A door to the Arab world


For a valuable resource on the Arab world go to http://www.al-bab.com/. The sections on arts and culture and music in particular are very useful. Also good music resources for individual countries, for instance check out Berber music. Al-bab is a private project by Brian Whitaker who is the Guardian's Middle East editor.

Now read about the secret life of an Arab record label.
Photo is detail of Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, Morocco. The Koutoubia dates from the 13th century and its name derives from el-koutoubiyyin which is Arabic for booksellers, as a book market once filled the surrounding streets. More art of the mosque here. Photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

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In search of the lost link from non-classical to classical

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In previous posts I have explained how a rock band provided a link from the non-classical to classical worlds, a link which led me not only to a deep appreciation of great music, but also to a career working in the classical industry and BBC . But does the link to a rock band make me "dumb and dumber"? Let me explain why I ask that question. In a recent post I described the 1986 meeting between the great mythologist Joseph Campbell and Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead, and there is another link between Joseph Campbell and rock music. Founder member of the prog rock band The Moody Blues and Mellotron specialist Mike Pinder has explained that Campbell's work persuaded him to devote his time post-Moody Blues to bringing myths and music to young people . Mike Pinder is a Fellow of the Joseph Campbell Foundation , and his 1995 spoken word album A Planet with One Mind , a mythological tales for children from cultures countries including Native American, Aztec, Chine
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How to save the BBC Singers

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Classical twitterati have been busy retweeting Andrew Neil's tweet comparing Gary Lineker's £1.3 million salary with the £1.5 million needed to save the BBC Singers. But no-one has tweeted  the most recent figures  showing that the ten highest paid classical conductors earnt in one year a total of £13.8 million. This means that the average salary (before guest conducting, recording and other fees) of the top ten conductors is slightly higher than Gary Lineker's. Moreover a 10% top slice off those conductors' salaries would be almost enough to save the BBC Singers. Over to you twitterati. 
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Classical music needs to build not burn bridges

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My post about Norman Lebrecht's 'dumb and dumber' attack on a non-classical genre and artist prompted several thoughtful comments from readers. Joe Shelby's response demands a post to itself, and the last two paragraphs should be studied carefully by everyone in the classical music industry. Here is his comment in full.  Though I loved some of the 'standard' classical in the common realm works (the works on Fantasia, Beethoven's 5th, common elements from the Bugs Bunny cartoons like Pier Gynt's music that is almost every cartoon sunrise theme), my doorway to classical (and especially modern classical) wasn't any connection to Rock music, much as I was a fan of progressive rock like Yes and King Crimson.  Rather, it was film music, particularly sci-fantasy (Star Wars, the Star Trek films, Rosenman's score for the Bakshi Lord of the Rings ) that became my doorway. I wanted more like that. I wanted to know where it came from. And it is from there
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Watch Michel Petrucciani video online

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Back in January 2005 I wrote about legendary jazz pianist Michel Petrucciani (right), and that article remains high in my 'popular pages' listing after fifteen months. Since writing that piece Overgrown Path reader Andrew Nathan and I have been tracking down Petrucciani video footage, and just this week Andrew came up with an absolute gem that is available free on Google video. In my original article I wrote that Michel Petrucciani was a 'pianistic genius' , and it is no coincidence that he is buried in the Pierre Lachaise cemetery in Paris alongside Chopin. This 38 minute video with excellent sound (and a bonus guest appearance from the gorgeous Charlotte Rampling ) is not just essential viewing for jazz fans, it should be watched by all students of the piano - whatever their discipline. Just click here to view this important document. (The video is not hosted by On An Overgrown Path , this is a link to an external site). And to set the video into context here is m
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Never sit in the comfy chair

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Travelling round Northern France, I found myself listening to France Musique. Frank Bridge. Arnold Bax. And the incomparable performance of In a Summer Garden by Barbirolli . Presented in a way that suggested the presenter knew what he was saying.... Cf Petroc Trelawny That comment was added by a reader to a recent post . By coincidence it was awaiting moderation when I returned from driving from Cahors in the Limousin region of south-west France to the Channel port of Caen, during which drive I too found France Musique's output unusually satisfying. When I cleared the UK border control at Portsmouth and turned onto the M27 I tuned in to Martin Handley on BBC Radio 3 . In the past Martin Handley was one of the station's more erudite presenters, but I quickly switched back to the SDHC memory card in my car's audio system . Because Handley's presentation style has descended - or more probably has been forced to descend - into ' Jack and Jill radio' which treats
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The Berlin Philharmonic's darkest hour

