Yasmin Williams: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
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- Опубліковано 18 жов 2021
- The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit - stripped-down sets, an intimate setting - just a different space.
Lars Gotrich | October 19, 2021
Yasmin Williams doesn't need much scenery to set your imagination in motion. For her Tiny Desk (home) concert, the Virginia-based guitarist keeps the background sparse (a rug, a folding table, curtains, a plank of wood) to foreground her inventive playing.
Williams' set begins with Urban Driftwood's "Juvenescence," a tenderly picked tune that suddenly springs to life when she flips the acoustic guitar onto her lap to fingertap the dizzying variation. In the hands of others, this move signifies showmanship that highlights ability, but sometimes downplays the substance of the song. For Williams, technique and songcraft are one in the same; if she runs out of fingers to drum the body of the guitar, she straps on tap shoes ("Through the Woods"); if a quiet melody requires a hint of percussion, she strikes the strings with a mallet hammer ("On a Friday Night"). In these songs, the center is exploration - this Tiny Desk performance, in camera angles overhead and out front, shows us the tools that help Williams execute her vision via finger picks, taps, slides and knocks. Oh, and there's a kalimba taped to the body of her guitar, too!
"After the Storm," inspired by some Black Lives Matter protests Williams attended last summer, is where the musician expands her universe (and wardrobe!) in a four-way split screen of herself. Overtones from a 12-string guitar drift across a resolute six-string melody and, later, a harp guitar's swirling countermelody, and a brief backing from a fourth guitar. "I was trying to digest everything that was happening," she says of the song, capturing the complex emotions that flood the way forward, with an eye toward hope.
SET LIST
"Juvenescence"
"On a Friday Night"
"Through the Woods"
"After the Storm"
MUSICIANS
Yasmin Williams: guitar, kalimba, tap shoes
CREDITS
Video: Jeff Gruber, Blue House Productions
Audio: Jeff Gruber, Blue House Productions
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Lars Gotrich
Video Producer: Maia Stern
Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin
Tiny Production Team: Bob Boilen, Bobby Carter, Kara Frame, Sofie Hernandez-Simeonidis
Executive Producer: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
#nprmusic #tinydesk #yasminwilliams
Woah, thanks so much for watching everyone!!! 🤟🏾
Thank-you from France where I am Pete in Brittany and I wish to give you my Lyrics, O.K. !
I am in France and I really would like to get to know you .
Wow… amazing performance. I’m so glad I clicked on this. You are brilliant, amazing, inspiring, mesmerising, just beyond awesome!
Your music is lovely!
Thank you for sharing your genius and magnificent music Yasmin! Might i ask where your remarkable outfit is from? Does that pattern have a name? Please and thank you! X
I came here after reading Williams' column on Cowboy Carter in the Guardian today (April 2. 2024). Insightful and thought-provoking column. I was stunned by her music! I would so much like to see her perform live sometime.
Found my new favorite homework background music
You are so funny!! 😆 but soooo right! She’s a full performance, i couldn’t stop watching
I can only imagine that Yasmin put in 1000s and 1000s of hour to create such intricate beauty. A world class musician.
Hi Yasmin! I'm a classical trained guitarist playing for about 48 years now. I never heard something like that. Love your music, it's so wonderful.
Try kaki king, her debut album is amazing
Everything she does is gorgeous, its like she has rainbows in her fingers!
♡♡♡♡ wowwww
Yes!!!
She does!
What a beautiful way to put it!
Rainbows in her fingers ; exactly !!!!!!!
I’ve seen a lot in 67 years ….. but, WOW 🤩 Music is just exploding out of Yasmin❤️🔥
Her music is as colorful as the way she dresses... A beautiful rainbow 🌈
She reminds me of me picking up the guitar…the third song doings like the boy in the movie August Rush and was the reason i decided to pick up the guitar and now banjo 🪕
THIS IS MESMERISING......feels like I'm travelling through country lanes, rooftop open, breeze on the face, sun shining, perfection :)
It does! I want to make this my meditation music. Kind of not the usual meditation music, but I love the nature visuals it creates in my head.
@@Halonablack sweet, I know what you mean....when I compose I see images, colours, emotions....and it just carries me along :) really enjoyed your vibe :)
Yes with tree as a canopy over head . ❤️❤️
EXACTLY!!!!
The way she plays the guitar is so entrancing. It's so beautiful. What a performance
Took the words out of my mouth..
Hello 👋👋👋
Love ❤️❤️❤️💞😍
She doesn't overplay like most of the male solo guitarists using these kinds of techniques. Technique only in service of the music, never just to show off.
@@edmcguigan3501 dude shut up, bringing gender into it makes it clear you watched this video and couldn't see past the fact she's a woman.
