CARDRUNNERS

One of the aspects that I enjoyed most in owning my African art gallery for 12 years was playing African music all day. It was one of the great joys and comforts for the long hours I spent waiting on customers to walk in and enjoy the art. It's been 11 months since it closed and I've hardly played any African music since its closure. Tonight, I was wandering on You Tube and decided to pull up a couple songs to share with members. Consider it a cultural immersion into something very different from the normal music you listen to. There is such a variety of different music styles throughout Africa. What has always struck me about the music is that it was often sung in language I didn't know and yet it still conveyed tremendous feeling and emotion.

While I have over 100 cds in my collection, the samples I could choose from on You Tube were quite limited. I chose one from my favorite singer in Zimbabwe - Oliver Mtukudi. He is the most popular artist in the country and has an incredibly soulful voice.

The second video is a montage of several Malian artists. It also shows some of the beautiful landscape of Mali. It is much more mellow guitar based music from artists like Habib Koite and others. I'll share some more music and videos in the future if people enjoy them.

Continuing my Friday night music theme...

A few years ago, on my drives home from the gallery, I used to hear these new songs on the local alternative station, 94.7 KNRK in Portland, called mash ups. Mixing music has been around for quite a while, obviously. In fact today, you can hardly hear a hip hop or rap song that doesn't borrow heavily from some other well known song. But, in these cases they were taking two, three or four well known songs and 'mashing' them up. They brought together very disparate styles of music to blend them together making some very interesting combinations. Most of them were local DJ's creatively mixing on their own. I always wondered how they were allowed to do this with the strict music rights laws out there. I thought I would share a few interesting ones.

One of the early mash ups that made got a lot of run, was "Boulevard of Broken Songs".

In this version it took Green Day's popular song and mixed in Oasis, Travis and even Eminem.

"Stayin Alive in Da Club" 50 Cent vs. Bee Gees

"Digital love love baby" Daft Punk vs. Vanilla Ice

"Crushingly Close" Nine Inch Nails vs. Garbage

"Sweet Home Country Grammar" Nelly vs. Lynyrd Skynyrd

The last of tonights selection, "A Stroke of Genie-us" The Strokes vs. Christina Aquilera

Friday has come again and it's time for another musical themed entry. Yesterday, the director of one of the web design firms I met with admitted in conversation that he was a former Deadhead. Years ago he had been living on the east coast, had followed the Grateful Dead on one of their tours out west, and he never went back. He eventually settled in Portland for the high quality of life he found here. He, like many, appreciated many things about the Dead; the music, the culture, the freedom, and the experimentation. The Dead were non conformists and loved to experiment and improvise. Much of that adventure and musical exploration has been lost in music today. Radio demands shorter catchy songs in the 2:30 to 4:00 minute range. That leaves no room to experiment musically. Your journey, no matter how great the song, is very structured and brief.

While I was never a big fan of the Dead, I always appreciated their approach to their music. I have always loved bands who take a catchy riff or melody and expand and experiment with it. In a different way, it was why I enjoyed some classical music as a youngster because you were taken on an extended journey that explored the range of the particular composition.

I thought I would share some samples of some interesting groups. The first is the Grateful Dead performing Fire on the Mountain.

With with the demise of the Dead, some groups tried to take up the mantle, most notably Phish. I'm not as familiar with them and I quickly selected a song Farmhouse that captures a sense of their music.

This week I found a couple groups that are also into experimentation and jamming, carrying on the spirit of these earlier groups. They have very different music styles and backgrounds. The first Lymbyc Systym has a very electronica fusion feel with a very trippy video accompanying their song Truth Skull.

The second group is from Norway. They have many musical influences but also embrace the experimental and improvisational elements of these other groups. The group is Jagga Jazzist and the song is All I Know Is Tonight. Enjoy tonight's musical selections.

I've missed a couple Fridays with my music entries, so back on topic. 

If you are having a good time, who in their right mind wants it to end?  That is my feelings about music.  When I am enjoying a song, no matter what style of music it is, I want it to continue.  I've never liked the artificial constraints of 3-4 minutes that most mainstream songs conform to nowadays.  That shortened length prevents the artist from exploring the full potential of their songs.

That was on aspect of classical music that I appreciated when I was a youngster.  They took a theme and tried to fully explore and develop it through different movements.  Space music, the likes of Tangerine Dream or Jean Michel Jarre, often tried to do the same with ethereal no vocals music.  This element is also one reason I enjoy a lot of trance, electronica and dance music because when they find a good groove they look to extend the song so it realizes it's potential.  I like these longer compositions because they take me on a musical journey.  This is the type of music I prefer when playing poker, too.  They can provide a relaxing or sometimes energizing environment, that's not distracting to my focus of making good decisions at the tables. 

The first song is very mellow.  I stumbled across it this week. Spiralling by Takla Makan

The second song is a Tangerine Dream tune - Love On A Real Train (from Risky Business) 

The third song is a remixed version of Rapture by iiO.