Experience 'Musiking Around the World' at the Nelson Public Library
By Contributor
A plethora of exotic sounds, cultures, and instruments will come straight from their roots and into a winter’s evening when musicologist John Galm brings his knowledge to the Nelson Public Library on Thursday, March 14 at 7pm in a special program called “Musiking Around the World.”
“Musiking is a concept developed by ethnomusicologists to convey the totality of musics within a culture,” Galm explains. “This includes not only the performers, but also the listeners, dancers, teachers, instrument makers, environments, spirituality and other cultural aspects.”
A Senegalese Tama Drum, Brazilian Berimbau, and Middle Eastern Dumbek are just three of the instruments Galm will bring to this evening to create the full experience. The evening asks participants to experience instrumental languages, and maybe learn a few.
John Galm’s love of music began early as a teenage jazz drummer. He graduated from the Eastman School of Music and then joined the United States Air Force Band and later became a member of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops, among others, as well as playing with Jazz greats including Ron Carter and Chuck Mangione.
In 1964 he was appointed to the College of Music, University of Colorado as percussion professor and later created the World Musics Program. There, as Professor Emeritus of Ethnomusicology he has studied with master musicians in India, Indonesia, West Africa, Turkey, Morocco and Ireland.
Since retiring to Nelson, Galm has become a member of the Nelson Community Band, performed with the Nelson Choral Society and the Djembe Drum Circle, and lectured at Selkirk College.
