The Whole Music Experience

New Orleans Jazz Orchestra Book One World Village New Orleans,also known as the Crescent City has a long tradition of jazz and other genres of music. In fact the city's music scene could be called a multicultural spiced stew. While the wake of Hurricane Katrina which hit ground in New Orleans in 2005 curtailed the club scene and the lives of thousands of people, including musicians, these same determined and tenacious musicians helped the New Orleans residents to bounce back. Musicians have been at the heart of the rebuilding effort through giving benefit concerts, producing fund and awareness raising albums, as well as, Terence Blanchard's Requiem for Hurricane Katrina (A Tale of God's Will). The music coming out of the Crescent City simmers on the front burner and Irvin Mayfield, Jr., Artistic Director of New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, composer and trumpeter is among some of the hottest New Orleans musicians. In fact, Book One , which features New Orleans jazz,...

Sequentia Voice of Blood Hildegard von Bingen Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/BMG Anyone interested in the healing powers of music must include at least one recording of the medieval Benedictine abbess Hildegard von Bingen's inspired chants in his or her collection. While I personally have not experienced any healings from Hildegard's repertoire, I am inspired by this beautiful music nonetheless and have read of others experiencing personal healing from Hildegard's divinely channeled music. Others have told me of mystical experiences associated with these sacred chants. Hildegard would in our time be considered an energy or alternative healer. With no training or certification, Hildegard channeled directly from God information on healing with plants, nutrition/diet, sacred art such as mandalas she created and the sacred chants that are still being recorded today by such ensembles as Anonymous 4, Sequentia and other vocal groups. And similar to many healers and mys...

Maria del Mar Bonet Raixa World Village I am quite pleased that labels such as World Village have been releasing and distributing traditional Spanish music recordings in North America. I recently reviewed albums by Uxia from Galicia and Marina Rossell from Barcelona as well as, penning an article on Galician music for World Music Central . I also have a personal connection to Spain which flows in my blood and seeps through my temperament. When we preserve traditional music, we also preserve dances, languages, instruments, poetry and history. We honor our ancestors when we listen to this old music and we find our roots too that help us feel secure in an unstable world. I have listened to the music of my ancestors on both sides of my family and have been enriched by the experience, though I have not heard much traditional Filipino music during my lifetime, I have delved into Finnish, Spanish, and Puerto Rican musical traditions. I find these quests healing and enlivening. ...

The Sound of Music DVD 20th Century Fox The Sound of Music The Original Soundtrack RCA BMG If it's not already in every sound healer and musician's library, the 1965 movie production of The Sound of Music , either on DVD or CD should be. First of all, The Von Trapp family in which the original story represented a musical family from an Austrian city steeped in musical traditions, both classical and sacred. I had not watched the movie in years and last time I watched it, I was not on the music awareness path. Then a few years ago I read Ted Andrews' book Sacred Sounds in which he mentioned both the Austrian meistersingers, musical initiates who used music with intention and he mentioned music from The Sound of Music , even going as far as using the Do-Re-Mi song to clear chakras. Andrews book planted seeds in my mind and heart. Recently I agreed to teach a music awareness class to theatre youth and I decided to focus on musical theatre from the inside out, wit...

A visitor to this blog forwarded this article to me . I was surprised to find this on a mainstream news site. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30990170/

Rim Banna April Blossoms Kirkelig Kulturverksted Helping children laugh and sing during an era of crisis is a precious commodity. More and more musicians have been doing just that, bringing the power of music, joy and up-liftment to children that have lost their innocence because of war, privation and other human frailties. Palestinian vocalist and songwriter Rim Banna has sent out a powerful message with her latest children's music CD, April Blossoms . Even with the success of Banna's previous internationally-acclaimed recordings, I was unaware that the singer was a Palestinian star of children's music. Joining such women musicians as Navajo-Dine Radmilla Cody ( Precious Friends on Canyon Records) and Sweet Honey in the Rock ( Experience 101 on Appleseed Records), Banna has recorded a sophisticated collection of children's songs that could also appeal to adults. She doesn't talk down to the children, but instead helps them to reclaim their innocenc...

Copland Greatest Hits RCA Victor (1991) Grieg: Peer Gynt with Barbara Hendricks & Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra Esa-Pekka Salonen CBS Records (1989) I sometimes recommend that friends, colleagues and students to peruse their libraries classical music collection. European and Western classical music has a vast catalogue that ranges from medieval to contemporary times, with many genres and eras. I certainly cannot afford to buy every classical recording that strikes a chord with me (pun intended), but I can check out recordings from the library and also read music reference books such as The Rough Guide to Classical Music. One recent rediscovery, was the work of American classical composer Aaron Copland. We have all heard fragments of this composers work, from the American beef industries "eat beef" (not this vegetarian), commercials with Hoedown from Copland's ballet Rodeo and we have all heard passages from Appalachian Spring as Americans living in the...

