Sunday, November 16, 2008

World Music


As a person who enjoys the written word, story-telling and the art of proverbial jaunts, I have found a hobby over the years in becoming more familiar with music and words different from my own. Music for the sake of music.

I have spent my entire life listening to the words and the message and the story in Western song rather than recognizing the ephemera of it all and just enjoying the moment that music is able to give us listeners.

If I had a knack for creating music like so many of those whom I admire, I would pull together a band of intercontinental sounds and languages and throw them all in a casserole dish and let it bake for hours. Sadly, my guitar-playing is rough, my elementary school piano lessons have gathered dust in the attic of my brain, I have the rhythm of a rickety worn-out electric train and I can only play Oh Susannah on the steel drum. Therefore, I will leave the music makers to the sounds that curate the non-verbal exhibitions of our lives.

This is an extraordinary Ethiopian recording I stumbled upon. As I said before, I'm not a fan of 'reviews' but rather the evocativeness of this exchange. Google it, order yourself a copy of this and escape for 62 minutes. I just can't get enough of this record.

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