Tuesday March 2, 2010
Fun news today from one of my favorite blogs, DubMC, which is reporting that the Musical Instrument Museum is set to open next month in Phoenix, AZ, and it is quite likely going to be, as we'd say in my native Northeast, wicked cool.
More than just mbiras and bagpipes on shelves, the MIM is, according to artistic director Sunni Fass, going to be a highly interactive and hugely inclusive space... and an enormous space at that, with over 200,000 square feet of display area, as well as a 300-seat theatre where artists from around the world will perform throughout the year. Their collection currently numbers over 10,000 instruments (which, I must, say, is only a few more than I have in my living room, where I am no longer able to offer seating to guests due to a recent influx of bass ukuleles... don't ask). It is the only museum of instruments in the world that is dedicated to global instruments... there are other musical instrument museums, but they tend to focus on classical instruments.
Phoenix is one of the only great American cities that I've never visited. Anyone up for a road trip?
Wednesday February 24, 2010
Some people say that radio is dead. I'd argue that, though Top 40 radio might be a dying breed (possibly due to the fact that the music is heinous and the DJs are robots), there is lots of radio that is very much still alive, mostly in the public, college, and community radio arenas. Small radio stations around the country (and world, for that matter) remain daily staples for millions upon millions of people, myself included. Smaller stations provide a platform where true enthusiasts can share the music they love with their community which, as most radio stations stream online, often includes the whole world nowadays.
Now, internet radio can be cool too, but often isn't as carefully curated as a radio show... many internet radio stations are the equivalent of an iPod on shuffle mode. Don't get me wrong -- I love to listen to other people's iPods -- but the personal touch of a human (and, in the case of the best DJs, good banter between songs) is worth a lot. World music DJs are responsible for introducing more people to world music than anyone else, I'd venture to guess, and the best ones keep listeners coming back for more and more.
So in honor of one of my favorite perfectly healthy art form (the world music radio show, that is), I invite you, if you're a world music DJ, to add your show to the new World Music Radio show list that I've started. Take a minute and put your show on there, and help listeners (as well as artists, music businesspeople, and other enthusiasts) find you! And, hey listeners, it might behoove you to click that link as well... you'll get to the growing list of radio shows, ready for you to sample at your leisure. While you're at it, feel free to leave a blog comment and chime in on the future of radio... do you think it's here to stay?
Saturday February 20, 2010
Afropop Worldwide is best known as a nationally syndicated NPR program dedicated to (obviously) music of Africa and the African diaspora. Their website, Afropop.org, is certainly one of the finest online resources for the same sorts of music, and now they've expanded with an awesome new project called Hip Deep. Hip Deep is, in their own words, "a media project dedicated to the idea that music is a key to understanding everything: History, religion, cultures, political and social realities, science, families, and even human nature itself." That's a lofty goal, but wow... it makes for a cool website. The features on the site bear titles like "Music and the Story of Haiti" to "The Story of Bembeya Jazz", each vignette is a short, commercial-free program dedicated to telling a specific story about a genre, an artist, an area of cultural interplay, and the effects that the music had on its surroundings. It's a pretty inclusive project, as well, with scholars of music and culture from far and wide contributing on the various pieces. Thus far, I've found it to be good for wasting at least two full days, and I'm nowhere near done. Check out Hip Deep for yourself and you'll see what I'm talking about!
Thursday February 11, 2010
There are few times of year as exciting as Mardi Gras time in Cajun Louisiana (that would be the part of South Louisiana that is not Greater New Orleans, though I hear they have a little Mardi Gras thang of their own goin' on...), and that time of year has come. Costumes are being festooned, chickens are being prepped, and the music has started. Most of the traditional courirs (that's a country Mardi Gras "run," if you're not familiar) won't start until this weekend, with the biggest ones happening on Tuesday, bien sur. I'll be out and about Southwest Louisiana throughout the weekend, camera in tow, and will hopefully have some fun events to report back to you. What are your Mardi Gras plans for this year? Leave a comment and let us know!
More About Cajun Mardi Gras Music and Celebrations:
