Re: OT: other cool world music?

[Seth Austen <seth...>]

on 1/14/01 7:26 AM, Yakov (Koby) at kchodosh (at) suffolk(dot)lib(dot)ny(dot)us 
wrote:

> 
> Friends, neighbors and cousins:
> I've kind of come up against a wall with my music. I have a bunch of jazz
> (mostly swing or ska -- i'm not really into anything after the 70's unless
> it's in an older style), klezmer, rock, and a category that can be called
> "weird-a**" (David Byrne, Beck, Oingo Boingo [Danny Elfman]). And I could go
> on buying stuff from those genres, except I feel like I need something new.
> 
> So, I know most people here are world music mavens -- what would you suggest?
> Something cool from someplace I wouldn't think to ask about? Let's not even
> stick to Europe -- who's playing traditional African music? What kind of stuff
> were the Australian natives into? Anything!
 
Since you mention the Australian aboriginal people, I suggest you check out
didjeridu/didgeridoo music (yidaki in the native language). There's a site
on the web called LA Outback, they sell didjs and recordings. I've bought a
couple of instruments from them, they're cool folks. Type in both spellings
of the didj at your favorite online CD store, there's a lot of stuff
available.

The first group I heard was a band called Outback, they were kind of an
acoustic fusion band with great didj playing. The two founding members split
uo, the didj player now has a band called Dr Didj, and the guitarist has a
band called Baka Beyond.

Other players I like include David Hudson, he has some great CDs of solo
didj, so you really get a flavor of what can be done with the instrument. I
also like a duo called Resonance, they have a CD called Organic Dance
Didjeridu, it's just didjs and percussion. There's also Stephen Kent, Steve
Roach, etc...

I'm still waiting for the first klezmer didj recording, I don't know, maybe
it'll be mine, if I can ever learn to circular breathe. As a trombone
player, you might really dig not only listening but learning to play the
instrument. If you decide to, let me know, I'll send you info.

I know CDs aren't cheap, but I discovered many the world music style just by
taking chances on an LP or disc. These days it's a little easier, as all the
online stores have samples.

As far as something African, I suggest starting out with a beautiful
recording of Mbira on the Nonesuch label. Africa is a huge continent, with
many diverse styles of music. You could spend a lot of money.

I really like gamelan music (from Bali ad Java), check it out. These days
I'm on a heavy Scandinavian kick. There are a number of polskas (not polkas)
from Norway, Finland and Sweden that are, interestingly, in a scale that
shares that same notes as freygish, although they use it in a different way.

There's a series, Rough Guide to _________, they do these sampler CDs from
different countries, everything I've tried on that label has been excellent.

Enjoy, and don't spend it all in one place.

So for now, I'm back to my cobza obsession.

Seth

-- 
Seth Austen

http://www.sethausten.com
email; seth (at) sethausten(dot)com


"Music is far, far older than our species. It is tens of millions of years
old, and the fact that animals as wildly divergent as whales, humans and
birds come out with similar laws for what they compose suggests to me that
there are a finite number of musical sounds that will entertain the
vertebrate brain." 

              Roger Payne, president of Ocean Alliance, quoted in NY Times

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