James Corachea Raising Funds for Japan at Notes Shack Pub - Wednesday 16 March 2011

I first heard James Corachea last Sunday at Bonaire where NAG were holding their Guitar Players Fingerpicking Day.  It was immediately obvious that I was listening to real talent and very skilled and imaginative acoustic guitar playing of the finest quality !!  Yet again I was struck by how much good music there is to discover in Second Life, how easy it is to miss it and how lucky I had been to discover this formidable artist just by pure chance !!

James comes from the windswept rugged coast of Cornwall, UK.  He is a young up-and-coming acoustic guitarist who is among a small handful of those who explore the boundaries of the guitar's techniques to the full.


Having arrived part way through James' gig I was determined to go and listen to him again, and so Dottie and I headed to Notes Shack Pub on Wednesday.
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Five days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan many in Second Life were raising funds to help the victims.  Owner Krakov Letov had organised a fund-raising event at Notes Shack Pub to support this great effort and artists including James were playing their part by giving their time freely.

The pub was packed out with not even room to swing a cat !!  Massive greyness of avatars made good photography seem a faint hope.  James had difficulty getting into position to start and was manouevred to the microphone by standing inside a box which someone then dragged across the stage :)) The pub reminded me of one I knew during my college days where everybody packed together in one small room while leaving neighbouring rooms empty :))

Notes Shack Pub is full of colour, detail, warmth and cosiness and the whole atmosphere of the place, the music, and the cosmopolitan crowd of people present made it a wonderful place to be and a brilliant event to be part of !!

" Even his tuning sounds great :)) "  rang out from the audience as James began.  


His first piece was a cover of Rickover's Dream by Michael Hedges.
Born in Sacramento, California, Hedges was one of the most innovative and acclaimed solo guitarists of his era and his style created the impression of multiple guitars playing simultaneously.


James started playing the acoustic guitar seriously after the album ‘Aerial Boundaries’ by Michael Hedges changed his life.  One listen to the then ground-breaking techniques used on the album and he knew the acoustic guitar was the instrument that gave the most fulfilling pleasure to learn and write for.  Other large figures among his influences are Andy Mckee, Tommy Emmanuel and Preston Reed.

More beautifully crafted pieces followed.  First one of James' three original pieces of the evening Leap Before You Look and then a piece from french-algerian Pierre Bensusan’s album Vividly. Composer Michael Hedges wrote a piece for Bensusan. After Hedges' untimely death in a car accident Bensusan wrote and recorded the song "So Long Michael" in tribute to Hedges' own playing.


This was followed by James' original work Confidence.  He is half filipino and later he played his original Ang Pamilya Ko about his filipino family.

All James' pieces were very relaxing and his genre of music might be described as modern classical in the widest sense. He plays not only thoughtful and quiet pieces but also amazing arrangements of pop classics.  The first was Bon Jovi's Livin on a Prayer arranged by Tommy Valdinus and later The Man In The Mirror by Michael Jackson -

I'm gonna make the change for once in my life .....

I see the kids in the street with not enough to eat ....

That's why I want you to know !!  

I'm starting with the man in the mirror !!

I'm asking him to turn this way ....

OMG there were 42 people in one small room !!

On James YouTube Channel you can watch him playing three pieces including another original To Feel Your Embrace 

There not only can you see the beautiful cornish coast where he lives and listen to the sea in the background, but also see his amazing guitar playing technique.  Yes it is only one guitar he plays, and yes he also makes the percussive tapping sounds on the body of the guitar as part of the piece.

Also check out James Facebook as well as his monthly gigs on Ustream

Contact Anastasia Yanwu for bookings.

More about James and many other Second Life live music performers can be found in our linked blog - HERE

The Disaster Fund total rose from L$ 16,000 at the beginning of James' set to L$ 23,000 at the end and there were more artists to come !!  The brilliantly funny Toronto indie rock band The Rails followed James and
I hope to write more about them in a future post :))

Notes Shack Pub is advertised as a club with live experimental, alternative, underground and indie music + beer and art gallery.  Here is the SLURL to get there: Notes Shack Pub 

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