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Read this article on FT Magazine today. Interesting how artists can benefit from the streaming industry after all, just when it looked like artists were going to go broke due to free streaming and downloading online. Can this be applied to learning? For instance, can teachers benefit from putting out custom curriculum that they write from their bedrooms? Better yet, can students benefit from asking the right questions on the web? The answers to these may lie in who we think are the "artists" in this situation: The teachers, or the students, or someone else?

It's not everyday I come across a track that just fits. The rhythm meets the rhyme. Something about the chords enveloping the emotion makes a lotta sense. I get the impression this happens best when the artist tells it like it is. In this Bruno Mars / Damian track , I find the message to be depressing, but it's still a track that clicks on point for me. Damian has the only line in the track that actually tells us the whole story is a depressing one: "Nuff ghetto youth cannot escape the trap". The rest of the track seems quite sarcastic, telling it like it is, getting messed up today thinking tomorrow's going to be just fine. Yet, if the track had rhymes like most others do, discussing the problem and really getting down with the message, I don't think it would ring the same tone with me. There's also the music, and it could be that the construction of this track is really what's special about it. But I like to believe that when rhythm and rhy...

"...it would seem that today’s worldwide web of musical interaction might be best interpreted and expressed through the very tools and technologies that artists and audiences are using to create and engage their music..." - Wayne Marshall on Musically Expressed Ideas About Music (Thanks SS and TZHH !)

"My dear friend, please forgive me, if I can’t pay you a visit, but since I found someone to carry a message, I’m sending you news on this tape. Here we play football, there’s lots of samba, lots of choro and rock’n'roll. Some days it rains, some days it’s sunny but I want to tell you that things here are pretty dark. Here, we’re wheeling and dealing for survival, and we’re only surviving because we’re stubborn. And everyone’s drinking because without cachaça, nobody survives this squeeze." From a song, Meu Caro Amigo , by Chico Buarque . Lyrics found when reading about Augusto Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed .

"Saxoman". Taken in Central Park, NYC. Circa March 2007.

Originally published on Vijana FM | 22nd July 2012 On a recent album release by Nas called Life is Good , Anthony Hamilton sings “The world is an addiction / serving up a fix”. The track goes on to discuss the dangers of selling out in pursuit of irrational dreams; indeed, “you gain your life just to lose your soul”. Sometimes I wonder if Tanzania is losing her soul. Perhaps – as time passes – it is me growing more conscious, or media becoming more pervasive to drama. But it seems like this country is chasing grandeur that is alien to her history and at odds with what she needs today. Her history and her needs; what do these mean? For the purpose of this post, I am pointing to Tanzania’s historical pursuit to be an independent nation-state, free of international dues and reliance on help. I am also referring to her current state of affairs, mainly consisting of an inefficient system of education coupled with an unbalanced system of trade. There are a few example...

Sampling Nas feat. Mary J. Blige: Reach out.... [Verse 1 extracts] When you’re too hood to be in them Hollywood circles And you’re too rich to be in that hood that birthed you And you become better than legends you thought were the greatest And out grow women you love and thought you could stay with Life become clearer when you wipe down your mirror And leave notes around for yourself to remember... ...Nasty the nicest, I’m somewhat of a psychic Just one minute after it’s heard You all excited, you all repeat it So call me a genius, if you didn’t Now that I said it I force you to think it [Chorus extract] This kind of love is a once in a lifetime cruise Reach out and touch the love that I have for you... From Life is Good . Photo and lyrics credits go to KillerHiphop .

Google had a synthesizer up as their search logo today. The record function is a seriously dangerous passtime!

"We will have to re-write the music in the act of playing it." - Lewis Mumford on technological change and social imaginaries , 1934

I was recently part of a team that produced a movie for Campus Movie Fest . Thanks to Yulia, Emmy, Christopher, Alain and Sorcha for being a great team to learn so much from!

The counterpart can be downloaded here . Tracklist: 1. Stardust & Daftpunk: I feel like one more time (Arno Cost rework) 2. Morgan Page: Fight for you (Sultan & Ned Shepard mix) 3. Andy Duguid feat. Leah: Don't belong (Rasmus Farber club mix) Genre: Progressive vocal house Size: 18.1 MB / 19 minutes 47 Seconds

Finally set up some decks again! To get things warmed up, I put together a quick mix of three progressive house tracks: Deja Vu (Mix 1) . Tracklist: 1. 16 Bit Lolitas: In my room without Paris (Original mix) 2. John Dahlback: Kairo (Original mix) 3. Alex Kenji & Bass Kleph: Melocoton (Original mix) Genre: Progressive house Size: 15.6 MB / 17 minutes 07 Seconds

I've been picking up on how the global press frames the culture of hip hop music, especially since Vijana FM launched TZhiphop recently as a sub-project. This morning I saw this article on BBC , and it just made me wonder, is the real hip hop really gone? Not once in this article did I feel the author seriously engaging with what hip hop used to mean: Music.

The necessary noise is now knocking on your nerves to numb down the deafening denials and distrust of your dominion. In short, TZhiphop is live :) Facebook updates here , Twitter updates here .

I had the opportunity to go to this concert this past Friday, and was able to quickly snap two photos on my phone. While this was a similar concert to the one I went to last year featuring Alim Qasimov , I feel this year there was a larger audience that may have appreciated the blend across religious traditions.

I love it when an old-school track gets remixed (into house). Here's Avicii & Sebastien Drums with My Feelings For You .

Luigi Lusini: " Who we are "

SriBuo advertises a new album release from Ghana: Artist: VIP ( see profile on Museke here ) Album: Progress Download free album samples: VIP: " Away " VIP feat. Dan Boadi: " Broni wewu " Buy album: - on iTunes - on Amazon Album art: - SriBuo Media For more info: www.SriBuo.com

A pair of CD decks or an audio controller? This is the question.