The True Nature of Globalization

Years ago, my old Los Angeles photography partner, Bill W., and I used to work (and relax) with background music of punk rock, opera -- and the Soviet Army Chorus & Band.  Indeed, the latter's (50s?) album of Songs of the Revolution on the Russian Melodia label has long been one of the treasured pieces of vinyl in my record collection.

Now William sends me his recent discovery, along with these words:

"Back in the days of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Red Army had an official choir composed of male soldiers and musicians.  It still exists.  The Red Army Choir performs throughout Russia to this day.

Now consider the Finnish rock band called The Leningrad Cowboys.  A little while ago, they held a concert in Russia, in which - to the screaming applause of Russkie teen-agers - they got the Red Army Choir to join them on stage for a performance of "Sweet Home Alabama."  In English.  You couldn't make this up."

And to keep you waiting no longer ...

I Promise I'll Quit ...

... sometime.  Woke up this morning bent on a solving a malfunction of Ivi's MP3 player (which kept me up to 2am earlier).  As I search the 'Net for a solution, I am simultaneously thinking of my day-earlier exchanges with Brother Dennis, and triggered by the mention of Levon Helm (his daughter, actually) in the previous post, I found myself thinking of The Band.  And Planet Waves.  I don't know if this was the first time that Bob Dylan recorded with The Band (it was probably the Basement Tapes instead), but it was the first time that I heard Dylan backed with such impressive musicianship and fine production.  Planet Waves is a somethat lesser known Bob Dylan album -- I think he was able to record it with Asylum Records outside of, or after,  his normal Columbia contract -- but it should not be missed if you are anything approaching a fan.  Here is "Wedding Song" -- and try to listen to the incredible "Dirge" (and maybe the two versions of "Forever Young") sometime from what at times I regard as my all-time favorite Dylan album.

So Much Music, So Little Time ...

I can't seem to shake this drumming obsession ...

Brother Dennis again reminded me of the great percussion work of Greg Ellis. This is something that I discovered when I used to listen to a syndicated public radio "new age" program (forgot its name), and then a late night OPB Radio disk jockey who was very big on cross-cultural "world" music, and often played Vas, the duo of Greg Ellis and Azam Ali. He is a California drummer interested in percussion instruments from all over the world, and she is an Iranian, I think, vocalist. If I recall they met at UCLA and hit it off, and started making incredible music. Here is the piece called Moksha:

UPDATE: Echoes! I kept thinking "Hearts of Space", but I knew it was the other public radio new age program that I had in mind. Yes, it was Echoes (http://www.echoes.org) where I first heard Vas. To find this, I used Google Desktop on my computer here, and located a long-buried note to myself, quoting a years-old Echoes playlist entry:

MacIssues

While I dearly love my MacBook, I have experienced a problem from time to time with its reluctance to wake up after closing the lid.

Ever since one of the techs here at work told me about how he uses his Acer notebook to play online games (e.g., World of Warcraft) while using his 52-inch plasma HDTV as a display, I have wanted to run DVD movies, Netflix Online and other video stuff (heck, even YouTube vids) on a larger, much larger, external display.  But one of the concerns is the MacBook's inconsistent wakeup after a period of lid closure.  Knowing that there may be other MacBook users in the audience, I will share a couple of URLs to Apple tech articles I found on this matter:

1.  For USB-attached mouse/keyboards
2.  For Bluetooth mouse/keyboards (my scenario)

On A Musical Binge

If this keeps up, I will need to start another blog just to wallow in music.  Brother Dennis sent me another round of some of his favorites and/or new discoveries today, so I sent him a few of mine back.  In one, he introduced me to a band whose lead singer is Levon Helm's (you remember The Band, I'm sure) daughter.  That led me to look up another singer-family daughter, Martha Wainwright (check out her "Traitor to Love" cover -- of the Leonard Cohen classic -- sometime) then I went from there to seeking out Lizzie West, who has the hands-down best cover of Leonard Cohen's "I'm Your Man" that I have ever heard.  While I couldn't find any online performance of the piece -- I have had it in my CD collection for quite a while, so you can hear it if you visit -- but I did find her , "Rope Me In and Smoke Me", "Time To Cry" and "Sometime".  Something about this triggered memories of (Little) Jimmy Scott, whom I first heard in the early 90s on that great old PBS late night program, Sessions at West 54th Street.  So I checked YouTube and sure enough ...

