Mercan Dede

Mercan Dede believes that when you put digital, electronic sounds together with hand-made, human ones, you can create universal language, capable of uniting old and young, ancient and modern, East and West. It’s a bold claim, but the Turkish-born and Montreal-based musician/producer/DJ has the career and the music to back it up.
Mercan Dede is keen to bring his extraordinary music and stagecraft everywhere in the world because he feels its inclusive spirit carries a profound message of understanding and reconciliation. “I don’t like the separation,” says Dede. “The Sufi poet Rumi has a very good saying: ‘If you are everywhere, you are nowhere. If you are somewhere, you are everywhere.’ My somewhere is my heart. I try to figure it out. The rest—the hype, the trends—they are not important. Instead of talking about war in Iraq, if you can make a sound of a small instrument from an Iraqi village, you can tell people more about what is going on there. For me, the future is electronic and folkloric.” (Read more & listen)

Four 80 East

Masterful groove jazz :

Stellamara

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Tancaruja — Cool! Check 'em Out!

David Kahne

One Magnificent Engineer and Recording Artist!

Sequoia
"I've used all the software that I know of, including Logic, Digital Performer, ProTools, and Nuendo, and the Sequoia software tops them all. What I've been looking for is software that compensates for latency in plug-ins and bussing and mix down. When I got used to Sequoia enough to get a mix going, I compared it to all the software I'd been working with over the last years I used a drum kit that I'd recorded on tape and had digitized. I did mixes using 3 other products, using multiband compressors and eq's in the same configuration in all the mixes. I did the same mix in Sequoia. When I compared mixes, I was astonished. The bottom, the imaging, the apparent level – every element of the mix _ was superior in Sequoia. My first reaction was to feel like I had mixed off tape. I heard no phasing whatsoever in the Sequoia mix. All the bells and whistles aside in all the different products, what I really wanted was a mix that stays intact phase-wise. And I've found that in Sequoia.

(The bells and whistles are great in Sequoia too, by the way. The multiband compressor is amazingly accurate and musical, and the eq just sounds like eq, not a phase shifter. And the pitch correction plug-in is ridiculous. Great program!)"

RME
"I switched to native audio for all my computers to try to avoid some of the phasing issues inherent in certain proprietary systems. I was able to switch because of the solidity and ease of use of the RME optical audio cards. I was up and running so quickly, and within a day was free of the tyranny."

Check out David Kahne's accomplishments

David Kahne's Biography – as of 2004

The multi-talented David Kahne has produced some of the biggest names in the business: Tony Bennett, Stevie Nicks, Sublime, Sugar Ray, K. D. Lang, and The Bangles, not to mention Paul McCartney and his recent album, “Driving Rain.” He was awarded a Grammy in 1994 for producing the Album of the Year, Tony Bennett’s “MTV Unplugged.” He has also produced songs for “Vanilla Sky,” “Orange County,” “The Beach,” “Clockstoppers,” and a variety of other films and television shows. However, his career in the industry started on the opposite side of the mixing console.

A self-taught musician, Kahne began playing guitar, bass, and banjo while still in high school. He soon landed a record deal at Capitol, but quickly decided that performing didn't suit him. Fueled by the desire to defy the limits of engineering, he took a job at Hyde Street Recording in San Francisco and taught himself how to run the console. He started producing demos for local bands, many of which turned into albums and paved the way for his career as a producer.

Chris Lord, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, David Kahne, Lori Nicks, Sharon Celani, John Shanks

Kahne later transitioned into A&R, and spent many years working in the field at both Columbia and Warner Bros. Records. The positions gave him the unique ability to support records from the inside, and the influx of new musical ideas kept his producing efforts fresh and ahead of the curve. However, producing remained his first love, which motivated him to leave Warner Bros. to return to full-time independent production. He relishes his newfound freedom and loves the hands-on creativity the job brings.

Hendrix Last Clip a Woodstock

movie: click on photo

Qawal

qawal is a man singing a qawl
qawal is an alternative spelling of qawwal
qawal is one who renders the belief of the creator
qawal is getting very popular

Tinariwen

"When I first heard them, I felt like this was the music I've been looking for all my life," says Robert Plant about these electric nomads from Sahara. Last summer they played at Glastonbury. Their Amassakoul CD was No 1 in the annual European World Music charts for 2004. This January, "poet-guitarists and soul rebels" have won the BBC World Music Award in the Africa Category. "Nurtured in exile, raised in conflict, and driven underground, where they achieved legendary status, Tinariwen are the kind of band that generations of western rebel rockers could only dream of being." - The Guardian (UK)

Many foreigners find Sahara a fascinating place. The American novelist and music collector Paul Bowles explored the local musical traditions since 1930's, followed by William Burroughs, The Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix. The nomad Touaregs offer an explanation: "The God created the fertile lands for people to live, as well as deserts so they can explore their souls."
Sahara's southern port of entry, Timbuktu, is the place where Touaregs mix with the black people from Mali. Unfortunately, the end of colonial power in 1960's was disaster for the nomads. Touaregs became a nation without a state, their territory was split between the newly formed independent African states. Their uprising in 1963 was defeated and the nomads became outlaws.
After witnessing his father's murder at the hands of Malian soldiers, the future Tinariwen guitarist Ibrahim was forced to join a training camp in southern Lybia, where Ghadaffi made false promises to help the Touareg cause. In between classes about revolution, Islamism, and guerrilla warfare, Ibrahim played music with friends. Upon hearing the music of Marley, Dylan, Lennon, and the Moroccan new wave for the first time, they discarded traditional instruments like the shepherd flute and tindé drum in favor of the electric guitar, bass, and drums. However, they continued the tradition the traditional poetic composition, and choral call-and-response. Soon they became musical revolutionaries. Their songs are petitions for political and cultural self-determination. They have become a point of identity for Touareg youth. In a land void of laptops and TVs, cheap cassette recordings spread hope and resolve. Sick of the suffering caused by armed rebellion, the music of bands like Tinariwen is the new weapon of choice.
Although Tinariwen formed in 1982, they remained underground (Mali and Algeria banned the political lyrics) until the group moved to the Malian capital of Bamako in 1999. There the ten members drew on a rebel rock sensibility, openly playing their passionate, trance-like Desert Blues. During the first eclipse (and first full moon) of the millennium, Tinariwen performed - along with Robert Plant - at The Festival in the Desert. Thrown near the ancient ruins of Tamaradant, remote and distant from any visible life, the Festival was an effort to further goals of reconciliation, development, and international awareness.
Reporter Andy Morgan asserts that Tinariwen's soulful music produced a magical effect on the crowd, causing "the young Touaregs to stamp and dance with abandon in front of the stage. These men were heroes and mentors." The ten band members are indeed the pride of the desert. Experiences in battle have created many legends. Kheddou is said to have received 17 bullet wounds after leading several raids, armed only with a guitar on his back and a Kalashnikov in his hands. Once, he was doused in gasoline, owing his life to a faulty lighter.
The instrumentation which the group use is simple despite its modernity. Their link with traditional Touareg music is still clear. The instruments are of three types. First, strings, essentially guitars, acoustic or electric (but occasionally also other more traditional instruments like the tehardant or the n'goni) which play the melodies. Secondly, the lead voices, which perform lyrics supplied by a composer. All the musicians join in with the choruses. Thirdly, the group use the percussion instruments commonly found in the desert. The most important is simply hand claps. Touareg music carries you away on a gently rhythmic journey, in step with the languorous pace of the camel.

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I recently saw these guys at Yoshi's and got the message!