Many articles, films, and interviews have been made about Illmind’s extraordinary career producing many albums for several of the top names in Hip-Hop today. This isn’t one of those interviews. In this week’s episode, John digs deep into the early experiences and upbringing that shaped Ramon Ibanga Jr - AKA !llmind - as a musician and planted the seeds of what has become a life’s quest towards community building. After years of social innovation within the Producer Community, we catch up with this 2x GRAMMY Award winning artist just days before he speaks at Gary Vaynerchuck’s VeeCon and just a couple months after the launch of his landmark NFT project: Squad of Knights. MUSICAL MENTIONS 0:00:10 World Music Foundation Podcast 0:00:12 John Gardner 0:00:18 GRAMMY 0:00:20 Multi-Platinum 0:00:21 Producer 0:00:26 !llmind (aka Illmind) 0:00:38 Last Week’s Episode 0:00:48 Si Kahn 0:01:07 VeeCon 0:01:16 NFT 0:01:21 Gary Vaynerchuk 0:01:29 Squad of Knights 0:02:22 BLAP Kit Volume 13 0:02:44 Jay Z 0:02:44 Beyoncé 0:02:44 Drake 0:02:44 Eminem 0:03:00 Hamilton Mixtape 0:03:02 Black Panther: The Album 0:03:17 “You’re Welcome” (from Disney’s Moana) 0:04:19 Music Business 0:04:32 NFT 0:04:32 Blockchain Technology 0:05:38 New Jersey 0:06:33 Musician 0:06:34 Guitar 0:06:38 Wedding Band 0:06:36 Band 0:06:50 F.A.M.E. (Filipino American Music Entertainment) 0:07:26 Instruments 0:07:32 Drums 0:08:00 80s 0:08:01 90s 0:08:04 Soul 0:08:05 70s Soul 0:08:06 Funk 0:08:07 Jazz 0:08:15 Hip-Hop 0:08:35 LPs 0:08:36 Vinyl 0:08:44 Stereo Systems 0:08:47 Cassettes 0:08:52 CDs 0:09:13 Disco 0:09:21 Mambo Number 5 0:09:24 Electric Slide 0:09:41 Covers 0:09:53 Rhythms 0:09:54 Chords 0:09:58 Dance Floor Filipino Culture Philippines Karaoke Singing Guitar American Dream America 0:14:36 Disco 0:14:36 Classic Rock 0:14:58 Hip-Hop 0:15:06 Producer 0:15:34 J Dilla 0:15:36 Beats 0:15:37 Fantastic Volume 2 0:15:38 DJ Premier 0:15:40 Gangstarr 0:15:42 Mannie Fresh 0:15:46 TR808 0:15:46 Bounce Beats 0:16:17 Beat Machines 0:16:18 MPC 0:16:43 Compose 0:16:44 Keyboard 0:18:11 Roland 0:18:18 Swizz Beatz 0:18:18 DMX 0:18:24 DMX’s Second Album 0:18:59 Pete Rock 0:18:59 DJ Quik 0:18:59 Dr. Dre 0:20:02 undergroundhiphop.com Music Producer Community Forum Producer Beats 0:20:23 SoundCloud 0:20:32 Bounce an MP3 Single 0:21:48 Akrobatik 0:21:56 Remind My Soul 12-Inch Vinyl Single 0:22:11 Fat Beats NYC Mount Rushmore of Hip-Hop Jay Z Beyoncé Kanye West J Cole 0:24:48 Little Brother 0:24:58 Atlantic Records 0:25:16 G Unit G Unit Records 0:25:59 Cruel Summer 0:26:11 Rhymefest 0:27:20 Pass the Aux 0:28:09 BLAP 0:28:22 DJ 0:28:32 Cypher 0:28:47 New York City 0:29:12 BLAP on the Radio 0:29:57 Recording Studio 0:30:32 Web 3 0:31:21 Bitcoin 0:32:00 Squad of Knights 0:32:02 NFT 0:32:59 Piano 0:33:00 Guitar 0:33:01 Drum Set 0:33:02 Beat Machines 0:33:33 Music Software 0:33:35 Music Hardware 0:33:39 Cables BLAP Kit 0:35:19 ZIP File 0:37:20 Snare 0:37:26 EQ 0:37:35 TR-88 Machine 0:37:38 Foley 0:37:55 Sound Design Squad of Knights Rhymefest Skyzoo Live from the Tape Deck by Skyzoo and Illmind Kanye West Audio Engineers Music Producers PFP Moonwalk Wallet Metaverse Gary Vaynerchuk VeeCon Discord Chronicles of S.O.K. (Squad of Knights) Executive Producer Arrangements Mixing Quincy Jones R&B OpenSea LooksRare Ethereum Tabla Sitar 1:04:38 Liturgical Music 1:04:48 Notes 1:04:48 Bending Notes 1:04:51 Sliding Notes 1:04:59 “High Lonesome Sound” 1:05:00 Bill Monroe 1:05:01 Bluegrass
Juno award-winning, Eritrian krar player, Daniel Nebiat joins John to talk about his journey playing the krar. From growing up in the midst of a war for independence to working with African legends, Daniel Nebiat shares the ways he had to persevere, adapt, and innovate to continue pursuing his passion for music. Currently based in Toronto, he is a founding member of the Okavango African Orchestra, where he and African musicians from six other countries create original music for traditional instruments that have historically had little or no interaction. Whether he’s talking about krar, family, or food, “Toronto’s Krar Star” does not disappoint! MUSICAL MENTIONS: 00:04 The World Music Foundation 00:08 John Gardner 00:15 Krar 00:17 JUNO Award 00:18 Okavango African Orchestra 00:20 Daniel Nebiat 2:24 China 2:25 India 2:26 Femi Kuti 2:27 Nigeria 2:28 Côte D’Ivoire 2:29 United States 3:16 Eritrea 3:17 East Africa 4:32 ACDC 4:33 Guns n’ Roses 4:35 Jimi Hendrix 4:52 Country 4:53 Donald Williams 4:54 Kenneth Rogers 4:55 Dolly Parton 5:07 Blues 5:09 Muddy Waters 5:10 B.B. King 6:14 Poland 6:15 Italy 6:19 Jamaica 6:40 Guitar 7:39 Highway to Hell 9:30 Ethiopian New Year 9:33 Hoyena hoye 12:54 Piano 16:50 Halloween 17:36 Asmara 20:17 Addis Ababa 21:15 Kenya 21:28 Habtom 21:46 Eritrea Independence Day 24:48 Canada 25:02 Pearson International Airport 25:18 Texas 25:19 Chicago 25:21 Cafe 27:32 Tewelde Reda 29:02 Tewelde Reda-Memona 29:30 Tigrinya 29:36 Amsterdam 29:48 The Ex 29:53 Tsehaytu Beraki 30:52 Guayla 31:03 Senegal 31:22 Morocco 32:46 Harp 34:46 Pentatonic Scale 35:52 Seven-string bass 49:40 Mussie Zekarias 49:50 Isaak Okbay 41:12 Kora 44:20 Madagascar 45:21 Afrofest 46:12 Musica 52:46 Mèla Testègn 59:38 Italy 1:00:02 Seun Kuti 1:00:06 Seun Kuti & Egypt 80-Rise 1:03:38 Bruce Springsteen 1:03:40 Bruce Springsteen-Born To Run 1:04:49 Daniel Nebiat-Harvata
