Unity in Diversity

How would one listen to music on a desert island, without power? Well…

Here I sit in the warm ocean breeze contemplating not much, feasting on fresh caught fish and coconut, hair completely bleached blonde, full beard, body baked by the sun that is now making its way closer to the horizon. And finally, it becomes time to contemplate about…something. Which of my top five desert island picks should I call up to accompany me? So I pull out my worn, dusty, faithful, solar powered iPod Touch and slide up and down the list of options and joyfully end up on the group 1 Giant Leap’s self-titled release.

Baaba Maal’s powerful hypnotic chants on the first track get the listener in just the right place to make the journey through Jamie Catto’s and Duncan Bridgeman’s 12 compositions. Baaba Maal shows up again later complimenting the driving rhythms with his unmistakable voice on “Bushes.” This was a brilliant segue into the jungle beats of “Passion.” This track is electric, and the choice of Michael Franti to recite the poem was a stroke of genius, only to be outdone at the end by the chants of African vocalists. “We are not walking with the the ghosts of the dead, we are alive with the spirit of our passion,” reflects on reincarnation, past lives, and karmic freedom. If you’re not up and moving by the time you get to this track, you might want to check your pulse. Spontaneous dancing cannot be helped, no matter who is looking.

1 Giant Leap is a complex tapestry of infectious rhythms, woven with multi-textured instrumentation like Indian flutes, electric mandolins, Polynesian wooden trumpet, African kora, Armenian duduk, synthesizer, guitar, and spoken word; sweetened by rich, silky African, Indian, American, European and New Zealand female singers; countered by rhythmic rapping, and dynamic Senegalese chanting and singing.

1 Giant Leap is Duncan Bridgeman and Jamie Catto, but only in part because there were so many influential, spirited voices on this project. To call this a world/pop album would be a huge understatement. Catto (a musician, film director, and editor) and Bridgeman (a multi-instrumentalist/producer) were signed by Palm Pictures to record an audio-visual DVD and accompanying album. I have the DVD which includes the music, and interviews with various artists, storytellers, scientists, philosophers and authors: Tim Robbins, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Anita Roddick, Dennis Hopper, Gabrielle Roth, Brian Eno and many others. They discuss art, inspiration, the concept of unity in diversity, and spiritual connection to one another and to something much larger. Alas, I have no way to power my old DVD player on this island.

Once Bridgeman and Catto were signed to the project, they set out for the next year armed with only a couple of microphones, a keyboard, and some basic sketches already recorded on a 32‑track laptop virtual studio. The idea was to collaborate in real time with artists around the world, some pre-arranged, and some spontaneous and inspired encounters. What they accomplished was as impressive as the music itself. Peter Gabriel would have been proud. They recorded artists in places all over the world including Senegal, New Zealand, New York, New Delhi, Georgia, California, Europe, and elsewhere. Sessions were done in professional studios, home studios, living rooms, front porches, front yards, and some of those artists included, Baaba Maal, Grant Lee Phillips, Michael Franti, Neneh Cherry, Speech, Michael Stipe, and Maxi Jazz.  It was not without issues like a temporarily dead computer due to high humidity, and vehicle noise from a busy street.

There were spontaneous moments of inspiration where Bridgeman would get the microphones set up just in time to catch a deeply moving performance. I have felt those inspirational moments many times on this CD on songs like “The Way You Dream” with excellent performances by Michael Stipe (REM) and the sublime Asha Bhosle juxtaposing Indian modalities with Western scale. “All Alone” contrasted  the Armenian duduk with Bridgeman’s pure clean voice and South African Mahotella Queens’ rich voices, plus spoken word excerpts by Ram Daas. The second year of this project was spent back at the studio pulling it all together, mixing and mastering.

The title 1 Giant Leap may have been an idea taken from Neil Armstrong’s moon walk speech, but I think it’s about more than that. I believe it’s about taking that leap around the world and finding that deep interconnection that exists between diverse cultures everywhere, between human beings, no matter where you are.

….as I dance along the beach and into the sunset, I wonder how many people have missed out on this delectable experience. Wherever you are, put on this album and let it take you to places you might have never dreamed possible.