ART AFICIONADO

Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Avicii - Hey Brother

Music Appreciation

“Hey Brother” is a song by Swedish DJ and producer Avicii (Tim Bergling), released internationally in late 2013 as the third single from his debut studio album, True.

The song was written by Bergling with Ash Pournouri, Salem Al Fakir, Vincent Pontare and Swedish singer Veronica Maggio, while American bluegrass singer Dan Tyminski—best known as a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station—provides its distinctive lead vocal.

Lyrically, “Hey Brother” is a declaration of loyalty to family, built around questions addressed to a brother and sister and the promise that the narrator will come to their aid regardless of distance or hardship. The recurring idea that there is nothing he would not do for them gives the song a simple but powerful message: family bonds endure even when people are separated or face difficult circumstances.

Musically, “Hey Brother” continued the genre-blending approach that helped define True. Rather than relying solely on electronic dance music, Avicii combined progressive house with country, folk and bluegrass elements. Tyminski’s weathered vocal, acoustic guitar and Americana-influenced melody contrast with Avicii’s electronic production and increasingly powerful dance beat. The combination was unconventional for mainstream EDM in 2013, but it proved successful.

“Hey Brother” reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbed to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. It also became an international hit, reaching the top 10 in numerous countries and further establishing Avicii as a producer willing to push electronic music beyond traditional genre boundaries.

The accompanying music video, directed by Jesse Sternbaum, gives the song’s theme of brotherhood a more somber dimension. Loosely inspired by Ron Franscell’s 1998 novel Angel Fire, the video follows two boys growing up together in wartime middle America, presenting their relationship through nostalgic scenes of childhood, baseball, bicycles and everyday life while images of war gradually intrude. The story eventually reveals that the person initially presented as the older brother represents the younger boy’s father, who went off to war and was killed. A folded American flag underscores the family’s loss and sacrifice.

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://avicii.com/

https://www.allmusic.com/song/hey-brother-mt0047853768

https://www.shazam.com/en-us/song/1440873108/hey-brother

https://www.billboard.com/artist/avicii/chart-history

RANDOM WEDNESDAY: Kennedy Kressler and her Pumpkin

via blackbookphotog

Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Mary Moser

Art Appreciation

Mary Moser was born on October 27, 1744, in London, the daughter of Swiss-born artist George Michael Moser, an engraver, enameller, medallist, and influential figure in London’s artistic community.

At a time when formal artistic education was largely closed to women, Moser received her training from her father, who later became the first Keeper of the Royal Academy. Her talent emerged early. At only fourteen, she received a five-guinea prize from the Society of Arts for an ornamental drawing, followed the next year by a silver medal and another five guineas for a flower painting. By 1760, she was exhibiting publicly, beginning a professional career while still in her teens.

Moser became one of the most successful British women artists of the eighteenth century. In 1768, at age twenty-four, she joined Angelica Kauffman as one of only two women among the thirty-six founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts; no other woman would become a full Royal Academician until the twentieth century.

Moser exhibited regularly at the Academy and earned particular recognition as a flower painter. Her royal connections also became important to her career: she taught drawing to the daughters of King George III and Queen Charlotte, and around 1792 Queen Charlotte commissioned her to decorate a room at Frogmore House near Windsor. Moser covered the room with elaborate floral compositions, including canvases and paintings directly on the walls, creating the illusion of an open garden arbour. The commission, for which she reportedly received more than £900, became the most significant project of her career.

Moser specialized in floral still lifes executed primarily in oils, distinguishing her professionally from many contemporary women who painted flowers in watercolor as an amateur pursuit. Her compositions combined close botanical observation with rich color, careful modeling, and densely arranged blossoms influenced in part by the tradition of seventeenth-century Dutch flower painting. Rather than merely cataloguing specimens, she arranged flowers for visual drama while retaining recognizable botanical details. Her Spring (c. 1780), for example, brings together tulips, narcissi, auriculas, peonies, and other flowers associated with the British spring.

Other notable works include Summer (c. 1780), her Vase of Flowers paintings created for Frogmore House between 1792 and 1797, and the surviving decorative scheme of the Mary Moser Room itself. Together, these works established Moser as one of the foremost flower painters of Georgian Britain and as an important figure in the history of professional women artists.