Like all of us, the global pandemic has hit The World Music Foundation hard. We're excited to return soon and we're excited to share with you a sneak peek of upcoming episodes along with some updates on what we've been up to.
In this week’s episode John meets with American rapper and prolific creator, Che “Rhymefest” Smith to discuss Hip-Hop, his upcoming album, and Hollywood acting debut, along with topics ranging from Chicago’s youth, spirituality, various life changing trips around the world, and much more. Rhymefest's upcoming album is titled Love Lessons Part 1, and as you'll hear in this conversation, Love is a topic at front of mind right now for Che. This episode also includes the world-premier of an amazing track from the upcoming album, featuring Black Thought (aka Tariq Trotter of The Roots) & Raheem DeVaughn. Rhymefest has won multiple Grammys, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award, but as he says: that stuff you can just Google; in this conversation he goes much deeper. MUSICAL MENTIONS: 00:12 John Gardner 00:22 Che “Rhymefest” Smith 00:33 World Music Foundation 03:17 Black Thought 03:18 Raheem DeVaughn 04:25 Australia 04:26 New Zealand 04:27 Singapore 04:28 Hong Kong 06:03 Baobab Tree 06:06 Africa 06:07 East Africa 06:08 Madagascar 06:13 Griot 06:19 Taiwan 06:21 Alishan Forest 08:09 Ghana 08:18 American Slavery 09:15 Igbo 09:16 Kikuyu 09:17 Mandingo 09:18 Maa’sai 11:01 In My Father’s House 13:57 Art of Culture 15:55 Drum 15:56 Poetry 15:58 Singing 16:18 Coca Leaves 16:53 Musician 15:54 Instrument 16:55 Prince 16:56 Kanye West 22:43 A&R 26:04 Hollywood 26:11The Public 29:06 Hip-Hop 29:10 Rock 33:33 Floyd Mayweather 33:50 Muhammed Ali 33:52 Mike Tyson 34:08 Bruce Lee 35:47 Peru 36:07 Champa 37:38 Amazonian Jungle 39:37 Japan 40:47 79th street 40:51 Mexian Pyramids 42:43 Atlanta 42:50 Pete Buttigieg 44:03 Stony Island 44:19 The Dan Ryan 51:20 Indian Classical Music 51:21 Afrobeat 51:22 Blues 51:50 Iran 51:52 19th Century Hafez 52:04 Jamaica 52:21 Jay Z 52:25 Verse 52:33 Mauritania 52:59 Colombia 53:00 Palenque village 54:58 Wolof 55:05 Croatia 55:08 Yugoslavian war 55:18 Kosovo 56:35 Wu Tang Clan 56:41 Mobb Deep 59:11 Jazzy Jeff 59:17 Ghana 59:29 Eritrea 59:30 Ethiopia 59:31 Uganda 59:32 Tanzania 59:33 Rwanda
Wu Fei describes herself as an ancient soul trapped in a feisty woman's body. Hailing from Beijing, China, Wu Fei is a multi-talented musician and composer known for playing and improvising on the traditional Chinese guzheng as well as improvisational singing and piano. Fei talks to John about her life as a child prodigy, transitioning from China to the U.S., how both countries have influenced her and her music, and what it was like to hear American music for the first time in her teenage years. She also discusses her critically acclaimed original work "Hello Gold Mountain." MUSICAL MENTIONS 0:09 World Music Foundation 0:11 John Gardner 0:16 Wu Fei 0:18 Guzheng 0:25 Tone 1:43 Pitch 1:44 Rhythm 4:06 Sanxian 4:08 Fret 4:09 Banjo 4:52 Music Theory 4:55 China Conservatory of Music 5:13 Piano 5:18 Western Classical Music 6:10 Chinese Music 10:44 African Dance 10:46 Indian Dance 13:07 Michael Jackson 13:08 Madonna 13:10 Jazz 13:12 Kitaro 13:13 Taiko Drum 13:14 Koto 13:28 American Music 15:38 John Cage 15:50 Compose 17:20 String Quartet 17:35 Shostakovich 17:36 Brahmes 17:38 Jimmi Hendrix 18:58 Northern Texas Music College 24:46 West-African Drumming and Dance Ensemble 24:48 Northern Indian Raga 24:52 Percussion 24:52 Marching Band 25:53 Mills College 26:02 Improvisation 27:58 Hello Golden Mountain 28:49 Ravi Shankar 30:13 Soloist 32:02 Indian Music 36:56 Chatterbird 38:50 Celine Thackston 39:48 National Symphony 41:36 Oud 41:36 Shanir Blumenkranz 42:25 Mei-Ann-Chen 44:16 Harp 44:25 Keyboard 44:49 Vibrato 48:11 Bach 48:12 Ravel 48:51 Abigail Washburne 49:13 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
This week's episode takes us to Nashville, TN, USA where John visits Weirdo Workshop, the music label and creative headquarters for our guests, Louis York, to speak with them about their new album and everything that's brought them to this point in their careers. Louis York is the powerful duo and creation of multi-GRAMMY nominated songwriting and production team, Claude Kelly and Chuck Harmony. Kelly, a 4x Grammy Award nominee, and Harmony, a 3x Grammy Award nominee and 2011 NAACP Image Award winner, both together and apart have written and produced hits for a long list of multi-platinum recording artists including Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, and Whitney Houston to name a few. Their debut album is titled American Griots and it's a sonic adventure that's deserving of their incredible backstory.
