The harp

Pachelbel by harp, youtube.

The history of the harp.

The harp is sometimes used in folk music. Can you find such a piece for us to listen to on youtube?

Let's know our ars

Know two different types of Ars: Ars Antiqua and Ars Nova.

Listen to a little Hildegard.

The Lute

Research the history of the lute.

Oh look, the lovely Jakob Lindberg can help you out!

Choose sound gallery on the sidebar, and listen to Dowland, Bach, Byrd, Weiss, and Vivaldi.

Persian classical music

Simply lovely. While you listen, find out something about the Persian calender, New Year celebrations, or check out the borders of present day Iran.

Earworm

Shark, Squirrel and Tiger, here's my earworm. Ever since your father took up with Brazil and I thought, maybe we'll all fly down to Rio. I just had to share.

Man, words, guitar

Find out about Cat Stevens / Yusuf Islam.

Me, I love to see all those polite hippies sitting cross legged. If you visit this link, it goes into autoplay for the tracks that have been listened to by audiences of millions. Not a bad result for man, words, guitar.

Isicathamiya

I'm finding out about the history of South African music, and it's all fascinating, thanks to the combinations of traditions, influences, and the politics.

This track by Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo you will have heard. I love the poetry in this track as well as the melody and instrumentation.

But should Simon have recorded and distributed it? At the time of its release, in 1986, there was a worldwide cultural boycott imposed on South Africa against the apartheid regime; theoretically no-one in the world should have listened to South African music, but thanks to the Simon album, Ladysmith Black Mambazo came to be known by a global audience.

What do you think? Is music separate from politics, governments and power? Is music a way of taking control, and taking power?

Listen to Isicathamiya music with a brief explanation here. (If you want to search more, try Zulu music.)

Playing the kudyapi

Thanks to the Philippines being nearly two thousand islands, and home to a wide range of tribes living round mountains and sea shores, the music and instruments used across the region is huge.

I chose this playing of a kudyapi because I was so delighted by the musician. Enjoy what he does with his wooden, two-stringed boat-lute, then go on a tour to see what different instruments you can find in the islands.

Tinariwen

Tinariwen are playing in Hong Kong. Grrr. Tickets sold out.

The members of the music collective are from the travelling Tuareg of the Sahara. They now have international recognition.

Listen to their music here, here and here. Does it remind you of any music you've heard elsewhere?

(Now I've started clicking, I can't stop...)

Johann Pachelbel

Girls, you know how this week I perked up and said, That's the wool advert.

This is it. Canon in D Major by Johann Pachelbel.

Pachelbel composed in what is now called the Baroque period of music (1600s to 1700s). Cultured people were filling their ears with BIG SIZE stuff, like huge organ music filling great churches and halls.

I like it.

While you're in the Baroque, listen to Bach.

Madame Butterfly

Find out a little about this opera by Puccini. It's a popular one, and you will come across it often. Your maternal grandmother would have said the lesson in it was never get married.

The British Paraorchestra

'There are millions of prodigiously gifted musicians of disability around the world, and Charles Hazlewood is determined to give them a platform.'

'Watch the debut performance of the British Paraorchestra at TEDxBrussels.'

Celia Cruz

First, go searching for Cuba on the Internet. (And let's talk about Fidel Castro, since we're learning about Mao.)

Celia Cruz lived in the USA after Castro took power. According to Wiki, she was 'one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums'.

Listen to a selection of Salsa music: Quimbara, La Vida Es Un Carnaval, Rie Y Llora. What instruments can you detect?

Me, I love her enormous smile. And I bet I could do that bosom waggling thing.

Electronic music

The BBC has a short video explaining the Oramics machine. Find out about this equipment which is on display at the Science Museum.

I've added the exhibition to the list of things to see when we're in the UK.

Listen to pieces submitted to the electronic music competition run alongside the exhibition. I tried this, this, this. Which ones do you like?

Before you go, listen to Gary Numan, 'pioneer of commercial electronic music' (Wiki). Listen to Kraftwerk, too. And Depeche Mode. That's set me listening.

(Consider yourself lucky to have a mama stuck in the 1980s. You struck gold.)

Hip hop & Rap

What do you mean, rap?

I'm sure someone asked that over lunch last week.

It's all more complicated than I thought, let's put it like that.

I can opine about provocative lyrics, male/female discourse, values, political correctness etc etc., but if I was around the characters who gave detailed analysis of the history and who made fine distinctions between the subcultures, I'd probably keep my mouth shut.

Looks to me like a territory where you can make a complete pig's bottom of yourself. And maybe get shot.

I guess it's not a musical culture your father is going to delight in if you bring the language round the dining table.

I own an Eminem CD though. Does that establish my credibility to talk about it?