phenomeNEWS - This Month's Music Review

This Month's Music Review
by Greg Ozimek
music@wwnet.net

NEW MILLIONS BEING MADE IN TEXAS GAS FIELDS
Blessings, that is!

Straight from the “heart” of Texas to a computer screen near you... and straight to your heart of hearts... is a free, four minute internet (flash) movie with the warming message of blessings entitled, “May You Be Blessed.”.

This big message of blessings is a superbly brought out homegrown project by Texan Kate Nowak, the creator of the internet movie.

“I wanted to know how I could help people,” Kate said.

Kate told me she was “Inspired by a quote from Mother Teresa, ‘More people are hungry for love and appreciation than for bread,’ I want to make a difference – make people feel good.”

She woke up one morning with the words, “May you be blessed,” didn’t know where they came from or why and dismissed the whole thing. Minutes later, for some reason Kate still has no idea of, she reconsidered and began writing what she thought was poetry which she might send to friends. She said, “I got out of my way and let it flow.” In 15 minutes she had written inspiring words and ideas.

After sending the words to friends and hearing their responses she came up with the idea of an internet based flash movie and the One Million Blessings Project was born, www.mayyoubeblessedmovie.com

Kate told me, “I want this message to be seen by 1million people in 100 days. I want to remind people to be gentle with themselves. (With) Everyone making a small difference we can change the world.”

Originally, Kate’s URL (internet web address) was forwarded to me via email from a friend; collaborative effort is the way the internet works. My friends in Beijing, China, Woodonga, Victoria, Australia and other places have all responded enthusiastically to the movie.

Kate’s message has been sent all over the world very, very many times and the first 100 Days is yet to come.

“The internet has given new meaning to, ‘It’s a small world!’ I’ve had 4 million hits (visits to her web movie) so far and that represents about 400,000 unique people,” Kate said. It seems people keep coming back to view the uplifting and inspiring message which is set to heart-moving visual images and tender music by David Wurst (Reflections In Time).

The text of May You Be Blessed hang in doctors’ offices, classrooms, homes and have been read during wedding ceremonies and memorials.

Visit this web site: www.mayyoubeblessedmovie.com and share the site and your discoveries there with your friends and colleagues.

III
The Yoshida Brothers
Domo Records

Another trend seeping over the oceans – like the massive, slow moving caldera under Yellowstone park which is slowly raising the North end of the park and lowering the Southern end – The Yoshida Brothers are slowly mounting waves of popularity into the USA by way of their traditional Japanese music ridding on the torrent of the rock sound.

III, their third USA released album, builds on their out-front, sometimes crazed playing on their Tsugaru-shamisen, 3-stringed banjo-like traditional instruments.
These young 20-something brothers – virtuoso performer superstars in their native Japan – are creating new molds for Japanese kids with their rock/Tsugaru-shamisen passions.

In the cultural sea of the Orient (Japan, China, Korea, e.g.) everyone looks generally the same: nearly the same height with black hair, black eyes, and yellow skin. Hot on current trends, like the cutting edge look of the cute Onna Otaku (she-geek) girl you would see on Otome (Maiden) Road in trendy Ikebukuro or chestnut dyes and neon colored highlights on Center-gai, the social milieu main drag in Tokyo's funky Shibuya district, The Yoshida Brothers (Ryoichiro and Kenichi) wear their hair dyed light brown and perform in ceremonial attire of kimonos and hakama pants.

III has an appealing sound in the World music, cross-cultural beauty, sense. We are treated to both sides of the manic genius The Yoshida Brothers stir with their shamisen: Calming, soothing strings and those periods of wild “zing.” Totally amazing, not to be missed.

The Yoshida Brothers’ music has its roots in the historic, five centuries old genre first developed in a snowy, rural region of northern Japan by itinerant street buskers. The buskers earned the spare change of passer-bys by playing melodies and rhythms reelecting their tough lives.

The words denote both the ancient folk idiom and the primitive banjo/lute-like instrument on which it is played. The Tsugaru is the largest of the three principal types of shamisen, giving it the fullest sound. As modern and western influences swept Japan’s young people over time, this spare and evocative art form fell out of favor.

In Japan, Tsugaru Shamisen is experiencing a huge popular revival along with Kabuki theater and Tanka (classic Japanese verse).