Timbre, as Frank Zappa says in the Real Frank Zappa Book, is everything. But it’s also confusing. To a Westerner, the sitar eternally signifies the mysterious allure of the East, while – as Talvin Singh once pointed out – ‘in Bombay, an electric guitar is exotic’. Why is this?
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| ABOVE: A rare and dangerous example of the urethra flute. |
This playlist argues that context, rather than the instrument itself, is the key. I hope to demonstrate this by putting fifteen instruments in an unexpected context.
It’s a playlist that plunges into the world of exotic tones with a banjo in one hand and an ocarina in the other, and comes out the other side with a sore head, yodelling.
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| It would be doing the merely obvious to include such gimmicky instruments as the trapezoidal harp (ABOVE). |
I have deliberately steered clear of the more familiar examples of instruments being used in an unusual context. Much as I love the sitar on the Beatles’ Norwegian Wood, or Jethro Tull’s use of rock flute, and the whole of the Tubular Bells album, I’m looking here for juxtapositions of timbre that still have the power to surprise.
I hope you find yourself marvelling at the sound of a violin screeching across a dub track, or a sousaphone powering an rock tune, as much as I did.
| Jungle Flute – Don Tracy & the Voodoo Family | Flute |
| (Dance to the Music of) The Ocarina – Irving Berlin | Ocarina |
| The Twisted Nerve – Bernard Hermann | Harp |
| Jan Pahechan ho – Mohammed Rafi | Electric guitar |
| Got a Match – Frank Gallop | Harpsichord |
| I Touch Myself – Rolf Harris | Wobble board |
| A Day In The Life – The Koto Ensemble | Koto |
| K.G.’s Half Way Tree – Augustus Pablo & The Simplicity People | Violin |
| Yaman (The Colonel’s Lady) – The Indo-British Ensemble | Sitar |
| Donna Lee – Tom Slavicek | Banjo |
| Prodigy Medley – The Banana Sessions | Sousaphone |
| Take Five – Cayman Islands Steel Pan Jazz Trio | Steel pans |
| Bag’s Groove – Leon Thomas | The yodel |
| Oboe Mambo – Machito And His Afro-Cuban Orchestra | Oboe |
| It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ’N’ Roll) – AC/DC | Bagpipes |
If you can suggest any more for the next playlist, please leave a comment or contact me.
2 comments:
OMG, OMG, OMG!!! This was SOOOO AWESOME! All these songs are keepers, I especially enjoyed that vintage Bollywood one, "Jan pahejan ho" SOOO catchy! please make another podcast like this soon!
Thanks for your comment! It’s very kind of you to say so. And yes, I will be doing another one soon.
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