Folks/Guys/People: the links that follow take you to some of the music audio or video played (or to be played) in support of some of the themes/issues explored in this class. If the links don't work please let me know. (I have no control over the sites to which these links take you.) Enjoy!
NOTE: Music assignment. If you have been assigned a music assignment then access it here and then come back to this page to play the assigned music videos.
Afro Celt Sound System (Irish/West African)
Live in Lugano
Eireann
Live at WOMAD
North
Festival interceltique Lorient
Anoushka Shankar -- See Ravi Shankar
Cynthia Mare -- See Oliver Mtukudzi
Chico O'Farill Suite....
Chris Botti
http://youtu.be/xWEIPMYfZiI (8:47)
http://youtu.be/bcR-ahbY9Zk (2:03:19)
Interview: http://youtu.be/HIZVQ1j6P9s (27:30)
Crosby and Armstrong
David Gilmour (former band member of Pink Floyd)
Live (in Concert) in Gdansk (2:00:43)
Live at Royal Albert Hall (2:31:25)
Dead Can Dance
See Film Music below
Dire Straits
"Telegraph Road" from the concert by Dire Straits (lyrics are available via their album called alchemy.) Related news video: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14765028
Dire Straits - Telegraph Road (Live in Basel - Full Length Version)
Dire Straits - Telegraph Road [Basel -92 ~ HD ~ Part 2]
Mark Knopfler - Telegraph Road LIVE (Multicam) HQ Audio
Telegraph Road - Mark Knopfler at the Royal Albert Hall
Live from Basel (concert)
At Wembley (concert)
Dropkick Murphys
To learn about this band click here
Green Fields of France (song originally composed by Eric Bogle)
The lyrics are available here
E.S.T. (Esbjörn Svensson Trio)
Svensson talks about his music
Film Music (the soundtrack)
From the perspective of filmmaking, a film, especially an intelligent film, is an exquisitely balanced composite of technology, creativity, and passion. What does one mean by an intelligent film? Its one that cannot be described by such adjectives as asinine, banal, soporific, degenerate, mediocre, idiotic, decadent, and so on. That is, in general terms, intelligent films are those that are, at once, immensely entertaining, and yet powerfully thought provoking, emotionally challenging and intellectually enriching. Most importantly, they fulfill the mandate of true art: via the medium of the aesthetic experience to comment upon and/or question the status quo--at whatever level it may be (global, regional, national, local, etc.) and from whatever perspective (the family, society, polity, economy, the environment, etc., etc.)--in the service of a better future. To explain this point in another way: the difference between an intelligent film and non-intelligent film, at the simplest level, is that the intelligent film makes demands on the intelligence of the viewer. This difference emerges most clearly when one makes the distinction between art and entertainment. (See the definition of Art in the Course Glossary--PART B of Online Course Materials.) Intelligent films, then, are also works of art.
Now, A widely underappreciated creative element of films among the unwashed (meaning the masses) is the sound track—to be understood here to refer to the musical portion of the film audio and which, when it is an original composition, is also referred to as the film score. Since this course features a number of films and film-clips as a pedagogical device for raising/exploring course-relevant subject-matter it is important that you learn to see films with a more attentive/critical eye than you are ordinarily used to. The irony is that in the arsenal of the filmmaker the film score is just as important (if not more so) as the other elements of the film in capturing/manipulating the emotions of the audience--which, of course, is one of the central tasks of all films. (Note: the term “filmmaker” should be understood as a composite and not a unitary entity and reflects my obsession with debunking the theory of the auteur—which posits that a film is the work of just one person, the director.)
The significance of the film score in filmmaking is indicated by a number of functions; such as these:
(a) establishing the mood of the film;
(b) situating the story in a given geographic locale;
(c) situating the story in a given time period;
(d) suggesting the passage of time;
(e) accentuating specific action(s) taking place on the screen;
(f) serving simply as a filler for missing dialogue (like program music in television or in documentaries);
(g) negatively accentuating other sounds critically important to a scene by withdrawing the film music from that scene; and
(h) serve as a thematic thread, in place of dialogue and/or subtitles, that binds the scenes in a film into a thematically coherent whole.
In other words, the film score or soundtrack is really important. Consequently, you have been (or will be) introduced to the work of one or more of these film composers (who in a number of cases also perform their own music outside of films--e.g. Dead Can Dance and Tangerine Dream): the late John Barry and James Horner, plus Dead Can Dance, Mychael Danna, Mark Isham, Tangerine Dream, and Vangelis. We may also touch upon the work of John Williams and Hans Zimmer.
