On Demand
New Sounds
-
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic and Oral Moses
Extreme Spirituals (originally aired Jan. 5, 2007)
There's gospel singing in a new music context on this edition of New Sounds. Hear some extreme spirituals - rearranged, well known African-American spirituals and 19th century art songs - from the Boston-based chamber rock band Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, in collaboration with Oral Moses. The resulting music is an unorthodox but deeply moving blend of Birdsongs' punk-proggy art rock instrumentation together with the strong and majestic voice of Oral Moses. We'll also listen to the intersection of Jewish music and Black spirituals from the Klezmatics release, "Brother Moses Smote the Water," a team effort with African-American gospel singer Joshua Nelson. Hear age-old Hebrew Passover songs, Nelson’s own brand of “kosher gospel,” and traditional Yiddish Klezmatic anthems, some featuring jazz singer/organist Kathryn Farmer. Plus, music by Bob Telson, Joel Chadabe, and others.
PROGRAM # 2625, Extreme Gospel (First aired on 1/5/07)
|
ARTIST(S) |
RECORDING |
CUT(S) |
SOURCE |
|
Uri Caine |
The Goldberg Variations |
Blessings variations [1:30] |
Winter & Winter #910054 www.winterandwinter.com |
|
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic w/ Oral Moses |
Extreme Spirituals |
I'm A Rollin' [5:30] |
Cuneiform #241 www.cuneiformrecords.com * |
|
Klezmatics w/Joshua Nelson |
Brother Moses Smote the Water |
Elijah Rock [9:00] |
Piranha #1896 www.piranha.de |
|
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic w/ Oral Moses |
Extreme Spirituals |
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot [4:00] |
See above. |
|
Bob Telson |
The Gospel At Colonus |
A Voices Foretold [6:30] Now Let The Weeping Cease [3:00] |
Nonesuch #79191 www.nonesuch.com* |
|
Uri Caine |
The Goldberg Variations |
The Nobody Knows Variation [4:00] |
See above. |
|
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic w/ Oral Moses |
Extreme Spirituals |
A Little More Faith In Jesus [5:30] Oh Freedom [4:30] |
See above. |
|
Joel Chadabe |
Settings for Spirituals |
A City Called Heaven [2:00] |
Lovely Music #1302 www.lovely.com |
Podcast
Stay up to date.
Subscribe to the Podcast
New Sounds Live
2008-2009 Concert Season
Bobby Previte's musical miniatures, mystical choral music by Morton Feldman and Arvo Part, peace pieces for piano, and post-rock/post-jazz.
More
New Sounds on Facebook
Befriend us and receive infrequent reminders about show happenings! Oh, and check out our friends!
More
New Sounds Live
Highlights with Audio
An exclusive presentation of New Sounds Live and WNYC Live performances for the website, featuring performances from inside and outside the WNYC studios from over three decades.
More
Twitchy Renaissance-Infused Minimalism
New Sounds
From the New Sounds Live concerts at Merkin Hall, Nico Muhly presents a series of new electroacoustic ensemble works, combining “twitchy Minimalism” and Renaissance polyphony. Hear brand-new works from "Mothertongue," along with other works, recorded live.
In Robert Moran's Kitchen
New Sounds
From October 30, 1989, the infamous "cooking show" with composer/raconteur Robert Moran. Recorded while cooking an Indian dinner in John Schaefer's kitchen, for reasons still not entirely clear. Along the way, we hear an "acoustic" version of Cage's 0:00 - for amplification of chopping vegetables and blender. And don't miss the teary conversation as onions are chopped. View the the recipes.
Michael Hedges and Michael Manring
New Sounds
The incredibly gifted and astonishingly original guitarist Michael Hedges left the planet much too soon in 1997. Avant-folk and ever-entertaining, Hedges made brilliant music with alternate tunings, harmonics and was known for striking the guitar’s body and strings with his fingers, palms and knuckles. His close friend and sometime collaborator, electric bass virtuoso Michael Manring, was a genre-bender, before music writers ever discovered that hyphenated term. He started out in the New Age bins, but moved all over with various projects, including the very first New Age-death-metal-jazz-funk-fusion record, among other things, with his “hyperbass”, (a fretless instrument which makes re-tuning mid-piece a little easier). On this October 10, 1987 edition of New Sounds, the two artists visited and played at the WNYC performance studios.
Caravan Variations
New Sounds
Like camels slogging through the sand, the exotic strains of “Caravan,” by Duke Ellington and his sometime trombonist Juan Tizol (with rarely heard lyrics by Irving Mills), have been played loose, fast, swinging, and/or slow by just about everyone. For this New Sounds program, it’s another of the occasional series of programs of Theme and Variations, where the premise is simple: take a single piece of music and explore what a number of musicians have done with it, through arrangements, deconstructions, and revisions of the original theme. This time around, it’s Duke Ellington’s “Caravan.” Listen to arrangements by Romania’s Fanfare Ciocarlia, Hungary’s Kalman Balogh & The Gipsy Cimbalom Band, the California Guitar Trio, the ska group Hepcat, banjoman Bela Fleck, Lebanese composer Rabih Abou-Khalil, and trumpeter/composer Jon Hassell, among others.
- Comments [2]
- Radiolab: Choice (11/14/2008)
- The Brian Lehrer Show: The Hybrid Economy (11/18/2008)
- The Brian Lehrer Show: Agriculture Warrior (11/17/2008)
- The Brian Lehrer Show: Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble (11/19/2008)
- Radiolab: Sperm (11/21/2008)
- The Leonard Lopate Show: Secrets of Success (11/19/2008)
- The Leonard Lopate Show: Sex Politics (11/17/2008)

Leave a Comment
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. WNYC reserves the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the WNYC.org Comment Guidelines before posting.