Soundcheck

Taking Lessons From 'El Systema'

Friday, April 20, 2007

Thirty years ago, Venezuela’s music education program started with 11 students. Now, a quarter of a million kids participate in the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra System. Today we find out what the United States can learn from "El Systema." Plus, pop-rock phenoms Fountains of Wayne perform live in our studio. And, legendary experimental composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton offers his always-provocative take on musical form.

Listen to the whole show

Viva El Systema

The Venezuelan government's youth orchestra program is considered by many to be the most successful music education project in the world. "El Systema" operates hundreds of orchestras in most of the country's towns and villages. (One alumnus: Gustavo Dudamel, the next musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.) Today we talk to Nestor Lopez Duran, producer of a new documentary about the project called Tocar y Luchar (To Live and To Fight).

Tocar y Luchar web site

Fountains of Wayne

After 11 seesaw years in the music marketplace, Fountains of Wayne return with "Traffic and Weather," their fourth album (on their third label.) The band takes mundane tales about '92 Subuarus and bored waitresses and transforms them into compelling pop. They perform live in our studio.

Fountains of Wayne web site

Anthony Braxton

In the late 1960s, Anthony Braxton first turned heads with solo saxophone performances and recordings. Four decades and one "genius grant" later, the composer and teacher is still one of the most radical musical thinkers alive. He joins us to talk about his "ghost trance music" series, most recently documented in a boxed set of live performances at New York's Iridium nightclub in 2006. He calls the 9-disc set "the point of definition in my work thus far."

Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation