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Hands of the Hills Recommends

Music:

As much as I love what I do and as much as beads and jewelry are a constant source of inspiration for me – beads are work. I cannot escape that fact. The thing that has consistently given me joy and kept me sane is music. And like my tastes in beads and jewelry my music tastes are eclectic and lean towards broader explorations of what the world has to offer. To that end I’d like to share some of my picks for music and music resources I’ve come to rely on over time.

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Radio Garden

https://radio.garden/

When you were a kid (for those of us of a certain age) do you remember spinning a globe and stopping at a random point and being curious about the names of the cities and countries you encountered, wondering how people there lived, what the languages they spoke sounded like, and if someday you might visit? Radio Garden is that – but for music. The globe is virtual but as you spin the planet with your mouse small green dots appear (you are in the words of the website: “planting seeds”) representing over 8,000 radio stations streaming live from all corners of the planet occupied by humans. And you can listen in. Whether its Surjavibes Radio in Paramaribo, Suriname, or Yabiladi Azawan Amazigh streamed from Casablanca, or Radio Shivamogga FM 90.8 from southcentral India. Whether its local traditional music or John Denver (HUGE in Thailand…the spirit of Take Me Home Country Road translates well even if the individual words in English are not) or news programming you don’t understand because you don’t speak Swahili…take it in and dream. It’s all free. No plane ticket necessary.

Radio is a Foreign Country

https://www.radioisaforeigncountry.org/

I’ll let them describe themselves:

“RADIO IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY IS A RADIO PLATFORM AND MIXTAPE SERIES THAT EXPOSES LISTENERS TO OBSCURE REGIONAL FOLK AND POP MUSIC FROM THE GLOBAL HINTERLANDS. OUR COLLECTIONS FEATURE CUT-UPS OF INTERNATIONAL RADIO BROADCASTS (AM, FM & SHORTWAVE), FIELD RECORDINGS, ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM, VINTAGE RECORDS & CASSETTES, AND DIGITAL EPHEMERA FROM THE FAR REACHES OF THE INTERNET. OUR MISSION IS TO EXPLORE FORGOTTEN AND NEW WAYS OF MAKING RADIO AND TO FACILITATE GREATER ACCESS AND EXPOSURE TO SOUNDS AND MUSIC NOT SUFFICIENTLY DOCUMENTED BY INDUSTRIAL MUSIC CURATION.”

If you want to travel and you want to spin the dial and not know what obscure corner of the planet you may end up in…this streaming service is for you.

A recent playlist/track history:

  • EXCERPT FROM KEMPLING – ARIL & HARTONO, SARUA JEUNG BOHONG AD LANGSUNG BOGOH – DARSO (INDONESIA)
  • EXCERPT FROM TURKISH DELIGHT CASSETTE – DING DONG RECORDS AND TAPES, 1983
  • BONTEMPI TSIFTETEL FROM BALKAN EXPRESS – TASOS STAMOU (AKUPHONE)
  • MOHAMMED ROUICHA – ‘AFAK AL-HWA HDA ‘LIYA, NARI ‘ALA ZZIN HLAKNI BIL NAKHWA
  • THE MOST RADIO – RADIO SUMATRA: THE INDONESIAN FM EXPERIENCE (SUBLIME FREQUENCIES SF-021)
  • AURAL ARCHIPELAGO – DADENDATE – ANDI-ANDI DADENDATE (CENTRAL SULAWESI)
  • CHARANJIT SINGH – कुर्ती महीन सीती KURTI MAHEEN SITI (1986)
  • BUMPER – TORTOR ADAT (FORTS)CONT) (NORTH SUMATRA)
  • BUMPER – FULANI RADIO
  • SPIRIT OF PUJA IN BENGAL_DJ NO HOME – RADIO INDIA: THE ETERNAL DREAM OF SOUND (SUBLIME FREQUENCIES – SF014)
  • CHUMMA CHUMMA – BAPPI LAHIRI & SALMA AGHA (INDIA, 1985)
  • AAJA SAJAN AAJA – ALKA YAGNIK (KHALNAYAK, 1993)
  • REEDS AND CHANTS 792005 15505 KHZ (2010 UTC) – RADIO KUWAIT EDIT
  • ANDAYANI DIANA & ORKES GAMBUS AL FATA – PERGI KE PESTA (INDONESIA)
  • PETIT SIMBI – MAKATI YADJIYO(TIYARI EL HAYATI)
  • SETH KE GHAR MEIN AAYO BETO – SULAKSHNA PANDIT (INDIA, 1985)
  • COLORADO – MARIMBA INSTRUMENTAL 3 – LOWLAND TRIBES OF ECUADOR. REC’D BY DAVID BLAIR STIFFLER (FOLKWAYS 1986)
  • COMMERCIAL FOR KARAOKE VCD – RADIO MYANMAR (BURMA) ( SUBLIME FREQUENCIES – SF044)
  • AURAL ARCHIPELAGO – GONDANG OLOK-OLOK – PARGONSI SITUNGKIR (NORTH SUMATRA)
  • NEBKI OUAHDI – CHEBA FADELA ‎– N’SEL FIK (YOU ARE MINE) (1988)