Get two or three self-described music lovers together, and within short order, you're almost bound to hear someone ask: "Who do you think is the all-time best [insert instrument] player?"
Once uttered, this phrase inevitably results in a lot of hemming and hawing, cajoling and waving of arms. Eventually, the parties involved will agree on an artist or else disavow their friendship - past, present and future - and stomp off into the night to lick their wounds, grumbling all the while about how anyone could POSSIBLY like Jimi Hendrix better than Duane Allman.
These kinds of discussions are as unavoidable as they are pointless, since any conclusion will inherently be irrelevant to pretty much the rest of mankind. What interests me is how these conversations reflect the limited musical worldviews most people have, even the aforementioned music lovers.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal earlier this year, mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile lamented that most people experience an all-too-narrow sliver of the musical spectrum.
"I think it's important for people who profess to really be interested in music to expose themselves to the width and breadth of the music that is available to them," Thile said. "In this day and age, that's everything."
He has a point.
There are an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 instruments around the world, but many Westerners are exposed to just the handful they hear on the radio. For the rare few who visit the symphony, you could maybe tack on another two dozen or so.
That's sad, because every instrument has a Jimi Hendrix (or a Duane Allman - don't run off). And thanks to YouTube, Spotify and Google, it's incredibly easy to find them.
Want to hear a true master of the guzheng, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument? Check out a video of Wang Zhongshan's performance of "Spring of Snow Mountain."
What about the sitar? Forget Ravi Shankar. Well, don't forget him, but search for Shahid Parvez, too. In Iraq, Kayhan Kalhor is revered as a virtuoso on the kamancheh, an ancestor of the modern violin. Love the didgeridoo? Czech national Ondrej Smeykal will quite literally blow you away.
There are even hurdy gurdy virtuosos. Look up Matthias Loibner's performance of "Schützentänze / Pajdusko Horo."
Doing a bit of musical globetrotting will make Chris Thile happy, but as an added bonus, you're all but guaranteed to earn a slow clap from your friends when you offer up Dean Shostak and Thomas Bloch as the world's best crystal organists.
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.