WorldBeatUK (9th Show) - Broadcast Notes (27/4/11)
Tagged with: Worldbeatuk Glyn Phillips Rhubarb Sergent Garcia Show of Hands Susana Seivane Anxo Lorenzo Ojos de Brujo Gnawledge Camarao de Rama Gypsy Groovz Owiny Sigoma Tamikrest Dub Colossus Shawn Lee Quique Neira C-Sharp Ebo Taylor Imam Baildi Bongomatik Strut
WBUK9 (27/4/11) Show Notes
1 Intro-Mat (1:47) Matchatcha Nyekesse (Melodie)
Hope you’ve all had a good Easter and enjoyed the good weather; now that it’s turned a bit colder, hopefully you’ll all be thinking “Nah, bit parky this evening, think I’ll stay in and be warmed up by the groovy choonz and tropical vibes on WorldbeatUK!” So without further ado and maybe even a little bit of adon’t, we’ll kick off with El Salsamuffinero Mayor, Bruno ‘Sergent’ Garcia, and a track from his new album (“Una y Otra Vez”) out on Cumbancha. This one is called “El Baile del Diablo” - The Dance of the Devil.
2 El Baile Del Diablo (4:00) Sergent Garcia Una Y Otra Vez (Cumbancha)
Now that last tune was all about the devil’s dance that the politicians and the world’s leaders indulge in as they continue to muck our lives around - as El Sargento says: “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back”. Well this next group also wrote a song criticising those same politicians, leaders and power-hungry people - the track was called “Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed” off the album of the same name by English Folk giants Steve Knightley and Phil Beer of Show of Hands and I played that one a few weeks back.
So now another one off that same album, but this time spelling out their views (which I happen to share) about Creationism. This is called “Evolution”. With the rallying call of ‘Nail your colours to the mast’, the message is “The finger points in one direction, that’s natural selection”
3 Evolution (3:26) Show Of Hands Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed
(Hands On Music, 2009, HMCD29)
Well to show a bit of balance here’s a tune that’s related to a religious theme. It’s called “Camiño Longo” which means the ‘long route’ and is from an album (on the Do Fol Musica/Boa label from Spain) called “Cantigas de Camiño”. The album, which comes with an exquisite little hardback book, is dedicated to music based around the famous Pilgrims Route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain’s Northwestern region of Galicia. This is the beautiful singer and bagpiper Susana Seivane.
4 Camiño Longo (4:01) Susana Seivane Cantigas Do Camiño (do Fol Musica/Boa)
There’s been so much good stuff coming out of the Spanish region of Galicia that I’m including it as one of the three points of what I consider to be Spain’s Golden Triangle of Creativity (which also includes Catalunya in the North-East and Andalucia in the deep South of the peninsula).
Here’s yet another example from Galicia - the brilliant bagpiper Anxo Lorenzo and a track from his debut album “Tirán” (which also include guests appearances from Ireland’s Eoghan Neff on violin and England’s most famous exponent of the Northumbrian pipes, Kathryn Tickell). The album’s released on the Spanish Zouma Records label. This track is also called Tirán.
5 Tirán (ends at 4.10ish) (4:30) Anxo Lorenzo Tirán (Zouma)
Ok, over to the second point of my Golden Triangle: Catalunya, home to Barcelonan super-group Ojos de Brujo. They hit the scene with a bang just 10 years ago and have consistently delighted the world music fans and confounded their detractors with their very personal, idiosyncratic and uncompromising approach to music, business and life.
Word has it that they’re finally splitting up to concentrate on personal projects and so have just released what is, I suppose, their final album (which is released by Warner Brothers Spain). Some critics have accused them of laziness because it contains only two new tracks, the other 11 having all been released before on their other albums.
But the title kind of gives it away: “Corriente Vital: 10 Años” (which roughly translates as ‘the Essential Current - 10 years); it’s obviously a retrospective - but with a band of the quality of Ojos de Brujo, there’s an amazing back catalogue to choose from - so there’s definitely no fillers here!
