Yo-Yo Ma, and the Silk Road Ensemble Return to Japan

from World Music Central - Links: Indian Music

Providence (Rhode Island), USA - The Silk Road Project, a not-for-profit arts and educational organization that connects musicians, composers, artists, and audiences around the world, will send the Silk Road Ensemble and Artistic Director
Yo-Yo Ma on tour to Japan from April 19 through April 27, 2008. The concert tour, presented by the Music Plant Co., Ltd., will include performances and educational activities in Matsumoto City, Nagoya, Tokyo, Osaka and Okayama. American Express is
the lead sponsor of the Silk Road Project in Japan.

Commenting on the upcoming tour, Yo-Yo Ma, acclaimed cellist and founder of the Silk Road Project, stated, "I am delighted to return to Japan with ...

CD: Deepak Ram (jazz bansuri)

Stepping Away From Tradition

from World Music Central - Links: Indian Music

Deepak Ram

Steps (Golden Horn Records GHP 031-2, 2008)

India's bamboo bansuri flute is hardly a jazz instrument, but that doesn't stop South African-born Indian musician from using it to
lead the way on the set of jazz covers and originals that comprise Steps. Ram embraced jazz before Indian music and retained his love for the former even after studying with bansuri master Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia.

Armed with the understanding that a certain degree of improvisation is integral to both types of music, he sought to combine
them. There were no doubt some tricky nuances and specifics involved in the task, but Ram pulled it off. The result is this sweetly engaging CD, on which Ram is joined by Vic ...

CD: Between Heaven and Earth Songs of Love and Devotion from India and Pakistan

Enchanted Imaginings of Impossible Journeys

from World Music Central - Links: Indian Music

Razia Aziz

Between Heaven and Earth Songs of Love and Devotion from India and Pakistan ( Arc Music, 2008)

One of the marks of a good CD is the distance the listener can travel on the musical landscape. As luck would have it listeners have a pure pleasure excursion waiting for them with Razia Aziz's Between Heaven and Earth Songs of Love and Devotion from India and Pakistan*. The combination of Razia Aziz's distinctive vocals; Ustad Fida Hussain Khan's rich compositions and accompaniment on the harmonium; master ...

CD/Tour: Toumani Diabate

from mondomix.com World Music. by Mondomix

Twenty years after his international debut release, Toumani Diabaté brings out The Mandé Variations and performs at WOMADelaide on March 7th.

Full story...

Scientific Evidence for Psi

The Scientific Evidence for Psi (is most likely stronger than you think)

from The Multiverse According to Ben by Ben

My goal in this blog is to convince you to read Damien Broderick's book Outside the Gates of Science: Why It's Time for the Paranormal to Come in From the Cold.

Reviewing a host of research done by others over many decades, the book makes a remarkably and excitingly strong case that psi phenomena are worthy of intensive further investigation....

Book: Traveling Spirit Master (Gnawa music)

All About the Gnawa

from World Music Central - Links: Indian Music

Deborah Kapchan has spent years studying the music of the Gnawa and its relationship with the recording industry. Her book Traveling Spirit Master is an wide-ranging excursion into one of the most fascinating trance music genres in the globe. As the subtitle, Moroccan Gnawa Trance and Music in the Global Market Place, implies, Kapchan goes beyond the study of Gnawa music. The book provides details about how Gnawa music has traveled beyond Morocco's borders, into Europe and North America and its economic implications.

France has received millions of Moroccans and, thus, Gnawa music traveled with them. There are numerous French acts that perform some sort of Gna...