Episodios

  • Many articles, films, and interviews have been made about Illmind’s extraordinary career producing many albums for several of the top names in Hip-Hop today. This isn’t one of those interviews. In this week’s episode, John digs deep into the early experiences and upbringing that shaped Ramon Ibanga Jr - AKA !llmind - as a musician and planted the seeds of what has become a life’s quest towards community building. After years of social innovation within the Producer Community, we catch up with this 2x GRAMMY Award winning artist just days before he speaks at Gary Vaynerchuck’s VeeCon and just a couple months after the launch of his landmark NFT project: Squad of Knights.


    MUSICAL MENTIONS

    0:00:10 World Music Foundation Podcast 0:00:12 John Gardner 0:00:18 GRAMMY 0:00:20 Multi-Platinum 0:00:21 Producer 0:00:26 !llmind (aka Illmind) 0:00:38
  • Juno award-winning, Eritrian krar player, Daniel Nebiat joins John to talk about his journey playing the krar. From growing up in the midst of a war for independence to working with African legends, Daniel Nebiat shares the ways he had to persevere, adapt, and innovate to continue pursuing his passion for music. Currently based in Toronto, he is a founding member of the Okavango African Orchestra, where he and African musicians from six other countries create original music for traditional instruments that have historically had little or no interaction. Whether he’s talking about krar, family, or food, “Toronto’s Krar Star” does not disappoint!


    MUSICAL MENTIONS:
    00:04 The World Music Foundation
    00:08 John Gardner
    00:15 Krar
    00:17 JUNO Award
    00:18 Okavango African Orchestra
    00:20 Daniel Nebiat
    2:24 China
    2:25 India
    2:26 Femi Kuti
    2:27 Nigeria
    2:28 Côte D’Ivoire
    2:29 United States
    3:16 Eritrea
    3:17 East Africa
    4:32 ACDC
    4:33 Guns n’ Roses
    4:35 Jimi Hendrix
    4:52 Country
    4:53 Donald Williams
    4:54 Kenneth Rogers
    4:55 Dolly Parton
    5:07 Blues
    5:09 Muddy Waters
    5:10 B.B. King
    6:14 Poland
    6:15 Italy
    6:19 Jamaica
    6:40 Guitar
    7:39 Highway to Hell
    9:30 Ethiopian New Year
    9:33 Hoyena hoye
    12:54 Piano
    16:50 Halloween
    17:36 Asmara
    20:17 Addis Ababa
    21:15 Kenya
    21:28 Habtom
    21:46 Eritrea Independence Day
    24:48 Canada
    25:02 Pearson International Airport
    25:18 Texas
    25:19 Chicago
    25:21 Cafe
    27:32 Tewelde Reda
    29:02 Tewelde Reda-Memona
    29:30 Tigrinya
    29:36 Amsterdam
    29:48 The Ex
    29:53 Tsehaytu Beraki
    30:52 Guayla
    31:03 Senegal
    31:22 Morocco
    32:46 Harp
    34:46 Pentatonic Scale
    35:52 Seven-string bass
    49:40 Mussie Zekarias
    49:50 Isaak Okbay
    41:12 Kora
    44:20 Madagascar
    45:21 Afrofest
    46:12 Musica
    52:46 Mèla Testègn
    59:38 Italy
    1:00:02 Seun Kuti
    1:00:06 Seun Kuti & Egypt 80-Rise
    1:03:38 Bruce Springsteen
    1:03:40 Bruce Springsteen-Born To Run
    1:04:49 Daniel Nebiat-Harvata

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  • Like all of us, the global pandemic has hit The World Music Foundation hard. We're excited to return soon and we're excited to share with you a sneak peek of upcoming episodes along with some updates on what we've been up to. 

  • In this week’s episode John meets with American rapper and prolific creator, Che “Rhymefest” Smith to discuss Hip-Hop, his upcoming album, and Hollywood acting debut, along with topics ranging from Chicago’s youth, spirituality, various life changing trips around the world, and much more. Rhymefest's upcoming album is titled Love Lessons Part 1, and as you'll hear in this conversation, Love is a topic at front of mind right now for Che. This episode also includes the world-premier of an amazing track from the upcoming album, featuring Black Thought (aka Tariq Trotter of The Roots) & Raheem DeVaughn. Rhymefest has won multiple Grammys, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award, but as he says: that stuff you can just Google; in this conversation he goes much deeper.


    MUSICAL MENTIONS:

    00:12 John Gardner
    00:22 Che “Rhymefest” Smith
    00:33 World Music Foundation
    03:17 Black Thought
    03:18 Raheem DeVaughn
    04:25 Australia
    04:26 New Zealand
    04:27 Singapore
    04:28 Hong Kong
    06:03 Baobab Tree
    06:06 Africa
    06:07 East Africa
    06:08 Madagascar
    06:13 Griot
    06:19 Taiwan
    06:21 Alishan Forest
    08:09 Ghana
    08:18 American Slavery
    09:15 Igbo
    09:16 Kikuyu
    09:17 Mandingo
    09:18 Maa’sai
    11:01 In My Father’s House
    13:57 Art of Culture
    15:55 Drum
    15:56 Poetry
    15:58 Singing
    16:18 Coca Leaves
    16:53 Musician
    15:54 Instrument
    16:55 Prince
    16:56 Kanye West
    22:43 A&R
    26:04 Hollywood
    26:11The Public
    29:06 Hip-Hop
    29:10 Rock
    33:33 Floyd Mayweather
    33:50 Muhammed Ali
    33:52 Mike Tyson
    34:08 Bruce Lee
    35:47 Peru
    36:07 Champa
    37:38 Amazonian Jungle
    39:37 Japan
    40:47 79th street
    40:51 Mexian Pyramids
    42:43 Atlanta
    42:50 Pete Buttigieg
    44:03 Stony Island
    44:19 The Dan Ryan
    51:20 Indian Classical Music
    51:21 Afrobeat
    51:22 Blues
    51:50 Iran
    51:52 19th Century Hafez
    52:04 Jamaica
    52:21 Jay Z
    52:25 Verse
    52:33 Mauritania
    52:59 Colombia
    53:00 Palenque village
    54:58 Wolof
    55:05 Croatia
    55:08 Yugoslavian war
    55:18 Kosovo
    56:35 Wu Tang Clan
    56:41 Mobb Deep
    59:11 Jazzy Jeff
    59:17 Ghana
    59:29 Eritrea
    59:30 Ethiopia
    59:31 Uganda
    59:32 Tanzania
    59:33 Rwanda