Self-proclaimed "crazy, romantic musician", Roberto Fonseca, speaks with John about his recently released 9th solo album, Yesun, along with the life experiences and musical training that have brought him to this point in his musical journey. Roberto is a GRAMMY nominated, Cuban pianist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and bandleader, and on this album he experiments with a wide range of musical forms, from jazz and classical music to rap, funk, reggaeton and electronic music. Roberto also talks about his tenure with the Buena Vista Social Club and how traveling the world with these masters of traditional Cuban music forever changed his approach to music making.
As a renowned Afrobeat and Jazz musician with four GRAMMY nominations, Femi Kuti is well-respected around the world for opening minds through the power of his music. John spoke with Femi from the Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria, where he shared the details of his musical upbringing and the importance of different music cultures. He also gets into his life-changing transition from the Saxophone to the Trumpet and the effect this has had on his music and his thoughts. Femi is the son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, and is considered a torch-bearer to his father’s legacy, but in this interview Femi explains why he believes that his mother, Remilekun Taylor, is actually 90% responsible for who he is. MUSICAL MENTIONS: 0:08 World Music Foundation Podcast 0:11 John Gardner 0:14 Afrobeat 00:15 Femi Kuti 0:31 The World Music Foundation 0:52 Africa 1:23 Fela Kuti 2:20 New Afrika Shrine 2:23 Lagos, Nigeria 2:47 GRAMMY Awards 4:27 Highlife African Traditional Music 4:28 African Culture and Dance 4:32 Jazz 5:00 Afrobeats 8:08 The Beatles 8:35 Highlife 10:05 Nigeria 11:07 America 11:10 Tokyo, Japan 11:12 Australia 11:50 One People One World 12:17 Remilekun Taylor 12:39 Stardom 16:00 Music School 16:08 England 16:10 Ghana 16:38 Saxophone 19:03 Charlie Parker 19:26 James Moody 19:40 Music Shop 19:45 Mood for Love 19:49 Guitarist 19:53 George Benson 20:45 Dexterity 20:46 Improvisation 20:54 Dizzy Gillespie 20:55 John Coltrane 20:56 Art Tatum 22:52 Trumpet 22:58 Soprano Sax 23:01 C Major 23:21 Fight to Win 36:08 Cuba 36:11 Pianist 36:12 Composer 36:14 Band Leader 36:15 Roberto Fonseca 36:16 Yesun 36:49 Clave 37:22 Chocolate City Group
John travels down to Coldwater, MS for the 69th Annual Goat Picnic in honor of fife & drum legend, Otha Turner. What started off as something else, ends up being a a good handful of great conversations with musicians (and even some audience members) about the Hill Country Music of Northern Mississippi, USA. R.L. Boyce, Earl “Little Joe” Ayers, Dom Turner, and Ricky Stevens are all featured. 0:05 World Music Foundation Podcast 0:08 John Gardner 0:14 Fife & Drum Music 0:19 Otha Turner 0:39 Coldwater, MS 0:41 Sharde Thomas 1:35 Hill Country Music 1:45 Little Joe 1:47 Guitar 1:54 Blues 4:09 Fife 4:09 Drum 4:23 Mark Massey 4:24 Muleman 4:36 Blues Hall of Fame 5:09 Blues Foundation 5:30 International Blues Challenge 6:11 Roosevelt Staples 6:13 Willie Brown 8:44 Junior Kimbrough 8:44 R.L Burnside 8:45 R.L Boyce 9:56 Northern Mississippi Blues 10:08 Cedric Burnside 10:09 North Mississippi Allstars 10:10 Luther and Cody Dickenson 10:15 Sharde Thomas 10:30 Fife and Drum Music 10:36 Othar Turner 11:00 African Music 11:12 Chord Progression 11:17 Homemade Flute 11:23 Rhythm 11:28 Solo 11:30 Vocals 12:07 Napoleon Strickland 12:20 Library of Congress Collection 13:16 Jr. Kimbrough 13:55 Ace Cannon 14:02 John Lee Hooker 14:02 Muddy Waters 14:03 Howlin’ Wolf 14:11 Guitar 14:30 Note 14:54 Piano 15:44 Hill Country Music 16:42 Trenton Ayers 19:20 R.L. Boyce 19:21 Como, MS 19:42 Mississippi Hill Country 20:06 Backsliders 20:33 harmonica 20:36 Phil Wiggins 20:46 Sacred Steel tradition 20:54 Turner Brown Band 21:14 Mississippi Fred McDowell 23:18 Otha Turner 23:29 Napoleon Strickland 23:31 Ed and Lonnie Young 23:40 Sid Hemphill 24:22 Instrument 24:30 Othar Turner 24:40 Band 24:50 Lead guitar 25:35 Bobby Rush 25:36 Little Milton 26:40 Howlin’ Wolf 27:15 Luther Dickinson 27:35 Jessie Mae 27:36 Drummer 27:50 Leo Bud Welch 27:50 Bilbo Walker 28:01 Big Jack Johnson 28:58 Blues 30:00 Femi Kuti 30:01 Afrobeat 30:03 Lagos, Nigeria