From the tip of Africa, Cape Town, Thank you Tiny Desk for supporting and sharing music and love.
00:00 Juvenescence
04:57 On a Friday night
10:50 Through the woods
17:10 After the storm
I was in my bed all depressed and without think too much, put this and my mood changed for the better.
What a blessing. I pray all is well with you!🥰
Amen
Funny, bc it made me cry. Not sad tears, just a flood of emotion. I agree, this music is profoundly healing. What a blessing of talent - emerged from playing Rock Band!!
It's funny, she started playing guitar 12 years ago because she was inspired by the Guitar Hero game, and now she's one of my real life guitar heroes!
Here,s the bright part of video games. Good for Williams!
The crazy part is that real guitarists have a hard ('ish) time with guitar hero because it doesn't actually follow notes, riffs, swells, structure... It's just a prolonged rhythm and beat with pace changes. Probably would suit drummers better! If anyone . So it's crazy to hear this. Pretty dope !
@@theesweetscience2084 Everything about this presentation... Yasmin herself especially but also her music, her skill, her guitar... is real. This world is crying out for "realness". What a breath of fresh air.
@@theesweetscience2084 I didn't play guitar back then, but a friend of mine kept losing at guitar hero, then just sat behind everyone playing the same songs on his guitar. That made me want to learn, and I bought a guitar shortly after.
What a wonderful backstory
very impressive performance. as a guitar player of nearly 40 years, one of the things I've really come to appreciate is how every guitar player has something original about their playing. we all bring something unique to this instrument. hard to believe considering the amount of guitar players throughout history. thanks NPR.
This is some next level creativity. She's incredible
Thank You NPR Tiny Desk for bringing so many great artist to our attention, and to the sound engineers, you are amazing for allowing us to hear them effortlessly in all their wonderfulness. New favorite artist
Love ❤️❤️❤️😍❤️❤️
beautiful people
Woke up this morning for a jog and got home for coffee and found this! The suns not up yet and it’s pretty perfect
😁
peeeerfect
TALK ABOUT A MOOD!!!
I love her!!💜
I play the dulcimer, ukelele and guitar this way because of neck and wrist issues.
She is an inspiration!
You can tell she put alot of thought and time into her pieces. Absolutely Beautiful. Harp from a Guitar
Well said. Harp from a guitar. I could not have put it better.
See you in Florida!
What a virtuosa! Her strumming is right up there with Tracy Chapman and Joan Armatrading. And all thanks to Guitar Hero...
YES. Dude she's so good. I bought a couple Cd's of her first album and gave them to some friends and now she has a full blown groupie fan base out in the hills of northern california lol. Can't wait to see her live sometime.
I studied in London and come from mexico ! I know what it is to feel lonely and homesick ! The Forest is so beautiful 😻 congrats 🎉 congratulations to all of you Tiny Desk people
I've been playing dobro for fifty years. You knock my socks off with your music. Thank you.
I know I'm laying in bed deliriously with food poisoning, but I think this is one of the most pleasant things I have ever heard.
I couldn't have said that any better for sure. She is wonderfully. ✌
Ugh, been there done that. Hope you feel better soon.
Yes..this is a Gift for you
Feel Better
Get better soon dude.
Love 💖😍💗💗
As someone who is currently learning guitar, it's refreshing to see someone like her playing that beautiful acoustic.
My God, what an artist. I am so enchanted by her performance ❤️
This feels so good to my soul. I'm glad I found her work!!! Incredible
This is amazing. I had no idea you could play the guitar in this way. She's got such a unique style and her music is really calming too.
Yes musicians in Afrika have been playing western guitars like this decades. It's taking the techniques/rhythms of the Kora and turning it horizontally.
I just wanna be driving the beach coast in summertime listening to this amazing guitarist
Yasmin. You make everything bad disappear. I cry with such happiness that you are here with us. You are a gift, that gives more than what we deserve. I am in tears writing this.
I venture all genres, Tool, Underworld, Billy Holiday, Leadbelly, Norah Jones, Gotan Project, Fela Kuti...I am so happy to add you to my life.
Thank you.
Up this pops on my feed, and I am so unexpectedly moved, it's like I just heard birdsong for the first time. I never comment but I had to this time.