  • Wu Fei describes herself as an ancient soul trapped in a feisty woman's body. Hailing from Beijing, China, Wu Fei is a multi-talented musician and composer known for playing and improvising on the traditional Chinese guzheng as well as improvisational singing and piano. Fei talks to John about her life as a child prodigy, transitioning from China to the U.S., how both countries have influenced her and her music, and what it was like to hear American music for the first time in her teenage years. She also discusses her critically acclaimed original work "Hello Gold Mountain."

    MUSICAL MENTIONS

    0:09 World Music Foundation
    0:11 John Gardner
    0:16 Wu Fei
    0:18 Guzheng
    0:25 Tone
    1:43 Pitch
    1:44 Rhythm
    4:06 Sanxian
    4:08 Fret
    4:09 Banjo
    4:52 Music Theory
    4:55 China Conservatory of Music
    5:13 Piano
    5:18 Western Classical Music
    6:10 Chinese Music
    10:44 African Dance
    10:46 Indian Dance
    13:07 Michael Jackson
    13:08 Madonna
    13:10 Jazz
    13:12 Kitaro
    13:13 Taiko Drum
    13:14 Koto
    13:28 American Music
    15:38 John Cage
    15:50 Compose
    17:20 String Quartet
    17:35 Shostakovich
    17:36 Brahmes
    17:38 Jimmi Hendrix
    18:58 Northern Texas Music College
    24:46 West-African Drumming and Dance Ensemble
    24:48 Northern Indian Raga
    24:52 Percussion
    24:52 Marching Band
    25:53 Mills College
    26:02 Improvisation
    27:58 Hello Golden Mountain
    28:49 Ravi Shankar
    30:13 Soloist
    32:02 Indian Music
    36:56 Chatterbird
    38:50 Celine Thackston
    39:48 National Symphony
    41:36 Oud
    41:36 Shanir Blumenkranz
    42:25 Mei-Ann-Chen
    44:16 Harp
    44:25 Keyboard
    44:49 Vibrato
    48:11 Bach
    48:12 Ravel
    48:51 Abigail Washburne
    49:13 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

  • This week's episode takes us to Nashville, TN, USA where John visits Weirdo Workshop, the music label and creative headquarters for our guests, Louis York, to speak with them about their new album and everything that's brought them to this point in their careers. Louis York is the powerful duo and creation of multi-GRAMMY nominated songwriting and production team, Claude Kelly and Chuck Harmony. Kelly, a 4x Grammy Award nominee, and Harmony, a 3x Grammy Award nominee and 2011 NAACP Image Award winner, both together and apart have written and produced hits for a long list of multi-platinum recording artists including Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, and Whitney Houston to name a few. Their debut album is titled American Griots and it's a sonic adventure that's deserving of their incredible backstory.

  • Self-proclaimed "crazy, romantic musician", Roberto Fonseca, speaks with John about his recently released 9th solo album, Yesun, along with the life experiences and musical training that have brought him to this point in his musical journey. Roberto is a GRAMMY nominated, Cuban pianist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and bandleader, and on this album he experiments with a wide range of musical forms, from jazz and classical music to rap, funk, reggaeton and electronic music. Roberto also talks about his tenure with the Buena Vista Social Club and how traveling the world with these masters of traditional Cuban music forever changed his approach to music making.

  • As a renowned Afrobeat and Jazz musician with four GRAMMY nominations, Femi Kuti is well-respected around the world for opening minds through the power of his music. John spoke with Femi from the Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria, where he shared the details of his musical upbringing and the importance of different music cultures. He also gets into his life-changing transition from the Saxophone to the Trumpet and the effect this has had on his music and his thoughts. Femi is the son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, and is considered a torch-bearer to his father’s legacy, but in this interview Femi explains why he believes that his mother, Remilekun Taylor, is actually 90% responsible for who he is.

    MUSICAL MENTIONS:

    0:08 World Music Foundation Podcast
    0:11 John Gardner
    0:14 Afrobeat
    00:15 Femi Kuti
    0:31 The World Music Foundation
    0:52 Africa
    1:23 Fela Kuti
    2:20 New Afrika Shrine
    2:23 Lagos, Nigeria
    2:47 GRAMMY Awards
    4:27 Highlife African Traditional Music
    4:28 African Culture and Dance
    4:32 Jazz
    5:00 Afrobeats
    8:08 The Beatles
    8:35 Highlife
    10:05 Nigeria
    11:07 America
    11:10 Tokyo, Japan
    11:12 Australia
    11:50 One People One World
    12:17 Remilekun Taylor
    12:39 Stardom
    16:00 Music School
    16:08 England
    16:10 Ghana
    16:38 Saxophone
    19:03 Charlie Parker
    19:26 James Moody
    19:40 Music Shop
    19:45 Mood for Love
    19:49 Guitarist
    19:53 George Benson
    20:45 Dexterity
    20:46 Improvisation
    20:54 Dizzy Gillespie
    20:55 John Coltrane
    20:56 Art Tatum
    22:52 Trumpet
    22:58 Soprano Sax
    23:01 C Major
    23:21 Fight to Win
    36:08 Cuba
    36:11 Pianist
    36:12 Composer
    36:14 Band Leader
    36:15 Roberto Fonseca
    36:16 Yesun
    36:49 Clave
    37:22 Chocolate City Group

