Jono El Grande
Jono El Grande is the stage name of Jon Andreas Håtun (July 29, 1973), a Norwegian rock artist, composer, guitarist and conductor. He is best known for his eccentric and comedic performance art live shows.
He names Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, King Crimson and Igor Stravinsky as his musical influences. El Grande: "There is a devilish ferocity, liberation and openness in Zappa's production that appeals to me." He became a fan at age 13, when he first listened to Sheik Yerbouti. He liked everything about it, from the tone to the different mentality than other rock musicians at the time. El Grande admitted that it took him a little longer before he could appreciate Zappa's orchestral music, "mostly because it was difficult to obtain." Since he had read to Zappa was a fan of Igor Stravinsky, he listened to him first. El Grande saw Zappa play live at Skedsmohallen. If he could take one Zappa record to a deserted island, it would be either Burnt Weeny Sandwich or 200 Motels: "When I was 16 and got this record from my dad, I recorded it on cassette with a new order of the songs. I separated the 70s rock from the dada-avant-garde contemporary music, and somehow got two albums out of it. Everything is mixed on 200 Motels, while at the time I was playing with seeking homogeneous listening experiences and splitting the ideas. The extremes accommodate Zappa as a top-class classical composer together with the rock hero, here with the band that replaced the original Mothers - what many fans referred to as "the vaudeville band", with ex-Turtles vocalists Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan"[1]
On November 2, 2008, Jono El Grande was special guest at the Prime Time Orchestra Zappa tribute concert. In 2014, El Grande was host of a conference held in Rockheim, honoring both Zappa and Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim, with whom Zappa was friends.[2]
El Grande also participated during the Zappa Festival in Larvic, Norway on January 30, 2010. On both occasions, he also covered Zappa songs and compositions.
References
See also
- Wikipedia:Jono El Grande
- http://www.united-mutations.com/j/jono_el_grande.htm
- Jono El Grande performing "A Pound For A Brown On The Bus" live http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCQaEVu2T7w
- Jono El Grande and Dead Dino Storage performing Cruising For Burgers live http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfpPun8MA9M
