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PGM 1255 'DESERT CROSSING 2' : july 31-aug 7

MENA is an acronym for the geographical region of the Middle East and North Africa, encompassing give or take 19 countries with a long, complicated history and a shared musical culture. Political conflict and anti-music fundamentalism in the region over the last 50 years led to a diaspora of MENA musicians to cities all over Europe, Canada and the U.S.

Leaving one's home and native culture is almost always difficult and unpredictable, but for music it can be a good thing, exposing musicians to new influences, new creative relationships, and unexpected cross-fertilizations. The classic example is DICK DALE, the inventor of Surf Rock—the original 1960s fusion of Middle Eastern scales and tremolo electric guitar drowned in reverb.

Today the rich traditions of Middle Eastern and North African music combine freely with jazz, rock, rap, electronic, ambient and even new age, in a brilliant diversity of sound and style.On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, the trance-inducing rhythms and deep modal melodies of the MENA diaspora, on a program called DESERT CROSSING 2.

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PGM 1254 'TERRASONIC' : july 24-31

Over the last 75 years, composers were gradually freed from creating music with notes on paper, and the limitations of acoustically generated sounds. Slowly at first, then in a rush of innovation in the 20th century, they were given the tools to create music directly from recorded and electronically generated sounds. The electronic studio itself became the master instrument, and imagination was unbound.

It's hard to overstate how revolutionary this was. It led to a much expanded palette of musical sounds, an explosion of popular electronic dance music, and immersive music with a focus on imagery, ambience, and virtual travel in sonic space. Composers became "sound designers," and listeners became sonic cosmonauts.

Environmental sounds captured by high quality portable recorders lent a new psychological dimension to music, making us more aware of the natural ambient sounds around us. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a journey in electro-acoustic spaces at sea and on land, on a program called TERRASONIC. Music is by ATOMIC SKUNK, ISHQ, RUDY ADRIAN, and LONEWARD.

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PGM 1220 'AMBIENT TRAVELER 2' : july 17-24

In the warm, bright days of summer, an ambient fan yearning for travel to exotic cultures will book a flight on Sequencer Airlines. With its steady pulse, it's a perfect rhythm for moving through space. 

The roots go back to 9th century Persia, but the music sequencer idea really got going in the 19th century after the Industrial Revolution, with popular devices like music boxes, mechanical organs, and player pianos. By the first generation of electronic synthesizers in the 1960s and 70s, the Step Sequencer was a machine that turned equal length notes into repeating rhythm patterns. They're simple, delightfully hypnotic, and fun to work with. 

Today things are more complicated, but a lot more powerful. We have audio sample sequencers, loop-based creative music software, phrase samplers, and digital audio recording software many times more powerful than the primitive sequencers of early synths—and hey! They're still fun to work with. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...a journey from kinetic sequencer patterns to exotic Southeast Asian ambient soundscapes—on a program called AMBIENT TRAVELER 2. 

Music by ATOMIC SKUNK, DAVID PARSONS, CHRISTEL VERAART, CHRONOTOPE PROJECT, LOREN NERELL, ALIO DIE & LORENZO MONTANA, RICHARD BONE.

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PGM 1253 'SUMMER DRUMMER 2' : july 10-17

The seductive sound of the Hang, ladies and gentlemen, a 21st century Swiss offspring of the steel pan drum. Gentle and tuneful, the handpans, as the new percussion family are called, are the perfect thing for delighting the ear and bringing joy to the heart during this disrupted and constrained summer of 2020.

After months of enforced confinement and social distance, the warm weather brings thoughts of summers past, filled with sun, sport, and vacation pleasures, while the steel drum's Caribbean origins in Trinidad and Tobago suggest images of island adventures, white sands, and emerald waters. It's a vision that's irresistible in normal times, let alone now.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a virtual vacation in the seductive soundworlds of the Hang, on a program called SUMMER DRUMMER 2. Music is by JAMES HOOD, LAURA INSERRA, HANG MASSIVE, HANG DRUM PLAYER, and THE MANY RIVERS ENSEMBLE (featuring HANG MASSIVE).

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PGM 1055R 'ROMANTICO' : july 3-10

It's been a while since we did a program on the music of the America to our south. It's a whole continent, after all, and the scope and variety of music from the distinctive cultures of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil is enormous.

Whether it comes from the mountain cultures, the grasslands, the rainforest, or one of the great cities; is based on influences from the native Indians, or from Spain or other European countries — the music of South America has a depth and passion all its own, and genres like Tango have created fans around the world.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we return to the soul and space of South American music, on a program called ROMANTICO. Music is by OSCAR REYNOLDS, INKUYO, TRIO GARUFA, GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA, ASTOR PIAZZOLLA, STEPHAN MICUS, DINO SALUZZI, and EGBERTO GISMONTI.

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