January 1, 2008
Senior producer Mitch Hanley chooses the music for each week's SOF program. He's compiled a list of some of your (and his) favorite tracks from programs broadcast in 2007. Click on any of the songs below and read his comments about how it came into being on SOF. |
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January
Discovering Where We Live: Reimagining Environmentalism
Track: "Frammin'"
Artist: The Campbell Brothers
Album: Can You Feel It?
Perhaps you remember the "Sacred Steel" fever that hit its peak 8-9 years ago? Well, the Campbell Brothers are still at it, and they are just on fire. I took my dad, my brother, and his wife to see them live here in Minneapolis back in October. It was a night to remember. Go see them if you ever get the chance. Gospel music, lap and pedal steel guitars, rip-roaring singers, freight-train grooves, what else could you ask for? |
February
Whale Songs and Elephant Loves
Track: "Kaboo"
Artist: John Hassell with Farafina
Album: Flash of the Spirit
Trumpeter John Hassell teamed up with the Burkina Faso group Farafina to blast out this riveting collection of thunderous drums, flawless timelines, pizzicato kalimba, lovely call and response phrases and, oh yeah, trumpet. All with very rich post-production by the hands of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Great album.
Track: "Artemis"
Artist: Dali's Car
Album: Dali's Car
Back in the 1980s there was a short-lived musical experiment called Dali's Car, featuring Peter Murphy of Bauhaus and Mick Karn of Japan. They only made one album. And although it has a distinct 80's sound, it is still a great album. Mick Karn's fretless bass work is fluid and mesmerizing, and I often thought of it as reminiscent of the sounds of whales. I had a lot of fun transitioning out of the Katy Payne interview into the whale recordings she made with her husband to this track, which could be mistaken for whales if you close your eyes. |
March
The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi
Track: "Aksa Semai"
Artist: Kudsi and Suleyman Erguner
Album: Sufi Music of Turkey
The Rumi program was a monster of a production, both for the Web site and the radio program. These three tracks were the most popular ones listened to via our SOF Playlist. Kudsi Erguner is a giant in Sufi music (especially Turkish/Ottoman) and we have used his ney playing in several programs in the last few years. Last February, online editor Trent Gilliss and I attended an 800 year birthday party in honor of Rumi, held at Stanford University.
Track: "Neyreez"
Artist: Ostad Mahmoud Zoufonoun
Album: Suite Rastpanjgah - Naghde Sufi
Between a pair of the academic lectures on Rumi's poetry and influence, a small man wearing a suit, sweater, and tie — perhaps in his 80's — gently took the stage with his violin under his arm. On a chair in the center of the stage, he delicately and respectfully gave a more accessible meaning to the true beauty of the fire and passion of Rumi's words, but simply through the language he knew, the strokes of the violin cradled between his arms.
Track: "Buruq Al-Hayy"
Artist: Noureddine Khourshid & The Dervishes of Damas
Album: La Voie De L'Extase
The third track sounded like an aural embodiment of the whirling of the dervishes. The song starts out at a reasonable pace, and you can just make out "Allah" sung by the group, as if they were spinning and saying it with every revolution. The pace picks up throughout the song: spinning, faster, spinning, faster! I recommend checking out the entire Rumi playlist; it is a great collection to whirl to. |
April
Restoring the Senses: Life, Gardening, and an Orthodox Easter
Track: "Alleluia, Behold the Bridegroom"
Artist: St. Petersburg Chamber Choir
Album: Sacred Treasures III - Choral Masterworks from Russia
Track: "Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op. 31"
Artist: Moscow Church Choir
Album: Sacred Treasures
Again, another sound-rich program, this time highlighting the lush drones of Orthodox choirs. Orthodox Christians are known for their rich liturgy all year long, but if you have not been fortunate to attend a mass you are missing out on a sensory-deluged experience. I attended a Holy Week mass at a small Orthodox parish on the east side of Saint Paul last April. It was stunning. The thick incense, the candles providing the only source of light, the glorious iconography peering down at you, magnified as if from the lens of the curve in the heavens. The choirs featured in this program sound as if they are sending forth their praise from the depths of the earth. |
