Mid-May Round-up (Part 1) - Boogaloo, Bombay & Pop
Tagged with: Glyn Phillips blog world music worldmusic.co.uk boogaloo bombay pop surinder sandhu funkawallahs karma machine los fulanos barcelona si esto se acaba lovemonk joe bataan vampisoul Bombay Royale You Me Bullets Love Hope Street Bollywood India Katzenjammer
As this cold, wet, truculent, so-called Spring trundles on towards an uncertain Summer, I’m sitting here staring out of the window at a monochrome grey sky, which has just spat hailstones over my poor flowers, complete with thunderous belches (the sky, not me). Really not the most inspiring of days.
However, I think it’s time to try and address some of the almighty backlog of music that endlessly flows down my digital river.
Except of course that now my youngest son wants help with his homework . . . And you wonder why I never write about all the things I ought to. Yes, yes, I’m just coming! Hold on, uncompleted maths homework from the previous weekend to do. SuperDad to the rescue. Kind of. Back in a mo. Or two. Or three.
Right I'm back. Oh, bloody hell, now the missus is calling me for dinner. Yeah, I know, I shouldn’t complain, especially when someone else is cooking it for me. I’m not. I love the food. I just wish I had a 30 hour day and a 9 day week, that’s all.
OK, it’s now ‘tomorrow’ today, so let’s try again. Spent last night at the house of my dear friend and ace producer/musician, Surinder Sandhu editing some Spanish language interviews for use as promos for his new project, the Funkawallahs and the forthcoming album, “Karma Machine”. Very exciting indeed - but keeping all that under wraps until it’s all ready to go . . .
"Spanish heat, urban cool and Nuyorican sabor"
So, now to all these new albums pouring in.
First up, I’m listening to the sounds of Barcelona’s Los Fulanos who deliver a modern take on that 60s hybrid boogaloo.
Very tasty indeed, with enough foundations in 60s latin soul groove (a controversial mix itself in its own time!) to be really grounded, some added retro-psychedelia, Spanish heat, urban cool and Nuyorican sabor and all marinated in a rhythm’n’blues salsa.
It might look backwards for inspiration but it all works very well in today’s world. Sweet as a nut!
This debut album is entitled “Si Esto Se Acaba Que Siga El Boogaloo” (‘If All This Ends, Keep On With The Boogaloo’) and it's on the Lovemonk label (LMNK46).
There are 10 tracks (and a prelude) and it's sung in a mixture of English and Spanish with bags of energy and credibility and what I can only describe as a very authentic ‘American sound’ - especially the horns. Very infectious album indeed.
"great ideas ... well-produced album, all executed with ... clear vision and a big dollop of gusto!"
Mixed in with the boogaloo and disco, there are also plenty of other genres represented. For instance, there is some great rumba and explosive 70s style funk on “El Que No Está Se Lo Pierde” (Parts 1 & 2 respectively), “Sobran Cuero” is a very danceable salsa whilst “Manny” leans more towards rhythm and blues.
There's also a jazzy New Orleans vibe on “Kind of Guy”, groovy proto-rock on the New Order tune “Blue Monday”,“Hold On (Baby Hold Me)” is a bolero underpinned with wonderfully cheesy organ, and we get a nice jazzy montuno on “The End of the World”, to name but a few.
There are lots of great ideas in this well-produced album, and all executed with slick musicianship, clear vision and a big dollop of gusto! The producer is Miguelito Superstar (from Fundación Tony Manero)
I first came across Los Fulanos a few years back when they recorded an album “King of Latin Soul” on the Vampisoul label) with the Latin Soul legend, Joe Bataan (“Subway Joe”, “Ordinary Guy”, “There’s a Riot Going On”, “Gipsy Woman”, etc) and loved how they’d tastefully updated what I had always considered were anthems so classic that to mess with them would be foolish. So, respect where it’s due!
Next up is the Australian band The Bombay Royale from Melbourne, who specialise in bringing to life - and to the live stage - versions of many of the classics of India’s Bollywood film industry.
The album’s called “You Me Bullets Love” (on Hope Street Recordings), and is a 10 track CD/DL/Vinyl that showcases old songs such as the 1965 chestnut “Jaan Pehechan Ho” (from the film "Gumnaam") as well as entirely new pieces 'in the style of'.
The ‘golden years’ for Bollywood films are often cited as the 60s and 70s and The Bombay Royale mix these old songs in Hindi and Bengali with newer material they have written themselves (and including some English lyrics) inspired by these classic masterpieces.
In fact “You Me Bullets Love” features eight original numbers and two re-workings of almost forgotten Bollywood production numbers (the other is "Sote Sote Adhi Raat").
"heavy retro vibe ... that - bizarrely - makes it sound very fresh and bang-up-to-date!"
There’s a heavy retro vibe to the album that - bizarrely - makes it sound very fresh and bang-up-to-date! (obviously some weird tear in the time-space fabric…).
For instance the opening track “Monkey Fight Snake” features massed brass, swirling organs, siren-like vocals and sarangi in the background, sub-Spaghetti Western blaring trumpet (Spaghetti Eastern anyone?) and wouldn’t sound out of place in some kind of drug-induced, trippy dream-sequence scene from The Avengers (the 1960s British series with the bowler-hatted, brolly-wielding Steed, not the Hollywood Marvel heroes one!).
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Conversely the title track is drenched in surf music, sort of 'Tarantino goes to Mumbai' (or is it India comes to South Melbourne Beach?).
At times the whole album sounds as if someone’s taken a giant cocktail shaker and thrown in some vintage 50s, 60s and 70s Bombay kitsch, a shot of James Bond, a gaggle of Go-Go girls, two slices of Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, a pinch of Massive Attack, the serried ranks of saxophones, trumpets and trombones, a veritable forest of violins and yards and yards of orange, pink and turquoise silk, and then recorded the whole lot via the audio-equivalent of a Kodak Instamatic shot through a Dub filter. Someone with more knowledge of Hindi music would probably be able to pick up on the Bollywood strands better than me, but that’s about as near as I can get to it at the moment!
The Australian papers have described it as being “where A R Rahman and Ennio Morricone converge, where Slumdog Millionaire meets Goldfinger head on, with Quentin Tarantino and Indiana Jones lurking in the corner”.
Now, what’s really weird is that description has some parallels with my preceding paragraph; weird because I deliberately make a point of NOT reading Press Releases or other people’s reviews until after I’ve written my own - so as not to be influenced by anyone else in the initial stage . . .
I just happened to consult the band’s Press Release to check the singers names and spotted the above quote.
Well, I must be doing something right! Ha ha! Just noticed they also use the words ‘surf’ and ‘spaghetti’ too in another part of it. As I always say: ‘Mate Grinds Link Athike’…
Incidentally the vocalists are Parvyn Kaur Singh and Shourov Bhattacharya. The MD is Andy Williamson.
It’s a really fun album. A lot of it is, I’m sure, very tongue-in-cheek, but then again so is much of Bollywood, and it plays with all those elements of East meets West meets East again (and in the case of Australia, South).
So, if you like Bollywood music, or surf music, or the 60s, or trippy music, or just have a predeliction for multicoloured kitsch and musical cheese to let your hair down to and shake your thang, then book yourself a night at The Bombay Royale.
The album was released this week and the website link for The Bombay Royale is:
There's also a groovy video of the title track here:
"highly polished album"
As a real contrast comes the all-girl outfit, Katzenjammer from Norway and their highly polished album “A Kiss Before You Go” (Propellor Recordings - released May 2012).
The whole album is sung in English and comes across as an uplifting blend of pop, folk, acoustic, country, bluegrass and rhythm’n’blues, a sprinkle of balladry, whimsy, acapella and rock, and all laced through with a healthy dose of idiosyncratic eccentricity and sonic cabaret theatricality.
"enough singalong lyrics to keep you going all through the summer"
However, it is also all bound together with very credible pop production values, accessible melodies and enough singalong lyrics to keep you going all through this summer’s festival season (especially the tracks “Rock-Paper-Scissors” and “I Will Dance When I Walk Away”).
I must admit, I was slightly dubious as to whether or not I’d like Katzenjammer at first, since their music is far more ‘poppy’ than I’m used to writing about or even listening to, but a bit of suspended disbelief paid dividends and I’m now quite happy to recommend them.
Formidable ladies, these Katz . . . !
Here’s a link to their website and other contact points:
www.facebook.com/katzenjammerne //
and also to some YouTube Videos:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqmbqnjbLc
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZEDMIZZSug
Katzenjammer are touring the UK this month:
Thu 17th BRISTOL, Academy 2
Fri 18th MANCHESTER, Academy 3
Sat 19th GLASGOW, King Tuts
Sun 20th BIRMINGHAM, Academy 2
Tue 22nd BRIGHTON, Concorde 2
Wed 23rd LONDON, XOYO
See the RPS video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqmbqnjbLco
Host RPS here: www.soundcloud.com/yourfriendbam/katzenjammer-rock-paper
and don’t forget you can get a Free Download of "Cherry Pie" here:
www.facebook.com/katzenjammerne/app_113345305387225
So there you go - three albums down and only *mumble, mumble, mutter, mutter* to go (I’ve even taken my shoes and socks off and have still run out of toes to count on).
I’ll sign off this blog here and carry on soon. Off to yet another rehearsal with yet another band (sweet reggae, soul and nyabinghi behind some very conscious lyrics). Time to make some music myself now!
Glyn Phillips (WorldMusic.co.uk)
(16/5/12)
It’s Jazz, Jim, but not as we know it!
Tagged with: World Music Glyn Phillips Ayanna Truthfully Ida Kelarova Desiderius Indies Scope Roma Jazz Gypsy Romska Balada Tomas Kaco Skampova Kuarteta ARC Music Re-Orient Undiscovered Time Baluji Shrivastav Linda Shanovitch Chris Conway Charlie McMahon Gondwana Didj
Some interesting albums have come across my desk in the past few weeks with, to a lesser or greater degree, an element of jazz within them.
"Powerful, poignant, great integrity"
The first is singer/composer/ace cellist Ayanna’s EP “Truthfully” (AWJ001) which is simply sumptuous and gorgeous - it somehow operates in the territory beyond jazz and soul where beautiful music is just beautiful music. Powerful, poignant, great integrity. Highly recommended. Contains her skin-tinglingly idiosyncratic version of “Roxanne” (yes, that one!).
Here's a link to my full, in-depth review of the EP: http://www.worldmusic.co.uk/ayanna_truthfully_cd_review.
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Check it out.
And if that doesn’t sell it to you then check out my review of her recent concert at Birmingham Town Hall (http://www.worldmusic.co.uk/ayanna).
Catch her while you can. (For more info: www.ayannamusic.com).
And if I haven’t already exhausted my stock of hyperboles, then let me sprinkle a few more over the next artist.
I already mentioned the Czech Romany singer Ida Kelarova a a few weeks ago and her collaboration with guitarist Desiderius Duzda and his band Jazz Famelija on the album “Sunen Savore” (Listen Everyone) (MAM509 / 2012 Indies Scope) featuring special guest the Serbian accordionist Lelo Nika.
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I’ll just repeat what I put then: “Really beautiful music - sort of bossa meets gypsy meets jazz - very mellow but really gets under your skin without forcing itself - had it on repeat play for ages last night. … sumptuous. quivering, heart-string tugging accordion …” .
"percolates into the aquifer of your soul"
Ida and Desiderius take jazz in one hand and Roma music and traditions in the other and breathe new life into both of them. It’s really impressive stuff. The kind of music that seeps into your skin and percolates into the aquifer of your soul. Love it. Love it. Love it. I’m just an old romantic at heart sometimes, I know, but the world would be a poorer place without music like this to pour out like a healing balm over bruised and broken hearts.
Well, I still stand by all that. But interestingly last week, by sheer coincidence, I unearthed some more Ida Kelarova buried deep in my archives on an album entitled “Romska Balada” (Roma Ballad) on the Indies Scope Records label from the Czech Republic and released in 2010.
Here she’s teamed up again with Desiderius Duzda (on vocals), but this time with the assistance of Tomás Kaco on piano with backing from the Skampa String Quartet and some guest vocalists (including Lukás Horvath) on an album of Gypsy Ballads. So there’s no bossa and the jazzy influences are less obvious, but there's still an underlying jazz sensibility. However, the lushness quotient is raised significantly and the tender, aching, melancholy is plumbed to the depths. Even as I listen to it right now all my hairs are standing on end and I’m covered in goosebumps. And it’s not all about Ida’s voice either - Desiderius’s vocal chords have that quality too. Gorgeous. Love the duets and vocal ensemble tracks too.
