JacobTV - Grab It! - Electric Kompany

GRAB IT ! for tenor saxophone and boombox was composed November 1999 for Arno Bornkamp. GRAB IT ! soon became extremely popular, now regularly played and recorded around the globe.
Other versions came into being: I added an ad lib. drum part, made versions for electric violin, for percussion and also an arrangement for electric guitar with Kevin Gallagher. Kevin Gallagher and his band Electric Kompany recorded this newest version of GRAB IT !
I tried to explore the 'no-man's-land' between language and music. I believe that language is one of the origins of music. So in my opinion, the roots of a lot of Afro-American music can be found in the spoken word. The musical quality of speech increases by the power of emotion, which is one of the reasons I use audio from people in extremely emotional situations.
Grab It! is based on voice samples from life-sentenced prisoners. Their world, on the fringe of society, with its heartbreaking verbal assaults moved and inspired me. The rough vitality of these shouting men formed a perfect unity with the harsh and powerful sound of the tenor saxophone.
The meaning of the lyrics becomes gradually clear during the piece, as well as the hopeless situation for the prisoners. Death row is a metaphor for life. Yet the piece is not just sad, but can also be understood as a 'memento vivere'. Life is worth living: Grab it!'
A Grab It! video by Michiel Zegers was created as a backdrop for a live performance. May 2007 Jan Willem Looze filmed Electric Kompany, rehearsing Grab it! downtown New York and mixed those shootings with the video graphics of Michiel Zegers.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• JacobTV
• Veldhuis
• boombox
• rap
• electric
• guitar
• prisoner
• dope
• drugs
• rock
• Zappa
• avantpop
• newmusic
• contemporary

[mjatv]

te gek

[lucasmartos18t]

tHE BEST I?VE HEARD IN ALL 2008

[nickbrake]

amazing!

[biscuffin]

Haha stolen! I like your version tho, it works well.

[CTROCK]

cool shit check me out CTROCK THE HIP HOP ROCK GUITAR ARTIST

[raveyard]

Jahah!!!

[SecondSpace]

Marvellous!!!

[airguitar03]

i love this song its brillant