Susan's Links

I met Andrea this year at Baltimore's High Zero festival and was amazed at the creativity and seemingly endless string of ideas that poured onto her instruments both electronic and acoustic

Astor Piazzolla is the founder of Nuevo Tango. I saw him play in Houston in the mid eighties. The feel, precision, and surrealistic approach to tango music still resonate today.

BJ Cole is Britain's reigning king of the pedal steel guitar. With truely catholic sensibilities, he has played on recordings of people like Elton John, Sting, and REM. Now, collaborating with turntable artist Luke Viebert, he is recording his own music

If BJ is the king of the steel guitar, Caroline Kraabel is the anarchist Queen of the Saxophone. She has a totally unique approach to playing the saxophone and produces a music that is intelligent, emotional, and deep. Check out her CD, Mass Producers.

Chas Smith is a serious composer who just happens to play, compose for and build the world's most unusual steel guitars. He is also a genius. His music is years ahead of its time.

Choying Drolma is a Tibetan Buddhist nun who sings music with the intention that all beings reach enlightenment.

I first met Chris Cutler in Leipzig Germany for a concert of the Chris Cutler Project. Everyone in his band was an utter virtuoso. The piano player would say something like, "This tune is in 11/7. The other players faithfully read their sheet music, and Chris merely nodded his head without reading and without missing a beat. I struggled to keep up.

Claudio Ceccoli is a virtuosic guitarist who plays an eight string guitar. He infuses his very personal approach to music with the rhythms of Argentine folkloric music, tango, Brazilian rhythms and jazz.

The creator of the Kentucky's Secret Commonwealth, Danny Dutton is a traditional Appalachian mountain singer with a wide range of sensibilities. His current project is an album of early American murder ballads which will accompany his paintings (to see these paintings, click on the link).

David Vest is a musician, writer, poet, and political columnist expatriate from Alabama who currently lives in British Columbia. David plays authentic blues, country music, bluegrass, jazz, and his own music which is a soulful mixture of all the above.

Musicians

These are some links to musicians. Some of these are people I've had the good fortune to know as friends and fellow travellers, and others are my heroes whose websites I thought you might enjoy.

Breaking the Waves (Scotland)
Five O'Clock in the Afternoon (Afghanistan)
Like Water For Chocolate (Como Agua Para Chocolate) (Mexico)
Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall...Spring! (Korea)
What the #$*! Do We Know?
Life on a String (China)
Kundun (New Zealand)
I Heart Huckabee's (USA)
The Princess and the Warrior (Germany)
Jesus's Son (USA)
The Battle of Chile (Chile)
Fahrenheit 911 (of course)
Motorcycle Diaries (Argentina)
Wings of Desire (Germany)
The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey (New Zealand)
Midnight Cowboy (USA))
Grave of the Fireflies (Japan)
Ma Vie Au Rose (France)
El Norte (New Zealand)
La Ciudad (USA)
Everything by John Waters (USA – Baltimore)
Princess Mononoke (Japan)
The Eel (Japan)
Three Seasons (Vietnam)
Raise the Red Lantern (China)
Aimee and Jaguar (Germany)
Run Lola Run (Germany)
The Seventh Seal (Sweden)
Exterminating Angel (Mexico)-
The Milky Way La Voie Lactée (France)
Standing in the Shadows of Motown (USA)
Price Above Rubies (USA)
Why Did Bodhidharma Leave for the East? (Korea)
Brother Where Art Thou (USA) –
The Terrorist (Sri Lanka)
Salaam Bombay (India)
Fire (India)
Monsoon Wedding (India)
Seventh Seal (Sweden)
The Virgin Spring (Sweden)
Hillary and Jackie (USA)
Grapes of Wrath (USA)
Big Fish (USA)Night of the Shooting Stars (Italy)
Beloved (USA)
The Circle (Iran)
The Color of Paradise (Iran)
Hable Con Ella (Spain)

Musical Organizations

This page of links is still a work in progress, so please excuse the omissions, missing info and the messiness.

My Favorite Films

"Sister Owl" LaDonna Smith is an amazing violist, violinist, pianist, accordionist, and archetypal wild woman from Birmingham, Alabama.

I met and saw Janet perform at the LMC's 2004 "Festival of Experimental Music" in London. She is a conservatory-trained classical guitarist who mixes virtuosity, extended technique, intelligence, and a lot of heart.

My favorite steel guitarist. Lloyd Green's approach to the pedal steel guitar is deceptively simple when you listen to it, but very complex in its execution and very well thought out.

Mercedes Sosa, the nueva cancion diva from Argentina, can bring a stadium of people to their feet with only her voice, a couple of guitars, and her passion. There are two websites here -- the official site, and one by a fan.

Pauline Oliveros is the composer, musical philosopher, and accordionist who introduced the modern world to "Deep Listening". She has been a personal inspiration. For more information on Pauline and Deep Listening, visit her web site.

Dr. Chadbourne, Eugene, plays guitar with an abandon and sheer musicality. I remember in the 1980's listening to Shockabilly and thinking that country-western music and avant-garde jazz could be the perfect match. Little did we know.

Laura Nyro was one of the most underrated musicans of her time. Her songs, especially her early ones, had everything -- sophistication, lyrics that might or might not make sense, wonderful arrangements, and a sensibility steeped in the blues. She is so missed.

Mike Perlowin is a pedal steel guitarist from Los Angeles who is, I'm sure, the only steel guitarist to ever play Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. His transcriptions are painstakingly precise and take years to accomplish.

In the world of classical music, Olivier Messiaen is everything to me. There's this strange sense of ecstacy that pervades all his works. Birds, Gamelans, Hindustani ragas and Carnatic rhythms, retrograde time signatures, and his sense of harmony. Dissonance can be so beautiful.

Nueva Cancion is the socially aware folk music of Chile, Argentina, and much of Latin America.

When I was twelve years old, Edgar Varese was my introduction to 20th Century classical music. I used to play Ameriques on the stereo when no one was home and dance around the living room.

Now approaching ninety years old, Edith is an active composer, musician, and music educator from Houston, Texas.

I am in love with the way that Roberta Flack sings and plays her music. I once saw her in Houston at the JVC Jazz Festival. When it became her turn to perform, she started with a slow song that she hadn't yet recorded. I remember that (compared to the George Dukes, Al Jareaus and David Sanborns) she didn't get much applause, but her song was the most beautiful moment of the evening.

Rosanne Cash is one of my favorite country singers. She's one of the brave few in country music who have something different to say and continue to follow their own individual muse. I really like her website.

I attended Polly Ferman's concert at the Centro Cultural Borges in Buenos Aires not knowing what to expect. I was awed by her performance. She is world renowned as a passionate interpreter of Latin American classical music including the works of Astor Piazzolla.

Other Sites

Tatsuya Nakatani possesses a boundless energy for improvisation, wonderful ears mixed with a kind and generous spirit.

Perhaps the most well-rounded percussionist on the planet, Le Quan Ninh incorporates intuitive rhythmic structure, found objects, movement and dance to make a music -- or art -- that is intelligent, profound, and beautiful.

My favorite story teller.