The Music Thread That Isn't "Music We Love"

[Guest]

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[Jill]

We already have a wonderful music thread at KivaFriends.   It’s called Music We Love.   KF Natasha started it. A lot of us went pretty bonkers posting some of the sweet music of our lives there.   Some people, thankfully, still are posting in that thread, and I hope, will continue to.


I mean, really, when you love something,  when you really love something, how can you help but want to share it, share the joy and pleasure of it?  And with the world, if you could***.  By now, a couple of years later, that thread has gotten some really fantastic music on it, and it has something for all tastes.  Many of us have been turned onto musical treasures there that we maybe never otherwise would have run into on our own, and in part, because people from different countries and different backgrounds have been willing to share with the KivaFriend community.  It’s been a gift.


I mention all that because I want it understood that I’m starting this thread not at all to compete with the Music We Love thread but to supplement it.   I want KivaFriends to have a place where we can post and consolidate articles, human interest stories, artwork, photos, quotations, and maybe an occasional video (or other means of sharing) specifically related to music or dance.  To have one place to post all those music-related kinds of things that otherwise might so very easily get lost, at least buried, somewhere in our four hundred and fifty three million threads or, simply, somewhere in Anything Goes.  That’s already happened to so very many wonderful contributions.


I want to post things,  I’m hoping a lot of you will be willing to post things, special things related to music that people coming here can have easy access to.  And I’m talking not only about the people who happen to be checking in right now, or this month or next month.  I’m thinking ahead to years from now, when I’m still hoping that this worldwide and eclectic community I’ve envisioned has become even more worldwide, even more eclectic, more diverse, even more sharing.  It’s a nice dream, anyway.


I’ve started googling topics like world music and music related to “human rights” and music related to “peace” or to “protest” or AIDS or disabilities, just for starters.  There’s really a tremendous amount of some really terrific and fascinating stuff out there.

Music is what feelings sound like.    Author Unknown

Music is an outburst of the soul.     Frederick Delius

Where words fail, music speaks.      Hans Christian Andersen
 
There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is.  William P. Merrill

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.  Confucius

I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else.  Lily Tomlin


*** “.....   Granma said when you come on something good,
        first thing to do is share it with whoever you can find;
        that way, the good spreads out where no telling it will go.
        Which is right. ”
                                          from  The Education of Little Tree

EDIT: Music is such a happily universal language.  There is something about it, as there is something about the concept behind Kiva, that seems to resonate in people’s hearts all around the world.  It seems able to get a conversation going, a connection established, an understanding sought and even started.  I want that conversation, that connection, that understanding amplified, built upon, a million times over by as many people imaginable.

[Jill]

I happened upon this incredible video,“The Price of Silence,”when I googled music +“human rights.”   Click here and it will take you to Amnesty International’s Music for Human Rights page where there is this wonderful video, which you should watch in its full-screen version, and also, the really moving lyrics of the song and the pretty incredible biographies of all its participants, which some of you might find worth checking out.

Here’s the story behind the video:
"The Price of Silence"

Created in 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) set forth the basic rights of every human being, yet 60 years later in places the world over, violence, poverty and oppression hold sway.

To commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the UDHR, and to remind the world that violations of Human Rights are unacceptable anywhere, at any time, Link TV has produced a video, "The Price of Silence" for Amnesty International.

Set in the United Nations, the artists appear on the stage of the General Assembly, flanked by huge screens whose images reflect the lyrics, or project performances from foreign locations. Starting with just Stephen Marley, the performance grows until a full band occupies the stage, singing and rapping, and the delegates are out of their chairs, cheering and dancing.

"The Price of Silence" is a true labor of love, the result of generous donations of time and talent on both sides of the camera. The song is based on "Cancion Protesta" which was donated by Aterciopelados and Nacional Records, produced by Andres Levin through Music Has No Enemies, and performed by an all star cast of international artists who have added their own lyrics. All of them are human rights activists and several are refugees.


After I found that video, I quietly came back here to check to see if it had ever been posted here.  Turns out Jan actually highlighted it in December of 2008.  I totally missed it, then and after, and the thread it was on vanished long ago into the KivaFriends’ black hole.  Like Jan and Jackie before me, I thought it was really special and so decided I'd place it here.

