Simon Jeffes

Simon Jeffes (born February 19, 1949 in Crawley , West Sussex , † December 10, 1997 in Taunton , Somerset ) was a British composer and classical guitarist. He is particularly known for the Penguin Cafe Orchestra he founded .

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Simon Jeffes spent several years of childhood in Canada after he was born before he and his family returned to England and attended school in Devon. In the late 1960s he studied classical guitar with Julian Byzantine and Gilbert Biberian at the Royal Academy of Music , occasionally playing with avant-garde ensembles such as the Omega Players . However, this music was a bit too factual for him. So he turned to rock and worked with Rupert Hine on film music and on Hine's first two solo albums, Pick Up a Bone (1970) and Unfinished Picture (1971). There are also some recordings from this period that suggest that Simon Jeffes might want to become a reggae singer. He was already composing at this point, but his view of music was decisively influenced in 1972 when he traveled to Japan on the Trans-Siberian Railway and got to know ethnic and minimalist music there . He was particularly impressed by African music : “This tape just blew my mind, man!” (Simon Jeffes on a cassette of African music that a friend lent him to him).

After returning from Japan, he went on vacation to the south of France. There he came up with the idea for the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He reports:

“In 1972 I was in the south of France. I had eaten some bad fish and was in consequence rather ill. As I lay in bed I had a strange recurring vision, there, before me, was a concrete building like a hotel or council block. I could see into the rooms, each of which was continually scanned by an electronic eye. In the rooms were people, everyone of them preoccupied. In one room a person was looking into a mirror and in another a couple were making love but lovelessly, in a third a composer was listening to music through earphones. Around him there were banks of electronic equipment. But all was silence. Like everyone in his place he had been neutralized, made gray and anonymous. The scene was for me one of ordered desolation. It was as if I were looking into a place which had no heart. Next day when I felt better, I was on the beach sunbathing and suddenly a poem popped into my head. It started out 'I am the proprietor of the Penguin Cafe, I will tell you things at random' and it went on about how the quality of randomness, spontaneity, surprise, unexpectedness and irrationality in our lives is a very precious thing. And if you suppress that to have a nice orderly life, you kill off what's most important. Whereas in the Penguin Cafe your unconscious can just be. It's acceptable there, and that's how everybody is. There is an acceptance there that has to do with living the present with no fear in ourselves. "

“In 1972 I was in the south of France. I had eaten bad fish and was quite sick as a result. While I was in bed I had a strange and recurring vision; in front of me I saw a concrete building that looked like a hotel or a dormitory. I could see into the rooms; each was constantly being scanned by an electronic eye. There were people in the rooms and everyone was kind of busy. In one room a person was looking in a mirror, in another room a couple was enjoying themselves but without love, and in a third there was a composer listening to music through headphones. This composer was surrounded by technology. But everything was silent, as if everyone in this place had been made gray and anonymous. The whole scene had something of orderly despair for me. It seemed to me that I was seeing a heartless place. The next day, when I was feeling better, I was basking on the beach when suddenly a poem popped into my head. It started with the words "I am the owner of the Penguin Café and I will tell you random things" and continued on about the valuable things that things such as chance, spontaneity, surprises, unexpected things and irrationality can be in our lives . And when you suppress these things in order to lead a nice, orderly life, you kill what is most important. In contrast, the Penguin Café is a place where the unconscious simply be can. It's acceptable there, and everyone is. There is that kind of acceptance that has to do with living in the present without fear. "

- Simon Jeffes :

During the remainder of the 1970s, Jeffes worked as a freelance composer and arranger, working with very different musicians, including Caravan, Rod Argent , Yvonne Elliman and the 101'ers . The Penguin Cafe Orchestra developed in parallel: in 1973 the “Penguin Cafe Quartet” played in London.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Obituary: Simon Jeffes - Obituaries - News - The Independent. Retrieved October 8, 2013 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} The Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Simon Jeffes. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 8, 2013 ; Retrieved October 8, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.