Just so beautiful :) we first heard her when she opened for Watchouse at the Ryman. She was amazing and we got to meet her afterwards. She signed our son and daughters shoes :) Our son told her that her final song was so beautiful that he had to close his eyes and was covered in chills and she just smiled and fist bumped him. She was so kind and humble :) awesome to hear her here :)
That's so beautiful :''')
@@JarodJesus thank you so much :) it was a wonderful night :)
That is the most beautiful, honest and pure comment an artist could ever receive and from a child no less 🥹 Such a beautiful child to be able to appreciate artistry like that. Kudos momma and pops! 🙌🏾 💕
@@Coopogers that is so sweet and so true :) he is a very special young man and so thankful he can appreciate this beauty so fully :) so thankful you commented this because it is so sweet and also because it reminded me of that special night with our kids :)
We in Virginia who first put her onstage in small venues here just a few years ago are so happy to see that the world is catching on. Yaz is magic! For one thing, she is opening for Tommy Emmanuel in many places, and they will both be on the next Cayamo music cruise.
Good work Ron
Oh, lucky people are those who will be able to attend that happening! Regards from Croatia 🌻
That’s great. This is the first time I’ve heard Yasmin Williams play and the first thing I thought was has Tommy Emmanuel heard her yet!
YESSS!!!! She reminds me of Tommy and John Butler. Stunning.
Her and Tommy Emmanuel? Incredible!
My best days are the days I discover new artists that I know will be in heavy rotation on my playlists! Thank you for your music Yasmin!
I am in complete awe of Ms. Williams’ musical genius. Total.AWE!!!
She's so talented, I admire her ability to play using her own creative picking style.
This brilliant musician gives me hope for the future.
check out reggie of "guitaroo 5000". also self taught and brings smiles to people all over the world.
Beautiful music, beautiful woman! thanks for sharing.
Big thanks to NPR for the production. The multiple cameras, camera angles, lighting and excellent sound recording quality make this a First Rate result in showing off Ms. Williams' music and musicianship. None of her delicacy was lost in these songs...
She sounds like two guitar players harmonizing with each other, she is an orchestra 💖💖💖
Didn't realize you could just lay the guitar on your lap and play it like a piano (if, IF, you knew what you were doing 😮, like Ms. Williams). Enthralling, enchanting, and entrancing are words that fail to capture the magic and beauty of this performance. Thank you!
That is when guitar opened for me. My years of piano as a child hit me and I saw 6 pianos and two hands. I was 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯. My teacher hated me playing with my guitar on my lap, but suddenly... He was 🤯.
I no longer have a guitar :(
However, I will always play the same way she does.
@@OfficialMyxomatosis get you a new one!! ;)
So unbelievably beautiful.
Love ❤️❤️💖😍💗💖💖😍💖💖💖
Absolutely beautiful. Thank you Yasmin for sharing your gift with us. ❤
Lying in bed on a Saturday morning listening to this has opened my heart to more love, grace and compassion. Namaste
Wow! Yasmin is what the guitar community needs... An original artist that has beautiful original songs to share! Thank you!!!
Just wow, i havent seen anything as beautiful as this played on a guitar. I think i just found my favourite guitarist 😅
Wow such artistry and musicianship. 13 years of dedication 👏 what a beautiful radiant soul.
Everything about Yasmin and her music is just beautiful.
I have no idea how/why this showed up today but I am so happy that it did!
Her music has the ability to sound new and known at the same time.
A long time ago (mid ‘80s) I saw Steve Morse play an all acoustic set (he opened for Eric Johnson) - her playing reminds me of that night.
All the songs were wonderful, but After the Storm was MAJESTIC. I listened to it in a morning (I am not a morning person), felt the chill wind with the warm sunshine, along with the song gave me a sense of hope that everything is going to be alright. Suffice to say I am now a big fan.
You have a great style that fills the air with goodness. The Most High has truly gifted you in this art form. 💜 Thank you
So much talent wrapped into one human being! Wow. Just wow! ❤️❤️❤️
Oh my God. She’s just a gift from the gods. Genius!
A piece of heaven. Thank you.
Yasmin, thank you for sharing your playing with us, it's all so wonderful!
I listen to and watch India Arie who is one of my favorite songstress. She mentioned that Yasmin Williams is her favorite instrumentalists and that she is an unique talent a "prodigy". She said to watch Yasmin on NPR Tiny Desk. I must agree with her Yasmin is incredibly talented and unique. Her music is soothing. I love her style of playing the guitar and use of other sounds and instruments.
What a blessing! As someone who comes from a family of women who play stringed instruments, this is like chicken soup for the soul! So Beaituiful!
She sounds amazing. Props to those fingers gliding across heavy gauge strings and making them sing
15:43
This is a very beautiful and talented Woman who not only is amazing but truly is gifted, I wouldn't mind hearing Her in a live performance. Continue to be Blessed in your journey Queen 👑🎵🎹🎼🎼♥🔥
Technique...masterful. Sounds...beautiful. Songs...enlightening.
you can see the way that yasmin williams enjoys what she is doing. She is also incredibly rhythmically skilled, and a great composer!
