Sound that travels
The final “s” sounded the loudest at the “Africa Remix: Producing and Presenting African Musics Abroad” conference on Friday, jammed into a busy, blustery morning ahead of two feet of snow. “In France many people speak about la musique Africaine. This singular is shocking to me. I see it as a denial of an incredible variety of music,” said Francis Falceto, originator and editor of the 29-volume “Ethiopiques” CD series, giving the keynote address of what had been intended as a daylong symposium at the Barker Center. Noting that appreciation of African music has flourished since the earliest recordings in the years after World War II, Falceto said the plurality of African sounds during the “golden years” of the 1950s and ’60s eventually and inevitably became influenced by Africa’s technological dependence on the West and its efforts to bring its music outside the continent’s borders. “We are no longer in the presence of...