My home station Public Radio Tulsa has been featuring “Behind the Mic” profiles of staff members and DJs, and they featured me recently! Many thanks to Julianne Tran for writing up such a nice profile from our meandering conversation. You can read the feature here on the PRT website and find out a bit more about me and the program.
Tulsa’s South Asian Performing Arts Foundation presents ‘Strings for Peace’ on Saturday, April 15th in the Mary Glass Performing Arts Center at Owasso High School. The concert features Indian sarod player Amjad Ali Khan along with his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, and classical guitarist Sharon Isbin. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear these masterful musicians!
As the SAPAF press release notes, “Amjad Ali Khan is an undisputed virtuoso of the sarod and one of India’s most celebrated classical musicians. Performing with his talented sons, this first family of the sarod represents seven generations of sarod players and musicians. In Strings for Peace, Khan and his sons are joined by Grammy-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin. By interweaving the two distinct worlds of Spanish guitar and Indian ragas, these legendary artists make an eloquent and impassioned call for harmony across cultures.”
You can find out more about the concert and purchase tickets here: https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/72517
In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is observed on January 27th, I’ll be playing a powerful song on this week’s radio program from the new album ‘Silent Tears: The Last Yiddish Tango’ by Payadora Tango Ensemble along with guest artists, including vocalists from across the globe – Olga Avigail Mieleszczuk (Israel,) Marta Kosiorek (Poland,) Lenka Lichtenberg (Toronto,) and Aviva Chernick (Toronto.) It’s an incredibly moving work of musical art.
As notes on the Payadora website state: “The music of ‘Silent Tears’ is based on poems, testimonies, and writings of women who were victims of sexual violence and torture during the Holocaust. Some songs are from a project led by Dr. Paula David, a social worker at a Toronto Jewish care home who helped survivors process their trauma by writing collective poetry. Others are from Molly Applebaum, a Toronto-based author, who, during her adolescent years, was buried underground in a small wooden box in a barn in Poland during the war. Set to music by an award-winning team of musicians, the songs on the album tell the story of unimaginable violence as experienced by women and children during the Nazi occupation of Poland.”
To introduce the song “Silent Tears” – which begins the second half of the program – you’ll hear Dr. Paula David speaking about the Baycrest Holocaust Survivor Poetry Project, and violinist Rebekah Wolkstein, the composer of the song’s music.
Many thanks to the album’s Executive Producer Dan Rosenberg for providing the spoken word introductions to the song and to Six Degrees Records for distributing this important musical document. The project was made possible with the generous support of Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto’s Workmen’s Circle Foundation, with additional support for outreach by Toronto’s Committee for Yiddish and the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.
You can read in-depth notes about the album and its creation, and watch videos of some of the songs, at the Payadora Tango Ensemble website: http://payadora.com/silent-tears
FURTHER READING
Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Center
King Cabbage Brass Band – a New Orleans-styled group based in Tulsa – has released their first album: ‘Live at Cain’s Ballroom.’ On the new radio program airing this week, I’m playing the wonderfully funky track “Kings & Queens.” It’s an original composition written by King Cabbage Brass Band leader Greg Fallis, and performed by Fallis, Nicholas Foster, Jordan Hehl, Dave Johnson, Ryan Hatcher, Bishop Marsh, Andy McCormick, Kristin Ruyle, Dylan Ward, and Isaac Washam. NPR Music featured a video of the band playing this song on their Live Sessions pages. You can check it out right here too! Go to the Listen page in our main menu for direct links to live-streams of the program on three NPR stations: Thursdays at 3 pm (Central) on KAMU in College Station, Texas; Saturdays at 7 pm (Pacific) on KPBX in Spokane, Washington; and Sundays at 6 pm (Central) on KWGS in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
On the radio program airing this week I’m playing the song “Chaque jour nouveau” by the trio Meïkhâneh from Rennes, France. It’s a wonderful song from their latest album ‘Chants du dedans, chants du dehors / Songs from Inside, Songs from Outside’ released by Buda Musique / Cas Particuliers / Socadisc. The song features Meïkhâneh ideoband members Maria Laurent on vocals and banjo, Milad Pasta on riqq – a Persian frame drum related to the tambourine, and Johanni Curtet on the morin khuur – the two-stringed horsehead fiddle from Mongolia. He also performed the Mongolian overtone singing heard in the latter part of the song. As it says on their website about their unique sound, “Meïkhâneh’s compositions are fed by imagination, improvisation and traditional music from Europe, Mongolia and Iran.” You can see the trio performing the song in this video below, which was recorded live in the studio.
Go the Listen page linked in the menu to find out how you can hear the radio program on three NPR stations this week!
I’m excited to announce that NPR affiliate KAMU Radio from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas has picked up The Rhythm Atlas for broadcast each week! The program airs Thursdays at 3 p.m. (Central time US.) You can hear the show in the Brazos Valley area on KAMU 90.9 FM or via live-stream from the KAMU Radio website – click on the Listen Live link.
KAMU is a dual public television and public radio station licensed to Texas A&M University. KAMU-TV started broadcasting in 1970 and KAMU-FM was launched in 1977. I’m grateful to KAMU for carrying the program, and I’m pleased to have them join with my home station Public Radio Tulsa and longtime carrier Spokane Public Radio in airing the show each week. It’s nice to have this wonderful music reaching more listeners. Thank you!