  • John travels down to Coldwater, MS for the 69th Annual Goat Picnic in honor of fife & drum legend, Otha Turner. What started off as something else, ends up being a a good handful of great conversations with musicians (and even some audience members) about the Hill Country Music of Northern Mississippi, USA.

    R.L. Boyce, Earl “Little Joe” Ayers, Dom Turner, and Ricky Stevens are all featured.

    0:05 World Music Foundation Podcast
    0:08 John Gardner
    0:14 Fife & Drum Music
    0:19 Otha Turner
    0:39 Coldwater, MS
    0:41 Sharde Thomas
    1:35 Hill Country Music
    1:45 Little Joe
    1:47 Guitar
    1:54 Blues
    4:09 Fife
    4:09 Drum
    4:23 Mark Massey
    4:24 Muleman
    4:36 Blues Hall of Fame
    5:09 Blues Foundation
    5:30 International Blues Challenge
    6:11 Roosevelt Staples
    6:13 Willie Brown
    8:44 Junior Kimbrough
    8:44 R.L Burnside
    8:45 R.L Boyce
    9:56 Northern Mississippi Blues
    10:08 Cedric Burnside
    10:09 North Mississippi Allstars
    10:10 Luther and Cody Dickenson
    10:15 Sharde Thomas
    10:30 Fife and Drum Music
    10:36 Othar Turner
    11:00 African Music
    11:12 Chord Progression
    11:17 Homemade Flute
    11:23 Rhythm
    11:28 Solo
    11:30 Vocals
    12:07 Napoleon Strickland
    12:20 Library of Congress Collection
    13:16 Jr. Kimbrough
    13:55 Ace Cannon
    14:02 John Lee Hooker
    14:02 Muddy Waters
    14:03 Howlin’ Wolf
    14:11 Guitar
    14:30 Note
    14:54 Piano
    15:44 Hill Country Music
    16:42 Trenton Ayers
    19:20 R.L. Boyce
    19:21 Como, MS
    19:42 Mississippi Hill Country
    20:06 Backsliders
    20:33 harmonica
    20:36 Phil Wiggins
    20:46 Sacred Steel tradition
    20:54 Turner Brown Band
    21:14 Mississippi Fred McDowell
    23:18 Otha Turner
    23:29 Napoleon Strickland
    23:31 Ed and Lonnie Young
    23:40 Sid Hemphill
    24:22 Instrument
    24:30 Othar Turner
    24:40 Band
    24:50 Lead guitar
    25:35 Bobby Rush
    25:36 Little Milton
    26:40 Howlin’ Wolf
    27:15 Luther Dickinson
    27:35 Jessie Mae
    27:36 Drummer
    27:50 Leo Bud Welch
    27:50 Bilbo Walker
    28:01 Big Jack Johnson
    28:58 Blues
    30:00 Femi Kuti
    30:01 Afrobeat
    30:03 Lagos, Nigeria

  • Praised for her dynamic, passionate conducting style, Taiwanese-American conductor Mei-Ann Chen is acclaimed for infusing orchestras with energy, enthusiasm and high-level music-making, galvanizing audiences and communities alike. In our conversation we follow her musical evolution from shy violin player in her birth country, Taiwan, to dynamic, trailblazing, internationally sought-after conductor. Mei-Ann also shares the inspirational interaction with Martin Luther King that inspired the creation of the MacArthur Award-winning, Chicago Sinfonietta, the nations most diverse orchestra, of which she is the principle conductor and music director.

    Here's a link to every Musical Mention in this episode:

