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DANCE TO YOUR SHADOW Mouth music around the world
IN HARMONY'S WAY
Great chorus songs
Dance To Your Shadow
mouth music around the world
Mouth Music is a kind of singing found in every culture-- rhythmic, traditional, a cappella songs used for work, play, sadness, celebration or for dancing without instruments.
Pam Swan celebrates that common thread in this extraordinary collection of Mouth Music, as she sings with tradition bearers from Scotland, Ireland, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Japan, Tuva, Arctic Canada, Appalachia and the Georgia Sea Islands.
Joining Pam are: Christine Primrose, Peggy Seeger, Laurie Lewis, Paul Pena, Shay & Michael Black, Madeleine Allakariallak, Bo Lueng, Wendell Brooks, Kokou Katamani, Gameli Ladzekpo, Trevino Leon, Kyoko Fujita, Julia Chigamba and the Georgia Sea Island Singers.
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11 Cultures, 9 Languages, 18 Singers, 1 Extraordinary Album
Dance To Your Shadow celebrates Mouth Music around the world
For Artist's Web Links, Audio Samples and information about Types of Mouth Music, click on a link below
Track / Artist Song Title / Sample Culture / Type of Mouth Music
1. Christine Primrose He Mandu Scottish Waulking Song
2. Shay & Michael Black Little Pack o' Tailors Irish Dandling Song
3. Laurie Lewis Purty Little Girl Set Appalachian Chin Music
4. Christine Primrose Siuthadaibh Bhalachaibh Scottish Port-a-beul
5. Shay & Michael Black Trip to Durrow Set Irish Diddle
6. Peggy Seeger Rattlesnake Mountain Appalachian Epenthetic Song
7. Julia Chigamba Tanda Shona Harvest Chant (Zimbabwe)
8. Wendell Brooks Dollo Day Southern U.S. Field Holler
9. Wendell Brooks Celia Southern U.S. Slave Song
10. Woe Ensemble * Sido Adzinawo GaDangme Chant (Ghana)
11. GA Sea Is. Singers # Little Johnny Brown Gullah Play Song
12. GA Sea Is. Singers See Yambo Gullah Fishing/Work Song
13. Julia Chigamba Chinyara Shona Lullaby (Zimbabwe)
14. Woe Ensemble Nakile GaDangme Coming of Age Song
15. Madeleine Allakariallak The Saw Inuit Throat Singing
16. Madeleine Allakariallak Ulluk Suli Tauva Inuit Pisiit
17. Madeleine Allakariallak The Geese Inuit Throat Singing
18. Bo Lueng Chang Thai Children's Song
19, Bo Lueng Bangkok Thai Spoken Word
20. Bo Lueng Ramwong Thai Dance Song
21. Bo Lueng Mon Sorn Pa Thai Children's Chant
22. Bo Lueng Mang Moom Thai Children's Song
23. Bo Lueng Ri Ri Khao Sarn Thai Rice Winnowing Song
24. Paul Pena Dyngyldai Tuvan Riding Song / Throat Singing
25. Kyoko Fujita Hotaru Koi Japanese Folk Song
26. Pam Swan Dance To Your Shadow Scottish Port-a-beul
* The Woe Ensemble (pronounced "Way Ensemble" ) is Kokou Katamani, Gameli Ladzekpo and Trevino Leon.
# The Georgia Sea Island Singers are Frankie Quimby, Doug Quimby and Tony Merrell.
About the Project:
In a three-year project, Pam Swan approached tradition bearers around the world, asking them to teach her rhythmic traditional a cappella songs from their culture, and record them with her for a documentary CD. The result is this CD, containing the music they generously shared with her.
The album features the kind of unaccompanied singing found in every culture-- rhythmic, traditional songs used during work, play, celebration, sadness, or for dancing without instruments. The most common term for this singing is mouth music. This unique collection celebrates the common thread of mouth music around the world.
Notes from Pam:
"When I began this project, I had no idea what an adventure and education it would be. In the end, it now includes 26 songs from 11 cultures, in 9 languages, with contributions from 18 different singers. It was my great privilege to learn from and sing with each of them.
I worked with tradition bearers on tiny islands in the Scottish Hebrides, recorded in an Arctic Inuit village and on a sub-tropical island off the Georgia coast. We sang around kitchen tables and front porches in Appalachia, and combined sound layers from the bedside voice of a Tuvan throat singing master with sounds from the windblown steppes of Tuva, where he once sang on horseback.
Twice I was honored to sing with tradition bearers who had been recorded by Alan Lomax, and twice I shared a microphone with women who carried their baby on their back as they sang, in the traditional style of their culture. We played games and giggled during children's songs, and recorded my attempts at learning the basics of ancient Inuit throat singing. There were great, spontaneous moments of African chant-- wild, breathless Irish diddles-- and blissful, quiet passages of peace in Asian verses.
Studying mouth music this way allowed me to receive the tradition directly from the singers-- the way it has been passed on in each of their cultures for centuries. The singers were incredibly generous. It gave me a unique opportunity to observe common threads of traditional music across many cultures, and to enjoy with each of them our unifying human impulse to share a song with a friend.
These wonderful folks taught me many songs, but they also shared great lessons beyond the songs, about what it means to stand in the stream of tradition. I am very grateful to each of them for sharing their traditions with me, and I am very pleased and proud to offer this collection of songs to you."
The Book:
In the process of traveling around the world to study and record these songs, Pam got a rare glimpse into several cultures through their music. The result is a book called
Dance to Your Shadow: Chasing a Song Across the World.For more information visit the
Travel Writing page.
The Title:
Dance To Your Shadow is the name of a piece of Scottish mouth music that started Pam on a quest to study rhythmic traditional a cappella songs around the world. The more she learned about the origin of this ancient Gaelic song (and its modern history) the more she came to understand the nature of traditional music and her place as a collector, singer and teacher of songs from other cultures.
Dance to Your Shadow is the title track of her new CD of mouth music around the world, and the title of her book about studying and recording traditional songs.
I Read the Review Dirty Linen Magazine
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Memory of Paul Pena
Notes on the passing of a great Tuvan
throatsinger and friend
Mouth Music
Rhythmic traditional a
cappella from around the world
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