Sonic Migration

Hey, Kids! What’s up?

Welcome to the new home of the playlists for Tuesday’s Music of the World with Host Victoria Z from 2004 to 2007. It has been about six months (ok a little more) since I left as host of MOTW and it seems like it is time to debut the new place in space.  

The listening archives remain in the same place on the KPFA website. Please support the artists and buy the songs you like from your favorite digital music service.

I started as host of MOTW in September 2001. It was great fun; a fulfilling experience made fabulously rich with added privilege to interview amazing artists. Thanks to KPFA staff for the opportunity and support. Thank you to my friends, many of whom listened and introduced me to new music to share with other listeners. Most of all, I send out a big thanks to the listeners for their ear, kind words and especially the critiques.

I tried my best to create a music program that was accessible to as many people as possible, to make it easier to get through the day with a little lightness of being and maybe learn a little something about ourselves & those around us through the music.

I started just before September 11 which created a big shift and put a dark cloud over many people. It was clear people needed an emotional lift or something-something. The mood was real dark and sometimes I played music to it. I tried to speak to the confusion and sadness by playing lovely music and using it as a salve.  It was the first time I thought about how I wanted listeners to feel when they listened to the music. Interestingly enough, I started to think more seriously about radio as an art.

Programming music for MOTW had multiple layers. Most important, I made it (and continue to make it) a priority to feature music by people or the children of people who have migrated to the U.S. or other western colonial nations like the UK or France. They  exist quietly (ok not so quietly all the time) in the shadows of the mainstream, creating vibrate subcultures, under xenophobic & racist clouds, rendered almost invisible in the media yet contributing to American culture all the same.

It was really great fun to get the opportunity to play for listeners. It was great to get emails and learning that grandchildren listened with grandparents (in this case hip grandparent Anna Halprin), moms at home with the kids, or riding around town getting those errands done.  That’s cool, Thanks!!

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Best Aural Transporter

Wait…What’s that? No matter, I’ll take it.

Big thanks to the lovely editors at the SF Bay Guardian for a nice write up in 2007’s Best of the Bay issue as the Best Aural Transporter. I have been trying hard to put together seemingly disparate sounds in effort to open our ears, get our poor ears out of the stiff little boxes commercial programming imposes & produce a good show. my head hurts.

‘Victoria posts her playlists on her Web site - a lifesaver for those of us who have trouble remembering how to spell Aterciopelados or Cheikha Rimitti when faced with the iTunes search box.’

i knew that the list was good for something.