Live and Unsigned (The UK'S biggest competition for unsigned artists) is giving away over £100,000 in prizes with the chance to play at the prestigious O2 in London. Attracting thousands of unsigned musicians around the UK, the auditions are set to start in January. The latest competition though includes an amazing main prize consisting of a four continent world tour!
As December draws closer, so does the X-Factor Christmas UK number 1 saga. Last Year Rage Against the Machine beat the popularity of Simon Cowell's show to the Christmas number1 place - This was done through a simple Facebook campaign.
Young star Justin Bieber has finally reached 1 billion views on Youtube. Lady Gaga made it a few weeks back now Justin came in a respectful second place. The number has become a special milestone for music stars, where the internet has become an important part of the music world.
Probably the most easiest song we could ever review without even hearing it. The Two Minutes of Silence Charity song has been launched and experts say it could reach the number1 spot!
More than 2000 viewers have complained about Cheryls controversial decision not to make a decision on Saturdays X-Factor. There has also been Facebook groups set up, one called 'Sack Cheryl Cole From X Factor'.
Nashville, TN/Tempe, AZ, November 09, 2010 -- KLM Distribution, LLC ( http://www.klmdistribution.com ) announced that they are expanding their suite of products and services to the independent music industry through the recruitment of 50 regional sales managers and 500 independent sales representatives throughout North America.
 | Andrew Braithwaite - Owner and manager of www.musictalkers.com. Keen music enthusiast from the UK. Studied music to a high level at school and college, plays the guitar. Follows many local UK bands. Has interviewed music artists in the UK and USA. |
 | Edina Damoah - One of our main music news reporters. Owner of intrigue media group online copywriting and media company. Including intrigue magazine which is a music focused online and offline publication. Covering music news, features and interviews. |
 | Sarah Marie Jones - Creative writer from Wales UK. Freelance music news journalist. Loves writing on all topics. https://twitter.com/shadowstar240 |
 | Alex Jenkins - Alex’s music ranges across many electronic based styles with an underlying darkness in their feel. |
 | Andy Pez - Songwriter from Madison, Wisconsin. Written around 100 songs over the last 15 years. |
 | Adam Bailey - Administrator of Music Talkers. Music technology specialist. |
 | Alan Sagar - is a bass guitar player out of the band Slack Alice. He is also a keen music writer. |
 | Sally Rayson - Administrator of Music Talkers. Specialist areas include celeb gossip. |
We also have many more contributors- These include: The music industry, record labels and hundreds of our registered musicians.
Lil Wayne thanked P Diddy for visiting him in jail. The source which was revealed yesterday said Lil Wayne was happy to see P Diddy. Wayne added that a lot of trouble goes into jail visits.
Eminem is doing great this year with 5 nominations for the American music Awards 2010. He certainly will win because of his superb songs. The nominations were announced on Tuesday in Los Angeles. Like all the previous years, this year too is the year of Eminem. Beside him there are other stars also who have been nominated for their great music and songs like Lady Antebellum who is in tie with Eminem. Other stars include Justin Bieber who is nominated for four categories while B.o.B, Usher and Katy Perry and Ke$ha have been nominated for three awards. Similarly many other star like Rihanna, lady Gaga and Drake have also been nominated in many categories bacuse they all are the big stars of music industry.
Singer of famous song “My heart will go on” Celine Dion is the mother of two cute sons. She has named her sons after two famous personalities. One is the record producer eddy Marnay and second personality was the President of South Africa Nelson Mandela. She gave birth to two baby boys on October 23 Saturday.
France is facing the problem of strikes these days. It made a huge impact on the singers and other stars because they have to cancel their concerts and other programs. Lady Gaga was also going to perform in Paris but strikes made her postpone her concert. The announcement was released on Wednesday, October 20. Lady Gage’s personal website stated that the performances in Paris at Bercy will not be held not on 19th and 20th of October but now the superstar will perform on 19 and 20th of December. Though it is very sad news for her fans in France but she has also not disappointed her fans and scheduled her performance at the end of the year 2010.
Eminem is always a source of inspiration and fascination for his fans. Recently he has given a “60 Minutes” interview to a TV channel. He is always a mystery for his fans and his fans are always keen to know about their favorite singer’s personal life but he has separated his professional life from his personal life. His interview aired on 10th of the October in which he told about his personal life.
