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Private Notes
Stewart explores the power music has to bond people in ways that are fundamental to our evolution and existence. His travels take him from the Southern German cave where a 40,000 year old bone flute was discovered to the modern day mass singalong of New York’s Choir! Choir! Choir! Along the way he gets to play with a Memphis marching band, join a song circle led by Bobby McFerrin and deconstruct the sexiness of Relax with its producer Trevor Horn. He also discusses the art of song-writing with his old colleague Sting and learns how to create dance floor unity with International star DJ Honey Dijon.
The performer continues his mission to understand how music works by exploring its extraordinary power to tell stories. His journey includes meetings with film director Francis Ford Coppola, who explains how simple musical devices transformed the most famous scenes in The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Sting, who describes the secrets of his song-writing process, rapper Talib Kweli, who looks at the power of music in protest, and the French-Cuban Ibeyi sisters, who show how music has kept the Yoruban tradition alive.
Stewart travels to Morocco to discover the polyrhythms of Gnawa and back to Wells Cathedral to understand the mechanics of choral polyphony. He meets Kanye West collaborator Caroline Shaw to examine the powers of melody and the human voice and CeCe Winans to discuss the roots of Gospel. Finally Stewart takes a gong bath in New York and visits minimalist master Steve Reich to unpack the trance-inducing powers of repetition.
