{"id":41,"date":"2009-05-20T17:54:53","date_gmt":"2009-05-20T21:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/?p=41"},"modified":"2018-09-10T15:42:23","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T19:42:23","slug":"music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/","title":{"rendered":"Bobby McFerrin on Culture and Music"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-41-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/10-bobby-mcferrin.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/10-bobby-mcferrin.mp4\">https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/10-bobby-mcferrin.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p><strong>Bobby McFerrin<\/strong>: My friend Yo-Yo Ma, when we first met, we were very, very interested in each other\u2019s music. I was starting to work on conducting, and he was very interested in improvisation. So we had many, many conversations about this. And he knew that he had to do something for his music-making, that had something that would take him to a deeper place in himself. And so after a few years of talking about this, he went to Africa and he went to Botswana, he went to not a town but sort of out in a village somewhere. Lots and lots and lots of music-making and what have you. But in the beginning, there\u2019s two stories that defined and shaped my musical life ever since I had heard them. \u201cWell,\u201d I thought \u201cI have to make music like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first story is where when he arrived in this village, there was an interpreter who was trying to explain to the villagers that Yo-Yo Ma was going to play a concert at 7:30 at this place somewhere. And they had a hard time comprehending this for two reasons. One, they didn\u2019t understand why they had to wait to hear music. Why did we have to wait to hear him play? And why do we have to leave where we are to go somewhere else to hear it. Because music was so integrated in their life. They had no concept of performance because music was so much a part of their lives, that there was no such thing as it. People were simply getting together and playing and they were celebrating everything. They were celebrating life, birth, harvest, hunting, you know, everything. So this I thought, \u201cOkay I want to be the kind of musician where music is with me whether I\u2019m on stage or not.\u201d And when I\u2019m on stage there\u2019s nothing different except maybe the space. But what I\u2019ve taken on stage with me is the same, it\u2019s not different, it\u2019s just being myself, the same self that I am just when I\u2019m just getting out of bed in the morning, It\u2019s the same musical self that I take with me on stage.<\/p>\n<p>The second story is this: when Yo-Yo wanted to leave, when it was time to go\u2014he\u2019d been there for a couple of weeks, I think\u2014he wanted to take some music with him to remind him about the experience. And the village shaman shared one of the village songs, and Yo Yo took out his manuscript so he could write it down. And the shaman is saying (singing notes) and Yo-Yo said, \u201cStop, I need to write this down.\u201d So he writes it down. And he says, \u201cPlay it again, I want to make sure I got this right.\u201d And the shaman sings (sings notes). And Yo Yo is saying But that\u2019s not the piece you sang before. The shaman laughed and said \u201cThe first time I sang it there was a herd of antelope in the distance and a cloud was passing over the sun.\u201d So this is the part that we lost. Every time a piece of music is played, one time there is a herd of antelope, and one time there\u2019s not. And we turn in these cookie-cutter performances. Everything is so laid down and regimented and locked-in and so rehearsed, that they squeeze the life out of it. It no longer has any life in it because no one is open to surprise, no one is open to any spontaneous event that can happen. Everything is just dictated, and this is the way it\u2019s gonna be. I think that\u2019s the part that we\u2019ve lost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/10-bobby-mcferrin.mp4 Bobby McFerrin: My friend Yo-Yo Ma, when we first met, we were very, very interested in each other\u2019s music. I was starting to work on conducting, and he was very interested in improvisation. So we had many, many conversations about this. And he knew that he had to do something for his music-making, that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,5038],"tags":[5009,2001,5033,510,8530,600],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","category-music-and-evolution","tag-bobby-mcferrin","tag-botswana","tag-concerts","tag-culture","tag-interview","tag-music"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Music and Evolution ~ Bobby McFerrin on Culture and Music | Music Instinct | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Music and Evolution ~ Bobby McFerrin on Culture and Music | Music Instinct | PBS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/10-bobby-mcferrin.mp4 Bobby McFerrin: My friend Yo-Yo Ma, when we first met, we were very, very interested in each other\u2019s music. I was starting to work on conducting, and he was very interested in improvisation. So we had many, many conversations about this. And he knew that he had to do something for his music-making, that [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Music Instinct\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-20T21:54:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-10T19:42:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"colin fitzpatrick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"colin fitzpatrick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/video\\\/interviews\\\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\\\/41\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/video\\\/interviews\\\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\\\/41\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"colin fitzpatrick\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cab424d73e72751ebca07e116f79f835\"},\"headline\":\"Bobby McFerrin on Culture and Music\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-20T21:54:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-10T19:42:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/video\\\/interviews\\\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\\\/41\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":651,\"commentCount\":45,\"keywords\":[\"Bobby McFerrin\",\"Botswana\",\"concerts\",\"culture\",\"Interview\",\"music\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Interviews\",\"Music and Evolution\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/video\\\/interviews\\\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\\\/41\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/video\\\/interviews\\\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\\\/41\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/video\\\/interviews\\\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\\\/41\\\/\",\"name\":\"Music and Evolution ~ Bobby McFerrin on Culture and Music | Music Instinct | PBS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-20T21:54:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-10T19:42:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cab424d73e72751ebca07e116f79f835\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/video\\\/interviews\\\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\\\/41\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/video\\\/interviews\\\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\\\/41\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/video\\\/interviews\\\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\\\/41\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bobby McFerrin on Culture and Music\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/\",\"name\":\"Music Instinct\",\"description\":\"An investigative look into the science of music.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/search-results\\\/?q={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cab424d73e72751ebca07e116f79f835\",\"name\":\"colin fitzpatrick\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/musicinstinct\\\/author\\\/colin-fitzpatrick\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Music and Evolution ~ Bobby McFerrin on Culture and Music | Music Instinct | PBS","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Music and Evolution ~ Bobby McFerrin on Culture and Music | Music Instinct | PBS","og_description":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/10-bobby-mcferrin.mp4 Bobby McFerrin: My friend Yo-Yo Ma, when we first met, we were very, very interested in each other\u2019s music. I was starting to work on conducting, and he was very interested in improvisation. So we had many, many conversations about this. And he knew that he had to do something for his music-making, that [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/","og_site_name":"Music Instinct","article_published_time":"2009-05-20T21:54:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-09-10T19:42:23+00:00","author":"colin fitzpatrick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"colin fitzpatrick","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/"},"author":{"name":"colin fitzpatrick","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/#\/schema\/person\/cab424d73e72751ebca07e116f79f835"},"headline":"Bobby McFerrin on Culture and Music","datePublished":"2009-05-20T21:54:53+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-10T19:42:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/"},"wordCount":651,"commentCount":45,"keywords":["Bobby McFerrin","Botswana","concerts","culture","Interview","music"],"articleSection":["Interviews","Music and Evolution"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/","name":"Music and Evolution ~ Bobby McFerrin on Culture and Music | Music Instinct | PBS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-05-20T21:54:53+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-10T19:42:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/#\/schema\/person\/cab424d73e72751ebca07e116f79f835"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/video\/interviews\/music-and-evolution-bobby-mcferrin-on-culture-and-music\/41\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bobby McFerrin on Culture and Music"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/","name":"Music Instinct","description":"An investigative look into the science of music.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/search-results\/?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/#\/schema\/person\/cab424d73e72751ebca07e116f79f835","name":"colin fitzpatrick","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/author\/colin-fitzpatrick\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/musicinstinct\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}