YANNI CHANGES TUNE
BY LEN SOUSA
 |
New New Age Yanni. An undated photo provided by the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office shows music star Yanni, who was arrested at his Manalapan home March 3 after his girlfriend accused him of verbally abusing and pushing her during a late-night argument. Police were called to the home after his girlfriend called 911 from a locked bathroom late Thursday, according to a police report.
PHOTO BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS |
|
Yanni, you old firestarter, you. Where did we go wrong? What did we miss betwixt the tremble of your tremolos and the arcs of your yawning arias? Did we misunderstand you all these years or simply never pay enough attention? Oh, and where have you been lately? These questions and more curse me as I gaze on your blank stare from the cover of your most popular release, Live At The Acropolis.
Perhaps its cover provides a clue. Your mustached face superimposed over the bustling ruins of the Acropolis is the exact same as the back cover, where you stand proudly in a smart sports coat—your brown locks lusciously blowing in the Greek wind like some ne’er-do-well Apollo. It seems there is only one image of Yanni in our minds because only one image was ever used.
Indeed it is far from the impromptu mug shot taken March 3 after John Yanni Christopher (it wasn’t your first name?) was arrested on domestic abuse charges in Manalapan, Florida. This new portrait gave us much more to consider.
It looked nothing like the New Age composer who stormed the States in 1993 via repeated broadcasts on PBS, tinkling his magical synthesizers as a giant crowd sat captivated. Each song, an attempted Olympian theme of synth chords and violin strings. At times sharing his tried-and-true words of wisdom with the Greek audience: “Life is precious. All life. And one must try to take in as much of it as possible.”
Look for Yanni’s New Age philosophy book this fall.
The Florida photo, however, depicts only the fractured portrait of a face we once knew so well. His proud mustache replaced by a short beard of grizzled gray hairs; his long, flowing mane, envied by the likes of Fabio, gone and cut much shorter.
Who is this man? What had he done with our Yanni? Wasn’t New Age music supposed to bring us its New Age enlightenment? Oh, and what did he do with that white suit he always wore on stage?
I think I may know the answer to at least one of those questions. What we are witnessing is not the fall of a musical genius, but the arrival of a New New Age. Where cold reality meets warm synth in a stark combination of baggy eyes and zero modulation. Dear old Yanni must be teaching us some more of his unique philosophy.
Just as Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek shaved his mustache, and Delilah cut Sampson’s hair, so our Yanni has changed in order to usher us into another age. One as frightening as it is authentic. Like a wise prophet, he has used himself as an example of how we have changed.
Yanni’s new tune is, in fact, our new tune. And as one of the compositions played that night in Greece 13 years ago so rightly prophesied, even for Yanni, “The Rain Must Fall.”
Len Sousa has recently written the forward to Yanni’s upcoming book of philosophy titled “Life Is Precious: 8 Ways Toward A Better Yanni.” He is also petitioning the Oxford English Dictionary to include the word 'yanni' as a noun.
Originally Published:
The Noyse
