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Travelers Logs, Soundscapes and the History of Rhythm n Blues
In the first hour, Radio Lab delves into tavelers logs from Newfoundland to Lisbon. We then take a sonic trip through Fez, Morocco before venturing to the 20s and 30s in the history of RnB when double entendres and metaphors were the only way to get your message across.
Lisboa! a Soundscape Portrait
Imagine: you've been dropped in the middle of Lisbon Portugal and you're
just a pair of headless ears, listening your way around. The bells of old trams,
exotic birds chattering, a local Fado musician..
Producer: Michael Rusenberg and Hans Ulrich Werner
Hour 2: Soundscapes
Fez Morocco, in sound
"A tape recorder is a pocket full of bread crumbs. When you record
sounds wherever you go, you leave an invisible trail from moment to
moment. And then one day you listen to the tape and you find your way
back again."
That's how producer Jim Mentzer begins this beautiful sound walk through
the ancients streets of Fez, Morocco, which he calls a "human hive"
of
activity.
Producer: Jim Metzner
Links:
www.pulseplanet.org
http://savvy.mpr.org/show/features/2000/20000624/fez.shtml
(this piece first aired on Minnesota Public Radio's "The Savvy
Traveler")
Fez, in Music
We hang out for a little while longer at Fez, courtesy of WNYC's
omnipresent John Schaefer. He let's us dip into his vast archive of
recordings from the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music. What a nice guy!
Links:
Fez Festival Photo Gallery
Afrosippi Picnic
Reporter Benjamin Adair takes us to a picnic in Mississippi where the
roots of the music and the people and the pie can be traced back
hundreds of years. He uncovers two distinctly American traditions. The
first: "Fife and Drum" music, descended from early American military
music. The second is the Great Picnic - a celebration of sharecroppers
in days gone by.
Producer: Ben Adair
Links:
savvy.mpr.org
(this piece first aired on Minnesota Public Radio "The Savvy Traveler")
Inside
A man is tortured by sound. Even a dripping tap resounds in the recesses
of his mind, keeping him twisting and
turning in bed at night. Producer Millicent Dillion brings to the life the living
hell of hearing everything.
Performed by Rene Auberjonois
Writer: Millicent Dillon
Produced and Directed: Erik Bauersfeld
Sound Design and Production: Jim McKee
Music: Wieslaw Pogorzelski
Creative Consultant: Irene Oppenheim
Hour 3: "Let the Good Times Roll" The History of RnB
Bold, Bawdy and Banned
Sex, censorship and segregation meant that black songs were not often
played on white radio. But banning songs with suggestive lyrics actually
increased their popularity. And things didn't get any clearer when white
kids started buying black music. This week, we go back to the 20's and
30's when double entendres and metaphors were the only way to get your
message across.
Produced by Lex Gillespie for The Rhythm & Blues Foundation
Executive Producer: Suzan Jenkins
Links:
www.rhythm-n-blues.org
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