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  • (Bahia)
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  • From Brazil with love →
  • @ Ground Zero
  • El Aleph
  • If You Can't Stand the Heat
  • Harlem to Bahia to the Planet
  • Why a "Matrix"?

From Brazil with love →

@ Ground Zero

 

Have you, dear friend, ever noticed how different places scattered across the face of the globe seem almost to exist in different universes? As if they were permeated throughout with something akin to 19th century luminiferous aether, unique, determined by that place's history? It's like a trick of the mind's light (I suppose), but standing on beach or escarpment in Salvador and looking out across the Baía de Todos os Santos to the great Recôncavo, and mindful of what happened there, one must be led to the inevitable conclusion that one is in a place unique to history, and to the present*.

 

 

"Chegou a hora dessa gente bronzeada mostrar seu valor / The time has come for these bronzed people to show their value..."Música: Assis Valente of Santo Amaro, Bahia. Vídeo: Betão Aguiar.

 

*More enslaved human beings entered the Bay of All Saints and the Recôncavo than any other final port-of-call throughout all of mankind's history.

 

These people and their descendants created some of the most uplifting music ever made, the foundation of Brazil's national art. We wanted their music to be accessible to the world (it's not even accessible here in Brazil) so we created a platform by which everybody's creativity is mutually accessible, including theirs.

 

El Aleph

 

The network was built in an obscure record shop (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar found it) in a shimmering Brazilian port city...

 

...inspired in (the kabbalah-inspired fiction of) Borges' (short story) El Aleph, that in the pillar in Cairo's Mosque of Amr, where the universe in its entirety throughout all time is perceivable as an infinite hum from deep within the stone.

 

It "works" by virtue of the "small-world" phenomenon...the same responsible for the fact that most of us 7 billion or so beings are within 6 or fewer degrees of each other.

 

It was described (to some degree) and can be accessed via this article in British journal The Guardian (which named our radio of matrixed artists as one of ten best in the world):

 

www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/apr/17/10-best-music-radio-station-around-world

 

With David Dye for U.S. National Public Radio: www.npr.org/2013/07/16/202634814/roots-of-samba-exploring-historic-pelourinho-in-salvador-brazil

 

All is more connected than we know.

 

Per the "spirit" above, our logo is a cortador de cana, a cane-cutter. It was designed by Walter Mariano, professor of design at the Federal University of Bahia to reflect the origins of the music the shop specialized in. The Brazilian "aleph" doesn't hum... it dances and sings.

 

If You Can't Stand the Heat

 

Image above is from the base of the cross in front of the church of São Francisco do Paraguaçu in the Bahian Recôncavo

 

Sprawled across broad equatorial latitudes, stoked and steamed and sensual in the widest sense of the word, limned in cadenced song, Brazil is a conundrum wrapped in a smile inside an irony...

 

It is not a European nation. It is not a North American nation. It is not an East Asian nation. It straddles — jungle and desert and dense urban centers — both the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn. Brazil absorbed over ten times the number of enslaved Africans taken to the United States of America, and is a repository of African deities (and their music) now largely forgotten in their lands of origin. It was a refuge (of sorts) for Sephardim fleeing an Inquisition which followed them across the Atlantic (that unofficial symbol of Brazil's national music — the pandeiro — was almost certainly brought to Brazil by these people). Across the parched savannas of the interior of Brazil's culturally fecund nordeste/northeast, where wizard Hermeto Pascoal was born in Lagoa da Canoa (Lagoon of the Canoe) and raised in Olho d'Águia (Eye of the Eagle), much of Brazil's aboriginal population was absorbed into a caboclo/quilombola culture punctuated by the Star of David. Three cultures — from three continents — running for their lives, their confluence forming an unprecedented fourth. Pandeirista on the roof. Nowhere else but here.

 

Oligarchy, plutocracy, dictatorships and massive corruption — elements of these are still strongly entrenched — have defined, delineated, and limited Brazil.

