The Whole Music Experience

Best Newcomer, Brianna Lea Pruett, Gypsy Bells, Canyon Records Top World and Traditional Album Ana Alcaide, La Cantiga del Fuego, Arc Music 2. Vieux Farka Toure, Mon Pays, Six Degrees 3. The Idan Raichel Project, Quarter to Six, Cumbancha 4. The Henry Girls, December Moon, independent release 5. Mario Adnet, Villa Lobos, Boranda 6. Maria Ana Bobone, Fado and Piano, Arc Music 7. Nitanas Largo, Serenity, Canyon Records 8. R. Carlos Nakai and Will Clipman, Awakening the Fire, Canyon Records 9. Vasco Hernandez, Luz de Otro Manana, Arc Music 10. Techung, On the Road, Arc Music Honorable Mention: Cheevers Toppah, A Good Day, A Better Tomorrow, Canyon Records

World / Native American   R. Carlos Nakai Will Clipman Awakening the Fire Canyon Records What happens when R. Carlos Nakai’s flowing flute weds Will Clipman’s tribal beats? In the liner notes for Awakening the Fire , this duo explores the contrasting realms of the Native American flute, a melodic instrument and structured percussion.  One instrument lives outside of time and space, while the other instruments mark time.  Here we have free flowing building a bridge with rhythmic structure and the musicians accomplish a virtually impossible fete where each instrument gives space to the other.  This could only happen with two musicians who have known and worked with each other for a long time.  This takes cooperation, compromise, and excellent listening skills, which Nakai and Clipman possess in abundance. When combined, the exotic percussion (Clipman has a special room full of global percussion and the intuition to always choose the right...

World Will Clipman Myths & Masks (DVD/Educational) Will Clipman/Independent Will Clipman, master drummer/myth-maker/educator is the busiest musician I know.   If he’s not touring with R. Carlos Nakai’s band in Russia, appearing in concert in Phoenix, or recording with any of the Canyon Records musicians, he’s educating children about global cultures.   His educational DVD Myths & Masks features homemade percussion instruments, homemade masks and poetic myths about tribal people in Africa, Australia, and the American Southwest.   The purpose of Clipman’s delightful DVD revolves around representing humanity through stories that unite us and define this great blue planet where we reside. Clipman opens his concert with a djembe solo which sets the mystical space where Clipman shares his global myths.   With each masks representing Burkina Faso, the Australian Aborigines, the Kalihari Bushmen and the Pima Indians Clipman transforms i...

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 ...

R. Carlos Nakai, William Eaton and Will Clipman Dancing into Silence Canyon Records I was down with a cold, miserable, tired and the Canyon Records trio of R. Carlos Nakai, William Eaton and Will Clipman’s new recording, Dancing into Silence landed in my mailbox. I mostly played its music in the background as I struggled to keep up with my correspondence and workload. And while I cannot make the claim that this haunting and slightly melancholic (in a good way), music healed my cold, I can say that it relaxed my tense mind and body. Most of you are familiar with the Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai and some of you are familiar with luthier William Eaton (I would love to own one of whimsical lutes), and global percussionist Will Clipman—all veterans of Canyon Records. Each of these musicians provides soulfulness to his performances and when combined their energies combine to create a subtle powerhouse of sounds. I say subtle since this music, not just a collection of s...

Photo: Nancy Smith-Jones Sounds of the Desert: An Interview with Master Drummer Will Clipman Fans of Native American music and especially performed by Canyon Records artists, need little introduction to master drummer-percussionist William Clipman. The master drummer resides in the Sonaran Desert, a landscape that leaves an impression on Clipman’s playing. Clipman and I have been exchanging e-mail correspondence since I reviewed his solo CD, Pathfinder some time ago. I thought now would be the perfect time to interview him for this healing music blog. Below you will find an unabridged interview with the global beat drummer himself. WME: We had spoken of this earlier how you knew your life path as a drummer since you were a child. Did you want to share your earliest experiences with percussion with the readers of this blog? William Clipman: I started playing my father’s drums and my mother’s piano when I was three years old. I had no doubt absorbed the sounds of these ...

Will Clipman Pathfinder Canyon Records If you have listened to R. Carlos Nakai or any number of Canyon Records artists, you have heard Will Clipman's work on percussion and drums. On Pathfinder , the master percussionist Clipman performs on all of the global percussive instruments himself. The pieces feature polyphonic drums and global percussive melodies--that's right, Clipman plays melodic percussion. The music ranges from whimsical to dance-inducing-hip-swaying and many moods in between. The rhythmic music lifts our spirits and begs us to dance along with it. Sometimes we find ourselves on the African continent, or we find ourselves snaking our way across an American Southwest desert. The drumming comes from ancestors and it hails from the spirit of the present. Clipman who calls himself, Saamokee (a marriage between Saami and Cherokee), finds his shamanic roots while igniting his passion for drumming on Pathfinder . With such titles as, Bodhisattva , Thirteenth Moo...