What they’ve done is to hand all the tracks over to different producers and allow them to remix them as they want. So, yes, it is a new album - it’s like meeting up with an old friend for a last dance; they just happened to have had their hair redone and put on a new outfit - but they still move just as well as before! This track is “Todos Mortales” - originally from their 2009 “Aocaná” album - but here remixed and featuring Roldan from Orishas.
6 Todos Mortales (3:23) Ojos De Brujo Corriente Vital 10 Años (Warner Music Spain)
Staying in Spain still, we’re heading South to the final point of my Golden Triangle of Spanish Creativity, to the huge province of Andalusia on the South Coast, the jumping off point for the Moorish influx that so influenced Iberian culture.
And high up in the Sierra Nevada, the home of the amazing Moorish palace and gardens of the Alhambra you’ll find one of the most stylish, yet also most funkiest and bohemian of Spanish cities, Granada.
This is home to a brilliant band - or maybe I should call it a project - called Gnawledge. Put together by American musicologist Canyon Cody and rapper Gnotes, they fuse Andalucian flamenco with North African Gnawa music and jazzy hip-hop sensibilities and more, so much more, utilising a cast of top flight Granadan musicians including Juan Habichuela “El Nieto” on guitar, Otoman Almerabet on Laúd, Eneko Alberdi on guitar, DJ Doblegota on Scratch and loads more amazing musicians. I absolutely LOVE these guys! This is from their “Granada Doaba” album (on the Gnawledge label) and a track called “Perro Cruzado”.
7 Perro Cruzado (3:57) Gnawledge Granada Doaba (Gnawledge)
Ok, we’re going to leave Spain now, but just to show how difficult that is, this next track is a wonderful piece of maracatú-flamenco from Brazil! The band is called Banda Camarão de Rama and is based around the Miguez family: father, Gilvan, daughter, Aline and son, Daniel from Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais. The track is entitled “A Bala”.
8 A Bala (2:57) Banda Camarão de Rama
Complete change of pace and place now as we head back over the Atlantic to Europe and back to that Balkan Gypsy Music Festival in Guca, Serbia I mentioned a couple of weeks back. This is part of a 35 minute long jam between 75 balkan brass musicians and 10 nyabinghi drummers; the track is called “Hot Water Festival” (this is part 4) and it’s from the album Gypsy Groovz Orchestra Goes Tutti Mundi: “Night Train for Lovers and Thieves” on the German Network Medien label.
9 Festival Tople Vode Part 4 (3:10) Gypsy Groovz Orchestra Night Train for Lovers and Thieves (Network)
- - - CONTINUOUS - - -
10 Margaret Okudo (dub) (4:18) Owiny Sigoma Band Owiny Sigoma Band (Brownswood)
That last track was called “Margaret Okudo” by the Owiny Sigoma Band, and is from their forthcoming album. There’s an interesting story attached to it:
Two years ago on the eve of the inauguration of President Obama, five musician friends from London who’d know each other since school days pitched up in Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa as part of a loose, informal collaboration organised by the voluntary organisation Art of Protest to promote local Kenyan musicians and partner them with British ones to see what came out of it all.
The London lads met with the phenomenal teacher and player of the East African nyatiti - an 8 string lyre - Joseph Nyamungu, a man steeped in traditional Luo music; he in turn introduced them to drummer Charles Owoko - also steeped in Luo rhythms and the 7 piece got together to find common ground in a disused factory in downtown Nairobi - the only studio big enough to take them all - since most studios in the capital cater only for rap and RnB productions, ie a computer and one mic!
They named the band after Joseph’s grandfather, Owiny Sigoma. Next year they reconvened in Nairobi, this time as a 10-piece band and recorded the album at the Kenya National Theatre - a collection of gloriously loose afro-grooves which sway between Luo and London.
