The Wizard of the Strings | |
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Directed by | Peter Friedman |
Produced by | Alan Edelstein |
Cinematography | Richard Dallett |
Production company | Strange Attractions |
Distributed by | Cinema Guild |
Release date |
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Running time | 27 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Wizard of the Strings is a 1985 American short documentary film about Roy Smeck, directed by Peter Friedman. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. [1]
The ukulele, also called a uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau Khan, an 18th-century figure of the Mughal Empire has been identified by modern scholarship as the inventor of the sitar. According to most historians, he developed the sitar from the setar, an Iranian instrument of Abbasid or Safavid origin.
"King" Bennie Nawahi was an American steel guitarist from Hawaii who was popular in the U.S. during the 1920s and 1930s.
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). An adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind. It stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, while others made uncredited contributions. The music was composed by Harold Arlen and adapted by Herbert Stothart, with lyrics by Edgar "Yip" Harburg.
Capturing the Friedmans is a 2003 HBO documentary film directed by Andrew Jarecki. It focuses on the 1980s investigation of Arnold and Jesse Friedman for child molestation. The film premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival where it received critical acclaim as well as the Grand Jury Prize: Documentary. The film went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The banjo ukulele, also known as the banjolele or banjo uke, is a four-stringed musical instrument with a small banjo-type body and a fretted ukulele neck. The earliest known banjoleles were built by John A. Bolander and by Alvin D. Keech, both in 1917.
An eight-string guitar is a guitar with eight strings, or one more than the Russian guitar's seven. Eight-string guitars are less common than six- and seven-string guitars, but they are used by a few classical, jazz, and metal guitarists. The eight-string guitar allows a wider tonal range, or non-standard tunings, or both.
Jason Eli Becker is an American composer and guitarist. At the age of 16, he became part of the Shrapnel Records-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman, and they released two albums, Speed Metal Symphony (1987) and Go Off! (1988). Since the dissolution of Cacophony in 1989, Becker has undertaken a solo career, releasing seven albums since his 1988 debut Perpetual Burn. He later joined David Lee Roth's solo band and recorded one album with him, A Little Ain't Enough.
John Patitucci is an American jazz bassist and composer.
Aljean Meltsir Harmetz is an American journalist and film historian. She was the Hollywood correspondent for The New York Times from 1978 to 1990.
Anthony C. "Tony" Mottola was an American jazz guitarist who released dozens of solo albums. Mottola was born in Kearny, New Jersey and died in Denville.
Leroy Smeck was an American musician. His skill on the banjo, guitar, and ukulele earned him the nickname "The Wizard of the Strings".
The Harmony Company is a former guitar manufacturing company that is currently a brand owned by Singapore-based BandLab Technologies. Harmony was, in its heyday, the largest musical instrument manufacturer in the United States. It made many types of string instruments, including ukuleles, acoustic and electric guitars and violins.
Melbourne E. Bay, known professionally as Mel Bay, was an American musician and publisher best known for his series of music education books. His Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords, first published in 1971, remains a bestseller.
Alison Chernick is a Grammy-nominated New York City-based writer, director and filmmaker. She is a voting member of AMPAS, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Angel Clare is the debut solo studio album by Art Garfunkel, released on September 11, 1973. It is his highest-charting solo album in the United States, peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, and includes his only US Top 10 hit as a solo artist, "All I Know". It also contained two other Top 40 hits, "Traveling Boy" and "I Shall Sing". It was produced by long-time Simon & Garfunkel producer Roy Halee, alongside Art Garfunkel.
Joe Puma was an American jazz guitarist.
Patri Friedman is an American libertarian, anarcho-capitalist, and theorist of political economy. He founded The Seasteading Institute, a non-profit that explores the creation of sovereign ocean colonies.
The Wizard or Wizard is a nickname for:
"The Waltz You Saved for Me" is a popular song written in 1930 by Wayne King and Emil Flindt with lyrics by Gus Kahn. The song soon became associated as the theme song of Wayne King and His Orchestra.