Morrison, 1943–1971), etc.
I grew up during the 60s and the 70s and always tell my kids that the music of my generation was the best! That’s why the artists and musicians of their generation “sample” it. But every now and then there are singers from my kids' generation that hearken back to that old-school sound I remember.
You would think the artists in later generations might learn from the tragic stories of others and not repeat history. But they don’t learn and they do repeat the tragic history.
Yet when another bright one finally gets to shine their light, and no sooner than they are in the spotlight, their candle is blown out.
I was just starting to enjoy her raspy soulful sounds when it was announced that she was gone.
Glad she did a duet with Tony Bennett to leave as part of her legacy.
CAREER HIGHLIGHT: Amy Winehouse had been singing for several years before she became a global sensation. She started performing as a teenager and was a featured vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in 2000, when she was around 17. By 2002, she had signed with Simon Fuller's 19 Management and was recording songs. Her debut album, "Frank", was released in 2003 and received critical acclaim, but it was her second album, "Back to Black" (2006), that catapulted her to international fame. So, she had been actively singing and developing her career for about six years before she truly broke into the mainstream.
Masquerade (2012) is a Korean version of Mark Twain's "The Prince & The Pauper", only set in the Joseon Era. It WON Best Film-Movie of the Year. No surprise it a made into a series. The Crowned Clown (2019) has also enjoyed immense popularity worldwide.
King
Gwanghae swears that “somebody” or maybe “everybody” is out
to get him! He's convinced that a member of the royal court is
trying to poison him. Isn't that how they always get rid of members
of the royal family? The king comes up with a plan. Find a LOOK
ALIKE! Substitute the look-alike on the throne while he goes off to
hide somewhere. That way, the doppelganger who looks like him can get
murdered instead.
As
impossible as the task seems, the king's councilor finds a “twin”.
Initially, Ha-Sun tries to imitate the King Gwanghae speaks. It
works … for a while, although Queen
Heo Gyun
immediately suspects. After all, she is a wife, and the man who has
entered the bed chamber does not behave like her husband. There's no
way he's the king, i.e., the man she married. But??? … Who is he, and what is he doing in the palace? (O.o)
The
best-laid plans often go awry. While
King Gwanghae is hiding, he becomes gravely ill. That means Ha-Sun
has to continue pretending to be King. He finds it too difficult
pretending to be someone that he's not, and his true personality
emerges. He is nothing like King Gwanghae, and everybody notices the
difference. Even so, the king's enemies still want
to get rid of him.
Will
Ha-Sun end up dying in the king's place anyway?
♦
STORYLINE:
The Crowned Clown (2019)
This
is the
same story as
the movie “Masquerade”
with a few more details.
It tells
the story
Ha-Sun's childhood and how he became an entertainer. He worked with
a group of clowns
and they chose him to play the King during
their performances
because he looked so much like the real king. He
was spotted by the king's councilor during a performance and that was
the day his
life changed FOREVER! One of the best
things
that happened to him was
meeting and falling in love with the queen.
Horatio Alger Jr. (1832 – 1899) could be looked at as an American Charles Dickens; although his writings never reached the level of popularity where so many of his books were so good they were adapted to film and often quoted. The similarity is in the subject matter of his books. Horatio Alger Jr. wrote young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. Does that plot sound familiar? You're right. Charles Dickens often wrote stories like that. Alger didn't just write juvenile novels. He also wrote novels for adults, poems, short stories, and biographies of famous people, such as American presidents James A. Garfield and Abraham Lincoln. His first work was published in 1849, and several of his writings were published posthumously after his death on July 18, 1899. If you collect or read vintage books, Alger's writings are recommended.
[UPDATE: March 20, 2025 - You know what they say. Get it while it's HOT! Apologies, but the movie that was once available on YouTube to watch online for free, is no longer available. For more info, please scroll down to the bottom of this post. Thank you.]
**
Maureen O'Hara is one of my favorite actresses. (Born Maureen FitzSimons; 1920 – 2015). She was an Irish actress and singer. I remember her for her flaming red hair. I thought she was gorgeous! I have seen her in so many movies. But I found a movie that I had not seen. She starred in this movie with another one of my favorite male leading actors, Jeff Chandler (born Ira Grossel; 1918 – 1961).