 

But strictured & bound as it has been and is, Brazil has buzz...not the shallow buzz of a fashionable moment...but the deep buzz of a population which in spite of — or perhaps because of — the tough slog through life they've been allotted by humanity's dregs-in-fine-linen, have chosen not to simply pull themselves along but to lift their voices in song and their bodies in dance...to eat well and converse well and much and to wring the joy out of the day-to-day happenings and small pleasures of life which are so often set aside or ignored in the European, North American, and East Asian nations.

 

For this Brazil has a genius perhaps unparalleled in all other countries and societies, a genius which thrives alongside peeling paint and holes in the streets and roads, under bad organization by the powers-that-be, both civil and governmental, under a constant rain of societal indignities...

 

Which is all to say that if you don't know Brazil and you're expecting any semblance of order, progress and light, you will certainly find the light! And the buzz of a people who for generations have responded to privation at many different levels by somehow rising above it all.

 

"Onde tem miséria, tem música!"* - Raymundo Sodré

 

And it's not just music. And it's not just Brazil.

 

Welcome to the kitchen!

 

* "Where there is misery, there is music!" Remarked during a conversation arcing from Bahia to Haiti and Cuba to New Orleans and the south side of Chicago and Harlem to the villages of Ireland and the gypsy camps and shtetls of Eastern Europe...

 

Harlem to Bahia to the Planet



Why a "Matrix"?

 

I was explaining the ideas behind this nascent network to (João) Teoria (trumpet player above) over cervejas at Xique Xique (a bar named for a town in Bahia) in the Salvador neighborhood of Barris...

 

Like this (but in Portuguese): "It's kind of like Facebook if it didn't spy on you, but reversed... more about who you don't know than who you do know. And who doesn't know you but would be glad if they did. It's kind of like old Myspace Music but instead of having "friends" it has a list on your page of people you recommend. Not just musicians but writers, painters, filmmakers, dancers, chefs... anybody in the creative economy. It has a list of people who recommend you, or through whom you are recommended. It deals with arts which aren't recommendable by algorithm but need human intelligence behind recommendations. And the people who are recommended can recommend, creating a network of recommendations wherein by the small world phenomenon most people in the creative economy are within several steps of everybody else in the creative economy, no matter where they are in the world..."

 

And João said (in Portuguese): "A matrix where you can move from one artist to another..."

 

A matrix! That was it! The ORIGINAL meaning of matrix is "source", from "mater", Latin for "mother". So the term would help congeal the concept in the minds of people the network was being introduced to, while giving us a motto: "We're a real mother for ya!" (you know, Johnny "Guitar" Watson?)

 

The original idea was that musicians would recommend musicians, the network thus formed being "small world" (commonly called "six degrees of separation"). In the real world, the number of degrees of separation in such a network can vary, but while a given network might have billions of nodes (people, for example), the average number of steps between any two nodes will usually be minuscule.

 

Thus somebody unaware of the magnificent music of Bahia, Brazil will be able to conceivably move from almost any musician in this matrix to Bahia in just a few steps...

 

By the same logic that might move one from Bahia or anywhere else to any musician anywhere.

 

And there's no reason to limit this system to musicians. To the contrary, while there are algorithms written to recommend music (which, although they are limited, can be useful), there are no algorithms capable of recommending journalism, novels & short stories, painting, dance, film, chefery...

 

...a vast chasm that this network — or as Teoria put it, "matrix" — is capable of filling.

 

  • James Elkington
    I RECOMMEND

CURATION

  • from this node by: Matrix+

This is the Universe of

  • Name: James Elkington
  • City/Place: Chicago, Illinois
  • Country: United States

Life & Work

  • Bio: Englishman living in Chicago. Has collaborated with everyone from Richard Thompson to Jeff Tweedy to Tortoise.

