HV109- Musical Memory

Hearing Voices from NPR®
109 Musical Memory: The Soundtrack of Our Lives
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2011-02-02

“Musical Memory” (52:00 mp3):

Selections from Musicians in their own words, from the series Song & Memory (What one song do you remember most from your childhood?), and from the Afterquake project:

Song & Memory: Rebel Chef Anthony Bourdain is known for his raucous ways in the world of the professional kitchen, detailed in his book “Kitchen Confidential.” We asked him to put away his pans and think back to when he was a kid — is there a song from childhood that brings it all back? Bourdain can pinpoint his desire sex-drug-rock n’ roll start to a single song: “96 Tears” by ? and the Mysterians. (The Song & Memory series was produced for PRI Weekend America.)

Musicians in their own words: Trudy Pitts and her husband, drummer Bill “Mr C.” Carney do a first-person duet. Trudy is an unsung hero of the Hammond B-3 electric organ. With her husband, Mr C, they’ve played with the Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry and Pat Martino. Their 50s R&B band, the Hi-Tones, featured a young sax player: name of John Coltrane. Their most rewarding musical partnership, though, is the one they share with each other. (MITOW stories were produced for NPR and are archived at PRX)

Song & Memory: Mohammed Naseehu Ali is a native of Ghana, the son of the emir, or king, of the Muslims in that African nation. Unlike his brothers and cousins, Ali left Ghana to be educated in the United States. Instead of returning to tribal politics, he became a musician and writer. The song central to his childhood in Ghana is “Kyenkyen Bi Adi Mawu” by Alhaki K. Frimpong and his Cubano Fiesta.

Song & Memory: When Kelly Kinsey heard this series on Weekend America, she wrote in say the song that kept her sane during her family’s mental upheavals was The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby.”

Musicians in their own words: In a room across from Carnegie Hall, pianist Lang Lang describes, and sings, how he interprets a Brahms Intermezzo as a cascade of vivid images.

Song & Memory: Reverend Ruth Shaver is the minister at the United Church of Schellsburg in Pennsylvania. She has faith in the power of prayer, and of song. One of her favorites is “The Family of God” by Bill and Gloria Gaither.

Musicians in their own words: Jamaican jazz pianist, Monty Alexander, plays an instrumental version of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” Alexander considers this song, of slavery, African-American history, and freedom, “almost like a hymn.”

Musicians Abigail Washburn and Dave Liang (of the The Shanghai Restoration Project) travel the Sichuan province in China after the devastating 2008 earthquake. For their Afterquake project, they recorded the stories and songs of the surviving children, then mixed them into music compositions. Proceeds from CD sales go to Sichuan Quake Relief (SQR).

All Things Considered host Melissa Block was in Chengdu, China, recording an interview, when the 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck. Her subsequent series of reports won a Peabody Award. She interviews the Afterquake musicians for this NPR story, produced by David Nogueras.