Sunday, March 19, 2006

Episode 008 - Hosted by Glen and Bridgitte of The ZA Show

Tim Linhart - "Le Cygne" from Carnivale des Animaux
Kristen Miller - "Ring of Fire"
Máiréad Nesbitt - "The Butterfly"
Daniel Pezzotti - Return of the Jupiter
Jorge Saade-Scaff & Boris Cepeda - Suite Ecuatoriana
Martha Colby - "Born Again"
DBR - "Cotillion 1"
Arrows - "Daughter of Job"

http://www.bowed.org/008/008.mp3


Hey folks,

Greetings!

See?! I told you! Every other week. I ain't lyin'!

I had a lot of fun putting this episode together. Opening up the show is "The Swan" from Saint-Saens' famous Carnival of Animals - the first time a tune written by a dead guy has been featured on the program. What makes the performance unique is that the instruments in this performance are made of ice - courtesy of Tim Linhart's Ice Orchestra

Two female cellist singer-songwriters in this episode (and one to come in the next episode) - Kristen Miller and Martha Colby. From their incredible recordings, I was able to pull two pieces that prominantly feature bowed cello (what is it with female cellist singer-songwriters and this obsession with pizzicato?!!). Also featured on this episode is Ecuadoran virtuoso Jorge Saade-Scaff. I have been trying to get a track out of this guy since December. There is a long trail of emails between us trying to negotiate a piece of music for this program. Luckily his English is better than my Spanish, else we wouldn't have gotten anywhere.

Hosting this show are Glen and Bridgitte of the popular podcast The ZA Show - a truly fascinating program about life, politics, news, and culture in South Africa. They also feature some great podsafe music - and promise to someday have some Afrikaans music on the show as well. A very entertaining listen.

Episode 009 will be coming in another two weeks and promises to be another great collection of work. More updates and surprises to come. Stay tuned!

AMK
string@bowed.org
www.bowed.org

Monday, March 6, 2006

Episode 007 - Hosted by composer Mike Hovancsek

Fern Knight - "Egg Theme and Variations"
Fiidla & the Chocolat' Wireworks - "Jam Jam"
Stuart Wyatt - "Twopiece (part two)"
Ellen Fullman - "I Ain't Got No Home"
Bright Red Paper - "D Is For Dead Sea"
Patrick Neher - "Improv d'Amour"
Von Cello - "The Other One"

http://www.bowed.org/007/007.mp3


Hello everybody!

I am pleased to present a bunch of changes to the program. Probably the biggest change (though not so noticable just yet) is that I am about to double the number of episodes. These should be coming out about once every other week or so.

I am also in the process of giving the website a face-lift. Look for that to be 100% complete sometime soon.

This episode has a decidedly melancholy feel to it. Nearly all the tunes are in a minor key, for example. So for those in the Northern Hemiphere, this will be the perfect soundtrack to these late winter afternoons we're all experiencing. I can't really invoke a theme for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere - farthest south I've been is Singapore.

Frequent listeners to the program will notice my affinity for "bootleg" quality recordings of amazing performances (note the Rob Thomas track from episode 005). Such is the case again with Stuart Wyatt's "Twopiece" - recorded under the Louis XIV bridge in Paris. Not even the noise and hiss of the surroundings can mask the intensity of how this performance must have sounded live.

Also of note in this episode is Ellen Fullman - playing an instrument of her own creation - the Long String Instrument. I have included this piece even though Fullman is technically not playing a bowed instrument. The sound of the instrument though is made with sustained friction on the strings which creates a sound not unlike a bowed string. To my ears, her track sounds uncommonly trippy.

Despite my best efforts to secure Sean Connery as the host of this Episode 007, I am pleased to present artsist and composer Mike Hovancsek as the host of this program - hosted apparently from the dark recesses of his underground laboratory.

Enjoy!

AMK
string@bowed.org
www.bowed.org