I have to talk about this guy: Farya Faraji. I really like his attitude.

He’s a singer, musician and a composer, but more than that, he’s an evangelist for culture. Persian music, Greek, Turkish, Balkan, Byzantine, lots more. They all get handled with skill and respect…

“My goal is to showcase musical traditions from all over the globe, regardless of culture, ethnicity and religion,” he says on his About page. “I want this channel to be like a musical world museum, a library of musical traditions from all over the world and all over time.”

I think he’s right. The world is hungry for this sort of thing. Real culture. Real roots. Everybody’s. Something that connects us to the parts of our culture the modern world threw away.

I like that he’s trying to give us a taste of the real thing, real culture and not the Hollywood corporatized version of culture. I approve. He’s already taught me a few things. I didn’t really understand just how Hollywood our concept of Greek music is.

I’ve always thought of Greece as Eastern, but not THAT Eastern. It has also caught me off guard, hearing Greek music that sounded Middle Eastern, but what he says makes sense. Cultures in close proximity to one another are going to have things in common. Greece is a lot closer to Persia than it is to England. What else would it sound like?

I hope his channel really takes off. I hope to see similar projects from other musicians. I’d say Peter Pringle is a good example, taking us WAY back, to the Mesopotamian cultures.

So many of us have forgotten how precious culture is. We’ve lost touch with the earth. We need to appreciate music that comes from the roots – our roots and everybody’s roots. Stop getting riled up over other generations’ wars and just enjoy the music.

I say this as an American Southerner who wishes he’d listened to his great uncle play the fiddle when he had the chance.