May
The New Monastics: Meeting Shane Claiborne
Track: "New Law"
Artist: Derek Webb
Album: Mockingbird
The fine folks at A Simple Way had sent us some CDs of artists who they described as "kindred spirits" of their community. I love the line, "just tell me who to vote for." Kind of sums up the marginalized feeling toward politics that I feel some days. |
June
Joe Carter and the Legacy of the African-American Spiritual
Track: Let Us Break Bread Together
Track: "Let the Work that I've Done"
Artist: Joe Carter
Joe Carter recorded this program in our studios, and it has been one of our most popular ever since we first aired it back in 2003. These two tunes were not actually included in the original airing, but the second track was added when we produced this program as a tribute to Joe, who had succumbed to leukemia in June 2006. I have used "Let the Work that I've Done" in two different slideshows for loved ones who have passed, most recently my mother in August of this year. The song has a somewhat somber beginning but slowly turns exuberant and just starts to rock (in the bosom of Abraham sense). Regrettably, these songs are not available for purchase on a CD, even though we have been attempting to produce something in the past but no luck as of yet. We'll keep you posted. Check out the entire playlist for this show; it is pure Joe, pure joy.
Living Vodou
Track: "Papa Loko"
Artist: Toto Bissainthe
Album: Chanti Haiti
Track: "M Pap Mache A Te Anye"
Artist: Toto Bissainthe
Album: Chanti Haiti
At Minnestoa Public Radio we have a large music library with an 3-4 different organizational systems, depending on the service: classical, folk, alternative, contemporary pop, jazz, blues, etc. How anyone can find anything is a mystery. However, in the "International" section this little gem by Toto Bissainthe was hiding. The album is kinda spooky in places, but it is just beautiful what these three women can do with these Haitian slave songs. This track doesn't start singing until around 45 seconds into the song.
We often ask the guests on our program to suggest music that might accompany the interview segments for the radio hour. Patrick Bellegarde-Smith sent us this great CD of Haitian music which is the same one he played when he appeared on a national radio broadcast in Benin. "M Pap Mache a te Anye" is performed here by Rara La Bel Fraicheur de l'Anglade. From the liner notes: "Rara bands dance through the mountainsides and city streets during the entire season of Lent, partying loudly and getting ready for Easter Week competitions. This rara band, like most others, comes out of a Vodou society, and part of their celebration includes saluting the spirits at sacred trees and crossroads." Don't you wish we celebrated Lent in this way? What I found so cool about this music was the vaksin, or bamboo horns that play a single note, which is determined by the length of the horn, and somewhat resembles a didgeridoo. The horn parts are thus made up of several different musicians, each responsible for their "note." |
July
The Ethics of Eating
Track: "Plow to the End of the Row"
Artist: Adrienne Young
Album: Plow to the End of the Row
Krista, not knowing much about the artist but enjoying her music, recommended Adrienne Young to me when we were producing this program. As it turns out, Ms. Young is a huge advocate of supporting community growers through "buy fresh, buy local" initiatives.
Track: "Rain Done Fell on Me"
Artist: Steve James
Album: Fast Texas
This tune I just sort-of came across by accident, but around a theme of eating fresh and locally, I couldn't ignore this song's celebrating the importance of welcoming rain. |
August
Reviving Sister Aimee
Track: "Dear Lord, Forgive"
Artist: Mahalia Jackson
Album: Gospels, Spirituals, and Hymns
I was perusing some of the old gospel hymns of Mahalia Jackson and I just fell in love with this song. The melody is simple but beautiful, the pace deceptively slow and haunting. In doing some deeper searching, I was stunned to not find anyone else covering this tune. For me, it has significant resonance for Aimee Semple Mcpherson, a flawed individual, as we all are, but a woman who certainly helped so many in need. |
September
Days of Awe
Track: "Who by Fire"
Artist: Leonard Cohen
Album: Best of Leonard Cohen
This song is just cool, as Leonard Cohen is. Krista is really smitten with the idea of doing a program on Mr. Cohen. Perhaps we will try in '08. Anyone know him that can put in a good word for us?
