Katharine Key Music

NEW!  Check my Links page for Pandora stations that I have created or subscribe to.

"What is Pandora?" you may ask.  Pandora is the coolest thing in the world.  From a simple perspective, Pandora is an internet radio station that you can customize based on your musical preferences.  To create a station, you tell it one or more songs or artists that you like.  It will play songs with similar musical properties to the songs you have given it, or to songs by the artists you have chosen.  As you listen to the station, you can fine-tune your station by giving the songs that play a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down."  It's a great way to get introduced to new music and artists that you haven't heard before.

The awesome thing about Pandora is how it works.  The creator, Tim Westergren, was a computer science student at Stanford and also an indie musician.  Pandora combines principles of artificial intelligence with music theory.  The creators came up with a set of over 200 musical properties, such as vocal style, syncopation, production characteristics, instruments used, etc.  They tested these parameters to come up with the set of parameters that was the most reproducible and worked the best for categorizing music.  Every song in their vast library is given a profile based on this set of musical properties.  They actually have a team of people with music degrees to create a profile for each new song that is added to their library.  So what's unique about Pandora is that the system is actually looking for songs with similar musical properties to the songs that you put in to your station.  

You may be wondering how I know about how Pandora works.  Well, as it turns out I met Tim Westergren at Stanford before he launched Pandora (just once, but I recognized his name later when I was reading about Pandora).  Shortly after Pandora launched, I helped out with a town hall meeting he did for Pandora in DC, and I got to talk with him one on one, and he explained to me the history of Pandora and how it worked.

I should thank Justin Crane for telling me about Pandora in the first place.  A few years ago, I was complaining that I didn't know how to find new music that I liked, and he turned me on to Pandora.  Thanks, Justin!  Through Pandora I have discovered some new artists I really like, such as Jose Gonzalez and Melody Gardot.

On Pandora, I'm currently listening to this.

A friend of mine was looking for mp3s for a Birth of Bahá’u’lláh celebration she is putting together for tonight (click here for information about the celebration tonight in DC) and asked for recommendations for "upbeat, funky, soulful Bahá'í music for everyday enjoyment." I sent her the following response, which I thought it might be a good idea to share more broadly.  


go to http://www.cdbaby.com and search on "bahai." for many of these, you can buy individual mp3s instead of (or in addition to) ordering the physical CD. My top recommendations among these would be:

• Devon Gundry (definitely!)
• Temple of Light (compilation, browse the songs for ones you like)
• Visceral Melee: Lotus in the Mudd (I love the song "Found You")
• Julie Rosser: Beloved (the song "Beloved" is a great one for Birth of Bahá’u’lláh celebrations)
• Maureen Hunter & Niaz McGuire: Higher Vision (one of my favorites!)
• The Workshop for the Arts: Unrestrained as the Wind (diverse compilation; Ruhi Book 2 quotes set to music by various artists, executive produced by moi - also available at http://www.earbuzz.com/workshopforthearts where Workshop for the Arts gets a higher percentage of what you pay)
• Best of RadioNur 2003 (some gems on here--I love "Tender Plant")
• SKY (female a cappella; some new age, some jazzy - great for devotions)

This doesn't come up under the "bahai" search on CDBaby, but it's quite good, and all based on the Bahá'í Writings:
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/GustaffBesunguPamHillandAliYou

Also, there's a Bahá'í mp3 site: http://www.divinenotes.com. If you haven't heard Leonor Dely, you must. It's all in Spanish, with rocking South American rhythms. 

Lest I forget my favorite Bahá'í hip-hop group:

Nabil & Karim

• on Facebook
• to buy CD
• to buy mp3s

and if you don't have my album, CD & mp3s are available here (I would recommend "Witness" for Birth of Bahá’u’lláh celebrations)

I will be performing at the Arlington Prayer Station, 7:30 p.m. on October 12 in a private home.  Contact me for more details or email mitko(at)befriendedstranger(dot)com.

My performance will consist of a musical introduction to grassroots service activities conducted by Baha'is around the world for the spiritual enrichment of their local communities.  I will be playing a mostly acoustic set of my own compositions and a few covers related to study circles, devotional gatherings, children's classes, and junior youth groups.

"Thousands upon thousands, embracing the diversity of the entire human family, are engaged in systematic study of the Creative Word in an environment that is at once serious and uplifting. ... Responding to the inmost longing of every heart to commune with its Maker, they carry out acts of collective worship in diverse settings, uniting with others in prayer, awakening spiritual susceptibilities, and shaping a pattern of life distinguished for its devotional character. ... Aware of the aspirations of the children of the world and their need for spiritual education, they extend their efforts widely to involve ever-growing contingents of participants in classes that become centres of attraction for the young... They assist junior youth to navigate through a crucial stage of their lives and to become empowered to direct their energies toward the advancement of civilization. And with the advantage of a greater abundance of human resources, an increasing number of them are able to express their faith through a rising tide of endeavours that address the needs of humanity in both their spiritual and material dimensions." 

--The Universal House of Justice, April 2008

new poem/potential song--still more on the theme of tests and difficulties, this time with a focus on the rewards...




softness can be strength


tear out the scars
make room for
clean structure 
with integrity
soft strength 
in clarity

tear out my heart
re-weave veins
and arteries
built all new
soft strength
with receptivity

i don't know
i don't know
beautiful mantra

i don't know
i don't know
open to Your way

loving being
torn to pieces
loving Your 
gentle hands
molding me again
from clay of love

(scoop me out and fill me with)
pure love
make me new
pure love
make me You

(it's the pain of birth of)
pure love
made anew
pure love
made from You

pure love
make me new
pure love
make me You

So it turns out that 'What the Fire Is' is difficult to record.  Ideally when recording, you record each track separately, to what is called a click track, which is basically a beat.  Recording the tracks separately makes them easier to edit, and having the click track makes it easier to add other parts, either live or programmed.  This approach to recording is not straightforward with 'Fire,' as the tempo is very free-flowing, so it doesn't work with a click, and it's difficult to record the piano and vocals separately.  The recording this weekend didn't come out well, so I'm going to need to come up with a different strategy for recording...