“Avots” is a Latvian word for source, spring or fountain; it is a place, abstract or concrete, where everything begins, what something comes out of, as well as the little brook or spring itself, thus the process and the goal both at once. It flows out of itself and back into itself, it is generous, and endless. The sound of glockenspiel sparkles naturally, like stars or comets at night - liner notes. Krists Auznieks is from Latvia, attended Yale, and has been commissioned by leading groups across the world. Fisher, also a Yale grad, is featured on glockenspeil. Joining him are cellist John Popham and violinist Pala Garcia.

"Recorded May 6-7, 1974 at Intermedia Sound Studios at 331 Newbury Street in Boston. This nexus of the Boston music scenen opened in 1971 and was home to original broadcasts from the legendary WBCN. WBCN had high quality stereo lines connected to Intermedia and broadcasted shows featuring artists such as Jerry Garcia, Canned Heat, and Loggins and Messina. NYTimes critic Robert Palmer wrote soon after this album's release: ...Like Jean Toomer, the Harlem Renaissance poet from Georgia whose refined but earthy imagery is a touchstone of Brown's recent recordings (te title, Sweet Earth Flying is taken from a Toomer poem), the saxophonist has re_examined his southern past through the filter of a continental _education_...[this] examination of the emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic ramifications of his origins is the sort of thing one finds frequently in literature and rarely in improvisional music.... See link for full and excellent NYTimes review. "

"Eaglin (1936-2009) was NOLA born & bred. He was striken with glaucoma shortly after his firstt birthday, rendering him blind. According to wiki, his ability to play a wide range of songs and make them his own earned him the nickname _The Human Jukebox._ Eaglin claimed in interviews that his musical repertoire included some 2,500 songs. He started his career at age 11 w/a performance on radio station WNOE. See link re: the stations WWII efforts in 1947 around the time Snooks was on the air. "

"Hinze is Dutch (1938), and a prolific recording artist, covering jazz, New Age, adaptation of pop and classical, and in the mid-80's travelled to Tibet and South Asia. Those cultural experiences were also assimilted into his musical orientation. He studied for a time at Berkelee. "

"Juice Newton made the song a hit in 1981, and it's been covered by many artists and used for film sountracks. Chrissy Hynde performed it in a guest appearanch on Friends. See link"

"Myhill is a British singer-songwriter, musician, composer, producer and arranger. He is also a prolific instrumentalist, showing his chops on a broad range of instruments, including this short harmonica ditty. He was also a sideman on early Duran Duran tracks."

German Beat band formed in the early 1960's and still active. Previously known as the Skiffle Lords. Known for their fashionable attire and 'Prince Valiant' style haircuts. By 1964 they were awarded the title "The German Beatles" in Hamburg's Star Club of Germany. Klaus-Peter _Leo_ Lietz - guitar, vocals; Roger Schüller - bass, vocals; Josef "Jupp" Bauer - guitar, vocals; Philippe "P.J.M." Seminara - drums

K Cléoma Breaux (1906-1941) was a Cajun guitarist and singer born in Crowley, LA, about 150 miles NW of NOLA. Crowley is known for its annual Rice Festival (see link). Cleoma married musician Joseph Falcon & together, they formed the Falcon Trio. She is credited with making the first recording of what came to be known as _Cajun Music_. The recording, _Allons à Lafayette_ was released in 1928, and opened the way for other commercial releases of Cajun music. Aside from being a ground-breaking recording artist, Cléoma Breaux also was one of the few women to perform live, despite the social standards of the era. She was the first woman induced into the Cajun Music Hall of Fame She came from music royalty -- daughter of accordionist Auguste Breaux, and sister of Amadie Breaux, Ophy Breaux, Clifford Breaux and Cleopha Breaux.

"NYC-based South Korean violinist and composer, Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim, is a curious mind and a changemaker in the experimental music scene. This is her debut album. Kalia Vandever is featured on trombone/fx "

"Russell on cello and vocals with Mustafa Ahmed on congas, Peter Zummo on trombone & additional vocals,and Rik Albani on the trumpet"

"Julio Bernardo Euson aka Eurson is an Aruban singer born April 12 1941, Aruba. Popular in the early 70's in the Netherlands. This album is the 2nd of 7 studio releases. Euson formed his first band aging just twelve years. After winning a number of amateur talent contests on Aruba he tried his luck and emigrated to the Netherlands in 1962. Besides accepting a job at PTT [nl] he joined the beat groups The Scarlets from The Hague, changing to the Rotterdam garage rock band Kreole Kats which renamed to Julio [Euson] & the Kreole Kats. Meeting jazz musicians Chris Hinze, flute player, and Cees Schrama, keyboardist and some former members of The Lords. In 1977 Euson, experiencing a fade into the unknown, accompanied by his Polish wife Stanka Mati_ and manager Peter Kok left the Netherlands and moved to the USA. When they didn't succeed over there as well, in 1978 they moved on to Chile, knowing Euson's 1972 song contest victory was granting them access to success. They founded a radio station and a production company P.J. Productions, producing Chilean artists. They eventually returned to the US as life under Pinochet was too difficult. - wiki"

Fanny Howe is an American treasure…. A poet, novelist and essayist, born & bred in Cambridge…daughter of a Harvard law professor & Irish dramaturge, she's influenced generations of writers through her writing and teaching. This is taken from a reading she gave on April 2, 2023 at the Blacksmith House in Harvard Square with Russian poet Eugene Ostashevsky.