It’s called skills! The woman is greatly talented
One of the best artists to come out of Northern Virginia. So soothing
Have to wonder if Danny Gatton was an inspiration coming from that neck of the woods. Not sure she's old enough to know about him though.
Don't be so racist
Dude .. dude.. I want to learn so much from her. .. she’s so freaking incredible.. her soul and feelings all in sound.. much love
Wow, I'm just at the first song and I'm already blown away!
So beautiful ❤ Sounds like a warm sunny morning, sounds like joy and innocence. Blessings to you Yasmin and thank you for sharing such beauty with us ❤❤❤
Haven't cried from the sheer beauty of a melody in a long time, but the first song here did it. Amazing work Yasmin.
SAME. I'm only on song 2 and am in tears. We need more of this in the world.
I was fortunate to see Yasmin in concert the other evening in Cincinnati at the Ludlow Garage. She's an amazing artist and I'm so glad to know of her. All the best in your music!
Just when I think I understand what she's doing, she throws in some little tweak or unexpected melodic turn that I didn't see coming. Some of the loveliest guitar I've heard in a while!
Yasmin Williams, you are such an amazing versatile guitarist, a great delight and honor to have discovered you just now and to be able to cherish your awesome music ... so versatile you are that I even expected you to open your mouth and sing for us too sooner or later ;-) ... blessings from Germany, Pat
So so so so beautiful !
12 years of practice and already two wonderful albums. It is simply dazzling.
The grace and majesty of her finger picking style is sublime.
This was a very pleasant surprise today. Her album is so gorgeous and so is this performance.
Amazing musician. Beautifully composed music played with a heart and soul that shines bright. Exactly what this world needs. Thank you Yasmin Williams.
I'm very glad that you are excited to play for us, Yasmin. The first song had me hooked. You have gentle and strong talent with great timing! Thank you, Yasmin!
I can’t remember the last time I heard guitar music that was truly inspiring. It’s been way too long and I am so grateful to feel that again. Thank you for being!
What planet did this music come from? Fascinating, enthralling, stunning!
What a beautiful wash ofsound with that layering of guitars in the last tune.
What a sense of melody she has! Alot of refrain but continually embelished
So so good. What a talent.
Saw Yasmin Williams at NFF this past summer and was blown away. So great to see her Tiny Desk!
Observation: The best guitar player yet. With a hammer and Tap shoes.. She has talent and it shows.
You, Yasmin Williams, make hauntingly beautiful music playing a guitar in ways I’ve never seen before. You are a stunningly talented artist that the world needs to know. You’re totally unique. Keep growing and performing. You deserve mountains of success.
You make incredibly beautiful music. Thank you.
Every note playing is a masterpiece
Yasmin Williams is a blessing to this world I am filled with gratitude to have these sound Waves grace my ears. What a beautiful soul and what a beautiful expression Of feeling
So I came across this Tiny Desk video accidentally as I was working and Yasmin's music really got me feeling calmer and more relaxed. Thank you for introducing us to Yasmin, NPR ❤️
this is so beautiful and familiar. Somehow this is a decade of music rolled up into one video - memories flood into me, but at the same time this is completely new. Wonderful
She deserves an endorsement from every company whose instruments/tools were used in this video!
Come on companies... Step up!
Love ❤️❤️💕😻❣️❣️💕💕💕💕💕💕
The artist endorses the company, not vice-versa.
@@davidespinosa1910 I understand that. I've endorsed many for 30+ years, but the companies need to woo her just as they did me... And yes, they're called artist endorsements. 😒
@@davidespinosa1910 Your right, she should receive sponsorships from the company's who's instruments she's using. D M, many of us understood your well intended recommendations
Nah
What a discovery! Thank you Tiny Desk. I love her!
this girl radiates cool vibes. About the show and the business. Also REALLY well shot for a home concert.... props to the remote video production team putting these home concerts together.
'Beyond the beyond' ... Yasmin Williams's music sounds like how I want the world to be.
Her ingenuity is epic. This was soul food. Ah - beautiful!
Excellent playing, such hopeful and effusive melodies. I love the use of harmonics and alternative playing too. Such sweetness to the progressions.
I am relaxed and at peace after listening to this beautiful music.
Holy smoke! What a great stumble?! An amazing guitarist playing colorful music that augurs well well with her colorful attire. Mad respect!!
Yasmin is such a fantastic musician, an ambassador to the creative richness of the DC metro area. And kudos to the Blue House Productions staff for the great video and audio recording! We love working with them
Good lord I've never gotten such intense goosebumps from an acoustic guitar! ❤️
NPR MUSIC I haven’t seen you guys in awhile. What a way to see the beauty of the music world once again. Her guitar skills are impeccable. ❤️🙏🏽✌️
Outstanding… Her talent blows my mind!