Category Archives: Music

Willie Nelson’s God’s Problem Child

“I woke up still not dead again today,” Willie Nelson sings. “The internet said that I had passed away.” I first listened to this song shortly after reading – yes, on the internet – that Willie was circling the drain. … Continue reading

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John Denver’s Greatest Hits 1967-1973, Back Home Again and Rhymes & Reasons

Admit it. John Denver soothes. You know it; I know it. Songs like “Calypso” and “Rocky Mountain High” don’t just draw you in, they paint a picture of brighter places and quieter times. And I’m not just saying that because … Continue reading

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West of Eden’s No Time Like the Past — A Collection

Wherever you find locals playing Irish traditional music. Sweden is no exception. Sometimes I suspect there are more Swedes playing Irish music than Swedish traditionals. But some groups around it takes it further, creating their own music using the Irish … Continue reading

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Philip Glass and Constance DeJong’s Satyagraha

Satyagraha is the second of Philip Glass’ “portrait” operas, following Einstein on the Beach and preceding Akhnaten. Commissioned by the City of Rotterdam, it received its first performance there in 1980, and has since been performed in London, New York, … Continue reading

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Ustad Shahid Parvez’s Magnificent Melody: A Tribute to Dulal Babu (Raga Darbari, Raga Shahana)

Shahid Parvez began studying the sitar at age four, and gave his first performance at age eight. He belongs to the seventh generation of the Etawa gharana, a tradition begun in the early nineteenth century by Sahebad Khan. In Shahid … Continue reading

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Trio Mediaeval and Arve Henriksen’s Rímur

My first exposure to rímur came about when a recording by the Icelandic performer Steindór Andersen crossed my desk. Having wrapped my head around the forms and sounds in Andersen’s renderings of a traditional Icelandic form with strong foundations in … Continue reading

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Duende Libre’s Duende Libre

Alex Chadsey, Farko Dosumov and Jeff Busch live in Seattle, where they make music. Solid, groove-filled Cuban jazz, to be precise. How that came about is probably a pretty good story, but the result is duende libre’s superb self-titled debut … Continue reading

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Byrds’ There is a Season

I am old enough to remember listening to the early Byrds singles on my transistor radio when I walked to high school from my house. I liked them better than the Beatles, but not as much as the Rolling Stones … Continue reading

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Claude Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque; Maurice Ravel’s Sonatine, Valses nobles et sentimentales, Alborada del gracioso

After I had gained a little background in what we call “classical” music (which is to say, Western art music of whatever era and style, whether it is truly classical or not), the customary juxtaposition of Claude Debussy and Maurice … Continue reading

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Piotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky’s The Three Piano Concertos; Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition; Mily Balakirev’s Islamey

Piotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky seems to have made a habit of writing concertos that were condemned as “unplayable” and then took their places near the top of the roster in the romantic canon. Like his Violin Concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto in … Continue reading

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