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TRIBUTE

Frank Zappa: A true trailblazer

Fahmim Ferdous
If a life is judged merely on the time-difference between birth and death, then Frank Zappa was just mediocre; he died at the age of 52, on December 4 in 1993 - yesterday marking his 21st death anniversary. But it is the volume of work that makes Frank Zappa a towering figure of modem-era music Just like one of his countless hits “Shut Up ’n’ Play Yer Guitar Some More”, Zappa was a man who strived all his life to create music, embarked on a creative journey in his teens that piled on into a massive volume of diverse work -- rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrete, and even filmmaking.
Bom in Baltimore. Maryland (USA) in December 1940, Frank Vincent Zappa grew up in an Italian-American household, but his family moved to various places in the country, mainly because of Zappa's ill health: he suffered from various ENT conditions in his childhood.
His first musical instrument of choice was a drum, as he acquired a snare and started learning the basics of orchestral percussion at the age of 12. He eventually took interest in the works of 20th-century avant-garde classical composer Edgard Varese, to
add to his taste of R&B. As days went by, he developed an interest in the guitar, and soon developed an eclectic. inimitable style
Trying to make a carper in music, he stared producing music for local artistes, in films and as a nightclub musician. Struggles continued as his eccentric talents - one included playing a bicycle as a musical instrument at a Steve Allen show -revealed themselves. Zappa started working at a studio and began a 12-hour daily routine in overdubbing and audio manipulation - a regime that he took to the grave. However, his Studio Z was stripped off of all recording materia] as he wrongly fell into a trap set by local police and was sentenced to six months in prison.
His band "The Mothers of invention’ was formed in the 1965, and the next year came their debut album "Freak Out!” -- a concoction of R&B, doo-wop and concretemusique. The band soon moved to New York, and dished out album after album every year, while also making a name for themselves in live performances. However, "The Mothers" was officially disbanded in 1969 due to record label disputes and such, and Zappa released his first solo material. The band, however, reunited again, while Zappa also continued as
an independent artiste.
His journey continued through countless ups and downs, accidents, business breakups, various musical associations and dissociations, and changes in influence and style. From jazz to orchestral to classical to his use of the Synclavier (a digital synthesiser), he continued to produce new kinds of music, innovating with recording and manipulation techniques. His short endeavours in filmmaking also spoke of his innovation - his debut film '200 Motels” -a film about the life of a rock musician on the road. It was the first feature film to be shot in videotape and transferred to 35mm.
Zappa was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1990 -- the disease had been festering for a decade and was inoperable. He spent his last days recording modem orchestral and classical music.
In a career spanning over 30 years, Zappa produced almost all of the 60 albums he released, received critical acclaim from all over the West, and musically inspired and influenced many later-era greats -including rock legends Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Steve Vai, Thomas Ulrich and Ensemble Ambrosius in the classical scene, and funk legend George Clinton.