Gerald Finley and Julius Drake Songs by Ravel Hyperion/Harmonia Mundi French Impressionist composer Maurice Ravel specialized in short, ensemble compositions. Although his songs are less frequently recorded or written about, Ravel mastered both art and folk songs. The art songs would have reflected the era and country in which he resided. The French were not at that time short on poets or interdisplinary arts. So Ravel would have had his share of poetic muses in which to create musical canvasses. His love of folk songs, especially Spanish folk songs, came from his Basque mother who instilled a love of Spain and its folk traditions. According to the liner notes for operatic baritone Gerald Finley and pianist Julius Drake’s interpretation of Ravel’s short form, Ravel’s Songs , these gems are not appreciated to the extent that they deserve. “Why this is so remains something of a mystery, but it could stem from his refusal to repeat himself, so there is nothing we can call ...

Genticorum La Bibournoise Mad River Records Traditional Quebecois music first came to my attention when I saw a Quebecois ensemble perform at the university I was attending. The second time, Quebecois captured my attention was when I watched the Quebecois classic film, My Uncle Antoine by Claude Jutra. A scene that took place in the country store, where most of the film’s action also took place, the town’s people kick up their heels to folksy Quebecois music. This musical tradition revisited me at WOMAD USA in 2001, when the original lineup of Matapat performed and gave a demonstration of the traditional instruments and step dancing that makes up this French-language music. What’s not to love about this lively musical fare that combines humor, pathos, passionate fiddles, lyrical passages and rhythms played out on feet? This is one tradition that shows no signs of dying, unlike many folk traditions around the world. I have already heard numerous recordings by Quebecois lumina...

Marina Rossell Gran Teatre Del Liceu De Barcelona Classic Catalan Songs World Village Catalan/Spanish vocalist and songwriter Marina Rossell marries Lorca-like poetry, with traditional Spanish instruments and heartfelt vocals on this live recording. This delicious collection of songs, (23 in all), combines the taste of the sea, with sensual images and longing. And similar to other international vocalists, Mariana Montalvo, Tania Libertad, Arja and Claudia Bombardella, Rossell's repertoire on Classic Catalan Songs , travels the gamut from cabaret-style to spiritual and national hymns, to love songs that would cause troubadours to blush. These songs come to us from a September 11, 2008 (a Catalonian holiday), performance at Gran Teatre Del Liceu De Barcelona (Grand Theatre of Licea of Barcelona), and judging from the photographs that pepper the cover and liner notes, this performance was a grand event. The entire theatre with its many tiers was filled to the brim. Th...

Stile Antico Song of Songs Harmonia Mundi It's hard for many folks to imagine the Bible as literary text, much less containing erotic passages. It's even harder for some religious people, mystics excluded, to conceive of any sensuality coming from the Big Book. Yet, The Song of Songs , composed by King Solomon, reads as erotic text for some, and for others, as Marian text. During the European Renaissance, several esteemed composers, set this erotic poem to polyphonic church music. The list of composers included, Palestrina, Gombert, Clemens, Victoria and others. The emerging English Early Music choir, Stile Antico performs work of many of these composers' interpretation of The Song of Songs . As I'm writing this review, I'm suffering from a migraine, not to mention, stress from having to re-type this blog entry. In the past, I was able to heal migraines while listening to renaissance polyphony. I'm hoping I will achieve the same results listen...

  Ballet & Requiem Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chicago Symphony Chorus With Jessica Rivera and Bernard Haitink Ravel Daphnis et Chloe/Poulenc Gloria CSO-Resound/Harmonia Mundi It’s odd to find a requiem and an Impressionist ballet sharing the same disc. However, Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, with its fanfare, and Copeland-esqe orchestration, not to mention vocal arrangement, hardly resembles a requiem—at least not the kind we have grown accustom. The liner notes mention that Poulenc, (“a bad boy of French music”), composed the requiem for a fellow composer, Pierre-Octave Ferroud who was beheaded in an automobile accident. Also in the liner notes, “Over the next 25 years, as Poulenc examined his own beliefs and confronted the Roman Catholicism of his childhood, he developed a unique religious musical style, one that confirms and, in turn questions the significance of faith.” The six movements are cited as both “introspective and breezy.” And the soprano role ...