I'll often pick out musical references from something I'm reading and, in this case, I pulled Mike Westbrook from Roger Deakin's "Waterlog." It’s a wonderful travel log written by a swimmer who made his way acros the fens and rivers and salt marshes and wells and...well, every body of water across the the British Isles. He lived in a moated farmhouse for 38 years before he died in 2006. He wrote about it very well, and I recommend the book (especially if you are a swimmer). See link for details in Erme Estuary.

"This tune was introduced in the film One Minute to Zero as the instrumental titled _Theme from One Minute to Zero_. Jeri Southern sang on the first vocal recording released in April 1952. These vocals are rendered by James, born in Minneapolis of Irish and Panamanian descent. Nef is Belgian, trained in classical piano. He's also a film composer. "

Marseille born Katsaris first pianist to record the complete Liszt transcriptions of Beethoven's nine symphonies. This Wagner transciption, tranlates Feuerzauber to Fire Magic, sets the scene with four of the eight Valkyrie sisters of Brünnhilde have gathered in preparation for the transportation of fallen heroes to Valhalla. Note: the Valkyrie are from Norse mythology the _Choosers of the Slain_ ... who guide souls of the dead to their destination, whatever it may be.

"Little is available about the group, except a Dutchman named Pi Scheffer (1909-1988) is noted as a member of the group. "

Soundtrack to the film by Theo Angelopoulos

"Distant Intervals is Brooklyn cellist and composer Issei Herr debut. According to Bandcamp, it is an exploration of memory, dreams, and the infinite possibilities within imagined worlds. She recorded it in a bedroom closet during pandemic-time. "

"The Hollies are a British rock and pop band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke and Graham Nash - pals from elementary school -- founded the band as a Merseybeat-type group in Manchester, although some of the band members came from towns further north in East Lancashire. Nash left the group in 1968 to form Crosby, Stills & Nash, though he has reunited with the Hollies on occasion. are one of the few UK groups of the early 1960s, along with the Rolling Stones, who have never disbanded and continue to record and perform. - wiki"

Sarno made this recording as part of a large sound gathering expedition to Central Africa. The Aka or Bayaka (also BiAka, Babenzele) are a nomadic Mbenga pygmy people. They live in southwestern Central African Republic and in northern Republic of the Congo. They are related to the Baka people of Cameroon, Gabon, northern Congo, and southwestern Central African Republic. Aka speak their own language along with whichever of the approximately 15 Bantu peoples they are affiliated. In 2003, the oral traditions of the Aka were proclaimed one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. - dbpedia.com Sarno was not the first. In 1946, 23-year old ethnologist Noël Ballif (1922-1993) organized and led an expedition, making 600 field recordings, took 3,000 photographs, shot film footage and collected artifacts of disappearing cultures and ways of life in the Republic of Congo and Gabon.

"Guitar: Billy Butler Vocals: Cissy Houston Percussion: Joe Habad Texidor Drums: Khalil Mhrdi, Flute, Vocals. Tenor Sax: Rahsaan Roland Kirk Piano: Sonelius Smith" Note: this was the theme song for a long-standing, now gone WMBR program called "Black Perspective with hosts Moses Wilson and in latter years, Roxbury poet, writer & activist Fahamisha (Patricia) Shariat Brown. Snip: "Fahamisha Shariat Brown read in poetry circles alongside Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich, and was a member of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s. A teacher, lecturer, and performing artist, she wrote Performing The Word: African American Poetry as Vernacular Culture under the name Fahamisha Patricia Brown in 1999." see link

"Mark Lieb, Clarinet; Alberto Parinni, cello; Cyrus Beroukhim, Viola; Kristi Helberg, Violin. Feldman (1926-1987) composed this in 1983. Feldman's starting point was not a theme in the conventional sense, but the sound of a particular instrument playing a particular note. His works for clarinet--- Two Pieces for Clarinet and String Quartet (1961), Three Clarinets, Cello, and Piano (1971), Bass Clarinet and Percussion (1981), and Clarinet and String Quartet (1983) cover the major periods of Feldman's career. As such, they are touchstone works for studying the evolution of Feldman's methods; because they share the clarinet in common, they provide an ideal means for studying Feldman's abiding pre-occupation with timbre as his primary material. Feldman's unique notational styles vary considerably from piece to piece, but he strategically orients each in such a way as to pursue his fundamental goal of Time Undisturbed. - Matthew Phillip Nelson, Doctoral dissertation @ Rice University 2010"

Fanny Howe is an American treasure…. A poet, novelist and essayist, born & bred in Cambridge…daughter of a Harvard law professor & Irish dramaturge, she's influenced generations of writers through her writing and teaching. This is taken from a reading she gave on April 2, 2023 at the Blacksmith House in Harvard Square with Russian poet Eugene Ostashevsky.

"London based Caroline began in early 2017, as a three-piece group, now expanded to 8 members. This is their 2nd album. William, a listener from Tennessee, heard them last week at Knoxville's Big Ears Festival and recommended. "