A Beacon From Mars
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A Beacon From Mars
''A Beacon from Mars'' is Kaleidoscope's second album. It was published in November 1967 by Epic Records along with the single "I Found Out" b/w "Rampè Rampè". At the time it was released it received good reviews, but like Kaleidoscope's other albums, it was commercially unsuccessful. Reception Allmusic's retrospective review hailed the album as flawless brilliance, "the best non-compilation showcase of Kaleidoscope's legendary eclecticism and versatility." They noted the many styles represented by each of the songs, and deemed that "Every one of these disparate styles is performed with authority and commitment, and the result still has the power to amaze." The track "Taxim" is based on "Şehnaz Longa", a Turkish piece by Santuri Ethem Efendi. A 1968 music reviewer stated: "“Here is the most versatile band we have ever heard. You want ragtime? Listen to 'Baldheaded End Of A Broom' which brings back early Spoonful fun. Lovely bass, good mandolin and harmonica. How about authe ...
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Kaleidoscope (US Band)
Kaleidoscope (originally the Kaleidoscope) was an American psychedelic folk and ethnic band, who recorded four albums and several singles for Epic Records between 1966 and 1970. The band membership included David Lindley, who later released numerous solo albums and won additional renown as a multi-instrumentalist session musician, and Chris Darrow who later performed and recorded with a number of groups including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. History Formation The group was formed in 1966. The original members were: : David Lindley (born March 21, 1944, Los Angeles, California) : Solomon Feldthouse (born David Earle Scaff; January 20, 1940, Pingree, Idaho, died December 12, 2021) :Chris Darrow (born July 30, 1944, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, died January 15, 2020) :Chester Crill (a.k.a. Max Budda, Max Buda, Fenrus Epp, Templeton Parcely) (born Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) :John Vidican (born Los Angeles, California) Lindley was an experienced performer on a variety of stringed instru ...
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David Lindley (musician)
David Perry Lindley (born March 21, 1944) is an American musician who founded the band El Rayo-X, and has worked with many other performers including Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, Warren Zevon, Curtis Mayfield and Dolly Parton. He has mastered such a wide variety of instruments that ''Acoustic Guitar'' magazine referred to Lindley not as a multi-instrumentalist, but instead as a "maxi-instrumentalist." The majority of the instruments that Lindley plays are string instruments, including the acoustic and electric guitar, upright and electric bass, banjo, lap steel guitar, mandolin, hardingfele, bouzouki, cittern, bağlama, gumbus, charango, cümbüş, oud, and zither. Lindley was a founding member of the 1960s band Kaleidoscope, and has worked as musical director for several touring artists. In addition, he has occasionally scored and composed music for film. Early life and career When Lindley was growing up in Los Angeles, his father had an extensive collection ...
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1968 Albums
The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * January 10 – John Gorton is sworn in as 19th Prime Minister of Australia, taking over from John McEwen after being elected leader of the Liberal Party the previous day, following the disappearance of Harold Holt. Gorton becomes the only Senator to become Prime Minister, though he immediately transfers to the House of Representatives through the 1968 Higgins by-election in Holt's vacant seat. * January 15 – The 1968 Belice earthquake in Sicily kills 380 and injures around 1,000. * January 21 ** Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh – One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins, ending on April 8. ** 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash: A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress crashes in Greenland, discharging 4 nuclear bombs. * ...
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Appalachian Dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic. Name The Appalachian dulcimer has many variant names. Most often it is simply called a dulcimer (also rendered as "dulcimore", "dulcymore", "delcimer", "delcimore", ''etc.''). When it needs to be distinguished from the unrelated hammered dulcimer, various adjectives are added (drawn from location, playing style, position, shape, etc.), for example: mountain dulcimer; Kentucky dulcimer; plucked dulcimer; fretted dulcimer; lap dulcimer; teardrop dulcimer; box dulcimer; etc. The instrument has also acquired a number of nicknames (some shared by other instruments): "harmonium", "hog fiddle", "music box", "harmony box", and "mountain zither". Origins and history Although the Appalachia ...