Praised for her dynamic, passionate conducting style, Taiwanese-American conductor Mei-Ann Chen is acclaimed for infusing orchestras with energy, enthusiasm and high-level music-making, galvanizing audiences and communities alike. In our conversation we follow her musical evolution from shy violin player in her birth country, Taiwan, to dynamic, trailblazing, internationally sought-after conductor. Mei-Ann also shares the inspirational interaction with Martin Luther King that inspired the creation of the MacArthur Award-winning, Chicago Sinfonietta, the nations most diverse orchestra, of which she is the principle conductor and music director. Here's a link to every Musical Mention in this episode: 0:19 Mei-Ann Chen 0:29 The World Music Foundation 1:33 Western Classical 1:34 Conducting 3:17 Violin 3:18 Piano 3:58 Melody 4:00 Thais Meditation: by Jules Massenet 4:25 Orchestra 5:39 Helen Quach (Guō Mei Jen) 7:07 Solfege 7:10 Note Sight Reading 8:21 National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra 9:56 Yo-Yo-Ma 11:08 Mozart 11:09 Brahmes 11:10 Beethoven 11:10 Tchaikovski 12:23 Taiwanese Folk 13:19 Minga 校園民歌 16:27 Pentatonic Scale 17:34 Impressionists 17:46 Claude Debussy 17:47 La Mer 18:02 Joseph Maurice Ravel 18:03 Mother Goose Suite 18:15 Giacomo Puccini 18:29 Mo Li Hua: The Jasmine Flower 18:33 Turandot 21:59 Vibrato 25:46 Antonin Dvorak 25:47 Symphony No. 9 in E minor (New World Symphony) 25:47 Carnegie Hall 26:15 Jazz 26:17 African Music 27:03 American Youth Orchestra 27:13 Benjamin Zander 27:44 Henryk Wieniawski 28:43 Music Score 28:44 Gustav Mahler 28:44 Mahler’s Symphony #5 29:19 Transposition 29:28 Soundcheck 29:40 Stand Partner 31:46 Notes 32:17 Music Teacher 32:28 Conductor 32:44 Assistant Conductor 32:49 Music Director 32:54 Guest Conductor 33:18 Memphis Symphony 33:28 Chicago Sinfonietta 33:41 Symphonic 34:35 Project W 34:55 Cidille Records 35:39 Project 19 36:34 Diwali Festival 37:04 Maestro Paul Freeman 37:55 Project Inclusion Freeman Fellowships 38:37 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 43:23 Concertino For Cell Phone And Orchestra 44:17 Conservatories 46:19 Pops 47:08 Beethoven’s “5th” 47:28 Felix Mendelssohn 47:28 The Hebrides Overture (aka Fingal’s Cave)” 50:51 Modest Mussorgsky 51:07 Jennifer Koh 51:13 Courtney Bryan 51:38 Maurice Ravel 53:29 Jennifer Higdon 53:34 Reena Esmail 53:34 Florence Price 54:04 Dora Pejacevic 58:19 Carmen 1:00:01 New York Philharmonic 1:02:19 Chicago Symphony 1:02:24 Florence Price 1:03:05 Yo-Yo Ma 1:03:08 Sheherazade 1:03:42 Harp Glissando 1:03:49 Eighth note 1:03:56 Principle harp 1:05:00 Berlin Philharmonic 1:05:04 Claudio Abbado 1:06:19 Intonation 1:06:38 Flat 1:06:54 Octave 1:06:56 Bassoon 1:06:58 Oboe 1:08:12 Maestro 1:09:09 Portland Youth Orchestra 1:09:35 Rite of spring 1:09:56 Beat 1:11:39 Percussion 1:11:40 Brass 1:12:54 Transition 1:12:55 Balance 1:13:08 Ensemble 1:16:40 Chicago Sinfonietta
Last week, we spoke with Brian & Leila Pertl, and members of the Music Education Team, who have helped design the Mile of Music Festival, especially the cultural education components. This week, we’re speaking with the teaching-musicians themselves to learn about Afro-Cuban Drumming, Mariachi, Ghanaian Drumming, and Native American Flute. We attended a few sessions ourselves during the festival and spoke with these artists afterwards. Here's a link to every Musical Mention in this episode: 4:07 Afro Cuban Music 4:30 Clave 5:30 Syncopation 5:34 Rhythmic Melody 6:07 Bembe Rhythm 6:26 Acoustic Music 7:44 Classical Music 10:26 Upright Bass 11:11 Mariachi 11:38 Mexican Hat Dance 12:34 Instrumental 12:49 Genre 12:56 World Music 13:00 Son Jalisciense 13:30 Anthem 14:01 Bolero 14:06 Guitar 16:12 Pop Mariachi 16:21 Little Village 19:28 Americana 19:40 Acoustic 21:28 Lawrence University in Appleton 21:40 Minneapolis 21:43 Percussionist 21:49 Porky’s Groove Machine 21:50 Black Market Brass 21:56 Groove music 22:16 Mile of Music 22:51 Ghanaian Drumming 22:23 Ewe 22:24 Gahu 23:04 Boba Drum 23:35 Ewe Drums 23:52 Drumhead 23:05 Tune 23:07 Pitch 26:32 Polyrhythms 27:33 Ethnomusicology 27:35 Percussion music 29:50 Repetition 29:59 Composite rhythm 36:15 Wade Fernandez 36:17 Menominee 36:33 Vocals 36:34 Guitar 36:35 Native American Flute 36:43 Recordings 36:58 Flutes 37:31 Indian Summer Festival