(crank it; this clip's volume is down)

Little Jimmy Scott was probably becoming famous about the time I was born.  He started as a singer with Lionel Hampton's band, and, as far as I know, is still living.  He has an unforgettable voice (in part because of a genetic condition that stunted his growth and left him with a high-pitched sound).

Another fine performance (excepting the trailing David Byrne interview):

African Desert Blues

Continuing the Africa theme from last night ...

I must credit Brother Dennis with another find. I could listen to this stuff all day long:

UPDATE: A little online research tells me that these guys are a bunch of nomadic desert musician/soldiers, freedom fighters of the Tourag people in North Africa, who apparently have been around for a long time, and are particular favorites of U2's Bono. Maybe I need some help in French translation from the students of that language in this family; that might have told me something about Tinariwen. They have many albums listed at Amazon.com, and I am getting off an order ASAP.

UPDATE #2: Quoted from a subsequent email from Dennis: "We saw Tinariwen live at Symphony Space in New York two years ago. They all came out in white robes with their heads covered and eyes only showing and just started playing. Scintillating. Apparently they were guerilla fighters who literally put down their guns and took up guitars, and their music deals with social issues, revolution, etc."

And The Beat Goes On!

Tonight, Sekou Soumah, founder of the Tam Tam Mandinque Outreach Drum & Dance Program in Portland and master djembe (a West African drum) player, was guest artist at a performance of the EOU African Drum Ensemble. This 17 or 18-member group was made up of students, and was led by Luke McKern (whose guitar work we have appreciated for some time, but had no clue that he was a darn good African drum player as well). The opening piece lasted over 20 minutes, and rocked the building. Very high energy stuff. Little kids in the audience were jumping up and down and shouting. Later, he brought audience members up to the stage to join the drummers in learning some African dances.

Here is Sekou, from an EOU photo:




And from an EOU Press Release:

SOURCE: EOU University Advancement News and Events

The Eastern Oregon University African Drumming Ensemble will perform an informal family concert next Tuesday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m. in McKenzie Theatre. The concert is free and open to the public.

Sekou Soumah will be the guest artist performing. The evening will start with a short set of pieces played by the entire ensemble, followed by a small group that will accompany Soumah playing traditional and improvised solos. After a brief intermission, Soumah will invite the audience members up on stage for a quick beginning lesson in West African Mandingue dance. Parents and children are encouraged to participate. Socks, shoes or bare feet are all permissible.

Soumah, founder of the Tam Tam Mandingue Outreach Drum & Dance program in Portland, just returned from a lengthy performing tour of West African and Europe. As only one of seven certified djembe instructors of the Tam Tam Mandingue program, Soumah focuses on inner city youth in Portland and Vancouver, giving them opportunities to learn about Mandingue music and culture.

In April, the EOU Drumming Ensemble will be performing at the Seattle World Percussion Festival, a three-day festival that focuses on rhythms of the world. This is the first appearance at the festival for the ensemble.

As usual, we found a balcony vantage point favoring the acoustics.





It all brought back memories of living on Venice Beach before I met Kim. >I particularly recall one Thanksgiving when drumming started at dawn on the beach, lasting well into the night, led by an individual reputed to be a drummer in some royal African tribal court. He always attracted a big following among the local musicians, some playing African drums and bongos, some just banging on buckets or whatever was at hand. I guess this is drumming consciousness month; from Buddy Rich to Sekou Soumah.

Ring of Fire, Redux

Brother Dennis turned my attention to this apparently rare but wonderful (1960s?) cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" (which itself was a cover of the June Carter original, wasn't it?  Did you see the movie?)  by Ray "What'd I Say?" Charles...



UPDATE: June Carter and Merle Kilgore co-wrote "Ring of Fire"  in or around or before 1962, according to some Internet research.

Today: Walking Home Again, Late Afternoon March Wind

More Music! No Lame Photos!

Tonight, EOU presented a triple header: Wind Ensemble, Women's Choir, and Chamber Choir.

Tom Fetz conducted the 20 or so-piece Wind Ensemble (which included four clarinets, a flute, two bassoons, two saxes (I think one each alto and tenor), three trumpets, two horns (French, I think), two trombones, and a five-member percussion group. And one exceptionally impressive tuba! Their "Variations on a Korean Folk Song" was the highlight for me. However, overall their sound was pretty much overwhelmed by the percussionists.