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Doumbek
The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet-shaped body. It is most commonly used in the traditional music of Egypt, where it is considered the National symbol of Egyptian Shaabi Music. The instrument is also featured in traditional music from West Asia, North Africa, South Asia, and Eastern Europe. The African djembe is also a goblet membranophone. This article focuses on the Middle Eastern and North African goblet drum. History The origin of the term ''Darbuka'' probably lies in the Arabic word "daraba" ("to strike"). Goblet drums have been around for thousands of years and were used in Mesopotamian and Ancient Egyptian cultures. They were also seen in Babylonia and Sumer from as early as 1100 BCE. On Sulawesi, large goblet drums are used as temple instruments and placed on ...
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Veena
The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( sa, वीणा IAST: vīṇā), comprises various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps.Vina: Musical Instrument
Encyclopædia Britannica (2010)
The many regional designs have different names such as the ''Rudra veena'', the ''Saraswati veena'', the ''Vichitra veena'' and others. The North Indian ''rudra veena'', used in Hindustani classical music, is a stick zither. About 3.5 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 meters) long to fit the measurements of the musician, it has a hollow body and two large resonating gourds under each end. It has four main strings which are melodic, and three auxiliary drone strings.
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Dobro
Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a guitar manufacturing company founded by the Dopyera brothers with the name "Dobro Manufacturing Company". Their guitar design, with a single outward-facing resonator cone, was introduced to compete with the patented inward-facing tricone and biscuit designs produced by the National String Instrument Corporation. The Dobro name appeared on other instruments, notably electric lap steel guitars and solid body electric guitars and on other resonator instruments such as Safari resonator mandolins. History The roots of the Dobro story can be traced to the 1920s when Slovak immigrant and instrument repairman/inventor John Dopyera and musician George Beauchamp were searching for more volume for his guitars. Dopyera built an ampliphonic (or ...
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Bouzouki
The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and a long neck with a fretted fingerboard. It has steel strings and is played with a plectrum producing a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but pitched lower. There are two main types of bouzouki: the ''trichordo'' (''three-course'') has three pairs of strings (known as courses) and the ''tetrachordo'' (''four-course'') has four pairs of strings. The instrument was brought to Greece in the early 1900s by Greek refugees from Anatolia, and quickly became the central instrument to the rebetiko genre and its music branches. It is now an important element of modern Laïko pop Greek music. Etymology The name ''bouzouki'' comes from the Turkish word , meaning "broken" or "modified", and comes from a particular re-entrant tuning ca ...
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Chris Darrow
Christopher Lloyd Darrow (July 30, 1944 – January 15, 2020) was an American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter. He was considered to be a pioneer of country rock music in the late-1960s and performed and recorded with numerous groups, including Kaleidoscope (U.S. band), Kaleidoscope and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Biography Early life Darrow was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Claremont, California, listening to Ritchie Valens and the Everly Brothers on the radio. He began playing ukulele, but purchased his first guitar at age 13. His father Paul had played clarinet with traditional jazz band The Mentor Street Maniacs. Attending Pitzer College, Darrow spent two years assisting folklorist Guy Carawan, who taught American Folk Life Studies. Darrow's interest in folk and bluegrass music sparked the formation of his first band, the Reorganized Dry City Players in 1963, followed by the Mad Mountain Ramblers. The Dry City Scat ...
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Mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 strings, although five (10 strings) and six (12 strings) course versions also exist. There are of course different types of strings that can be used, metal strings are the main ones since they are the cheapest and easiest to make. The courses are typically tuned in an interval of perfect fifths, with the same tuning as a violin (G3, D4, A4, E5). Also, like the violin, it is the soprano member of a family that includes the mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello and mandobass. There are many styles of mandolin, but the three most common types are the ''Neapolitan'' or ''round-backed'' mandolin, the ''archtop'' mandolin and the ''flat-backed'' mandolin. The round-backed version has a deep bottom, constructed of strips of wood, glued togethe ...
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Fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the style of the music played may determine specific construction differences between fiddles and classical violins. For example, fiddles may optionally be set up with a bridge with a flatter arch to reduce the range of bow-arm motion needed for techniques such as the double shuffle, a form of bariolage involving rapid alternation between pairs of adjacent strings. To produce a "brighter" tone than the deep tones of gut or synthetic core strings, fiddlers often use steel strings. The fiddle is part of many traditional (folk) styles, which are typically aural traditions—taught " by ear" rather than via written music. Fiddling is the act of playing the fiddle, and fiddlers are musicians that play it. Among musical styles, fiddling tends to p ...
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