The album is written and recorded so that each song runs musically into the next one (they are divided up as separate tracks though), so that the overall effect is one long musical journey, a rollercoaster of emotions. Track titles such as “Mama”, “I’m Dying”, “My God”, “Brother”, “My Daughter”, “Our Children”, “Hear Me Out God”, “I Love you So Much”, “Why” and “My Love” give you a feel for the subject matter.
"unashamedly romantic"
But don’t let that put you off even if you’re at all afraid of the power of emotion. We might be British but we’re still human after all! This is unashamedly romantic music, often sad, but always from the heart - there’s not a hint of cheesiness anywhere.
The sleevenotes state “When a Roma’s wife died, though sad, he could not cry. The doctor warned, that he must weep or his very heart would die. But crying caused too great a pain so he sang with all his heart… and his heart was fine again”. If you like Fado or Tango, then you’ll definitely love this.
The sleeve notes also portray the album as ‘Contemporary Roma Music Creation’ and that’s pretty accurate. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy a lot of the new Gypsy collaborations as well as the remixes and mashups (although there’s a lot of dross out there too), but it’s just so refreshing to see someone use the fabulous heritage of the European Roma and take it in a different direction. Both albums highly recommended. (www.indies.eu and www.kelarova.com)
Well, I’ve written loads already and only covered three albums . . . In the words of Gardeners' Question Time’s Eric Robson “onwards and upwards”.
Long-time world music specialists ARC Music have sent me through a couple of albums from their bottomless catalogues. The first is called “Undiscovered Time (Indian World Music Fusion)" by the band Re-Orient (EUCD 2371). The trio consists of multi-instrumentalist Baluji Shrivastav and singer-songwriter/poet Linda Shanovitch alongside another multi-instrumentalist (and uber-prolific album releaser - 80 to date), Chris Conway.
The album is a fusion of world musics with influences from both Indian classic and Indian folk, the Balkans, Bossa, the Celtic world, and assorted jazz balladry and other flavours. So often these sorts of fusions can become messy and fall between the cracks, but this is a very interesting, very listenable album.
Each member has contributed their own compositions to the 10 tracks on the CD (three by Chris, three by Linda, two by Baluji and a couple of joint works) and as you’d expect they tend to each emphasise different facets of the fusions. Baluji draws more from the raags and the classical Indian music tradition, Linda’s from jazz and ballads and poetry with a sparser and more reflective nature, whilst Chris tends to have a more overall balanced fusion of flavours spent from years of experimenting with ingredients and fiddling with menus in the world music kitchens.
I must admit to having a connection to Chris Conway since we used to play together in the mid-90s as part of the Sabri Ensemble (an Indo-Jazz fusion band) although our paths have never crossed since. So, ‘Hi Chris’ and it’s nice to know you’re every bit as talented as I remembered!
With instruments including sitar, dilruba, surbhabar, tabla, naal, gopichand, darbuka, piano, keys, tin whistle, low Irish whistles, and 9-string electric and acoustic guitars, theremin, swarmandal, nattuvangam, bodhran and a variety of vocal styles there’s a lot to listen out for here. There are also sporadic appearances by special guests Eric Junkes on saxes and Andy Platt on bass.
It’s difficult to accurately describe the music, so I’ll just try and give you a flavour of what I’m hearing. These are just my impressions.
Global Reunion feels like the soundtrack to a film and is an uplifting theme to introduce the disparate members of the band as they re-unite for this new album. Brave Boy is more of a straightforward midnight jazz ballad, real torch-song stuff for the end of the night when the audience have all gone… Very sad lyrics, deepened further by Junkes’s weeping sax and Baluji’s mournful dilruba. Portrait of a Swan is a fairly straight meeting of jazz and Indian tarana in Raag Hansadhwani mode featuring the sax and sitar. The Gift of Time is a form of Indo-Irish ballad and Dangerous Ground a slow bossa with flamenco undertones featuring a solo on the strange sounding gopichand (a one string plucked instrument).
Celebration cracks along in a joyous vein with elements of Brazilian nordestino pifano music set against Indian bols, kalimba, crows, monkeys and a global background of sounds. Tides is another meditative piece featuring Linda’s words and vocals and the rather otherworldly sounds of the theremin, gentle ostinatos and the sound of the waves. The Long Summer is a piece inspired by Balkan music in ⅝ time yet is more akin to Brazilian jazz in the vocals. Celestial, which draws inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita, is as spacy and ethereal as the name implies, whilst Garland of Light is a floaty collective improvisation utilising their three very different vocal sounds.
"one to listen to and then listen again..."
Interestingly, the whole album hangs together surprisingly well, given the amount of influences, the plethora of instruments, the different backgrounds of the members and the highly collaborative nature of the work. It’s not an easy thing to pull off. We’re often used to the concept of a dominant musician or producer having an idea and dragging everyone else along in the direction they want (sometimes necessary to bring a vision to life), but that this album works as well as it does I can only attribute to Re-Orient’s ability to really listen to each other, support and co-create. After 20 years I suppose they’ve got the right fusion after all. This is one to listen to and then listen again... (More info on Re-Orient from www.baluji.com, www.chrisconway.org and www.arcmusic.co.uk).
The other album from ARC Music comes from Australia and is by Charlie McMahon and Gondwana and is called “Didj Heart” (EUCD 2370). To be honest it’s not really my thing, so I’m not going to comment one way or another on it as what doesn't float my boat, might well rock yours. There’s rarely such a thing as ‘bad music’, just music you haven’t been able to appreciate yet. If you like didgeridoo fusion music then check it out. Maybe I just need to go walkabout and get my head around the style. (www.arcmusic.co.uk)
Well there we go for this blog. How on earth do I do it? Every time I sit down I tell myself: “just a few words on each one; don’t get carried away”. Nah, can’t be done - I’ve too much to say! Time for tea, I think! Tomorrow, I really will keep it brief . . . !
Glyn Phillips (WorldMusic.co.uk) - Wed 2nd May 2012
The Devil's Music
Tagged with: Devil's Music BBC Alexis Korner Blues Booker White Houston Stackhouse Sonny Blake Sam Chatmon Laura Dukes Big Joe Williams Little Brother Montgomery James DeShay Victoria Spivey The Aces Fenton Robinson Good Rockin Charles Henry Townsend Billy Boy Ar
I love those chance happenings, those random, unexpected quirks of fate that lead you to something completely unexpected yet enrich your life. There I was last night, a bit jaded from sitting in front of the computer all day and slowly freezing in this crazy cold wet Spring and I thought "Can't leave it any longer. I'm hungry!". Off to the kitchen, warm up some three-day old food (what? you think I live in luxury?) and back to the computer.
Hmmm. Ok, don't fancy working my way through any more of the 14 CDs that arrived in the post today - just need a little sumtin' to watch while I eat my lentils. To BBC iPlayer, nothing grabbed my eye, looked under Categories, tried the Comedy selection - nah, nothing there to fill 15 minutes of my time, chomp, chomp, chomp, Entertainment, Factual, chomp, chomp, chomp, Films, Lifestyle & Leisure . . . Nada, zilch. Oh God, not back to Music again! Chomp, chomp. Click. Show All Music. Click. Chomp, chomp. Yeah, yeah, yeah... Not interested, seen that already... Uhh? What?? Oh my days! Praise be! It can't be... Really?! I thought I'd never see it again. Hair standing on end, adrenaline coursing through my body, ripples of pleasure and a wild crazy smile from ear to ear.
I'd only stumbled onto a link to a series broadcast back in 1979 (although it might possibly have been actually made in 1976 - anyone know?) and repeated but once since then (in 1982), featuring one of the three or four big musics of my childhood and youth (blues) and presented by my all-time Radio Hero, Alexis Korner: "The Devil's Music". Click.
"curly-haired, lamb-chop sideburned, gravel-and-honey-voiced"
And there it is, the familiar intro music (shamefully not credited anywhere) and then there he is. The man himself, the Father of British Blues, the curly-haired, lamb-chop sideburned, gravel-and-honey-voiced musician, scholar, facilitator, commentator, presenter and all-round 'don' that was Alexis Korner. Unbeknownst to any of us he would be dead within a few years of this recording, but at the time I still hung onto his every word.
Straightaway, I'm transported back in time over 30 years ago, sitting in the front room with my Dad, fingers on the big old cassette recorder (the size and weight of a housebrick!) audio-recording from the telly. For those too young to understand the concept, you turned up the TV volume as loud as possible, pushed the recorder with the built-in microphone pinhole under the telly and hoped that the phone wouldn't ring or that yer Mum wouldn't come in and start talking over it...
"treasured them in the way only true music fanatics can"
For years after me and my Dad would listen to those tapes over and over again. We'd long forgotten the television images that went with them, but the music lived on in our heads and hearts, let alone the words and cadences of Korner's commentary. Magic. We wore those tapes out, yet treasured them in the way only true music fanatics can. This was way before the advent of endless repeats, computers, digitalisation, mass music mobility, file-sharing, archives, etc, etc, even before video (at least for our household). If you missed it, that was it. Hence the cassette tapes.
In the series Alexis Korner gives his idiosyncratic take on the history of the Blues. With only four episodes and only 25 minutes in each one, there's not a lot of time to get it all in and Korner and the producers (Giles Oakley & Maddalena Fagandini) obviously wanted to feature living musicians, so this is no standard, chronological, history book telling of the story. True to Korner's beliefs it focusses on the spirit of the blues rather than the usual big names.
"you'll end up the richer for it"
You won't find Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson (any of them!), Elmore James, Lightnin Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, BB King, etc here. You will find a lot of names you've probably never heard of - but, as ever, you have to just go with Korner and let him lay out his take on it. And you'll end up the richer for it, whether or not you carp on about 'so-and-so' (fill in the name of your favourite blues hero here) being more relevant than whoever Korner uses to illustrate his story.
But there's the magic, you see. We get to hear people like Houston Stackhouse (backed by Joe Willie Wilkins) eerily warble through the fantastic "Cool Drink of Water", Booker White steel-slide his way through "Poor Boy" using a knife on his trademark National steel guitar (which he nicknamed Hard Rock - and is now in northern England!) and folk-blues legend Sam Chatmon (looking like Gimli son of Gloin's great-grandfather) singing of his love for his "Brown Skinned Woman".
And then there's the tiny Laura Dukes and her ukelele version of "Crawdads", Big Joe Williams getting "Sloppy Drunk" and the highly animated face, coquettish eyes and jet-black wig of Victoria Spivey (who died shortly after the recording) singing the "TB Blues" (yes, a blues about tuberculosis!) whilst playing a woefully out-of-tune piano.
There's also material from Henry Townsend and Sonny Blake. Many of these recordings were actually filmed in 1976 and yet they already seemed to come from another world altogether.
And if that wasn't enough to whet your appetite you get to hear the (then) current state of electric blues emanating from the small clubs of Chicago, with bands like The Aces (featuring the Myers brothers and the legendarily groovy Freddie Below on drums) backing 'young bucks' like Billy Boy Arnold and Charles Edwards aka Good Rockin Charles.
As well as that there's Fenton Robinson and his funky be-hatted band (straight from the imaginary backdrop to a club scene from 'Starksy and Hutch'!) complete with, as Korner puts it, 'the statutory white musician'.
Ironically, although Korner was highlighting the contemporary blues scene at the end of the 70s and indicating its future, it's almost a farewell to it, since apart from a brief renaissance spearheaded by the likes of Robert Cray, Jeff Healey and Bonnie Raitt, blues fell from commercial favour yet again during the 80s.
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Incidentally, I saw Good Rockin Charles around 1979/80 at Birmingham Town Hall as part of a blues package .
True to his name Charles was nowhere to be found when he was due to perform his numbers. After a while he was tracked down, bottle of spirits prised from his hand and he was shoved on stage (I can picture it now) and he swayed across to the mic - all of us praying he wouldn't veer to his right and walk straight off the front into the stalls - where after a few seconds to focus on where the audience was and fumble around for his harmonica, he launched into his set. Priceless.
