In setting out to write this article in one morning, I've read and enjoyed a digital musical magazine from the USA, learning about Russia's 'Rolling Stones' the 'Mumiy Troll'.
The above quip made to the camera in "It Might Get Loud" (2010) by Jack White still rings true as we see the aspirations of many emerging countries, that have wrought own traditional music from basic everyday objects.
African Music History
From the 15th C onwards, our history of music making in Africa is mainly derived from studying representations of dances and making music with African musical instruments and scenes depicted in terracotta, stone or metal.
In Ife, Yorubaland we see footed cylindrical drums dating from the 10th to 14th century on terracotta artefacts.
In Benin, pressure drums appear on brass plaques from the 15th C onwards. These plaques have proven to be a never-ending supply of information on the use of instruments like horns, bells, drums and bow lutes in ceremonial occasions.
In real form, the iron bells excavated in Katanga province, Congo and the Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe are some of the earliest actual African musical instruments found, also dating around mid/late 15th C.
Migrations of tribes, movement of slaves and colonial porters and servants have all contributed to the wide dispersement of African musical instruments.
For example, lamellaphones with metal keys were a prominent feature in ancient Zimbabwe and spread through neighbouring kingdoms to Katanga and Angolan cultures, all the while becoming smaller and smaller for travelling purposes.
Zimbabwean 'mbiras' (lamellaphone) and 'ngomas' (drums) were first written about by Father Joao dos Santos, a Portuguese who travelled through the lower Zambezi in 1586 and recorded his impressions of the sounds these instruments made and the effects they had on their combined audience.
Historically, Africa has contributed hugely to music-making in many other areas of the world most notably the Americas and most significantly in genres such as jazz, rock and roll, blues, salsa and samba. Music once considered "primitive" by Westerners is now highly respected for its rhythmic sophistication and complexity. Caribbean Musical History
The Origin of Calypso
Calypso rhythms can be traced back to the arrival of the first African slaves brought to work in the sugar plantations of Trinidad. Forbidden to talk to each other, and robbed of all links to family and home, the African slaves began to sing songs. They used calypso, which can be traced back to West African kaiso, as a means of communication and to mock the slave masters.
Trinidad was colonized by the Spanish, received large numbers of French immigrants, and was later ruled by the British. This multi-colonial past has greatly impacted the development of calypso in Trinidad. Many early calypsos were sung in a French-Creole dialect called patois ("pat-was"). These songs, usually led by one individual called a griot, helped to unite the slaves.
Calypso singing competitions, held annually at Carnival time, grew in popularity after the abolition of slavery by the British in the 1830s. (It was the French who brought the tradition of Carnival to Trinidad.) The griot later became known as the chantuelle and today as the calypsonian.
The History of the Diddley Bow
The diddley bow may have been the first instrument that produced the sound of sliding rhythm and the whines and cries of a single string that later became the distinctive sound known today as the "blues". It was common to the rural south in the 1800's and was made by stretching a piece of broom or cotton wire around two nails and a bottle or snuff can wedged under the wire to create tension for pitch. The string was plucked while sliding a piece of metal or glass on it to produce notes.
Cigar Box Diddley Bow
Simple Diddley Bow (with tuning heads)
Robert Johnson, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Albert King, "One-String'' Jones, Jesse Mae Hemphill, Elmore James, Pinetop Perkins, Lightnin' Hopkins, Son House, Charlie Patton, John Lee Hooker, Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi John Hurt, Jimmy Reed, Luther Allison and Lonnie Pitchford are a few of the blues people that have played diddley bows.
As stringed instruments evolve especially under electrification, expect this topic to be revisted many-a-time. :-R
As a response to the lack of live venues for Electronic Music in Australia, electronic artists have transformed themselves and their music.
Clan Analogue is collective that defies the barriers. :-R
The following article is reposted from Clan Analogue with additional videos from YouTube.
History
Clan Analogue was started in Sydney, Australia, in 1992 as a collective by founder Brendan J Palmer, and a small group of people who were interested and active in electronic sound. Largely fuelled by the sore lack of live venues in Australia for electronic music and a lack of options for releasing recorded material, Clan Analogue was born out of necessity.
