September 13, 2026
I’ve been in the middle of some personal challenges again and really needed to record a piece of music for my own sanity. I chose a very easy piece and worked to make it into something special.
The song I chose was Spanish Harlem (A Rose inSpanish Harlem). Initially made famous by many people like Ben E. King and Aretha Fraklin, it’s a song a bit outside my usual ring (European Music), but very easy to play.
I started off by making the rhythm backing track using the the Roland BK-7m and then added some tracks that contained a vocal chior, xylophone and a few bars of dual trumpets. I finished off with the Hohner Gola taking center stage with the main melody and recorded video of myself playing to the backing track.
The final step was to create the video story. I created a background and blended the video of me playing the Gola into it (my first full video recording using the Gola!), added a little imagery and motion.
I enjoy the post process editing and I hope it showed in the quality of the final file as well.
I think the video of this 1960’s piececame out nicely.
Enjoy!