30. April 2010 by chuck.

I just returned from wild adventures in Morocco.  My brother, Paul, and I flew to Marrakech and immediately began to search deep in the old medina for a musician friend of mine.  I met Youseff 5 years ago as he worked in his tiny shop building exotic musical instruments.  He is a master gnawa musician.

The gnawa are an ethnic group of the sufi religious order, descended from slaves of the Sub-Sahara region of Africa.  Large groups of slaves were brought across the Sahara in the late 1500’s.Gnawa music is very powerful and is used in healing rituals and with trance dances.We found Youseff in his tiny shop, he was really happy and excited to see me.  I presented him with a Cd of his music from my previous visit.  He invited us to a special festival deep in the Atlas mountains.  The trip would last a week.  In a couple of days we met Youseff early one morning to start our journey. We took a local bus to the costal town of Essaouria.  Here we met other Gnawa musicians who invited us to stay in their house right on the walls of the medina next to the ocean.  One evening I recorded Youseff playing the Gimbri (a 3-stringed bass instrument… it’s a camel skin covered box with a wood poll for a neck.  The strings are made from Sheep gut).  The music was soulful and stimulating.

We continued our journey through Casablanca and on to Meknes.  I almost got arrested the second day while I filmed the medina wall and surroundings.  A man walked up to me and asked if I was “filming the secret police”.  He carried a gun and demanded to see the footage I had taken.  I complied and was eventually let go with a warning.

A few days later Youseff took us up into the mountains to the tiny village of Sidi Alit to witness the gnawa festival.  The streets were packed with locals in tribal dress.  We were the only westerners there.  Hundreds of villagers crammed the streets in a very festive atmosphere.  Strange religious icons were being sold including dried chameleons and other weird animal parts.   People visited a sacred mausoleum while women offered sacrifices in a gully below us (spilling the blood of sheep & chickens) to find a husband or increase their fertility! Huge groups of people were dancing in the streets and playing drums.  We took refuge in an outdoor cafe while a large group of people passed by dragging two goats to be sacrificed. They were playing loud music and dancing wildly. I took my camera out to film, but immediately a number of men pointed at me quite agitatedly to put the camera away.  The craziness continued late into the night.  Another wild adventure on my trip to Morocco.

Sonic Safari Music

Posted in adventure, travel, Sonic Safari Music | No Comments »

29. April 2010 by admin.

More Fantastic New Music from Sonic Safari Music! Indian Slide Guitar. If you enjoy classical and folk music from India, then you will love Indian Slide Guitar. Here is a marvelous recording featuring master guitarist Pradeep Nag exploring melodic and rhythmic soundscapes. The guitar explores the world of raga with depth and conviction. Combine the ethereal guitar with tablas masterfully played by Prasenjeet Poddar and you have a recipe for magic.
Visit http://sonicsafarimusic.com/music/indian/ and get your copy today.

Posted in new music, Sonic Safari Music | No Comments »

29. April 2010 by admin.

The Sonic Safari Music web site now has more music for you to listen to and enjoy! Youseff Sentir Solos. This is true drum & bass music. Youseff is the artist and is truly a gifted sentir master. This recording is of Youseff El Mistouri playing sentir and singing beautiful songs of the gnawa.
Visit http://sonicsafarimusic.com/music/youseff/ and get your copy today.

Posted in new music, Sonic Safari Music | No Comments »

4. January 2010 by admin.

It’s a New Year, and that means more exciting music and videos from Chuck Jonkey! Keep watching as we add more exciting content to Sonic Safari Music’s web site. In addition, we should see more exciting television episodes of Exotic Worlds hosted by Chuck Jonkey.

Thanks for your Support.

Posted in Sonic Safari Music | No Comments »

16. November 2009 by admin.

The Sonic Safari Music web page for the new Septeto Caracol CD titled Septeto Caracol de la Habana has been updated. You can now purchase and download all the cuts of this fabulous CD. Simply visit the web page at http://sonicsafarimusic.com/music/septetocaracol/ and click on the Buy MP3 links for each title. The best part is that the music is available for immediate download as soon as your payment is processed!

