{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"In The NoCo","title":"How a composer created new music using ancient stone instruments found in Colorado ","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":525,"description":"\nDenver composer Nathan Hall’s album of percussion music focuses on some unique instruments: They’re hand-carved from stone and date back several millennia.  \nLithophones are polished, resonant rocks shaped like baguettes. Archaeologists say that Indigenous people used the stones somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 years ago near what’s now Great Sand Dunes National Park.  \nNathan wrote a series of pieces to be performed on the stones and recorded the music with a Colorado group called Perc Ens. The resulting album, called Gentle Worship, is out now.  \nNathan talked with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole last October about collaborating with Marilyn Martorano, the Colorado archaeologist who studied the lithophones. The music he wrote combines the ancient stone instruments’ sounds with modern instruments like woodblocks and timpani. We’re listening back to that conversation today. \n* * * * *\n\nSign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org\nQuestions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: NOCO@KUNC.org\nLike what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!\n \nHost and Producer: Erin O'Toole\nExecutive Producer: Brad Turner\n \nTheme music by Robbie Reverb\nAdditional music by Blue Dot Sessions\nIn The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/deJ82RY9r1q1D4I5ARzsuuMZw17RvtIT7PwnQQPLPzk/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzI5MDcyLzE2OTUw/NzA5NjEtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}