What I found out from Korner's documentary is that Charles spent most of his time in Chicago living on Welfare payments and trying to get spots in the Chicago clubs. I guess things don't change much for most of us musicians.
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"The groove is to die for"
But best of all from this unexpected foray into the music of my past was to hear two performances in particular. The first was James DeShay (playing a V-shaped electric guitar) and his band (which included a poker-faced drummer sporting a Kung Fu headband) and his version of a tune called - I think, since surprisingly none of the tracks featured were actually credited - "Brand New Pony". The groove is to die for, especially when they double it up off the cuff - and so I just sat and drooled, wishing I was right there in the audience that night, lost in a haze of smoke, booze and blues. Sigh!
"stupendous rhythmic subtleties"
However, there is one performance from The Devil's Music that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Since we first heard it on that Monday night in July 1979 it occupied a place of awe-full reverence in the musical pantheon of both my father and myself. For years to come we would put on our home-spun audio cassette and be transported to a better place. We would sing, dance and play air-piano to the utterly stupendous rhythmic subtleties of a truly great artist. I almost wish that you could hear it without seeing the film, so that you are entirely dependent on the music to stir your imagination. In my head, I can still hear the hiss of the tape, the rumble of the cassette recorder, the peculiar ambience of our front room and the hum of the television all captured for posterity and mixed in with the music proper.
"this tune has haunted me for decades"
I'm often loathe to recommend certain pieces of music to other people, particularly when they've seeped so deeply into my psyche. I get worried that they won't feel the same way about it - and why should they? Music is a very personal thing, both to performer and listener. Yet, I can only say that this tune has haunted me for decades. It goes straight to my soul. For me, it's that good.
The cassette tape we made of it got lost somewhere along the years, yet I can still hear every note, every pause, every push and pull of the performance in my head. The tune is called "Vicksburg Blues" and the artist is the Louisiana-born, latterly Chicago-based pianist, Little Brother Montgomery. Bliss.
If anyone has or knows how to get hold of the soundtrack to this series - or at least an audio-recording of Little Brother Montgomery performing "Vicksburg Blues", can you let me know? I'd really appreciate it. Off the top of my head, there was a book to accompany the series too.
So what can I say? If you can get BBC iPlayer go and check the series out (The Devil's Music - produced by Maddalena Fagandini and Giles Oakley) - at less than two and half hours in total, it's well worth your time. I've put all the details below (although I've had to guess at many of the titles of the tracks - apologies if I've got any wrong) and also put direct links to each episode. Enjoy!
Devil’s Music, Series 2, Ep 1 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/p00lk3lz/
(First Broadcast BBC 1, Mon 9 Jul 1979)
Presenter: Alexis Korner
Performers: Booker "Bukka" White (slide steel guitar/vox) - “Poor Boy” and “Aberdeen Mississippi Blues”
Houston Stackhouse (guitar/vox) with Joe Willie Wilkins (gtr) - “Cool Drink of Water”
Sonny Blake (harmonica/vox) with unknown (pno) & LT Lewis (dms) - “One Room Country Shack”
Sam Chatmon (gtr/vox) - “Brown-Skinned Woman” and “That’s My Girl”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Devil’s Music, Series 2, Ep 2 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/p00lk4rq/
(First Broadcast BBC 1, Mon 16 Jul 1979)
Presenter: Alexis Korner
Performers: Laura Dukes (ukelele/vox) - “Crawdads”
Sam Chatmon (gtr/vox) - “That’s All Right”
Big Joe Williams (9-string guitar/vox) - “Sloppy Drunk” and “Highway 49”
Little Brother Mongomery (pno/vox) - “Vicksburg Blues”
James DeShay & Band (elec gtr/vox) and band - “Brand New Pony”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Devil’s Music, Series 2, Ep 3 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/p00lk5pk/
(First Broadcast BBC 1, Mon 23 Jul 1979)
Presenter: Alexis Korner
Performers: Big Joe Williams (guitar/vox) - “Providence Help The Poor People”
Henry Townsend (pno/vox) - “I’m Leaving”(?)
Victoria Spivey (pno/vox) - “TB Blues”
James DeShay & Band (elec gtr/vox) and band - “Crossroads” and “Mistake in Life” (?)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Devil’s Music, Series 2, Ep 4 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/p00lk5yh/
(First Broadcast BBC 1, Mon 30 Jul 1979)
Presenter: Alexis Korner
Performers: Billy Boy Arnold with The Aces - “She Fooled Me”
Fenton Robinson & Band - “You Don’t Know What Love Is”
Sonny Blake (harmonica) with LT Lewis (dms) & Joe Willie Wilkins (gtr) - “Bring It on Home To Me”
Charles Edwards with The Aces (aka Good Rockin Charles) (harmonica) - “Don’t Start Me To Talkin”
The Aces: Freddie Below (dms), Dave Myers (bass), Louis Myers (guitar/vox) - “Take a Little Walk”
Fenton Robinson & Band - “Someone Lend Me A Dime”
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Glyn Phillips (WorldMusic.co.uk) - Wed 25th April 2012
Late-March Round-Up (29/3/12) - Fonseca, Folk, Finns & Flu
Tagged with: Glyn Phillips Blog World Music worldmusic.co.uk Roberto Fonseca Ida Kelarova Desiderius Duzda Lelo Nika Indies Scope Poletime? Aulaga Folk A Menos Cuarto Armando Records Urban Folk Quartet Off Beaten Tracks Kardemimmit Introducing World Music Network
Well, after 3 days supine and pretty much comatose in bed with the worst dose of 'man-flu' and eyeball-ache I've had in years and unable even to look at a light source, let alone a computer screen, I'm back on the digital treadmill and trying once again to catch up with the endless river of music that washes through my door . . .
Looking forward to reviewing Roberto Fonseca and band live at Birmingham Town Hall this Sunday (1st April) - an 8-piece stripped-down version of the 15 -piece album band, including Africans Baba Sissoko on percussion and Sekou Kouyate on kora against a fabulous Cuban band. Oh, yes, it's going to be a good one!
Just been sent some fabulous Roma Jazz from the Czech Republic featuring Czech and Slovak Roma musicians headed up by singer Ida Kelarova and guitarist Desiderius Duzda and the band Jazz Famelija.
The album's called "Sunen Savore" (Listen Everyone) on the Indies Scope label (MAM509 / 2012 Indies Scope - EAN: 8595026650923) to be released on 6th April 2012.
Really beautiful music - sort of bossa meets gypsy meets jazz - very mellow but really gets under your skin without forcing itself - had it on repeat play for ages last night. And can I point out the sumptuous, quivering, heart-string-tugging accordion of Lelo Nika . . .
Also from the same label Indies Scope, and already released is something quite different: Polish Country and Western. No, don't laugh! Seriously. And it's not bad either - it's fairly tongue-in-cheek and mixed up with punk and pop elements. The band is called Poletime? and the album (MAM505 - 2012 Indies Scope) is called "Kroskantry" (cross-country - get it?).
The young band from Brno have a 'banjo-punk' ethos and bags of humour even if you don't speak Polish (and trust me, I don't). If you do, you might pick up on the lyrics "which are straightforward, poetic, yet slightly vulgar" according to their liner notes. It also states "they confirm their position of joyful band, full of brisk rhythm and melodic choruses." So now you know!
(info for Ida Kelarova and Poletime? via Indies Scope: www.indies.eu/en/)
Before I succumbed to whatever damnable virus floored me, I was also checking out a couple of contemporary folk offerings. The first from Spanish band Aulaga Folk and their album/DVD "A Menos Cuarto" on Armando Records (ARD-123).
The album title means literally 'at quarter to' (as in being ready 15 minutes earlier than the agreed time) and refers to their perception of being in the right place at the right time.
The band pride themselves on rejuvenating the traditional folk of their region (the little known area of Extremadura) and mixing it with the Celtic traditions of Galicia and Asturias to the north and elements of rock, latin, jazz, etc. Their facebook link is here: www.facebook.com/pages/AULAGA-FOLK/236668229479
The other folk album comes from closer to home and is Birmingham and the UK's Urban Folk Quartet. This is called "Off Beaten Tracks" and was largely written whilst on the road during their 2011 tour of Europe and North America playing a mixture of venues from 30,000 strong festivals to small coves (many off beaten tracks, I shouldn’t wonder).
The 'off beaten tracks' theme really suits their style of music, which although recognisably folk in feel and acoustic orientation sees them running free through the world's diverse musical genres like kids through a summer meadow. The music seamlessly weaves countless threads of varied styles into the whole - going from Celtic folk to reggae to arabic to jazz and elsewhere, almost in a single phrase at times.
It's all quite beautifully done and so natural (I nearly said organic then!) that it's quite easy to miss the plethora of worldwide folk reference points and just treat it as... well, music! No bad thing I suppose.
Their PR has them as "a dozen instruments and four voices coming together to craft a knockout show of globally–influenced, electrifying acoustic music". Yeah, I'll buy that.
Watch out for Frank Moon’s quavering oud and soaring fiddle aviatics from Galicia’s Paloma Trigas and England’s Joe Broughton - all topped of with Tom Chapman’s rattling cajón.
The album is described as: "a travelogue of musical snapshots from the road - compositions dedicated to Spanish bus rides or The Vancouver Island coastline, for example - and a collection of highlights from the set that had people dancing the night away at festivals from The Bay of Biscay to edge of The North Pacific."
There you go, does what it says on the tin! For more info check here:
Also been listening to some quite beautiful contemporary Finnish folk from the female vocals-and-kantele quartet: Kardemmimit and their album "Introducing Kardemimmit" on World Music Network. Very chillaxed...
(www.kardemimmit.fi/en/biografia.html)
And if you fancy some mad, mad, but totally brilliant Pakistani jazz - you can't do much better than Sachal Studio's remake of Paul Desmond's "Take Five" (part of their homage to Dave Brubeck). Stunning! I'd first heard it some months ago, but came across it again yesterday and thought it was too good not to include here:
Massed violins and cellos backing some fabulous sitar, acoustic guitar and crazy, crazy tabla-playing . . . Bliss!
OK, gotta go. As ever I start off thinking "I'll just jot a few sentences and thoughts down" - and, as ever, my mind runs away with itself, leaping through those meadows of musical wildflowers into the late afternoon sun . . . What's a man to do?
Glyn Phillips (WorldMusic.co.uk) - Fri 30 March 2012
Mid-March Round-up (15/3/12)
Tagged with: Glyn Phillips world music worldmusic.co.uk Andy Kershaw No Off Switch Rachel Harrington Knock Outs Julaba Kunda Sensational Space Shifters Dub Colossus Spiro Putumayo Bombino Roberto Fonseca Flavia Bittencourt Soundway Leilia Ceu Rough Guide Sefiroth Omi
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Just a few quick observations and round-ups of what's going for me recently.
Just finished reading Andy Kershaw's autobiography "No Off Switch".
I'll put this as simply as I can: Best Autobiography I've Ever Read. Bar None. Thoroughly recommend it. Nuff Said.
I'm looking to write a review of it when I get a moment or ten and I'll expand my thoughts in that, so watch this space . . .
Saw the American Country band Rachel Harrington and the Knock Outs a couple of nights ago (currently on tour round the UK) - a fabulous all-girl outfit with great musicianship, harmonies and some classy pen(wo)manship from Harrington. Recommended.
(see Review here:
www.worldmusic.co.uk/rachel_harrington_the_knock_outs_bilston)
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And a few weeks previously saw the brilliant Julaba Kunda featuring the Scottish fiddler Griselda Sanderson and the Gambian fiddler Juldeh Camara, alongside Senegal's Amadou Diagne.
Catch 'em while you can - before Juldeh gets too tied up in Robert Plant's new band the Sensational Space Shifters this summer . . .
(Review of Julaba Kunda here: worldmusic.co.uk/julaba_kunda_at_birmingham_1922012)
On my car's CD player for the last few weeks:
"Dub Me Tender" - the remix versions of Dub Colossus's Award Winning album "Addis Through The Looking Glass."
I still prefer the original, but the remixes are great music for chilling out to when driving.
(For a review of the original click here: worldmusic.co.uk/dub_colossus_addis_through_the_looking_glass_re)
Previous to that a sampler of tracks from Spiro's "Kaleidophonica" album, Putumayo's "Latin Beat" compilation and Bombino's "Agadez" were all getting me from A to B when driving.
