The Whole Music Experience

Reynoir Casimir dit Nègoce and Signature The Quadrille of Guadeloupe Buda Musique/ Universal France Gilzene and The Blue Light Mento Band Sweet Sweet Jamaica World Village Those of you living in the far northern hemisphere will appreciate these two sunny recordings hailing from the French Caribbean Island, Guadeloupe and the former British colony, Jamaica. When many people think of the Caribbean, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic come to mind—meringue, soñes,bomba and plena or the rhythms that make up salsa music. The mention of Jamaica brings to mind ska and reggae—the home of the late Bob Marley. I discovered the music of Guadeloupe and the French Caribbean last spring when I researched music of the French Diaspora for a course I taught. The Quadrille of Guadeloupe comes with hefty liner notes explaining the origins of this old world European dance quadrille and its evolution in the New World as interpreted by former African slaves. Similar music is ...

Màrta Sebestyèn I Can See the Gates of Heaven World Village Sofìa Rei Koutsovitis Sube Azul World Village The label World Village provides its listeners with diverse women’s voices. From Peruvian Tania Libertad to Tibetan Soname and too many women musicians to name in this review, the recordings fall somewhere between comfortingly familiar to exotic, with many of the musicians falling into cutting edge. Some of the musicians such as Susan McKeown collect and preserve traditional songs and others such as the globe-trotting women vocalists in the French group Lo’Jo offer a musical stew. Hungarian folklorist and musician Màrta Sebestyèn collects traditional Hungarian songs, and has been doing this since her childhood when she won a song contest. A photograph of her circa 1977 appears in the liner notes in which Màrta collects a field recording from a traditional elder vocalist. However, Màrta with her traditional vocals and ear for beauty is more than a so...

I want to thank Allan Tamm for forwarding this link to me. Just three blocks from Lincoln Center, they arrived at the concert on Thursday night by shelter bus, not taxi or limousine. They took their seats around scarred, round folding tables. The menu was chicken curry and rice served on paper plates. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/arts/music/19soup.html

Laurie Madison, Maasa Craig & Doug Cox Maitri (yogic chants) Independent release (Canada) Yoga chants, sung in Sanskrit have risen in popularity during recent years with the yoga craze in North America. I have heard kirtan chants or mantras sung in Hebrew, YofiYah’s Kabbalah Kirtan (Sounds True), authentic Indian devotional chants and an array of new age recordings. Fusing slide guitar and music genres of the West with yoga mantras though is new to my ears. A musical ensemble under the guise of Maitri, have done just that, created a mix of chants from the Subcontinent with bluegrass tinged harmonies ( vande gurunham ), slide guitar and other western instruments. Mantra recordings provide music for a yogic practice or for musical meditation (singing the chants). The press notes that accompany the CD, mention Nelson (British Columbia) musician and yoga instructor Laurie Madison came up with an idea of combining Indian mantras with Western music, “A means of making yogic ...

 When this new century and decade began I worked as a freelance film journalist.  I attended film festivals, screened films from around the world and interviewed dozens of film directors.  I thought I could avoid returning to writing about music or performing it, after leaving that endeavor in 1997, but when I watched those movies, I found myself focusing on musical elements, such as soundtracks. In 1999, I saw two Canadian films that turned my ears towards classical music, The Red Violin and 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould , (by the same director and writers).  In 2001, I attended the last WOMAD, USA, near Seattle.  I found myself immersed in world music and I quickly fell in love with the global feast for the ears and eyes. Suddenly the world opened up to me.  I received recordings from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas.  I heard music sung in many tongues and played on exotic instruments.  My feet danced to poly rhythms, I ...

1. Sing along with a favorite vocal recording 2. Sing while you work or play 3. Play music for a yoga or other exercise practice 4. Dance 5. Learn or re-learn to play a musical instrument of your choice Perceive the entire world as musical.

Announcement from Pianist Lisa Spector/Through A Dog's Ear FREE MUSIC TO SHELTERS We'd like your assistance on an important community program. Can you help us spread the word about the Through a Dog's Ear Shelter Program? For free, we offer two hours of clinically tested classical piano music to non-profit dog advocacy groups (shelters, dog rescues, service dog organizations, etc.). Currently, Through a Dog's Ear music is being played in 75 shelters in three countries. Please tell your local shelters about our program.   Go to http://www.throughadogsear.com/

A Decade of Music: Top Recordings from 2000-09 Lo'Jo, World Village NPR (National Public Radio) came up with lists of favorite recordings from the last decade.  So I thought I would do the same, but what would be my criteria? Can I include albums produced in 2001 or 2008, if I received those albums years after the release date? I actually have a lot more favorites than what you will see on this list.  All the recordings fall into the world music genre because that is the only genre that I have reviewed for most of the decade.  I started reviewing world music recordings in 2002 when I launched my first music website, Cranky Crow World Music.  Then I began contributing reviews to World Music Central in the spring of 2003.  I did come across older recordings (2000 and 2001), during my first few years of reviewing.  And yes, I am including recordings that I did not receive the same year they were released.  Two examples of that are Barbara...