Contact Information

  • Management/Booking: Press Inquiries: Sam McAllister/Pitch Perfect PR
    [email protected]

    Record Label: Paradise Of Bachelors
    [email protected]

    Booking:
    [email protected]

Media | Markets

  • ▶ Buy My Music: (downloads/CDs/DVDs) http://james-elkington.bandcamp.com
  • ▶ Buy My Music 2: (downloads/CDs/DVDs) http://www.paradiseofbachelors.com/pob-050
  • ▶ Instagram: james.elkington
  • ▶ YouTube Music: http://music.youtube.com/channel/UCcVGmI5FgfDUya5BZNLl2Rg
  • ▶ Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/0fCtou37pacUZ4y1kSmzMM
  • ▶ Spotify 2: http://open.spotify.com/album/0LphDJZJMTmIAzFnNWTmMO
  • ▶ Spotify 3: http://open.spotify.com/album/3oEk8U2e63nnwCazXSeOr4
  • ▶ Spotify 4: http://open.spotify.com/album/1RgVaqoIf1eJsopBX5xPhY
  • ▶ Spotify 5: http://open.spotify.com/album/6F16zkMjJgQRrgmR7BB1bd
  • ▶ Spotify 6: http://open.spotify.com/album/60OVJqy6gm2BF9MDSFww78
  • ▶ Article: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/11/james-elkington-ever-roving-eye-review

Clips (more may be added)

  • 3:36
    James Elkington - Nowhere Time (Official Video)
    By James Elkington
    177 views
  • 3:35
    James Elkington - "Make It Up" (Official Video)
    By James Elkington
    168 views
Previous
Next

YOU RECOMMEND

Imagine the world's creative economy at your fingertips. Imagine 10 doors side-by-side. Beyond each, 10 more, each opening to a "creative" somewhere around the planet. After passing through 8 such doorways you will have followed 1 pathway out of 100 million possible (2 sets of doorways yield 10 x 10 = 100 pathways). This is a simplified version of the metamathematics that makes it possible to reach everybody in the global creative economy in just a few steps It doesn't mean that everybody will be reached by everybody. It does mean that everybody can  be reached by everybody.


Appear below by recommending James Elkington:

