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• Post #4242031

  This is a 27-minute-long video about the Begena, a large Ethiopian lyre and an #Instrument that's heavily intertwined with Ethiopian culture and spirituality. The main focus is around Ermias who founded a workshop and school that manufactures and teaches Begena to the next generation and so keeps the tradition alive. #Music #Ethnomusicology #WorldMusic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAlD9nkJzLc And if you want to read more, here's their website: https://ermiasbegena.com

• Post #4070476

  Lucius Apuleius mentions the sistra of the great procession: "aereis et argenteis immo vero aureis etiam sistris argutum tinnitum constrepentes" (bronze, silver, and indeed also golden sistra producing a lively ringing cacophony; The Golden Ass, pt9). Here's a little experimental #Archaeomusicology recording of what that could've sounded like, played on my multitimbral Roman-style sistrum. Only 5 tracks though. It must've truly been a “holy noise” back then. #Music #Ethnomu...

• Post #2968377

  It's been around 30C / 86F for the last few days, and that makes me want to bring the tropical #Music vibes. This is Manu kiki. No clue what that means, as I don't speak Nakanamanga AKA North Efate or Nguna. It's spoken by around 10,000 people. The song is a modern mix of string band and Pacific choral style, which is a synthesis of long-standing indigenous vocal traditions, colonial European church music and contemporary cultural fusion. #Ethnomusicology #WorldMusic htt...

• Post #2968376

  Went for a nice stroll around the abbey, the ponds and vineyard, featuring geese and at least four goslings, coots with their young, ducks that did a hover and rocket routine in front of my nose over the path, a distant heron doing its statue impression, and what we think was a badger trail. Also songbirds, loads of songbirds. Afterward we went to sit in the courtyard of the abbey, where my dad and I decided to go for the abbey's own beer. Tasty stuff. All in all, a relaxing afternoon.

• Post #2968375

  Based on something I just randomly realised: How many anthems (current or previous, and/or of historic countries) or songs do you know that are based on the same melody as "god save the King?" Me: 11, I think. And now I need to go find a suitably earwormy earworm to stick in my brain instead. PS. No, I don’t tend to torture myself in this way regularly nor deliberately.

• Post #2968374

  The conch horn is likely the oldest labrophone or lip-reed #instrument. It's used around the world for communication, timekeeping, #Music and social and religious functions. Only medium to large shells can be played like a horn. Smaller ones can be whistles though. Being a tightly-coiled helix, the internal tube is around 3x the shell's length. The sound is resonant and powerful. Here's me playing mine. . #Ethnomusicology #WorldMusic (1/6)

• Post #1458771

  Just finished listening to the World roots episode "Festival on the Niger", originally broadcast on 26 Aug 2006 on BBC radio 3, and featuring live #Music by Abdoulaye Diabaté, Neba Solo and Habib Koité, alongside impressions, interviews, etc. The presenter, Lucy Duran, was a lecturer at SOAS while I was studying #Ethnomusicology there. We've had some truly great conversations. I really should listen to more of these episodes, they're just wonderful. #WorldMusic...

• Post #1348547

  Recently a company updated the intercom system throughout the building. Now It could simply be me, but this thing is just so bland and aesthetically unappealing. It doesn't quite fit. Is this what people call modern minimalism or something? If so, that’s not my style, at all.

• Post #1348545

  That moment you stop in your tracks because you're hearing something that surprises you. Well, that was me this morning. I walked out of a building and I hear a voice I never expected to hear then and there. Someone was playing some Ma Rainey. I couldn't identify the song, but I've heard the Mother of the #Blues (1886-1939) often enough to recognise her iconic voice. Here's See-see Rider Blues from 1924. #Music #Jazz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L1hE3Qhv7E

• Post #1348544

  "What is the only provocation that could bring about the use of nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. What is the priority target for nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. What is the only established defense against nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. How do we prevent the use of nuclear weapons? By threatening to use nuclear weapons. And we can’t get rid of nuclear weapons, because of nuclear weapons." - Martin Amis, einstein's Monsters, 1987 #Quote

• Post #1348542

  Highlight of the day: Getting asked at random "could you perhaps play something on that instrument?" Sure! And the next thing you know their jaw is on the floor for the next three minutes. 🤯 My job is done! FYI, the instrument was the cristal, which admittedly is all kinds of awesome.

