ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Update: After a successful pilot broadcast in January 2010 and thousands of positive viewer comments, PBS has given SOUND TRACKS a green light to begin production of a new episode to be broadcast in Fall 2012. We can't wait to get started. Watch this site for more information.
Meanwhile, enjoy our SOUND TRACKS "Quick Hits" music videos and interviews that we produce for the PBS Arts website.
What is SOUND TRACKS?
SOUND TRACKS is a musical adventure -- a new series we are developing for PBS that roams America and the world in search of the most compelling music, musicians and singers. We tell the stories behind the music and the artists who create it.
Hosted by public radio's Marco Werman, SOUND TRACKS is a one-hour, magazine-format show, featuring three stories and a special "global hit" performance at the end of each episode. Our reporters include: Alexis Bloom, Arun Rath and Mirissa Neff. The show is produced in San Francisco by The Talbot Players and KQED. SOUND TRACKS is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
We've been called "60 Minutes for the MTV generation," but really there is nothing like SOUND TRACKS on TV – a spirited show aimed at the young at heart of all ages that combines travel, soul-satisfying music and a sense of humor with top-notch journalism.
As the Beatles used to say, "All aboard for the mystery tour. Step right up."
Our pilot episode – presented by Oregon Public Broadcasting -- takes you to Russia to investigate a pop propaganda song about Putin; to Nigeria to learn about the legendary Fela; and to Kazakhstan (with a Hollywood sidetrip) to see how the controversial movie Borat led to a beautiful symphony. The show closes with a soulful song by the Portuguese diva, Mariza, who may be the biggest star you've never heard of.
Our next episode will include some major American and international musical stars, as well as more surprising stories. As we develop future episodes, let us know what artists, places and music you'd like to see us cover.
SOUND TRACKS will be a musical odyssey across the United States and around the world. We're packed and ready to go. Let us take you there.
Stephen Talbot
Executive Producer, SOUND TRACKS and "Quick Hits"
Read about SOUND TRACKS in Current
http://www.current.org/music/music1118soundtracks.html
Watch SOUND TRACKS and our "Quick Hits" on the PBS Video Player
http://video.pbs.org/video/1366438660
Have you seen our SOUND TRACKS YouTube channel?
http://www.youtube.com/user/SoundTracksQH
Catch all our "Quick Hits" on Salon.com
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/03/quick_hits_milos_karadaglic_plays_live/
MEET THE REPORTERS
Marco Werman, Host and Reporter
As senior producer and anchor for Public Radio International's weekday news show The World, Marco Werman brings international news and music to an audience of 2.8 million listeners each week. A global music expert and fan, Marco has produced The World's daily "Global Hit" segment since 1997. He has also produced news for the BBC World Service in West Africa, volunteered for the Peace Corps, and covered international news and music stories on television for PBS's FRONTLINE/World, including the Emmy award-winning story "Libya: Out of the Shadow."
For SOUND TRACKS "Quick Hits," Marco has interviewed Italian pop star Jovanotti, Brazil’s Seu Jorge, soul singer Charles Bradley and classical guitarist Milos Karadaglic, among others.
Alexis Bloom, Reporter
Alexis Bloom formed a keen sense of the importance of media during her childhood in apartheid South Africa. After graduating from Cambridge University in England and the University of California at Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, Alexis became a featured correspondent on PBS's FRONTLINE/World. Her investigative report "Shadows and Lies," about life under Robert Mugabe's dictatorship, was shot undercover in Zimbabwe. She has also worked on a number of FRONTLINE documentaries, as a field producer for National Geographic in Papua New Guinea, Mongolia and Guyana, and as co-producer of NOVA's Emmy Award-winning "Rx for Survival."
Alexis was a director and producer of "This Emotional Life," the 4-part PBS NOVA psychology series that aired in 2010.
For "Quick Hits," Alexis has interviewed concert pianists Helene Grimaud and Yuja Wang.
Arun Rath, Reporter
Arun Rath is an award-winning veteran of public broadcasting whose beat has ranged from the media industry to the Iraq war to world music. He was director of NPR's Talk of the Nation before taking over as senior producer of On the Media with its re-launch in 2000. During his tenure the program tripled its audience and won a number of awards, including a Peabody.
In 2005, Arun became senior editor of PRI's Studio 360, before being lured to television by PBS's FRONTLINE. Arun has reported and produced three films for FRONTLINE, the latest being the Emmy-nominated "Rules of Engagement," about the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians after a roadside bombing in Haditha.
Arun currently hosts FRONTLINE's podcast series and reports for PRI's The World.
Arun is a self-described music obsessive who loves classical, jazz, funk, soul, and traditional Indian music. For “Quick Hits,” he’s interviewed banjo player Abigail Washburn and jazz trumpeter Tom Harrell.
Mirissa Neff, Reporter
Hip-shaking crowds in San Francisco, New York, Paris, and Rio know Mirissa Neff as "DJ Felina." She spins the world, treating fans to Brazilian batucadas, gypsy electronica, and other musical treasures collected from her travels. San Francisco's 7x7 Magazine named her "the city's best mood-setter."
By day, Mirissa is a freelance designer, photographer and journalist, interviewing a range of world music luminaries. She worked in the publicity department of Six Degrees Records and as a disc jockey for campus radio at her alma matter, Amherst College. Since 2006 she has been the art director for San Francisco's largest alternative newsweekly, the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Recently, she has begun reporting music stories for PRI’s The World. For SOUND TRACKS, "Quick Hits," she has interviewed KT Tunstall, Dengue Fever, Ozomatli and Seun Kuti, Meklit Hadero and Piers Faccini.
Mirissa grew up in New York and has appeared several times on PBS's Sesame Street.
MEET THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
STEPHEN TALBOT, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
The president of Talbot Players, a media production company in San Francisco, Talbot has written and produced over 30 documentaries for public television, including ten for the PBS series FRONTLINE. As the Series Editor for FRONTLINE WORLD from 2002-2008, Talbot helped commission and supervise nearly 100 broadcast stories. His work has won Emmys, Peabodys, a DuPont, a George Polk, and an Edward R. Murrow award from the Overseas Press Club of America. He created and is the executive producer of the “Quick Hits” series of online music videos and interviews for PBS Arts.
JOANNE ELGART JENNINGS, CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, KQED
As Executive Producer at KQED Public Television, Jennings oversees news and current affairs production. Much of her 20 year career in public broadcasting was spent at The PBS NewsHour where she produced hundreds of award-winning documentary-style news stories. International coverage spanned the globe, including destinations in the Middle East, the Balkans, Africa and Latin America. Jennings’ also worked as a field producer for CBC and BBC.
