So my sister-in-law Lynette, along with her husband Robert and son Wyatt, sent me a belated birthday card with a Best Buy gift card enclosed. And after my last birthday shopping expedition, I knew exactly where to head when I got to the store: the music section, and specifically the Putumayo titles. I agonized over their choices, finally settling on Putumayo Presents: Cajun. I was looking for something lively, and it's hard to get more lively than Cajun music. I've only heard samples of this CD so far (been too busy working and posting tonight); but I already love what I've heard. (You too can hear samples here.) This is another disk that I can listen to from time to time, and think of the relatives who made it possible. Thanks, Lynette, Robert, and Wyatt!

And there's a bonus: the lyrics are almost completely French (albeit Cajun style French). So there's one more incentive to keep up my French lessons!

While I was at Barnes & Noble last week (picking up Pimsleur Instant Conversation French), I picked up two other Putumayo disks: Mediterranean Odyssey: Athens to Andalucia and A Jewish Odyssey. I've been too busy with travel, business, and French to listen to the latter yet, other than samples. It has some klezmer-style songs, and also some songs with sort of a Middle Eastern style. And yet there are other songs on there which are reminiscent of classical Spanish works, including Spanish guitar (a favorite style of mine). And yet other pieces sound almost Slavic or Eastern European in tone. It's like you can hear the whole Diaspora in these songs.

And as for Mediterranean Odyssey, I listened to this on a trip to visit my in-laws. And what I found interesting in this one was how, even though the songs came from different cultures along the Mediterranean, there were familiar sounds that echoed from one song to another. The songs aren't alike, but bits of one will often remind you of bits of another.

So while A Jewish Odyssey showed musical variation within one cultural tradition spread out across different nations and times, Mediterranean Odyssey shows common musical elements shared by many different cultures that happen to be joined in commerce and other interchange by the Mediterranean Sea.

Building on my preceding post, I have what may be an obvious observation to some, but is quite enlightening to me: I'll bet that you can tell a lot about the historical interactions and progressions and travels of different peoples by looking at their languages and their music, and seeing what they have in common, what they borrow from each other, and how they respond to each other. Add in comparative literature and religion, and I'll bet you get a vastly more intimate view of history than you will just by looking at major events. These elements of a culture are shaped by the day-to-day interaction with other cultures, not just by wars and such.

Oh, and food. Gotta throw food in there. I have long suspected that I could draw a direct line of food relation from Japanese to Hunan Chinese to Szechuan Chinese to Thai to Indian to Persian to Middle Eastern to Turkish to Romanian to Greek to Italian. Yes, I've missed a few steps in there; but I've had all of those cusisines, and I haven't had any of the missing cuisines (Pakistani, Afghani, Bulgarian, Hungarian, and probably others). But what I find delightful (again, if obvious) is how two cuisines that I find similar in flavor and style will usually be close together in geography. It says something about the migration of people and ideas and traditions. I'm nowhere near enough of a scholar to really explore these interconnections, but I still find them fascinating.

Hehehehehehehehehehehehe! (Warning! The movie in that link may be loud, and may also cause embarrassment if your coworkers hear it.) Oh, if living well is the best revenge, then Mr. Shatner is truly enjoying a dish best served cold (to mix some metaphors and throw in an obscure Star Trek reference).

And yet I suspect he's not. Seriously. Under the comic, self-effacing front, I suspect that he's a restless, insecure man who's never satisfied. Or at least that's the impression I get from these lyrics (some of the more somber lyrics from his latest album):

When is the mountain scaled?
When do I feel I haven't failed?
I have to get it together, man.
It hasn't happened yet.
It hasn't happened yet.
It hasn't happened.
People come and say hello.
OK, I can get to the front of the line,
But you have to ignore the looks.
And yet --
I'm waiting for that feeling of contentment
That ease at night when you put your head down and the rhythm slow to sleep.
My heads sways and eyes start awake.
I'm there not halfway between sleep and death.
But looking into,
Eyes wide open,
Trying to remember
What I might have done,
Should've done.
At my age, I need serenity.
I need peace.
It hasn't happened yet.
It hasn't happened yet.
It hasn't happened yet.
It hasn't happened.

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe! Oh, that is just perfect! I tell you, the man knows how to milk his own reputation.

Oh, and I finally got a chance to watch this show (i.e., the History Channel special linked above) yesterday. And I have to tell you, it's pretty close to on target. Oh, it stretches the point a bit; but really, Star Trek has been a big influence now on two to three generations of geeks who became engineers, doctors, astronauts, and scientists. It helped ignite and maintain that sense of wonder that makes us believe we can do things if we try hard enough, and we'll do them through our brains and our creativity. Oh, the world will still laugh at us; but they'll do so while paying big bucks for the technologies we produce. And the grim-and-gritty crowd will still complain how technology never really solved anything and only makes things worse; but whereas in the past, they would have scribbled their Luddite fantasies on papyrus with crude ink, today they'll post those fantasies on blog sites — and never once appreciate the irony of that.

