Two Finger Madness

Sounds kinky. Anyways, there was once a great guitarist by the name of Django Reinhardt. Many people are very familiar with the late and great Guitar God, but there are still a lot of people out there who have no idea who he is. All that I can say, is that I have popped in a Django Reinhardt album time and time again for some Goth, hormonal teenager, metal-head, punk or Emo brat, and they always, always dig it.

For a long time it was all that I listened to, and I even went so far as to play using only two of my fretting hand fingers. That's not really funny, considering that Reinhardt had lost the use of most of his fretting hand in an unfortunate fire when he was 18, but I think that I can be forgiven, considering that many people of all ages and cultures share a real passion for his music. I turned on the TV the other day and their was a tribute film on, where the filmmakers went to an annual Reinhardt festival in France, where there seemed to be thousands of guitarists imitating his work.

One could almost surmise that Django Reinhardt did not live an honorable personal life, and yet he is beyond admirable along with the rest of theQuintette du Hot Club de France, for taking a strong stance against the Nazis, during their occupation of France.

I also consider Stephane Grappelli to be one of the greatest violinists of our time and it is quite clear that many would agree. The music is almost haunting, considering the harsh times that were present, during this wave of musical bliss. Simply put, it would seem that the music of The Quintette du Hot Club de France gave Europe and much of the rest of the world, hope.

I almost wish that I hadn't started this article, because I'm going to have to bow out here. If I didn't do that, I would be writing an article so long that it would take days to read.

Check out the video below of the band playing, keeping in mind Django Reinhardt's deformed hand. After that, check out the video of Bireli Lagrene playing. I believe that Lagrene nailed Reinhardt's style, at the same time creating his own.