And Now for Something Completely Different … From the Bahamas to Swedish Death Metal in 15 Seconds

It was a formidable task.

Upon walking into the newsroom on Monday morning, our Global Hit producer April Peavey alerted me to a tricky transition in our program.

In the final 8 minutes of our broadcast we were going to go from our Geo Answer to our Global Hit.

The Geo Answer was to be set in the Bimini district in the Bahamas. Palm trees, bleach white sands, crystal blue waters, cloudless skies.

The Global Hit — Opeth, a Swedish Death Metal band whose music has been described by Rhapsody as doom-laden, downtrodden epics.

And I had 15 seconds to make the leap.

Bring it!

Tone is everything. You have to pick just the right sound that will take the listener from island in the stream to pounding head banging in just a few beats. Best to have something that ends clean.

I thought of a 14 second piece from AfroCubism:

SONG: Djelimady Rumba
ARTIST: AfroCubism
CD TITLE: AfroCubism
CD LABEL: Nonesuch

It has a great bright sound with the happy beat of the balafon (xylophone like instrument from West Africa) and a clean finish.

Or maybe an incredibly cool bit by Nas:

SONG: As We Enter
ARTISTS: Nas and Damian Marley
CD TITLE: Distant Relatives
CD LABEL: Universal Republic Records

Canabalized from the end of the song, “As We Enter,” the piece has a hard hitting, uncompromising rhythm that’s firm but upbeat. The end is decidedly abrupt. So it fuses “happy” with “hard” and takes us away from the feel good to metal mood music.

But then I found out that the Geo Answer was about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his stay in the Bahamas.

The Nas song wouldn’t work. Too edgy.

I went with a slice from one of my favorite songs: Torin Torin

SONG: Torin Torin
ARTISTS: Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba featuring Harouna Samake
CD TITLE: Africa Express Presents…
CD LABEL: Africa Express

Tight, up beat, clean finish. Yes!

I was confident. All would work well.

I was wrong.

The Geo Answer was a beautiful and moving sound postcard featuring Bahamian boat builder, Ansel Saunders. Saunders spent time with the Reverend King during his stay on the islands. It’s well worth a listen.
As I listened to the postcard go out on air. I realized I had made a mistake.

The account is heartfelt and tender. Torin did not compliment the tone at all.
It was too happy.

I needed music that offered a sense of reflection, wistfulness, a quiet peace if you will.

A swing and a miss. Better luck next time.