In concert

I keep returning to those Kutiman videos that you surely have -- or should have -- seen by now, and meditating on why I'm so drawn to them. The images are unique and pleasing to the eye, sure, and the songs themselves are solid, as repeated listening to the mp3s reveals. But that's not why I keep going back.

I've decided it's because the videos reveal to me in an essential way how connected we all really are. We talk about how our wired, Facebooked, broadband technology makes the world a smaller place. But now an Israeli producer, working on a MacBook in his bedroom, shows us how small it really is.

These many musicians each sing their own song; but through the guiding hand of Kutiman, they make beautiful music together. It sounds so natural I have to remind myself as I listen that their synchronicity is not intentional. Yet though it was manipulated, mixed and edited by a clever, creative artist, even Kutiman was "[amazed] to see how many movies matched together, without me even touching it."

A lot of the web commentary points out that this project presages the death of copyright (in a good way), though I think we’ve seen that coming for a while now. But Thru-You for me is Sufi thinker Hazrat Inayat Khan’s philosophy made (virtual) flesh: "Life is a symphony, and the action of every person in this life is the playing of his particular part in the music."

The idea that we really are one big band, grooving and harmonizing and clashing and clanking together is nothing new, but I’m moved to see it rendered so lovingly. Given the current collective mood, it's refreshing to behold and celebrate this connectedness which is so readily at hand if we're open to it -- and to one another.

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One of my parts in this grand symphony is to share some music with you. The radio’s the primary conduit for that; this space is another. I opened my most recent KGNU Afternoon Sound Alternative with this set. It’s not directly related to TerraSonic in that it’s not world music, per se. But our magic carpet is woven from many musical threads.

Artist // Track // Album
Johnny Cash // Rock Island Line (Wolf Remix) // Remixed
Steinski // Them That’s Not // What Does It All Mean?: 1983-2006 Retrospective
Kutiman // I M New // Thru-You
Professor Shehab & Iloop // Drunken Money (Ambient Remix) // Uproot: The Ingredients (DJ/Rupture)
Money // Science Fiction // Broken Jazz 101 EP
Pop Levi // Dollar Bill Rock // The Return to Form Black Magick Party
Steve Spacek // Dollar (Produced by J Dilla) // Space Shift

ASA Today Mix – 090313

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Thanks to all of you who turned out last week to support TerraSonic’s first KGNU Spring Pledge Drive Show. The response is greatly appreciated. If you missed it, fret not. We’ve got one more drive show this Saturday.

If you’re able to join us this week, your money will go twice as far, as a generous, anonymous donor will match all pledges dollar-for-dollar up to $1000. That’s serious bucks by community radio standards. We’re hoping to double our money up to the full $1000. If you listen via podcast and want to pledge at some time other than when the show's actually on the air, you can still apply your donation to TerraSonic by writing in the open field of the premium line "I specifically want this pledge to count for TerraSonic this coming Saturday."

Thanks in advance for your contribution. And, as always, thanks for listening.

Here's the link to last week's show:

TerraSonic - 090314