Art Project

The most basic form of art is music. Before man learned to use berries to paint on walls, he probably learned to make noises on the various objects around him. The instinct to make pleasurable noises is evidenced today by children, worldwide, banging away on various objects. Surely some prehistoric person noticed the various timbre of each object and began to strike them in a fashion which elicited some sort of emotion, whatever he was experiencing at the time. The same basic structures in that “original” music are fairly evident in the drums of Africa. They have continued in their music traditions for hundreds of years, continuing to produce emotionally charged percussion-driven music.

While many people know that Mickey Hart was the drummer for the Grateful Dead, he is also well known (outside of the western world) for his efforts to record and preserve various tribal music. He is also notorious for his side project, Planet Drum, which is a collaboration of various African drummers playing music. These artists won a Grammy in 1996 (in the World Music category) for their first release which is self-titled. This album, "Supralingua" is somewhat of a continuation of their first recording; it is slightly different, incorporating various chants into the songs. It also incorporates some aboriginal instruments as well, namely the Didjeridu.

With this album's emphasis on percussion, it appears (on the surface) very basic in nature. Upon listening, however, a new environment is opened up to the western listener. The music is rich and contains a trance element used and used for centuries by medicine men and shamen and even in modern "electronica" music. It is this element that I find especially appealing.

While Mickey Hart is a westerner, he is the only one featured on a regular basis. This album, while very different in nature in comparison to much of the "music" littering popular radio today, appeals to me greatly. It "grabs" at a part of me not given much exposure by western civilization. The album, while perhaps not as basic as drums found in Burundi, it is a very well produced record full of sounds which many Americans have never heard or experienced. It makes a statement about how life can appear simple and full of fun and games, but it is really a complex undertaking, much like life in the African plains.

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