Most of the songs are written by Joseph and based on Luo folk songs. However they must have done something right, because they were picked up by Brownswood Records and championed by none other than Gilles Peterson, who’s really into the drum and bass heavy sound, and Damon Albarn of Gorillaz fame, who also pops up on a couple of the tracks on the album. The album’s also called “Owiny Sigoma Band” and is due to be released next week on the 2nd May on the Brownswood Records label.
Ok, sticking with Africa, but this time shifting over to Mali, here’s a band I’ve also played before. Part of the new generation of Tuareg Desert Rockers, this is the young band Tamikrest, from Saharan Mali, and a track from their new album released only two days ago by Glitterhouse Records. The album’s called “Toumastin” and this track is entitled “Tidit”.
11 Tidit (4:15) Tamikrest Toumastin (Glitterhouse Records)
- - - CONTINUOUS - - -
12 Wey Fikir (4:20) Dub Colossus Addis Through The Looking Glass (Real World)
Wasn’t that dreamy and beautiful! You’ve just heard the brilliant Dub Colossus, an Anglo-Ethiopian collaboration between Nick Page, aka Dubulah of Transglobal Underground and Syriana, and masses of fantastic Ethiopian musicians from the Addis Ababa scene (which includes jazz and rock and hip-hop and soul as well as traditional music).
The wonderfully delicate vocals on there were handled by Ethiopian pop star Tsedenia Gebremarkos. So much great music on that album - it really repays listening to again and again to extract all the hidden flavours! I’m absolutely loving it! That track was called “Wey Fikir” from the album “Addis Through The Looking Glass” by Dub Colossus and it too was released only two days ago on the 25th of April and is on the Real World Records label.
Well, I can only really follow that with a track by Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra - who incidentally will be appearing at Birmingham’s Mostly Jazz Festival on Friday 1st July this year - and what else but a dark, jazzy piece called “Ethio” from the album “World of Funk” on the Ubiquity label.
13 Ethio (3:42) Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra World Of Funk (Ubiquity)
- - - CONTINUOUS - - -
14 Afrodesia (2:41) The Afro Soul-Tet Afrodesia (Ubiquity)
That last track - drenched in tropical rain storms - was an old track called “Afrodesia” from the heyday of jazzy afro-psychedelia and was by the Afro Soul-Tet from their album also called “Afrodesia”. Originally a very limited pressing of between 500-1000 on the Banyon label from Los Angeles sometime between 1968-71, it’s now been reissued by Ubiquity Records.
Something different now. This is a track I’d originally planned to play last week, but my interview and live session with Brazilian percussion genius Renato Martins overran somewhat and I had to drop it. Well, now I can reinstate this lovely piece of Chilean reggae - this is from the king of South American reggae, Quique Neira - off his album “Jah Rock” (on the German label GLM) - and a track entitled: “Dar y Recibir” (To Give and To Receive):
15 Dar y Recibir (4:35) Quique Neira Jah Rock (GLM)
And from a classic reggae style to very much up-to-date Jamaican reggae-pop with a latin-cum-RnB feel; this is C-Sharp - a band I’ve played a lot this year - and probably the most clubby commercial piece I’ve heard of their’s, with at least one verse in Spanish too! They’ve got a new album coming out this year called “The Invitation”. This is called “Dancin’ Like Crazy”.
16 Dancin Like Crazy (3:14) C-Sharp
- - - CONTINUOUS - - -
17 Calypso Cha Cha (2:52) Count Lasha & His Calypsonians Soundman Shots: The Caribou & Downbeat 78's Story (Snapper Records)
Ha ha! Bet you didn’t see that one coming did you? From contemporary Reggae pop to the sound of 1950s Jamaican mento (masquerading as Calypso) mixed with Cha Cha Cha taken from some rare 78’s! Very early fusion then!
