Welcome to Shift, where Tom Allen takes you on a daily musical journey from the stalwarts of Classical music to the cutting edge of Contemporary tunes. Join us here on CBC music for a round-up of the stories of the day, some videos of music (or maybe just videos interesting to music fans) and a place to speak your voice.
Monday September 10th
Today, we present to you music from France that turned things on head.
But to begin, have you ever enjoyed a band more because you heard about them first? Or have you taken a bit of ownership on a musician because they are from the same place as you? This is not a new trend. Take this piece by French composer Michel Corrette. This concerto focused on instruments on the low end. Suddenly, music lovers in France began to covet those bass tones. Forget the high-pitched violin, using the low register became a French favourite that signified much more to come.
We're also bringing you some dirty music from Charles Mingus' band. No, I don't mean it has rude content. You'll be able to hear what I mean. This music just sounds gritty in a good way. It's all of those bad words that mean good things. It's sick, cool, dirty, disgusting, bad music. Have any more negative words that mean positive things for us?
And we have the author of the piece heard almost worldwide, daily. It's the chimes from Big Ben, the Westminster Chimes, or millions of other clocks. You'll hear that chime in Molly Johnson's "If I Were a Bell" and again on Lord Kitcehener's "London is the Place for Me". Who is the person that should be getting all the royalties? Apparently one William Crotch took the phrase from Handel's Messiah. One of those two gentlemen are sure owed a lot for that small contribution.
Check out the most recent press conference for Scottish tennis star Andy Murray. Sometimes it can be hard to focus on the matter at hand for stars. Firstly, his mother came. That's always a bit distracting. Then, Sir Alexander Ferguson showed up. For British folk, the long-time coach of Manchester United is more than enough to ruffle your feathers. But to top it all off, Sean Connery rolls in. How could the tennis star possibly react in front of all of these icons (yes, his mother is an icon to him)? By stating "I better win now".
And the man that refuses to move to digital. You may have even seen him at work. This man works inside the Green Monster, which is the baseball field wall in Boston's Fenway Park. He literally picks up physical numbers and places them throughout every Boston Red Sox's home game to keep score. For their 100th year as a baseball team, it's worth celebrating the small details that make their team great.
You can contact us at SHIFT with your ideas, questions, or anything else by sending us a message on our Facebook page. Through email, you can reach show producers Alison Howard ( alison.howard@cbc.ca ) or Alex Redekop ( alex.redekop@cbc.ca ).