However, I spend most of my time sitting at my computer and these are some of the albums, artists and tracks that have been on constant rotation on my iTunes...
Soundway's wonderful compilation "The Original Sound of Cumbia: The History of Colombian Cumbia & Porro As Told By The Phonograph 1948 - 79", a must for all you colombiphiliacs out there,
Galician female vocal outfit Leilía and their new album "Consentimento" (on the Spanish Fol label) - the ladies in the groovy hats below!
Brazil's Ceú and her new album "Caravana Sereia Bloom"
and the really most excellent compilation: "The Rough Guide To The Music Of New Orleans" from World Music Network.
(You can read my review of that last one here:
worldmusic.co.uk/rough_guide_to_the_music_of_new_orleans_cd_revi)
Other interesting things to drop on my digital doormat have been:
some great old Afro Jazz from Nigeria's Monomono and Trinidad's Black Truth Rhythm Band,
Rocky ratafolk from the EP Scecchendaun from Italy's Colletivo Mazzulata,
American folky-pop from Girlyman,
and some tasty ska and reggae from the UKs Chain SkaBrassika (EP "South East Beats").
Also flying in have been the Rough Guides to Celtic Women and Psychedelic Africa* (just two of many World Music Network releases this year),
The Sefiroth Ensemble's new EP ('Arboles Lloran Para Lluvia')*,
BraAgas's new album "Fuerte" (including a couple of versions of the classic "Chaje Sukarije")
and the album "Siempre Pa'lante" from a feisty salsa combo from Denmark called Jorge Cordero and the Gran Daneses.
[* Reviews for these two albums here]:
worldmusic.co.uk/rough_guide_to_psychedelic_africa_rgnet1270cd_r
worldmusic.co.uk/sefiroth_ensemble_arboles_lloran_por_lluvia_cd_
I've also been enjoying some mad mashups and remixes from the likes of Cafe de Calaveras & Add On de Bass who take on Pastor Lopez's "Mentirosa" in a moombahton style, Birmingham's G-Corp and Nuff Wish's delightful mash-ups of Marley and Whitney, Bobby Blue, and Michael Jackson with Adele.
And what about Rude Hi-Fi's Barriobeat Jungle Reggae remix of "Lascia Che Sia" featuring Amparo Sanchez? Or his Dubwise DnB version of "Jungle Reggae Party" featuring Lucky Hernan?
Also liking the Capt Cumbia remix of Chaka Demus and Pliers's "Slim Thing" and an unknown remix of Amy Winehouse on "Sweet Guitar" featuring Italian reggae supremo Alborosie with shades of Dawn Penn. Lush.
And how can I leave out Capt Cumbia's "Under Mi Serbie (Under Mi Sensi -Soundclash Edit)" - a mad electro-balkanic-cumbia dancehall mashup featuring Mr Vegas vs Boban Markovic vs the Amsterdam Klezmer Band! Excellent.
On the jazzy, bluesy side I've got to mention Cardiff's Ecklectic Mick who specialises mostly in electro-swing remixes - but here has taken a little detour. Firstly mixing jazz with Indian music, notably his gentle mash-up of that old standard "Sweet Georgia Brown" - although you can also check out his softswing treatment of it too; and then a fabulous remix of Howlin' Wolf's "Spoonful" (mixing in "Rosie/Be My Woman" along the way).
However top of the mash-up list these past few weeks has been the ever-reliable Fissunix and his deliciously creamy mash of Alicia Keys and Chic in "Good Times Fallin". Lushness personified.
Worth checking out his full-on and imaginative Beatles mashups too: "Beautiful Prudence" (with Christina Aguilera), "End of the Walrus", "Owner of the USSR" and "Don't Let Me Down On The Dancefloor", as well as his Zeppelin mash-ups like "HitzBreaker" (Heartbreaker sounding like it's been re-recorded inside a beehive the size of a small city! Intense).
Loving also Diabel Cissokho's "Allah Lako",
Escalandrum's latin jazz tango treatment of "Adios Nonino",
"Cheerleader" by Jamaica's Omi
and finally, the new afrocuban jazz album "Yo!" by Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca - this is fantastic and definitely getting an in-depth review very soon! [Oh, and here it is!]: www.worldmusic.co.uk/roberto_fonseca_yo_album_review
All this and I've been working on some lyrics in English for Brazil's sublime songstress Flavia Bittencourt for her new album...
Busy boy indeed!
African Spring: Batida/Bariba Sound/Gnawa Diffusion
Tagged with: Batida Soundway DJ Mpula Analog Africa Angola Benin Super Borgou Parakou Bariba Sound Bariba Dendi Turn Again Music Gnawa Diffusion Amazigh Kateb Gnawa Chaabi reggae ragga soul pachanga rumba afro beat funk Algeria Morocco Nigeria Ghana Togo Glyn Phillips
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Well, it certainly feels like the world music is waking up with the imminent approach of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere! There seems to a mass of new releases, tours and projects pushing their nodding heads above the forbidding cold soil of winter.
On an African tip, for instance, one of my favourite labels Soundway have today announced the forthcoming release of the debut album by Batida (brainchild of Angolan/Portuguese DJ Mpula aka Pedro Coquenão) which combines samples from old 1970s Angolan tracks with modern electronic dance music (check the link here for more info: www.worldmusic.co.uk/batida_soundway_70s_angola_updated_preview_dl_r)
"Batida" is due for release on 26 March 2012 (SNDW 038), but you can preview and even download one of the tracks "Tireí o Chapéu" here:
soundcloud.com/soundway-records/batida-tirei-o-chap-u
On another African note, yet another of my favourite labels specialising in re-releasing old albums, Analog Africa, are set to issue a blissful treasure trove of 70s Afro sounds.
This time, on its fifth expedition to the magical musical world of Benin, they open the vaults of the band Le Super Borgou de Parakou on an album entitled "The Bariba Sound".
If you liked any of Analog Africa's previous releases (eg "Bambara Mystical Soul - the Raw Sound of Burkina Faso 1974-79", the limited dance editions of "Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - The 1st Album"(1973)" and "ROB - Funky Rob Way (1977)", or "Afro-Beat Airways (Ghana & Togo 1972-1979)") then you will love this new album.
It opens up yet another window onto part of the Islamic Funk Belt of the northern regions of Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Benin. A raw but heady mixture of Bariba and Dendi folklore, Islamic melodies and soul, pachanga, breakbeats, rumba and afro-beat.
Very much recommended. Release date for this is 27 March 2012 (either as CD with 30 page booklet or as double LP gatefold deluxe edition). AACD 071 / AALP 071
Finally, the French agency Turn Again Music have contacted me to announce the 20th anniversary comeback of band Gnawa Diffusion (led by founder Amazigh Kateb) with plans for a tour to start in May this year and a new album to be recorded this year and released in Autumn 2012. As they put it: "a travel to chaabi through gnawi, reggae, ragga, rock...". No other details as yet, but watch this space . . .
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WorldBeatUK - The Past, Present and Future
Tagged with: Glyn Phillips WorldBeatUK WorldMusicRadio WorldMusic.co.uk World Music Radio Radio Presenter Broadcaster Rhubarb Radio Custard Factory Birmingham Flavia Bittencourt Renato Martins.
My radio show, WorldBeatUK, started in February 2011 and was initially aired on a (now defunct) community radio station operating out of the Custard Factory arts and media complex in Birmingham, UK.
The first 32 shows were 2 hour live shows transmitting online every Monday evening, and then after a few weeks changing to every Wednesday and gradually built up an audience all over the world, people tuning in from as far apart as Russia, California, Ecuador, Argentina, the Caribbean, Ghana, Cameroon, and even New Zealand to name but a few, as well as all over mainland Europe and the UK.
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The idea was to present a lively, independent world music show that showcased a wide mix of music from all over the world in an exciting, friendly, accessible manner but packed with information and interesting musical ideas all delivered with passion. The musical policy was broad, exploring the margins of what might or might not be considered world music to some, as well as presenting the most culturally grounded and rootsiest of artists and genres. I'd rather err on the side of inclusivity than exclusivity. If I think a piece of music or artist has something worth listening to then that's all the mandate I need. Much of the music was recently released, some of it not yet officially released, some of it very old indeed . . . There were also a few interviews notably the Brazilians: singer Flavia Bittencourt and percussionist/composer Renato Martins.
Unfortunately, the radio station that was hosting the show, Rhubarb Radio, had significant quantities of equipment stolen from its premises in early Novermber 2011 - effectively rendering the station incapable of operating at all. At that point, I withdrew from Rhubarb (as did the majority of its presenters) and looked for alternative solutions to hosting the show.
Since then, I have started to make pre-recorded shows ready for transmission via a new online radio station, WorldMusicRadio.com. Obviously this is a different kettle of fish to doing a live show. The amount of talk has gone down (previously it was about 75:25% music to talk) with now only about 15 minutes of speech over a two hour show - more music in effect! One of the problems with the original show is that the vast majority were not recorded by Rhubarb or were lost when the equipment went. The new station should fix that problem since all the new shows (from WorldBeatUK33 onwards) will be available via the archive pages.
We also decided to remake the original 32 shows using the original playlists, shownotes and scripts as a basis but obviously changing the more topical references and original jingles etc and adding new music and script where necessary to fill the gaps (eg where interviews couldn't be repeated - but still keeping to music that would have been available at the time and trying to keep within the flow of the show).
These new 'old' shows are part of the WorldBeatUK (Refixed) series and are packed with great music, although delivered in a slightly more laidback style to the original live shows.
For the future I'm still working up new WorldBeatUK shows as pre-records and these will all be added to the WorldMusicRadio.com ready for it's launch during 2012. Same commitment to providing great world music with integrity and passion. I'm also working on special shows covering specific musical areas or themes. We hope to re-start the live WorldBeatUK shows at some point this year, since they are a whole lot of fun and the interaction with the listeners is one of the highlights for all concerned.
So if you trawl this blog previous to this post you will find the Shownotes pertaining to the original shows to give you a flavour of what I was putting out. These are scripted shownotes, not transcripts (since so many shows were never recorded) but give the basis of the show - just without all the spontaneous banter and happenings of the live shows... Check 'em out.
From this blog post onwards I shall start posting the Shownotes for the new shows (the pre-recorded ones from WBUK33 onwards) due to go out on WorldMusicRadio.com from Spring 2012. I also hope to get back to using this blog for more general use relating to WorldMusic.co.uk.
Watch this space . . .
Glyn Phillips
WorldBeatUK
WorldBeatUK (31st Show) - Broadcast Notes (19/10/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Chico Buarque Memphis Minnie Oscar Ibañez Anxo Lorenzo Carla Pires Lou Dalfin Mauro Palmas Jackson do Pandeiro Paralamas Flavia Bittencourt Dumyarea E-Coli Sivuca Calle 13 dunkelbunt Neblina Blue King Brown Hot 8 Brass Caruaru
WBUK31 (19th October 2011) - SHOWNOTES
1 “Intro-Mat” by Matchatcha from the album “Nyekesse” (Melodie)
"You’re tuned into Rhubarb Radio and my name’s Glyn Phillips. [PAUSE] You’re listening to WorldBeatUK, the show that plays you the stuff that mainstream radio doesn’t even know exists.
Coming up on the show tonight we focus on Brazil ahead of this Friday’s Amazonas Groove night here in Birmingham, with forro - old and new, bossa nova, samba, batucada, pifano and ska brasileiro.
I shall bring you electroswing from Cab Calloway and the Andrew Sisters via Wales, Urban Roots music from Melbourne, Australia and Folk Punk Jazz from the Occitan-speaking valleys of North-West Italy.
[PAUSE]
There’ll also be an Ivory Lady, a Little Fish, and a Wayward Rooster. Bagpipe music from Galicia, Fado from Portugal, Folk Rock from the island of Sardinia, and Gbema music from Liberia!
And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve got more remixes, refixes, re-rubs and mashups than you shake a glue stick at!
If you want to know the connection between New York’s Beastie Boys, Denmark’s Analogick, Jamaica’s Bob Marley and Virginia’s Missy Elliott then you’d better stick around!
Throw in some funky New Orleans BrassHop, plenty of Balkanic fusions from Utrecht, Vienna, Rouen and Exeter, a killer mix of Puerto Rican rap and samba and some 1930s blues - we’ve got a show."
