By Elizabeth Doyle
Harish Johari – He was born in Uttar Pradesh, India, and his father was a practitioner of vedic astrology and Hatha yoga. Harish was a sculptor (He sculpted the monkey god Hanuman for a temple in Bareilly.) He was a painter. He was a student of philosophy, and he was a much-published author. But most of all, he was a spiritual thinker who tried to share what he knew with the whole world. His meditative music and powerful chanting were absolutely legendary, and touched the lives of countless numbers of people. Sadly, he left his body in 1999. But he left his artwork, his sculptures, his books and his music behind. Click here.
Pansori Music – Pansori is a little like traditional Korean opera. A full Pansori mansang can take two hours to complete. There’s a famous one that takes eight hours! It’s often performed by just one singer and just one drummer. And it doesn’t sound at all like Chinese opera. The voice is much more wide-open. It’s incredibly expressive. The vocalist really gets passionate, and really lets it all out. It’s an experience, watching the singer get more and more into the story, and grow increasingly impassioned. Often, he or she will stop and start talking in the middle. It’s really cool! Here’s one I found that I really fell in love with. Click here.
Balcony TV – This is an online “music show” where they travel the world, having popular artists play simple examples of their music for us while standing on a balcony. It’s really popular, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great place to see both established and up-and-coming singer/songwriters.
Once you click on a link below, look at the sound bar beneath the video, and click the four arrows in the right corner to make the performance big and fill your computer screen:
Ireland: (Eleanor McEvoy)
Germany: (Frau Horn)
Spain: (Luthea Salom)
Top photo: Sharon St Joan / Nataraja / The Chennai Museum
Second photo: Steve46814 / Wikimedia Commons / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Korea-Busan_3405-06_Pansori.JPG / Pansori performance at the Busan Cultural Center in Busan, South Korea
Third photo: Barcex / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dublin_-_Father_Mathew_Bridge_-_110508_182542.jpg / This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported / Wikimedia Commons / Father Matthew Bridge, Dublin