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Wilhelm Furtwängler was born on 25th January 1886. He was Music Director of the Berlin Philharmonic from 1923 to his death in 1954, and held this position for the twelve years that Hitler was in power. In January 1945 he was conducting in Vienna, and fled from there to Switzerland where he remained until the Battle of Berlin ended in the defeat of the Nazis. The musicians of his orchestra remained in Berlin during its darkest hour. Here is their story: On 28th March 1945 the Russian forces commanded by Marshal Georgy Zhukov were just twenty miles to the east of Berlin. A month previously Albert Speer had been replaced as Nazi armaments minister after trying to persuade Hitler that defeat was inevitable. Speer now turned his energies to preventing the musicians of his adored Berlin Philharmonic from perishing in the inevitable final battle. Reich Commisioner Dr Joseph Goebells, who was in charge of the defence of Berlin, had ordered the entire orchestra to be drafted into the Vol
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BBC classical cuts - beware of the knee jerk reaction

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It has been my privilege to work in the classical music industry and for the BBC , and, as this blog testifies, my life in retirement continues to be enhanced by classical and art music. So the recently announced cuts to the BBC's performing ensembles cause me grief, and I sympathise with those fine musicians whose lives will be directly affected. As was the case with the recent Arts Council England cuts , the planning and implementation of the savings has been badly handled.  But the strategies of the classical industry that have led to these cuts also disturb me, and I find the widespread knee jerk reaction  such as  '“New Strategy for Classical Music” from the @BBC... sounds like more of the same old levelling down of culture by those already busy wrecking this country"' unhelpful and troubling. I find this reaction unhelpful because it totally ignores two crucial factors that have triggered the BBC's dubious new classical strategy. The first c
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Classical music has a salary envy problem

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Godwin's rule of Hitler analogies states that once Hitler is mentioned that discussion is ended, because the level of discourse has deteriorated so far further communication is pointless. Which means that whoever mentioned Hitler has lost the argument. I now propose a new rule based on Godwin's law: namely that once Gary Lineker is mentioned in a discussion about the BBC Singers, whoever mentioned Gary Lineker has lost the argument.  First a disclaimer. I am not a football fan and I believe disbanding the BBC Singers is a mistake. But I also live in the real world and see that classical music is doing an appalingly bad job at defending the BBC Singers. BBC TV's Match of the Day fronted by Gary Lineker has a weekly audience of around 2.5 million viewers, and Lineker's on-screen presence guarantees a massive license fee loyalty that helps fund the BBC's classical music activities. I deliberately use words 'help fund' as neither Lineker's salary nor the
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When market forces and music collided

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The dramatic cancellation of last night's Philadelphia Orchestra BBC Prom due to a fire was the first Promenade Concert to be lost for twenty-six years. In 1980 the circumstances of the cancellations were far more serious and damaging, and the story is worth retelling to underline how precarious is the livelihood of our wonderful performing musicians. A financial crisis that had simmered at the BBC for several years flared up in February 1980 when a large package of economies were proposed to save £130m ($235). The proposal involved disbanding five orchestras, including the BBC Scottish , in a move aimed at saving £500,000 ($900,000) a year, or eight per cent of the BBC's music expenditure . On May 16 1980 the Musician's Union voted to strike against the BBC, and two weeks later the musicians of the BBC Symphony , and all other BBC musicians, stopped work. The dispute was not just about job losses, the musicians suspected a hidden agenda of a move away from contract o
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Nada Brahma - Sound is God

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It may be my age, but those moments when a piece of music really hits me in the solar plexus seem to get rarer and rarer. But during my recent extended travels in India I was metaphorically punched time and time again when listening to ECM's Codona recordings on headphones. Recent posts have touched on the potential of virtual concert halls and the fact that no one mixes for speakers these days , and the Manfred Eicher produced Codona sessions from between 1978 and 1982 really demonstrate the impact of the up close and personal sound of headphones . The line up for Codona was African-American trumpeter Don Cherry, Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, and Colin Walcott on sitar, tabla, hammered dulcimer, sanza, timpani, and voice. The band took its name from a circus trapeze act of the early 20th century called the Flying Codonas , and the three albums packaged by ECM for CD as The Codona Trilogy capture the peerless musicians-beyond-frontiers performing their creative hig
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