And straight in with the Brazilian theme to the night with this classic from the carioca singer, guitarist, composer, dramatist, poet and writer: Francisco Buarque de Hollanda - better known as Chico Buarque - one of the great names of the MPB genre. This is called “Essa Moça ‘Ta Diferente”. Bliss!
2 “Essa Moça 'Ta Diferente” by Chico Buarque
Now Chico Buarque was born into a very privileged family, unlike my next artist.
Memphis Minnie had it tough from an early age and supported herself from about 12 years old onwards. But they both made good music.
I played her rather playful song about her butcher man last week and this week she asks us: If you see my rooster, please run him home!
And I don’t think she’s talking about the feathered variety either!
3 “If You See My Rooster (Please Run Him Home)” by Memphis Minnie from the album “Hoodoo Lady: 1933-1937” (Sony)
That was Memphis Minnie from the album “Hoodoo Lady:1933-1937” on the Sony label.
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Let’s stay in the America of a bygone era now, but leap ahead a decade.
This is the great Cab Calloway and the Andrews Sisters showing us how they be “Doin’ The Rhumba”.
But with the twist that Cardiff’s electroswing don Ecklectic Mick has given a little electronic polish to make it shine!
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4 “Doin’ The Rumba” (Ecklectic Mick remix) by Cab Calloway/Andrews Sisters
[CONTINUOUS]
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5 “Segura Ele” by Oscar Ibañez (Zouma)
That last track was entitled “Segura Ele” by the Galician bagpiper Oscar Ibáñez and his band.
I’m not sure whether that’s from his own album or not - since it was on a compilation sampler from his record label Zouma.
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And also on that label and also from that same Celtic corner of North-West Spain, Galicia, comes the next artist - also a bagpiper.
This is Anxo Lorenzo and from his album “Tiran” a track entitled “The Ivory Lady”.
6 “Ivory Lady” by Anxo Lorenzo from the album “Tiran” (Zouma)
I’m a real sucker for the music of the Iberian peninsula and some of its lesser known musical offerings. It’s not all flamenco folks!
Galicia, might be technically in Spain, but its language, Galego, is closer to Portuguese than Castilian Spanish.
So for the next number we’re heading south into Portugal, the birthplace and home of that most wonderful and romantic of musical styles, Fado.
This week it’s the turn of a lady by the name of Carla Pires. From her 2005 album “Ilha Do Meu Fado” (Island of my Fado) on the Ocarina label, this is “Boca da Note” (the Mouth of the Night).
7 “Boca Da Note” by Carla Pires from the album “Ilha Do Meu Fado” (Ocarina 2005)
Wasn’t that beautiful!
Europe’s a funny old place. Layer upon layer of different cultures, ethnicities and languages and constantly shifting borders and power politics.
There’s a temptation to make sense of all this by easy labelling and pigeon-holing, but as we’ve seen in Spain there are other languages and cultures besides Castilian Spanish (Galego, Catalán and Euskadi to name but three).
Even France has a huge North-South divide - true French really only derives from the Northern part where the Franks came from; for the fiercely proud southerners there is the language Occitan which spreads from the Atlantic coast near Bordeaux all the way South to the Pyrenees into Spain and across to the Mediterranean Coast and the Alps into Italy. And it’s from these valleys in the Southern Alps of Italy that the next band come.
Lou Dalfin was founded in 1982 by the hurdy-gurdy player Sergio Berardo and since then has been a bulwark in promoting the occitan language and it’s Eastern dialect.
So the next two tracks are from their 2008 album “Virasolelhs” (which means Sunflowers in English - literally “Sun Turners”).
The first is a 45 second interlude in English bizarrely called “Little Fish” and the second their irreverent mix of folk, jazz and punk in “Occitania e Basta”. Enjoy!
8 “Little Fish” by Lou Dalfin from the album “’Virasolelhs” (Felmay 2008)
[CONTINUOUS]
9 “Occitania e Basta” by Lou Dalfin from the album “‘Virasolelhs” (Felmay 2008)
A double-bill there from Italian Occitan flagbearers, Lou Dalfin.
Staying in the Mediterranean area but coming out of the Alps, heading for the coast, and sailing due south past the French-influenced island of Corsica we head toward the mysterious island of Sardinia.
An island with links both to France and especially Italy throughout it’s long history and a fiercesome reputation as a haven for pirates and brigands and savage independence, Sardinia has long kept its folklore to itself.
More recently it’s been actively promoting its output around the world. This next track is from the guitarist/singer Mauro Palmas and is from his 2005 album “Caina” on the S’ard Music label. This piece is called “Oltre Il Mare”.
10 “Oltre Il Mare” by Mauro Palmas from the album “Caina” (S’ardmusic 2005)
OK, we’re going to leave Europe far behind for the next few numbers.
At the top of the show I said that I’ve got a focus on Brazil going on in the show today and this is because I’m trying to flag up a new night taking place this Friday (21st October) at Birmingham’s very own Brazilian churrascaria restaurant, Amazon Brazil, on 197 Broad St, Birmingham (just down from the UGC Cinema).
The night called “Amazonas Groove” will feature some great Brazilian dance music of all styles and periods with samba pagode, samba de roda, carimbo, MPB, Afoxe and lashings of forró. It features DJs Zuppa Inglese, Ricardo and El Hombre Elastico on the decks, starts at 10pm and allegedly goes on till 4am and is only £5 for all that groove!
So here’s some classic forró music from the North-East of Brazil to get us going. This is Jackson do Pandeiro (from a 1991 compilation album called “Brazil Classics 3: Forró” on the Luaka Bop label and an old track entitled “Tum-Tum-Tum”.
11 “Tum-Tum-Tum” by Jackson Do Pandeiro from the album “Brazil Classics 3: Forró” (Luaka Bop 1991)
Now, during my years in South America in the 1980s I travelled the length and breadth of Brazil taking in the different styles of music in this vast country.
However I was surprised to find that the country looked as much to the outside world for inspiration.
I don’t know why I was surprised, thinking about it now, but at the time it seemed strange hearing styles that I was familiar with infused with that peculiarly Brazilian flavour that defies description.
Here’s a good example - I loved this band at the time and played the cassette to death for years afterwards, and it still gets me going now.
This is the legendary Rio rock band Os Paralamas do Suceso and from their 1984 album “O Passo Do Lui” a piece of punky brazilian ska entitled “Meu Erro”.
12 “Meu Erro” by Os Paralamas do Suceso from the album “O Passo Do Lui
Yep, still gets me rocking after all these years!
And now to one of the more defining sounds of Brazil - particularly Rio de Janeiro. Samba Batucada. This is a piece of pure percussion in the batucada style.
The band is Os Reis do Batuque (The Kings of Drumming), the album released in 1977 is entitled “Batucada No 4” and this track is “Repicando”.
13 “Repicando” by Os Reis do Batuque from the album “Batucada No 4” (Philips)
Ha ha ! Yeah, Os Reis do Batuque. And trust me that was one of the most influential albums on early British Samba schools - we all used to listen like mad to each track trying to pick apart the rhythms, work out the techniques used and memorise the breaks.
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OK, let’s move ahead over 30 years and to a particular favourite of mine Brazilian singer, Flavia Bittencourt who I had the pleasure of interviewing on this very show a few weeks ago.
Flavia is originally from the State of Maranhão in the far North East of Brazil, but now lives in Rio.
She contacted me last week and sent me a couple more of her tracks over.
So this one is a track I saw her perform here in Birmingham a couple of times.
It’s a rocky forró called “Parangolé Bounce”.
14 “Parangolé Bounce” by Flavia Bittencourt
Lovely, thanks for that Flavia.
How’s about some very traditional nordestina music now? Here’s a band formed way back in 1924 (yes, that’s what I said) and who only recorded their first album in 1972 when they went all the way down to Rio! The album was called “Zabumba Caruarú” and is as fresh today as it was then.
The band is called Banda de Pífanos de Caruarú and play in a very traditional formation that not only includes the zabumba drum and triangle (found in forró music) but also clashed cymbals, rattling tarol snare and several flutes known as pífanos.
This track is the shoulder-shaking, butt-wriggling, full-steam ahead express train that is “Cavalinho Cavalão” - take a listen and you’ll see what I mean. I defy anyone to sit still during this!
15 “Cavalinho Cavalão” by Banda de Pífanos de Caruarú
[CHANGE CDs!!]
[Don’t forget you’re listening to . . .]
Now, I’m going to take a break from Brazil for the moment - but we’ll be returning there in a few tracks’ time.
This next track comes from Liberia in West Africa and has been heard all over that country this Summer - probably the most played track of all. The artists are Junior Freeman and African Soldier and it’s being released outside of Liberia by the Ghana-based record label Akwaaba Music.
The story behind it is worth telling. The track is performed in a style known as Gbema - where traditional Liberian music is taken and - as someone described - is put through a “digital sieve”. At the same time there is a musical renaissance growing throughout Liberia and a whole generation of young urban-dwellers are creating new forms of music and speech, including the hip-hop influenced genre of Hipco.
Liberia’s language is English, but stems from its history as a nation artificially carved out of a part of West Africa to take newly freed African-American slaves and repatriate them in an attempt to make amends for displacing them in the first place. I suppose a little like what happened in Europe with the Jews and the creation of modern Israel.
The name itself stems from ‘Liberation’, so I suppose the country means “Freedom”. Sadly, Liberia has suffered severely with a dreadful civil war for years - freedom is one thing, quality of life is another.
This catchy, upbeat tune is actually quite political in nature and Junior Freeman takes the market-place phrase “Dumyarea” (This is my area) and speaks to the masses of staking their own place within this battered country.
The phrase and concept became so popular that even the President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf used the song to launch her re-election campaign. She is the first and only female president in Africa and also the joint winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.
So, here you go, from the “Lone Stars Vol. 1: Hipco & Gbema” album on the Akwaaba Music label, this is Junior Freeman and African Soldier and the track “Dumyarea”
(1) 16 “Dumyarea” by Junior Freeman & African Soldier from the album “Lone Stars Vol. 1: Hipco & Gbema” (Akwaaba Music)
[CONTINUOUS]
(2) 17 “Amen Gypsy” by E-Coli
Ha ha! Complete change of style and pace there!
That was some heavy Balkanic dubstep courtesy of DJ and mixer, E-Coli, all the way from Exeter in Devon!
Bet you didn’t see that one coming did you!
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Ok, back to Brazil now and some old school forró followed by some very jazzy forró.
First up is the very hard to track down David Cruz and a track entitled “O Corpo Precisa de Alcóol” (the body needs alcohol)!
Ok if you say so, David...
(3) 18 “O Corpo Precisa de Alcóol” by David Cruz
[CONTINUOUS]
(4) 19 “Forro” by Sivuca from the album “Brasil” (Soul Jazz Records 1994)
You just heard one of my all-time favourite Brazilian tracks.
A track entitled simply “Forró” from a 1994 album entitled simply “Brasil” on Soul Jazz Records - delivered with breathtaking skill, energy and panache by the legendary accordionist Sivuca.
I’ve been DJing with that one for years and long shall I continue to - absolutely love it!
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The last now in the Brazilian focus on the show, although in fact this is a mashup between Puerto Rico and Brazil.
Take the latter’s Erasmo Carlos and the former’s Calle 13 - two young rappers and reggaetoneros with a huge pan-latino following all over latin america extending from street-level latinos through musical and political champions like Rubén Blades right up to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez (these guys have made an impression on all of them) - and then let it all be mashed up by one of my favourite mixers, the carioca, DJ LK and this is what you get “Samba de los Aburridos”.
I love it!
(5) 20 “Samba de los Aburridos” (DJ LK mashup) by Calle 13 vs Erasmo Carlos
[CONTINUOUS]
(6) 21 “Alive Gipsy” (DJ Magyar) by Beastie Boys vs. Analogik ft. Dunkelbunt
That was another mashup - this time cooked up by DJ Magyar from Utrecht.
Featuring Danish jazzy-balkanists Analogik’s “Gipsy Doodle”, New York’s much sampled rappers The Beastie Boys, Vienna’s Ulf Lindeman aka [dunkelbunt] and of course Helen, Roy and Roy at the beginning.
Did you slip off your shoes and run on the spot?
More mad mashups now.
This one’s The Beastie Boys again but this time they run up against Bob Marley in Barcelona-based mashers and mixers Neblina Sound’s track “Triple Chatterbox” from the album “Recycled Mashups Vol 1”.
