Ep #99 with Milford Graves - A Celebration (part 1)

Milford Graves was a master drummer, an herbalist, acupuncturist, martial artist, teacher, scientist and scholar. I was extremely fortunate to meet him at Bennington College in 1974 and soon began to earnestly study drums and rhythm with him. His wide ranging approach to life and learning completely transformed my life. He was truly my mentor. He was also greatly loved and respected by so many people. Milford passed on Feb 12, 2021 and he and I had been planning to do an episode on The World Fusion Show but unfortunately time ran out. Please enjoy this Part 1 of our 2 part Celebration of the life of Milford Graves which contains memories, stories and reflections from many of his friends and students. Feel free to share this episode with anyone who you think would appreciate this tribute.

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Ep #98 with Opium Moon, World Fusion Quartet bring a seamless blend of Middle Eastern and Asian music. They all have solo careers and work in the film industry. For this episode I am interviewing Lili Haydn and Itai who sing and play violin and bass in the group. The other members play santoor and percussion. They recently won a Grammy and have a very spiritual approach to their music.

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Ep #97 with Olox - Neo-shamanic World Fusion

Olox is a very unusual duo that features Siberian singer Zarina and Armenian-Greek percussionist and singer, Andreas. They had a big breakthrough last year with an appearance on America’s Got Talent that blew away the audience and judges. Zarina grew up in the Sakha culture where the winters get down to 90 degrees below zero. Spending her youth in nature, imitating birds and animal calls, she also learned the traditional songs of her Sakha culture. Andreas plays percussion, electronics and does deep throat singing that perfectly compliments Zarina’s voice. They wear very striking costumes on stage that have traditional significance. Always something new and different on The World Fusion Show!

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Ep #96 - Sampler #8 on The World Fusion Show showcases six of our inspiring guests with some live music videos that were not included on their original episodes.

Evan Ziporyn’s clip features a piece he wrote for Balinese gamelan with two Balinese dancers. Amit Kavthekar on tabla does a playful and masterful improvisation with me on the kalimba. Frevo, a mixed wind and string quartet from northern VT performs a famous piece by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzola called Libertango. Paul Richmond, performance poet does his spoken word piece “Endless Nightmare” with World Fusionista Tony Vacca on the balafon and percussion. Christopher Adler, khaen player (Thai mouth organ) and composer does a duet with me on djembe. And the three drummers from Kotoko Brass, a high energy Ghanaian-funk fusion dance band from Boston, play a rousing piece with me joining them on electric guitar.

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The World Fusion Show - National Winner of the Best Entertainment and Arts Series 2019 on Public Access TV

Ep #95 with Lisa Sokolov, singer, composer and teacher. Lisa Sokolov is a free jazz singer living in NYC, a composer and long-time voice teacher at NYU. She has a unique singing style and brings her wild and expressive sound to her performances in the US and Europe. She talks about her journey of healing herself as a young person and using that experience to develop her Embodied Voice work, about which she has written a recently published book. We are very dear friends and met at Bennington College back in the ‘70s where we were both deeply influenced by some of the same teachers including Milford Graves.

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Ep #94 with Kotoko Brass, Ghanaian Fusion dance band is a Boston-based high energy band known for their dance parties. They combine traditional Ghanaian Ashanti drumming with jazz-funk horns. There are two Ghanaian drummers in the band, one of whom, Attah Poku, grew up in the Ghanaian royal palace. They also have a Japanese keyboardist, a bass player from Antigua, and an American guitarist and drum set player.

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The World Fusion Show features interviews, video clips and live in the studio playing with World Fusion composers and musicians. The show debuted in July 2017 and with a new 30 minute episode every 2 weeks showcases a wide variety of inspiring musicians from all over the planet. We won the national award for Best Entertainment and Arts Series 2019 in Public Access TV.

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Ep #93 with Paul Richmond, performance poet and spoken word artist. Paul Richmond is the current National Beat Poet Laureate and creates word stages for other poets and spoken word artists. He works with the World Fusion group “Do It Now” which showcases his hard-hitting dystopic vision of our current reality. The group includes Tony Vacca and John Sheldon who are featured on this episode. He has published 6 books of his poetry.

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Ep #92 with Amit Kavthekar, tabla player and composer. Amit Kavthekar grew up in India and began studying tabla at age 6. He has been a student of Zakir Hussain for 20 years and now lives in Boston where he works with World Fusion group Sawaari and with orchestras. His expressiveness and clarity on the tabla is phenomenal. He is a dedicated teacher of tabla and started a music school in Boston. We get to jam together at the end of the show and I do my best to keep up with him on 5 string electric violin and kamale ngoni.

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Ep #91 with Loire Cotler, rhythm vocalist. Loire Cotler has a unique way of singing that draws on the ancient Konokol tradition of Indian vocalization that is used in the training of percussionists. She also combines that style with many other influences creating a true World Fusion of sound. She has a degree in Music Therapy and works with film composer Hans Zimmer. Her new CD “18 Wings” is a re-imagining of jazz standards and is a collaboration with World Fusion trailblazers Trio Globo (Howard Levy, Eugene Friesen and Glen Velez).

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Right Brain Music podcast Ep #21 - In this episode, our first joint production of Right Brain Records and The World Fusion Show, we meet the Om Shalom Trio. Ranendra Das is on the tabla, Abhik Mukerjee is on sitar and Jessie Reagen Mann plays the cello. They meld Indian, Jewish and classical music and their own experimental impulses in forging a dynamic new hybrid that evokes the spirit of the ancient East-West trade route.

A joint production of Right Brain Music and Worldsoul Records

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To watch Ep #56 with the Om Shalom Trio on The World Fusion Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPXDwwwlLlc&t=1320s

To experience all 90 episodes of The World Fusion Show on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl_qGDBJ-IVM28kF68RwM5Q/videos