Higher Ground Podcasts

Higher Ground podcasts feature interviews and music from the World Music Spotlight. It gives listeners an extra taste of the material from the show. Copyright law prohibits Wisconsin Public Radio from podcasting the on-air broadcast version of Higher Ground.

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Tejumola Olaniyan on Fela Kuti (Podcast #912)
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Jonathan talks with Tejumola Olaniyan, the Louise Durham Mead Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin and co-editor of the West Africa Review about his book Arrest the Music! Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics.

It's a musical study of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, one of Africa's most recognizable and controversial musicians. The flamboyant originator of the "Afrobeat" sound and self-proclaimed voice of the voiceless, he used music and lyrics to challenge the shortcomings of Nigerian and postcolonial African states.

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41:08

Koo Nimo (Podcast #909)
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Jonathan interviews musican, professor and ethnomusicologist Koo Nimo who played in concert with Atimevu Drum and Dance Ensemble on Sunday, December 4, 2011 at the UW-Madison's Music Hall. He is a master of West African Palm wine or Highlife guitar music.

Koo Nimo is a professor of ethnomusicology at University of Washington - Seattle and has performed throughout Europe, North America and Africa. He performs regularly in Ghana and maintains a studio at his home outside of Kumasi where he teaches and entertains visits from international scholars.

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49:17

Jennifer Cutting (Podcast #908)
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Jonathan talks to Jennifer Cutting, a composer, arranger, producer and instrumentalist known for her award-winning original yet traditional British & Celtic music, and for her imaginative productions.

She's won many prestigious national awards including First Prize at the Merle Watson Memorial Festival, and American Songwriter Magazine's "Song of the Year." She just released her new Album "Song of Solstice" Celtic music for Midwinter.

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33:24

KoTolán (Podcast #906)
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Jonathan interviews trombonist and songwriter Otto Granillo from the Latin and World music group KoTolán. The group is led by Japanese born accordianist and singer Junko Seki who is fluent in Japanese, English and Spanish, and sings in all three languages. Their debut album "La Tienda de Groove" was released in January.
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34:18

Ethnomusicologist Dr. Richard Miller (#3) (Podcast #902)
Jonathan continues his discussion with Dr. Richard Miller about "Moliendo Cafe" including its arrival in Japan and how various translations changed the perception of the music and how it appealed to the Japanese working class.
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49:10

DJ Seduce about Micheline Cardoso (Podcast #901)
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Jonathan talks to Miguel Ivery aka "DJ Seduce", founder of Afro:Baile Records, a world music label. They discuss his newest project with Brazlian bossa nova singer Micheline Cardoso including the release of her new album called Cascadura Samba.

We hear several cuts from her new album and they talk about the need to introduce new styles of world music in the United States.
View this video

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31:12

Nawal (Podcast #899)
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Jonathan talks to international singer and songwriter Nawal. Known as the "Voice of Comoros islands", she draws on traditional Comorian influences and incorporates sounds from African and Arabic culture. She plays several instruments including the guitar and qanbus and sings in Comorian, Arabic, French and English. She has just release her third album Embrace the Spirit.
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31:29

Ethnomusicologist Dr. Richard Miller (#2) (Podcast #898)
Jonathan continues his discussion with Dr. Richard Miller about Moliendo Cafe or "Coffee Grinding" composed by Venezuelan Hugo Blanco in 1958 when he was just 18 years old. It's been said that there are over 800 versions of this song recorded throughout the world.
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40:41

Ethnomusicologist Dr. Richard Miller (#1) (Podcast #897)
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In the first of a series of discussions, Jonathan talks to Dr. Richard Miller, a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology and researcher in Asian popular music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has traveled extensively in Asia since the mid-1990s, conducting research, teaching, and experiencing the enormous variety of music and cultures found on that continent.
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42:23

