re: worldbridger

[Michael Raphael <mercury@ureach.com>]

Jan,

It's a damned shame you're not moving to Dallas.  I could 
really use someone like you in the band I'm trying to put 
together (Ambient/Dance/Industrial/Pop/Rock/Tribal/World 
music).  Which Asheville are you leaving - the one in North 
Carolina?  Friend of mine, named Geoff Elmore used to dwell 
there, before he dropped off the face of the earth.

That was a beautiful piece of writing there, man!  Do write 
lyrics for your music?

I've been trying to find music, to learn from, from those same 
parts of the world.  I would suggest the catalogs from 
realworld.com, & oneworld.com.  Additionally, there is a great 
World Music channel on spinner.com, that can expose you to a 
lot of wonderful stuff.  

As for polyrhythmic, try Hossam Ramzy from Egypt - Amazing 
percussionist!

As for Tribal instruments from various parts of the world, I 
highly recommend Novica.com.  They feature hand-made 
instruments from real indigenous artists in various far-flung 
parts of the world.  You can buy a beautiful Djembe from West 
Africa for a mere $125, and you would know the name and history 
of the artist, and how he makes the instruments.  Certainly a 
much better route than buying those mass-produced remo rip-offs 
from Guitar Center at twice the price.

Good luck on your physical, musical, & spiritual journeys.  
PLEASE let us know whenever you have some tunes for us to 
listen to.  I'd love to hear it.

Blessed be,
:-)Michael


From: "Jan Pek" <swirlee@angelfire.com>

so, i have a request for yall. 

im looking for South American tribal music, spirit of the 
rainforest,
grandfather drum, voice of the cloud, to South America what 
Farafina is
to Africa... something polyrhythmic, polymetric, whatever you 
want to
call it, building repetition. someone, give me the words!

i'm moving Asheville -> NYC feeling as though i may get spit 
out on
another world journey, and am magnetizing africa (guinea? 
senegal? dogon
and the nommo?) and s. america (ecuador? brazil? bolivia?) for 
world
bridging. i know i'm here to embody spirit, to bring magic to 
the flesh.
the way of technology magic-- i've spent most of my life there, 
on the
outside, in the crystal megahertz.

so i am learning another way, the long road back to embodiment, 
the 'red
pill', if you will. because the guides tell me the next leg of 
training
as shaman is in the primitive, embodying spirit in dance, 
breath, voice,
drum, trance. the animals. 

so where can i exist on that edge? can i place myself where i 
can honor
and learn from the tribes without eroding their culture? how to 
exit the
tourist conveyorbelt and become of service to these indigenous 
people,
so that we can recognize, we are all indigenous. is there not a 
mystery
school somewhere, teetering on that precipice where the voice 
is the
synthesizer, the body is levity, the breath is operating system 
upgrade,
time is echoplex, where Western magic is tenderly and 
appropriately
introduced, built with spirit of the local land, not bulldozed 
like
formula over tender rainforest shoots? shit, there must be. 
where is it?
right under your nose?

fuzzy and blue,
yon