    0:19 Mei-Ann Chen
    0:29 The World Music Foundation
    1:33 Western Classical
    1:34 Conducting
    3:17 Violin
    3:18 Piano
    3:58 Melody
    4:00 Thais Meditation: by Jules Massenet
    4:25 Orchestra
    5:39 Helen Quach (Guō Mei Jen)
    7:07 Solfege
    7:10 Note Sight Reading
    8:21 National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra
    9:56 Yo-Yo-Ma
    11:08 Mozart
    11:09 Brahmes
    11:10 Beethoven
    11:10 Tchaikovski
    12:23 Taiwanese Folk
    13:19 Minga 校園民歌
    16:27 Pentatonic Scale
    17:34 Impressionists
    17:46 Claude Debussy
    17:47 La Mer
    18:02 Joseph Maurice Ravel
    18:03 Mother Goose Suite
    18:15 Giacomo Puccini
    18:29 Mo Li Hua: The Jasmine Flower
    18:33 Turandot
    21:59 Vibrato
    25:46 Antonin Dvorak
    25:47 Symphony No. 9 in E minor (New World Symphony)
    25:47 Carnegie Hall
    26:15 Jazz
    26:17 African Music
    27:03 American Youth Orchestra
    27:13 Benjamin Zander
    27:44 Henryk Wieniawski
    28:43 Music Score
    28:44 Gustav Mahler
    28:44 Mahler’s Symphony #5
    29:19 Transposition
    29:28 Soundcheck
    29:40 Stand Partner
    31:46 Notes
    32:17 Music Teacher
    32:28 Conductor
    32:44 Assistant Conductor
    32:49 Music Director
    32:54 Guest Conductor
    33:18 Memphis Symphony
    33:28 Chicago Sinfonietta
    33:41 Symphonic
    34:35 Project W
    34:55 Cidille Records
    35:39 Project 19
    36:34 Diwali Festival
    37:04 Maestro Paul Freeman
    37:55 Project Inclusion Freeman Fellowships
    38:37 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
    43:23 Concertino For Cell Phone And Orchestra
    44:17 Conservatories
    46:19 Pops
    47:08 Beethoven’s “5th”
    47:28 Felix Mendelssohn
    47:28 The Hebrides Overture (aka Fingal’s Cave)”
    50:51 Modest Mussorgsky
    51:07 Jennifer Koh
    51:13 Courtney Bryan
    51:38 Maurice Ravel
    53:29 Jennifer Higdon
    53:34 Reena Esmail
    53:34 Florence Price
    54:04 Dora Pejacevic
    58:19 Carmen
    1:00:01 New York Philharmonic
    1:02:19 Chicago Symphony
    1:02:24 Florence Price
    1:03:05 Yo-Yo Ma
    1:03:08 Sheherazade
    1:03:42 Harp Glissando
    1:03:49 Eighth note
    1:03:56 Principle harp
    1:05:00 Berlin Philharmonic
    1:05:04 Claudio Abbado
    1:06:19 Intonation
    1:06:38 Flat
    1:06:54 Octave
    1:06:56 Bassoon
    1:06:58 Oboe
    1:08:12 Maestro
    1:09:09 Portland Youth Orchestra
    1:09:35 Rite of spring
    1:09:56 Beat
    1:11:39 Percussion
    1:11:40 Brass
    1:12:54 Transition
    1:12:55 Balance
    1:13:08 Ensemble
    1:16:40 Chicago Sinfonietta

  • Last week, we spoke with Brian & Leila Pertl, and members of the Music Education Team, who have helped design the Mile of Music Festival, especially the cultural education components. This week, we’re speaking with the teaching-musicians themselves to learn about Afro-Cuban Drumming, Mariachi, Ghanaian Drumming, and Native American Flute. We attended a few sessions ourselves during the festival and spoke with these artists afterwards.

    Here's a link to every Musical Mention in this episode:

    4:07 Afro Cuban Music
    4:30 Clave
    5:30 Syncopation
    5:34 Rhythmic Melody
    6:07 Bembe Rhythm
    6:26 Acoustic Music
    7:44 Classical Music
    10:26 Upright Bass
    11:11 Mariachi
    11:38 Mexican Hat Dance
    12:34 Instrumental
    12:49 Genre
    12:56 World Music
    13:00 Son Jalisciense
    13:30 Anthem
    14:01 Bolero
    14:06 Guitar
    16:12 Pop Mariachi
    16:21 Little Village
    19:28 Americana
    19:40 Acoustic
    21:28 Lawrence University in Appleton
    21:40 Minneapolis
    21:43 Percussionist
    21:49 Porky’s Groove Machine
    21:50 Black Market Brass
    21:56 Groove music
    22:16 Mile of Music
    22:51 Ghanaian Drumming
    22:23 Ewe
    22:24 Gahu
    23:04 Boba Drum
    23:35 Ewe Drums
    23:52 Drumhead
    23:05 Tune
    23:07 Pitch
    26:32 Polyrhythms
    27:33 Ethnomusicology
    27:35 Percussion music
    29:50 Repetition
    29:59 Composite rhythm
    36:15 Wade Fernandez
    36:17 Menominee
    36:33 Vocals
    36:34 Guitar
    36:35 Native American Flute
    36:43 Recordings
    36:58 Flutes
    37:31 Indian Summer Festival

  • We were delighted to discover the Mile Of Music Festival, which curates international music workshops alongside concerts of Americana and Folk music. Several of the Americana acts were imported nationwide and even internationally, but all of the international music is taught by people from within their small Appleton community. So which music is ‘local’?? We attended this 3 day festival, attended the workshops and spoke with the organizers to fully understand the blurring of this dichotomy.

    Here's a link to every Musical Mention in this episode:

    0:01 Mile of Music Festival
    0:58 Appleton, WI, USA
    1:08 The World Music Foundation
    1:30 Brazilian Samba Drumming
    1:33 Australian Aboriginal Didgeridoo
    1:35 Balinese Gamelan
    1:37 Native American Flute
    1:39 Mariachi
    1:49 Birds of Chicago
    1:54 JT Nero
    1:55 Allison Russell
    2:08 Americana
    3:28 Leila Ramagopal Pertl
    3:35 Brian Pertl
    3:38 Lawrence Conservatory of Music
    5:36 Balinese Gamelan
    5:42 Samba
    5:43 Afro-Cuban
    6:34 Lawrence University
    6:59 Ghanaian Dancing
    7:08 Australian Aboriginal Didgeridoo
    8:30 Gong
    8:52 Jaclyn Kottman
    8:20 Samba Drumming
    9:00 Yo-Yo-Ma
    11:03 U.S Folk
    12:27 Mariachi
    13:45 Classical Violin
    23:46 Ghanaian Dance
    24:09 Bali
    24:48 Americana
    24:49 Bluegrass
    24:50 Gospel
    28:22 Appleton Public Montessori
    28:31 Gumboot Dancing
    28:33 Irish Dancing
    28:34 Israeli Dancing
    39:23 Kaleidoscope Concert
    39:36 Wind Ensemble
    39:38 Clarinet
    39:57 Percussion Music
    41:09 Soloist
    45:51 Cory Chisel
    45:52 Dave Willems

  • Jess Sah Bi & Peter One, musicians from Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa, recall hearing the harmonies and guitars of Simon and Garfunkel and Cat Stevens for the first time and how that impacted their music from that point onward. In our conversation they take us through the creation of their landmark African-Country-Folk inspired album Our Garden Needs Its Flowers from their initial search for a producer to now the recent reissue, 30 years later, by Awesome Tapes From Africa.

    Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode:

    7:01 Simon & Garfunkel
    7:08 Cat Stevens
    8:19 Jimi Hendrix
    8:29 The Beatles (Hey Jude, Let It Be)
    9:49 Paul Simon
    11:29 James Bond Theme
    14:53: Amédée Pierre
    15:00 Bob Marley (No Woman No Cry)
    18:19 Don Williams
    20:51 Don Williams
    20:42 Alpha Blondy
    25:14 Premiere Chance
    30:47 Rosemary Gurg ??
    33:11 Badmos
    33:19 Ernesto Djedje
    31:51 Georges Tai Benson
    36:27 Monique Séka
    36:39 Anet Roger
    40:08 Gouro
    40:27 Our Garden Needs Its Flowers (album)
    41:03 Burkina Faso
    41:04 Togo
    48:50 Brian Shimkovitz

  • Pamyua’s musical footprint, spanning two decades and several countries, is a testament to the ongoing vibrancy of Inuit music, the group members, and their unique heritage. Brothers Phillip and Stephen Blanchett speak from the heart on issues of identity, culture and music expressed through Pamyua (pronounced bum-yo-ah) with collaborators Ossie Kairaiuak and Karina Moeller. They are preservers of an amazing musical tradition that is still alive but has historically been marked for extinction and continues to face the threat of becoming lost to this day.

    Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode:

    0:20 Pamyua
    2:15 Yupik/Inuit Music
    5:07 Karina Moeller
    5:20 Inuit
    6:15 World Music
    7:02 Reggae
    7:03 R&B
    10:14 Russian Orthodox Church
    10:55 Slavic songs
    11:11 Yukon Kuskokwim Delta
    11:15 Nunapitchuk
    13:24 Lady Smith Black Mambazo
    15:05 Soul
    15:06 Rap
    15:07 Hip Hop
    16:12 Folk
    16:13 Country
    16:20 Indigenous
    19:45 Wild Tchoupitoulas
    19:52 Aaron Neville
    22:57 Yupik Mask Dancing
    28:48 Cauyaq (drum)
    33:01 Side A, Side B
    36:40 Yupik Langauge
    36:41 Inupik Language

  • Chicago’s own Zeshan B’s fearlessness as an individual translates into music that knows no boundaries and takes from a wider range of influences than we may be used to hearing in one musician’s discography. In 2017 he released Vetted, his debut album, to critical acclaim. He made his national TV debut that same year on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Since then he’s been touring and preparing for his next release. We talk about his experience in music education, his current project, and how we all share an inherent hunger for groovy music.

    Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode:

    0:20 Zeshan Bagewadi
    1:48 Bill Withers – Lean on Me
    1:50 M.C. Hammer – Can’t Touch This
    3:50 Lithuanian Opera
    5:35 Raj Kapoor
    6:45 Luciano Pavarotti
    10:35 Gospel Choir
    10:53 Gregorian chants
    11:17 Chicago Lyric Opera
    13:33 Don Giovanni: a Mozart Opera
    13:45 Giuseppe Verdi
    13:45 Beethoven
    18:20 Soul music
    18:48 Sam Cooke
    18:50 Ray Charles
    18:54 Chicago Blues
    18:54 Muddy Waters
    19:00 Curtis Mayfield
    19:01 Mahalia Jackson
    19:34 Bill Withers
    19:34 Marvin Gaye
    20:54 Medhi Hassan
    20:55 Kishore Kumar
    20:56 Mohammed Rafi
    20:58 Shafqat Amanat Ali
    21:05 Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
    21:07 Qawwali
    21:15 Bollywood Music
    21:45 Qawwali
    21:48 Ghazal
    22:05 Jagjit Singh
    22:27 Medhi Hassan
    22:32 Ghulam Ali
    24:35 Ghazal
    24:35 Indian Classical Music
    24:55 Lady Gaga
    24:55 Bruno Mars
    25:30 Folk geet (Indian folk music)
    25:38 Qawwali
    25:38 Ghazal
    27:15 Drum kit
    27:19 Farfisa Organ
    27:35 Harlem Renaissance
    27:36 Langston Hughes
    27:38 Zora Neale Hurston
    27:44 Amiri Baraka
    27:47 Assata Shakur
    28:45 Elvis Presley
    28:50 Tom and Jerry Theme song
    37:00 Harmonium
    40:23 Sitar
    40:40 Indian Classical Music
    43:22 Meri Jaan
    43:27 Little Walter – My Babe
    43:41 Muddy Waters
    43:42 J.B. Hutto
    43:43 Bo Diddley
    44:33 Howlin Wolf
    44:38 Donny Hathaway
    44:40 Curtis Mayfield
    44:41 Mahalia Jackson
    45:05 Get Higher
    45:06 Brown Power
    49:37 Kurt Weill – Street Scene
    49:58 Gian Carlo Menotti – The Consul
    50:18 Dmitri Shostakovich
    50:20 Leningrad Symphony
    50:40 Richard Strauss – The Alpine Symphony
    51:00 Beethoven Symphony No.9
    51:07 John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
    53:05 Lestor Snell
    53:12 Isaac Hayes
    53:12 Al Green
    53:15 Shaft
    54:45 Bhangra music

  • Originally from Costa Rica and Iran respectively, Jorge Strunz and Ardeshir Farah have brought the musical influences of their native lands into their highly virtuosic, rhythmic, and improvisation-rich original instrumental compositions, inspiring fans and many guitarists worldwide. Their meeting in 1979 in Los Angeles, where they are still based, marked the first time that Latin American and Middle Eastern music, along with other important elements, came together on the guitar. Our conversation touches on all of these points and more. Enjoy!

    Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode:

    0:16 Strunz & Farah
    1:32 Caldera
    2:21 Vittorio Monti – Csárdás
    2:25 Hungarian Gypsy music
    2:28 Paco De Lucia
    2:33 Sabicas
    2:54 Plectrum
    5:12 Flamenco
    5:16 The Beatles
    7:39 Jazz Fusion
    10:49 Surf Music
    11:04 The Animals
    11:34 The Ventures
    11:36 The Shadows
    11:40 Cliff Richard
    12:21 Persian Music
    14:18 Carlos Montoya
    14:39 Mario Escudero
    14:57 Electra Records
    15:10 Calypso
    16:05 Pete Seeger
    16:08 The Kingston Trio
    16:10 Peter, Paul and Mary
    16:48 America Folk
    17:35 RCA Victor Records
    17:37 ABC Paramount
    17:39 Bob Theile
    17:44 John Coltrane
    18:27 John McLaughlin
    18:29 Mahavishnu Orchestra
    18:30 Chick Corea
    18:33 Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
    19:09 Capitol Records
    20:14 Indian Music
    20:15 Harihar Rao
    20:20 Ravi Shankar
    20:24 L. Subramaniam
    20:37 Richard Bock
    20:47 Jean-Luc Ponty
    20:48 Wes Montgomery
    20:54 Fantasy/Milestone Records
    21:58 Luis Conte
    22:07 Mosaico (album)
    22:30 Ganesh Records
    22:47 Persian Musicians
    22:54 Frontera (album)
    22:55 Manoochehr Sadeghi
    22:58 Santur
    23:04 Guitarras (album)
    23:09 Hayedeh
    23:33 Mirage (song)
    24:11 Jazz Fusion
    24:12 Jazz
    24:13 Blues
    24:14 Rock
    24:20 Persian rhythms
    24:21 Persian melodies
    24:26 Tar
    24:27 Santur
    24:27 Oud
    24:34 Reng (song)
    24:37 Manoochehr Sadeghi
    24:38 Majid Ghorbani
    24:40 Randy Tico
    24:40 Bass guitar
    24:50 Mirage (song)
    24:53 Iranian Percussion
    25:04 Persian āvāz
    26:27 Tale of Two Guitars (Album)
    26:42 Folk (Persian)
    26:43 Pop (Persian)
    26:44 Keyavash Nourai
    26:50 Violin
    26:57 Chaharmezrab
    27:22 Ethnic Persian modal
    27:59 Chaharmezrab
    28:02 Plectrums
    28:48 Kayhan Kalhor
    28:51 Kamancheh
    28:54 Yo-Yo Ma
    28:55 Silk Road Ensemble
    29:01 Hossein Alizadeh
    29:03 Setar
    29:40 Tar
    29:44 Sahba Motallebi
    31:00 Flamenco
    31:01 El Regalito (song)
    31:10 Palmas
    32:11 Spanish
    32:46 Latin America
    32:51 Cumbia
    32:55 Mexico
    32:55 Columbia
    33:09 Diego Alvarez
    33:12 Venezuela
    33:14 Afro-Latin
    33:15 Afro-Andean
    33:19 Cajon
    34:07 Juanito “Long John” Oliva
    34:08 Cuban
    34:13 Rhythms
    34:34 Africa
    35:44 Hubert Laws
    35:45 Stanley Clarke
    35:46 Katisse Buckingham
    40:34 ABA Structure
    43:31 Wild Muse (album)
    43:36 Camino Real
    43:54 Nengue Hernandez
    44:10 Flamenco
    45:01 Carlitos Del Puerto
    45:18 Chick Corea
    45:19 Barbra Streisand
    45:47 Thomas Brooman
    45:48 World Music
    47:29 Mosaico (album)
    48:54 Primal Magic (album)
    48:57 Américas (album)
    51:28 Iranian Music
    52:21 Viguen
    53:45 Accordion
    56:22 Tales of Two Guitars (album)

  • Aashish Khan is the eldest exponent of an Indian Classical music lineage that reaches all the way back to the court of Mughal emperor Akbar the Great. He takes us back to the creation of his pioneering Indo-Jazz fusion band, Shakti, in the early 1970s, he shares about his new project Shringar, and reveals that he has a literal treasure trove of unreleased recordings, including a track that he recorded with George Harrison, Eric Clapton and others.

    Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode:

    0:30 Aashish Khan
    2:35 Sandip Burman
    3:13 Sarod
    4:51 Tonic
    5:08 Chikari
    5:18 Taraps
    5:35 Reverb
    5:58 Plectrum
    7:04 Raag (or Ragas)
    7:11 Ragas (or Raag)
    9:23 Mian Tansen
    9:35 Swami Haridas
    9:38 Emperor Akbar (1542–c. 1605)
    9:48 Allauddin Khan
    9:55 Wazir Khan
    10:00 Rampur
    10:03 Uttar Pradesh
    10:05 Lucknow
    10:14 Ali Akbar Khan
    10:19 Annapurna Devi
    10:20 Sitar
    10:24 Subahar
    10:30 Timir Baran Bhattacharya
    10:32 Sarod
    10:35 Ravi Shankar
    10:40 Pannalal Ghosh
    10:41 Bansuri flute
    10:52 Folk Instrument (Indian)
    10:54 Classical Instrument (Indian)
    11:12 Piccolo flute
    11:18 Assam
    11:24 Indian
    11:34 Bahadur Khan
    11:51 Dhyanesh Khan
    12:57 Ameena Khan
    12:03 Pranesh Khan
    12:04 Tabla
    12:09 Violin
    12:19 Alam Khan
    12:23 Manik Khan
    13:02 Cello
    13:15 Oboe
    13:23 Guitar
    15:16 Indian Fusion Music
    15:21 Shanti (band)
    15:41 Richard Bock
    15:53 Ravi Shankar
    15:57 World Pacific Record Company
    16:13 Zakir Hussain
    16:27 Swapan Chaudhuri
    16:40 England
    16:41 America
    16:55 Neil Seidel
    16:59 Steve Leach
    17:04 Steve Haehl
    17:08 Frank Lupica
    17:13 Pranesh Khan
    17:18 Dholak
    17:21 Shanti (band)
    17:36 Atlantic Records
    17:42 CD
    17:44 Vinyl
    18:05 Shringar
    18:12 Thinking of You (song)
    18:14 Tim Green
    21:20 Charles Lloyd
    21:25 John Handy
    21:26 George Harrison
    21:34 John Barham
    21:35 The Beatles
    21:45 Western Notation
    21:54 North Indian Music
    22:06 Piano
    22:37 George Harrison
    22:45 Pop Music
    22:52 Ringo Starr
    22:55 Eric Clapton
    22:57 Billy Preston
    24:29 Mian Tansen
    27:28 Saraswati
    28:01 Bengal
    28:13 Bansat Pancham
    29:37 Pakhawaj
    29:47 Uday Shankar
    30:16 Ludwig van Beethoven
    30:47 Maihar Band
    33:19 Cassette
    33:21 Reel to reel
    35:30 Taleem (Explain in the episode)
    38:03 Gharana
    38:05 Senia Maihar Gharana
    38:51 HMV (His Master’s Voice)
    40:15 Nikhil Banerjee
    40:14 Jotin Bhattacharya
    43:31 Jazz
    43:32 Classical Music (Western)
    43:50 The Beatles
    43:54 Elton John
    43:58 Bob Dylan
    44:09 Lay, Lady, Lay
    44:22 Stevie Wonder
    44:26 Lionel Richie
    44:46 Michael Jackson
    45:11 Shiraz Khan

  • Thomas Brooman has always had a vision of a smaller musical world -- from his early years spent among fellow awe-struck concertgoers during the European Rock-&-Roll boom, to his later work cultivating a collective of artists as co-founder of the globally inspired World of Music Arts and Dance festival (WOMAD). We talk about the relationship between musicians and international markets and get a behind-the-scenes look into his involvement in the creation of the term ‘World Music’- in all of its complexities.

    Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode:

    0:13 WOMAD World of Music, Art, and Dance Festival
    1:51 Cheb Khaled
    4:26 Punk Rock
    5:41 Bossa nova
    5:44 Samba
    9:38 Institute of Contemporary Arts in London
    10:28 Topic Records
    10:28 GlobeStyle Record
    10:30 Ben Mandelson
    10:33 Roger Armstrong
    10:36 African music
    13:17 Giuseppe Verdi
    13:17 Ludwig van Beethoven
    13:17 Maurice Ravel
    15:01 Ian Anderson
    15:03 fRoots Magazine
    16:05 Blues
    16:06 Bluegrass
    16:28 Saxophone
    16:29 Guitar
    16:58 Qawwali
    17:07 Harmonium
    19:18 Ravi Shankar
    19:23 Hugh Masekela
    19:29 Grazing in the Grass
    19:53 WOMAD First Festival 1982
    19:55 Echo and the Bunnymen
    20:17 The Beat
    20:25 The Drummers of Burundi
    20:36 Pete de Freitas
    20:54 All My Colours (Zimbo)
    22:20 WOMAD Blues and Rhythm Fest 1989
    22:30 Ali Farka Toure
    22:30 Taj Mahal
    23:54 Youssou N’Dour
    25:06 Billy Cobham
    25:22 Real World Studios
    25:41 Asere
    27:35 Remmy Ongala
    29:08 S.E. Rogie
    31:09 Gaucho drum
    31:31 Ringo Starr
    31:36 The Beatles
    32:09 Drum Set
    35:09 4/4 time signature
    36:00 Rock and Roll
    36:04 Blues
    39:33 Bristol Colston Hall
    39:36 The Jimi Hendrix Experience
    39:40 Pink Floyd
    39:42 The Nice
    39:45 Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
    39:46 The Move
    39:52 Amen Corner
    40:10 Rolling Stones
    40:23 Festival for progressive Blues
    40:41 Fleetwood Mac
    40:45 Led Zeppelin
    41:02 Blues
    41:57 Pop Music
    42:03 Rolling Stones
    42:04 Grand Funk Railroad
    42:30 Rock Fest (either 1999 or 2000)
    43:11 Pandit Sandip Burman
    43:20 Blues Harmonica
    43:30 Indian Classical
    43:46 Raag Bilawal
    45:26 time signature
    45:28 phrasing
    45:29 cadence
    45:29 melody

  • Our second episode brings us to a small town in the Northern part of the U.S. where we, surprisingly, find a deep Blues history. We follow Paramount Records through the peak of success, recording landmark artists that changed Western popular music forever, but this music, at several times, was almost lost forever. We follow the thin thread of events and recent efforts that have gone into preserving this important musical history.

    Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode:

    0:50 Muddy Waters
    0:51 B.B King
    0:54 Blind Lemon Jefferson
    0:56 Charley Patton
    0:57 Skip James
    1:09 Blues
    1:12 Africa
    1:50 Skip James
    2:03 Big Bill Broonzy
    2:07 Bill Big Broonzy: The Man That Brought The Blues to Britain
    2:14 Paramount Records
    3:44 Jazz
    3:55 Johann Sebastian Bach
    3:55 Ludwig Van Beethoven
    3:55 Johannes Brahms
    3:59 Franz Joseph Haydn
    3:59 Wenzel Müller
    3:59 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    4:06 Vaudevillan Performers
    4:08 Dixieland Jazz
    4:10 Creole Music
    4:14 Military Bands
    4:49 Al Jolson
    6:11 Pop music
    6:19 Wisconsin Chair Company
    6:28 Phonographs
    7:21 Alex Van Der Tuuk
    7:31 Paramount’s Rise and Fall
    7:55 Classical Music (Western)
    8:05 Vaudeville
    8:10 Country Music
    8:37 Mamie Smith
    8:38 Crazy Blues
    9:09 Race Records
    10:10 J. Mayo “Ink” Williams
    10:31 Blues Music
    11:15 Bessie Smith
    11:17 Jelly Roll Morton
    12:31 Alberta Hunter
    12:32 Monette Moore
    12:53 Blind Lemon Jefferson
    13:48 Charley Patton
    13:52 Dockery Farms
    13:57 Robert Johnson
    14:29 Pony Blues
    14:31 Banty Rooster Blues
    15:10 Swanee River
    15:21 Juke Joints
    15:46 Delta Blues
    16:59 Metal Masters
    19:25 Grafton House of Blues
    19:34 Angie Mack Riley
    19:56 Blues
    19:56 Jazz
    19:56 Country Music
    22:43 PBS History Detective: Paramount Records Episode
    22:59 Charley Patton
    22:59 Skip James
    22:59 Blind Lemon Jefferson
    23:27 Louis Armstrong
    23:27 Ma Rainey
    23:27 Son House
    24:28 Delta Blues
    24:49 Elvis Presley
    25:22 Paramount’s Rise and Fall
    25:29 Agram Blues
    25:41 Jack White Box Set
    25:54 Dean Blackwood
    25:55 Revenant Records
    27:10 Paramount Box Set #1
    27:28 Grammy Award
    27:57 The World Music Foundation
    28:05 World Music
    29:10 Folklore Music
    29:18 Zydeco
    29:22 Cajun Music
    29:36 Rolling Stones
    29:41 Love in Vain
    30:10 Elmore James
    30:01 Howlin’ Wolf
    30:04 Muddy Waters
    30:28 The Country Blues, by Samuel Charters
    30:40 Columbia Records
    30:42 Okeh Records
    30:43 Paramount Records

  • Dave Pietro’s curiosity and workmanship have been the foundation of his decade’s long career as an internationally touring musician. He explains the value of truly listening— even if what you’re hearing confuses or frightens you at first. We touch on his gigging history starting in New York, his new album New Road: Iowa Memoirs, and how immersing oneself in a culture can fundamentally change your understanding of pretty much everything.

    Here’s an external link to every Musical Mention in this episode:

    0:10 Mariachi
    1:00 Maria Schneider Orchestra
    1:00 Gil Evan’s Project
    1:00 Darcy James Argues Secret Society
    1:15 Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra
    1:20 Woody Herman
    1:20 Lionel Hampton
    1:20 Maynard Ferguson
    1:20 Sandip Burman
    1:20 The Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
    1:30 Pete McGuinness
    1:30 David Bowie
    1:30 Paul Anka
    1:30 Blood Sweat and Tears
    1:30 Ray Charles
    1:30 Rosemary Clooney
    1:30 Harry Connick Jr.
    1:30 Chaka Khan
    2:53 The Rainbow Room
    3:11 Liza Minnelli
    3:30 Jeff Coffin
    3:30 Tabla
    3:35 Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
    8:25 Charlie Parker
    8:33 The Carpenters
    8:41 Bebop
    9:02 Bela Bartok
    9:04 Igor Stravinsky
    9:33 Bartok Violin Concerto
    10:15 Hermeto Pascoal
    10:25 Nikhil Banerjee
    10:32 Bhimsen Joshi
    13:40 American Songbook
    13:43 Hindustani music
    15:30 Blues
    16:00 Jewish music
    18:28 Klezmer
    18:39 Bulgarian wedding music
    19:04 Yuri Yunakov
    19:20 Bulgarian Women’s Choir
    20:25 Steve Armour
    21:18 Kora
    21:20 Djembe
    21:30 Saxophone
    21:55 Mouthpiece
    21:55 Clarinet
    21:55 Trumpet
    21:55 Trombone
    22:00 Adolphe Sax
    24:23 Big band music
    33:05 Sitar
    33:05 Conga
    33:05 Shakuhachi
    34:05 The New Road: Iowas Memoirs
    34:39 Traffic: the soundtrack of NYC
    36:14 Bossa Nova
    36:20 Baiao
    36:35 Zabumba
    36:35 Triangle
    36:52 Carnatic
    37:00 Mridangam
    37:00 Tabla
    37:15 Bluegrass
    37:15 Jazz
    37:15 New Orleans Jazz
    37:15 Country and Western
    37:50 Bud Powell
    38:07 Duke Ellington
    40:10 Greek music
    40:10 Zeibekiko
    40:41 Taal/Tala
    42:38 Tabla
    47:20 Mariachi