Monthly Archives: November 2015

Monday’s Music Box: SHAKER, PAXARIÑO – Improvisacion con Kanun y Ney

Posted on by
5

Something a little different from Mr. Paxariño, for Lynn.

Also for Alice, because her son, I believe, plays the Ney.  Not your ordinary flute!

There are about six recording of these two gentlemen together from two different performances, both on Espacio Ronda.

I watch these performances over and over and over again and I never tire of them.  Simply stunning work.

The instrument that Mr. Shaker is playing is called variously “kanun”, “qanoun” or “qanun”, a type of zither played throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, southeastern Europe and eastern North Africa.

I debated about which of these performances to share first and opted for this one because it gives a great view of the mechanism of the kanun.  It is a fascinating and mind-boggling instrument which you can read more about it here…..which led me down a rather ridiculous series of rabbit-holes into the stupefying world of Arabic music theory.

I will likely share another of their performances next week….

Enjoy!

Monday’s Music Box: En un lugar en primavera

Posted on by
16

Or, “In a place in spring.”

A rather loose “improvisation on world music,” if Google Translate and my memory of Latin can be trusted.

Javier Paxariño is, simply put, a woodwind bad-ass (he’s the guy on the left).  I simply can not get enough of listening to (and watching) his playing.  We’ll be seeing plenty more of him in the future.

The percussionist, Nantha Kumar, is jaw-dropping too, but then, classically trained Indian percussionists just kind of are.

Lots more to come in the future from “Espacio Ronda” on Monday’s Music Box as well.  My favorite Youtube channel.  If you, like me, are a lover of musical styles from around the world, I cannot recommend this channel highly enough.  I regularly get lost in their archives for hours.