My taste in music run
far and wide. If I was a black man, I would sing the Blues,
but I’m not, so all I can do is play them on my
Lowden and Gibson guitars. In London, I played guitar in
Folk Clubs around the city, and whenever I could, I
would listen to the best (in my humble opinion)
to Bert Jansch, John Renbourn
and Davy Graham. On his site right now, you can here
Anji, one of my all time favorite songs to play. Davy
went off for years traveling in Europe and North Africa,
but like the others, and me, found his voice again and
was performing again, and producing new work until his
untimely passing in late 2008. Sometimes things in life
take time to work out, and like them, be patient and
never give up!
Ever since I was a kid,
I’ve also listened to Reverend Gary Davis, Sonny Terry and
Brownie McGhee, Elizabeth Cotton, and the songs which have
strangely brought me to Washington DC, where a lot of blues
people played - along with Duke
Ellington!
I learned that
Washington , a rather bleak “village” when I arrived from
London in 1969, was a center for the Piedmont Blues, and a
long time later, I connected with a wonderful man who
today, epitomizes this style: John Cephas. He plays with a Harmonica sidekick
Phil Wiggins. But taking lessons with John (in return
for teaching him how to use his Mac), rekindled my love
for this incredible music. As I write this, John passed
away today. Sad.
Here are a couple of
songs from Reverend Gary Davis: ”Candy Man
Blues” and
“I
heard the Angels Singing”, and here is a song from Sonny Terry
and Brownie MgGhee - “Keys to the
Highway”. Sonny
played by himself after Brownie passed away, and here he
is with “Hootin’ The
Blues”. Another
of my favorites is Skip James and here he is with
“Crow Jane”. Finally, there is a song from Jesse
Fuller - famous for writing San Francisco Bay Blues.
This song is Linin’ Track. If you like them, these and other
videos can be purchased from Stefan Grossman’s
site to whom I’m
very grateful for giving me permission to use this
material.
That's Stefan on the
left. I'm very grateful to him for giving me permission to
share the videos in this section. I lecture on Earth and
Space sciences in DC area schools (as part of my NASA/JPL
Solar System Ambassador function), I feel it's important
that kids get a fuller picture of their own cultural
heritage as a basis for boosting their own self-confidence
and esteem. That way, they believe me a little bit more
when I talk about their own lives and career possibilities
I'm also acutely aware of what its like to "parachute" into
schools -- make myself feel self-important without leaving
the kids anything tangible. I want to leave the kids with
this site. My feeling is that if more young people got
involved in these music roots, they may feel more connected
to a positive side to their heritage. Then maybe, they will
start to believe me as I;m trying to persuade kids to stay
in school and that there are exciting possibilities for
them in a large (Eclectic) planet.
When I came to the US in
1969, I’d been working in the computer industry in England
for 4 years, at that time, a rare feat for a 20 year old! I
flew to DC to meet Harry Hayman, who I’d met at a wedding
and who told me he was a programmer - like me - but at
NASA!!! The scientists and Engineers at NASA and these
musicians were and are my heroes, (as well as the
Beatles
and the Stones), but on the day I arrived, I found
Sonny and Brownie, along with Elizabeth Cotton singing
on the Mall. Ms. Cotton - playing here -
appropriately Washington
Blues, was
famous for writing Freight Train while working as a
housekeeper! Notice how she plays left handed. Unlike
Paul McCartney, she just turned the guitar upside down
and learned to play chords upside down! See, there are
different ways to learn!!
Anyway, I had arrived during the height of the
second American Folk Life
Festival.
Wow.
A free concert with some of my music idols only 10 feet
away. I later met Harry, who turned out to be the Chief
Programmer for the part of the Apollo program that was the
lift off from the moon to the rendezvous with the orbiting
command module, but that’s another story.
Many years later, Harry told me I should write a book.
Well, this site is it perhaps not in the format he
imagined, but it’s dedicated to him and all the people
at NASA.
At the other end of the
spectrum, I love to make electronic music. Ever since I
heard Kraftwerk (play in their site then close their
window to return here) in the late 70s, and local
Washington Bands (Urban Verbs
and Tiny Desk Unit
around the same time, and
being a geek, I wanted to learn how to make my own
computer-based music. Today, I use Apple’s Logic and
Melodyne, as well as Bias stuff. I’m not good enough yet
to plop a song on the site, but one day..
For a great overview of
music from around the world, and music for kids, I heartily
recommend the Putumayo
offerings.
Many countries have
their own versions of the Blues, or current music that is a credit to
their culture. Greece, where I spend a lot of time, has
Rembetika, which was born out of forced migrations of
Turks and Greeks based on religion back in 1922. Here is
a great example of a Rembetis (a Rembetika player)
Marcos Mamvakaris playing Φραγκοσυριανή
. Don’t ask, my Greek is
pretty basic. Rembetika songs are wistful, but often
amusing, telling stories of wine (Retsina), women and
hashish. It was banned several times by the authorities
or occupying forces, but is now enjoying a resurgence.
Φραγκοσυριανή is an example.
In the lands of the far
east, there is a ton of music that we never get to here,
for example Balinese and Javan. In Northern Asia, there
is Tuvan folk music, and you have to listen to
the music of Huun Huur
Tu. Play around
in their site too, listen to their music. It’s songs
dedicated to the land and to their mothers. See if you
can find them playing “Eki
Attar”. Their web
site shows an up-coming US tour so, if you can, go see
them.
