#4235: Tangled Musical Roots
For this New Sounds, hear music that brings together a tangle of roots – roots music from North America, the British Isles, the near East, West Africa, and Central Asia in music from the Silk Road Ensemble.
Rhiannon Giddens is a Grammy winning multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter, and a MacArthur Fellow (which some call the “genius award”. She’s also the host of the podcast Aria Code.) On her latest, there is no Other, Giddens collaborates with the Italian-born, Irish-based multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi on both traditional and original tunes that find the common roots of the sounds of the Near East, the Mediterranean, medieval music, jazz, opera, and the African-American and British Isles. The duo’s artistic cross-pollinations and discoveries reflect the history of the movement of both people connected to the trans-Saharan and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and and instruments like the fretless minstrel banjo, tamburello, and lute meets oud.
Watch this incredible tangling of roots, "Pizzica Di San Vito":
Then, listen to music from Robert Plant with the Sensational Space Shifters which takes classic folk music of the British Isles and works in Middle Eastern and African grooves on tunes like “Little Maggie” and the proto-blues “Poor Howard” (usually attributed to Lead Belly) “Poor Howard” is typical of a world of African American music that was already very old at the dawn of recording, and predates anything that came to be called blues.
Plus, from their record, Silent City, hear string quartet Brooklyn Rider and Iranian kamancheh player and composer Kayhan Kalhor together explore the roots of Persian folk and modern minimalism. Also, listen to the classical roots of an opera tune by Gian Carlo Menotti, arranged by Nina Simone, and further interpreted by Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi.
Program #4235: Tangled Musical Roots (First aired 5/7/2019)
ARTIST: Robert Plant
WORK: Little Maggie [1:00]
RECORDING: lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi
WORK: Letter [4:04]
RECORDING: there is no Other
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Robert Plant
WORK: Little Maggie [5:06]
RECORDING: lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi
WORK: Little Margaret [3:03]
RECORDING: there is no Other
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Robert Plant
WORK: Poor Howard [4:13]
RECORDING: lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: www.nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Yo-Yo Ma & the Silk Road Ensemble
WORK: David Bruce: Cut the Rug - Drag the Goat [5:13]
RECORDING: A Playlist Without Borders
SOURCE: Sony Masterworks 88883 71092
INFO: silkroadproject.org | yo-yoma.com
ARTIST: Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble
WORK: Chi passa per'sta strada [4:45]
RECORDING: Silk Road Journeys
SOURCE: Sony #89782
INFO:https://www.silkroad.org
ARTIST: Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi
WORK: Pizzica di San Vito [2:07]
RECORDING: there is no Other
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Kayhan Kalhor & Brooklyn Rider
WORK: Ascending Bird [6:54]
RECORDING: Silent City
SOURCE: World Village #468078
INFO: worldvillagemusic.com
ARTIST: Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi
WORK: Menotti/Nina Simone: Black Swan [4:18]
RECORDING: there is no Other
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: PUBLIQuartet
WORK: Nina Simone: Mississippi Goddamn [2:00]
RECORDING: Freedom and Faith
SOURCE: Bright Shiny Things
INFO: brightshiny.ninja/publiq