  • 0 Chicago, Illinois
  • 0 Folk Rock
  • 0 Guitar
  • 0 Record Producer
  • 0 Singer-Songwriter
  • Lianne La Havas London
  • Arifan Junior Cantor-Compositor, Singer-Songwriter
  • Manassés de Souza Viola de Doze
  • Frank London Multi-Cultural
  • Tobias Meinhart Brooklyn, NY
  • Jaques Morelenbaum Brazil
  • Pretinho da Serrinha Brazil
  • Jessie Montgomery New York City
  • Soweto Kinch Hip-Hop
  • Jau Salvador
  • Tam-Ky Asian-African Foods
  • Joe Lovano Clarinet
  • Isaias Rabelo Brazilian Jazz
  • Craig Ross Record Producer
  • Kirk Whalum Contemporary R&B
  • Dee Spencer Jazz
  • Jeremy Danneman Composer
  • Greg Ruby Guitar
  • Márcio Valverde MPB
  • Dafnis Prieto Author
  • Mateus Aleluia Filho Bahia
  • Howard Levy Jazz
  • Jon Batiste Piano
  • Jimmy Dludlu Cape Town
  • Taylor McFerrin Singer-Songwriter
  • Adriano Souza MPB
  • Weedie Braimah Ropeadope
  • Weedie Braimah Drums
  • Matt Garrison Jazz
  • Henry Cole Manhattan School of Music Faculty
  • Paulo Costa Lima Música Clássica Contemporânea, Contemporary Classical Music
  • Maria Drell Chicago, Illinois
  • Joatan Nascimento Salvador
  • Lalah Hathaway Piano
  • Lula Moreira Percussion
  • MicroTrio de Ivan Huol Carnaval, Carnival
  • Cédric Villani Mathematics
  • Keyon Harrold Trumpet
  • Don Byron Klezmer
  • Carlinhos Pandeiro de Ouro Pandeiro
  • Andy Kershaw Radio Presenter
  • Sharay Reed Bass
  • Carlos Blanco Violão Clássico, Classical Guitar
  • Arthur Jafa Multidisciplinary Artist
  • Ben Paris Brazil
  • Ivan Sacerdote Choro
  • Las Cafeteras Afro-Mexican Music
  • Itamar Vieira Júnior Brazil
  • Meshell Ndegeocello Jazz, Funk, R&B, Soul, Hip-Hop, Reggae
  • The Bayou Mosquitos Cajun Music
  • Bob Lanzetti Educator
  • Lula Galvão Classical Guitar
  • David Virelles Cuba
  • Mike Moreno Manhattan School of Music Faculty
  • Makaya McCraven Drums
  • Jam no MAM Jam Sessions
  • Anat Cohen Tel Aviv
  • Jussara Silveira MPB
  • Demond Melancon Louisiana
  • Fred Dantas Salvador
  • Nara Couto Diretora, Director
  • Nilze Carvalho Samba
  • Lianne La Havas London
  • Louis Michot Cajun Music
  • Jeff Tweedy Country
  • Hopkinson Smith Lute
  • Beth Bahia Cohen Balkan Music
  • Magary Lord Percussion
  • Julien Libeer Belgium
  • Pururu Mão no Couro Sambalanço
  • Ivan Bastos MPB
  • Jerry Douglas Bluegrass
  • Şener Özmen Turkey
  • Forrest Hylton Federal University of Bahia Faculty
  • Cashmere Cat DJ
  • Mario Caldato Jr. Record Producer
  • Luciano Salvador Bahia Guitar
  • Antonio Sánchez Film Scores
  • Alana Gabriela Salvador
  • Harish Raghavan Educator
  • Edward P. Jones Short Stories
  • Stephanie Soileau Writer
  • Hélio Delmiro Brazilian Jazz
  • Chico César Paraíba
  • Danilo Caymmi Samba
  • Joatan Nascimento Choro
  • Henrique Cazes Viola Caipira
  • Geraldo Azevedo Forró
  • Corey Henry Funk
  • Dadá do Trombone Brasil, Brazil
  • Demond Melancon New Orleans
  • Leon Bridges Fort Worth, Texas
  • João Luiz Classical Guitar
  • Marko Djordjevic Jazz
  • Corey Ledet Zydeco
  • Rogê MPB
  • Cláudio Jorge Singer-Songwriter
  • Melissa Aldana Composer
  • Gaby Moreno Singer-Songwriter
  • Egberto Gismonti Rio de Janeiro
  • James Andrews Jazz
  • Elio Villafranca Piano
  • Afel Bocoum Mali
  • Roy Nathanson Film Scores
  • Gustavo Caribé Baixo, Bass
  • Anoushka Shankar Piano
  • Simon Singh Television Producer
  • Neymar Dias Brazil
  • Maciel Salú Rabeca
  • Monarco Cavaquinho
  • Priscila Castro Santarém
  • Priscila Castro Cantora-Compositora, Singer-Songwriter
  • Joey Baron Jazz
  • Lenny Kravitz Singer
  • Victor Gama Multimedia Opera
  • Colson Whitehead Short Stories
  • Endea Owens Composer
