The Whole Music Experience

Music Consciousness in the Work and Market Place Seattle, photo by Patricia Herlevi So many times I walk into a business or shop and leave immediately because I don’t enjoy the music playing in the store. In some cases, I’ve heard NPR or some other news source blasting from a radio. In either case, those shops lost my business because I felt unwelcomed by the audio choices. I’ve been blasted with heavy metal at an Aveda beauty school (Seattle), I’ve had to listen to 70s and 80s pop music getting my hair cut at other beauty schools and also strangely enough waiting for a counseling appointment and ditto for a naturopath clinic. Nostalgia is a dangerous thing and drum machines pattering away do not provide a healing environment. Some lyrics might trigger painful memories. This is why massage therapists and other energy healers provide either silence or soothing tension-free music to their patients. All of the above scenarios portray unconscious music/audio choices that might...

Susanne Lundeng Mot Kirkelig Kulturverksted In 2004 I reviewed Norwegian fiddler-violinist Susanne Lundeng’s Strange Journey for my former website Cranky Crow World Music (2002-2007). While I found that album ambitious blending jazz and traditional music, her 2011 recording Mot (Courage) represents contemplative Nordic music where jazz, traditional, and classical intersect. Lundeng experiments with tonality on Imella where she’s joined by BØde Sinfonietta. On the remaining tracks she either flies solo or pairs off with a chamber musicians Min Ensemble, piano and accordion. While the songs moves along at a slower tempo, they possess a primal, untamed feel, such as on tracks 4 and 7 when the violin takes on a Hungarian gypsy quality. I think the courage in the album’s title refers mostly to Imella (track 6) in which the violinist experiments with tonality. However, the dissonance on the track leaves me feeling uneasy. I prefer the more pastoral songs on the album...

Here are 10 pop songs sure to uplift any mood.  Listen to them, sing them, or in some cases dance to them often.  And create your own list of go-to songs. 1. Spoonful--Willie Dixon 2. Here Comes the Sun--The Beatles 3. Smile--Charlie Chaplin (I love Madeleine Peyroux's version) 4. Ma Vie en Rose--Edith Piaf (sung by Edith Piaf in French) 5. Jammin'--Bob Marley 6. What a Wonderful World--Louis Armstrong 7. Maria (from Westside Story)--Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim 8. I Feel Pretty (from Westside Story)--Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sonheim 9. My Favorite Things (The Sound of Music)--composer? 10. Summer Time--George (and Ira?) Gershwin Also listen to Fellini soundtrack music by Nino Rota, Putumayo compilations, "Careless Love" and "Half the Perfect World" by Madeleine Peyroux, Mozart operas and Catherine Russell's "Inside this Heart of Mine" (World Village) hits the spot too.

Les Chauds Lapins Amourettes Barbès Records Imagine the Golden Age of French music (1920-1940s) revisited by an American bluegrass player and a side musician for They Might Be Giants. Meg Reichardt (Roulette Sisters) and Kurt Hoffman (The Ordinaires) pull of the Parisian accent and the atmosphere of the French swing and chansons on Amourettes . On the surface you might imagine that you’re sitting in a Parisian café with the smell of roasted beans wafting past your nose and Parisians rushing pass you, but the song lyrics border on the absurd at times and recall Godard’s cinema with Parisians cloaked in bohemian black philosophizing about love, sex, and death. The recording lends itself to daydreaming and provides wonderful dinnertime music.  I enjoy listening to the album while I'm cooking dinner. Musically, the songs have been arranged for strings, acoustic bass, trumpet, plucked banjo, guitar, and ukulele, that’s right, ukulele. The plucky songs bounce along like a...

Aulaga Folk A menos cuarto Armando Records This isn’t the first time a recording by the Spanish folkloric group Aulaga Folk has crossed my path. And once again I feel tongue-tied in trying to describe the folkloric music on the CD. In 2006 I reviewed the group’s no es mala leña which wed jazz to regional folk music (Extremadura, Spain). The CD was easier to describe than the current recording a menos cuarto (a quarter to the hour) which harbors elements of Celtic Spanish with Arab-Andalusian music, and yet is neither. The album comes with a CD featuring an array of special guests including other Spanish folkloric luminaries such as Javier Ruibal and Eliseo Parra, a second disc featuring mixes and a DVD with three music videos so we can see the band in action, and not just performing music, but also collecting it. The musicians feature music from the mountainous region of Spain, Hurdes, which doesn’t have the happiest of reputations and was featured in a 1933 documentary L...

Music as Magnetic Law of Attraction The topic of applying music to lifting vibration is not new to me. I’ve been using music to lift my moods all my life, and consciously since 2005 when I came up with the concept for my book Whole Music , and 2 years before I launched this blog. Then a few months ago I noticed that jazz vocalist Trish Hatley began a project combining affirmations with music to support the law of attraction concept. The other day when I played a Rough Guide compilation for the music of Bolivia, I had this image of the bombo drum and flutes in my mind’s eye and I found this music profoundly uplifting. This brought me to the idea that we all have different genres and instruments that lift our vibration. Perhaps the Andes music doesn’t lift your vibration, though this would surprise me. I’ve never seen a passerby frown when encountering street musicians performing Andes music. Just like I’ve never seen anyone frown around the music of Bob Marley or Cuban son. ...

