5pm_weds | ninety. [THEME: world music] (Reply)

Brûlé la Mèche
Lo'Jo
Bohême De Cristal
2001

♥: Like a lot of themes, there are so many songs that would be appropriate -- no, not merely appropriate, but ideal -- for this theme. But again, like a lot of weeks, I'm going with the one that first popped into my head -- this French/African gem by what I've just learned is, apparently, a musical collective. Lo'Jo is based in France but incorporates artists from all over the world and all over creative genres (according to Wikipedia, everyone from violinists to street performers gets their due in this group). This particular album was recorded in Mali, but you can hear little trinkets from all over the world throughout.

The world is a big place. Bigger than I think anyone is intellectually or emotionally capable of understanding. There is so much to it, so much to see, to do, to understand, to know, to feel. Bringing styles together, allowing for all these venues of creation (musical and otherwise), not only lends a sense of global community, but a sense of timelessness. Eternity, almost. This song could have been recorded at any time, really -- the musical patterns and ideas have been around for centuries, and it's through these little pieces of culture that we, the average citizen, can access them. I love that idea of people coming together to create art, even if I have problems with the type of people and consequent exclusion that it tends to create ---- but the act itself, that feeling of being with artists and creative people, and the quality of product that is produced -- inimitable!

This song hails from that excited downloading-time in my life I spoke about in my Atomic Swindlers post: Fall 2005, when LJ was a haven for music-sharing. Individual song communities ran rampant and let you sample and test, try out new genres and artists and musical ideas. I can't remember the specific community on which I found "Brûlé la Mèche," but I remember being so grateful to whoever invented the internet when I downloaded it ---- how amazing to have this in my musical repertoire, as completely strange as it was/is. Now, I'm not only grateful to the internet (and that specific time period, before torrents and streaming took precedence over downloading and CDs), but to the plethora of global music, generally -- with everything bleeding together, from Angers to Mali to Montreal, I don't think I will ever find it in me to be bored with music.