rainbows in curved air (or curves in rainbowed air)

Droning on & on


Listening to Xhol Caravan’s ‘Motherfuckers’ from 1972: a krautrock masterpiece & thinking about the drone.
I mentioned in previous posts about the Scots fascination with latin music, but it is easier, historically to understand, why we enjoy the drone so much. Personally, I am in - deep. Yesterday lying on my hammock nodding to Terry Riley’s ‘Rainbow in Curved Air’ followed by his ‘In C’ & then Tony Conrad & Faust’s ‘Outside the Dream Syndicate’ shows where my head is at.

I have always been fond of Indian music since the 60s sitars & tablas etc & Bollywood epic soundtracks & I smile when I remember listening to live Afghani drones in Siggis, Kabul November 1973. Strange to think that music was forbidden in that country for so long after the rise of the Taliban.

Much of the music I enjoy listening to has a high drone content..e.g. krautrock, psychedelia, new psychedelic folk, old psychedelic folk (e.g. ISB). Likewise much of the electronica/glitch I enjoy has that constant buzz……….e.g. Hafler Trio, Zoviet France or the World musics that do it for me...e.g. Tibet, Morocco, Bali, so gamelan or gnawa or shaman or Buddhist chant……….chant brings me nicely to the chanter, not the singer, but the bagpipes & aside from the tartan shortbread image, bagpipes can also be ok…………I remember I used to think it was just homesickness that was calling me in Riyadh, when I kept thinking I was hearing the pipes, but I soon found out it was some kind of army base & they had Pakistani pipers.