Ana Moura Coliseu World Village While listening to a fado recording offers a special treat, listening to a live fado CD feels like luxuriating in a hot bath or indulging in chocolate cake. The sensual experience which combines poetry with a rainbow of emotions provides an opportunity for the listener to bond intimately with the singer. The super star Mariza came out with a live CD and DVD documentary several years ago which left a lasting impression. Now, Ana Moura, another Portuguese diva-super star leaves her mark on world music with Coliseu , a recording of a 2008 homecoming concert. The magical evening is captured in 15 tracks in which Moura wraps her mouth around words as if they were delicious morsels. She carefully shapes every musical phrase with emotional nuances ranging from devastating heartbreak to questionable cheeky humor ( And We Came Born of the Sea ). So often the younger generation of fadistas such as Moura and Mariza pay homage to Amàlia Rodrigues, but in ...

Jayanthi Kumaresh Mysterious Duality Just Me EarthSync I first heard veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh perform on collaborative recordings on Sense World Music in 2007. On rare occasions I heard classical Indian music from South India and even more rare that I heard veena recordings. In many ways, the veena resembles the sitar of North India’s classical music tradition, but the veena’s tones sound warmer and resonate deeper than a sitar. On her solo recording Mysterious Duality (Just Me) , Kumaresh layers several veenas, up to 7 overdubs on the 4 tracks that appear on the recording. I thought I read somewhere that she performed on 12 veenas for this recording, but now that I look for that information I’m unable to find it. In the press notes, Kumaresh reflects about how she wanted to bring out the nuances of the veena. “The pieces that emerged once Jayanthi found her footing move from contemplative layered arpeggios to energetic, complex melodies, from percussive grooves to da...

Sara Banleigh The Folk EP Self-Release Not many journalists are going to struggle about whether or not to include a review of a CD on a blog because of dark subject matter. But my blog features the healing power of music and leans towards softer material (even though Sara Banleigh introduces the song All My Trials with Bach’s Prelude #1 in C major ). So I’m reviewing Banleigh’s recording The Folk EP as a culture preservation project and not as a healing music CD. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to review a CD featuring Irish songs from 500 years ago, especially arranged for piano and voice. Banleigh mentions in the press notes that she preferred to give a grittier interpretation of these old murder and love ballads. She’s not the first to accomplish this task since Irish song interpreter Susan McKeown covered similar territory on her 2006 World Village recording Black Thorn: Irish Love Songs. Similar to McKeown, Banleigh provides gutsy vocals instead of the misty-e...

I was looking for an archival article on WME and I saw that I first launched the blog in January 2007.  So that means this year marks the 5th Anniversary of The Whole Music Experience. I never intended on launching a blog and was hosting the website Cranky Crow Whole Music at the time.  I had enrolled in an online marketing class and one of the class projects was creating a blog.  I was the only student who launched a community service blog since I didn't want to post my personal life online, nor did I think anyone would be interested.  I wouldn't even feel interested in reading about my personal life on a blog. Since the creation of WME, I have interviewed fabulous musicians, healers, and promoters, reviewed I don't know how many recordings, and branched out from just world music to traditional, sacred, new age, old age, classical and jazz.  It has been a wonderful journey thus far.  I hope you'll keep traveling with me down this musical road. Yo...

Cheevers Toppah Renewed Spirit Harmonized Church Hymns of the Kiowa Canyon Records Louie Gonnie Breathe Deep the Dusk Fall Songs of the Native American Church Canyon Records Antonio Woody Old Style Native American Peyote Songs Canyon Records I wrote an in depth article on the Native American Church and peyote songs several years ago which you can find on this blog (see links at the end of the review), so I’m not going into scholarly detail here. However, Kiowa Cheevers Toppah, Dinè Louie Gonnie represent the more prominent younger generation of harmonized peyote song singers recording these days. In fact, they’re prolific releasing at least one recording per year that showcases their talent and spiritual devotion. Antonio Woody, also from the Dinè people brings us the Native American peyote songs of his ancestors, performing them in the old style. While I’ve never ingested peyote myself or attended a Native American Church service, I will attest to the psychedel...

Paulo Fresu, A Filetta Corsican Voices & Daniele di Bonaventura Mistico Mediterraneo ECM A lone lyric jazz trumpet, an Italian bandoneon, and Corsican vocals combine to create a haunting soundtrack for Mother Earth on the album Mistico Mediterraneo . In my opinion, this gorgeous recording will likely appeal to sensitives (which comprise only 30% of the population), and sophisticated music audiences. It’s not going to appeal to the average music listener who prefers the jangles of pop music. Corsican polyphony alone has the power to stop a listener in his or her track, but I’ve noticed that only more evolved humans gravitate towards this music. It’s as if you need to listen with an inner ear to fully comprehend it. Sadly, much of what I review on this blog fits into this category because the most powerful healing music scrubs the soul clean, leaving it bare and vulnerable to daylight. Not everyone enjoys this type of musical journey. Too bad because this type of purging ...

