Music from Distant Corners of the World

Before literature and film; before buddha-dharma, there was music. This passion for music was either a natal gift or simply implanted early but it has been a never-disappointing passion for all my life. My mom got me my first victrola (as it was called back then) when I was either five or six years old. But before that, I had already been regaled with stories and the music of Count Basie, Chick Webb and other Jazz greats she had known. She introduced me to the Queens of Jazz: Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Ella Fitzgerald.

And she also introduced me to the greats of Country such as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Charley Pride, and Faron Young. And, once I got my own victrola, I started my own exploration, beginning with the first album I bought with my allowance money: Meet The Beatles. So, when I think of those albums that had the biggest influence or impact (not necessarily the same thing, though there is an obvious overlap) there is no way I cannot place that Beatles album toward the top, though I went way beyond The Beatles, relatively early. While I did follow them till the end with Let It Be, other albums had had much greater impact on my musical taste and journey, taking me off the path of mainstream popularity. 

If I were pressed to name which album or song has had the greatest influence or impact, I think there are just a few that would be in contention. George Harrison's "Within You, Without You" from Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band may just be the single most impactful song in introducing me to Indian Classical music when I was ten years old and I totally ran with it! I mean, for a few years it was everything Indian! I read about India, I tried Indian food as soon as I was old enough to travel to "the city" on my own. While many of my friends laughed and thought Harrison's song "strange" (the laughter at the end of the track seems to point to the expected response the song would get from most listeners) I began to seek out records by Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Vasant Rai, Allah Rakha and others. In Freshman year of High School, as part of Social Studies, I did a presentation on Indian Classical music (this was in 1971) and my classmates snickered and laughed.

Discovering John Cage's Variations IV in 1968 was my introduction to the western avant-garde from Stockhausen to Ives, Partch, Subotnick, Glass, Wuorinen, and many more. When I was in High School, that led me to attend many concerts of NY "New Music". Finding the Velvet Underground's second and third album in the Woolworth cut-out bin when I was twelve was the single discovery that moved me out of the mainstream rock world (where I was listening to bands like Ten Years After, Led Zeppelin, and Cream) toward exploring music from people like Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and Love.

In 1971, this compilation of music from twenty-six albums from the Nonesuch Explorer Series, discovered in the "Various Artists" bin at E.J. Korevette's absolutely blew my mind wide open! So many "new to me" sounds! Side One opens with an excerpt from "The Ramayama Monkey Chant" (Ketjak) which sounded like nothing this fourteen-year old had ever imagined! This opener was followed by two dramatically different Gamelan pieces, evidencing the distinct traditions of Balinese and Javanese Gamelan. Still on Side One, I was introduced to Japanese shakuhachi and koto music as well as music from Kabuki and the Japanese folk tradition. 

Side Two was devoted to Indian music, and while I had already been exploring such music, I learned from this album the difference between the Hindustani and Carnatic traditions of Indian Classical music. Amongst classical pieces featuring vocalizing, the saranghi, the vina and bansuri flute, there is a wonderful piece of Indian street music from the album The Bauls of Bengal. 

Side Three presents music fro Africa and the Americas which presented my first exposure to the musical traditions of Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, the Bahamas, and the mother continent with a song from Rhodesia. This exposure led me to seek out other music from these and related cultures such as Cumbia, Mariachi, Calypso, Soca, and Afro Beat.

Side Four offers music from Europe beginning with an exuberant instrumental piece followed by the amazingly ethereal diaphonic vocal harmonies of Bulgarian music. A wonderful bouzoukee song from Greece follows, but as my sister had married a Greek man, I was already quite familiar with (and really loved) Greek music. The Village Music of Yugoslavia offers a song that has a female vocal that sounds like just this side of sane! I mean that as a compliment as this tune rocks! The last cut concludes this musical jounrey around the world with some fiddle tunes from Sweden.

While I don't know if this album counts the most impactful or influential album upon the development of my musical tastes, it certainly must be one of the top three or four. And if I remember correctly, it was offered at a discounted price for promotional purposes. A lifetime of discovery and joy cost me $3.00 which I am told would be about $23.00 today. But take my word for it, in 1971, a fourteen-year old kid had much greater access to $3.00 than I'd have to $23.00! Times have changed....