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May 21, 2013
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 Yo-Yo Ma Cello-Synced at InaugurationPosted on Jan 23, 2009
In their defense, it was almost impossible for Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman to actually play their instruments at Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony, because of the frigid weather, but it turns out that Ma, Perlman and the other two musicians who accompanied them at Tuesday’s event were performing in sync with a recording of John Williams’ commemorative arrangement.
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By Joey, January 27, 2009 at 4:46 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
YOU get over it. Everything about that whole “staged” deal was fake. Not a story now, but it will be when king Obama can’t do 1/10th of what he promised. The rest of the music thing was just about the same; not interesting, not even good.
Report thisBy behold_the_matrix, January 27, 2009 at 9:48 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Actually it was a perfectly fitting performance in the city of smoke and mirrors.
Report thisBy Zhong, January 27, 2009 at 6:50 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Was Obama for real? Was he also sync’ed? This is not a good omen for Obama. If I were him I would demand an apology from these stupid musicians. The fact that they are world class experts is no excuse.
Report thisBy Russian Paul, January 26, 2009 at 8:13 pm Link to this comment
Music performance is about connecting the performer to the listener. If the music is phony, the connection is phony. The music is then meaningless background noise and the people on stage…are merely actors.
I’m a musician, not a thespian, if someone asked me to stand on a stage and fake-play my instrument, I would refuse. Money can be a factor, but it’s not like Yoyo needs it. Any self-respecting musician would or should refuse that kind of indignity.
And I agree that this is not very relevant news - which is why it’s filed under Arts + Culture…
Report thisBy bachtenor, January 26, 2009 at 1:00 pm Link to this comment
T H I S I S N O T N E W S
When I log on to Truthdig I expect a higher level of content then Fox News or People Magazine.
Why has this utterly insignificant item been on the front page of this site since last week. IT DOES NOT MATTER.
I’m a professional musician. Had it been me up there, I’d have done the same. IT’S SHOW BUSINESS, GET IT?!?
Move on.
Report thisBy vancemack, January 26, 2009 at 9:25 am Link to this comment
Anarcissie makes the best point…that they cant play in frigid cold weather is an understood by anyone that knows what it takes to tune instruments…so…
Why botha??? Why go through some dog and pony clown show to PRETEND to be playing? Thats the stupidity of that whole 170 million dollar extravaganza. And hey…how many people could have been fed and sheltered for…say…half of that amount…
Report thisBy Outraged, January 26, 2009 at 2:20 am Link to this comment
My ten year old considered this “a boring performance”. I tried to temper his dislike of the matter, by saying, “Well, they’re really VERY GOOD.
At this he tersely responded, “Maybe that’s the problem, they’re so good… they’re BORING!
Out of the mouths of babes….....
Report thisBy progressivepam, January 25, 2009 at 11:38 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This is standard operating procedure for huge televised events. It’s how you get good sound. There’s no story here. There’s no deception. It was a good decision. Move on and get over it.
Report thisBy Bladerunner, January 25, 2009 at 11:17 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This is not a story. Can we focus on other things. Truthdig is not FAUX NEWS.
Report thisBy 1twenty1, January 24, 2009 at 3:12 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Like the fumbled Presidential Oath, this totally invalidates Obama’s Presidency. I demand a do over indoors.
Report thisBy William Belote, January 24, 2009 at 11:18 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
These are among the greatest musicians in the world. Anyone with experience playing real wood and string instruments in conditions like they faced on Tuesday will have no trouble forgiving the use of a recording. Mr. Ma said it best, “We were there to serve the moment.” The moment was best served by having the music sound beautiful, which it did. These musicians need not care what the uninformed may think, they have nothing to prove.
Report thisBy Anarcissie, January 24, 2009 at 10:25 am Link to this comment
No, really, there’s something truly grotesque in having musicians of the stature of Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman pretending to play their instruments while a recording is put on. If it had been done in humor, I could see it, but apparently we were all supposed to take it seriously. If they were going to do that, why not set up some animated dummies to saw away in time with the music?
Report thisBy bogglesthemind, January 24, 2009 at 9:56 am Link to this comment
You gives a flying fiddle? This is all you can talk about?
How about some more “I’m Kinda A Big Deal” T-Shirt ads. We could sure more of those.
Report thisBy Anarcissie, January 24, 2009 at 8:57 am Link to this comment
All right, they couldn’t play, but why then the clown show?
Report thisBy Dave24, January 24, 2009 at 7:39 am Link to this comment
This isn’t a big deal. These musicians are clearly amazing at their respective instruments, unlike the absurd references to the talentless Milli Vanilli and Ashley Simpson.
Organizers should have had them play inside the Lincoln Memorial or inside the Capital Building or something. Ninety-nine percent of all people watching the event were doing so over TV anyway. This would have avoided the need for a pre-recording in addition to the ridiculous banter about it currently underway.
It also would have showcased our beautiful monuments.
Report thisBy Ron N. Bykal, January 24, 2009 at 5:57 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
May this be the most newsworthy event of 2009.
It’s small potatoes, no matter how you spell the tasty spud.
Get over it; it ain’t even close to M. V.
Report thisBy Russian Paul, January 24, 2009 at 3:47 am Link to this comment
Olivier Messiaen performed his “Quartet for the End of Time” in a Nazi POW camp in the frigid cold!
Yoyo could have played a slower piece without the fancy finger work, but instead he opted to fake it. As a musician, if it was too cold, I just wouldn’t play, I have too much self respect to mime-play to prerecordings…
Report thisBy Victoria, January 23, 2009 at 9:09 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
As a professional guitarist who has been asked to play outdoors in cold weather, I can attest to the fact that temperatures below 60 degrees F can make fingering complex passages very challenging. Plus, the strings and the wood of my guitar react unfavourably to the cold and make tuning very difficult.
Report thisBy CJ, January 23, 2009 at 7:40 pm Link to this comment
Thanks to venerable “Gray Lady” for the utterly irrelevant, though better than, say, Tom Friedman commenting on the Middle East.
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