And yet people forget that there has always been quite a bit of influence between the neighbouring islands of Jamaica and Cuba. Very many Jamaicans went to work on the sugar plantations in the East of Cuba and learnt Spanish and soaked up the rich cultural soup of Santiago de Cuba and took this back to JA; similarly I met many old Cubans who had learned English either from Jamaicans or in Jamaica themselves.
That was Count Lasha and his Calypsonians from a great compilation double album on the Snapper Records label called “Sound Man Shots: the Caribou and Downbeat 78’s Story” and a track entitled, funnily enough, “Calypso Cha Cha”.
Ok, sticking with the whole half-a-century ago feel, this is from one of my favourite labels, Soundway Records, (who recently released the excellent Colombian compilation of 1960s tunes called “Cartagena!”); this time it’s still in the Caribbean but looking at the French speaking Caribbean and an album released in 2009 called “Tumbélé! Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-1974”, which concentrates on the French-speaking and - to this day - still French-administered islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. A fantastic retrospective of yet another hidden part of the Caribe.
However, the track I’ve chosen is actually by a band from Haiti who happened to spend a few years living and working in Martinique and who recorded several LPs there, mostly heavy ‘compas’ for the Hit Parade label. The band is called Les Loups Noirs de’Haïti (the Black Wolves of Haiti), the track was recorded in 1972 and is a manic biguine written by Gardner Lalanne and featuring some bizarre, almost psychedelic, approximations of a jet plane taking off, with crazy sax, distorted guitar and a rhythm section that is almost tripping over itself with excitement. Absolutely love it! This is called, appropriately enough, “Jet Biguine”.
18 Jet Biguine (3:26) Les Loups Noirs D'Haiti Tumbele (Soundways)
Wonderful madness! OK, in the last of my oldies (for the moment at least) this is a funktastic, groovalicious slice of Ghanian Afrobeat from someone who I’ve featured before on this show, Mr Ebo Taylor from the excellent album “Life Stories - Highlife and Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980” - a double album of Ebo’s work with different bands and all very, very enjoyable. It’s on the Strut Records label and was released a few weeks ago. The track I’ve selected has guitar maestro Ebo Taylor alongside Uhuru-Yenzu and a track called “What Is Life?”
19 What Is Life? (4:38) Ebo Taylor & Uhuru-Yenzu Life Stories -
Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980 (Strut)
Did I say last of the oldies? Well, Yes and No. Those Greek brothers Lysandros and Orestis Falireas, better known as Imam Baildi (who incidentally take their name from a middle eastern aubergine dish which translates as “The Priest Faints”) - well, these inveterate mashers and mixers of rebetiko have worked their magic on yet another old Greek tune this time it’s the singer Meri Lida and a track called “Thlipsi”.
20 Thlipsi (Remix) (3:20) Meri Lida/Imam Baildi The Imam Baildi Cookbook (EMI Greece)
Ok, we’re slipping up to the last 20 minutes or so of the show, so let’s press on. This band I discovered only recently - and I’m so glad I did. They’re from the Netherlands, they’re called “Bongomatik” and they play the most delightful mix of latin, funk and pop.
This is off their eponymous debut album (and if you’re wondering why I’m using all those big words again - ‘eponymous’ is just another word for ‘self-titled’ - Aw, come on guys, there are thousands of words in the dictionary, it’s a crime not to try and use them all!).
It’s a great album, a whole lot of fun, highly recommended, not long released. It’s published by No Can Do Music on the Distribution label and this track is called “Donde” (if you like Cuba’s Omara Portuondo you’ll recognise it… eventually!).
21 Donde (5:11) Bongomatik Bongomatik (No Can Do / Distribution)
Continuing with the Cuba connection, this is a band that England’s Tumi Music label are pushing a lot. They’re called To’ Mezclao (which means “All Mixed Up”) and that reflects their musical standpoint - since the album covers salsa, latin pop, son-fusion, latin house, reggaeton, merengue, cumbia and bachata.