Do you want to know ‘the Real Deal about the Three’?
.
(7) 22 “Beastie Boys vs Bob Marley - Triple Chatterbox” by Neblina Sound from the album “Recycled Mashups Vol. 1” (Neblina Sounds)
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Ok, let’s whizz right round the world now all the way to Melbourne in Australia and one of Oz’s most celebrated world music bands: Blue King Brown.
Really like these guys.
They’re releasing a new album soon, but this one is from their 2006 album “Stand-Up” on Roots Level Records and it’s called simply “Water”.
Trust me this is a monster tune!
Time to get bouncing in your chairs again!
(8) 23 “Water” by Blue King Brown from the album “Stand-Up” (Roots Level Records, 2006)
Fantastic, Australia’s Blue King Brown there.
Fancy some balkan madness?
Here you go then.
This is the balkanesque band Flex’Orkestar from Normandy in Northern France and a piece remixed by Rouen’s M’siou Rigolitch, who I’m a big fan of, entitled “Hora de la Bucuresti”.
Hold on to your hats guys - here we go!
(9) 24 “Hora de la Bucuresti” by M'siou Rigolitch VS Flex'Orkestar
That’s enough to shake your cobwebs out!
Let’s get it on - I think it’s time for Virginia’s Missy Elliott and Belgium’s Typsy Gypsy of the Balkan Hotsteppers to get their freak on, dub styleeeeeeee!
(10) 25 “Get Your Freak On” (Typsy Gypsy Remix) by Missy Elliot
[CONTINUOUS]
(11) 26 “Sandman Jamming” (DJ LK mashup) by Metallica vs Bob Marley
Bet you didn’t see that one coming.
Rio’s DJ LK and his unlikely mashup between the king of reggae Bob Marley and California’s heavy metal royalty, Metallica in “Sandman Jamming”.
OK, time to go now.
[Shoutouts, reminders - Amazonas Groove, Leeanne etc at the Edge, I WON’T be here NEXT week -so it’ll be pre-recorded show. Off to Womex see you all in a fortnight, etc]
This next track is a remix. What do you get if you merge the Looney Tunes Brass Band with the High Steppers Brass Band?
The Hot 8 Brass Band of course!
These guys from New Orleans blend hip-hop, jazz and funk alongside traditional Crescent City brass traditions.
They’re signed to the UK’s Tru Thoughts label (alongside Quantic) and are the label’s only American signing.
They also appeared in Spike Lee’s 2006 documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina “When The Levees Broke”.
This is East London’s Henry Orchard’s house remix of the Hot 8s version of Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”!
Still with me? Don’t worry, just enjoy it!
See you all in a fortnight!
(12) 27 “Sexual Healing” (Post Toby Mix) by Hot 8 Brass Band (Henry Orchard remix)
WorldBeatUK (30th Show) - Broadcast Notes (12/10/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Piers Faccini Lil Nathan DJ LK Trio Juriti Pedro Ramaya Beltran Beatriz Aguiar Marcelino Azaguate Martin Alvarado Fernandez Fierro Earth Wheel Sky Taraf de Haidouks Dorantes Ana Sofia Varela Zulu 9.30 Karamelo Strut Congotronics
WBUK30 (12/10/11) - SHOWNOTES
1 “Intro-Mat” (1:47) - Matchatcha - “Nyekesse” (Melodie) - Soukous
“Welcome to another two hours of great world music on WorldBeatUK!
[Pause]
I’m Glyn Phillips and you’re tuned into Rhubarb Radio and the two hours of transcultural audio joy that is WorldBeatUK. Stay with me from now until 9pm tonight whilst I bring you songs of love, lust and longing!
Find out why Ieye wants Johnny, Ali Chukwumah is singing about Henrietta and why Zulu 9.30 are raving about Carmelita.
Lil Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers are begging their girl to come back, but Miss Mama just want to call a taxi.
And what on earth does Memphis Minnie mean when she says her Butcher Man can slice her pork chops and grind her sausage too . . . ?! Ooh er Missus!
[PAUSE]
Yep, tonight we’re going to dance with firemen, give thanks to life, plant naughty herbs with Marlon Asher, get covered in gypsy dust, buzz and rumble in the urban jungle, school the duke and take Bucovina to Barranquilla.
We’re also going to mix bossa with 90s hip-hop, funk-up the cumbia, cumbia-up the balkan and balkan-up the dancehall...
... as well as roam the southern cone to tonadas, chacareras and tangos, float away with fateful fado and beautiful bulerias, and come down to earth with earthy cumbias, feisty forros, zesty zydeco and pioneering blues.
Finally we end up discovering that unconditional love makes for a wonderful world. Stick around for the ride of your life…”
I’m going to ease us into tonight’s very eclectic offerings with some gentle, wistful country music, or is it blues, or is it world, or is it . . . ?
Dunno, it’s nice though!
This is Piers Faccini (at times sounding like a young John Martyn) from his brand new album on the 6 Degrees Record label. This is the title track: “My Wilderness”
2 “My Wilderness” (3:23) - Piers Faccini - “My Wilderness” (6 Degrees Records) - Country/Blues
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Here’s another laid-back mix of styles that works really well - sort of 21st century RnB meets Zydeco! Unusual? Maybe, but very good too. Love the groove on this one.
This is Lil Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers and a track from the newly-released “Rough Guide To Cajun and Zydeco” that I was talking about last week on the World Music Network label.
This one’s a love song called “Come Back To Me”
3 “Come Back to Me” (5:57) - Lil Nathan And The Zydeco Big Timers - “The Rough Guide To Cajun & Zydeco” (World Music Network) - Zydeco
Now, the Brazilians have long been famous for their laid back music in particular bossa novas and one of the great names of the 1960s MPB period there was none other than Vinicius de Moraes.
Here he teams up with Toquinho for De Moraes’s classic “Canto de Ossanha” a song about love and the need or otherwise of involving the orixas (the gods and goddesses of afro-brazilian religions such as candomblé and umbanda) in getting it.
But here’s the twist: in this version the Brazilian remixer DJ LK has mashed-up the original with a version by the 1990s Californian hip-hop crew Jurassic 5!
As ever with DJ LK it’s all deliciously done!
4 “Canto De Ossanha (DJ LK MASHUP)” (3:23 - Vinicius de Moraes & Toquinho vs Jurassic 5 - “DJ LK Mashup” - mashup
[CONTINUOUS]
5 “My Butcher Man” (3:01) - Memphis Minnie - “Hoodoo Lady: 1933-1937” (Sony) - Blues
Yeah, and that was a little slice of blues history there from the mid 1930s. That was the woefully ignored female blues singer Memphis Minnie and a rather naughty song called “My Butcher Man”.
As I said at the top of the show what on earth does she mean when she says her Butcher Man can slice her pork chops and grind her sausage too . . . ! Ooh er Missus!
You can find that on the Sony release “Hoodoo Lady: 1933-1937”.
I just want to take a moment to talk about Memphis Minnie, because she ought to be known at least as well as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey in the annals of pioneering female Blues singers - and since October is Black History month all over the UK, now’s the right time to put the records straight.
Minnie was born Lizzie Douglas in 1897 in Algiers, Louisiana, and learned to play both guitar and banjo whilst a little girl. She ran away from home aged 13 and went to live in Memphis, Tennessee where she earned a living playing in nightclubs and on the street under the moniker “Kid” Douglas and a year later she joined the Ringling Brothers circus.
Over the years Lizzie built up a fiery reputation both as a performer - where she was considered to be the equal of any of the male bluesmen both in terms of her guitar playing, singing and songwriting, once wiping the floor with Big Bill Broonzy at a blues competition - and as a flamboyant character who took no nonsense from anyone. She was an incredibly prolific artist having recorded hundreds of tracks over her 30 year career.
Now with her stage name changed to Memphis Minnie, she was billed as ‘the woman who plays guitar like a man’ and although she performed a large repertoire and not just blues, it was her risqué lyrics and double-entendres that gained her both a large following and much notoriety.
As her fame spread she would turn up at concerts in posh cars, wearing bracelets made of silver dollars and would incongruously spit tobacco juice with great accuracy whilst performing in beautiful dresses. She was married about three times to other blues guitarists, but it was always Minnie that was the main attraction, pioneering the use of the electric guitar and leading country blues into urban blues long before it became fashionable.
To give some idea of her influence, she has been cited by both Maria Muldaur and Bonnie Raitt as a musical hero (Bonnie actually paying for Minnie’s headstone when she died) and wrote the blues song “When The Levee Breaks” - made famous afterwards by Led Zeppelin (although with a different melody and slightly altered lyrics).
So there you go, Memphis Minnie - go and find out more about her for Black History month.
Ok, if that all sounded like a bit of a lecture then that’s quite appropriate for the next track.
Jamaica’s Don Drummond and “Schooling the Duke”!
6 “Schooling The Duke” (2:38) - Don Drummond - “The Best Of Don Drummond” - Ska
Ok, for the next six tracks or so we’re heading over to South America.
Firstly, we’re going to land in Brazil’s smallest state Sergipe in the North-East of this vast country and the home of forró music and here the three young musicians of the Trio Juriti play accordion, triangle and a drum in a jaunty little number entitled “Forró de Plic Plac”
7 “Forró de Plic Plac” (2:54) - Trio Juriti - “Music from Sergipe” - Forró
If you like Brazilian music, then don’t forget that from next Friday (that is the 21st October) there’ll be a brand new Brazilian music night in Brum hosted by myself and my old DJ partner Zuppa Inglese. The night’s called “Amazonas Groove” and takes place at the beautiful Brazilian churrascaria restaurant Amazon Brazil at 197 Broad Street, Birmingham from 10pm till 4am. Loads of highly danceable authentic Brazilian music, including forró!
And from the North-East of Brazil we are going North-West again all the way round to the Caribbean coast of Colombia to hear some traditional cumbia courtesy of Pedro Ramaya Beltran and a track played on clarinet, tambores and maracas alone. Wonderful!
This is from the album “El Rey de Millo” and is called “La Peluca”
¡Güeeeeepaaaa! ¡Pura Cumbia!
8 “La Peluca (El Rey del Millo)” (4:46) - Pedro Ramaya Beltran - “El Rey del Millo” - Cumbia
Well-known as cumbia now is across the world, you don’t often get to hear traditional cumbia like that! Excellent.
And as a contrast here’s a South American music form that is very little known (yet one of my favourites) but here played in a very modern style and setting. The rhythm is known as chacarera and is to be found from Northern Argentina through Bolivia and Paraguay and into Southern Brazil.
Here it’s given a jazzy treatment by the Uruguyan singer Beatriz Aguiar who is now based in Holland.
This is called “Agua” (water).
9 “Agua” (3:18) - Beatriz Aguiar - Sampler (2010) (MeloMusic.NL) - Chacarera
Next to Uruguay of course is the very much larger country of Argentina - a country in fact that is as large as the whole of Western Europe. And you’d be wrong if you thought it was all about tangos and milongas. Argentina’s folklore is deep and rich.
So, here’s an offering from the little known Western border where the Andes Mountain range runs all the way down the length of the country. Roughly in the middle of that you’ll find the city of Mendoza and from there the musician Marcelino Azaguate.
This track has been produced by the rather more famous Mendocino Goy Karamelo (who usually sports a huge set of dreadlocks and whose music and remixes I’ve often featured on the programme); however here Goy just allows Marcelino to do what he does best.
The music form is called tonada and this beautiful track is entitled “Soy La Tonada”.
10 “Soy La Tonada” (2:26) - Marcelino Azaguate Huarpe (prod. by Goy Karamelo) - “Tejedora” - Tonada (Huarpe Folclore)
Lovely. In fact it might be argued that Western Argentina shares more in common with its neighbour on the other side of the Andes range, Chile, than with its own capital Buenos Aires. Certainly tonadas are prevalent all over Chile, a country that loves its folklore.
And so this leads me on to another Argentine-Chilean link for the next tune. During the 1960s Chile underwent something of a folk revolution (or certainly a counter-culture) where young Chileans started to really appreciate the music forms and instruments of the Andes and of the different regions of this long thin country. They started by collecting and learning the old songs and tunes and later by incorporating what they’d learnt into new songs.
