A short music trip around America

Hello dearies! Today I am very excited, because I will be talking to you about two subjects that are interesting to me. The first one is music and the second one is film. Combined the two what do you get? A short film, exploring all different types of music America has to offer! From New York to Chicago, you can travel mentally around the States in the film called “America’s Musical Journey”! It was a fantastic opportunity for me to join other music lovers for an exclusive screening of this short film right at the city centre, near Covent Garden. But first let me tell you how this thing started, as I believe it makes for a fascinating story!

Living in London, I find it so difficult to be in the know of any events coming up, so I found it is better to subscribe to some newsletters that make my life easier; not only as a budding blogger, but as a professional living in London for about 5 years now. One of these websites is Londonist, a fantastic site for everyone living in London. I love the guys’ writing; it is always compelling with the right amount of humour that makes for a relaxed reading on a Sunday morning in bed. I highly recommend it as a means of keeping up with everything happening in London.

So, in one of their newsletters I received a couple weeks ago, it was this screening of “America’s Musical Journey” at Odeon Covent Garden! Oh, and did I mention it was free?!? OMG, was it free! You only had to book the tickets you wanted and just show up there. That was so cool to me (and even cooler because the screening fell on a Wednesday, which means right at the middle of the working week and with just two more days to go!). So, I booked two tickets and the rest, as they say, is history! I couldn’t wait for Wednesday to come and I was feeling positive about it.

Wednesday did indeed come and along with my colleague Maria, we made the short trip to Odeon Covent Garden after work. At this point, I’d like to thank the staff at the cinema, as they were awesome and left us feeling like real VIPs! Honestly, my plus one and myself were on a guest list! How great is that?! After a short wait at the lobby, where we were even offered a glass of white or red wine, we were finally ushered inside. We had another surprise there, as we were offered a tab of pop corn! So, to summarise everything, we had free tickets to the cinema screening, a free glass of wine and a free tab of pop corn! Not bad for a Wednesday evening, right?

The actual film was very interesting. Narrated by the legendary Morgan Freeman and starring Aloe Blacc, it was a virtual journey from Louis Armstrong to Gloria and her husband Emilio Estefan. Celebrating the diversity of musicians and types of music that make America what it currently is, “America’s Musical Journey” is a great starting point into exploring all types of music that have flourished and still do so in the States. I liked the personal touches that Aloe Blacc inserted into the film, as I believe that it was more a personal journey under his point of view, rather than a docufilm about music in the States.

Overall I found the film fascinating, not only because Morgan Freeman was narrating, but also because it made me want to travel to New Orleans, Miami and Nashville and learn more about their rich musical history, culture and traditions. The only thing I found lacking was that there was no mention of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Co, or the king of pop, Michael Jackson! The other king was mentioned, because Elvis helped shape the music of the ’50s and ’60s, but I still think that it was a pity that other artists were not even mentioned. I guess though that within 40 minutes, there wasn’t enough space to talk about every music genre under the sun!

For a middle of the week screening, it ticked all the right boxes, and not only because it offered us freebies. “America’s Musical Journey” is a nice short film, so I am highly recommending it. No matter how interested in music you are, this film is not to be missed! As far as I know, it is still screened in London, so do go there and share the experience!

Till next time,

Sofia-Maria