Naturally, the album is called “Hibrid” (or Hybrid), it’s on the Tumi Music label. They’ll be touring the UK this summer between mid-June and mid-July and promise to be a very exciting band live. The track I’ve chosen is a piece of latin pop called “Mango Bajito”
22 Mango Bajito (3:11) To'Mezclao Híbrid (Tumi Music)
Sticking with latin this is one of my all-time favourite salsa tracks. Of all the salsa dura - or hard salsa - tracks, this is one of the most ‘dura’. It’s by Mr Hard Hands himself, Ray Barretto. It’s from the double album compilation “Fania Records 1964-1980: the Original Sound of Latin New York” released this year by Strut Records. And the track is the MONSTER tune that is: “Indestructible”
23 Indestructible (4:14) Ray Barretto Fania Records 1964-1980:
The Original Latin Sound of New York (Strut)
Thanks to one and all etc…
I’m going to hand over to Olbi Iyah and his show “Version Galore” with reggae of all sorts and styles and periods. And to ease you into that, this is probably my favourite track of the night. This is LUSHNESS personified! Mr Sonny Bradshaw and the Sonny Bradshaw Seven from the Trojan Sixties Box Set 1, this is “Love is Blue”. Good night, see you next week for more worldly grooves!
24 Love Is Blue (3:19) Sonny Bradshaw Seven Trojan Sixties Box Set 1
WorldBeatUK (8th Show) - Broadcast Notes (20/4/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Rhubarb Renato Martins Ialma Imam Baildi marco Andre Fandango Duende Taraf Echocentrics Dub Colossus Surinder Sandhu Appietus Mangwana Stars Grupo Socavon Ophex Manteca Real World Otrabanda Ubiquity Boris Gaquere Salah Ragab
Show notes for WBUK8 (20/4/11)
1 “Intro-mat” (1.47) Matchatcha “Nyekesse” (Melodie)
Hi and welcome to another WorldBeatUK, with me Glyn Phillips and 2 hours of the best world music from around the planet. Coming up on the show tonight a very special guest from Brazil, music from Lithuania, Chile, Colombia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Mexico, Brazil, Greece, and even Birmingham! First up though ever wondered what it would be like to Dance like a Galician?
2 “Dance Like a Galician” (3:13) Ialma “Simbiose” (Do Fol Musica/Boa)
That was the Galican female quintet Ialma from their new album Simbiose on the Do Fol Musica/Boa label and the track of course was their reworking of the Bangles’s “Walk Like an Egyptian”. So how would a self-confident resident of Cairo walk? I think he’d follow Salah Ragab’s example and do the “Egypt Strut” of course . . .
3 “Egypt Strut” (3:57) Salah Ragab “The Imam Baildi Cookbook” (EMI Greece)
(Imam Baildi Remix feat. BnC & Lady Faye)
- - - CONTINUOUS - - -
4 “Pequeno Dicionario do Amor” (3:55) Marco André “Beat iú”
That last track was by Amazonian musician, Marco André off his wonderful 2007 album, “Beat iú” and was called “Pequeno Dicionario do Amor” (Small Dictionary of Love). As you might have guessed that was a Brazilian piece, which provides a nice intro to my special guest in the studio this evening. From Sao Paulo, Brasil, the brilliant percussionist and composer, Mr Renato Martins!
Hi Renato, Tudo Bem? I’m very glad you could fit a visit in to “WorldBeatUK” here at Rhubarb Radio on your trip to the UK.
§§§ (Renato answers here - but I don’t have the transcripts)
Now, I’d better explain that I first met Renato many, many years ago in the early 1990s right here in Birmingham. So, Renatinho, can you explain to the listeners how it was you came to leave Brazil and what brought you to the UK and to Birmingham in particular?
§§§
Can you say a little of what you found musically here in Birmingham and also what bands and musicians you worked with here?