One of the greatest folk-artists of that time - and in fact one of the greatest of all Latin America in the 20th century - was the singersongwriter Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval - commonly known as Violeta Parra, who is credited with being one of the driving forces behind the concept of ‘Nueva Canción’ which spread across South America and up to Cuba and even echoed via the likes of Joan Baez in the USA.
And from the great Violeta what else but what is probably the most famous of all the Latin American nueva cancion genre: “Gracias a la Vida”.
This song is one of the most covered latin american songs ever written. Personally, I knew it from the great Argentine folksinger the late Mercedes Sosa who I was lucky enough to see twice in the 1980s and even now has the ability to bring tears to my eyes.
Here it’s sung by the Argentine singer Martin Alvarado - who I’ve been featuring over the last few weeks since he’s coming to the UK on tour in November and will be performing at the mac on Sunday 19th November.
This is a starkly beautiful version of the anthemic “Gracias a la Vida” (Thanks to Life)
11 “Gracias A La Vida” (3:34) - Martin Alvarado & Horacio Avilano Trio - “Mas Alla” (Fonocal) - Canción
Gorgeous. Martin Alvarado there - as I say he’ll be at the mac in Birmingham on Nov 19th so put that in your diaries.
Now that was what is known as a canción but Martin is more famous for singing tangos and milongas. And so I’m going to follow that with a couple of tangos.
First of all is the Tango Orchestra Orquesta Típica Fernandez Fierro and a track that is originally not a tango at all but a zamba. Yes, life’s never straightforward on my show is it!
Zamba with a ‘z’ (not to be confused with it’s Brazilian neighbour samba with an ’s’) is a musical form mostly found in Northern Argentina - and I’m much enamoured of it. It’s more connected to the Andean gauchos than the porteño gangsters and this is one of the most famous, written by the great Argentine classical guitarist Eduardo Falú, but here given the Fernandez Fierro tango treatment.
Confused? Don’t worry, just enjoy!
From the album “Mucha Mierda” this is “Zamba de la Candelaria”
12 “Zamba de la Candelaria” (3:54) - Orquesta Típica Fernandez Fierro - “Mucha Mierda” - Tango
And now from Argentine Tango to European Gipsy Tango!
This is the Earth Wheel Sky Band and a track called “Tikno Luludi”
13 “Tikno Luludi” (1:58) - Earth Wheel Sky Band - “Gipsy Tango” - Gipsy Tango
[CONTINUOUS]
14 “Dance Of The Firemen” (1:30) - Taraf De Haïdouks - “Band Of Gypsies” (Crammed Discs) - Balkan
Ha ha! That was the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks and a short track called Sirba Pompierilor (or Dance of the Firemen) featuring the 77 year old Neculae Neacsu on creaking, croaking violin string accompanied by the double bass, accordion and cymbalom.
I enjoyed that, so here’s another from the same album “Band of Gypsies” on the Belgian Crammed Discs label. This is Taraf again and “Cacurica Dances”
15 “Cacurica Dances” (1:31) - Taraf De Haïdouks - “Band Of Gypsies” (Crammed Discs) - Balkan
[CHANGE CDs!!!]
[You’re listening to ….]
Now a real treat - well, I reckon so anyway.
This is from an album I picked up about four years ago but have only just got round to listening to! Yes I know, hard to believe isn’t it! But I’m a busy man and sometimes they just slip out of your consciousness.
I’m so glad I found it and took the wrapper off - if only for this one track alone.
It’s from Spain, from the promotional album “Flamenco Por Andalucía, España Y La Humanidad” on the Szena Records label and is simply entitled “Bulerías” (which if you not familiar with it, refers to one of the many different forms of flamenco as opposed to an actual song-title itself).
What I like about it is that you usually only hear flamenco played on guitar, but here it’s played on piano.
This is Dorantes, here accompanied by singer Esperanza Fernández.
Lush, romantic, understated. I love this!
1 (16) “Bulerías” (4:21) - Dorantes Y Esperanza Fernández - “Flamenco Por Andalucía, España Y La Humanidad” (Szena Records) - Bulerías
Aah! Wasn’t that beautiful?
And what to follow that with?
Well, more beauty of course. And one of my favourite songforms of all time: Fado!
So, from Portugal, this is the wonderful Ana Sofia Varela and from her album “Fados de Amor e Pecado” (fados of love and sin) the title track.
2 (17) “Fado de Amor e Pecado” (4:40) - Ana Sofia Varela - “Fados de Amor e Pecado” (iPlay Music) - Fado
What to follow that?
Time for something different.
Still in the Iberian peninsular but North-East to Barcelona and Zulu 9.30’s “Carmelita” remixed here by Rude Hi-Fi from Zulu 9.30’s “Remixes” album on the Kasba label.
3 (18) “Carmelita” (3:42) - Zulu 9.30 (Rude HI-FI remix) - “Remixes” (Kasba)
Now, earlier on I played you a piece of Argentine tonada by Marcelino Azaguate from his album produced by veteran Mendocino musician and punk-reggae artist and mixer, Goy Karamelo.
Well, here’s a really interesting track from Goy’s old band Karamelo Santo from their album “La Gente Arriba” - it’s a reggae cumbia version of a track made famous by Old Satchmo himself, Louis Armstrong!
Not guessed yet? Well, this has got be one of the most uplifting of songs, and a really whimsical version of it too.
Imagine if we were all as happy and as chilled as this: it’d be a wonderful world, wouldn’t it!
4 (19) “Wonderful World” (4:10) - Karamelo Santo - “La Gente Arriba!” - (Sony BMG 2006; K Industria 2011) - Reggae-Cumbia
[CONTINUOUS]
5 (20) “Unconditional Love” aka ‘Ganja Farmer’ (3:57) - Marlon Asher - “Cultural Lovers' Rock” (ERNI 2009) - Reggae
Yeah, first you heard Karamelo Santo’s version of “Wonderful World” and that was followed by a track that was heard all over Birmingham in the last couple of years - at least in my part of it.
That was Marlon Asher’s “Unconditional Love” (aka Ganja Farmer).
That one went out to Silvalili as a special request. Not that we condone any activities of that kind, I hasten to add! But it’s a great tune anyway.
As is this next one. From 1970s Nigeria a sublime piece of Ibo Highlife from Ali Chukwumah and his Peace Makers International.
Re-released this year on the fabulous Strut Records album “Sweet Times: Afro Funk, Highlife and Juju from 1970s Lagos” as part of their Nigeria 70 series, this is “Henrietta”.
6 (21) “Henrietta” (4:40) - Ali Chukwuma & His Peace Makers International - “Sweet Times” (Strut Records) - Nigerian Ibo Highlife
[CONTINUOUS]
7 (22) “Wa Muluendu (world)” (4:00) - Masanka Sankayi & Kasai Allstars - “Congotronics 2” (Crammed Discs) - African (Congo)
Yeah, what a great groove!! That was a piece from the Congo recorded in Kinshasa and was from album “Congotronics 2: Buzz’n’Rumble from the Urb’n’Jungle” on the Crammed Discs label from Belgium (who put out some great stuff).
The track was called “Wa Muluendu” and the band was Masanka Sankayi and the Kasai Allstars featuring Mutumilayi.
And since we’re firmly in some very funky, urban territory now how about this?
This is the Spiritual South Remix of the Ska Cubano cover of the classic Lito Barrientos cumbia from the 1960s “Cumbia en Do Menor” (still with me?).
Like one of Dr Bach’s homeopathic herbal remedies there’s precious little of the original left to be heard, but it’s a great groove anyway . . .
Stick with it ‘cause afterward we’re going to hit up some mad balkanic cumbia and balkan dancehall - don’t go away!
8 (23) “Cumbia En Do Menor” (5:20) - Ska Cubano (Spiritual South Remix) - “Ajiaco! The Remix Album” (Absolute UK, 2008) - Ska Cubano
[CONTINUOUS]
9 (24) “Bucovina en Barranquilla” (3:07) - Danochilango - Balkan Cumbia
Yeah, that was Danochilango’s Balkan Cumbia “Bucovina en Barranquilla”.
Sticking with that balkan vibe as promised this is another mad mashup - balkan dancehall styleee from France’s Watcha Clan vs Mims, Cham & Junior Reid all mashed together by the Balkan Hotsteppers.
This is called “Gypsy Dust is Hot!”
10 (25) “Gypsy Dust is Hot (This Is Why We Hot)” (4:24) - Watcha Clan vs. Mims, Cham & Junior Reid (Balkan Hotsteppers) - Balkan Dancehall mashup
Ok, got time for about another one or two that’s all, so this is the gorgeous Jamaican singer Ieye (no relation to Brummie Rocksteady crew 1EYE btw!) and a track from her album “Fever Grass” entitled “Johnny”
11 (26) “Johnny” (4:10) - Ieye - “Fever Grass” - Reggae
OK that’s it.
[Shoutouts, Reminders, etc - Amazonas Groove and Arriba]
I’m going to leave you with a French Reggae band singing a song in English written by a Brummie.
The band is called Miss Mama and from their live album “T’as Raison” this is a track written by Steel Pulse’s David Hinds called “Taxi Driver”.
.
.
.
See ya’ll next week.
Taxi!!!!!
12 (27) “Taxi Driver” (3:58) - Miss Mama - “T’as Raison !” (Douzetafs) - Reggae
WorldBeatUK (29th Show) - Broadcast Notes (5/10/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Cedric Watson Whiskey River Francesca Ancarola Tomas de Perrate 1EYE Martin Alvarado Diwan Project Seckou Keita Mabon Horace Trahan Cobra Verde Si Bemol Mdungu Huba Manteca Sidestepper Fissunix Pedro Moutinho Pilao de Pif
WBUK29 (5/10/11) - SHOWNOTES
1 “Intro-Mat” (1:47) by Matchatcha - “Nyekesse” (Melodie)
"Hello! Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin… (Pause) Welcome to another weekly dose of wonderful world music right here on Rhubarb Radio. You’re listening to WorldBeatUK with me, Glyn Phillips, tirelessly scouring the outer reaches of global musicality to bring you the stuff the others don’t!
Stick with me here on Rhubarb Radio until 9pm tonight (UK time) whilst I bring sonic treasures from Argentina, Chile and Brazil, audio gems from Romania, Finland, Wales and Israel, harmonic gold from Holland, Spain, Portugal and Gambia and auricular riches from Louisiana, Hereford and even dear old Brummajum itself!
[Pause]
Yes, climb aboard the Good Ship WorldBeatUK because deep in the holds I’ve got another treasure chest packed with musical booty - and there’s plenty more junk in the trunk with some dirty, accordion-pumping, squeezebox action as well! There’s also a definite jazzy, soulful, funky undercurrent coursing beneath the hull throughout the evening, but you’ll feel that later on as we hit the High Seas of the World Music Oceans.
But for the moment let’s just stow you all aboard, break open the rum, distribute the ship’s biscuits, cast off, catch the tide and set sail out of the harbour…"
Now I’ve just got hold of a new release by World Music Network - the people behind the Rough Guide series of CDs. If you don’t know them, then they give you a very useful overview of the current state of play in different areas of world music. For instance, recent releases have included the Rough Guides to English Folk, Sufi Music, and Brazilian Cafe.
The nice thing is that when you buy a CD you get another one highlighting the work of one of the groups featured on the compilation for free. So, for instance with the Rough Guide to English Folk you also get included a CD retrospective of the work of the amazing Yorkshire acapella trio Coope, Boyes and Simpson.
The CD I’m featuring at the moment is the Rough Guide to Cajun and Zydeco, which I can thoroughly recommend, some great stuff on it indeed.
I’m going to be playing a couple of tracks from it tonight and first up is someone I’ve played before on the show, the great Cedric Watson and his band Bijou Creole and a track called “Afro Zydeco”
2 “Afro Zydeco” (5:07) by Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole - “The Rough Guide To Cajun & Zydeco” (World Music Network)
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Always a lot of fun when Cedric’s in the house! That one’s going out to Dylan.
If you go to www.worldmusic.co.uk and look in the Galleries section you can see some photos of Cedric Watson at a concert a couple of years ago or so.
I’ve got some more great zydeco coming up later on in the show, so keep your ears open for that 'cause I’m really excited about that one too!
Cedric’s from Louisiana, but you don’t have to necessarily travel there to hear great American music.
Just a couple of hours or so down the road from Birmingham (England, not Alabama) is the ancient market city of Hereford.
