Chega de Saudade (No More Blues)

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! Today, I'm playing a bossa nova standard called "Chega de Saudade," or "No More Blues." It was composed by the famous musician Antonio Carlos Jobim, with the lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes. Chega de Saudade is often referred to as the first bossa nova song to be recorded. I hope you like listening to it!


Listen to the song here
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Liebestraum #3 (Love Dream)

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! Today, I'm playing a song by Franz Liszt called "Liebestraum," or "Dreams of Love." It's part of a collection of three songs that he wrote, but this one is the most popular. There's a theory that Liszt wrote this song when his fellow composer Frederic Chopin passed away, in memory of him. The poem that this song was based on reminds us to take advantage of every opportunity to show love, before the people we had relationships with are gone, never to be seen again. I hope you like listening to this song!


Listen to the song here
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The Chicken

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! Today, I'm playing what you might call a "modern jazz" tune by Pee Wee Ellis. It's called "The Chicken," and it was written in 2001 - that's 20 years ago now, but it's pretty new compared to the jazz songs that were written in the 1940s. I hope you like listening to it!


Listen to the song here
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Moonlight Sonata

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! Today, I'm playing the famous classical song by Ludwig van Beethoven called "Moonlight Sonata." Unlike some other classical musicians, Beethoven was a composer who lived to see his work become popular. However, he didn't really understand the reason why everyone liked this song. I hope this will be a song that you like, too!


Listen to the song here
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Recordame

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! Today, I'm playing a jazz song called "Recordame." This song, which was inspired by Latin music, was actually written by the saxophonist Joe Henderson when he was only 15. His song title came from the Spanish word "recuerdame," which means "remember me." That got me thinking about how recordings "remember" songs for us. I hope you like listening to it!


Listen to the song here
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Black Orpheus

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! Today, I'm playing a jazz song called "Black Orpheus." This song was actually written for a movie of the same name, which was based on a story from ancient Greece about a character named Orpheus. The origins of stories and songs can go back farther than we think - perhaps as far as the original Orpheus went to rescue Eurydice, the love of his life.

You might think that you know where something came from or why it exists, but you could actually be forgetting about something. An issue is often more complicated than we think it is. Sometimes, we might even be missing information about its origins, and we have to admit that we can't know everything about it instead of making assumptions. I hope you like listening to it!


Listen to the song here
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Keep filling your teacup with music!
~Liya

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! Today, I'm playing a hymn called "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Even though it was written during the American Civil War, it is still sung by various armies and churches today. It connected the judgment of God to the freedom from slavery which the Union soldiers hoped to achieve. I hope you like listening to it!


Listen to the song here
(Can't see an audio player? It might not work if you're viewing this in an email client. If you are on teawithliya.blogspot.ca, you may need to try a different browser.)