Clan Analogue's Gear Shift Jam Session for March 2012
Philosophy
"Following the digitalised simulation of the early analogue instruments throughout the nineties, Scot Art (aka Nerve Agent) informs me that analogue is ‘a process or a state of being’, apparently not distant from the idea of a collective, or a network of circuit paths. According to Scot, ‘a single transistor alone can only do so much … it needs a circuit, other transistors, to operate’. Not ‘digital creatures’, humans ‘are analogue wetware, a chemical-electrical circuit that exists in a network (society, nature) that allows these circuits to connect … to “oscillate” or otherwise display behaviour in accordance to … electro-magnetic theory’. As a social circuit board, Clan enables the building of networks by providing members with access to equipment, knowledge and advice, along with the opportunity to play live and co-produce music."[2]
Associated Artists and DJs
Brendan Palmer AKA bP (Label Manager 1992–1995 and founder)
The following article is from the more recent UK archives but displays the forgotten wonders of the analogue world.
Particularly of note is Kitty, Daisy and Lewis' dedication to using all analogue tools in recording their music. It's borne out in their post-retro rockabilly style that is so popular here in Sydney, NSW.
I'll follow with a re-post of their acoustic performance for 'Studio 11' in Melbourne in 2012. :-R
ANALOG exhibition traces London’s darkrooms
Published on 4. 1. 2011 at 3:01 pm
The impact of digital technology on print photography
and music production is the subject of ANALOG at Riflemaker in London’s
Soho, from 10 January 2011.
The exhibition invites us inside the last of London’s photographic
darkrooms, as well as taking a visit to a working reel-to-reel music
studio, courtesy of an installation by Lewis Durham of the band Kitty,
Daisy & Lewis.
In 2007, when Richard Nicholson began photographing London’s
professional darkrooms, there were some 204 still in existence. When he
completed the project three years later, only 8 remained. In these labs
many of the iconic images of 20th-century culture were processed, from
the high-contrast b/w prints of the cast of Trainspotting to lith
portrait album covers for U2. Analogue aficionado Lewis Durham’s
reel-to-reel recording studio, to be installed at Riflemaker, includes
equipment from the legendary Atlantic Studios in Muscle Shoals (Aretha
Franklin, Ray Charles), along with Elvis Presley’s New York RCA Studios
equipment.
The exhibition will also include familiar contemporary objects like
laptops and mobile phones sculpted in cardboard by artist Clare Mitten
who ‘re-analogues’ them, turning today’s pods back to analogue. In
complete contrast, a massive interactive, computational light
installation will be installed in the galllery by Zigelbaum + Coelho,
winners of the prestigious Designer’s of the Future award at Miami/Basel
Design 2010. Z+C have taken the humble pixel from its on-screen habitat
and placed it on the wall, ie back in the physical world. The visitor
will therefore experience a unique interactive digital/analogue mix.
Photographer Richard Nicholson began to shoot images of professional
photographic darkrooms in and around London in 2006. At that time the
darkrooms formed the engine of the British photographic industry.
Many of the iconic images of recent decades were made by so-called
‘master printers’ in the rooms pictured. These include Mike Spry’s
high-contrast lith prints of U2 and Depeche Mode for music photographer
Anton Corbijn, Peter Guest’s black-and-white prints of the Trainspotting
cast for portrait photographer Lorenzo Agius and Brian Dowling’s
intricately masked colour prints for fashion photographer Nick Knight.
Richard Nicholson said: ‘The spaces I discovered were often haphazard
and brimming with personal details: coffee cups, CD collections, family
snaps, unpaid invoices, curious knick-knacks brought back by
globe-trotting photographers. These human elements transformed what
might have been a detached typology of modernist industrial design into
something more intimate and nuanced.’
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The White Stripes have famously
chosen to record on analogue equipment but they are notable as
exceptions in the digital takeover. Similarly Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
is a young band that prefers the process and warmth of sound achieved
through analogue recordings. The much-signalled death of vinyl has long
been held back by DJ culture and in fact sales of vinyl recordings have
increased by 20% year on year since 2005.
Kitty, Daisy and Lewis and special guests will perform at Riflemaker
during the course of the exhibition, as well as recording all-comers
‘direct to disc’ in the gallery’s pop-up music lounge. Follow Riflemaker
on Twitter to find out how to be part of the audience
http://www.twitter.com/riflemaker_soho
In Search of the Most Valuable Guitar in the World.
UK author Tony Bacon's incisive view into what makes am originally moderately priced guitar so precious, that it's value is now equivalent to an expensive house. As always Tony Bacon's views are well informed and far-reaching in the scale of his research. RG
Guitar
great Eric Clapton famously featured his Les Paul Standard, which
originally sold for $280, on the seminal 1966 "Blues Breakers" album.
