KCRW’s Resident World Music Expert Tom Schnabel

Tom Schnabel is KCRW’s first Music Director and currently spins his favorite tunes on Sundays from noon to 2 pm PST. Tom began collecting music from around the world for KCRW’s music library over 30 years ago and helped introduce many artists to the airwaves in the U.S. Today, he joined Jason on Morning Becomes Eclectic to spotlight some Haitian music, including a couple tracks from The Rough Guide to the Music of Haiti.

Tom also happens to teach a regular music salon series, the next of which is starting in mid-February. Here is an idea of what you can learn, including a course in Brazilian music. From Tom:

“I love Brazilian music and usually have one session of the six salons devoted to it. We start by viewing the great Disney cartoon “Aquarela do Brazil” (“Brazilian Watercolor”) wherein Donald Duck meets Jose Carioca, the prototypical Rio de Janeiro resident, a parrot. Jose teaches Donald about Rio, cachaca, the national poison, then teaches him to dance the samba.

We then go to Carmen Miranda, who helped introduce Brazilian culture to the US. We then venture through the different regions and types of Brazilian music: Samba, Bossa Nova, MPB, Forro, and other current styles. We feature a breathtaking performance by the great guitarist Baden Powell. We feature celestial vocals by Monica Salmaso and Marisa Monte.

I try to impart the fact that Brazilian music is a perfect synergy of classical harmony and rigor, blended with African rhythms and the utterly sensual sound of the Portuguese language the way Brazilians speak it.”

To learn more, go here.