  • Ronald Bruner Jr. Los Angeles
  • Kiko Horta Forró
  • Gabriel Policarpo Percussion
  • Abel Selaocoe Composer
  • Nação Zumbi Pernambuco
  • Erika Goldring Music Photographer
  • Greg Kot Music Critic
  • Swami Jr. Samba
  • Terri Hinte Liner Notes
  • Steve Cropper Record Producer
  • Tomo Fujita Jazz
  • Ashley Page Record Label Owner
  • Serwah Attafuah Graphic Designer
  • Osvaldo Golijov Composer
  • Vincent Valdez Mexican-American Art
  • Patty Kiss Frevo
  • Sameer Gupta Composer
  • Shez Raja Bass
  • Guga Stroeter São Paulo
  • Gustavo Di Dalva Composer
  • OVANA Xangongo
  • Mariana Zwarg Saxophone
  • Plínio Fernandes Classical Guitar
  • Adenor Gondim Brazil
  • Bisa Butler Quilts
  • Ceumar Coelho MPB
  • Swami Jr. Guitar
  • Hugo Rivas Argentina
  • Errollyn Wallen Composer
  • Quatuor Ebène France
  • Alicia Keys R&B
  • Emmet Cohen Composer
  • Burkard Polster Mathematics
  • Gabriel Geszti Brasil, Brazil
  • Ana Luisa Barral Brazil
  • Chris Cheek Brooklyn, NY
  • Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh Singer
  • Bill Pearis Music Critic
  • Irmandade da Boa Morte Cachoeira
  • Tatiana Campêlo Salvador
  • Léo Rugero Sanfona de 8 Baixos
  • Pururu Mão no Couro Bahia
  • Doug Wamble Guitar
  • Greg Ruby Composer
  • Dan Nimmer Jazz
  • Ben Street Jazz
  • Yola Singer-Songwriter
  • Catherine Bent Classical Music
  • Welson Tremura Latin American Classical Guitar
  • Ibram X. Kendi Writer
  • Sahba Aminikia Iran
  • Eddie Palmieri Ropeadope
  • Adriene Cruz Textile Artist
  • Adriana L. Dutra Brazil
  • John Patitucci Bass Instruction
  • Del McCoury Country
  • Vincent Herring Jazz
  • Larissa Fulana de Tal Brasil, Brazil
  • Dadá do Trombone MPB
  • John Schaefer Radio Presenter
  • Gabi Guedes Brazil
  • Rogério Caetano Violão de Sete
  • McIntosh County Shouters Ring Shouts
  • Shannon Ali Arts Journalist
  • Papa Grows Funk Funk
  • Tom Piazza Music Writer
  • Carlos Blanco Salvador
  • Lucinda Williams Nashville, Tennessee
  • Dave Douglas Multi-Cultural
  • Antonio García Singer
  • Paulo Martelli Brazilian Classical Guitar
  • Weedie Braimah Pan-African Culture
  • Nelson Cerqueira Bahia
  • Juçara Marçal Brazil
  • Ben Wolfe Juilliard Faculty
  • Luques Curtis Composer
  • Oswaldo Amorim Composer
  • Angel Bat Dawid Singer
  • Dale Barlow Australia
  • Django Bates Multi-Instrumentalist
  • MonoNeon Singer-Songwriter
  • Hermeto Pascoal Alagoas
  • Astrig Akseralian Cambridge, England
  • Kaia Kater Singer-Songwriter
  • Anthony Hamilton Soul
  • Shemekia Copeland Blues
  • Sharita Towne Multidisciplinary Artist
  • Art Rosenbaum Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Derrick Adams Brooklyn, NY
  • H.L. Thompson Brazilian Funk
  • Garvia Bailey Jamaica
  • Jeff Preiss Producer
  • Willy Schwarz Multi-Cultural
  • Shankar Mahadevan Composer
  • Cristiano Nogueira Rio de Janeiro
  • Martyn Dubstep
  • Makaya McCraven Composer
  • Malin Fezehai Photographer
  • Pretinho da Serrinha Brazil
  • Bright Red Dog Jazz, Electronica, Hip-Hop, Psychedelia, Noise
  • Karim Ziad Percussion
  • Chico Buarque Singer-Songwriter
  • Shabaka Hutchings London
  • Ajurinã Zwarg Choro
  • Avishai Cohen אבישי כה Multi-Cultural
  • Jorge Glem Venezuela
  • Brady Haran Filmmaker
  • Beth Bahia Cohen Hardingfele
  • Gail Ann Dorsey Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Carl Allen Educator
  • J. Velloso MPB
  • Luiz Santos Contemporary Classical Music
  • Otmaro Ruiz Composer
  • Tam-Ky Asian-African Foods
  • Paulo Dáfilin São Paulo
  • Kaveh Rastegar Record Producer
  • Parker Ighile Record Producer
  • Nicole Mitchell Jazz
  • Rumaan Alam New York City
