It was great to meet up with Tepairu Manea again to learn more about the art of Tahitian drumming. Also very honoured to join him for the Coconut Festival at Kapa’a – met some more great players. Here are some of the instruments we were using during the event.
Martin’s musical mystery tour – The highlands, lochs and glens of Scotland have been a fertile ground for many musicians. Every time I step into this land I am aware of the incredible legacy and the unique sound that comes from this nation. The musical story of any people is always evolving and I am very thankful to Hazel Hewitt for pointing me in the direction for this blog of some inspiring new tunes.
An incredible story about music created by inmates and their guards in Zomba prison, Malawi. Writing music that helps tell their story, bringing hope, inside a place that has been called the “waiting room of hell”.
A wonderful interview with Cindy Ruakere, who has asked deep questions about what it means to be Māori and walk out a journey of faith. Interview starts @ 9min. Thanks for passing on the link Keith Newman.
Sad to hear the news of a great Canadian poet / songwriter passing on today – here’s one of his most well known songs sung by Klezmer artist Daniel Kahn in Yiddish.
After a morning of recording in San Diego we went to my favourite Mexican restaurant to find a wonderful group of six girls and one guy playing wonderful mariachi music. The group is called Mariachi Divinas worth checking out if you are in the area.
It was great to be part of a wonderful band of musicians for Saturday nights concert. This video tells the story of the recording project we have been working on in San Diego with singer/songwriter Ammee Pearl.
Whilst on the island of Kaua’i, a friend Kaplan Bunce invited me to the Powwow in Paradise, a cultural event and a traditional Native American powwow for the community . Many tribes and Pacific nations were represented and much dancing and drumming – this exert is the amazing hoop dancing.
Romana Kročilová grew up wanting to sing, dance and act but as a young girl she was told she wasn’t slim enough to dance and not able to pitch high notes. She decided to go to the doctor for help and he told her that she had a vocal chord disease and shouldn’t shout, whisper or sing! Her faith and her perseverance kept her childhood dreams alive and she eventually got a place in a music conservatory and she now sings in many bands and has sung in the Opera Carmen. Listen to her performing 2 Czech folk songs. Read More
Whilst in the Czech Republic, Libor introduced me to a music store that has an amazing Orchestrion – a machine that emulates an orchestra with piano and percussion using a pinned cylinder. Each music roll contains a certain number of songs – like a modern day juke box!
Check our Pat Metheny’s modern day Orchestrion Project.
Martin’s musical mystery tour – It’s been almost a year since my last music blog – WOW! Time does fly. So here are three very different pieces of music from the Czech Republic, inspired by various people I met and a concert I recently attended whilst in the country.
It’s that time of the year here in Czech – some call it a national sport – mushroom picking! We have a couple of days off in the highlands and the forests are full of people with their hopeful baskets, apparently 70% of people go mushrooming at least once a year. A skill past down from generation to generation, but those of less experience beware – we saw some, only to find out that they were highly poisonous – think I’ll stick to fish and chips! 
