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In keeping with the melting-pot theme, The Mountain Music Project: A Musical Odyssey from Appalachia to Himalaya (CD, MMJ 2614) explores the oldest musical traditions of America’s Appalachian Mountains and Nepal’s Himalayas. Virginian multi-instrumentalists Danny Knicely and Tara Linhardt traveled to Nepal and the foothills of the world’s highest mountains, bringing with them the folksongs of their homeland and a desire to play with and learn from the Gandharbas, or "singing messengers," of the remote Nepalese villages they visited. What they found were striking similarities between the musical traditions, and between themselves and the musicians they met. In Kathmandu they recorded songs from each culture, blending instruments and harmonies from worlds a world apart. Presented side by side, the common language of these seemingly disparate folk mountain cultures is harmoniously universal. Appalachian old-time fiddle tunes like "Old Joe Clark" and "Sally Anne," interspersed with Nepalese phrasings and instruments such as the madal and arbaj, sound surprisingly natural. The ballads from the two cultures have thematic similarities as well -- each sings of the natural world, livestock, the homeland, the inevitability of love and loss. After Knicely and Linhardt’s return to the US, guest musicians such as Tim O’Brien, Tony Trischka, and Abigail Washburn added tracks to complete The Mountain Music Project. A film documentary of the same title recently premiered on PBS, and is now available on DVD for those who want to see and hear these cross-cultural jams. 08/01/12
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