Selecting music for example-content

[Henrik Nilsen Omma]

Sandis Neilands wrote:
> And now some random thoughts after wandering at remixcommons.org
>   
Again, thanks for triaging this :) I've given the Reading Remix stuff a 
careful listen. And from the list you posted I'm left with 2 contenders. 
Taking something from Reading Remix has an added plus of supporting a 
project that is already trying to do similar things to us, so everything 
else being equal I'd like to take stuff from there..

My list:

Miracle Lemon - Cool. The intro pulls you in from the beginning. The 
recording quality could possibly be better, ie the instruments could be 
crisper, but it's not bad. There is also an option to fade it out cleany 
at 2.37 if we are squeezed for disk space.

maachhi-mara - Very interesting. Different, yet with universal apeal, 
IMO. The only criticism might be a bit repetitive (can we fade it out 
earlier? ...)

I'm happy for these two to go in as our semi-final selection and then 
possibly add a classical track if we can find one that is imediately 
appealing, short and high quality.

------

There are several tracks I would have liked to include if we had room 
for 10. I have no very good reson for excluding them other than the fact 
that a choice must be made.


Alan Simon Ross Jam - Esp. the second session is quite cool. The string 
instrument sounds a bit off-tune though. I'm sure that's just a 
non-western scale, but it will sound off to many people.

Levi - Not bad. Perhaps not as good a melody/song as Miracle Lemon, but 
better sound IMO.

6021 - I like it, has a festival feel to it. But perhaps not the most 
catchy? A bit long and experimental.


------------
Unsuitable IMO:

"E" - I liked it personally, I'm just not sure it will be suitable. The 
drug-taking lyrics may well get us in trouble, regardless of what the 
underlying message of the song actually is. (remember the picture 
controversy)

Cuedos - the intro is a bit far out; we may loose people in the first 5 
seconds, which might be all we get. Otherwise quite good.

Leadbelly - a classic to be sure, but it may be totally lost on some. 
Also not so good for showing playback quality.

Drunken etc. - Too experimental to be useful for us I think.

Oslo - ditto. Makes your speakers sound broken, exactly.

While We Walk - very crisp sound. There is something I don't quite like 
though, perhaps his voice.

tiredeyes - I agree that it compares well with some electronica, but it 
does also get boring after a while.


General comments:

We are balancing many considerations here. We will likely be quite 
constrained by disc space and may only get to put one or two songs on in 
the end (reducing this content means increasing the number of languages 
the CD can support for example. -- We will also have a readme HTML file 
about the content though where we can put additional links. 
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DapperExampleContent/ReadMe )

As a result, people will judge us on that one or two pieces. Anything 
too heavy, too boring, too culturally narrow will then be problematic. 
People who pick up the CD won't know or care about the process behind 
selecting the tracks, but may judge the whole Ubuntu project by it.

So, causing offence is the first point to cover, and secondly not to 
sound too extreme in any one direction. Punk and Rachmaninov are 
probably both out on these grounds.

Something non-western is a good idea, esp. if it's quite listenable in 
itself. Ubuntu has often been characterised as an African project 
because of it's name and the nationality of its founder, but really it 
is a global project. Selecting a traditional African piece this first 
time when we are including music might be supporting that misconception 
at this point. I think Nepalese music would be perfect in this regard 
though.
 
- Henrik