Speaking of music with cultural meaning, ethnomusicologist Canyon Cody was thrilled when receiving a Fulbright scholarship to explore the music of Spain in a new context. He journeyed to Granada with rapper/producer Gnotes, dubbed their project Gnawledge, built a studio atop a flamenco guitar shop, and spent a full year recording Spanish and North African musicians. The result, Granada Doaba, presents both classical songs and their supped-up electronic versions. Multicultural as this world is, surprises appear: "El Manisero de Potemkin" features former Joe Strummer and Johnny Rotten drummer Richard Dudanski, now a bar owner in Granada, and Hidetomo Nambu, a Japanese flamenco guitarist.

The album is impressive, and to keep in line with his philosophy: free. You can download the project in its entirety from their website. Open sourcing is not just a gimmick to Cody, but an ongoing dialogue; the limited edition disc (sent to press) features nineteen remixes, from producers that snagged the music online. I had first come across this project two months ago, impressed with its thick musicality and beats, as well as the fact that Cody and Gnotes left some pieces untouched by drum machines. Their devotion to presenting this rich musical history in two contexts is a global philosophy in itself, and the idea of sharing such resources via grant money is a great building block for artists to lay the foundations of future records, without the incessant urge to dominate the marketplace through sales instead of downloads. Again, everyone wins in the end -- well, not that the expression of human emotions and thoughts through song ever ends...