Posted by Li Robbins on
Sunday November 22, 2009 at 3:00 AM
Have you ever heard something in nature -- the wind in the trees, maybe your own footsteps on a wooden bridge -- and heard the music in it? Yup, you have.
And music in nature is the subject of a documentary called Voices Of The Planet presented by Wade Davis, the noted anthropologist and author (who also has one of the most fabulous titles, "Explorer-in-Residence" for the National Geographic Society). Naturally he's been all over the place, exploring. From Tibet to Amazon forests.
This documentary is about another kind of explorer, the sound artist. Or actually four of them, Douglas Quinn, Lisa Walker, David Rothenburg and Hildegard Westerkamp.
I suspect they'd like what Woody Guthrie once said:
Posted by Li Robbins on
Sunday November 15, 2009 at 3:00 AM
Today, another new episode of the series, Revolutions Per Minute: Indispensable Canadian Albums. If your memory needs jogging, just think: Let Your Backbone Slide.
That should take you back to 1989 (actually the same year that last week's album, Daniel Lanois' Acadie, was released). It was the big single from the first recording released by the guy some call the "Godfather of Canadian Rap," Maestro Fresh Wes, now known just as Maestro.
The album, fabulously titled, was Symphony In Effect and it won the Juno for best Rap Recording and is said to be the best selling rap/hip hop album in Canadian music history.
Posted by Li Robbins on
Sunday November 8, 2009 at 3:00 AM
Today, a special encore presentation of one of the most popular episodes in the series RPM: Indispensable Canadian Albums. It's the story behind Daniel Lanois' debut solo album in 1989, Acadie. Before that Lanois was best known as a producer with bands like U2, Martha & The Muffins and Parachute Club.
When you have a producer as talented and unique as Lanois (think also: Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson or the Neville Brothers), it's a marvel that that same person is as strong a musician in their own right -- creating something as good as Acadie! Lanois fans should also note -- there's a deluxe reissue available too.
Posted by Li Robbins on
Sunday November 1, 2009 at 3:00 AM
RPM: Indispensable Canadian Albums is a series hosted by Kevin Courrier about, well, just what you think it's about, those towering, iconic albums that really mark a performer's career. And are forever remembered by fans.
Today the series returns for three episodes, including two new ones, Shadowland, by k d lang today, and Symphony In Effect by Maestro Fresh Wes on November 15th. (In between it's an encore presentation of the show about Daniel Lanois' Acadie.)
Posted by Li Robbins on
Sunday October 25, 2009 at 3:00 AM
It's an incredible story. About 35 years ago Jose Antonio Abreu, an economist and amateur conductor in Venezuela, wanted to help poor kids. There were many, something like one million in some of the worst slums in Latin America.
He invented El Sistema (the system). The idea was to get them to play classical music together. To work for a common goal -- playing music, and experience a sense of beauty that would not only matter to them individually, but also make them more likely to have better adult lives. The marvelous thing is, it also ended up creating some of the world's best young musicians.
Playing For Their Lives is a new documentary by Philip Coulter about El Sistema. He recently went to Venezuela to talk to some of the young people and Dr. Abreu, and today you can hear the results on Inside The Music.
Posted by Li Robbins on
Sunday October 18, 2009 at 3:00 AM
If you're thinking the late MJ and Lionel Ritchie and a stage of people swaying...no, not thatWe Are The World.
This one is us, Canada, and the many forms of folk music which arrived with various waves of immigration. Many were hybridized and became new, Canadianized folk music. That's the subject of We Are The World, the fifth and final episode of Gary Cristall's series about folk music in Canada, The People's Music, airing today.
You'll hear how folk music changed in the 20th century to welcome and assimilate songs and styles from many cultures. Gary also focusses on the beginning of the 70s and the creation of one of Canada’s earliest "multicultural" groups, The Companeros.
By the way, the image in this post comes from The People's Music Photo Gallery, which also has other memorabilia associated with each episode.
Posted by Li Robbins on
Sunday October 11, 2009 at 3:00 AM
...you'd sing it in the morning, right? Such is the power of folk music. Lyrics that stick! Today, episode four of the series The People's Music looks at the lyrics, and the new melodies of 1960s folk. Folk began to move away from traditional songs and ballads into originals. Really it was the birth of the singer-songwriter genre.
Host Gary Cristall (who has done oodles of interviews with the people who wrote the songs) features some early Canadian songs, including I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly (Alan Mills), The Blackfly Song (Wade Hemsworth) and perhaps the best known of all, Ed McCurdy's The Strangest Dream. Interviews include Sylvia Tyson, Art Samuels, Bonnie Dobson, and Bruce Cockburn.
Now here's a little gem. Pete Seeger with Theodore Bikel and Rashid Hussain, singing McCurdy's Strangest Dream. Circa 1965 or 66.
Posted by Li Robbins on
Sunday October 4, 2009 at 3:00 AM
It may seem counterintuitive that folk music should be paired with the word "industry," but of course there is a business to folk, just as with any other kind of music. That's what The People's Music, presented by Gary Cristall explores today.
Gary looks at the 1950s and 60s, when solo artists and groups flourished on radio and television (yes, really!) as well as at coffee houses and on college campuses across the continent.
You'll hear Sylvia Tyson (pictured here about five years ago) describing how she and her former partner Ian Tyson came to be managed by Albert Grossman, manager of Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary.
Gary also talks with people behind many of the folk clubs that flourished across Canada in those heady days. (In these heady days, I'd recommend you also check out Tom Powers' show Deep Roots, for some of the music being made by a whole new generation of folkies.)
Posted by Li Robbins on
Sunday September 27, 2009 at 3:00 AM
The People's Music continues today with part two of the five part series, this episode called The Genre Comes of Age. Today, host Gary Cristall looks at folk in the fifties -- including a national tour by the United Jewish People’s Organization.
You'll hear from two of the participants, and some treasured tape from one of their 1953 concerts in Edmonton. Gary also traces the origins of The Travellers, who got people from coast to coast to coast singing This Land Is Your Land. (The "Bonavista to Vancouver Island," version, that is.)
Posted by Li Robbins on
Sunday September 20, 2009 at 3:00 AM
You may have noticed that the Canadian documentaries aired on Inside The Music are quietly making their way onto the Listen Again part of the ITM blog. On the other hand, you may not have.
So consider this the blog equivalent of trumpet fanfare -- there are lots of great docs aired so if you missed one or want to recommend one to a friend after the broadcast, go to Listen Again.
And a note about today's radio broadcast. It's an encore presentation of a series by Gary Cristall (co-founder of the Vancouver Folk Fest), called The People's Music. He's been researching the history of folk music in English Canada with a view towards writing book, but today you'll hear a radio take on the material, with Part 1, The Birth Of A Genre.
This is how Gary describes this project, and his passion for it:
Getting inside the musical minds of a wide range of performers and composers via documentaries, profiles and soundscapes. Presented by broadcaster Patti Schmidt.
Join Toronto Symphony Orchestra music director Peter Oundjian and host Eric Friesen for a radio series of in studio demonstrations, discussions and great recordings of Peter's 11 favorite symphonies.
Have you ever heard something in nature -- the wind in the trees, maybe your own footsteps on a wooden bridge -- and heard the music in it? Yup, you have. 
It may seem counterintuitive that folk music should be paired with the word "industry," but of course there is a business to folk, just as with any other kind of music. That's what 