Nikos Koulouris from the group 'Nisos' (Podcast #890)
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Jonathan interviews clarinetist and composer Nikos Koulouris who is also one of the founders of the group Nisos. Their name is Greek for "island" as they shared a deep interest in traditional music coming from Greece and Turkey. They've played throughout their native Czech republic and in 2010 were invited to play at the Polish Film Festival of Zwierzinec. They recently released their first album called simply Nisos.
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32:29

Roger Davidson & Frank London (Podcast #889)
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Jonathan talks to pianist and composer Roger Davidson and Trumpeter, bandleader and composer Frank London about Klezmer music. Davidson founded Soundbrush Records in 1997 and London is a member of the Klezmatics. They collaborated on a new album entitled On the Road of Life.
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35:31

Amina Alaoui (Podcast #888)
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Jonathan talks to singer, songwriter and poet Amina Alaoui. She was born in Fez, Morroco and is a interpreter of Andalusian classical music. They talk about her musical background, the Gharnati style of music and her newly released album Arco Iris on ECM.
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36:59

Chie Sato Roden (Podcast #880)
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Jonathan talks with pianist Chie Sato Roden, a passionate proponent of American and Japanese piano repertoire. She talks about her recently issued CD entitled Streetcar Journey based on the Alex North music for the 1951 movie, Streetcar Named Desire.
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31:33

Amarpal Gaind (Podcast #878)
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Jonathan interviews Amarpal Gaind, music producer and head of operations for Saregama, a music events company. They discuss the compilation album Sufis at the Cinema and how the music of mystical Muslims became integral to the sound tracks of the Bollywood film industry.
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36:36

David Hahn from Dub is a Weapon (Podcast #876)
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Jonathan talks to David Hahn, guitarist for the band Dub is a Weapon who have just released their CD called Vaporized. He talks about how he directs the band like a sound mixer, creating realtime "dubs" with more and more layers of reggae with bits of funk and afrobeat, all done live on stage.

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32:02

Miguel Ivery (Podcast #874)
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Jonathan interviews Arizona native Miguel Ivery aka "DJ Seduce" about the 3rd installment of the Sambossica series with his new release Brazil:Sambossica 3 from Afro:Baile records. The compilation includes some of the best in Samba, Samba-Soul, Samba-Reggae, Funk, Jazz, Bossa Nova, Electronica, Rock, and even Hip-Hop elements composed to the Now Sound of Brazilian Rhythms.
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33:17

Iva Bittová (Podcast #872)
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Jonathan talks to Avant-garde composer, vocalist and violinist Iva Bittová. She was born in Bruntál in northern Moravia in what was then Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). Both of her parents were musicians. She now resides in upstate New York with her son who is also a musician.
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33:36

Hector Morales (Podcast #871)
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Jonathan interviews Peruvian drummer/ percussionist and composer Hector Morales, leader of the group Afrodita. Morales studied music at the National Conservatory of Music in Lima as well as the Jazz Studies Program at William Paterson University. Photo of the group 'Afrodita'
The group's debut CD Amarte seamlessly merges Peruvian landos and festejos with afro-Cuban rumbas, R&B, jazz, Arabic motifs, and "floaty rock" with dance digressions.
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31:30

Yasmin Levy (Podcast #867)
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Jonathan talks to the Ladino singer Yasmin Levy. "Ladino" refers to Judaeo-Spanish, a language primarily spoken among Sephardic Jews. Born in the Bakaa neighborhood in Jerusalem, her love of music was strongly influenced by her father who was a composer, cantor and head of the Ladino department at Israel's national radio station. Her latest album "Sentir" was released in January 2011.
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32:26

Angelique Kidjo (Podcast #863)
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Jonathan interviews Beninoise singer, songwriter and activist Angelique Kidjo who will be performing at the Overture Center in Madison on January 22, 2011. Her album "OYO" was recently nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album. Her music embraces a mixture of rhythm & blues, soul music, jazz and Beniese melodies.
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40:58