Dead Can Dance (Lisa Gerrard / Brendan Perry)
The Host of Seraphim (6:19) Lisa Gerrard (Note: this song is featured on the soundtrack of the film Baraka )
The Carnival is Over (4:31) Brendan Perry
How Fortunate the Man with None (9:09) Brendan Perry
James Horner
A Tribute to James Horner (II)
Read his obituary here: http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2016/09/22/494922417/james-horners-posthumous-works-tell-a-story-of-his-life
His TED talk on composing film scores: https://youtu.be/xIcwsQgQrEg
John Barry
John Barry Memorial Concert (June 20th, 2011) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
"Somewhere In Time" Complete Soundtrack
"Dances with Wolves" Film Theme (Taiwanese Soloists Symphony Orchestra)
Film 96 John Barry (talks about his work)
Moviola: Part One / Part Two / Part Three
Read his obituary here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jan/31/john-barry-obituary
John Williams
John Williams on the Power of Film Music
John Williams Scoring Session Indiana Jones
John Williams Conducts the Opening Scene to Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Steven Spielberg praises John Williams
Mychael Danna
Lullaby This is the official music video for the theme song, sung by Bombay Jayashri, from Danna's orginal film score (soundtrack) for the film Life of Pi. NOTE: The film, directed by Ang Lee, won several Academy Awards in 2013, including ones for best film and best original film score. A brief interview of the singer while attending the Oscars is here (notice her humility)--her song was nominated for best original song; though it did not get the Oscar.
Mark Isham
Never Cry Wolf soundtrack. Go to http://www.imdb.com and locate the page for the film Never Cry Wolf and read the storyline and the user review. Also on the same page, click on the link "combined details" under Credits and find out who wrote the original music and read his full bio. After that play all these videos:
http://youtu.be/_Wb2aaSNJcw([4:53] Make sure you pay close attention to the musical instruments used and the emotions they evoke in you.)
Composer Mark Isham's Tips for Creating a Movie Soundtrack
http://youtu.be/E33zgIdUhcg (15:40)
Soundtracks excerpts (Play first 5 minutes)
Never Cry... --excerpt 1 (3:13)
Never Cry...--excerpt 2 (3:49)
Tangerine Dream
Oriental Haze (performed with Iris Camaa and Linda Spa live in London at the Shepherd's Bush Empire)
Live in Poland (old line up: Froese, Chris Franke, Johannes Schmoelling) (30:51)
Live in Zurich (45:00)
Vangelis
Go to http://www.vangelismovements.com/mythodeaconcert.htm When you arrive at the site click also on the Mythodea booklet and read Section 3. (If the link is dead then you can access section three here.)
Then watch this video: http://youtu.be/mx8Uu4DkklI
The Bounty (Film Theme)
Missing (Film Theme)
Journey to Ithaka (2:00 hr)
live in rotterdam (1:00 hr)
Videos on film music (generic perspectives)
Gato Barbieri (from the documentary film Calle 54)
Bolivia
You must also see composer/arranger Chico O'Farrill and his big band from the same film here:
Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite
The High Kings
First, go to http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/t/the_high_kings/paddys_green_shamrock_shore.html, and then, second, play this music video (Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore): http://youtu.be/d_vpueFj-R8
Preamble to the song:
March 10, 1847 Cork Examiner
These immigrants are almost totally unprovided with clothing, without sufficient provisions, having consumed a great part of their scanty store while out, and scarcely with strength remaining to leave the hold. It reflects disgrace upon the regulations of the Government that creatures in this condition should be suffered to proceed to sea, with no other dependence against a long and enfeebling voyage than the kindness of persons whose treatment of their passengers, on an average, is hardly less brutal than that experienced from the masters of slave-ships.
Hiromi Uehara
In Spain (with Chick Corea)
The Gambler
Delusion
Love...
Interview
Simon Phillips--drum solo (21:54)
Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)
with Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt (conducted by John O'Hara)
Aqualung
Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day
Jethro Tull... the First 20 Years (documentary, 53:04)
Keiko Matsui
Forever...
Next... (from the album, The Ring)
Water...
playing with Bob James
Concert: Live in Tokyo (1:45:21)
Kitaro
(See also Silk Road Ensemble below)
Marillion
Sugar Mice (Same song but different video may have been played in class. Assignment: Go to http://marillion.com When you arrive at the site locate the lyrics for this song--please use your common (web) sense to find the lyrics. Additionally, do your own research on what is sugar mice and how you can make it at home. Preamble to the sugar mice track played in class: "This next song was originally inspired by a dream in a Holiday Inn in Milwaukee. This song is dedicated to all the unemployed people today, to the romantics, to the dreamers, and to those who still love art.")
Seasons End (alternative version: here). Theme of this song is climate change. Assignment: Go to http://marillion.com When you arrive at the site locate the lyrics for this song--please use your common (web) sense to find the lyrics.