I received the sad news today that Energy Healer/Musician/Animal Advocate/Sound Healer/Author Marjorie de Muynck died from her battle with cancer in January.  I don't have an exact date or any information except for what Marjorie shared with me in the last e-mail she sent me.  At that point she was paralyzed from the waist down and battling cancer for the third time, this time she had a tumor on her lower spine and kidneys. If you were a student in one of my healing music workshops, you will know about Marjorie and what a dear soul and healer she was and still is because I think she's sticking around for all of us, and she's definitely sticking around for the non-humans who she dearly loved and supported in their plight on Mother Earth. I received so many passionate e-mails from Marjorie, who also hooked me up with a few animal advocacy groups, kept me informed on petitions, etc...Meanwhile, she was obtaining her Masters in Acupuncture/Chinese Medicine.  And pr...

The Power of Music and the Flu I woke up on a Saturday night (Feb 5) with a dry cough, thinking it was nothing but allergies to dust coming from the heater, I fell back asleep. But the next day I experienced overwhelming exhaustion and a persistent cough that grew in intensity as the day wore on, I ended up back in bed, barely able to lift my head from the pillow. However, I made a decision to pursue music sessions (listening to specific CDs) as adjunct therapy along with herbal teas, and plenty of liquids (mostly warm) and Dr. Sha's Soul Mind Body medicine (but try chanting when you're coughing). What I found on the first weekend with the flu is that I needed comfort. In Chinese medicine, the lungs are associated with grief, which I felt my share of while recovering from the flu. I also wanted to open my heart and throat chakras which were blocked, though my head chakras were open. So I drew from my small stash of CDs which I had placed near a CD player at my bedsid...

Elizabeth Watts The English Concert w/Harry Bicket J.S. Bach Cantatas and Arias Harmonia Mundi I find no shortage of riveting sopranos in the classical realm. And among them, Soprano Elizabeth Watts who debuts on Harmonia Mundi with a collection of J.S. Bach’s cantatas and arias brings extraordinary sensitivity to this religious text while also dazzling us with her vocal finesse. She closes the recording with a showstopper, Cantata 51 which runs from track 13 to 17 and if the introduction to that cantata doesn’t blow the minds of its listeners, nothing will. Bach is known for the challenging aspects of his compositions—only first rate performers need apply. However, Bach’s repertoire isn’t just daunting for musicians, but also for the average music listener. Joining with The English Concert, Watts delivers the mostly somber works ranging from the opening Aria from Cantata 31 , to Cantata 199 (other arias included) and ending with Cantata 51 , as mentioned earlier. Mar...

San Francisco Symphony Michael Tilson Thomas Emanuel Ax (piano) Beethoven Symphony No. 5 and Piano Concerto No. 4 SFS Media/Harmonia Mundi If I had the chance to interview the late Joseph Campbell, I would have asked him about Beethoven’s 5th Symphony . After all, fate knocking at the door followed by a quest into darkness with the eventual emergence into triumph is what Campbell would have labeled, “a hero’s journey.” For Beethoven fate came knocking at the door alright. During the four years it took to write this short and powerful symphony, his hearing deteriorated, he suffered from a finger infection that could have destroyed his career (antibiotics weren’t discovered yet, infections could turn into gangrene…), the woman he loved married another man, and Napoleon occupied Vienna. And yet, the first movement that swayed under the weight of its anger and frustration, also supplies listeners with a few angelic interludes. But the strings burst in anger, the horns rant, a...

Gabriel Ayala & Will Clipman Passion, Fire & Grace Canyon Records I spent the weekend fighting off a lung infection. Fortunately, Yaqui classical/flamenco guitarist Gabriel Ayala and master percussionist Will Clipman’s recording Passion, Fire & Grace arrived in my mailbox. I listened to the recording several times over the weekend, even hitting the replay button. And at times I had wished for a long-play or a double CD because I found the music here enticing, healing, and comforting. There’s nothing worse than dealing with a sickness when you’re alone, and music can often bring comfort as this recording did. The recording supplies its listeners with plenty of flamenco guitar including renditions of work by nuevo flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucìa ( Entre Los Aguas ) and a younger flamenco guitarist Vicente Amigo. Most of the work here was composed by Ayala from the catchy opener Sonoran Nights to the nuevo flamenco piece Allegro that closes the CD. Native ...

The Pleasures of Indian Ragas My introduction to Indian classical ragas was a humbling experience. It was 2003, I had just started discovering music from around the world as a music journalist (making a transition from alternative rock to world music) and I attended my first Indian classical recital. Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma (santoor) and Zakir Hussain (tabla) headlined at the King Cat Theatre in Seattle. A few thousand Indians filled the theatre to the brim, and only a handful of Anglo-Americans were in attendance. I sat next to one, who thankfully was an expert on Indian classical music. I received a comp to attend the recital if I reviewed it for World Music Central and my own website at the time Cranky Crow World Music . So I sat down waiting for the recital to begin. The musicians tuned their instruments on a carpeted-covered platform on the stage and then dove into the Alap section of the raga. Only I couldn’t tell when the tuning of t...