Nature sounds in OL songs

[marijose]

I was listening to a segment on my local National Public Radio station (http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/05/05/11.php) this morning on a new book - "Why Birds Sing," by David Rothenberg. The book website, www.whybirdssing.com/ , has a section on what musicians have done with bird song (5th link on the left). This had me wondering if OL has ever tried to incorporate bird song into any of his songs. Anyone know? He is ingenious enough to wire a mike into his bird feeder and compose something lovely from it.

On a non-bird note, I gave away my copy of La Semana last week to a friend who had gone through some rough times and would appreciate the music. Currently going through La Semana withdrawal...but a great excuse for me to splurge on my very own La Semana limited edition - yeah! Also ordered several copies of La Semana and Transit as end-of-school-year gifts of deep appreciation for my kids' teachers and son's music therapist. Yes there is such a thing as music therapy (http://www.musictherapy.org), although we already knew that.

PS - obviously I can't insert those cool hyperlinks into text. Yes I am a dinosaur.

[Matt Callahan]

Not to worry, I'm future fossil fuel myself.

I've incorporated some OL into music therapy for my son. It works incredibly well. There are plenty of bird sounds in his music. I don't know if they are all real though. Check Morning Arrival in Goa. I know for certain that Ron Wagner uses a whistle during the live shows that sounds like a bird. Seems like we should check all the songs and make a list.

[marijose]

Yes, I was listening to Morning Arrival in Goa yesterday. It sounds like there are seagull sounds incorporated into the song. Real or not, still a wonderful song. Just got curious re. bird sounds in OL music after listening to that radio show. The host and guest made it sound like it was so innovative to incorporate bird sounds into songs. After I began wondering whether OL had done this I figured he had probably been doing so for years. The only other CDs I have besides Hours... are La Semana (well, technically I gave it away but the LE is in the mail), Innamorare (love the horn arrangements - fun!), Nouveaumatic (great for when I need a kick in the back to get going) and Transit (very cool fluid bass and world rhythms). I'm sure I'll end up with all of them eventually, I just stumbled upon OL's music after clicking on the link for his NPR interview last Fall while I was searching for something else on npr.org.

[Matt Callahan]

Treat yourself to Opium soon

[marijose]

I figured you might say that. Thanks for the recommendation. Will do! I forgot I have NF 2000 edition too.

Read your blog post on Moleskine notebooks. Not sure what writing instrument OL uses, but when I was a kid living in Barcelona I remember men would keep those notebooks (or ones similar to them, they all had the rubber bands to keep scraps of paper in them) in their shirt pockets, nerd style, and write in them with pretty much anything. So no special pen or pencil needed, although I'm sure a Montblanc would be wonderful...

[luz]

Hi Marijose....I agree and believe in Music Therapy. In fact one of my coworkers has a son who was diagnosed with cancer last fall and when he was going through his chemo I gave them Ottmar's "In the Arms of Love" and she was so thankful and appreciative of the therapy it provided to their souls. Today, he is cancer free! I have a friend whose mom just passed away and I have bought another copy of the same CD and plan on giving it to him today.

[boris]

Barcelona? Then we have something in common. Spent a good deal of time 80km south of Barcelona when I was a kid in a town called Torredembarra.

[marijose]

Boris, I actually had to look up Torredembarra on a map and see it's outside Tarragona. Were you visiting there? I only got down to Tarragona a few times, mainly to see the Roman ruins. To go to the beach we mainly went up to Sitges. We lived in the city of Barcelona and my family immigrated to the US when I was a teenager in the 70s, one of my dad's sisters lives in the US. The rest of my parents' siblings and my cousins live in and around Madrid, including La Mancha and Segovia. Segovia is my favorite town in all of Spain. Glad they finally stopped car traffic going under the aqueduct.

I was in Bavaria for < a week over 10 years ago on a business trip. Went to Munich and took a weekend daytrip to Rothenburg, which I loved. The countryside in Bavaria is beautiful. Also went to Köln and Bonn. And oh my goodness that wonderful beer...I am embarrassed to say that between the jet lag and lack of knowledge of German it took me a few hours after landing in Munich to stop wondering why every street was named Einbahnstrasse... :-P I asked to be reasigned at work before my kids were born so I wouldn't have to travel overseas. It is very hard to be away from home for weeks at a time when one has children.

[boris]

Sorry for not having answered earlier. Since everybody's blogging I only check the forum once in a while. What a shame!
My grandparents had a house in Torredembarra and I visited them so often as a child that it became my second home. To Barcelona we drove seldom. But when going back there when being older, when the house was already sold, I mostly stayed in Barcelona and love that city.
Bavaria's quite good for tourism. Keep the touch with all of us faithful believers in Ottmar and I might be able to advise you in case you do another trip through Europe in the future.