Slàinte Mhath (This is a Gaelic phrase, usually used when raising a glass (toasting) to relatives, friends, colleagues, etc. that means "to good health" and pronounced slanchee va. Assignment: Go to http://marillion.com When you arrive at the site locate the lyrics for this song--please use your common (web) sense to find the lyrics.)
This Strange Engine (alternative version: here).
Estonia (This song was inspired by an awful marine tragedy when the sea ferry called the MS Estonia, on its way to the port of Stockholm, Sweden from Tallinn, Estonia, sank in the Baltic Sea--because of bad weather coupled with poor ship design and human error--around midnight on Wednesday, September 28, 1994. The majority of the people on the ferry died in the tragedy; numbering more than 850! (There were 989 people altogether on board.) The song is an attempt to deal with the grief (both personal and national) that ensues from tragedies that consume so many lives in an instant. Assignment: Go to http://marillion.com When you arrive at the site locate the lyrics for this song--please use your common (web) sense to find the lyrics.)
Miles Davis
Antibes: http://youtu.be/sayOJKN6yuo
So What: http://youtu.be/zqNTltOGh5c
Documentary: http://youtu.be/7CRdLSLy5Jg
Moody Blues
Mychael Danna (See Film Music above)
Oliver Mtukudzi (Zimbabwe)
Oumou Sangare (Mali)
Sounsoumba (On Later with Jools Holland BBC II)
Senkele
Saa Magni
Pat Metheny Group
Concert: World Tour...
http://youtu.be/lxyXBhGnFRQ (1:50:09)
Concert at Lugano Jazz Festival
http://youtu.be/-SnTV1xaA7s (1:45:44)
Pink Floyd
One Slip (5:51)
Live Concert at Earls Court (2:24:07)
Live Concert: Delicate Sound of Thunder (1:30:47)
Ravi Shankar
This amazing genius of East Indian folk music had some influence on the early genesis of rock music as it emerged out of rock and roll (which itself grew, in part, out of jazz).
On BBC with Anoushka (Pay special attention to the musical "conversation" between Anoushka and her dad.)
Anoushka Shankar and Flamenco in France (5:53)
Norah Jones (Shankar) and Anoushka Shankar
Receiving the Grammy Award (on behalf of their dad)
Anoushka: Sitar and violin duet
Anoushka: PBS Interview (8:08)
Roger Waters (former band member of Pink Floyd)
NOTE: The track titled Comfortably Numb played in class came from the live performance in Berlin, on July 21, 1990, of the Pink Floyd concept album The Wall in celebration of the demolition of the Berlin Wall (a process that began on November 9, 1989) that had divided Berlin for three decades--into the Stalinist communist East and the democratic capitalist West following its construction that started on August 13, 1961--symbolizing the beginning of the end of the cold war that had not only wasted unconscionably enormous amount of precious resources, fueled in part by the nuclear arms race, but had precipitated the deaths of hundreds of thousands across the world as domestic struggles against oppression were stoked into full-blown armed conflagrations when each of the two cold war protagonists, the United States and the U.S.S.R., globalized the struggles by aligning themselves with one side or the other. The first of the three links below takes you to the song with the lyrics, performed by the original Pink Floyd band. (Yes, you must access and digest all three items.)
Comfortably Numb (with Lyrics), Pink Floyd
Comfortably Numb (Roger Waters, live in Berlin)
Documentary: Berlin
Rush
Closer...
Get the lyrics for this song here.
Tom....
Santana
Oye Como Va...
Concert: Java Jazz Festival (1:54:58)
Concert: Tanglewood (1:20:11)
Concert: Mexico (1:21:29)
Silk Road Ensemble (part of the Silk Road Project -- not the same as the UN sponsored Silk Road project, but which you must also access and explore).
Instruments They Use in Their Ensemble
Making of a Playlist without Borders
(See also Kitaro, above)
Sixto Rodriguez
Cause
Establishment...
Lifestyles...
I think...
Cant...
Lyrics of the songs available here. (Yes, you must read and digest the lyrics.)
CBS 60 minute feature on Sixto Rodriguez (14:02)
Documentary about this highly talented musician.
Tangerine Dream
See Film Music above.
Thomas Mapfumo (Zimbabwe)
Kuvarira Mukati
Vangelis
See Film Music above
Vijay Iyer
Wang Feng (Chinese rock musician)
Wazimbo & Orchestra (Marrabenta Star de Mocambique)
Nwahulwana
Nwahulwana (remix "Eu sou daqui" [I am here])
Magumbo (music accompanying a slide show of their home country)
Youssou N'Dour (Senegal)
Birima
Live in Paris