* Flame of Araby (a.k.a. Flame of the Desert), released in 1951. *
Jeff Chandler plays the part of Bedouin
chief Tamerlaine and Maureen O'Hara plays the Tunisian Princess
Tanya. Of course, you know as soon as they meet sparks fly! They
make a charismatic onscreen couple. The Bedouin chief is searching
for the legendary black stallion Shahzada. To be the one who catches this prize steed is all he could ever want. All that he could ever want that is …
until he met the Princess Tanya.
It's a love story with both a hero and
a heroine. A wonderful wholesome family movie. I enjoyed it!
**
You can watch this classic film on Daily Motion. (However, it may not be in your language.)
Kenny Rogers Had a
Remarkable Career. Here are a few highlights:
* Kenny Rogers joined
the folk-pop group The First Edition in the late 1960s, which scored
a major hit with the psychedelic track “Just Dropped In (To See
What Condition My Condition Was In)” in 1967. This marked Rogers’
transition from jazz and folk to mainstream pop and country.
* In 1978, Rogers
released “The Gambler”, which became his signature song. He won a
Grammy, and it later inspired a series of five American Western
television films, between 1980 and 1994. Kenny Rogers played the
character Brady Hawkes.
* In 2013, Kenny
Rogers was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, honoring his
six-decade career. He retired in 2017, and his final studio album
“You Can’t Make
Old Friends” featured a touching duet with Dolly Parton,
echoing their earlier hit “Islands in the Stream”. 🌅
Late Career Milestone: Hall of Fame and Farewell: Kenny Rogers passed
away peacefully at home on March 20, 2020, at the age of 81.
🎸 1. Glen
Campbell played backwards guitar on this track.
🎤 2.
Kenny Rogers wasn't supposed to be the lead or a star (He was just
one of four lead vocalists in The First Edition. The group needed one
more song for their album, and Rogers suggested this one. It became
their breakout hit and launched Rogers' career.)
🎥 3.
The Song was featured in the cult classic "The Big Lebowski" and resulted
in introducing the track to a whole new generation and cementing its
place in pop culture.
Do you fancy BBC Masterpiece Contemporary Mystery movies or television series?
The BBC political thriller titled “Page Eight” is about a British intelligence analyst who refuses to compromise his integrity.
What happens to him is what usually happens when civil servants will not budge on their principles and ideals of Right versus Wrong, and their principles and ideals do not line up with their boss, i.e., the chief executive leader who says: I know what is best for our country and I am the one in charge, with the authority!
In his case, Mr. Worricker (the character masterfully played by Bill Nighy) butts heads with the British Prime Minister. He found some real information on page 8 of an intelligence report that points a finger in the direction of the Prime Minister and … Oh dear!
He has to leave his job? No. Rather he chooses that it is time for him to resign from the MI-5 service and move on. To spice up this not “atypical” political thriller plot, he meets a young woman (played by Rachel Weisz) that he has the power to help because of his access to confidential official government secrets. Does he help her? But of course! She helps him as well. In his line of work, it’s really hard to find someone you can trust.
At one time, Cary Grant (1904 - 1986) was one of Hollywood's main leading men. He was certainly one of my favorite actors. He has been acting since the 1930s but most of the movies I remember watching when I was growing up were released in the late 1940s and the 1950s.
Watching old movies is one of my favorite things, especially during the holiday season. Christmas is not until December but I hope no qualms about starting the celebrations as soon as the autumn season is officially declared. The last week of September is usually the first week of the fall season. Here are my 2 picks for Cary Grant movies to watch for the Christmas season. It's best to watch in December.
Movie #1: The Bishop's Wife (1947), leading lady, Loretta Young Cary Grant is an angel from heaven named Dudley. He came down to earth in response to the Bishop's prayer for guidance and in the process of performing his ministerial angel duties, ends up spending most of his time with the bishop's unhappy wife. The answer to the bishop's prayer lies in him realizing that in the performance of his duties as bishop and a husband, he had somehow misplaced his priorities. All he needed was to put back on the right path. It's a warm and fuzzy feel-good kind of movie that is best watched during the Christmas holiday season.
