As a major proponent of individuality and as someone who strives for maximum originality, I rarely speak about my influences. It’s virtually impossible for any composer, musician, performer to not be influenced, consciously or subconsciously, by others who came before them. Often, we don’t talk about them openly, simply to minimize the unnecessary comparisons between their and our work – but they’re there. I owe so much to the exceptional composer, the incomparable Vangelis, on so many levels, that I can only feel right if I express my deepest appreciation for him, his music, and share my sadness about his passing in a tribute on these pages.
Vangelis was my biggest influence as a composer and as a human, for 40+ years. I would not be where I am as a composer, if it wasn’t for the effect of his music on me as a child – and ever since. I vividly remember listening to the full Chariots of Fire album in headphones when going to bed, before I could reach the pedals of my piano. I was mesmerized by his music, the sounds, the feel and emotions that the long track on side 2 evoked; it effected me not only musically and emotionally, but in ways that actually shaped who I became as a person. In later years, after gaining experience through my own album releases and scores, discovering Vangelis’ statements about the music industry, which I fully shared, his views on technology, people, art, expression, unobtrusiveness, resonated with me as much as his music.
There are too many personal and intimate stories throughout my life to share that connected me, sometimes miraculously coincidentally, to him through his music. Just a couple of weeks ago I was on the phone with his best synthesist, reminiscing about his wonderful ways with people… I am lecturing about his enormously influential work in my Ultimate Electronic Music course at USV in just a couple of weeks – as I do every year… he’s been a deep part of my world for as long as I can remember music. More than to any other creator of honest music, I wish I had had the opportunity to express my gratitude to him in person.
The world has gotten poorer this week – and I mean this literally. He has created a new universe of music, or as he would say, he presented the music of the universe to us.
His work stops here, even though his music lives on. While he inspired so many, it is impossible to genuinely come even close to his musical expression. However, his legacy reaches far beyond music. The philosophies he shared with the world, and not just about music but about ourselves as humans, are like seeds. Seeds of thoughts, approaches, attitudes that he had planted and grew into a lush forest of musical dimension of his own. Although his list of his albums, scores, performances don’t expand any longer, molecules of these seeds have become part of the genetics of art, philosophy, culture, and musical expression, spreading all over the world through true creativity. And for composers, some of these powerful molecules are now part of our own genes, ensuring that the legacy of Vangelis continues to spread wider and farther as we create new music.
Please join me in cherishing Vangelis’ impact on our world, the human culture, and celebrate his new journey beyond our existence with Procession from his album, The City.
