My Planetaki

Dwight D. Eisenhower: The Chance for Peace

While serving as President Eisenhower repeatedly warned us of the perils of militarism.  The U.S.'s military spending is more than the rest of the world combined.  The spreading of weapons of mass destruction across the face of the planet is lead by us, the profit motive is enormous and it's our tax dollars that are funding this.  We now have 830 military bases spread around the planet.  The price we pay for all of this is dear, and one must ask themselves for what purpose.

The following is an excerpt from Eisenhower's 1953 speech "The Chance for Peace"

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.

Read the entire speech here: Dwight D. Eisenhower: The Chance for Peace

Ross Daly - Microkosmos (2004)

Ross Daly - Microkosmos
MP3 CBR 256 kbps 44100 Stereo - 138 MB | FLAC + EAC log + Cue Sheet - 418 MB
Nocturne 2004 | Ethnic/World | Artwork

Posted By: AneL_GR

Ross Daly, Crete's master of the Lyra returns in 2004 with a remarkable and criticaly acclaimed recording that brings together a global cast of musicians including Balake Sissoko (kora), Kelly Thomas (lyra), Bijan Chemirani (percussion - zarb and daf) and Pedro Estevan (bendir).
Microkosmos means literally 'Small World', and this cd represents an attempt to explore the possibilities of a small group of musicians rather than the larger orchestra Daly has favoured of late. In such a project the personalities of the musicians are of paramount importance and there is no mistaking the distinctive stamp of Bijan Chemirani (percussion), Kelly Thoma (lyra), Dimitris Psonis (santur), Haris Lambrakis (ney), Balake Sissoko (kora) and Daly himself. As befits the overall concept, Microkosmos contains nine short pieces, and each of these artists has contributed not just to the performance, which includes extensive improvisation, but also to the composition and identity of these pieces.
An especially interesting contribution is that of the Malian musician, Balake Sissoko. His kora playing is a delight, but he seems in addition to have brought out something fresh and creative in Daly and the others. Track three, Balake, is a Daly composition dedicated to Sissoko and on which Sissoko plays. The piece opens with a passage on the rabab (a fretless lute from Afghanistan) that recalls - in both spirit and some of its detail - the optimistic sense of limitless possibility that characterised the Ross Daly album. Balake is formed around a series of short, simple tunes whose pentatonic aspect acknowledges Sissoko's repertoire. To these tunes Sissoko, Daly and Thoma add a delightful sequence of intricate improvisations on the kora, lyra and rabab; this piece, essentially a miniature, is as attractive as anything that Daly has done, and is indeed a microcosm of his work. The same freshness also characterises the simple but unforgettable melody of the closing track, tellingly entitled Epistrophi (Return).

Ross Daly: lyra tarhu, lyra, saz, rebab
Balake Sissoko: cora
Kelly Thomas: lyra
Haris Lambrakis: ney
Pedro Estevan: bendir
Dimitris Psonis: santur iranien
Michalis Nikoloudis: mandole
Bijan Chemirani: zarb, daff

Tracklist
1. Soireci
2. Ussaz saz semaisi
3. Kadi
4. Momentus
5. Balake
6. Abacus
7. Huseyni
8. Massalou cisse
9. Epistrofi

Download from RS
MP3 256 kbps - PART 1 || PART 2
FLAC - PART 1 || PART 2 || PART 3 || PART 4 || PART 5

via: http://avaxsphere.com/music/ethnic_world/ross_daly_microkosmos.html

Today's Featured Mp3blog - ChrisGoesRocks

Location: Huddinge Hill, South of High Valley, 15 miles from Farsta Creek, Sweden

ChrisGoesRocks is a popular and well-written prog-centric mp3blog, featuring many less known bands from the 60s and 70s.  The authors encyclopedic knowledge of the music of this era is  very impressive, and is one of the first places to go for a in-depth view of this type of music.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Today's Featured Mp3blog - Female Vocals

The theme of this blog from Brazil is folk-rock and prog bands with female vocals. The dates are mainly from the 60s and 70s with a smattering of newer stuff. You'll find a lot of obscure and rare discs here but they are all good. Author and Rio resident Baalman writes in his profile "Music is one of my greatest passions. In high school I was a headbanger but since the college I have been interested in other music genres but still far away from commercial music. I do hate rap/hip hop and related pop music such as boy bands teenage singers and don’t ask me about Top 10 Billboard parade because I really don’t know who the artists/groups are and quite probably I won’t like them. Out of the genres I post in my blog I still have a selected interest over heavy metal indie/alternative and Brazilian music. The purpose of this blog is provide good music according to my tastes the choice of female vocals is because first I really like female vocals (not only of course) but also to have a differential over similar blogs Following the same path my interest about cinema is about independent classic and cult films envolving any time and country."