It is noted that the fans of the famous music programs X Factor got angry when they cam to know that to make the voice quality of some singers better, auto-tuning technology was used. They gave their opinions on various social networking sites and twitter is one of them. The auto tuning technology is usually used in studios to make the sound quality of the singers better and hide off-key mistakes.
The Country Music is a blend of traditional and popular western music. Country Music became popular in the early 1940s and Country Music has given the world with two great artists of country music, that is, Elvis Presley and the Garth Brooks.
It is very easy to differentiate between western and the Indian due to the distinct differences between their characteristics. The basic and the main difference is that the Indian music is based on the melody or the single notes that are played in a given order where as the western music has harmony and notes played together.
Pop or the popular music is the most popular form of the modern music. It is characterized by the songs aiming at the youth and it contains messages like the messages of love and love stories. Western Pop Music is usually of a short interval.
Western Music is a broad category including all music genres. The first western song was written back in 1844. Western Music generally talks about the working class, mountain men, the 49ers, the immigrants, the outlaws, lawmen, the cowboy and the scenic beauty of the west.
Western Classical Music is often thought to be the very tough type of music due to its complexity and depth. Western Classical Music includes many types such as the opera, orchestral music, oratorio and choral music, ballet music, art song, chamber music etc.
There are many songs that have contributed in making the history and setting the trends of the Western Music. History shows that the current Western Music is very unpredictable and it changes as a new song is introduced.
The sound of music can heal a person by causing changes in brainwave activity and by altering a person's heart and breathing rates. Some sounds can dissolve blocks or help people to relive and recover from traumatic accidents.
Music, which has probably existed since the dawn of time, is widely referred to as the universal language. Music is the universal language because it is a connection between all humans regardless of culture and language, and is one of the most powerful tools for promoting a general feeling of well-being among all people. Several physical and psychological benefits can be derived by listening to music, as revealed by several researches. Music can be used in a wide range of healing activities, ranging from something basic like calming you to a much more drastic effect like lowering blood pressure. The principles of sound healing were conceived from the harnessing of the healing properties of music on the mind and body. Music heals in the following manner:
I've been fascinated with rhythm as far back as I can remember. I recently saw an old family video taken when I was two years old, tapping my spoon against the table between bites of Cheerios. It wasn't until attending my first drum circle many years later (and after scores of annoyed grade school teachers), that I finally found a home for my incessant banging.
A strange and unexplainable sense of calm and entrancement can come over you at the peak of a communal rhythm. You don't have to speak with the stranger sitting next to you to get to know them; everyone in the circle is communicating with rhythm. In that moment, everyone is at total peace with each other.
"The drum circle, back home, represents unity," says Biboti Ouikahilo in a deep voice inflected with his native French. "When you get in the circle, you make peace. Back home, it is very powerful."
"Back home" for Ouikahilo is Ivory Coast, a West African country with rich rhythmic and dance traditions, which was colonized by France until 1960. While the colonizers may have largely stripped Ivory Coast's 60 ethnic groups of their native languages, their music traditions have been preserved. From his 17-year stint as a professional musician and choreographer in Ivory Coast's National Ballet touring dance and drumming group, which showcased each of the country's ethnic groups, Ouikahilo became an expert in the musical traditions from his home country.
After the National Ballet dissolved in 1995, Ouikahilo made plans to share his extensive knowledge with the world. "I wanted to share what I learned from the National Ballet with people who may not know about it [these traditions], rather than stay at home," he says. He relocated to New York City in 1997, working as a teacher and performer, and he even went on tour with Jimmy Buffet in 2000. But, in 2003, while performing for Syracuse University, he found his future home.
"I grew up in a big city, and when I came to the US, I lived in another big city," Ouikahilo explains. "I didn't think that, being in New York City, the people were going to take to my message because there are a lot of drummers and dancers there. I was looking for a quiet place, where people would listen."
Last year, Ouikahilo and his wife, Jill, a Syracuse-native and African drum and dance expert, opened up their dream business, Wacheva Cultural Arts organization. And they couldn't have chosen a better spot: Syracuse's Westcott neighborhood, where artists, students, and for want of a better word, "alternatives" congregate to form a wonderfully colorful and diverse section of town. If Ouikahilo was looking for a place with open ears, he certainly found it in the Westcott Nation.
