On Friday the 22nd of March, Nocturne returned to the Stables Bar in Betws-Y-Coed to serenade guests with the classical Spanish guitar playing of Anthony and the versatile vocal tones of Donna.
Playing covers of a number of tracks including Adele’s ‘To Make You Feel My Love’ and The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint it Black’, vocalist Donna adjusts her voice to suit a variety of contrasting songs. She demonstrates her power during parts of ‘Paint it Black’, and in a style not dissimilar to Alanis Morisette, she delivers this Classic in a new and fresh light. The power demonstrated in this song contrasted with her eased, more relaxed tones in her rendition of the Everly brothers’ ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’. She uses dynamics very much to her favor, and they, synchronized with her fluctuating vocal styles and tones, add texture and emotion to her performances.
Anthony is also an extremely skilled musician, certainly being amongst some of the most accomplished guitarists I have seen. His love for the sounds created were obvious from the very beginning, and this made Anthony just as enjoyable to watch as he was to listen. Anthony plays the guitar with elegance and ease, and if anyone can make classical Spanish guitar playing appear effortless, Anthony is certainly the man! Having found his love of the guitar through rock music, it was not until the summer of 96 when Anthony travelled around Spain that he began to discover his self acclaimed ’obsession’ for classical Spanish style guitar playing.
The duo have been performing together on and off for a year and a half. Anthony has recently spent 6 months working on cruise ships, and the pair are now looking forward to settling in North Wales and promoting their music across the area. Having met through mutual friends, the pair soon realized that they shared similar musical tastes and began performing at open mic nights. Nocturne now have regular slots at the Gresham in Llandudno as well as elsewhere. When describing their musical techniques, Anthony explained that ‘Donna deliberately doesn’t introduce the songs. We like our audience to wonder for a bit’. Nocturne are exceptional at taking an established song, adapting it, and making it their own. So many times during their performance I would listen to the introductions and then suddenly find myself saying “Ohh, that’s what this song is!”. Nocturne certainly create a musical experience for their audiences – and we are not just sitting and watching – we are listening, feeling, guessing and more…
Nocturne will be performing at The Gresham in Llandudno on Friday 12th April
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