STEWART COPELAND'S ADVENTURES IN MUSICS (2020)
Episode 1 of 3
Stewart Copeland explores the power music has to bring people together and to bond them 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, deconstruct the sexiness of 'Relax' with its producer Trevor Horn, discuss the art of songwriting with his old colleague Sting and learn how to create dance floor unity with international star DJ Honey Dijon.
Episode 2 of 3
Stewart Copeland 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, his old friend Sting, who describes the secrets of his songwriting 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. Finally, he meets the man who composed one of the shortest but most effective musical stories ever written - the Intel bongs!
Episode 3 of 3
Stewart Copeland explores the transcendental powers of music and how certain sounds have the ability to move us, transport the mind and even help us escape this world - if only briefly.
As a child, Stewart’s path was determined when, despite being raised by strict atheists, he was deeply moved by the massed voices of the Wells Cathedral choir singing Jerusalem. Ever since, he has been fascinated by the ability of music to leave us feeling uplifted.
In this episode, 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 melody and the effect of the human voice, CeCe Winans to discuss the roots of gospel, takes a gong bath in New York, and visits minimalist master Steve Reich to unpack the trance-inducing powers of repetition.