But Clapton was only one of many legendary players who made this solid
body electric with mahogany body and a three-color sunburst maple top
their guitar of choice. In this exciting history, Tony Bacon examines
the "burst" phenomenon from every angle. He begins with the "Les Paul
Primer," documenting the guitar's brief production period from 1958 to
1960. He then profiles and interviews everyone from the man who inspired
it, Les Paul, to dealers, collectors, forgers, roadies, and, of course,
major players like Stephen Stills, Duane Allman, and Jimmy Page.
"Million Dollar Les Paul" also looks at the science, investment history
(and increasingly astronomical pricing), and almost mystical appeal of
the instrument whose small production numbers -- only 1,500 were made --
belie its stature as the single most sought-after guitar in the world.
The Return of Angham
I came across the work of Angham in the search for a voice that captured the Egyptian spirit for a project in 2002. This was undertaken for the the Grand Egyptian Musem project, then supported by funding from the United Nations. Her personal history is fraught with many musical struggles but her voice speaks richly about the contemporary soul of Egyptian music. It's still a delight to listen to even if I don't know the words... RG
Angham (born January 19, 1970) is an Egyptian singer, record producer
and actress. Her debut was in 1987 under the guidance of her father,
Mohammad Suleiman. She is the most successful vocal female artist in
Egypt starting from the 1980s till nowadays. Following her divorce from
Magdy Aref in 2000, Angham took much more control over her image and
musical style after that Leih Sebtaha (Why Did You Leave Her) record
established her into a strong position amid the constant emerge of new
voices in the Middle East music scene. After a highly publicized feud
between Alam elPhan Music Records president Mohsen Gaber and the artist
[1], Angham moved to another record company, Rotana. In 2005, she
released "Bahibbik Wahashteeny" (I Love You, I Miss You) record . The
record was critically acclaimed, but commercially was not as expected.
After a three years, Angham return to the forefront of Arabic pop music
in 2007 with her hit record Kolma Narrab (Whenever We Come Closer) which
sold more than half a million CD across the Middle East in less than
three months and was awarded a platinum certification.
From Wikipedia: Angham Mohamed Ali Suleiman (Arabic: أنغام محمد علي سليمان) (born January 19, 1972) is an Egyptiansinger, record producer and actress. Her debut was in 1987 under the guidance of her father, Mohammad Suleiman. She is the most successful vocal female artist in Egypt
starting from the 1980s till nowadays. Following her divorce from Magdy
Aref in 2000, Angham took much more control over her image and musical
style after that Leih Sebtaha (Why Did You Leave Her) record established her into a strong position amid the constant emerge of new voices in the Middle East music scene. After a highly publicized feud between Alam El Phan Music Records' president Mohsen Gaber and the artist [1], Angham moved to another record company, Rotana. In 2005, she released "Bahibbik Wahashteeny" (I Love You, I Miss You) record [2].
The record was critically acclaimed, but commercially was not as
expected. After a three years, Angham return to the forefront of Arabic pop music in 2007 with her album Kolma N'arrab (Whenever We Come Closer)
which sold more than half a million CDs across the Middle East in less
than three months and was awarded a platinum certification. [3]
Angham was named the best selling female pop artist in Middle East for the years 2000, 2001 [4], 2003, and 2007 [5]. She is well known for her vocal range, simplicity, melismatic style, and use of the whistle register.
However, some critics have said Angham's efforts to showcase her vocal
talents have been at the expense of communicating true emotion through
song rather than showing her full vocal capacities.[citation needed]
baudoless
Why 'baudoless'?...It's a pun on 'borderless' or resonance, without borders.
It's also a printing term - "Definition: A print that covers the entire sheet of paper.
In the past, many printers would only print with a small unprinted
border around the edge. Now, many printer models come with borderless
printing as a feature. When the image does not have the right ratio to
cover the entire page, users can frequently allow the printer to
automatically crop the image so a full-page print is possible."
So with reference to randomly selected specific musical items of interest, we'll endeavor to cover some very broad areas of allied connections.
This blog will cover items that deal with resonance, music, movement, digital arts and the freedom of constraints!
Albeit a term in financial management, it's a little play on the term 'fretless' and similarly '...moving around freely' on an unfretted fingerboard. It has do with many aspects of my personal journey with music and associated creative arts. With thanks to Umberto Eco.