Being Autistic, Being Human
Track: "Perpetual Motion"
Artist: James Campbell
Album: After Hours
I was watching Hitchcock's Rope back in September and it has this great scene where Jimmy Stewart is pressing John Dall, one of the main antagonists, about their "missing" friend. This is the tune the character Brandon Shaw is playing on the piano, with Stewart abruptly and randomly ramping up the tempo on the metronome. (I just love IMDB.) I found a lovely treatment of this in our library with clarinet and piano.
Track: "Goldberg Variations (1981)"
Artist: Glenn Gould
Album: A State of Wonder
This program on autism and how it's connected to Glenn Gould is an interesting turn of events. Over the summer, Krista noticed an article in The New Yorker by Tim Post, a music critic who was recently diagnosed with Aspberger's syndrome. His article reminded us that we still needed to do a program on the spectrum of autism. With production of the program about half done and including some music by Glenn Gould who is alleged as being autistic, I was wandering through the extensive liner notes on this three-CD set that included a recording of an interview with him in 1982. As it turns out, the interviewer was Tim Post, the very author of the article that kicked off this program. What's more interesting, the program aired just after the 25th anniversary of the release of the 1981 recording (released in August 1982) and right between the 25th anniversary of Gould's death (October 4, 1982) and the 75th anniversary of his birth (b. September 22, 1932). |
October
Obedience and Action
Track: "Intonent Hodie"
Artist: Anonymous 4
Album: Legends of St. Nicholas: Medieval Chant & Polyphony
We've used Anonymous 4's elegant, ethereal chant in several programs. This song makes you think you're in a vast cathedral, circa 1350.
Track: "Rob Roy"
Artist: Bill Frisell
Album: Where in the World?
I don't know why but this tune always reminds me of a scene on the deck of a ship, crossing the Atlantic, bound for the New World. |
November
Burma — Buddhism and Power
Track: "Saung (Improvisation)"
Artist: Hsaing Waing of Myanmar
Album: Myanmar
Again, this came out of the upstairs library in the "Burma" section. The piece's opening notes were so delicate and light that I thought it would suit the program well.
An Architecture of Decency
Track: "Red Dirt Girl"
Artist: Emmylou Harris
Album: Red Dirt Girl
Traveling through Hale County, Alabama back in October, online editor Trent Gilliss and I kept noticing the vibrant red clay that bedded the green canopies of kudzu. Suddenly I remembered this Emmylou Harris tune from a few years back about a girl's tragic life in this part of the South. I couldn't get the song out of my head all week and when I think about that trip, I start humming it! |
December
The New Evangelical Leaders: Part 2, Rick and Kay Warren
Track: "Jesus Is Just Alright with Me"
Artist: Robert Randolph and The Family Band
Album: Color Blind
I came across this Robert Randolph album and noticed his version of this classic Doobie Brothers song. Make no mistake, this is not your father's "Jesus Is Just Alright with Me." Featuring guest musician Eric Clapton sharing the vocals, this version rocks, plain and simple. And if you haven't noticed, I do have a sweet tooth for great slide guitar tunes. And what you don't know about Rick Warren is that he grew up doing roadie work for acts like Janis Joplin and Creedence Clearwater Revival while in high school. In my opinion this was the perfect anthem for Rick Warren's rock and roll persona.
The Wisdom of Tenderness
Track: "Andante Espressivo"
Artist:
Album:
It was such a thrill to be in Jean Vanier's presence for this interview. There's such acceptance and a belonging in his words and obviously in his actions. Alec Wilder's music, for me, spans the heartfelt to the comical and that was the sense I was trying to convey: humanity and loving can be so touching, so tender, and so accepting of one's warts, and yet so powerful that we cannot hold these to ourselves. Of course, sharing this with others must involve a horn, so, here you are! |
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