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Conversations about speech surrogates, linguistics, and musicology.
After a long hiatus, we're back! Here I talk with Dr. Samuel Akinbo of the University of Toronto about a survey we've launched to catalog the diversity of musical surrogate languages found in Nigeria. But we also talk about his journey, how his childhood in Nigeria has shaped his research trajectory...
In our first ever interview on When Music Speaks, I talk with friend and collaborator Gerald Eze. Gerald is a master of the oja, a wind-blown Igbo instrument from Nigeria, whose poetry can praise, warn, and uplift those it addresses. This is a longer episode, but trust me, it's worth it. We talk abo...
Just what kinds of musical surrogate languages are out there? What instruments are used? And what are people even saying? In this episode, I take you around the world in five traditions: Bora slit log drumming in the Amazon, Yoruba talking drums in Nigeria, Hmong mouth organs originally from Southe...
Welcome to When Music Speaks! This short episode introduces the topic of the podcast---musical surrogate languages---and gives you a taste of what you can expect from the podcast.