Pam Swan      CD:  Dance To Your Shadow

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    The new CD Dance To Your Shadow is a collaboration between Pam Swan and tradition

bearers from around the world.  It features mouth music from many cultures in Africa, Asia,

Arctic Canada and the U.S.   The CD is due for release soon.

 

What is Mouth Music?

    There's a kind of singing found in every culture-- rhythmic, traditional a cappella songs used

during work, play, social gatherings, or for dancing when there are no instruments.  The most

widely used term for this rhythmic traditional a cappella singing is Mouth Music.  For more

information visit the Mouth Music Page.

 

The Project

    Pam has spent the past few years collecting, performing and teaching rhythmic traditional

a cappella songs (mouth music) from cultures around the world.  For this documentary CD,

Pam contacted teachers and friends tradition bearers and asked them to record songs from

their culture with her. The result is a CD called Dance To Your Shadow.

    The process of studying and recording these wonderful traditional songs has been a

great privilege, and Pam wishes to thank each of the amazing singers who contributed to

the album, which will soon be ready for release. 

 

Featured singers and their music:

    Christine Primrose (Scotland, Isle of Lewis)

            Scottish puirt-a-beul and waulking song (sound sample)

    Julia Tsi-Tsi Chigamba (Zimbabwe)

            Shona lullaby and harvest chant

    Peggy Seeger (U.S.)

            Appalachian epenthetic song

    Madeleine Allakariallak (Arctic Canada, Nunavut)

            Inuit pisiit and throat-singing

    Georgia Sea Islands Singers (U.S.)

            African American slave songs

    Wendell Brooks (U.S.)

            Songs of the Underground Railroad

    Laurie Lewis (U.S.)

            Appalachian chin music

    Paul Pena (Central Asia, Republic of Tuva)

            Tuvan throat-singing

 

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 Book 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.