Marjorie de Muynck Vibrational Healing Music Sounds True When it comes to psycho-acoustics and sound healing integrity, healer-musician-composer Marjorie de Muynck is at the top of the list. Her recording, In the Key of Earth (Sounds True), proved time again, to lift vibrations from my home environment. And de Muynck does so by recording only acoustic instruments, including overtones from those instruments. Her latest recording, Vibrational Healing Music represents another pioneering effort. The recording offers a fabulous marriage between nature spirits (not just the sound of waves and birds chirping), and acoustic instruments. But de Muynck takes this musical venture even further by setting moods that she experienced as a child in the Midwest and Oklahoma. We can be thankful then, that de Muynck’s Native American grandparents did not own a television set and they would sit on the porch with their granddaughter in the evening listening to the music of the natural world. ...

Soname Plateau World Village When Tibetan vocalist Yungchen Lhamo performed at WOMAD USA in 1998, she introduced me to Tibetan music. Her perilous journey across the Himalayas and her stellar vocals captured my attention. Vocalist Soname also hails from Tibet and she also fled Chinese-ruled Tibet, via Nepal, then India and finally landing in Brighton, England where she cleaned houses for a living. In 1998, she made her vocal debut and in 2000, she recorded her first album with borrowed money. Plateau , to be released on World Village this May, showcases this mezzo-soprano’s gorgeous and powerful voice. I could make a comparison between Lhamo and Soname, I would say that Lhamo’s vocals soar in the ethereal realm and Soname’s vocals feel earthy. And on Plateau , table beats punctuate and bansuri flute frames Soname’s amazing vocals. The opening track combines the best of India and Tibet, musically speaking. The closing track features some of the most passionate vocals I have he...

Songs across Walls of Separation Kirkelig Kulturverksted Norwegian record producer and founder of the label, Kirkelig Kulturverksted, Erik Hillestad and I had previous conversations about a project involving nations with walls that keep loved ones apart. Similar to an earlier peace project, the album, Lullabies from the Axis of Evil , Hillestad set out to make a political statement via music. He found vocalists from both sides of several national walls, from countries as far-reaching as Morocco and Cyprus to Kashmir, Palestine and Mexico. While some people thought that the crumbling of the Berlin Wall was the end to this type of divide and conquer practice, need to reassess the type of world where we choose to reside. Once Hillestad found these vocalists, he asked them to sing the same songs then later he would meld those vocal tracks together, thus bringing loved ones torn by politics-as-usual and social conditions, together again. In the case of Palestinians Rim Banna and Jami...

Norwegian Brass: Conversation with Mathias Eick While I was hosting a community radio show, Global Heartthrob, I came across Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Mathias Eick. This occurred around the time when my consciousness towards trumpeters was growing. I had been listening to Miles Davis, Terence Blanchard and other players. ECM Records and Kirgelig Kulturverksted had both sent me recordings featuring Eick's clear tones. Since I received several recordings around the same time with Eick's contributions, I told myself that at some point I would interview the musician. And actually, had I kept hosting my radio show, he would have been a featured artist. Similar to Blanchard's work, especially on A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina), Eick also pulls colors from an emotional palette. But these emotions feel more like mood changes or perhaps light changes over the course of a day. The musician has in a short time, 29 years, has developed quite ...

Till Fellner J.S. Bach Inventionen und Sinfonien (And the French Suite V) ECM New Series I first discovered J.S. Bach's piano sonatas in 1999 after watching the film, 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould , in which Bach's most famous piano works were featured. Since that time, I have listened to various musicians performing the solo works of Bach on a variety of instruments from piano and harpsichord to guitar. My classically-trained colleagues and friends have told me about the challenges of performing Bach's repertoire. I have been fortunate to have heard this music played in the hands of masters. And this latest recording that arrived in my mailbox, performed by Austrian pianist Till Fellner, who received much acclaim for his previous Bach recording, Well Tempered Clavier book, has been added to this list. Inventions and Sinfonia along with the French Suite V , feature a sensitive and delightful performance. Similar to Gould and pianist Murray Perahia, who I a...

Culture Musical Club Shime! World Village Although Tanzanian taarab music is not completely new to my ears, I had to give Culture Musical Club’s Shime a few listens before reviewing it. So far the recording has captured the hearts of international music reviewers, including writers with New York Times, Chicago Tribune and the English music publication, Songlines. The music itself resembles Egyptian cinematic music with its Arabic modes, scales and rhythms. The instrumentation proves intriguing by combining North African-Arabic percussion, zither, double bass, oud, violin, and driving accordion, topped off with hearty vocals—both male and female. It’s ironic that during this post 911 era world music audiences and even a broader audience have been exposed to music with Arabic roots and Muslim cultural influences. Usually as peace and cultural exchange efforts, labels and concert promoters have brought music of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and other Muslim dominant countries to our ...