§§§
[Mention that we used to play together in the Sabri Ensemble with Sarwar Sabri (tabla), Chris Conway (Keys), Martin Speake (Sax) and later on Birmingham’s own Alvin Davis (on soprano sax), myself Glyn Phillips on percussion and Renato Martins on percussion too and Surinder Sandhu on sarangi (who I’ll be coming back to later on in the show).]
§§§
How long did you stay in Birmingham and where did you go afterwards?
§§§
This is probably a good point now to play some of your music. You’ve brought a couple of your albums along and some of your fantastic udu pots which I’m hoping you’ll play live later on in the show. So what track are we going to go with first?
§§§
5 “Indiaiá” by Renato Martins from the album “Indiaiá”
You’re listening to WorldBeatUK with me, Glyn Phillips, bringing you 2 hours of the best world music from around the globe, right here on Rhubarb Radio coming from Birmingham UK.
Now then, Renato, can you tell me what you’ve been up to since you ended up living in Belgium. In fact first can you tell me what took you to Brussels and what has happened to you since.
§§§
OK so let’s hear something from your more recent output. Tell me about this track:
§§§
6 “Fala Seu Luis” by Renato Martins
I’m going to return to Renato later on in the show and we should be hearing him perform for us live on air using his Udu pots which I’m very excited about.
But first I’m going to share some more great cds with you and this next piece is by a Mexican/Arab/Spanish quartet called “Fandango, Duende y Taraf” from their 2005 album, “Las Tres Orillas del Atlántico” (The Three Shores of the Atlantic), on the Mexican Alebrije label.
The band’s aim is to explore the interplay between three different but interrelated musical cultures: the Fandango of the Son Jarocho tradition of Veracruz in Mexico, the duende (or mystical spirit) of the Andalusian flamenco tradition of Southern Spain and the ‘taraf’ which comes from the North African Arab Al’Andaluz tradition. This is a beautiful track and it’s named after one of the great cities of Andalucia: “Granada”
7 Granada (6:40) Fandango, Duende y Taraf Les Tres Orillas del Atlántico (Alebrije)
Yeah, that was the group Fandango, Duende y Taraf and a track called “Granada” featuring Abdelm’jid Moutana on Moroccan oud or lute, Angel Chacón on Spanish Guitar, Vihuela (a form of lute-like guitar played in Spain with 12 paired strings) and the Jarana Jarocha (an 8 string instrument typical of the Vera Cruz region of Southern Mexico), Armando Montiel on Percussion and J. Cristóbal Pérez Grobet on double and electric bass. If you can find their music please check them out - they’re certainly on YouTube.
[Speak to Renato again. Introduce next track (“Pixaim”) by Renato Martins and his Belgian collaborator Boris Gaquere].
8 “Pixaim” by Renato Martins/Boris Gaquere Duo
This next track is off a brand new album on the American Ubiquity label called “Sunshadows”. The band is the Echocentrics and is based around the work of producer Adrian Quesada of Brownout fame. It’s a good representation of the increasingly common form of world music that utilises a melting pot of influences to create something almost indefinable. The album’s blurb states that it’s for fans of Quantic & his Combo Barbaro, Karen Elson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bonobo, Ennio Morricone, Thievery Corp, David Axelrod and Shawn Lee (who I featured on the show a few weeks ago). If that isn’t a cultural mashup I don’t know what is.
This track has more of a latin funk meets afrobeat meets Brazilian folk vibe to it and features the vocal talents of Tita Lima the daughter of Liminha, the bass player for Os Mutantes. The album was released last week and this track is entitled “Mundo Penqueno” or Small World:
9 Mundo Pequeno (4:11) Echocentrics Sunshadows (Ubiquity)
Now, then a few weeks ago as a special preview, I played you a wonderful re-working of Althea and Donna’s tune “Uptown Top Ranking” by the Anglo-Ethiopian band “Dub Colossus”, from the upcoming album “Addis Through the Looking Glass” (a follow-on from their debut album “A Town Called Addis”).