We were delighted to discover the Mile Of Music Festival, which curates international music workshops alongside concerts of Americana and Folk music. Several of the Americana acts were imported nationwide and even internationally, but all of the international music is taught by people from within their small Appleton community. So which music is ‘local’?? We attended this 3 day festival, attended the workshops and spoke with the organizers to fully understand the blurring of this dichotomy. Here's a link to every Musical Mention in this episode: 0:01 Mile of Music Festival 0:58 Appleton, WI, USA 1:08 The World Music Foundation 1:30 Brazilian Samba Drumming 1:33 Australian Aboriginal Didgeridoo 1:35 Balinese Gamelan 1:37 Native American Flute 1:39 Mariachi 1:49 Birds of Chicago 1:54 JT Nero 1:55 Allison Russell 2:08 Americana 3:28 Leila Ramagopal Pertl 3:35 Brian Pertl 3:38 Lawrence Conservatory of Music 5:36 Balinese Gamelan 5:42 Samba 5:43 Afro-Cuban 6:34 Lawrence University 6:59 Ghanaian Dancing 7:08 Australian Aboriginal Didgeridoo 8:30 Gong 8:52 Jaclyn Kottman 8:20 Samba Drumming 9:00 Yo-Yo-Ma 11:03 U.S Folk 12:27 Mariachi 13:45 Classical Violin 23:46 Ghanaian Dance 24:09 Bali 24:48 Americana 24:49 Bluegrass 24:50 Gospel 28:22 Appleton Public Montessori 28:31 Gumboot Dancing 28:33 Irish Dancing 28:34 Israeli Dancing 39:23 Kaleidoscope Concert 39:36 Wind Ensemble 39:38 Clarinet 39:57 Percussion Music 41:09 Soloist 45:51 Cory Chisel 45:52 Dave Willems
Jess Sah Bi & Peter One, musicians from Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa, recall hearing the harmonies and guitars of Simon and Garfunkel and Cat Stevens for the first time and how that impacted their music from that point onward. In our conversation they take us through the creation of their landmark African-Country-Folk inspired album Our Garden Needs Its Flowers from their initial search for a producer to now the recent reissue, 30 years later, by Awesome Tapes From Africa. Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode: 7:01 Simon & Garfunkel 7:08 Cat Stevens 8:19 Jimi Hendrix 8:29 The Beatles (Hey Jude, Let It Be) 9:49 Paul Simon 11:29 James Bond Theme 14:53: Amédée Pierre 15:00 Bob Marley (No Woman No Cry) 18:19 Don Williams 20:51 Don Williams 20:42 Alpha Blondy 25:14 Premiere Chance 30:47 Rosemary Gurg ?? 33:11 Badmos 33:19 Ernesto Djedje 31:51 Georges Tai Benson 36:27 Monique Séka 36:39 Anet Roger 40:08 Gouro 40:27 Our Garden Needs Its Flowers (album) 41:03 Burkina Faso 41:04 Togo 48:50 Brian Shimkovitz
Pamyua’s musical footprint, spanning two decades and several countries, is a testament to the ongoing vibrancy of Inuit music, the group members, and their unique heritage. Brothers Phillip and Stephen Blanchett speak from the heart on issues of identity, culture and music expressed through Pamyua (pronounced bum-yo-ah) with collaborators Ossie Kairaiuak and Karina Moeller. They are preservers of an amazing musical tradition that is still alive but has historically been marked for extinction and continues to face the threat of becoming lost to this day. Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode: 0:20 Pamyua 2:15 Yupik/Inuit Music 5:07 Karina Moeller 5:20 Inuit 6:15 World Music 7:02 Reggae 7:03 R&B 10:14 Russian Orthodox Church 10:55 Slavic songs 11:11 Yukon Kuskokwim Delta 11:15 Nunapitchuk 13:24 Lady Smith Black Mambazo 15:05 Soul 15:06 Rap 15:07 Hip Hop 16:12 Folk 16:13 Country 16:20 Indigenous 19:45 Wild Tchoupitoulas 19:52 Aaron Neville 22:57 Yupik Mask Dancing 28:48 Cauyaq (drum) 33:01 Side A, Side B 36:40 Yupik Langauge 36:41 Inupik Language
Chicago’s own Zeshan B’s fearlessness as an individual translates into music that knows no boundaries and takes from a wider range of influences than we may be used to hearing in one musician’s discography. In 2017 he released Vetted, his debut album, to critical acclaim. He made his national TV debut that same year on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Since then he’s been touring and preparing for his next release. We talk about his experience in music education, his current project, and how we all share an inherent hunger for groovy music. Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode: 0:20 Zeshan Bagewadi 1:48 Bill Withers – Lean on Me 1:50 M.C. Hammer – Can’t Touch This 3:50 Lithuanian Opera 5:35 Raj Kapoor 6:45 Luciano Pavarotti 10:35 Gospel Choir 10:53 Gregorian chants 11:17 Chicago Lyric Opera 13:33 Don Giovanni: a Mozart Opera 13:45 Giuseppe Verdi 13:45 Beethoven 18:20 Soul music 18:48 Sam Cooke 18:50 Ray Charles 18:54 Chicago Blues 18:54 Muddy Waters 19:00 Curtis Mayfield 19:01 Mahalia Jackson 19:34 Bill Withers 19:34 Marvin Gaye 20:54 Medhi Hassan 20:55 Kishore Kumar 20:56 Mohammed Rafi 20:58 Shafqat Amanat Ali 21:05 Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan 21:07 Qawwali 21:15 Bollywood Music 21:45 Qawwali 21:48 Ghazal 22:05 Jagjit Singh 22:27 Medhi Hassan 22:32 Ghulam Ali 24:35 Ghazal 24:35 Indian Classical Music 24:55 Lady Gaga 24:55 Bruno Mars 25:30 Folk geet (Indian folk music) 25:38 Qawwali 25:38 Ghazal 27:15 Drum kit 27:19 Farfisa Organ 27:35 Harlem Renaissance 27:36 Langston Hughes 27:38 Zora Neale Hurston 27:44 Amiri Baraka 27:47 Assata Shakur 28:45 Elvis Presley 28:50 Tom and Jerry Theme song 37:00 Harmonium 40:23 Sitar 40:40 Indian Classical Music 43:22 Meri Jaan 43:27 Little Walter – My Babe 43:41 Muddy Waters 43:42 J.B. Hutto 43:43 Bo Diddley 44:33 Howlin Wolf 44:38 Donny Hathaway 44:40 Curtis Mayfield 44:41 Mahalia Jackson 45:05 Get Higher 45:06 Brown Power 49:37 Kurt Weill – Street Scene 49:58 Gian Carlo Menotti – The Consul 50:18 Dmitri Shostakovich 50:20 Leningrad Symphony 50:40 Richard Strauss – The Alpine Symphony 51:00 Beethoven Symphony No.9 51:07 John Coltrane – A Love Supreme 53:05 Lestor Snell 53:12 Isaac Hayes 53:12 Al Green 53:15 Shaft 54:45 Bhangra music
Originally from Costa Rica and Iran respectively, Jorge Strunz and Ardeshir Farah have brought the musical influences of their native lands into their highly virtuosic, rhythmic, and improvisation-rich original instrumental compositions, inspiring fans and many guitarists worldwide. Their meeting in 1979 in Los Angeles, where they are still based, marked the first time that Latin American and Middle Eastern music, along with other important elements, came together on the guitar. Our conversation touches on all of these points and more. Enjoy! Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode: 0:16 Strunz & Farah 1:32 Caldera 2:21 Vittorio Monti – Csárdás 2:25 Hungarian Gypsy music 2:28 Paco De Lucia 2:33 Sabicas 2:54 Plectrum 5:12 Flamenco 5:16 The Beatles 7:39 Jazz Fusion 10:49 Surf Music 11:04 The Animals 11:34 The Ventures 11:36 The Shadows 11:40 Cliff Richard 12:21 Persian Music 14:18 Carlos Montoya 14:39 Mario Escudero 14:57 Electra Records 15:10 Calypso 16:05 Pete Seeger 16:08 The Kingston Trio 16:10 Peter, Paul and Mary 16:48 America Folk 17:35 RCA Victor Records 17:37 ABC Paramount 17:39 Bob Theile 17:44 John Coltrane 18:27 John McLaughlin 18:29 Mahavishnu Orchestra 18:30 Chick Corea 18:33 Miles Davis – Bitches Brew 19:09 Capitol Records 20:14 Indian Music 20:15 Harihar Rao 20:20 Ravi Shankar 20:24 L. Subramaniam 20:37 Richard Bock 20:47 Jean-Luc Ponty 20:48 Wes Montgomery 20:54 Fantasy/Milestone Records 21:58 Luis Conte 22:07 Mosaico (album) 22:30 Ganesh Records 22:47 Persian Musicians 22:54 Frontera (album) 22:55 Manoochehr Sadeghi 22:58 Santur 23:04 Guitarras (album) 23:09 Hayedeh 23:33 Mirage (song) 24:11 Jazz Fusion 24:12 Jazz 24:13 Blues 24:14 Rock 24:20 Persian rhythms 24:21 Persian melodies 24:26 Tar 24:27 Santur 24:27 Oud 24:34 Reng (song) 24:37 Manoochehr Sadeghi 24:38 Majid Ghorbani 24:40 Randy Tico 24:40 Bass guitar 24:50 Mirage (song) 24:53 Iranian Percussion 25:04 Persian āvāz 26:27 Tale of Two Guitars (Album) 26:42 Folk (Persian) 26:43 Pop (Persian) 26:44 Keyavash Nourai 26:50 Violin 26:57 Chaharmezrab 27:22 Ethnic Persian modal 27:59 Chaharmezrab 28:02 Plectrums 28:48 Kayhan Kalhor 28:51 Kamancheh 28:54 Yo-Yo Ma 28:55 Silk Road Ensemble 29:01 Hossein Alizadeh 29:03 Setar 29:40 Tar 29:44 Sahba Motallebi 31:00 Flamenco 31:01 El Regalito (song) 31:10 Palmas 32:11 Spanish 32:46 Latin America 32:51 Cumbia 32:55 Mexico 32:55 Columbia 33:09 Diego Alvarez 33:12 Venezuela 33:14 Afro-Latin 33:15 Afro-Andean 33:19 Cajon 34:07 Juanito “Long John” Oliva 34:08 Cuban 34:13 Rhythms 34:34 Africa 35:44 Hubert Laws 35:45 Stanley Clarke 35:46 Katisse Buckingham 40:34 ABA Structure 43:31 Wild Muse (album) 43:36 Camino Real 43:54 Nengue Hernandez 44:10 Flamenco 45:01 Carlitos Del Puerto 45:18 Chick Corea 45:19 Barbra Streisand 45:47 Thomas Brooman 45:48 World Music 47:29 Mosaico (album) 48:54 Primal Magic (album) 48:57 Américas (album) 51:28 Iranian Music 52:21 Viguen 53:45 Accordion 56:22 Tales of Two Guitars (album)
