Music Month: Guest Post from Sarah Cross

Last month as my life was starting to spin into a whirling dervish frenzy--it's not over yet, but I have been able to slow down temporarily the last day or two--Sarah Cross, author of the upcoming Kill Me Softly, sent me an email with recommendations for March Music Month here on the SurLaLune Blog. Rather than break it up, I thought I would offer it all up in one fell swoop as a guest post from Sarah.

And shouldn't we invite her back to talk about her book next month? (Raise of hands!) Thanks, Sarah, for sharing. I wasn't aware of many of these and I think readers here are going to have a fun time exploring your suggestions. And if you don't follow her Fairy Tale Mood, you should!

Sarah's words:

I'm a writer and I curate a fairy tale tumblr (Fairy Tale Mood) (mostly art), and I'm a longtime fan of SurLaLune and a (lurking) reader of the blog. You mentioned a while ago that you were looking for fairy tale music for your March Music theme, and I wanted to offer up some suggestions. I hope it's not too late!

A few of these are Disney remixes or medleys, but I promise they're more than covers.

1) Disney remixes by Pogo/Nick Bertke

Pogo creates songs made up of vocal syllables, musical chords and sound effects recorded from various Disney movies, and then splices together clips from Disney movies to make the videos.

Alice (Disney remix)



Wishery (Disney remix)



Bloom (Disney remix)



2) "I am Not a Princess" Marina & the Diamonds music video by ELY -



This is not an official music video. It was created by an independent filmmaker, but it's wonderfully done and one of the best fairy-tale-themed music videos I've seen. From the filmmaker's description: "The story reimagines a myriad of classic princess mythologies that every little boy and girl has grown up either adoring...resenting...fulfilling...(or a conflicted mixture of all those feelings), and writes each fairy tale its own unique, modern twist. This message: of carving your own path and ultimately following your heart, regardless of expectation or society, is very near and dear to me and hopefully reflected in the spirit of this film. "

3) Nick Pitera - "One Man Disney Movie" Disney Music Medley



This is a pretty incredible performance. The screen is split into 6 sections, all featuring Nick Pitera, who sings as various Disney heroines, heroes, villains, and sidekicks, and the characters even "interact"/react to each other.

4) Heather Traska - One-Woman A Cappella Disney Medley -



Inspired by Nick Pitera's medley video. From Heather's description: "86 days, 30+ looks/characters, 13 main songs, 13 "quoted" songs, 1 month to edit, recorded myself, arranged entirely by ear, edited myself, make up and costumes done myself."

5) Valentine "Black Sheep" music video

This video uses imagery from Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, and Cinderella. Valentine is a German pop singer, and the youtube videos for the fairy-tale version of "Black Sheep" are not viewable in the U.S. anymore--that's why I'm resorting to using a MySpace link. (The "Black Sheep" video that is viewable on youtube is the "magic version," but despite its name there's nothing magical about it.)



6) Märchen - fairy-tale concept album by Sound Horizon, a Japanese symphonic rock band, with songs based on Hansel and Gretel, The Man from the Gallows, Snow White, Frau Holle, Sleeping Beauty, Bluebeard, and Saint Kummernis.

Wikipedia entry I don't know a lot about this album (I first encountered Märchen via fanart of the album's fairy tale characters, and assumed it was a manga), but fans have translated & subtitled some of the songs and put them up on youtube.

Bluebeard:



Snow White:



Footage from the live concert:



Okay, and now I think I've exhausted my fairy tale music suggestions. I hope some of these are of interest!

Best,

Sarah