The new album is due out next week on the 25th April on the Real World Records label and is very much a mixture of styles and musicians, all beautifully recorded I might add. It goes from atmospheric jazz-dub instrumentals to breathy love songs and earthy traditional pieces along with jazz, funk, brass band and of course reggae. It’s all produced by Nick Page better known as Dubulah from Transglobal Underground and features a veritable slew of contemporary Ethiopian talent.
I’m going to play you the track “Guragigna” which features Sintayehu “Mimi” Zenebe on lead vocals and is described in the liner notes as a ferociously funky Ethiopian song that sounds “like a blue taxi going at full speed with no brakes during rush hour in Addis Ababa”. Oh, well, wish me luck: Taxi!!
10 Guragigna (5:15) Dub Colossus Addis Through The Looking Glass (Real World Records)
Dub Colossus will be bringing an expanded 12 piece band to tour the UK this summer and are already booked to play the Womad festival at Charlton Park in late July.
Ok back to our special guest tonight on WorldBeatUK, world renowned Brazilian percussionist, Renato Martins, originally from São Paulo, but now a resident of Brussels (via Birmingham of course!).
We’re going to do a little live feature now utilising just Renato and a beautiful and intriguing percussion instrument and I’m going to ask Renato to describe it:
§§§ [Renato talks about the Udu Pot (or ‘moringa’ in Portuguese)]
What are you going to play Renato? OK, the mic’s all yours:
§§§
11 Sampraladebão (percussion piece performed live in studio on Udu pot by Renato Martins)
[His sponsorship by Latin Percussion, any plugs he wants to do, etc, reminder that we’ll be round the corner at the Old Crown at Digbeth after the show.]
[Feed into the connection with Surinder]:
Earlier on I mentioned that Renato and I used to perform together. In that same band almost 20 years ago was one Surinder Sandhu, originally from Wolverhampton and now an internationally renowned composer, bandleader, producer and musician in his own right, with three highly acclaimed albums under his belt and a new one almost finished which I shall certainly feature when it’s out later this year which is from his new Funkawallahs project, which aims to fuse the ethos, energy and fun of the great funk bands of old (such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Parliament and James Brown) with the global palette of cultures and sounds that shows such as this one revel in. I’m very excited about the project - particularly because I’m on the album and in the band!
In the meantime however I’d like to play a more meditative piece from his last album “The Fictionist” on the Saurang label and this is called “To You (A Mother’s Love)”
12 To You (A Mother's Love) - Surinder Sandhu from the album "The Fictionist"
[Shout outs to people - reminder of who they’re listening to - any more speech from Renato]
Ok let’s pick the tempo and the energy up a bit now and this is a track from the recent album: “Chop Our Music - Akwaaba 2 year Anniversary Super Release!” on the Akwaaba label and is a number to really shake yer bits along to. This is “Sala” by the band Appietus featuring D-Flex, Screw-Face & Mohamed.
13 Sala - (5:14) - Appietus - “Chop Our Music - Akwaaba 2 year Anniversary Super Release!” (Akwaaba Music)
Staying with the Dutch label connection, last week I played you a piece of music from the so-called Dutch speaking Caribbean in the ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curação off the coast of Venezuela - a piece of papiamentu son from Oswin Chin Behilia. Well, his label, Otrabanda Records, based in the Netherlands has a wealth of little known stars and styles in its archives.
This next track is off a terrific 2007 album called “Bokoor Beats - Vintage Afro-beat, Afro-rock and electric Highlife from Ghana” from the archives of musician and studio engineer John Collins who during the 1970s recorded and played with countless great Ghanaian bands. This track I adore and is called “Atiadele” by the Mangwana Stars. It’s a total groove, music lovers!
14 Atiadele (7:12) Mangwana Stars Bokoor Beats
Now don’t say that that didn’t get you grooving!! Now, same label, Otrabanda Records, different album; this is the sound of Colombia’s Pacific coast, the sound of the marimba - utterly, utterly compelling! The album’s called “Pacifico Colombiano”, the band’s called Grupo Socavon and the track is called “Homenaje a Justino”.