[Jill]

On the Amnesty International page I cited above, there was an internal link that said: “Watch hundreds of world music videos online on our World Music page”
I went to it, and while there, discovered this guy:

Fela Kuti, performing “Teacher Don't teach Me No Nonsense”
I thought he was masterful!  Actually, I thought they all were!

http://www.rbgtube.com/play.php?vid=91
This link under the video is of another video of Fela Kuti giving an eye-opening explanation for how he came to write this particular song.  
This Nigerian human rights activist had an indescribably colorful, action-packed, tumultuous and courageous career.  You can get the flavor of it simply by skimming through the article at Wikipedia about him.

Just for example, he married 27 women at the same time in a political protest, formed his own political party and ran for President, came out with “… a hit album, Zombie,  (which was) a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers…. a smash hit with the people (that so) infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack… during which one thousand soldiers attacked (his) commune…” when he was severely beaten and his mom thrown through a window to her ultimate death.  In 2008, the article says that an off-Broadway musical about his life, Fela!, came out and that it ended up being nominated for 10 Tony Awards, this past May, so popular and successful has it turned out to be.  Seems safe to say that the expression, “never a dull moment” would have summed up his life almost understatedly.


EDIT: I have absolutely no idea why, probably because I know virtually nothing about music except that I love what I love (and that sometimes, it just fills me so….), but for some reason, as I was just now listening to this video for maybe the 3rd time since I came across it, and particularly when I was listening to the wonderful horns toward the end, I was transported back to the 60’s.   For some totally unaccountable reason, I was reminded of that really happy feeling I used to get, blasting the Doors doing the incomparable “Light My Fire.”  I never ever denied that I’ve got a pretty strange, if active mind. 

You really should watch/listen to this ten minute video.  I know many of the reasons why you’ll think you just really don’t have the time or inclination for it, but (to me), it really is pretty spectacular.




 

[Jill]

This youth, Liu Wei, lost both his arms in a freak accident when he was 10.  He taught himself to play piano with his feet at age 18.  The music he’s playing, Mariage d’amour , I thought, was quite lovely.  I’d never heard it before.
This story made me flash on the very neat movie, My Left Foot.


The music starts about 2 minutes, fifteen seconds into the video.
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Any Jazz lovers out there may be interested in the following:

Museum Acquires Storied Trove of Performances by Jazz Greats
“….This year the National Jazz Museum in Harlem acquired … set of nearly 1,000 discs, made at the height of the swing era, and has begun digitizing recordings of inspired performances by Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Bunny Berigan, Harry James and others that had been thought to be lost forever….”
http://www.jazzmuseuminharlem.org/

“Above all, enjoy the music”  - Herman Leonard

    

[Jill]

I came upon a Kiva loan this morning where the Mongolian entrepreneur specializes in making a musical instrument called a “dombor.”  I’d never heard of a dombor,  and after a few minutes of checking around, I’m still not sure what one looks or sounds like, but….

When I went to google and punched in the search terms,  dombor + “musical instrument” , I ended up over at YouTube where I had what for me was a particularly novel world music listening experience for a sunny Saturday morning.  


Move the little white circle thing over so that you can begin listening at about 3 Minutes 7 Seconds into it, and try hanging with it for at least a minute or so if you can.  Suffice to say that it isn’t like anything I’d ever heard on the radio stations I listened to in my youth (or after, for that matter).  But it’s definitely interesting, kind of fun, actually, and undoubtedly for the Mongolians playing the music and for those listening to it, it’s very likely beautiful, if just a tad different from the music of Little Lion Man that Matthew Good Dogg just posted over in Music We Love.

EDIT: Turns out after I listened to the last half, especially, it actually sort of became a little bit beautiful for me, too.  Thank you, Kiva.  Again.

[David2051]

Wow, Jill, thanks for that video!  I love throat singing.  I know some people would just run screaming from it, but I think it's fantastic!  I was glad to join that loan too.  :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongar-ool_Ondar
http://www.ondar.com/

[fnord]

Nice video, Jill! I'm a big fan of music from this area, and if you want to hear what a Dombor/Dombra sounds like, I would recommend the Aga Khan Music Initiative's records on Smithsonian Folkways. They come with a DVD and a big detailed booklet, so it's worth the extra price. Of the dombar players I was lucky enough to hear live, I would highly recommend Ulzhan Baibussynova -- I love her voice too, so I'm really biased -- who's featured on the fourth volume of that series "Bardic Divas".

