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PGM 950R 'RECUERDOS' : aug.25 - sept.1

The sublime nostalgia of Recuerdos de la Alhambra —"Memories of the Alhambra" — a classic tremolo study for Spanish guitar by FRANCISCO TARREGA. It recalls a golden age in the Andalusian city of Granada in the 13th and 14th century, during a perhaps more enlightened period in human history.

It was an era of some 800 years, from the 8th to the 15th century, when the Moors of North Africa ruled "Al-Andalus" (as Spain was called) and religious and political co-existence was the order of the day. Art, music, architecture and poetry flourished, and Muslim, Jewish and Christian cultures co-existed in harmony. It stands today as a shining reminder that we can, in fact, get along.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, music inspired by this great Spanish/Moorish/Mediterranean tradition, on a program called RECUERDOS.

Music is by MILOS KARADAGLIC, ARMIK, AMINA ALAOUI, and THE AL-ANDALUS ENSEMBLE.

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PGM 1017R 'SOLAR WINDS' : aug.18-25

An encore program to celebrate the solar eclipse of August 21st, 2017.

In summer, the energy of the sun seems more intense. But the sun is a nuclear furnace that never stops, and the sun's corona is so hot that high energy particles there reach escape velocity, flying into space at over a million miles an hour in a stream called the solar wind. 

Made of ionized atomic particles and magnetic fields from the sun's corona, the solar wind is spun into a spiral as the sun rotates every 27 days. Here on earth, variations in the sun's magnetic field carried by the solar wind create auroras — the northern and southern lights — the plasma tails of comets, and geomagnetic storms that can knock out power grids. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, another interstellar journey on electronic waves, on a program called SOLAR WINDS.Music is by JOHN LYELL, BROEKHUIS, KELLER & SCHONWALDER, MEG BOWLES, CHRONOTOPE PROJECT, CRAIG PADILLA & ZERO OHMS, HOLLAN HOLMES, and NIMANTY & SOULRSOUL.

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PGM 1155 'NOCTURNAL TRANSMISSIONS' : aug.11-18

Would you believe me if I told you that all the sounds you're hearing are made with an analog synthesizer? Strange but true. It's the work of KEVIN BRAHENY FORTUNE, one of the early masters of long-form electronic ambient music. And it's a good story. 

The 1970s were a decade of discovery and development for electronic music. Early analog synthesizer modules by ROBERT MOOG, DON BUCHLA, and SERGE TCHEREPNIN fueled an explosion of creativity. If you were serious, you wound up building your own instruments and creating your own sounds. Then KEVIN BRAHENY (the Fortune came later...) was a talented musician and soprano saxophone player in Los Angeles who worked designing and building electronic instruments with several of the early pioneers of analog synthesis in California. 

The foundations for Ambient electronic music were being created out of the new possibilities opened up by the synthesizer, and the psychological and social changes inspired by psychedelic drugs. This new sensibility lead to the creation of extended musical "journeys" of 30 minutes or more, which could be released on cassette. Later, even longer journeys were possible on CD. 

In 1980 Braheny improvised a live 35 minute "lullaby" to close a HEARTS OF SPACE fundraising special on our home station, KPFA-FM in Berkeley. It turned out so well it was released later that year as "Lullaby for the Hearts of Space," along with a composed companion piece called "After I Said Goodnight. " And that's where we begin this edition of Hearts of Space called NOCTURNAL TRANSMISSIONS.

Music is by KEVIN BRAHENY FORTUNE, CHAD HOEFLER, ROBERT RICH, ALIO DIE, and IASOS.

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PGM 1154 'EQUILIBRIUM 2' : aug.4-11

The nation-states of the greater Middle East are a contentious group, with a long, complicated history and even longer memories. Spanning some 17 countries from Iran in the east to Turkey in the west, including North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean states, and the Arabian peninsula — the region is riven by political, religious & ethnic conflicts. 

Yet the music of the Middle East shows a broad similarity of instruments, scales, rhythms and formats that cut across national boundaries and create a kind of super-cultural unity. Today, progressive middle eastern musicians are promoting a non-political form of communication through their music, bringing together traditional and electronic instruments to create a shared experience of beauty and soulfulness.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, another journey in the contemporary Middle Eastern soundscape, on a program called EQUILIBRIUM 2.

[ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]