To commemorate and celebrate the 10th Anniversary , of the passing of the 1 and ONLY :
RONNIE JAMES DIO (1942 ~ 2010) ......
I have joined forces with the up and coming Japanese Guitar wizard Takumi Fukaya-san ... To do a cover one of RONNIE JAMES DIO's most beautiful piece of works ......
"The Temple of the King" (1975) - RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW
I was intrigued, and mesmerized by the ethereal, sad, medieval mood of this hidden gem of a song for a very long time ... rarely played live (Actually NEVER during RONNIE was in the band) and rarely covered as well ......
Fukaya-san leads the band : QWENLEY The Tradition , a beautiful Goth ensemble that expresses a mix of Goth , Rock , ethereal Music ... with a pinch of Japanese spice ......
I had the pleasure to perform with them on a very special HALLOWEEN live on 31st, October 2019 in Tokyo ... Live bar BUNGA ......
After seeing him perfom an online collaboration, I thought I'd play with him as well, so I proposed something we can easily approach together , something in common we'd like ......
As luck would have it, I realised that RONNIE JAMES DIO 's anniversary is coming up, so I made a determination to finish and upload it by 16th May ......
After many emails and file tossing, we came up with a first ever, Medieval cover of the beautiful song "The Temple of the King" , composed of Guitars and Pipe Organ only ......
I am not FULLY satisfied with my playing, but I will get better, we only learn from our mistakes and as a humble disciple of DIO and LUCIFER, I will do my best to improve myself ......
I am very honored to have been able to pay my respects to the Great Artist, and cover a longtime favorite song of mine for this special occasion ... But also very humbled to learn this song was not all that easy ... it was very hard to deliver its "feel" ... RONNIE's vocals like he is singing through my Organ ......
My SIN-cere respects to Fukaya-san for putting up with me and making the 10th Anniversary of RONNIE JAMES DIO 's passing very special ... And this means a lot for a guy who has visited his grave ... 2 times ......
Thank you so much Fukaya-san , for performing with me and making this special tribute video ......
I have never met the man, nor see him perform live, but I hope I did his beautiful singing justice ... I do feel closer to him ......
I SIN-cerely hope RONNIE is proud ......
We miss you ... ye Great one ......
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(* Maybe it's worth mentioning - that one of my tattoos is to honor him ... His very last large scale Festival appreance was at WACKEN OPEN AIR in Germany ... I got that tattoo in Germany 2 years after his passing, hoping his breath somewhere still floating and his voice echoing would be embedded into my skin ......)