On this week’s special radio program, we’ll celebrate the festivals of Halloween and Día de los Muertos . You’ll hear joyful songs in remembrance of loved ones for the Day of the Dead, music connected with the Celtic roots of Halloween, and some simply silly, spooky songs as well. Starting off the playlist is “Calaverita,” a lively dance song by Mexican-American band La Santa Cecilia from their 2015 album ‘Buenaventura.’ Calaveritas are the little sugar skulls you see used as Day of the Dead decorations. The wonderful video for this song features a colorful array of Día de los Muertos festivities. You can watch it on YouTube since it can’t be embedded on this page. Enjoy!
La Santa Cecilia – “Calaverita” video
(And as I was writing this, I learned that La Santa Cecilia have just released a new 8-song album on October 22, 2021. It’s titled ‘Quiero Verte Feliz’ and you can listen to it now. Here’s a link to the video for the title song, which features Lila Downs. I’m sure I’ll be playing songs from this album on upcoming programs!
La Santa Cecilia with Lila Downs – “Quiero Verte Feliz” video
On my special program that airs this weekend in celebration of Indigenous People’s Day, I’m playing the wonderful song “Immutaa” by Beatrice Deer and her band. She is an Inuk-Mohawk artist who grew up in the remote village of Quaqtaq in northern Quebec Province. I chose the song for its lively beat and the interesting throat-singing style that Beatrice uses in it, but as I did more research about Beatrice and this song, I thought it would be nice to share the fun video she made for “Immutaa.” It turns out that “Immutaa” is a traditional Inuk children’s song and the lyrics for it are basically random words tossed together that don’t really make sense. It’s one of those classic children’s nonsense songs, the likes of which can be found in cultures all around the world. Take a few minutes to watch the video, which was filmed in her hometown of Quaqtaq and features her own children as well as other young folks from her community. You can also read an interview at the Audiofemme website that Alexa Peters did with Beatrice Deer in which she talks more about the song, as well as her background and the album on which the song appears, My All To You. Enjoy!
(Note: if you go to the video on YouTube, you can see more info and full credits for it as well.)
On the radio program airing this weekend, I’ll feature artists nominated for Best Album in the Global Music, Regional Roots, and a couple of other categories of the upcoming 2021 Grammy Awards. One of those albums is Throw Down Your Heart: The Complete Africa Sessions – “a new comprehensive film and music set documenting Béla Fleck’s transcontinental exploration of the banjo’s roots,” which was originally released in 2008. This greatly expanded box set – released by Craft Recordings in the beautiful package pictured above – is nominated in the Best Historical Album category. I’ve never seen the documentary film, but I have heard the music featured in the film and love being able to hear more tracks that were not released on the original album. (I’ll be watching the film soon.) I’m playing pieces that feature Béla Fleck performing with musicians Oumou Sangaré and Toumani Diabaté on one track and with ngoni players Bassekou Kouyate and Harouna Samake on another.
The radio program Here & Now recently featured an excellent story about the reissued album – Béla Fleck’s Journey To Find Truth In Origins Of The Banjo – which features conversations with Bassekou Kouyate and Béla Fleck.
And I did not know this until looking at Béla Fleck’s YouTube page just now: he has the full-length version of the ‘Throw Down Your Heart’ film posted on there! The video is from a live-streamed event that aired on the YouTube page on December 11, 2020. It features Béla introducing the film, the film itself, and then a long segment of Béla in conversation with the film’s director, Sascha Paladino. I’m posting the video below, but I have no idea how long it will stay up there on his page for viewing. (Note that the intro doesn’t start until after 6 minutes into the video since it was a live-streamed event.) Watch it as soon as you can! I know I will…
I’ve dreamed about traveling to Glasgow for the annual two week-long Celtic Connections music festival for a long time, and hope that can happen some time in the future. But I am happy to be able to experience this year’s festival from the comfort of my living room, albeit under the unfortunate circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic.
If you’re not familiar with the festival, here’s what they say about it on their website:
“Glasgow’s annual folk, roots and world music festival, Celtic Connections celebrates Celtic music and its connections to cultures across the globe.
From 15 January – 2 February 2021, due to the ongoing global pandemic, the festival will be delivered digitally for the very first time. Over 100 musicians will be streamed onto screens around the world for 19 days of exclusive concerts, workshops, and free events.”
https://www.celticconnections.com/about-celtic-connections/
On this weekend’s radio program, I’ll be playing three groups who will be performing at the festival: Christ Stout & Catriona McKay, Sian, and Shooglenifty. (Go to the Listen page in the main menu above for details on where and when to tune in to the show.)
Despite not having live audiences, Celtic Connections is still presenting a vast array of Celtic and other artists from around the world from January 15 to February 2, and it’s all online for viewing with the purchase of a Festival Pass or by purchasing individual concerts. You can book tickets through this How To Book page on their website. You can also find out what performances are taking place each day on the festival Calendar page. Performances are available for viewing at any time for one week after they premiere on the website.
I bought a full Festival Pass and watched the 90-minute Opening Night Celebration last night. It was full of brilliant performances by the Celtic Connections 2021 Big Band, Duncan Chisholm with Scottish Ensemble, Ímar, Fiona Hunter, Kinnaris Quintet, Le Vent du Nord, and special guests Karine Polwart, Sona Jobarteh, Xabier Diaz e Adufeiras de Salitre, and Elephant Sessions (along with some other surprise guests I know I’m missing!) Some of the performances were recorded in the usual festival venues in Glasgow while others were recorded from wherever the musicians are located. All of them had fantastic sound and visual production and gave you the feeling of being in the room with the musicians. I’m really looking forward to what’s in store over the next two weeks.
Watch this highlight video of Celtic Connections 2020 for a taste of what the festival has to offer. Seeing the joyous crowds in these scenes makes me miss going to live concerts even more. Here’s to when we can gather together again safely, friends!
The Rhythm Atlas Radio Show 