Artist description A musical interpretation of the Epic of Gilgamesh performed by a group of musicians, artists and scholars from around the world.

Music Style World/Folk/Rock

Musical Influences World Music, Joni Mitchell, Peter Garbriel,Gentle Giant,Jethro Tull,Van Der Graaf Generator,Brian Eno,King Crimson,Gong

Similar Artists Peter Gabriel, Sting

Artist History I am a solo artist who has been playing music for many years. I am also inthe progressive rock band Heresy. This is my first major solo album, but it was done with the help of many musicians and artists from around the world.

Group Members Me

Instruments Acoustic and Electric guitars, keyboards, flute and vocals

Albums The Epic of Gilgamesh

Press Reviews TONY GARONE The Epic of GilgameshI have to say I had to do a bit of research for this one. I wasn’t all that hip to the Gilgamesh Epic, but now I’m glad I did do the research. Mr. Garone did his job by getting me very interested in this fascinating tale. Gilgamesh is one of the oldest recorded stories in the world. It tells the story of an ancient King of Uruk, Gilgamesh. The kicker is that Gilgamesh may have actually existed. The Gilgamesh Epic takes place between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates in a geographical area that is today called Iraq. Tony Garone created a musical interpretation from the original texts, and he did a great job of it. There are four stand out pieces URUK – ENKIDU – INANNA/ISHTAR & GILGAMESH LAMENTS FOR ENKIDU – Some of the impeccable musical arrangements remind me of Peter Gabriel's, "Passion" soundtrack from, "The Last Temptation Of Christ". The music feels crisp and clean and is obviously composed and labored over. The dominant style is broodingly Islamic but, within a contemporary musical sense. Tony Garone seems to feel a real love of the story being told and it shows in the over presentation of the CD. For a potentially mold-shattering atmospheric experience check out this CD. Review from April 22, 2001 - The Big Roll http://www.geocities.com/zephyrwood/bigroll/frameset.htmlReviewed 5/5/01 by The European Progressive Rock Reviews This is a mighty concept, "It took 2 years to complete" and it must have been a labour of love. "It is the story and history of Gilgamesh. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest story known to us. It is known as a folk tale, because it contains many individual stories which comprise the whole. Scholars believe that the events surrounding the Epic occurred somewhere around 3500 BC." For a full account of the story and a full list of characters involved then please visit the website below which also has a full account of events and construction of this musical concept.I initially heard only two or three of these tracks which I found to be extremely interesting but I still did not envision that listening to this concept as a whole would be such an enriching, rewarding and enlightening experience, you need to hear it in its entirety to fully appreciate it. I often nominate major albums which are all in their own way special but this really is up there with the best. It is so well produced, recorded and performed, it's another case of "thank God for the Internet", otherwise this may never have reached so many people. It opens with acoustic guitar and superb vocals by Tony Garone which outline the story. The music has tremendous subtle keyboards that almost have a bagpipe sound and along with percussion and layered harmonies give this opener a rich soundscape, a powerful introduction to this concept. All drums and percussion have depth, feeling and portray emotion. The violin on track 2, "Uruk", is so soulful it's beautiful. There are superb male/female vocals on "Inanna/Ishtar", this sounds very folky but powerful, while "Gilgamesh Laments for Enkidu" is a rather special, dark, deep, atmospheric and haunting track. As we reach the last third of the album, the transitional sounding "The Journey" takes on a optimistic classical air leading into the amazing "Siduri". This is folk flavoured with tremendous male/female vocals, gentle guitars and keys while the slowish, mid eastern sounding "Utnapishtim And The Great Flood" is surprisingly quite powerful. When we reach track 13, "The Far Away", the music becomes stronger and lifts the spirits. This continues on the following "The Flower Of Life". We approach the end with the commercial sounding "Lost In The Temple Of Anu", (this nearly sounds out of place to the rest of the album) and "The Followers Of Horus", a very short, dark instrumental that gives a sombre ending to this extraordinary concept.All the vocalists, especially the female ones, add some tremendous variation while Tony Garone has a voice which in places reminds me of Ian Anderson, especially on "We Are All One" and "Huwawa The Terrible". The music is obviously mid Eastern influenced and once again I hear similarities between this and Tull, check out "Enkida" with its Tullish sounding Turkish Saz and "The Bull Of Heaven" with its nifty electric guitar, although these tracks are not progressive in the Tull sense. It could of course just be in the mid Eastern influences where the similarities lie but I would be very surprised if Tull fans don't find this interesting (Tony Garone did work in a band in the NY, Vermont and Connecticut areas for years doing, among other things, covers of Jethro Tull songs before eventually moving to Arizona). Tony Garone has certainly burst onto the music scene with this masterpiece, there is a huge amount of originality here, a huge amount. This really is special. A major album of 2001. 100%European Progressive Rock Reviews web: http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/floyd/766/index.html

Location Gilbert, Arizona - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).