Music Planet

[Paul Sherratt]

>>it looks like Lat has gone MIA

Gosh, I really hope his last word on the forum won't be " undergarment "

[johncorrigan]

I was interested in the Shamanistic spirituality. I was embarrassed by the lack of sensitivity of Christians towards this very ancient religion. As I understand it a shaman is simply a person with expert knowledge of the spirit world. Seems to me that Christians have always had a thing about people who claim to have special knowledge. I am thinking in particular about the persecution of the Gnostics labelling them as heretics. It's usually people who don't know very much who go in for this kind of thing. And for me as a Christian it's embarrassing.

Well this side of things where an incoming culture of any kind destroys or subsumes the indigenous culture happens all over, Martin - Calum has referred to it recently in relation to the music of the Andes - it's not just Christian but there is a bit to answer for, where things are done in the name of something that you feel a sense of belonging to ( even a well lapsed one like me). One person who I walked the hills with once gave me an excellent lesson in wild plants and in their medicinal properties. It was her argument that lots of the ancient skills about plant lore had been lost because of the persecution and supressionof the witches who she said were the ancient healers and with the loss of that ancient information it was difficult to ever get it back.

[johncorrigan]

This series just gets better and better. This evening had such a great combination. The glorious (I thought) singing and playing from the Solomons of the Bamboo Band - Andy seemed to be enjoying himself. And if all else goes pear shaped he can head out as a Johnny Cash tribute act - perhaps a reincarnation of Johnny himself, complete with bamboo pipes and coconut husks.
The Pygmy music was what we have grown to expect - delirious, dancing with the spirits of the forest, keeping away wild animals and celebrating their own life cycles - it felt so free. To hear the woman talk about catching fish; or the men singing the sacred song that is for when they kill an elephant - but we had not to worry because they would not sing the sacred secret words. I wanted to hear what Lucy thought of it - she can sometimes be just a bit removed from the action, whereas Andy is always right in there.
Finally, music at work as a cry of protest from the Burmese Border - Andy was seriously moved by the former prisoner singing the song that they had scraped on the floor when in jail; and then he and a fellow prisoner had remembered various elements of the song and reconstructed it after they met on release.
Perhaps it helped having seen the TV programme - the building of the tree house in the jungle of Papua was awesome - watching those toddlers wandering about 70 feet in the air; and here's me, still worrying every time I approach a kerb with my teenage daughter. Maybe I'm scared that I fall off.

[Martin Reynolds]

Andy's interview with the former Burmese prisoner was very moving and certainly the highlight of the programme. Andy is a good guy for helping to tell the story. Priceless journalism.

[johncorrigan]

Andy's interview with the former Burmese prisoner was very moving and certainly the highlight of the programme. Andy is a good guy for helping to tell the story. Priceless journalism.

Hard to argue with that Martin - though I did think it was a highlight in a programme of highest quality - see what the Beeb can do when they try.......and it only draws our attention to the need to have more AK around on the airwaves.

[Lateralthinking1]

At long last, I have heard this edition of Music Planet. John - I thought your summary of the programme was excellent if you don't mind me saying so. Caught it just right.

I too loved the Baruku Bamboo Band of Ughele - particularly that first song Love Chain - wonderful voices. The pygmies were interesting and are to be respected but that section went on a little long for me. Perhaps I should have seen the TV programme too. It seems almost disrespectful to say the next thing. I do like a lot the slightly modern take on the Congo that is Konono No 1:

http://open.spotify.com/track/4qQdyMaCh8Hilf5qhybjrO

Life on the Burmese/Thai border for some people sounded very grim. I like the traditional music from that region - the little I have heard of it - and the protest song too was particularly moving, given the context.

Lucy great as always but this was Andy's edition. The one where he really got inside it I thought. Some of the humour was very, very amusing; it was also informative and with that Kershaw kind of knowing. And, of course, the final interview worked wonderfully well. Martin is spot on there with his comments.

Finally, the best words in that hour showed that simple can often be the most affecting - "How brave........good for you".

[Globaltruth]

Can't go wrong with a programme that starts with AK lying on a plank and a bit of hammer dulcimer..And,inevitably, some yodelling

[Lateralthinking1]

Hi GT, my first thought was "am I going to like this?". Starting point Hammer Dulcimer 4 Yodelling 1 but I'm open minded - Lat

[Globaltruth]

He's really going for the yodelling thing - jazz yodelling sounds medieval to me.

[Lateralthinking1]

"Switzerland is simply a a large, lumpy, solid rock with a thin skin of grass stretched over it" - Mark Twain

....I like the eastern yodel best. The Alphorn as presented reminded me a bit of the Portico Quartet. Where are Mama Rosin?

[Lateralthinking1]

.........Oh, he's gone. Very amusing I thought. Not sure about the musical content. 100,000 Swiss can make the demand, via referendum, for the revision of the Constitution. We need that here. Here's Lucy.

[Globaltruth]

In best Head Girl mode. The instrumental track gets my vote, I could listen to this all night.


Musicians of the Gods.

[Lateralthinking1]

It sounds aromatic to me but that's just my synesthesia. I look at the house next door and it seems just like wearing slippers on a carpet.

Whoever put L and A together deserves a broadcasting award. The contrast works so well.

[Globaltruth]

Disappointing, I was hoping the national bird might be a nuthatch.

I will imagine it is, although ours are replaced by the owls around now.

[Lateralthinking1]

There's a twitcher on "The Verb" this Friday at 9.15pm on Radio 3. Ian McMillan presents. I like the way Lucy says "happening bars".

Hits FM is a popular radio station based in Kathmandu, Nepal. It went on air in April 1996. It is now available 24 hours daily on 91.2 MHz. This probably means it has programmes called "Breakfast", "Drivetime" and "Through the Night".