In a recent interview with Long Island Weekly, Deep Purple co-founder Ritchie Blackmore and his wife Candice Night discussed their project Blackmore’s Night. After touching upon medieval-style music in modern media, the pair looked back on how some of the stuff doesn’t sound too genuine. After Candice mentioned that one of their songs appeared in a Jim Carey movie “Yes Man,” Ritchie added:
“It’s funny because I don’t follow that kind of thing. I’m more of a purist and want to be in the wood myself hearing a piece of music written in the 1500s or 1600s. I’m a little bit of a musical snob. There’s only one film we saw — ‘Elizabeth,’ where they actually played three real Renaissance songs played in the correct manner with the correct instruments.”
“Candy and I were jumping up and down in our seats, at least I know I was. I was thrilled by the fact that they’d taken the chance to play it as it was supposed to be played. But it’s very seldom that you’ll hear these songs or melodies played in the correct manner.”
Looking at the uniqueness of this band and how it’s different compared to his classic bands Deep Purple and Rainbow, Blackmore added:
“I’m not really interested in the modern approach with modern instruments. We use synthesizers on certain things, but they are there to see how we’re going to progress with the other instruments. It’s all about going back to the basics—simple music. Melody is very important to me. It’s an important thing.“
“That’s why, even in Deep Purple, towards the end, before I left, our music was a bit monophonic. There wasn’t too much melody and if I don’t hear a melody, I can’t be inspired.“
Furthermore, Blackmore also reflected on the current rock scene and why he doesn’t find that music appealing. He explains:
“I find that with a lot of hard rock bands today — not the death metal or whatever — the melody is certainly not there and I can’t relate to that.”
Formed in 1997, Blackmore’s Night is a project by Ritchie and Candice, the only two official members. Aside from playing acoustic and, occasionally, electric guitars, Ritchie also adds a variety of other medieval-style instruments, including hurdy-gurdy and nyckelharpa. So far, the group has released eleven studio albums, with 2021’s “Nature’s Light” being their latest offering.
Photo: Steve Knight (Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow headlining the Stone Free 2017 Festival at the O2 (34994158240)), Stefan Brending (2022 Lieder am See – Deep Purple – by 2eight – 9SC7190)
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