Next, Michael Fraser conducted the 17-member Women's Choir, which is somewhat unusual in that its membership is open to just about anyone of the appropriate gender. Of their four numbers, I liked most the Japanese composition, "Akai Hana, Shiroi Hana". On one number they were accompanied by four or five band members, including the strong drummer, Trent Shuey, whom I experienced last Friday with the Jazz Ensemble.

Finally, the EOU Chamber Choir, over forty voices strong, took the stage under Peter Wordelman's baton. I continue to be amazed at what he gets out of these kids, and how he comes up with some astonishing international music: African, South American, East European, etc. As some of you know, Chamber Choirs of recent past years have been led by Peter to state choral championships and other awards and accolades. They never disappoint, and usually leave you with thundering in the rafters, your ears ringing.

UNIQLOCK

From a Tokyo manufacturer and vendor of casual clothing, something a bit different in Web feeds: http://www.uniqlo.jp/uniqlock/

[ Okay, the live feed from Tokyo is dominating my resources, so I am shutting it down for now. Try the link above on your own. Enjoy. ]




Dance video interspersed with real-time clock readouts. Done in Flash, for those who care.  (Hope your connection gives you smooth video and all the music track, too.  I sometimes lose the audio on this, which is an important part of the whole ...)

One Truly Evil Saxophone

Tonight Ivi and I went to a performance of the Eastern Jazz Combo at EOU's McKenzie Theater. This is a ten-person (all or mostly students) group: bass, drums, vibes, three (evil) saxes (tenor, alto, soprano), piano, guitar, trumpet and vocals.

Matt Cooper (EOU prof and killer jazz/classical pianist) directed and played piano on a couple of numbers with the guest Rob Scheps. To quote from the program:

"Oregon native Rob Scheps began studying the tenor saxophone at age nine. He grew up on Long Island, New York. After having graduated high school at age sixteen, he enrolled in the New England Conservatory. He received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies with Honors in performance in 1986. While living in the Boston area he lead his own groups, most notably the True Colors Big Band. In 1988 he moved to New York, formed the Rob Scheps Core-tet and Bartokking Heads and established himself as a formidable force on the jazz scene.

"A member of the Mannes College of Music Faculty, Rob has been a workshop clinician at Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Hunter, Lewis and Clark, University of Missouri at Kansas City, Friends University, and Whitman College as well as Portland State and the University of Connecticut."

Matt also introduced him as a major force in contemporary jazz, who knows almost everybody in the industry, and has just returned from a European tour, most recently in Norway.

The combo played some great jazz pieces, from Miles Davis to Wayne Shorter to Freddie Hubbard to Billy Strayhorn, and for me they really exceeded expectations. I was especially taken by the performances of Trent Shuey on drums and the sax players, Kyson Lamoreau, William Morris and Mariah Boyle. And a couple of tunes into the show, Rob Scheps took the stage ... and blew the audience away. Come and visit and we will play you a CD with his Norway group that we picked up afterwards ... and when he learned that Ivi was a budding sax player, he shook her hand and told her that she shared her first name with one of Duke Ellington's great lead vocalists, Ivy Anderson.

And finally: In one of those remarkable Ivi coincidences, she told me just before we left for the concert that she was listening to a random selection on her MP3 player, Miles Davis' "All Blues" -- which just happened to be the Jazz Combo's opening number tonight.

West Side Confluence

When I came home from work, Ivi recounted a string of coincidences: (1) she had just finished reading Romeo and Juliet for her English class, (2) today at school, the visiting Oregon Symphony Brass Quintet played, among other pieces, selections from West Side Story, and (3) today's mail delivery included West Side Story via Netflix. As you probably know, West Side Story (circa 1958 or 1959 or 1960?), was a more modern musical (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, et.al.) adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, set in the mean streets of New York. So of course (after Ivi finished her math homework), we stayed up until nearly 11pm watching it. Predictably, Ivi got in her chuckles and giggles at much of its 50-year-old quaintness, but we had fun nevertheless. Ivi's favorite number was "Gee, Officer Krupke".

UPDATE, Thursday, March 06: Here is an interesting guide by boston.com to covers of the music (all downloadable from the iTunes Store), which I intend to check out ASAP. Dawn Upshaw is one of my operatic favorites so I have to hear that, plus Dave Brubeck, and of course, one of my childhood heroes, Little Richard -- and probably all the rest, too.

And now for Ivi's pick: