The Whole Music Experience

Heal Me with a Latin-Jazz-Classical Vibe You wouldn't think I'd find the soundtrack music of Westside Story healing with its jagged edges, slight dissonance portraying teenage angst, and sarcasm (both in the music and the text), but I do.  Similar to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony , the music from this Broadway musical and feature film, works through anger, frustration, and then ultimately triumphs.  The love songs in both the text and music (with its vaulting melodies), possess a sense of destiny and toy with metaphysical elements.  The text revolves around the theme of belonging somewhere, to someone, and to a community.  The melodies too combine ethnicity such as American jazz of the 1950s, mixed with Puerto Rican elements, and even European classical elements, after all, Leonard Bernstein composed this famous music.  The song, America for instance provides a poignant contrasts between immigrants who assimilate into a new culture, and those wh...

Top 10 for 2010 World-traditional-Folkloric 1. Lokua Kanza, Nkolo, World Village 2. Ana Moura, Leva-Me Aos Fados, World Village 3. Salif Keita, la difference, Universal Music 4. Rahim Alhaj, Little Earth, UR Music 5. Huun Huur Tu, Ancestors Call, World Village 6. Mayte Martin, Al Cantar A Manuel, World Village 7. Sierra Maestro, Sonando Ya, World Village 8. Susanna Owiyo, My Roots, Kirkelig Kulturverksted 9. V.M Bhatt and Matt Maley, Sleepless Nights, World Village 10. Sondre Bratland and Annborg Lien, Alle Vegne, Kirkelig Kulturverksted Best Folkloric Album: Michèle Choinière, La Violette, independent release

Lifting Off (Employing Music to Relieve Melancholy) I've felt my share of melancholy.  And I'm thankful for the gift of sadness because without experiencing it, I wouldn't have experimented with music to uplift my mood. And of course, I understand that the music that uplifts my mood, might not uplift someone else's.  Clinical depression and other mental illnesses are out of my domain so please read this essay with that in mind. When I'm in a cranky or depressed mood, I back away from life for a short period to find my center.  I practice yoga and meditation during these times, and I catch my breath.  I've found that specific types of music uplift my moods and transform my thoughts from negative to positive.  I have a small stack of Brazilian bossa nova and Mozart CDs for this purpose.  But Bob Marley's greatest hits or Exodus work just as well in getting me back on track. I don't suffer from seasonal affective disorder, however, living in the ...

Annalivia Barrier Falls 5-String Productions I don’t know how many Irish ballads I’ve heard with the title John Riley since I began covering world music, but a few. And since each ballad has its own distinct signature, I visualize Irish phonebooks containing pages of John Riley. The version that appears on Boston-based Celtic quintet Annalivia’s Barrier Falls , delights my ears. Lead vocalist/guitarist Liz Simmons possesses one of those voices, clear, immaculate, and chockfull of delicate emotions that does the Irish tradition proud. Annalivia with its Celtic chamber sound comprised of banjo, dual fiddles, acoustic guitar, double-bass and vocal harmonies, hits the spot on this rainy Sunday afternoon. The band performs both melancholic love ballads and heartwarming jigs and reels, hailing from Cape Breton, the British Isles, and the US. The musicians polish each track, adding a few twists and 3-part vocal harmonies in the opening and closing tracks. I envision this band pla...