John Nimis (Podcast #852)
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Jonathan talks to John Nimis, a Mellon postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Humanities and Department of French and Italian at UW-Madison. He received his Ph.D. in French from New York University, and also holds degrees from Macalester College, the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and Miami University (Ohio). His main research interest is the literature and music of Africa, with a focus on the Lingala language and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he was a Fulbright scholar. His dissertation, entitled "Literary Listening: Readings in Congolese Popular Music" presents musical and literary analyses of songs in French and Lingala. Before coming to Madison, he taught at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and has also lived in Johannesburg, South Africa, Yaoundé, Cameroun and Paris, France. Nimis is a practicing musician.
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34:01

Debo Band (Podcast #833)
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Jonathan talks to Danny Mekonnen, founder of the Boston-based Debo Band, an exhilarating eleven-member "Ethio-groove collective" created as a means of exploring the unique sounds that once filled dance clubs of 1970s Ethiopia. The musical inspiration behind Debo Band is an unlikely confluence of Ethiopian pentatonic scales and vocal styles, American soul and funk, and Eastern European instruments.
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36:12

Elizabeth Ayoub (Podcast #832)
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Jonathan talks to singer and actress Elizabeth Ayoub who is promoting her new album Oceanos y Lunas. Ayoub is of Lebanese and Venezuelan descent and performs in several different languages. She says she's influenced by artists such as Simon and Garfunkel, Barbara Streisand - and also by the Koran. She's known for blending the traditional with the contemporary, the East with the West. 2009 YouTube Interview
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30:34

Masauko Chipembere (Podcast #831)
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Jonathan continues his interview with Masauko Chipembere. Chipembere talks about his father, Henry Masauko Blasius Chipembere, who was a Malawian nationalist and pan-Africanist working for freedom from colonial rule in Malawi. He was arrested and imprisoned several times and was finally forced into exile in Los Angeles with his wife, Catherine. After his death in 1975. Masauko's mother returned to Malawi and was the first woman elected to Parliament.
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38:00

Paul Etch (Podcast #830)
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Jonathan talks to music producer Paul Etch, the founder of Oliver Sudden Productions, a Canadian independent record label focusing on traditional music from various parts of the world. His company's catalog includes albums by players of the Japanese koto and shakuhachi, Vietnamese dan bau, Paraguayan harp, flamenco guitar, Indian sarod, and the Chinese yangqin, zheng, pipa and erhu (left).
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34:48

Blk Sonshine (Podcast #829)
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Jonathan interviews Masauko Chipembere, who along with Neo Muyanga, forms the group Blk Sonshine. They blend melodic and sometimes percussive acoustic guitars with hiphop, jazz, folk and soul from their African motherland. Their debut album "Blk Sonshine" was recorded at House of Blues in Encino, California during a US tour that saw them performing at the Tribute to Archbishop Tutu concert in Los Angeles alongside Stevie Wonder,Joan Baez and Hugh Masekela.
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34:32

Cecilia Noël (Podcast #824)
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Jonathan interviews Cecilia Noël, a passionate and flamboyant singer and producer. In 2009 she produced her CD A Gozár! (to enjoy) and Latin Party was released in 2010 by Putumayo Records. Critics have called her the "Latin Tina Turner." She created "Salsoul", a genre that describes her sound, combining elements of salsa, soul, jazz, funk, and afro-cuban. A Gozár! is a manifestation of Noël's love of music and dance and a dedication to her family in her native Perú.
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34:25

Eric Bibb (Podcast #813)
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Jonathan interviews Eric Bibb, an American acoustic blues singer-songwriter based in London. Bibb was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1998 for "Shakin' a Tailfeather" with Taj Mahal and Linda Tillery. He's released several albums in the past five years including "A Ship Called Love", "Diamond Days", "Get Onboard", and recently "Booker's Guitar" celebrating the music of Delta Guitar Master Booker White.
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33:22

Miguel Ivery (Podcast #810)
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Jonathan talks again to Miguel Ivery aka 'DJ Seduce', who is the founder and owner of Afro:Baile Records. Ivery talks about his new compilation album called "Brasil:Sambossica 2" which continues his plan to introduce the world to the new fusion between Bossa Nova, Samba and Afro-Brazilian and other world music forms. Ivery talks about his plans to tour in 2010 in order to introduce Brazil's new sound to the world.
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32:23

Lars Edegran (Podcast #807)
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Jonathan talks to arranger, bandleader, talent scout, record producer, and performer Lars Edegran. He came to New Orleans from Sweden at the age of 20 and talks about his early experiences there. In 1967 he founded the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra which has toured the world and performed at many festivals including the renowned Newport Jazz Festival. He's been nominated for an Academy Award for the soundtrack for Louis Malle's film "Pretty Baby", and for a Grammy for his orchestrations for the off-Broadway smash hit "One Mo' Time". In 2007 he was honored as New Orleans Music Ambassador at the 19th Annual Big Easy music awards
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32:11


Heather Rigdon (Podcast #802)
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Jonathan interviews jazz vocalist Heather Rigdon. She was raised in Texas where her father was an ordained Pentecostal preacher. She talks about how her strict religious upbringing effected her vocals. Rigdon performs frequently at the Bluebird Café in Nashville and released her debut album entitled Young & Naive in 2007.
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30:00


Chantal Chamberland (Podcast #801)
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Jonathan interviews Canadian jazz vocalist Chantal Chamberland about the attention she's beginning to receive for her work, including her latest CD release entitled "Other Woman".

She's appeared several times at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and has recently been nominated as Female Vocalist of the Year by the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards. MySpace Page

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29:30


Jorge Gomez with Tiempo Libre (Podcast #800)
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Jonathan interviews pianist Jorge Gomez who is the musical director of the Latin band Tiempo Libre. They talk about the history of Afro-Cubano music and how the band was formed. All the band's members were classically trained at La ENA, Cuba's premiere music conservatory. They've been nominated for Grammy awards twice. On Thursday, November 5th, they're performing in Madison at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
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28:23



Miguel Ivery (Podcast #797)
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Jonathan interviews Miguel Ivery aka 'DJ Seduce' founder and owner of Afro:Baile Records. He talks about his compilation called "I love Bossa Nova" which was released in September 2009. The album has 12 tracks - all performed by women. Ivery believes that the new sound of Bossa Nova, with African and Jazz influences, could make a comeback.

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31:58


Taj Weekes (Podcast #794)
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Jonathan talks to internationally known Reggae artist Taj Weekes who was born and raised on the island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean. The youngest of ten children, his family was always listening to local music on the radio. By age 13, he had his own music program on Radio St. Lucia. At 18, he left home for Toronto and later moved to New York where he formed his band Adowa. In 2005, they released their first album "Hope & Doubt" and in 2008 their latest album called "Deidem" which won the award for "Best Reggae Album" at the indie music industry's "Just Plain Folks" Awards Ceremony in Nashville.   View YouTube Video
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27:48


Robert Figueroa (Podcast #792)
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Jonathan interviews Robert Figueroa, a well-known composer and perfomer in the salsa brava movement. Figueroa has honed his skills on stages from Puerto Rico to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he lives. He has pursued the integration of traditional Afro-Caribbean rhythms and techniques to popular music genres such as Jazz and R & B and even Hip Hop. He is the lead vocalist and composer for the original salsa project Nabori.   View YouTube Video
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31:18



Stephen Kent (Podcast #789)
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Jonathan interviews composer and instrumentalist Stephen Kent, one of the premier Didgeridoo virtuosos in the contemporary world. Born in the England and raised in East Africa, Kent has pioneered the use of the ancient Australian Aboriginal instruments. He has produced six solo CDs and collaborated on 14 others. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay area and hosts a weekly "Music of the World" show on Pacifica radio's KPFA.
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32:49



Freddy Clarke (Podcast #782)
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Jonathan talks to guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer Freddy Clarke. He is the leader of the fusion band Wobbly World based in Menlo Park with musicians and singers from Pakistan, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Morocco, Lebanon and the United States. He's been playing a unique style of flamenco/classical guitar for over 40 years. He talks about how his band started in a restaurant and never rehearses in order to remain "fresh".

