The Whole Music Experience

Music of the Nile Field Recordings by David Fanshawe Arc Music We need to travel back to 2003 for Music of the Nile when Arc Music released the field recordings of David Fanshawe (ethnomusicologist and composer) and even further for the actual field recordings which were produced from 1969 to 1975.   Then in the 1990s, Fanshawe composed the African Diaspora-European fusion chorale African Sanctus (which you can watch on YouTube).   The composer borrowed heavily from the field recordings produced along the Nile River as it snaked its way through Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya.   And yes, Music of the Nile offers both a geography lesson and exploration of music traditions that went the way of the dinosaur. With nearly 80 minutes of diverse tracks ranging from wedding feasts music to lullabies, to fishing songs, as well as, affectionate songs praising camels in Sudan and cows in Kenya, it’s best to listen to this recording in two or more sittings. ...

Dream Time The Didgeridoo of the Australian Aborigines Arc Music (2010) Want to get your root and sacral chakras open?   Listen to didgeridoo, a percussive-wind instrument made from eucalyptus trees hollowed out by termites.   More than likely, if you listen to global indigenous, new age, or world music, you have come across didgeridoos.   The players mastered circular breathing as they blow into the tubular instrument, often decorated with Australian Aborigines symbols (Dream Time).   Face it, this is an instrument with indigenous mysticism attached to it, but it is an almost rare occasion that you hear Aborigines music played on the didgeridoo in context and by performed by Aborigines musicians.   Dream Time opens a window to music of the Australian bush.   And listeners also get exposed to traditional vocals, percussion, and dance rhythms. So what does this music sound like?   The stickman-vocalist pounds out quick rhythms on ...

Oka! (Listen) Film Soundtrack Oka Productions I first became acquainted with the music of the Central African pygmies (Congo, Cameroon), when I discovered the music of the Afro-Celtic band Baka Beyond.  I felt fascinated with the pygmies’ music because these indigenous people learned to make music from the natural environment of the deep forest.  From exotic bird calls, to complex poly rhythms, and vocals not easily described, the pygmies celebrate life via music.  Not only that, even with strange and exotic sounds, the pygmies’ music is accessible. The feature film Oka! (listen) , brings us hybrid music that combines a movie soundtrack with a field recording sensibility.  And in fact, the movie revolves around ethnomusicalogist Louis Sarno, a leading expert of the pygmies music.  He ignored a life-threatening illness, according to the press notes, and stayed on with the pygmies for three decades, recording their music.  In a life imitates ...

photo by Patricia Herlevi I woke up this morning with thoughts about how I've used music at various times in my life.  While I mainly focus on the healing aspects of music in the guise of sound healing and music therapy on this blog, consider that we heal ourselves by bonding to others, by feeling excepted by a peer group (as in the case with rock and pop music), as a form of identity, as courting ritual, and educational purposes.  We also still use music for ritualistic purposes. If your soul purpose is to heal your mind, soul and body with music then sound healing and music therapy will work best.  If you are working on raising your vibration then sound healing and listening to higher vibrational music such as Mozart, Bach, Brazilian samba, etc will help you reach this goal.  But if you're trying to bond with your teenage son or daughter, then pop, rock, and hip-hop might be the best approach, unless your teenager listens to jazz, classical, and traditional...

Singing for Life Songs of Hope, Healing, and HIV/AIDS in Uganda Smithsonian Folkways Music has the power to heal. This we know and time and again this point garners further proof. A new Smithsonian Folkways recording, Singing for Life compiled and recorded by ethnomusicologist Gregory Barz, brings us another hopeful musical project from the heart of sub-Saharan Africa. According to the ample liner notes, 38 million people worldwide are infected with HIV and roughly two thirds of those infected reside in Africa and 25.3 million live in sub-Saharan Africa. "Uganda is the single sub-Saharan African country that demonstrated remarkable, constant decline in overall infection rates. Many factors have contributed to this decline, and a critical one, Singing for Life , tries to show, is music." In Uganda where music plays a crucial role in everyday life, acting as a vehicle for educational messages, rituals, ceremonies and other activity, various musical groups, healers, a...