Movie #2: An Affair to Remember (1957), leading lady, Deborah Kerr
What happens when two (2) lovers make an arrangement to meet at a certain place, on a certain date, at a certain time, with the intention to get married and living happily ever after … only one of the lovers does not show up at that certain place and time, as per the arrangement? Another love story and a real tear-jerker! My favorite part of the movie was where Deborah Kerr started crying but she took her handkerchief and started wiping the tears from Cary Grant's face. He gently took the handkerchief away from her and started wiping her years. She was the one crying. Not him! It was a love affair to remember. I remembered it and have rewatched the movie more than once. It wasn't a Christmas movie but that touching love scene happened during a Christmas holiday.
HA! That stands for hooked again!! My new addiction is watching Korean historical drama TV series. There are way too many of them for me to keep up. They are so exciting and interesting, even though the basic plot in most of the series is pretty much the same.
What's the basic plot, you ask?
Eh! Some palace intrigue on the inside, rivalry among the nobles and scholars on the outside, honorable slaves, and commoners who prove time again that being poor and uneducated does not equal stupid! ... and of course, the love triangle. No Korean drama is complete without the love triangle. △
For each series, the script writers take this plot, create different and intricate twists and turns, and develop characters that make the viewers immediately choose sides and start rooting for them! I like this lady or this man! But that person has got to go! When the ruthless evil characters finally go down, you're pumping your fist in the air and going Yeah! A flood of relief washes over you and then you have to remind yourself that it's just a TV show. :)
While seeking and finding more and more historical series to satisfy my K-drama addiction, found “Dong Yi” (2010). This television program is directed by Lee Byung Hoon, who also directed "Jewel in the Palace" (2003).
Reviews indicate that Hoon's 2003 series was extremely successful, so it went on my watch list. But because the 2010 series includes in its cast an admirable child actress, Kim Yoo Jung, who also starred in “Tamra the Island” (2009) and “The Moon Embracing the Sun” (2012) ~ her cute little face drew me in. The series is based on the life of a real historical person:Royal Noble Consort Suk of the Haeju Choi clan.
{Side Note – According to recent reports in South Korean entertainment news publications, Ms. Jung's latest project, “Moonlight Drawn By Clouds” aired its first episode during the 4th week of this month, August 2016. It is being well received. Series at viki.com.}
Back on point. The child character played by little Ms. Jung, is a “commoner”, i.e. not born into a noble family, who grows up into a beautiful and intelligent, caring and compassionate young woman, played by Han Hyo Joo. The character's name is … what else? Dong Yi!
She went from the child who had everything taken away from her to the woman who had the world laid at her feet. According to all the fortune tellers, “her light” was going to shine brightly in the land of Joseon.
Nothing annoys me more than reviews with spoilers, so extra precaution is taken to constrain myself and not to reveal too much. Here are my impressions so far.
Good start! Series starts off with a very peaceful idyllic scene of a man fishing and enjoying a quiet leisure moment. The silence is immediately shattered when the man is brutally murdered. But before he breathes his last breath, guess who finds him? A young child named Dong Yi!
Good fortune? I'll say! This lady was born under the Lisa Bonet lucky star. She got two hot guys wrapped around her finger! If you know who Lisa Bonet is and you watch this show, then you'll understand my meaning. :)
60 episodes and I've only reached the halfway mark. What's the hook the writers used to keep you interested all the way to the very end? A butterfly! Don't know about everybody else, but I love butterflies!
One of my favorite leading male actors when I was growing up was Cary Grant (1904 – 1986). Why did I like him? He reminded me of my father. No he didn’t look like my dad at all. But he dressed like my father. Always neat, well groomed, and very dapper! Grant was much like my father in that the suits he wore fit him perfectly. He was always well-dressed, even when his clothing was supposed to be “casual”, i.e. not a suit and necktie.
