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PGM 809R "AFRICAN GENESIS" : Week of Aug. 29th...Sep. 4th

The lilting songs of the Baka pygmies of Cameroon have achieved international fame through the efforts of sympathetic Western musicians. Just as DNA research has shown that Africa is the origin point of the human species, in the last 200 years, the infectious rhythms and harmonies of African music have bred new styles of western music - originally laying the foundation for blues, jazz and other forms of popular music, and more recently, spawning a host of brilliant variations of what we now call World Music.

While the majority of African music is for dance and celebration, there's also a more contemplative sound. On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, we journey through the rhythms into the quiet heart of African music...on a program called AFRICAN GENESIS.

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PGM 849 "THE FLOAT ZONE" : Week of August 22nd...

Here in the days of "water cubes" and Olympic pools, summer is the time we renew our relationship with water. In ocean, lake, river and pool, we immerse ourselves in earth's most precious fluid. And when we do, one of the most agreeable sensations is one of the simplest: just...floating.

Floating is the goal-less, relaxed, "here and now" side of swimming. And it's also something we enjoy in space and ambient music, as we float in oceans and rivers...of sound. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a journey called THE FLOAT ZONE, with music by DARSHAN AMBIENT, AL GROMER KHAN, JAMES ASHER, BIOMUSIQUE, PARADISO and more.

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PGM 848 "READING THE BONES" : Week of August 15th...

It's all so clear in retrospect. The electronic music revolution of the 1970s empowered artists to explore a new palette of ethereal sounds and unnatural atmospheres. In less than 10 years, a new musical language emerged in Europe, the U.S., and Japan, and spread around the world. By the 1980s, they looked around...and it was good.

But it didn't take long before a few of these artists realized that something was missing: the vital, rhythmic foundation of ethnic and primitive music, famously built into rock from the African roots of Rhythm & Blues. So just as early 20th century painters looked to Africa, Polynesia, and other ancient cultures for vitality and connection to the archaic human experience — electronic musicians "went tribal."

The moment was marked by STEVE ROACH's famous trip to the Australian outback and his 1988 album "Dreamtime Return," a title that wraps up the idea in two well-chosen words. But other artists were already moving in this direction, first crossing cultural barriers and then heading back in time, to the roots of music and sound itself.

The genre that emerged was called "techno-tribal" — a psycho-acoustic, trance-ambient music that combined electronics, atmospherics, ethnic percussion (rainsticks, rattles, drums), and didgeridoos. The combination possessed some of the psychedelic powers of its shamanic forbears, and it lives on today. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a techno-triba-delic journey called READING THE BONES.

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PGM 431R "EXOTICA" : Week of August 8th...

Wandering the streets of New Delhi, Cairo, Teheran or Tangiers these days, you'd probably hear everything from Elvis to the Ayatollah, but one thing's for sure: the age of exotic mixtures of music from all over the world is a fact of life.

On this 25th Anniversary retrospective series edition of a 1996 Hearts of Space program called EXOTICA, we continue our exploration of world spacemusic, with a focus on India.

Music is by RAVI SHANKEAR, AL GROMER KHAN and KAI TASCHNER, ANNE DUDLEY & JAZ COLEMAN, MYCHAEL DANNA, V.M.BHATT, JIE-BING CHEN and BELA FLECK, and LUIS PANIAGUA.

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Radio Channel Update

New playlist today:

01    286   OSMOSIS   a journey from outer to inner space     1992
02    481   THE OTHER WORLD   virtual electronic spaces and strange worlds   1998
03    265   SPACE 91   our 1991 spacemusic retrospective   1991
04    764   DEEP GROOVE   downtempo, chill and ambient electronica   2006
05    669   SUMMER LIGHT 4   music for languid days and sultry nights   2003
06    691   THE TWILIGHT REALM   a celebration of the ethereal Celtic ballad   2004
07    296   AMAZON PASSAGE   ambient impressions from South America   1992
08    351   AMBIENT MEMORIES   a return to the thrilling days of early Ambient   1994
09    599   INDIDGENOUS   a tribal/electronic/ambient/tropical journey   2001
10    225   FAR OUT WEST   a journey to the Far Out West   1990
11    733   SPACE GUITARS 6   dreamy, twangy, timeless and deep   2005
12    409   AETERNA   keys to the Romantic Quest   1995
13    731   MAGIC REALISM   on the 4th-world night train to Babylon   2005
14    454   VOYAGER 2   sounds of outer space and planet earth   1997
15    632   GATHERING SPIRITS   a journey in the tribal-ambient soundscape   2002
16    543   INDIAN DIFFUSION   the Western edge of Indian music   1999
17    561   TRANCE-FORMATION   a trance-ambient introspection   2000
18    567   STEPHAN MICUS RETROSPECTIVE   Germany's gift to contemplative music   2000
19    493   DECONSTRUCTORS OF TERRA   new techno/ambient & electronica   1998
20    494   ARABESQUE 2   a cinematic journey in Arabic & Moorish soundscapes   1998
21    847   SPACE GUITARS 8   a journey across the sky   2008
22    496   SLIM WESTERNS   an Ambient Rodeo from the Mythic West   1998
23    502   WORLD VOICES   spotlight on the international vocal compilation   1998
24    846   ECHOES OF SPAIN   the Andalusian roots of the Spanish guitar   2008
25    810   DESERT DREAMFIELDS   a deep desert journey   2007
26    813   THE MUSIC OF MYST   a journey in mythic soundworlds   2007
27    832   KONTINUUM   infinitely extended electronic soundscapes   2008

PGM 847 "SPACE GUITARS 8" : Week of August 1st...

When the sun is high and the sky is the deepest blue, a space fan's thoughts turn to that matchless vehicle for flight, the infinite, expanded, atmospheric guitar.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, it's time for another installment of our longest running series — SPACE GUITARS.This time we venture out to the edge of the stratosphere and into the rarefied spaces beyond the sky, on a program called SPACE GUITARS 8. Music is by MARCONI UNION, JEFF PEARCE, BOB HOLROYD, HAROLD BUDD & CLIVE WRIGHT, DIATONIS, and HAMMOCK.

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