  • Stefano Bollani Composer
  • Matt Garrison Bass
  • Roy Germano Filmmaker
  • Mike Compton Nashville, Tennessee
  • Ben Okri Poet
  • Maria Rita Samba
  • Beth Bahia Cohen Berklee College of Music Faculty
  • Chris Acquavella Mandolin Instruction
  • Gustavo Di Dalva Brazil
  • Ann Hallenberg Mezzo-Soprano
  • Dani Deahl Journalist
  • Soweto Kinch Composer
  • Melvin Gibbs Record Producer
  • Brian Stoltz New Orleans
  • Nelson Faria Composer
  • Jan Ramsey Jazz
  • Alan Brain Filmmaker
  • Aneesa Strings Jazz
  • Gian Correa Guitar
  • Giovanni Russonello Music Critic
  • Jonathan Griffin Radio Presenter
  • Leon Parker Multi-Cultural
  • Riley Baugus Folk & Traditional
  • Marcelinho Oliveira Record Producer
  • Chris Speed Clarinet
  • Bule Bule Bahia
  • Cut Worms Americana
  • Camille Thurman New York City
  • Milton Primo Samba
  • Donald Harrison Composer
  • Ivan Lins Rio de Janeiro
  • Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh Violin
  • Brian Stoltz Singer
  • Hilton Schilder Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Gerald Cleaver Drums
  • Stephanie Foden Salvador
  • Hugo Linns Recife
  • Shaun Martin Jazz
  • Tigran Hamasyan Composer
  • Walter Smith III Jazz
  • Warren Wolf Vibraphone
  • David Mattingly New York City
  • Kaveh Rastegar Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Beth Bahia Cohen Viola
  • Tommy Orange Writer
  • Lorna Simpson Sculptor
  • Billy O'Shea Steampunk
  • Paulinho do Reco Percussion
  • Frank Negrão Salvador
  • James Carter Composer
  • Lula Moreira Sculptor
  • Andrew Finn Magill Fiddle
  • Gab Ferruz Cantora-Compositora, Singer-Songwriter
  • John Patitucci Berklee College of Music Faculty
  • Yosvany Terry Jazz
  • Hercules Gomes MPB
  • Lívia Mattos Accordion
  • Darrell Green Jazz
  • Will Holshouser Musette
  • David Castillo Theatrical Producer
  • Angel Bat Dawid Clarinet
  • Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Baiba Skride Violin
  • Jared Sims Classical Music
  • Taylor McFerrin Brooklyn, NY
  • Afrocidade Hip-Hop
  • Richie Stearns Tenor Guitar
  • Karla Vasquez El Salvador
  • João Rabello Rio de Janeiro
  • Irma Thomas Songwriter
  • David Greely Cajun Fiddle
  • Perumal Murugan India
  • Eric Alexander Jazz
  • Joey Alexander Jazz
  • Wadada Leo Smith Flugelhorn
  • Jared Sims Jazz
  • Riley Baugus Old-Time Music
  • Mariana Zwarg Samba
  • Alphonso Johnson Jazz
  • Denzel Curry Los Angeles
  • Dieu-Nalio Chery Photojournalist
  • Siphiwe Mhlambi South Africa
  • Galactic Funk
  • João Camarero Guitar
  • Richie Stearns Appalachian Music
  • Horace Bray Guitar
  • Deesha Philyaw Essayist
  • Jonathan Scales Steel Pans
  • Chris Thile Bluegrass
  • Jakub Józef Orliński Poland
  • Gabriel Policarpo Rio de Janeiro
  • Ballaké Sissoko Mali
  • Oscar Peñas New York City
  • Meshell Ndegeocello Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Alex Hargreaves New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music Faculty
  • Jamz Supernova Radio Presenter
  • Martin Koenig Balkan Music
  • Jack Talty Composer
  • Nicolas Krassik Brazil
  • Teresa Cristina Brazil
  • Siba Veloso Viola Nordestina
  • Riley Baugus Singer
  • Thiago Amud Rio de Janeiro
  • Milton Primo Bahia
  • Paul Anthony Smith Jamaica
  • James Grime Mathematics
  • Robi Botos Toronto
  • Bodek Janke Percussion
  • Kirk Whalum Songwriter
  • Flor Jorge Rio de Janeiro
  • Michael Formanek Bandleader
  • Catherine Russell Jazz
  • Papa Mali New Orleans
  • Marko Djordjevic Balkan Music

 'mātriks / "source" / from "mater", Latin for "mother"
We're a real mother for ya!

 

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