INTRO INSTRUMENTAL INQUISITION!
JAN AKKERMAN
Guitar instrumentals have supplied some of music’s most evocative moments. Jason Sidwell asks top guitarists for their take on this iconic movement. This month: Dutch prog band Focus’s brilliant original guitarist.
GT : What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you?
JA: A good friend and songwriter came up with a great lyric "Words are made to lie" which is very appropriate, especially in today’s politics, to mention one thing.
GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can't?
JA: One could say the same about a film, and I like the film better, because it has both. But the mystery in music is greater and takes your spirit to different places. If you can imagine Django Reinhardt playing Montmartre, at the Hot club du France, on only acoustic guitar with Stephan Grappelli on violin. The Nazis sat down in the same place and forgot about the whole ‘entartete kunst’ (forbidden art). Then you’ve achieved something -to give you an example.