The Whole Music Experience

Excerpt from Whole Music The Practice: Musical Treasure Hunt Similar to treasure hunts from our childhood, I’m going to send you on a music treasure hunt in which the pleasures are many.  Pretend that you are a song catcher visiting other cultures where you collect new sounds. While I mentioned sound healers earlier, another important player with music preservation are ethnomusicologists who combine cultural anthropology with music preservation.  Two famous song catchers are the late Alan Lomax, and the world beat drummer Mickey Hart.  I recommend learning more about these song catchers through books, and documentaries. 1) Step One-- Head over to YouTube, and look up the following music traditions: ·          Aboriginal Didgeridoo ·          Finnish Runo-Songs (Traditional singer) ·          Gregorian chants ·          Griot Music of Mali (Acoustic, not pop music) ·          Sanskrit Chants Sung by Hindu Indians in Context (aka Kirtans)

World/Jazz   Mulatu Astatke Sketches of Ethiopia   Jazz Village When I first started listening to world music, I heard a few Ethiopian jazz and sacred music recordings. Right away, I felt enticed by the exotic modes, scales, and polyphonic rhythms.   The music of Ethiopia possesses a distinct sound even when it’s melded to jazz, funk, and Latin music.   And it’s not the easiest music to describe either!   Pianist/Vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke gives listeners a music puzzle to solve and I even looked up traditional Ethiopian instruments featured on the recording (the Ethiopian flute, washint, traditional lyre, krar and the 1-string fiddle, masinco).   While the wildly delicious Sketches of Ethiopia falls into exoticism, any listener of world music will recognize echoes of Nigerian funk, American soul, Cuban beats and Ethiopian jazz because it’s all here and then some. The opener, Azmari warms up the ears with polyphonic beats, exotic modes, and a serpentine melod