I certainly like throat singing, but it's not my favorite singing style in music from Mongolia: I'm a huge fan of the long song style (Urtyn duu), which is featured earlier in that video. Though I like female performers much better. Here's a wonderful blog about Mongolian music, and it has a few things -- though not her best -- by Byambajargal Gombodorj, who I consider myself very lucky to have seen twice. She's my favorite singer in any style or genre. She's featured -- as well as talented throat singers -- on the "Mongolia: songs and Morin Khuur" record on the Ocora label, a wonderful label that has a lot of amazing stuff.

Edit: David, if you like throat singing, the Mongolian kind is called Khöömii, hit that label on the blog I mentioned or google it and you should find a lot of stuff.

fred

[Patricia SF]

I came upon a Kiva loan this morning where the Mongolian entrepreneur specializes in making a musical instrument called a “dombor.”  I’d never heard of a dombor,  and after a few minutes of checking around, I’m still not sure what one looks or sounds like, but…

What a great thread!  Thank you Jill!  From the video, it looks like the musical instruments are horse-head fiddles.  See the picture and description in this loan:

http://www.kiva.org/lend/147898

[Jill]

Here is the first of two posts I’m hoping to compose and place here today
to celebrate the use of music in the perpetual struggle for peace, human rights, and social justice.  

VICTOR  JARA – Chile
 V Ì c t o r   L i d i o   J a r a   M a r t Ì n e z    ( S e p t e m b e r   2 8 ,   1 9 3 2  -  S e p t e m b e r   1 5 ,   1 9 7 3   w a s   a   C h i l e a n   t e a c h e r ,   t h e a t r e   d i r e c t o r ,   p o e t ,   s i n g e r - s o n g w r i t e r ,   p o l i t i c a l   a c t i v i s t   a n d   m e m b e r   o f   t h e   C o m m u n i s t   P a r t y   o f   C h i l e .
Click on the video, Poema 15, below, to have musical accompaniment to your reading of the following......

“The facts of Victor Jara's tragic death are well-documented. Arrested in the aftermath of a military coup d'etat (overthrowing the government of Salvador Allende), Jara was one of many political prisoners led to the National Football Stadium* where many were tortured, beaten, and executed. Although his hands were broken ... Jara continued to sing a song ("Venceremos" (We Will Win)…. supporting the ousted Popular Unity Party. After receiving many brutal blows, Jara stopped singing only when a machine gun fired by a military officer took his life.

In the nearly three decades since, Jara's songs and spirit have been celebrated by numerous politically minded folksingers including Pete Seeger and Tom Paxton. Arlo Guthrie set Adrian Mitchell's ballad "Victor Jara," and recorded it on his album, Amigo. Undoubtedly, although Jara's heart may have been forcefully stilled, his music has lived on.”  (taken from YouTube)

*Renamed the Estadio Víctor Jara  in September 2003

Poema 15 (This, actually, is one of Pablo Neruda’s wonderful love poems, set to music- really lovely, just as a love poem should be, right?)


Deja La Vida Volar-  Victor Jara


Pete Seeger Remembering Victor Jara


Victor Jara by Arlo Guthrie (who put music to the poem of Adrian Mitchell)

(Do click on Adrian Mitchell's name, above, just because.)

EDIT: On a whim, I just now zipped over to YouTube to see if I could find the song, Venceremos, that Victor Jara was singing as he was being beaten, right before he died (see, above).  I couldn't find a version of him singing it, but I found another version.  If you listen to it, stick with it for at least the first 60 seconds of it or so -- just to get a feeling of the drama, the real courage and indomitablity (?) of his spirit.

[JohnR]

I want KivaFriends to have a place where we can post and consolidate articles, human interest stories, artwork, photos, quotations, and maybe an occasional video (or other means of sharing) specifically related to music or dance.

I have some dance video I've wanted to share; this looks like the right spot for it.

I'm not originally from North Carolina, but I understand there was a large Scots/Irish element back after Europeans came across this part of the world and began to settle.  Many of their descendents are still here.  Here's a piece of clogging from the Southern Belles Clogging Team (I think they're from Snellville, Georgia).

                   

Here's another video where the Irish and US folk dance is put literally side by side.  It features the St. Joseph's Irish Dancers and the Sims Country Cloggers.

                   

Life is good!