Oh, and Mr. Shatner is very amusing throughout the whole special. He has developed ironic self-effacement into a high art.

And while I was in Montreal, I was in fact presenting right on the very edge of McGill University. The Microsoft office there is in fact only a block away from the University on Avenue McGill College. So I was rather amused to be presenting there.

What's that? You mean you've never heard of McGill University? What sort of a geek are you? Don't you recognize the alma mater of one of the icons of the geek world? Doesn't everyone know where he went to school? Well, OK, I didn't until the Biography Channel ran an episode on him, which included a cross-country bus ride to McGill. That was shortly after he won his first Emmy. First, meaning he won another one. Some people say, "I don't mind. They're not laughing at me, they're laughing with me." Other people say, "You're a fool. They're not laughing with you, they're laughing at you." He seems to be saying, "Let them laugh, as long as I get to work. And I'll have the last laugh, all the way to the bank." He has made a third (or is it fourth? or fifth?) career out of mocking himself the way his critics have mocked him in the past; and he's still working, while many of them are still going nowhere. Or as the man himself says:

I've heard of you
The ready-made connecting with the ever-ready
Yeah
The never was talking about still trying
I got it
Forever bitter gossiping about never say die
May I inquire what you've been doing mister?
Jack
Never done Jack
And you partner, what's the News of the World, Dick?
I don't say dick
Don, of all the people you must be the Tattler
Two thumbs up
What are you afraid of?
Failure?
So am I
Has been implies failure
Not so
Has been is history
Has been was
Has been might again

I can only hope that at his age I can still be working in my field and having a ball doing it. And if people laugh at me, I hope I have the grace to laugh along and the wits to turn it into an opportunity.

Unfortunately, my pilgrimage wasn't quite complete. I didn't make it to this place. Oh, well. The name's not official, anyway. McGill just calls it the University Centre. But I have to believe he finds it more amusing this way.

So I was wandering through Barnes & Noble. My in-laws had sent me a $20 gift card for my birthday, so I figured to pick up a graphic novel. Or maybe a nice SF hardcover. I wanted something that would be a little above the ordinary, so that whenever I read it, I would think of them.

But some days, you just have no luck. Yes, there were plenty of books there that I would like to read, but nothing that really stood out as something special. And so I wandered back and forth, picking up some books, but nothing I could really point to and say, "There. I got that, thanks to you, and I'm really happy about it." I just kinda forlornly stared at covers — not at all a natural state for me in a book store, let me tell you.

But I just couldn't stay forlorn, not with that music playing in the background. It had a nice Latin beat, but kinda laid back. It was really good music. And then the next track came on: some woman singing in Portuguese, with a smooth, swinging feel reminiscent of The Girl from Ipanema. And I knew what my in-laws were getting me. I went straight to the information desk and asked: what's playing, and do you have it in stock?

And the answers were: Putumayo Presents: Brazilian Lounge; and yes, but it took a while for them to find it. I picked it up, and I'll play it for my in-laws when we visit this weekend. It's a great disk, and it was released this month, just in time for my birthday. Now when I listen to it, I'll think of them.

If you would like to learn more about world music but don't know where to start, I highly recommend Putumayo. They've done the research for you, so you don't have to. They've gathered and published great music from around the world, and so you can find these "greatest hits" on their disks. Then when you find something you like, you can use the Internet to find more by that artist. For instance, that song that caught my attention was Parece Mentira by Katia B. (You can listen to a sample here.) Then simple click on her name from the B&N site takes me to this page, where I can see that B&N carries one CD by her. (And they'd be glad to sell it to me, of course.)

So far, my Putumayo collection includes:

• Putumayo Presents: Brazilian Lounge


• Asian Groove


• The Caribbean


• French Caribbean


• Sahara Lounge


• Arabic Groove

From what I can tell, the "Groove" series features upbeat tunes often with a fusion of traditional elements and modern instruments. The "Lounge" series, meanwhile, features more mellow tunes. There's also the Playground series of kids' music. And then there are discs that don't seem to be part of any series, and cover a wide range of styles from a given culture.

Give Putuyamo a try. You'll be glad you did.

P.S. But one thing I can't find at Putuyamo is a song I heard on a world music show on public radio one night. It was the theme from Shaft, but redone with just a slight Arabic twist. It was really, really good, and I would love to track it down.