Posted in Sonic Safari Music | No Comments »

16. November 2009 by admin.

Exotic Worlds hosted by Chuck Jonkey, Episodes 1 through 5 are available for viewing. Episode 5 titled “Peru - World of the Condor” is the latest video to be posted and can be viewed on-line at http://exoticworldstv.com/episode5.html

Posted in video, Sonic Safari Music | No Comments »

8. November 2009 by chuck.

  Last night I filmed a fantastic “Ramayana” music and dance performance… ritual music of Bali.  The costumes were just excellent.  It reminds me of another stellar performance I recorded called the Kecak (pronounced:  kay - chuck ) Monkey Dance. This is a part of the Ramayana story and tells of the kidnap and eventual rescue of Princess Sita by the monkey general Hanuman.  It is so much fun to watch this kind of performance in Indonesia.  Here is a video clip I found on You Tube: http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&source=hp&fkt=2759&fsdt=4456&q=kecak&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#hl=en&source=hp&fkt=2759&fsdt=4456&q=kecak&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv&start=50  If you want to bring this into your own home,  Check out my Cd  Kecak: http://sonicsafarimusic.com/music/kecak/

Posted in soundscapes, adventure, travel, video, Sonic Safari Music | No Comments »

2. November 2009 by chuck.

 In my travels around the world I’ve been able to take some fascinating and fun train rides.  I just recently returned from Peru having taken a great train through the Sacred Valley of the Incas along the Urubamba river.  I also have taken trains in India, Mexico, China and other places. Since I usually have my recording gear with me, I enjoy recording the train sounds.  I’m doing a series of soundscape recordings.  One that takes you to Russia is the “Russian Underground” CD (http://sonicsafarimusic.com/music/russianunderground/).  In this CD I recorded things like the underground metro in Moscow and St. Petersburg.  I recorded street musicians and other crazy things like trolly cars, electric trains and even Peter the Greats lathe! Getting back to trains, I put all of those recordings on my CD  “World Trains”.  Put that one and sit back to take a train ride in some exotic location.  Here is the link to hear some of the sounds:  http://sonicsafarimusic.com/music/worldtrains/

Posted in soundscapes, Sonic Safari Music | No Comments »

14. October 2009 by chuck.

  Bamboo is used all over Asia for so many uses:  construction, furniture, flooring, buildings, and of course some great musical applications.  The amazing thing is that bamboo grows so fast and is very strong and resonant.  Bamboo in Indonesia comes in many forms and colors.  Some of the bamboo is very straight and has few nodes.  One such bamboo is used for the wonderful long 1.5 meter flutes called Gambuh.  I had two made for me on my last trip there.A very powerful sound comes from striking huge, long tubes of bamboo in Jegog music.  The first time I heard a recording of Jegog…I was hooked.  I have recorded several stellar Jegog groups.  Usually there are 20 or more members of the group playing sets of tunes bamboo tubes of varying length…from shorter to the gigantic 12 foot long bass tubes.  The musicians actually use two hands to wield the mallet to strike the tube hard enough to get a great sound.You can hear samples of this music here: http://www.sonicsafarimusic.com/music/jegogsaurasakti/

Posted in soundscapes, adventure, travel, Sonic Safari Music | No Comments »

25. September 2009 by chuck.

I have been lucky enough to have visited a number of rainforests around the world.  I have been to parts of the Amazon in Peru, Colombia and Brazil and to many forests in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia and other places I can’t think of at the moment.  I am fascinated by the myriad sounds coming out of the jungle at different times of the day and night….and in different seasons.Some of the most striking sounds are from the amazing howler monkeys.  These animals sound like wild cats or jaguars.  I once was walking along the beach in Costa Rica just outside the rainforest when a girl came running out thinking a jaguar was after her.  She described the sound and I quickly reassured her that is was a harmless monkey up in the trees.You can hear some of these on my recording  ”Costa Rica Rainforest”. Here’s the link to the Cd:  http://sonicsafarimusic.com/music/costaricanrainforest/

Posted in soundscapes, adventure, travel, Sonic Safari Music | No Comments »