response 94 of 122:

Jan 13 01:38 UTC 1999

Possibly the reason nonwestern classical music is included with folk is the
lack of written notation.  (This might not always apply, but does to some
things called "nonwestern classical", I think.)  I can think of a few other
speculations as well.

response 96 of 122:

Jan 13 22:10 UTC 1999

(I unlinked it by going into the plants conf. and killing it.)

response 98 of 122:

Jan 15 22:44 UTC 1999

Clannad in Concert is not their best, Keesan. One of hte pieces on there
is a jazz improv on a trad tune, and while it's interesting, it's not
what their "normal" pre-wallpaper music sounded like. Which Altan did
you get? I like them quite a bit.

I don't listen to the other categories of music, much. I don't like
gospel or blues or country, though some country is not too bad, sometimes.
I've heard a really good album or seven by Mary Chapin Carpenter, and 
I think it's Lyle Lovett who's had one played at the ARk while I was working
on cleanup that I thought was darn good, but I grew up with the twangy
country sound, and hate that with a passion. 

I really like Camelot, and many people tell me they adore the "new
musicals" such as Cats, but the only soundtracks that I have from musicals
are the ones to Godspell and JCSuperstar and *rummage rummage* movies
like "The Prince of Egypt". 

Of course, I am biased heavily in favour of voice, and I don't own that
many non-vocal albums. I have some drumming ones, and a really nice
instrumental thing from a PBS special, but that's about it.

response 100 of 122:

Jan 16 03:10 UTC 1999

Clannad in Concert was the one that was recommended.  The Best of Altan.
I am enjoying some Music of the Andes, to which Jim is tapping his foot.  The
Armenian folk music was interesting.  Are there any groups that do recently
composed Peruvian or Indian music, that the library might have?

Clannad was something I can listen to while working because I don't know a
word of Irish.  (Yet).  If anyone wants, I can tape for them a selection of
folk music from the Balkans (Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania) and E.
Europe (Serbian/Croatian, Czech/Slovak, Hungarian).

I have not yet listened to Dead Can Dance, it will have to be when Jim is not
listening, judging from his reaction to Yes.  While cooking?

Andes Music also has a beat but it is somewhat variable and is not louder than
the tune.  Are there other folk dance musics that I might like besides Balkan,
Scandinavian, and British Isles?  I like unusual beats, such as 7/8, 11/8.

What should I be listening to/for in Dead Can Dance?  (How long were they
together?).

response 102 of 122:

Jan 17 04:05 UTC 1999

Oh, okay, you like it. I'll give you that one. Ken. But I never did like
it much. But you know how much I don't like a lot of live recordings.

response 104 of 122:

Jan 17 05:20 UTC 1999

Re #99:  Oh, no!  That's really too bad... I was looking forward to the next
time they came around on tour, too!
*sigh*  Probably about the only non-"classical" group I've really enjoyed...

response 106 of 122:

Jan 17 06:44 UTC 1999

mmmmm...lots of oldtimey stuff i have around here is
instrumental...it ain't bluegrass, pa... i also have some
pretty good instrumental stuff by bob wills and the texas
playboys.

response 108 of 122:

Jan 20 14:52 UTC 1999

Keesan,

I dug into my music collection and found something you might like.
It's a RealWorld CD of a group called Trisan, which consists of 
Joji Hirota (Japanese percussionist), Pol Brennan (Irish pianist, 
guitarist, flutist... from Clannad, originally), and Guo Yue (Chinese, 
plays bamboo flute) -- I got it out of the library originally, and fell 
in love with it -- all three musicians are classically trained in their 
own traditions, and they have written some neat songs that meld all
three -- mostly instrumental, though there are a few vocal tracks. I
ordered a copy from Schoolkids several years ago (it was put out in
1992, I think) and I can recommend it highly. Seems that no one else
has heard of it, though.

response 110 of 122:

Jan 20 22:53 UTC 1999

-san is like "Mr.", or "person".  It's pretty neutral.  "-sama" usually
translates to "lord", at least in old stuff (not sure about now).  "-chan"
is how you refer to your kids, and "-kun" is pretty intimate...

response 112 of 122:

Jan 25 19:31 UTC 1999

Bartok uses some folk songs (Hungarian, I presume, but I may be wrong) in 5/8
and 7/8 as melodies in a few pieces.
From what I've heard about traditional Indian music, I think it tends to have
irregular groups of 2 and 3 beats; things like 3/8 - 3/8 - 2/8 - 2/8, which
adds up to 5/4 if you think of it as one big measure. On the other hand, most
of the recordings of Indian music I've heard sounded like they were in
straight 4/4 or 3/4, so I'm not so sure how common that sort of irregular
rhythm is.

response 114 of 122:

Jan 27 18:34 UTC 1999

I wonder whether the gypsy musicians, originally from India, helped spread
the 5/4 type of rhythm to the Balkans and Hungary, where it is common.

response 116 of 122:

Aug 3 14:59 UTC 2000

Here are some suggestions for the classical music lover wanting to widen
her tastes.

In the jazz realm, try Kurt Elling, a marvelous vocalist.  I would in
particular recommend his third album 'At the Green Mill' or something
very like that.  He plays with rhythm in a neat manner and his voice is
truly his instrument, as central as the content of his songs, both
original and cover.

Michael Hedges was definitely a guitarist who could appeal both
intellectually and spiritually through his music.  I'd recommend the
albums "Taproot" and "Aerial Boundaries" as most likely to appeal.

You could also try a group called Raphael with their two albums of
"music to disappear in."  This is probably classed as newage (rhymes
with sewage), but of style it is head and shoulders above the pack, with
an interesting translation of the "In Paradiso" from the Faure requiem
into newage synthe-pop.  I use this music frequently when doing massage;
I love it a lot, it's also fine meditation music.

The Jethrow Tull album with North Sea Oil on it is called Storm Watch,
and it is a neat album, though Songs From the Wood is still my favorite
Tull album.

Finally, I would disagree with denigrating Yes's 90125 album for those
looking for their classical influences.  It is true the complexity of
the music changed from earlier releases, but it is still rich, though
perhaps further removed from classical sources, one can still hear them.
 And for rhythmic interest the song Changes has a neat intro, as does
the song Leave It.  

I had several more, but 115 responses drove some of them out of my head.
 Oh wait, did anyone mention Ennya?

response 118 of 122:

Aug 3 19:39 UTC 2000

For that matter, Metallica recently released an album of hits with classical
backing (the closest heavy metal might ever come to "muzak metal").

And ELP did Pictures at an Exhibition, or somesuch...

Putting classical instruments in pop music seemed popular in early 80s "New
Wave." The obvious example is ABC's Lexicon of Love, but others include
Communards, Art of Noise, and Eurythmics, plus (later) Sundays and the genre
that followed from that.

Musak meets pop meets classical meets moog has St. Etienne as one of its finer
examples... the music is hopelessly vapid and confusingly complex at once,
one of my quirkier favorites.