Scans

[JF]

In order to provide guitar pics for the gallery on Mark's gear database on Ingo's blog (here : http://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/), I scanned several articles from magazines and collages I've made when I was a teen.

So after uploaded guitar pics, I re-size several articles pieces, quotes froma Mark or jounalists.

Of course, it's all in french. I don't have time to translate all. If someone want to .....

here are the 4 firsts :



translations :



divers1
far from being boastful of those musicians who think they invented everything, Knopfler often shows surprised by his own success. According to him, he has not the slightest clue to explain the success he has met with both DS and on the various projects he has participated.


divers2
MK is probably one of the artists who supported the most important causes. the first fight he led in his own way, concerned the problem of racism, which made ??it even more sensitive as his father, a Hungarian Jew, had to flee his country to escape the Nazis. "For years we have been banned in South Africa. From the first album, which was number one in sales out there, we decided to donate all our royalties to Amnesty International, the government has not really appreciated"

divers3
As absurd as it sounds, MK claims to be lazy and do not really work the guitar, except for some licks inspired by Chet Atkins, or some new arrangements that he works from the Mickey Baker book.
"I am passionate about all books about chords. It lets you develop your playing. A few years ago, I would never have been able to play with Chet Atkins and Willie Nelson. I should have a work schedule for the guitar , but I can not do it. when I managed to sit down and play, it can last for hours"

divers4
Knopfler will even doubt, with some humor, his real talent as a guitarist: "Every time I take a guitar, I feel I know nothing. It seems incredible, but I think I really should learn to play guitar at age 70. this is the intrument who wants it. what I can find anything better to say about my playing is that I have a mind when I play, but regarding the language on my instrument, I feel just being able to say "hello how are you?". When I am old, I hope to be able to converse a little more that came with my guitar "

[JF]

4 others :

translations :


divers5
Yet we can not blame him for lacking conviction. With a father architect and amateur pianist who had fled his native Hungary to escape Nazism, MK was not really intended to become a rock musician. The very idea that his eldest son could attend a rock concert was already blanched the paterfamilias: "My parents did not want at all what I become a rock guitarist. I remember I looked at rock TV shows when I was a kid. My father seemed so completely horrified. just thought that I might be in there frightened him. And that was before I put myself on guitar. of course I believe that it has a few changed his mind. "


divers6
Who says Knopfler's finger-of-fairy was not a performance efficient? "Private Investigations", it is still not given to everyone to write something like that. It's like this annoying tendency to not want to consider DS as a rock band. Crap. Anyway, this should not disturb Knopfler. nor is the problem that the beard and cloth, in any case. You know, the beard and cloth ... Above or below? Besides he did not even have a beard. DS is a special group, located at the intersection of music, both classical and modern, without  own image, but with an unmistakable sound. A sort of oasis lost in the desert where everyone can recharge at least once in his life, at one time or another. DS will never be a rock dinosaur. It will never fall into the category heavyweights as Pink Floyd and Genesis, because unlike the latter which undoubtedly symbolized the 70, DS was not represented at all the 80, even if the has marked its indelible mark.

note : the beard joke is a reference to Haddock captain in "Tintin"


divers7
"I wish I could say that I would never do film music again and I 'll never produce another artist said" the guitarist. "These are things I like, but it takes you away from what you are good. I'm best when I take care of my own songs with my own band. I feel more comfortable with this."

divers8
there are two kinds of discs. Those that you listen with other people, in car, at nightclub or camping, and those that you listen alone in your room .... "Those are milestones in your life" says Knopfler. "listening to them, you say" that's it, that's for me " ".
And when the one who made this disc hits your town and you bought a ticket, you shiver by entering a concert hall filled with people who share your innermost thoughts. "At that time, you feel you are similar to others"

[JF]

from "BEST" magazine, 1980


translation (red) said by MK :
"what counts is the intrinsic quality of what you do. So we should not worry about the fact that I am a good guy or a jerk individualistic and megalomaniac"


translation (grey) wrote by a jounalist :
"Mark Knopfler : leader of Dire Straits, sensitive and inventive guitarist, designs his compositions as the music of films that are in his head or his field of vision"

[JF]

Jack Sonni itw, I don't remember the date, maybe around early 90

translations:

1
"When we played in DS, stimulation, competition were strong. We are so different guitarists, but I think we influenced each other. Obviously I perfected my fingerpicking and I mostly learned to work with the frightening precision required by Mark. It was the first time someone indicated me what I had to play. Over time, I realized the importance of this work, today, I seek a balance between the freedom to play and discipline"


2
"Yes, I also worked in a music store, I met Mark who came several times to play with my band at the time. We became friends and things continued like this until the day I broke down. I got sick. For 8 years, I played at every opportunity, I was working on demos, mine or those of others, I was at the store, and I tried to keep enough energy for the road. I wanted to go back to the university and a have a breath brake. three days after being accepted to university , Mark called me and asked me to make his next tour and work on the album BIA. I dropped everything, I joined him in Montserrat where he recorded, while the rest is history"

You were actually seen on tour with DS for a year and a half, what is less known is what happened to you after?

"it was like a dream, after a year and a half around the world, we ended up in Australia and I thought arriving at the terminus of a scenic railway without a seatbelt. I found myself a little later in a London hotel, not knowing where to go, I had abandoned my New York apartment before leaving. I first was with friends in Paris, then in Australia for surfing and windsurfing, before returning to the United States, Los Angeles. there, the bosses of the label called me immediately, Dire Straits guitarist , come see us whenever you're ready, big deal, big deal. but nothing happened, the phone didn't ring again, people thought I was a millionaire and I did not need to work"


3
"Dire Straits is not a band, just Mark Knopfler's and John Illsley's one, the others are sidemen you pay, but when the job is finished, it's over"

[JF]

a quote from a journalist about the BIA album :




tanslation :

"some brothers in arms, Mar Knopfler doesn't need anymore. An absolute masterpiece of style, fluidity and production that makes Dire Straits the missing link between Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton. Yes but Mark wanted to be Dylan..."

[Pottel]

  thnx, interesting few scans. I still got soon much shit like that to scan... Some other day!

[JF]

OK tried to write some tanslations.
Sorry for my bad english, I use Google, and try to correct what I can.