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Showing posts from August 11, 2013

The Practice--Invigorate You

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Salsa dancing, Mexico, Wikipedia Music Videos to get your blood pumping, and to inspire your heart... Often midday we feel sluggish and we feel tempted to take a nap or down another cup of coffee.  However, I encourage you to forgo the caffeine and take a music break instead.  The best way to do this is to start with a slower to moderate beat per minute song and gradually build up to rousing Latin, African, or other high-energy music.  Some of the music traditions from the Subcontinent can also provide you with invigorating beats. Take a 20 minute to 30 minute music break, and at least a 10 minute music break. You can even take a short trip over to YouTube and listen to the following songs: Let's start with Habib Koite and Bamada from Mali with a medium tempo with an uplifting melody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5_HfjcjR_M At relatively the same tempo, here is Ana Moura singing an uptempo fado from Portugal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V42ix2CtZ8Y For wild

In review--Shakuhachi Dreams (traditional Japanese folk songs)

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World / Classical   Joji Hirota   London Metropolitan Orchestra   Japanese Folks Songs II   Arc Music Over the years I have enjoyed listening to a few Japanese traditional songs which I describe as delicate and flowing.   The Japanese folk songs that appear on Joji Hirota’s Japanese Folk Songs II (I liked this CD so much I would like to hear the first volume) remind me of a cultivated garden because the musician methodically arranged each song.   Backed by the strings of the London Metropolitan Orchestra, a Japanese children’s choir on a few of the songs, and embellished with shakuhachi (Japanese flute), Taiko drums and percussion and plucked harp, Hirota provides us with a lush musical canvas that dazzles the senses.     Included on the recorded are two suites (one of children’s songs and another including a lullaby, girl’s handball game song and a ballad), as well as, work songs, love and dance songs from different prefectures or regions in Japan.   Hirota