And from there comes a great band called Whiskey River who play a mixture of Blues, Country, Cajun, Zydeco etc, etc.
They’ve just released a new album called “Hot Sauce!” and I’m playing a couple more tracks from it tonight.
First off is a lovely country ballad called “Wild Horses” with vocals by Marty Blake.
3 “Wild Horses” (4:42) by Whiskey River - “Hot Sauce!”
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Yeah, beautiful. Now I promised a jazzy, soulful undercurrent to the show tonight and here’s the first offering. I absolutely love this, not at all what I expected when I got the CD through.
The singer is from Chile in South America and she’s called Francesca Ancarola. She blends jazz and soul with traditional latin american songforms and sings in a mixture of Spanish and English.
This is from her album “Sons of the Same Sun” and is called “To The Shore Of The Sea”.
4 “To The Shore Of The Sea” (4:06) by Francesca Ancarola - “Sons of the Same Sun”
Yeah, loving that - especially the way it seamlessly goes from jazz and soul and waltz and ends up with that flamenco flavour!
Which leads me on effortlessly onto one of Spain’s many great flamenco singers. This is one I came across a few years ago in Seville.
His name is Tomás de Perrate and from his album on the Flamenco Vivo label called “Perraterías” a great piece of Reggae-Flamenco in the style of ‘tangos de Málaga’ called “El Piyayo”
5 “El Piyayo (Tangos de Málaga)” (4:06) by Tomás de Perrate - “Perraterías” (Flamenco Vivo)
OK, Here’s another group of which I’m playing two songs tonight.
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The band is from right here in Birmingham, England and are called 1EYE.
I saw them in concert at the Hare and Hounds a couple of week’s ago and can thoroughly recommend them! Their new album still doesn’t have a name, but here’s a sneak preview from the promo CD.
This a lovely piece of Brummie rocksteady (produced in Jamaica) and it’s called “Lately”.
6 “Lately” (3:08) by 1EYE - (Industry Records 2011)
And a real change of pace now - I’m going to call into one of the great ports of South America - Buenos Aires, Argentina! From there comes the young tango singer Martin Alvarado.
Martín will be touring the UK in November and will be coming to Birmingham on Sunday 19th November to perform at the mac. I’m definitely going and really looking forward to that.
Here’s a little taste of what to expect. This is from his first album “Así Es Mi Tango” on the Fonocal label and a track entitled “Estás En Mi Corazón” (You are in my heart).
7 “Estás En Mi Corazón” (2:53) by Martin Alvarado - “Así Es Mi Tango” (Fonocal)
Wasn’t that lush! I’ve got a couple more sonically gorgeous tracks lined up. The first is from a CD called The Diwan Project.
Now, I’ve had this CD a little while, but like many deep things, be they books, music or people, it sometimes it takes time, patience and the right approach to understand what they are all about. It was like this for me with this album and I’m glad I’ve gone back to it and can appreciate it now.
The Diwan Project was founded in 2003 by Gil Ron Shama (whose work always searches for the similarities and connections between disparate communities such as Jews and Muslims) and Alon Amano Campino. The Diwan Project is not so much a musical band as a cultural experiment to bring musicians and audience together to mutually experience sacred music.
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The Jews of Medieval Spain had a tradition of meeting outside a synagogue after a prayer session and combining song and piyut (a kind of sacred poetry) and searching for shechina (ie the divine presence) through this exploration of both performers and audience. This was the Diwan.
So what you’re about hear is an ensemble performing traditional music and song but in a free and contemporary style on old instruments from the Jewish Diaspora. This is called “I Heard That Crushed”
8 “I Heard That Crushed” (5:38) by The Diwan Project - “The Diwan Project”
This weekend down in Bristol at the Colston Hall there’s going to be special event called the Schumacher Centenary Festival to mark the 100th anniversary of E F Schumacher the green pioneer who coined the phrase and wrote the book “small is beautiful” and was also founder of the Soil Association.
During the daytimes there will be lectures and discussions and workshops, but on the Saturday - the 8th October - they are putting on a mini-festival programmed by WOMAD’s former Artistic Director Thomas Brooman, with an impressive array of World Music artists including Trilok Gurtu, The Dhol Foundation, Colores de Colombia, Jamie Smith’s Mabon and Seckou Keita as well as more local artists.
So to give you a taste of what’s on there here’s a couple of tracks from two of the artists appearing.
First is the experimental Gambian kora player Seckou Keita - here with his quintet - Gambians Surahata Susso on percussion and Binta Suso on vocals, Italian Davide Mantovani on bass and the Egyptian violinist Samy Bishal.
This is is a track from his album “The Silimbo Passage” on the World Artventures label and it’s called “Dingba Don”.
9 “Dingba Don” (3:58) by Seckou Keita Quintet - “The Silimbo Passage” (World Artventures)
And following on from Seckou Keita, a band that is also appearing at the smallWorld mini-festival in Bristol this weekend, the British Interceltic folkers, Jamie Smith’s Mabon.
I’ve played numerous tracks by them over the last year and also written about their appearances at both last year’s Womex and this year’s Womad (both reviews can be seen at www.worldmusic.co.uk if you’re interested - Womad review here: www.worldmusic.co.uk/jamie_smiths_mabon_radio_3_stage_womad_29711).
This one’s a an up-beat headbanger from their award-winning “Live at the Grand Pavillion” album and it’s called “The Hustler”.
10 “The Hustler” (Live) (4:16) by Mabon - “Live At The Grand Pavillion” (Easy On the Records 2010)
That was the first of four accordion-based pieces in a row I’m playing. I’ve already spun you some wonderful zydeco at the top of the show and now’s the time for some more from the Rough Guide to Cajun and Zydeco.
This is my absolute favourite from the album, it’s a dirty, funky, groover by Horace Trahane sung in both English and Creole French and takes its title from a Jamaican expression apparently.
This is “Same Knife Cut The Sheep, Cut The Goat” - Turn up the volume and laisser le bons temps rouler!
11 “Same Knife Cut The Sheep, Cut The Goat” (3:49) by Horace Trahan - “The Rough Guide To Cajun & Zydeco” (World Music Network)
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Ha ha! Love that one!
Ok so time now for the second one from Hereford’s Whiskey River from their new album “Hot Sauce!” and it’s a cajun dancefloor filler called “Les Flammes d’Enfer”.
If you live anywhere near the Welsh Marches either side of the border you might come across these guys so keep your eyes peeled for them.
Now where’s that gumbo?
12 “Les Flammes d’Enfer” (4:27) by Whiskey River - “Hot Sauce!”
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13 “Forró de Cobra Verde” (2:50) by Cobra Verde - “Forró do Baú” (Cinq Planetes)
[CHANGE THE CDs!!]
You’re listening to WorldBeatUK on Rhubarb Radio with me, Glyn Phillips, taking you on a musical journey around the world.
Don’t forget you can join me every Wednesday on www.rhubarbradio.com between the hours of 7-9pm (UK time) and I’ll try to bring you the best in world music from across the Seven Seas...
OK, what you heard before was the last of four accordion-driven pieces and was a forró from the State of Sergipe in North-East Brazil called “Forró de Cobra Verde” by the accordionist Cobra Verde from the album “Forró do Baú on the French Cinq Planetes label.
We’re going to stay in North-East Brazil for this next one. This is a style of music based on the Brazilian pifano instrument - a type of reed flute - originally played by the indigenous inhabitants of the sertão region.
Here in the hands of the band Pilão de Pif it’s used to great effect in the tune “Meu Pilão de Pif”
(1) 14 “Meu Pilão de Pif” (2:48) by Pilão de Pif - “Music from Sergipe” (promo CD)
What about that then?
The majority language spoken in Brazil is Portuguese of course, so I’m going to indulge us in some lusophonic lyricism from the mother country for the next couple of numbers.
This is the fadisto Pedro Moutinho, and a traditional sounding track from the promo album “Lisboa Mora Aqui” called “Não Sabe Como Voltar”
(2) 15 “Não Sabe Como Voltar” (2:11) by Pedro Moutinho - “Lisboa Mora Aqui”
Well, as I said that was a very traditional take on Portugal’s most famous song form, the sometimes playful, oft-times melancholic, but always beautiful fado.
But you’d be mistaken to think that the Portuguese are afraid to experiment with this almost sacred artform.
This is the band Si Bemol from their album “Fado Em Si Bemol” and their jazz-fado take on an absolute classic, originally made famous by Amália Rodrigues.
This is their live version of “Coimbra”
(3) 16 “Coimbra” (4:18) by Si Bemol - “Fado Em Si Bemol”
You see, someone else like me who can appreciate the artistic merits of the mouth-trumpet and silly scat-singing! Love it!
OK, once more back to a second helping of someone who I’ve already featured earlier on tonight.
And just as Si Bemol have taken classic fado and given it a jazzy twist, so the Chilean singer Francesca Ancarola takes the old afro-peruvian song form of landó and gives it a jazz and soul interpretation.
I’m loving this. From the album “Sons of the Same Sun” this is called “Scarebadthings”.
(4) 17 “Scarebadthings” (4:46) by Francesca Ancarola - “Sons of the Same Sun”
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(5) 18 “Pick Up”(4:24) by Mdungu - “Afro What?” (Zimbraz)
That was a track called “Pick Up” by the Dutch band Mdungu from their album “Afro What?” on the Zimbraz label.
I’ve got about two more shows after this one before I take off for Copenhagen for Womex and that band is definitely one I want to see live when I get there. How could you not want to start jiving to that one!
Don’t forget, before that you heard Francesca Ancarola and her jazzy-RnB take on an afro-peruano landó tune.
I told you I’d got some jazzy-funky-soul undercurrents to the show and this next track is no exception.
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The band is from Finland, I played them last week to great acclaim, in particular to Billy Green - who incidentally has won himself a Womeximiser CD in last week’s draw! So well done Billy - send us an email with your address and I’ll get it sent out to you.
So here’s another one for you from the wonderful Helsinki band Huba.
This is a sublime piece called “Summer Morn”.
(6) 19 “Summer Morn” (4:20) by Huba - “Huba”
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(7) 20 “Accidental Love” (3:18) by 1EYE - (Industry Records 2011)
Yeah, that was the second offering from Brummie Rocksteady crew, 1EYE, from their as yet unnamed album to be released on Industry Records a track called “Accidental Love”. Check ‘em out if you get the chance.
OK, so let’s take ourselves up to the end of the show by going up the gears with some rockers and dancefloor fillers!
First up is British band Manteca and a rocketing piece of latin-jazz-funk called “De Todo”.
Oye!! Les traigo de todo para guarachar - A Gozaaaaaaaaaaaarrr!!!
(8) 21 “De Todo” (4:16) by Manteca - Manteca Promo CD (2010)
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(9) 22 “Papaya 07 (3:35)” by Sidestepper - “Buena Vibra Sound System” (Sony 2008)
Yeah that was Colombia’s Sidestepper and their indubitably funky remixed “Papaya 07” from the Buena Vibra Sound System album.
Now that’s a dancefloor filler - it’s enough to make your shoulders unhinge and your spine turn to jelly . . .
What shall we follow that with then?
Hmmm… how about a bit of Hendrix?
Well, as re-envisaged in a sort of funk-meets-afrobeat fusion by remixer Fissunix.
This is “Foxy Funky Lady”
(10) 23 “Foxy Funky Lady” (3:40) by Fissunix
Ha ha - yeah, definitely one for all the foxy ladies out there tonight!
OK, time for bye-byes etc
[shout-outs and reminders]
I’m going to leave you with this amazing mash-up - or maybe I should say crash-up between Romania’s Mahala Rai Banda and Diana Ross. Yes, that’s what I said, Diana Ross.
It’s all orchestrated by TJF Sound and Mykol Orthodox. And it’s pure madness!
The song you will know - trust me, you’ll know it! Not originally by Ross, but if I say who it was by I’d give the game away.
In fact I’m going to say good night right now, light the blue touchpaper and skedaddle before this baby rockets up into the air and explodes all over your consciousness in a sticky sonic mess.
This is a Marmite song - you’re either going to love it or hate it!
I love it - but I ain’t sticking around to get your responses!
See y’all next week!! Ciao, babies!
(11) 24 “I Will Survive in Mahalageasca” (4:37) by Mahala Rai Banda & Diana Ross (TJF Sound & Mykol Orthodox)