Admirers or fans have described Cary Grant as “debonaire”, “sophisticated” and “funny”! But before being described that way, when he was an unknown, he must have had enough confidence in himself to believe that he would be a “survivor”. Born and raised in Bristol, England, he did not have a very happy home life as a child. He was expelled from school at the age of 14, and so he had to go to work and fend for himself. His mother had been committed to a mental hospital and he and his father did not have much of a relationship. He went to work in a theater in his hometown. That introduced him to the world of entertainment and that put him on the path to Hollywood stardom.
He came to America at the age of 16. He was traveling with a group of entertainers from England. His first stop in the USA? New York City. When the people he came with went back home, he decided to stay in New York. When he grew into manhood he was quite a dashing figure. His handsomeness was attention-grabbing! Yet he did not get his first Hollywood acting contract until he was age 27; using the name Cary Grant.
He established himself as a comedic actor. His humor was really clean too! You don’t mind watching all of his movies, where he played comedy roles, with young children around. It was said that he only accepted roles that he thought portrayed him as a good moral character. He wanted anybody including children to be able to watch him on screen. That was the public image he always wanted to maintain and he did. The movies he starred in for the first half of his career were wholesome clean comedy. But when he teamed up with the great director Alfred Hitchcock, he proved that he could also play dramatic roles quite convincingly. Whether comedy or drama, he maintained that image of being a decent and upstanding gentleman.
Grant became an American citizen in 1942 and the naturalization process allowed him to legally change his name from Archibald Alexander Leach to “Cary Grant”. He made 70+ films over three (3) decades (1930s – 1960s), but it was easy for me to narrow down my 3 favorite films (listed below) because, in addition to being a huge Cary Grant fan during my youth, I was also a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan. Hitchcock is known as the “Master of Suspense”; and his films and his television show were extremely popular back in my day. One may wonder however since comedy was not really Hitchcock’s specialty, why he would even approach a comedic actor to star in his films. But isn’t the answer obvious? Cary Grant made a very attractive leading man and if you paired him with an equally attractive leading lady, how could your movie not be a hit? Of course, I don’t know if that was in Mr. Hitchcock’s mind, but that’s what I would have been my thinking.
Notorious (1946), leading lady, Ingrid Bergman
To Catch a Thief (1955), leading lady, Grace Kelly
North by Northwest (1959), leading lady, Eva Marie Saint
All of the women chosen to star in the films with Mr. Grant were just as popular as he was; and onscreen they made the perfect pair.
Notorious (1946), leading lady, Ingrid Bergman
This movie is a Hitchcock classic that will not disappoint anyone who loves old movies about espionage. Most of the action in this film takes place in Brazil, but the opening scene is Miami, Florida, the city where I was born and raised. For that reason only, the movie instantly captured my attention. Ingrid Bergman plays the daughter of a man who was convicted as a Nazi spy. She is as American as apple pie and there is no reason why she should be punished for the sins of her father. Cary Grant works for the United States government as an agent and he persuades Ingrid Bergman to accept an assignment because it is her patriotic duty. They caught her father and convicted him but they need to catch another bad guy. Grant and Bergman fall in love almost immediately and that makes her carrying out the assignment “complicated”.
To Catch a Thief (1955), leading lady, Grace Kelly
Cary Grant was a professional thief and he was a very good one known as “The Cat”. But he retired to the quiet life of a bachelor in a gorgeous villa where he grew beautiful flowers. Unfortunately, there is a copycat cat going around committing burglaries and stealing people’s jewels. Naturally, he becomes the prime suspect. He needs to catch the real thief to prove his innocence. While trying to find the victims, i.e. jewelry owners, that the copycat thief is likely to rob, he meets Grace Kelly, the daughter of one of the victims, and falls in love. She helps him catch the thief and she steals his heart as well.