• Post #975780

  This is probably one of my favourite Rast Peşrevs by Refik Fersan (1893-1965), maybe because it's the first one I learnt on turkish ney. A peşrev is an instrumental prelude often consisting of 4 hâne (sections) separated by a teslim, a repeated melody that ties the hâne together. The third hâne usually does the biggest modulation away from the base makam. Here it's played on kemençe, yaylı tanbûr, oud and kanun. #Music #Ethnomusicology #WorldMusic #Microtonal https://www.youtube....

• Post #975777

  When was the last time I shared Tajik #Music? Umm, maybe once a long time ago, maybe not ever. Anyway… In the category of #GlobalPop, this is Mino feat. Qadami Qurbon with Umirayu. I really love the metric changes. Pop music in 4/4… Pfft! Let's do 11/8, but only in the verses, and do a limping rhythm for the chorus. #Ethnomusicology #WorldMusic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1DlUXhr1hE

• Post #892928

  Venus figurines are a cultural or religious mystery from the upper #palaeolithic. There are countless interpretations, so I wanted to explore and consider things from my POV as an ethnomusicologist with specialisms in cultural exchange and migration, who also loves #history and experimental #Archaeology. Photo: reconstruction Venus of Dolní Věstonice (see alt text for more info). #Anthropology #Prehistory… (1/12)

• Post #596874

  I just recorded this little mashup on jeli ngoni; a small fretless West African lute; in this form mainly played by Bamana jeliw (griots) and going back to the 14th century. It’s currently tuned (top to bottom): E3 G4 G3 C4 A4; the Low G and C strings are the main strings. The others are sometimes described as kora strings or drones. For fun, let's call this ”tile tɛ yen n'a tɛ yen / Jarabi" (the sun isn't there if he/she/it isn't there / passion; sweethe...

• Post #596863

  This is Sand, Roots & Blossom by Rihab Azar, a female oud player from Syria. Fun fact: a Syrian female oud player was the subject of Turkish novelist Fatma Aliye Hanın's 1898 novel Udi, which is based on the true story of Bedia from Aleppo who uses her oud as a means of resistance against patriarchy and the hardships of life. After her father's death and divorcing from her unfaithful husband, her  oud becomes her “most loyal friend. #Music #Ethnomusicology #WorldMusic htt...

• Post #587956

  I want to tackle this somewhat, because it annoys the hell out of me. So I've been hearing white supremacists have started being smug about Aurignacian peoples in now southern Germany developing protocuneiform around 43-34ka; the paper for that discovery is here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2520385123 #History #Anthropology (1/12)

• Post #555619

  #Thai psychedelic techno? I didn't even know that existed until very recently, nor that I would actually enjoy it as much as I did. This is The Hymmapan Electron, who are apparently a duo that is redefining Thai traditional instruments with modern electronic sounds. The whole performance is 53 minutes long, but absolutely worth it. #Music #Ethnomusicology #WorldMusic #Thailand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wrwf5fj4zNI

• Post #555615

  “Code words" in a 1932 instrument catalogue. Nothing sneaky about that though. Those were basically QR codes telegraph-style. I was perusing it to find out more about my banjo. I don't have an exact year for it, but it's 86+ years old; given the workshop was bombed in 1940. Anyway, I found it, mentioning: "specifically designed for stage work; code word WITNESS, price £8 10/, not including the resonator and case I also have. For fun, at the time that was equival...

• Post #555614

  African #Philosophy vs Western philosophy; a video essay by Godesulloh. This was my early-morning listen, because I got curious which supposed intrinsic stereotypes of such overgeneralised unified categorisation were being used to contrast and compare. Instead I got a wonderful and thoughtful exploration, including about the metaphysics of difference and historical contingencies, which is highly relevant to the topic. He brings up some really great points. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJj8LgZ...

• Post #555608

  OK, I admit it. I couldn't resist starting my evolutionary hominin skull collection for personal reference. I decided to do so with these 2 well-known ones. Miguelón: pre-Neanderthal ca 430ka, found at Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, Spain, in 1992/93. This is the most complete pre-modern skull. Dinkinesh AKA Lucy: Australopithecus Afarensis ca 3.2ma, found at Hadar, Ethiopia, in 1974. Her Amharic name means "you are wonderful", and I couldn't agree more! #Prehis...

• Post #362090

  This is Nomfusi with Iqaqa; because it's Xhosa, q is an alveolar click. The song is a nice blend of various genres. It's a song about a relationship with lyrics in English and Xhosa, and the description helpfully explains the recurring phrase: "The Xhosa idiom “Iqaqa aliziva kunuka” means “the skunk does not smell itself” which refers to the fact that people often are unable to recognize their own faults." #Music #Ethnomusicology #WorldMusic https://www.youtube....