Great day hanging out with Jonathan Walker – his first time busking in Chichester. He heads up an online community to encourage street musicians. He writes “ASAP exists to celebrate public spaces as places of community, interaction and enjoyment. Whether you are a street artist and performer yourself, or you share our vision of public spaces being places of animation and community, we welcome your involvement. You can join here.”
We often use maps of the world to encourage people to discuss perspective – all maps are saying something but often it is not what we think they are saying. You have to know what the cartographer is trying to depict to really understand the map. Also as time moves on we learn more and can ask questions behind why we might have done things a certain way in the past eg for political reasons. Here’s a fun clip from a TV episode that looks at this conundrum.
Interestingly whilst on a recent flight I read about “trap streets” – apparently cartographers for centuries have misnamed streets or made up new ones for the sole purpose of catching those who copied or reprinted maps as their own. The London A-Z was reported to have more than 100 trap streets by the mid 2000’s. This you will be pleased to know is now a dying art!
Martin’s musical mystery tour – I have always loved singers who use their voice as an instrument and experiment with the possibilities of sound. So this month we look at some female singers who have discovered new areas with their vocal chords.
Martin’s musical mystery tour – This month we listen to some of the most exciting Balkan brass ensembles. Oh boy do they make me smile when I hear this music! Romanian band, Taraf de Haïdouks decided to mix styles with those of other Balkan countries by inviting Gypsy virtuoso musicians from Macedonia (the Koçani Orkestar brass band), Bulgaria (clarinet player Filip Simeonov) and Turkey (percussionist Tarik Tuysuzoglu).
Here the Kodo drummers show us how humour can be used within a drum ensemble.
Martin’s musical mystery tour – I have been working with a good friend who originates from Portugal so this months blog takes a brief look at the music from that beautiful land. Listen to the wonderful vocal of Ana Moura an internationally recognised fado singer.
Heard about a wonderful social enterprise project called the Nozumi project in Japan. Using broken shards of pottery and recycled material found amongst the debris of the 2011 tsunami, a group in Ishinomaki are making unique jewelry to help their community.
“Nozomi, translated ‘hope’ in Japanese, is a social enterprise bringing sustainable income, community, dignity and hope to the women in Ishinomaki, Japan by training women to craft unique jewelry products. One third of these women are single mothers and grandmothers; most of these women and their family members lost their livelihood when the tsunami crashed through half of their city in 2011.”
A wonderful initiative KUGA – founded by our friend Lila Metzger on the island of Kaua’i.
“Kauai UnderGround Artists planting seeds of creativity via art, dance, music & lyrics. KUGA is a non-profit, drug & alcohol free project. Committed to the development of children and young adults in a positive and creative environment. We promote a clean and healthy lifestyle by words and action. We value relationships to the fullest and strive to pull out the best in others. KUGA is family with family values. Respect, integrity, and love.“
Martin’s musical mystery tour – I’m in Texas y’all – so this months blog had to be country.
Found this wonderful collection of spiritual sung poems – The Oktay ensemble is the name of a children`s folklore-ethnographic ensemble who have conducted ethnographic work on the musical culture of the “Staro Vera” (Old Believers) living in remote areas high up in the mountain headwaters of the great Siberian Yenisei river.
Translation – Read More
Just had a wonderful afternoon discovering more about an area in Mexico that has fascinated me for a long time since I read an article in National Geographic. For most people Mariachi will be the music that is synonymous with Mexico. Yet this wonderful country is rich in different types of indigenous music that goes back for at least 4000 years. Singer Eugenia León explores this wonderful heritage in a 3 part series. Here is one of the episodes.
Martin’s musical mystery tour – We are out in San Diego and so this month’s selection is from another Spanish speaking country – Mexico. One of the radio stations I always look for when travelling in the car in southern California is the Mexican music stations. This music just makes me smile – pure fun. The mariachi orchestra is composed of at least two violins, two trumpets, a Spanish guitar, and two other types of guitars – the vilhuela and guitarron. Here is an amazing Mexican folk ensemble the Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, who have been together in various formats since 1897 – must be some sort of record!
An amazing initiative – the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra in Cateura, Paraguay, directed by Favio Chavez. An orchestra that plays instruments created out of literal trash, made lovingly for them by their community.