One night after work, I grabbed a digital recorder and my trusty djembe and made the walk to participate in one of Ouikahilo's classes.
As it turned out, I didn't need to bring a drum at all--Ouikahilo had an impressive collection of djembes, dun duns, and shakeres, set up and ready to go in one of Wacheva's two dance studios.
Joining three of his regular students and Jill, we played a traditional rhythm called kadama, which comes from Ouikahilo's own ethnic group, the Guro people. "Kadama means 'let's try it'," explains Ouikahilo.
According to legend, kadama was created by the Guro people, who were trying to compose a ceremonial rhythm, except that no one would take the initiative. Finally, one individual had enough and took charge of the situation, conducting improvised rhythms to the group. Through trial and error, they arrived at kadama. The message is one of creation and initiation: the creation of the rhythm, being played together, symbolizes what one can do, both individually, and in contribution to a greater whole.
This was not the kind of drum circle I was used to. In fact, Ouikahilo conducted from behind the dun dun, and the students were lined up facing him. It wasn't technically a circle at all. Still, there was something very powerful about this setting. Unlike a free-form drum circle, everyone in this group had a well-defined role to play, a specific place to "sit" in the rhythm. If any one person dropped out, the whole thing risked collapse.
At first, this was a little unnerving to me, as I was playing a foreign instrument, the shakere, and playing a rhythm I had never heard before. Also, the rhythm became more complex as each new drum was introduced, making me worry that I would lose myself in the mix. I quickly relaxed into my role, however, and within a few minutes, it felt completely natural. I even started to experience the same sense of calm and camaraderie with the other students that I had felt at drum circles.
"There's the physical benefit of playing the drum, and a real connection because you're using your hands to play," says Jesse Covell, a wireless engineer and one of Ouikahilo's dedicated students. "There's also a spiritual connection when you get into the rhythm together. We've really grown, all of us together." Covell played drums and percussion throughout grade school, but never had the chance to learn traditional African drumming until joining the class.
Lynne Fall, an office coordinator at Syracuse University, has also had a fascination with African drumming for a long time, and enjoys taking part in the class every week. "I always used to watch drum circles in Central Park, when I lived in New York City, and I was completely captivated" she says.
When Fall moved to Syracuse a few years ago, she experienced the same captivation when she watched Ouikahilo drumming with members of the community, which inspired her to learn to play. "He had non-Africans with him playing drums, and I said to myself, 'They had to learn how to play the drum. They didn't learn it growing up!'"
She has been taking lessons for about a year, and Fall finds the traditional aspect of this drumming style--connection through time--very appealing. "I really like that it's being done the same way today that it's been done for generations," she says. "The drums are made the same, the rhythms are the same, and the sound is the same. There's nothing high-tech about it; it's very primal."
"Rhythm is part of our culture," Ouikahilo says of his home region. "When we are in the harvest, the drum is there; when there is any ceremony, ritual, or wedding, the drum is there."
This style of ritual drumming, accompanying traditional weddings, harvests, and funerals, has little to no relevance in our culture. Social drumming, in the form of the drum circle, however, does exist here, and it has much the same purpose as in Africa: to promote peace, unity, communal bonding, and sometimes, altered states of consciousness.
In addition to teaching traditional African drumming, Wacheva hosts free community drum circles led by Jill Ouikahilo. Having studied traditional West African drumming and dance, she is excited to offer a more free-form style of drumming to the community. "The reason we're doing this is to build more vitality in the community, and it's a perfect marriage to have traditional African drum classes with the drum circle," she says.
Look around your town; chances are there is a cultural ambassador close by. Exposing yourself to music from other cultures gives you a glimpse into other ways of life that are very different from your own. In learning about other kinds of music, you gain a fresh perspective on the styles that you have heard and played your entire life.
I really enjoyed this taste of traditional African drumming. Obviously, there is a lot to learn, but some of the benefits jumped out at me immediately. As we were leaving, Jesse and Lynn asked me enthusiastically, like we had known each other much longer than the one-hour class, "You're coming back, right?" The bonding power of music never fails to amaze me.
Jason Borisoff is a staff writer for Making Music magazine. He dusted off his old djembe and remembered how relaxing it is to beat out rhythms.
