What Music to Mark the 10th Anniversary of 9/11?

Tomorrow I’ll be on the air during a milestone: the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. I’ve been on the air before when tragedy struck: I was doing Morning Becomes Eclectic when the Challenger went down and when Chernobyl went down near Kiev. What music does a radio host feature during heightened times like these? I recall I chose Arvo Pärt for Chernobyl. Henryk Gorecki was not a household name back then.

Tomorrow I’ll be featuring music of comfort, inspiration, and serenity. I don’t mean new age or anything like that. I’ll be featuring music by Beethoven, Willie Nelson, Thierry “Titi” Robin, Mahalia Jackson, Tracy Chapman, Vivaldi, Gorecki, Coltrane, and others. This is where music can really reflect the many complicated feelings we experience at times like this. I hope to capture emotions that listeners are feeling as we recall the horror of the attacks, our losses, our newfound vulnerability as a nation, and a sense of optimism and hope as we move forward. I hope you can join me, either live or the streaming program that runs for a week following tomorrow. You can do that by going here:

http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/cl