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CDs That Save The World
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Newsday, CDs That Save The World >>
People around the world are not all the same. And the differences go deeper than what they look like, what they eat or what they wear. That's the good news.
The bad news is that some of these cultural differences are slowly being ground away under the unyielding slickness of modernity.
One gauge of this slow process is the re-release of the Nonesuch Explorer series, which came out on 92 records between 1967 and 1984. The CD format may be different, but the music is the same. More notably, the world it's being released into is different. While international pop is as near as the local mall or any number of Web sites, some of the traditionals documented on the Explorer series have begun to attenuate.
According to one of the series' producers, Peter Siegel, the records represented the first time that traditional music from outside the United States was recorded with high-quality equipment, packaged with extensive liner notes and given big-league distribution. While the series didn't threaten the Beatles' place at the top of the charts, it was a revelation to its modest audience.
The series grew out of Nonesuch's original mission of presenting great music overlooked by the major labels. The company began by licensing Baroque and early music recorded in Europe, said Siegel, then recorded musicians playing American folk styles such as bluegrass and old-time. Nonesuch then recorded a group of Indian musicians who came to New York. That was the beginning of the globe-hopping series.
Last year, Nonesuch began to release the series on compact discs, spreading it out over four years. The first 13 releases, all from Africa, came out in August; another 10 titles from Indonesia and the South Pacific arrive this month. Still to come this year are releases from Tibet, Kashmir, Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2005, the series ends where it began, with recordings of Indian music.
While some of the Explorer albums were recorded in New York, others were field recordings.
In 1973, Stephen Jay left his university musical studies behind and went to Africa, in part inspired by some of the earliest Explorer records. Tired of music theorizing, he wanted to go where "music was more basic...and people danced to it." Going into remote areas, Jay discovered music that was played "just like it had been for thousands of years."
The music not only had a different sound, but a different spirit. Jay learned that while Westerners believe that music is created by musicians, the Africans he met believed that music existed on its own, that it was a life form that inhabited musicians, who, in turn, played for the gods. These gods were discerning music lovers who liked their music played with fervor. In fact, they would bring down misfortune onto musicians who didn't play with total dedication and focus.
The music was an integral part of Africans' spiritual life, Jay said, and though it's powerful, presenting it out of context is a bit like "cutting off its head." He had recorded the music for his own education, he said, but when he came home, friends encouraged him to put it on record.
Jay hasn't been back to Africa in more than 25 years, but he said he has been told that the everyday music he documented on his reel-to-reel recorder has become harder to find.
Looking back at the series, Siegel said, "We were lucky to get real, authentic stuff." He had gone to the Bahamas and recorded sponge fishermen who sang improvised Bible stories over repeated chants. But a fungus killed off the sponges and the fishermen didn't pass on the tradition, so while it lives on in the Explorer series, it has faded from real life.
Siegel said it was "a real privilege and a real thrill" to be a part of the Explorer series. "This stuff is timeless," he said. "It still sounds as fresh today as it did then."
Marty Lipp can be reached at Martylipp@hotmail.com.
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc. 01/26/03 >> go there
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