| My Planet |
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| In 1998 I bought a Phillips CD recorder, and starting making compilations of music in much the same way I had done on cassette tapes since high school. It's been said that men organise their lives like they do their record collections. In any case my record collection since 1998 has been a pretty good summary, or at least a sound track, of my own life. For my 50th compilation I had to do something special, and the result is "My Planet", a collection of music that I've listened to and purchased in various places around the world, and which over time has managed to become an important part of my surroundings. From that damp edge of the world called Bellingham, Washington USA where I was born to a white sand beach in South Africa on the opposite side of the globe, and everywhere in between. I like my planet. I feel at home here. And you've got to admit that for such a small place it really does have a lot to offer. Welcome. Take only pictures. Leave only footprints. Be nice to the other guests. Sing. Dance. Enjoy your stay. |
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| The modified picture is from the swimming pool at the Emirates Towers hotel in Dubai. The Palms are by the Red Sea in Jeddah. |
| Standing on my head (relative to Bellingham) on the Bloubergstrand near Cape Town, South Africa. The cover art idea was first used for our 2003 Christmas card, showing pictures I've taken in various places around my planet. The pink and orange are new. |
| Leaving my footprints on my planet, with Table Mountain in the background. |
| You're soaking in it. |
| Some would call this compilation "world music", as if the mainstream pop we listen to in Europe and North America is somehow not of this world. In any case, this disc is "music of my world", and varies from British pop to Cuban salsa to South African kwaito to Japanese rap to Arabic pops to Russian techno. Since contrary to popular belief the United States of America is actually here on the same planet with the rest of us, there is some good ol' Southern honkytonk, urban rap and (gulp) Elvis thrown in as well. My "world music". Like I said, for such a small planet this place really does have a lot to offer. Interestingly enough, almost all of the music on this disc is strongly influenced by styles from other regions, often direct mixtures from the most unexpected sources. |
| For me it's even more fun because I can remember where I first heard and purchased the songs. Country singer Danni Leigh first filled my headphones in Osaka. The song mixing Punjabi text with the theme song from a lame American TV show was first heard in Germany. But the Cuban salsa brings back images of Havana, as the two songs in Arabic do of Dubai. One of the South African songs was playing in my rental car when I took the picture at left. Not all the songs are very new, but all give a flavour of some small part of the planet that I somehow managed to take home with me, and that I now call my own. |
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| You have to admit it's a pretty place, and that's just the Atlantic side! Funny how you can't see any national boundaries from this angle. |