View Freddy Clarke's Video of "Ear Responsible"

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32:21


Juan Medrano Cotito (Podcast #781)
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Jonathan interviews Juan Medrano Cotito, an artist of international prestige. His fine skills performing his instrument, the Peruvian Cajón, have allowed him to obtain recognition as a world class musician in genres such as Traditional, Word Music, Fusion and Electronic Music.

Since 1985 Cotito has developed an important musical work as part of the band of singer Susana Baca by rescuing ancestral rhythms and harmonies of the Afro-Peruvian music that provided the historical configuration of the Peruvian Música Criollla (Creole Music) and blending Spaniard, Flamenco, Portuguese, Arab, Andean and Congo elements. This musical contribution allowed Baca to obtain the "Latin Grammy".

"Cotito" has participated in more than 40 international tours throughout the world and 30 cities in the United States. He has offered percussion clinics and workshops in Europe and United States. He currently teaches at the Peruvian National Folklore Institute and the Peruvian Pontifical Catholic University. He's made extensive recordings with Susana Baca, Richie Zellon, Novalima, Pilar de la Hoz, Chichi Glass, Sophia Koutsovitis, and Eric Kurisnski among others. He is currently touring as the Musical Director of the ensemble "The Voice of the Cajón" which in spanish is the name of his first CD "La Voz del Cajón".

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28:45


Dr. Carl MaultsBy (Podcast #773)
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Jonathan interviews Dr. Carl MaultsBy, who is a composer, arranger, organist, author, and has scored sacred and secular music for concert, musical theatre, film, and television. MaultsBy has also authored books, articles, and theatre pieces on the interrelation of music, culture, and religion. He received a Doctor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Arts degree from Lake Forest College and a Masters of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music.
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32:05


DJ Seduce (Podcast #772)
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Jonathan interviews DJ Seduce aka Miguel Ivery, founder of Afro:Baile Records, a world music record label specializing in the nu-age sounds of global music. Since 2007 this Arizona native has taken his love for world beats, and created his own unique sound & style drawing on heavy influences of Africa, Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica & Western Europe.
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31:30


Stefano Zenni (Podcast #759)
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Jonathan talks again to Stefano Zenni, a renowned Italian musicologist, about the relationship between the composers and musicians of Europe and African-American music. He says there's a direct link between rhythms in Europe and those found in African-American music. Zenni is President of the Italian Society of African-American Musicology and editor of the Jazz section of the monthly "Il Giornale della Musica". His new book I segreti del jazz (2008) has been awarded in Italy the Best Book on International Music 2007-2008 at the First Music Book Fair in Sanremo.
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34:32


Marissa Moorman (Podcast #756)
Marissa Moorman is an assistant professor of African History at Indiana University-Bloomington. Her research explores the dynamic relationship between politics and cultural practices (like music and dance) in late colonial and independent Angola. Increasingly, her work focuses on the technologies and imaginations that propel music and dance practices across and around the Atlantic. She is the author of "Intonations: a Social History of Music and Nation in Luanda, Angola, 1945-Recent Times." (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2008)

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31:45



Greg Barz (Podcast #755)
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Greg Barz is an associate professor of ethnomusicology in the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, with appointments in Anthropology and the Divinity school. He is the producer of the 2007 Grammy-nominated album, Singing for Life: Songs of Hope, Healing, and HIV/AIDS in Uganda, released by Smithsonian Folkways that draws on his field recordings in East Africa of the music of HIV+ women's groups. His research in Uganda was supported by a senior research fellowship with in Fulbright African AIDS Research Program. Barz's most recent research involves documenting the role of music on the radio broadcasts that led to the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s. He is author or editor of eight books including "Singing for Life: Music and HIV/AIDS in Uganda" (NY: Routledge) and "Music of East Africa: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture" (Oxford University Press, 2004)
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32:27



