Pachelbel’s Canon like you’ve never heard it before.

The latest rock god of the wired world is a young Korean guy known to all as funtwo. He posted a video of himself playing a rock arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon on YouTube.com and it is now one of the top ten most viewed clips of all time on that site with 7.35 million views. The arrangement is by another Asian-Pacific guy JerryC who posted his score on the internet. The New York Times reported (27 Aug 2006) that if these guys had had a record deal with this piece, they would have gone gold.

The newspaper comments that these two seem typically Asian in being self-deprecating and not seeking out publicity - rare in a world full of celebrity wannabes obsessed by celebrity culture. The paper also reports that there is a whole world of ordinary people playing their music for the sheer love of it and who have a passion to share their knowledge and skills and to take inspiration from each other. Through that dialogue, it suggest, the great music of today and the future will be born.

The key factor in my mind is that money is not involved. None of these people experimenting with guitars in their back bedrooms or making music in their garage is being paid to do what they are doing. They share their music and techniques for free on the internet. Outside the control of the moneymen, the music can be and do whatever it wants. The artist doesn’t have to think about marketability or how much they can earn from that creative piece. They can experiment, improve, fail, create pure joy. That, perhaps, is true creativity.

Watch and listen and be wow-ed….

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You can read the full NY Times article here

My thanks to Ilin for telling me about this video for Fusion View.