Mathias Eick, Pasha Hanjana and Ertan Tekin The Three Wise Men Kirkelig Kulturverksted Stephen Brandt-Hansen In the Light of Christmas Kirkelig Kulturverksted Since 2003 when I discovered the Norwegian blues musician Knut Reiersrud, holiday music released on the Norwegian label, Kirkelig Kulturverksted (KKV), has become a tradition for me. Founder of the label, Erik Hillestad and his colleagues produce holiday music with an ethnic edge, certainly the holiday records I listened to as a child did not feature Iranian nays (a reed flute) and Turkish instruments—I only wish that they had! A few years back, the Palestinian vocalist Rim Banna made her European debut on a KKV holiday recording. She would later follow up with three successful solo albums released on the label. For the 2009 holiday releases, trumpet Mathias Eick and tenor Stephen Brandt-Hansen set the stars in the firmament. The Three Wise Men featuring three wise musicians hailing from Norway (multi-instrumenta...

The bulk of recordings I received in late 2008 and 2009 were of classical and traditional (world) genres. Since I had a large pile of classical recordings, some of those recordings ended up on the Top Ten Healing Recordings. I received only a small collection of jazz recordings and some of the recordings I received in 2009 were actually recorded in 2008. Since my biggest discovery of the year was Galician (Spain) music, I included two recordings on the list below, a 2008 jazz recording and a 2009 world music recording. I feel fortunate to have received high quality recordings by some of the best names in classical, jazz and world music. The lists are random, meaning there is no number one spot—all being equal. Best Jazz Recordings (2008-09) 1. New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Book One, World Village 2. Mario Adnet & Philippe Baden Powell, Afro Samba Jazz, Adventure Music 3. Mathias Eick, The Door, ECM (2008 recording) 4. Vaamonde, Lamas & Romero, Vellas Artes, Falcatrua...

Arianna Savall Peiwoh AliaVox I was never a fan of harp music until a few years ago when the editor of World Music Central sent me a sample of Spanish harpist and mezzo-soprano Arianna Savall’s music. Later, I acquired Arianna’s first solo album, Bella Terra , which also refers to her homeland in Catalonia, Spain. Arianna’s music cannot be easily described since it has absorbed elements from Arabic and Eastern music along with elements from European early music, in fact, the musician plays a baroque harp. She sings in Catalan, a Romance language nearly lost during the Franco era and related to France’s Provencal language, according to the DK Guide to Spain (Eyewitness Travel Guides). Arianna with her choice of poetic text and performance of soprano vocals with harp gives off an angelic aura. Her music so carefully rendered with baroque instruments (lutes, percussion, harps) and mixed with traditional instruments such as Petter Johansen’s hardingfele (Norwegian fiddle) l...

Updated review on March 18, 2013 Symbiosis Sea of Light (1999) Symbiosis Music (UK) Symbiosis Touching the Clouds (1995) Symbiosis Music Symbiosis Aotearoa (nature recording/New Zealand) Symbiosis Music When I recently wrote an article on the benefits of music for relaxation I came across Symbiosis Music’s website. Two of the recordings I requested were recorded in the 1990s, long before research about the brain and music surfaced into the mainstream and long before the PBS documentary Science & Song . Synthesizers were employed more generously during that era with new age and other types of relaxation music, though some music awareness people I know now including myself, find that synthesizers cause tension and other symptoms. My opinion based on my own music and personal experience leans towards relaxation music performed on all acoustic instruments with overtones of these instruments providing musical washes and drones. However, I add that my body and emot...

In Pink by Pa tricia Herlevi I have been thinking a lot about women suffering from emotional and mental symptoms connected to hormonal imbalance--with a focus on peri-menopausal and menopausal women.  Some of the symptoms I have experienced myself include irritability, heart palpitations with anxiety in the middle of the night, and an emotional rollercoaster ride, including bursts of anger in connection with standing up for myself. So if any women reading this blog have experienced similar emotions and mental processes, I am including a few CDs here for you to try to alleviate some of the symptoms.  Experiment. I also started drinking Tulsi (Holy Basil) tea to reduce my stress levels. I feel relaxed. For insomnia I recommend: "Relax and De-Stress" by Dr. Andrew Weill and Joshua Leeds, Sounds True "Through A Dog's Ear" Volume One, Sounds True (Yes, this CD helps humans relax too and if your dog also feels stressed out, then you help the b...

Storks, Poetry and the Human Spirit   Around 2005-06, I heard vocalist and cuatro player Marta Topferova giving a radio interview in Seattle. After the interview, I acquired her recording, La Marea and I fell in love with its blend of old style Latin American music with a modern sensibility. That following Valentine’s Day I saw Marta with her trio at Jazz Alley (Seattle), and I felt swept away by the South American cuatro and Marta’s alto vocals. And I wasn’t the only one—many audience members stayed after the concert to meet the performers. Later with the release of her second recording on World Village, Flor Nocturna , again Marta supplied her listeners with a collection of thoughtful songs performed in a “chamber ensemble” format. Some of the material felt melancholy, but so were the times in which I found myself listening to the recording. Now, Marta awaits the release of her third World Village recording, Trova (see review below), which celebrates music of the C...