Aashish Khan is the eldest exponent of an Indian Classical music lineage that reaches all the way back to the court of Mughal emperor Akbar the Great. He takes us back to the creation of his pioneering Indo-Jazz fusion band, Shakti, in the early 1970s, he shares about his new project Shringar, and reveals that he has a literal treasure trove of unreleased recordings, including a track that he recorded with George Harrison, Eric Clapton and others. Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode: 0:30 Aashish Khan 2:35 Sandip Burman 3:13 Sarod 4:51 Tonic 5:08 Chikari 5:18 Taraps 5:35 Reverb 5:58 Plectrum 7:04 Raag (or Ragas) 7:11 Ragas (or Raag) 9:23 Mian Tansen 9:35 Swami Haridas 9:38 Emperor Akbar (1542–c. 1605) 9:48 Allauddin Khan 9:55 Wazir Khan 10:00 Rampur 10:03 Uttar Pradesh 10:05 Lucknow 10:14 Ali Akbar Khan 10:19 Annapurna Devi 10:20 Sitar 10:24 Subahar 10:30 Timir Baran Bhattacharya 10:32 Sarod 10:35 Ravi Shankar 10:40 Pannalal Ghosh 10:41 Bansuri flute 10:52 Folk Instrument (Indian) 10:54 Classical Instrument (Indian) 11:12 Piccolo flute 11:18 Assam 11:24 Indian 11:34 Bahadur Khan 11:51 Dhyanesh Khan 12:57 Ameena Khan 12:03 Pranesh Khan 12:04 Tabla 12:09 Violin 12:19 Alam Khan 12:23 Manik Khan 13:02 Cello 13:15 Oboe 13:23 Guitar 15:16 Indian Fusion Music 15:21 Shanti (band) 15:41 Richard Bock 15:53 Ravi Shankar 15:57 World Pacific Record Company 16:13 Zakir Hussain 16:27 Swapan Chaudhuri 16:40 England 16:41 America 16:55 Neil Seidel 16:59 Steve Leach 17:04 Steve Haehl 17:08 Frank Lupica 17:13 Pranesh Khan 17:18 Dholak 17:21 Shanti (band) 17:36 Atlantic Records 17:42 CD 17:44 Vinyl 18:05 Shringar 18:12 Thinking of You (song) 18:14 Tim Green 21:20 Charles Lloyd 21:25 John Handy 21:26 George Harrison 21:34 John Barham 21:35 The Beatles 21:45 Western Notation 21:54 North Indian Music 22:06 Piano 22:37 George Harrison 22:45 Pop Music 22:52 Ringo Starr 22:55 Eric Clapton 22:57 Billy Preston 24:29 Mian Tansen 27:28 Saraswati 28:01 Bengal 28:13 Bansat Pancham 29:37 Pakhawaj 29:47 Uday Shankar 30:16 Ludwig van Beethoven 30:47 Maihar Band 33:19 Cassette 33:21 Reel to reel 35:30 Taleem (Explain in the episode) 38:03 Gharana 38:05 Senia Maihar Gharana 38:51 HMV (His Master’s Voice) 40:15 Nikhil Banerjee 40:14 Jotin Bhattacharya 43:31 Jazz 43:32 Classical Music (Western) 43:50 The Beatles 43:54 Elton John 43:58 Bob Dylan 44:09 Lay, Lady, Lay 44:22 Stevie Wonder 44:26 Lionel Richie 44:46 Michael Jackson 45:11 Shiraz Khan
Thomas Brooman has always had a vision of a smaller musical world -- from his early years spent among fellow awe-struck concertgoers during the European Rock-&-Roll boom, to his later work cultivating a collective of artists as co-founder of the globally inspired World of Music Arts and Dance festival (WOMAD). We talk about the relationship between musicians and international markets and get a behind-the-scenes look into his involvement in the creation of the term ‘World Music’- in all of its complexities. Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode: 0:13 WOMAD World of Music, Art, and Dance Festival 1:51 Cheb Khaled 4:26 Punk Rock 5:41 Bossa nova 5:44 Samba 9:38 Institute of Contemporary Arts in London 10:28 Topic Records 10:28 GlobeStyle Record 10:30 Ben Mandelson 10:33 Roger Armstrong 10:36 African music 13:17 Giuseppe Verdi 13:17 Ludwig van Beethoven 13:17 Maurice Ravel 15:01 Ian Anderson 15:03 fRoots Magazine 16:05 Blues 16:06 Bluegrass 16:28 Saxophone 16:29 Guitar 16:58 Qawwali 17:07 Harmonium 19:18 Ravi Shankar 19:23 Hugh Masekela 19:29 Grazing in the Grass 19:53 WOMAD First Festival 1982 19:55 Echo and the Bunnymen 20:17 The Beat 20:25 The Drummers of Burundi 20:36 Pete de Freitas 20:54 All My Colours (Zimbo) 22:20 WOMAD Blues and Rhythm Fest 1989 22:30 Ali Farka Toure 22:30 Taj Mahal 23:54 Youssou N’Dour 25:06 Billy Cobham 25:22 Real World Studios 25:41 Asere 27:35 Remmy Ongala 29:08 S.E. Rogie 31:09 Gaucho drum 31:31 Ringo Starr 31:36 The Beatles 32:09 Drum Set 35:09 4/4 time signature 36:00 Rock and Roll 36:04 Blues 39:33 Bristol Colston Hall 39:36 The Jimi Hendrix Experience 39:40 Pink Floyd 39:42 The Nice 39:45 Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer) 39:46 The Move 39:52 Amen Corner 40:10 Rolling Stones 40:23 Festival for progressive Blues 40:41 Fleetwood Mac 40:45 Led Zeppelin 41:02 Blues 41:57 Pop Music 42:03 Rolling Stones 42:04 Grand Funk Railroad 42:30 Rock Fest (either 1999 or 2000) 43:11 Pandit Sandip Burman 43:20 Blues Harmonica 43:30 Indian Classical 43:46 Raag Bilawal 45:26 time signature 45:28 phrasing 45:29 cadence 45:29 melody