Navan's Sheila Shigley (Podcast #753)
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Jonathan talks with Sheila Shigley, a member of the traditional Celtic Singing Group Navan featuring Amy Curl, Paul Gorman, Sheila Shigley & Elizabeth Simcock. Navan is a visionary Celtic quartet performing exclusively in the native Celtic tongues. Shigley, raised in Hong Kong, acquired an early love of Celtic music from the Royal Hong Kong Police Force Pipe Band and her parents' record collection, discusses the history, development, and the traditions associated with performing Celtic music.
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31:31



Stefano Zenni (Podcast #752)
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Stefano Zenni is the most renowned musicologist in Italy on jazz and African-American music. He is President of the Italian Society of African-American Musicology. He's also the editor of the Jazz section of the monthly Il Giornale della Musica, one of the most important music magazines in Italy. He has published books on Louis Armstrong, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus (2004, the first book ever written on the analysis his music). His new book I segreti del jazz (2008) has been awarded in Italy the Best Book on International Music 2007-2008 at the First Music Book Fair in Sanremo.

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31:31



Kia Karlan from Yid Vicious (Podcast #751)
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Jonathan talks to Kia Karlen about the origins of Yid Vicious. Karlen is a member of the seven-piece band which was formed in 1995 in Madison, WI in order to "ameliorate the woeful dearth of klezmer in America's otherwise pleasant heartland." Klezmer is Yiddish folk music, music for dancing and celebrating.

The revival of Klezmer started in the 70s and is now played at weddings, at Bat and Bar Mitzvahs, luxurious ballrooms and festival stages and often drive crowds into flurries of "freylekh-fueled dancing fury." Their repertoire is drawn mainly from traditional secular Yiddish music.

There are seven members of Yid Vicious, playing clarinets, saxophones, fiddle, horn, vocals, guitar, accordion, tuba, drums and sometimes theremin. This interview includes several pieces from their new CD "Dollars to Doinas".

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30:17



Wendy Hymes (Podcast #750)
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Jonathan interviews flutist Wendy Hymes who is known to exert definitive interpretations of standard repertoire from the Baroque era to 20th-century composers. She also sets the pace in intercultural music, performing at festivals in Ghana, Nigeria and England. Her new CD, "African Art Music for Flute," features music by composers from Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. She has served on the music faculties at Louisiana State University, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and Jefferson College and performed with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Union Avenue Opera and with many chamber ensembles. CD: African Art Music For Flute. African Music Publishers, 2008
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30:02



Ruth M. Stone (Podcast #743)
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Jonathan interviews Ruth M. Stone, Professor and Chair of the Department of folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. She has conducted research in West Africa as well as in the Middle East, emphasizing issue of time and rhythm in her work. Dr. Stone is the author of several books including: Music In West Africa: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture, published by Oxford University Press, 2005.
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28:14



Gwendoline Y. Fortune (Podcast #742)
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Listen to Jonathan interview Gwendoline Y. Fortune, a social scientist-historian, classical soprano and author. Her novels include Family Lines. Her third publication will appear in 2009.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Podcasts

Podcasting describes the delivery of audio content, usually in the form of an MP3 file, to a subscriber's computer. This delivery is done through your internet connection. It is performed automatically on a scheduled basis, or requested manually within your Podcast software client.

  • The Subscription or Channel: The link between your computer's Podcast software and the content-producer's server. In the case of Higher Ground's Podcast, it's the address to a file that describes the podcast and tells the Podcast software where the MP3 file is located.
  • The Podcast or Feed: The actual content, usually an MP3-encoded audio file, which is downloaded or copied directly into your computer.

Podcasts tend to be relatively large files. If you have a cable modem or DSL, downloading a podcast may only take a few moments. Dialup users must connect to their Internet Service Provider before requesting a download, and it can often take 15 minutes or more.


Here are several sources for free Podcast software programs:

  • Postcasting News Software List - podcast software for all operating systems
  • Juice - (Formerly iPodder) One of the best known open-source clients for Mac and Windows users
  • iTunes - Now for both Mac and Windows users
  • WinAmp Media Player - A good general-use media player and podcast client for Windows
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