TARAB: THE ART OF ECSTASY IN ARAB MUSIC. UCLA ethnomusicology professor A.J. Racy draws on his lifelong study of music and his experience as a virtuoso on nay flute and buzuq to provide deep insight into many varieties of tarab, the ecstatic feeling associated with listening to and playing great Arab music. Racy takes us inside the workings of a performance by Egyptian diva, Umm Kulthum, and explores the ecstatic states experienced by musicians as well as their audience.

THE STORY OF BEMBEYA JAZZ. This recent feature reveals the history of one of West Africa’s greatest and most venerable dance bands.  Star guitarist Sekou “Diamond Fingers” Diabate, the band’s leader looks back on four decades in music.  Among the other voices here is that of Leo Sarkisian, a legendary Voice of America producer. In the late 1950s, Leo was recruited by a Hollywood record label called Tempo International to travel and record music in far-flung locations. His work began in Afghanistan, but in 1959 he moved to Guinea under the presidency of the young Sekou Toure. Leo wound up making the very first recording of what would become Bembeya Jazz, heard on this episode.

THE LIBERATION OF THE DRUM (1937-1945). Ned Sublette, longtime Afropop co-producer, is creating Hip Deep programs based on his new book Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo (Chicago Review Press, 2004).  This first episode looks at the era after the downfall of the dictator Gerardo Machado, when the previously prohibited tumbadora (conga drum), was decriminalized.  This allowed the instrument's incorporation into Arsenio Rodríguez's group, creating the prototype of the modern salsa band.  Meanwhile, the political space created in Cuba by the prosperity of World War II and President Fulgencio Batista's alliance with the Cuban communist party made for a domestic stability unknown before or since.  The result: a rich era of music, in which the Cuban sound as we know it emerged.

TROPICALIA REVOLUTION: A PROFILE OF JORGE BENJOR. Jorge Benjor first began to experiment with fusions of samba, bossa nova, rhythm ‘n’ blues and soul in the early 1960s. Together with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, he participated in the watershed cultural movement, Tropicália, in the late 1960s. In the 1970s, he further explored Afro-Brazilian history and culture in a series of popular albums that have since become key points of reference for a contemporary neo-soul movement. Jorge Benjor continues to be an active presence in Brazilian popular music. He grants us a rare interview to tell his story. The program is co-produced with Christopher Dunn, author of Brutality Garden: Tropicália and the Emergence of a Brazilian Counterculture (University of North Carolina Press, 2001), who says the program delves into “the culture and politics of soul music in Brazil in the 1970s, especially in relation to emergent forms of identity politics, civil society activism, and cultural globalization.”

CARNIVAL 2004. We make our annual trek to the streets of Port of Spain, Trinidad and to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil to enjoy highlights from the annual pre-Lenten extravaganzas of music, musical stories, street theater, and scandal. Who won the Trinny people’s choice—the Road March? What did the always clever, topical Calypsonians have to say about current world affairs? And what tunes did the exuberant crowds in Salvador de Bahia fall in love with? Plus we’ll get reflections from artists and others about the deeper meanings of carnival.

THE MUSICAL LEGACY OF AL-ANDALUS, Part 1: Europe. The 700-year period of Muslim courts and conquerors in Spain and Portugal (711-1492) leaves behind many mysteries.  In the first of a two-part look at the aftermath of Andalusia, this program explores possible influences and surviving traces of the era in both folk and classical genres of modern Europe. This program takes a provocative look at instruments—especially the lute and the violin—at ideas of orchestration, at the tradition of troubadours, at singing styles, the possible Muslim roots of flamenco, and much more.  The enigmas remain, but you may never hear European music in quite the same way after this venture into the heritage of Al-Andalus.

SOUTH AFRICA: TEN YEARS OF FREEDOM It has been 140 years since slavery was abolished in America. In South Africa, it has only been ten years since apartheid ended, marking the end of colonial domination of Africa. Music played a great role in the struggle for freedom, but what do the musicians say about where their nation is  ten years into democracy? For our mini-series, we share our lively conversations with veteran and emerging artists about the central issues of the day: the evolving identity of the nation; the dynamics between local and international music, between young musicians and old; reconciliation & integration of different ethnicities; black empowerment & economic justice; coping with the HIV/AIDS epidemic; today’s kwaito and hip hop stars and their attitude toward classic sounds; and much more. Visits and new music from SA jazz diva Dorothy Masuka, rising star Thandiswa Mzwai (of Bongo Maffin fame); Jaluka co-founder Johnny Clegg; hip hop stars Skwatta Kamp; kwaito star Kabelo; controversial songwriter and playwright Mbogeni Ngema (creator of hit Broadway Musical “Sarafina”); television and movie actor Lesli Mongezi; author and Wits University professor David Coplan; and others.

Stay Tuned for these Upcoming Hip Deep Programs:

The Legacy of Al-Andalus, Part II: After 1492
The Art of Improvisation
Cuba and Its Music: The Peanut Vendor
Cuba and Its Music: The Son Boom
Cuba and its Music: Zarabanda
Gilberto Gil: Artist, Activist, and Public Intellectual
Popular Music, Globalization, and Citizenship in Brazil

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Modern-Day Griots, Pop Culture Scholars, and Ecstatic Music: ...
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