North by Northwest (1959), leading lady, Eva Marie Saint
I have often heard people say that everybody in the world has a “twin”. I don’t really know if that it’s true, but in my own life experience, I have had people mistake me for being someone else. The person’s name was Julie. I never met her but people have approached me or waved at me from a distance calling out the name Julie. That’s not my name! Nevertheless being mistaken for someone else didn’t really disrupt or interrupt my life. In this movie, Cary Grant is mistaken for someone else and his life is turned upside down! There’s a lot of spying going and one of the spies is a woman. No worries. She’s one of the good guys. He’s no experienced secret agent but he decides to help her accomplish her mission. The two most memorable scenes in this movie? The one where the couple is on Mount Rushmore and the scene where Grant is running, and trying to avoid being run over by an airplane!
♦ These are my top 3 picks for favorite Cary Grant movies. My favorite leading lady was Ingrid Bergman. Agree or Disagree.
Under
the Queen's Umbrella is a Korean historical period drama series,
released in 2022, that is currently streaming on Netflix.
16 intense episodes. Viewers gave this series 4.9 out of 5 stars. I totally agree. Kim Hye-Soo's performance as Queen Im Hwa-Ryeong is award-worthy. But giving credit where credit is due, quite frankly, all of the actors and actresses in this series gave exemplary performances. They played their roles as if they were real historical figures in the Joseon Era.
The
worth of the flowers in the palace, i.e. the king's women, is judged
by how many sons they bare the king.
Queen Im Hwa-Ryeong (played by
Kim Hye-Soo) has been very fortunate. She bore five (5) sons for the
king. Her oldest son is the crown prince, but he is suffering from
a life-threatening illness. He could die any day! If he were to
die, who would take his place? The crown prince already has a son of
his own, so according to the line of succession, his son, her
grandson, should be heir to the throne. Then as alternatives, one of
his brothers, her four other sons who are grand princes, could be
chosen. But her sons are perfectly content to never be king. She would have been content to allow them not to
pursue the throne EXCEPT … the deposed queen (i.e. the queen before her) also had many sons. When she realized the lives of her sons were in jeopardy, she immediately made up her mind that her sons would not suffer the same fate as Queen
Yoon and her sons.
Queen
Im Hwa-Ryeong now understands that THIS IS WAR!
The
harp is mentioned more often in the Bible than any other musical
instrument.
The
harp is an earthly instrument with a heavenly sound. It can soothe a
troubled soul.
In
Jewish history, it is written that when King Saul was tormented, he
asked for someone to play the harp for him to calm his spirit. A
young harpist named David was recommended. The lad was surely an
extraordinarily talented musician because he was often summoned to
play for the king to relieve his distress. When David grew up, he
succeeded Saul as the second king of ancient Israel. Music continued
to be an integral part of his life, and in addition to being an
accomplished harpist, he also wrote psalms (songs).
Unfortunately,
none of the harp music of King David was preserved, so we can only
imagine what those hauntingly beautiful and caressing melodies may
have sounded like.
Fortunately,
Jeff Majors is a harpist with a great imagination!
The
American music audience no longer insists that the harp is just for
classical music thanks to breakthrough artists like jazz/gospel
harpist Jeff Majors.
Now
a well-known and much-appreciated African-American
artist/composer/harpist, Jeff Majors followed his dream. Literally.
He actually had a dream about playing the harp and decided he would
learn.He was taught by the late Alice Coltrane (1937 -2007), jazz
pianist and harpist, and the spouse of the legendary John Coltrane
(1926 -1967).
Along
with Alice Coltrane, Mr. Majors credits the late Dorothy Ashby (1930
-1986) with influencing his musical style. These ladies proved that
the classical harp instrument could be easily and effortlessly
integrated into jazz compositions. Once Mr. Majors mastered the
instrument, he set out to share his musical gift with others. Through
collaborative efforts with other artists, he has set to music some of
the Psalms written by King David.
Treathyl Fox aka Cmoneyspinner – Home Business Entrepreneur. Think. Dream. Focus. Believe in yourself? Hire yourself! Be your own boss! Do it! Self-employed and loving it! ♦ DISCLOSURE: In compliance with FTC rules and guidelines, be advised that some links shared via this websites might contain affiliate referral links which means commissions might be earned if product sales resulted from your click-through to the vendor’s website.
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