Our second episode brings us to a small town in the Northern part of the U.S. where we, surprisingly, find a deep Blues history. We follow Paramount Records through the peak of success, recording landmark artists that changed Western popular music forever, but this music, at several times, was almost lost forever. We follow the thin thread of events and recent efforts that have gone into preserving this important musical history. Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode: 0:50 Muddy Waters 0:51 B.B King 0:54 Blind Lemon Jefferson 0:56 Charley Patton 0:57 Skip James 1:09 Blues 1:12 Africa 1:50 Skip James 2:03 Big Bill Broonzy 2:07 Bill Big Broonzy: The Man That Brought The Blues to Britain 2:14 Paramount Records 3:44 Jazz 3:55 Johann Sebastian Bach 3:55 Ludwig Van Beethoven 3:55 Johannes Brahms 3:59 Franz Joseph Haydn 3:59 Wenzel Müller 3:59 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 4:06 Vaudevillan Performers 4:08 Dixieland Jazz 4:10 Creole Music 4:14 Military Bands 4:49 Al Jolson 6:11 Pop music 6:19 Wisconsin Chair Company 6:28 Phonographs 7:21 Alex Van Der Tuuk 7:31 Paramount’s Rise and Fall 7:55 Classical Music (Western) 8:05 Vaudeville 8:10 Country Music 8:37 Mamie Smith 8:38 Crazy Blues 9:09 Race Records 10:10 J. Mayo “Ink” Williams 10:31 Blues Music 11:15 Bessie Smith 11:17 Jelly Roll Morton 12:31 Alberta Hunter 12:32 Monette Moore 12:53 Blind Lemon Jefferson 13:48 Charley Patton 13:52 Dockery Farms 13:57 Robert Johnson 14:29 Pony Blues 14:31 Banty Rooster Blues 15:10 Swanee River 15:21 Juke Joints 15:46 Delta Blues 16:59 Metal Masters 19:25 Grafton House of Blues 19:34 Angie Mack Riley 19:56 Blues 19:56 Jazz 19:56 Country Music 22:43 PBS History Detective: Paramount Records Episode 22:59 Charley Patton 22:59 Skip James 22:59 Blind Lemon Jefferson 23:27 Louis Armstrong 23:27 Ma Rainey 23:27 Son House 24:28 Delta Blues 24:49 Elvis Presley 25:22 Paramount’s Rise and Fall 25:29 Agram Blues 25:41 Jack White Box Set 25:54 Dean Blackwood 25:55 Revenant Records 27:10 Paramount Box Set #1 27:28 Grammy Award 27:57 The World Music Foundation 28:05 World Music 29:10 Folklore Music 29:18 Zydeco 29:22 Cajun Music 29:36 Rolling Stones 29:41 Love in Vain 30:10 Elmore James 30:01 Howlin’ Wolf 30:04 Muddy Waters 30:28 The Country Blues, by Samuel Charters 30:40 Columbia Records 30:42 Okeh Records 30:43 Paramount Records
Dave Pietro’s curiosity and workmanship have been the foundation of his decade’s long career as an internationally touring musician. He explains the value of truly listening— even if what you’re hearing confuses or frightens you at first. We touch on his gigging history starting in New York, his new album New Road: Iowa Memoirs, and how immersing oneself in a culture can fundamentally change your understanding of pretty much everything. Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode: 0:10 Mariachi 1:00 Maria Schneider Orchestra 1:00 Gil Evan’s Project 1:00 Darcy James Argues Secret Society 1:15 Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra 1:20 Woody Herman 1:20 Lionel Hampton 1:20 Maynard Ferguson 1:20 Sandip Burman 1:20 The Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra 1:30 Pete McGuinness 1:30 David Bowie 1:30 Paul Anka 1:30 Blood Sweat and Tears 1:30 Ray Charles 1:30 Rosemary Clooney 1:30 Harry Connick Jr. 1:30 Chaka Khan 2:53 The Rainbow Room 3:11 Liza Minnelli 3:30 Jeff Coffin 3:30 Tabla 3:35 Bela Fleck and the Flecktones 8:25 Charlie Parker 8:33 The Carpenters 8:41 Bebop 9:02 Bela Bartok 9:04 Igor Stravinsky 9:33 Bartok Violin Concerto 10:15 Hermeto Pascoal 10:25 Nikhil Banerjee 10:32 Bhimsen Joshi 13:40 American Songbook 13:43 Hindustani music 15:30 Blues 16:00 Jewish music 18:28 Klezmer 18:39 Bulgarian wedding music 19:04 Yuri Yunakov 19:20 Bulgarian Women’s Choir 20:25 Steve Armour 21:18 Kora 21:20 Djembe 21:30 Saxophone 21:55 Mouthpiece 21:55 Clarinet 21:55 Trumpet 21:55 Trombone 22:00 Adolphe Sax 24:23 Big band music 33:05 Sitar 33:05 Conga 33:05 Shakuhachi 34:05 The New Road: Iowas Memoirs 34:39 Traffic: the soundtrack of NYC 36:14 Bossa Nova 36:20 Baiao 36:35 Zabumba 36:35 Triangle 36:52 Carnatic 37:00 Mridangam 37:00 Tabla 37:15 Bluegrass 37:15 Jazz 37:15 New Orleans Jazz 37:15 Country and Western 37:50 Bud Powell 38:07 Duke Ellington 40:10 Greek music 40:10 Zeibekiko 40:41 Taal/Tala 42:38 Tabla 47:20 Mariachi
Shri Kant Pawar
diwali