ROOT NOTE MUSIC

rootnotemusic.com is a blog to explore music with deep roots.  From music that has a strong sense of community, tradition, or locale to music with a cultural, social, historical or political context. From music originating in communities across the U.S. to various traditions throughout the world. The music will span the genres….blues, folk, country, bluegrass, jazz, hip-hop, zydeco, cajun, tejano, funk, jambands, salsa, boogaloo, and on and on…I hope you will join me on a borderless sonic journey through time and space…
-rootnotemusic

“The history of a people is found in its songs.” ~George Jellinek

“Music is like a river…or a stream that has come down to us through time, bringing nurture to man’s soul. From the past masters, this music flowed to my father and through him to me. I want to keep this stream flowing. I don’t want it to die.” ~Ali Akbar Khan

root (ro̵̅o̅t, ro̵ot)

noun

1. the part of a plant, usually below the ground, that lacks nodes, shoots, and leaves, holds the plant in position, draws water and nourishment from the soil, and stores food
2. the source, origin, or cause of an action, quality, condition, etc.
3. a person or family that has many descendants; ancestor
4. the close ties one has with some place or people as through birth, upbringing, long and sympathetic association, etc.
5. an essential or basic part; core the root of the matter
6. a number that, when substituted for the unknown quantity in an equation, will satisfy the equation
7. the basic tone of a chord, on which the chord is constructed; often, the fundamental
8. the fundamental element of a word or form, exclusive of all affixes and inflectional phonetic changes

***Header picture is Congress Street in Austin, Texas by Melanie Martinez.***