A Language Based on Sound and Song

Terry talks with ethnomusicologist Steven Feld. His new record, "Voices of the Rainforest," captures the songs of the Kaluli people of Paupa New Guinea. Feld also works for preservation of the world's rain forests, since if the forests are eliminated, so will much indigenous music.

Aboriginal Australian musicians perform some of their traditional songs and talk about music's role in their culture. Two scholars discuss recent efforts to promote and preserve this culture.

Steven Feld is a ethnomusicologist who teaches sound communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Ethnomusicology combines anthropology and music theory, and attempts to learn about culture through music. Feld is also a jazz musician who has incorporated the genre into his work. His work has taken him to Papua New Guinea, where he studied the Kaluli tribe, and the Southwestern United States. He joins the show to discuss his work. (INTERVIEW BY DANNY MILLER.)