15 Homenaje A Justino (5:32) Grupo Socavon Pacífico Colombiano
16 Danca da Lituania (2:35) Ophex
Ok, you just heard the sound of some Lithuanian samba and folk music given the Baile Funk treatment by DJ Ophex - just going to prove that almost everything is musical grist to the producer’s mill these days!
Thanks to special guest, Renato Martins, and remember: details to all the music I play can be found on the website: www.worldmusic.co.uk/radio; thanks to all who listened in and especially those who commented.
Don’t forget the special Rhubarb Radio Presents open day event at the Hare and Hounds Kings Heath , Birmingham, THIS Sunday 24th April - upstairs in the big room - come and find out about us, and how you can be involved in Rhubarb, meet the presenters, see live bands, and watch us actually broadcasting live from the event. Midday to almost midnight - come along, I’ll be there and will be doing a special one hour WorldBeatUK live from the Hare & Hounds - loads of good stuff, check it out on Facebook.
Otherwise tune in next week, Wed 27th April (7pm - 9pm) and meet me here when I’ll be clipping yer tickets for another 2 hour journey around the world! All aboard!
Going to leave you with some UK latino drum bass madness now. Formed for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Festival in 2001 by Colombian singer Martha Acosta & bassist Javier Fioramonti, the band Manteca released this heavenly slice of dancefloor locura from their 2009 album on Freestyle Records called “Planet Latino”. Are you ready? “Tremendo Boogaloo”
16 "Tremendo Boogaloo" (4:03) by Manteca from the album "Planet Latino"
WorldBeatUK (7th Show) - Broadcast Notes (13/4/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Rhubarb C Sharp Seth Lakeman Berroguetto ialma Serjao Loroza Parno Grazst Gypsy Groovz Blind Boys of Alabama Michel Ongara Oswin Chin Behilia Jolly Boys Bellon Maceiras Imam Baildi Azucah Manteca Rudeboy Rigolitch Huun Huur Tu
Show notes for WBUK7 (13/4/11)
1 Intro-mat (1.47) Matchatcha Nyekesse (Melodie)
Welcome back to another edition of WorldBeatUK right here on Rhubarb Radio. My name’s Glyn Phillips and for the next two hours I’ll be taking you on a musical journey around the oceans of world music.
On the show tonight we’re going to be sailing down to Galicia in Northwestern Spain for some fantastic folk-fusion, cruising over to the Caribbean for some reggae and mento from Jamaica and some papiamentu son from Curação, riding the iron horse to hear some gospel from Alabama, and on up to Canada for some afro-jazz fusion and ska, and somewhere along the way we’ll be calling in at Brazil, Kenya, Greece and two widely differing parts of Russia (St Petersburg in the Northwest and Siberia in the South East) as well as attending a wild gypsy festival in Southern Serbia. Just don’t say I don’t ever take you out anywhere…!
First up tonight let’s get it on - and get in the mood - with some ‘Lovers Rock’ from Jamaica’s C-Sharp - this is “My Love”:
2 My Love (3.35) C-Sharp
Well, ya feelin’ all loved-up now? Ready for a change of pace? This is England’s current face and voice of young English folk, Seth Lakeman, and the rocking title track off his 2010 album called “Hearts & Minds”:
3 Hearts & Minds (3.53) Seth Lakeman
And talking of folk music, last week I played you some glorious folk music from Galicia: the remote, verdant, Celtic region of Spain.
It went down so well that I’m returning there for a number of tracks tonight, kicking off with the first Galician band that really rocked my boat - the multifarious, multi-talented Berrogüetto and a track from their brilliant 2001 “Hepta” album on the Spanish Boa Music label.
This is called GaliATmatiasDOTtacom - or it might even be Galiamatiastacom - difficult to tell! Anyway, wrap yer lug’oles round this!
4 Galiamatiastacom (3.42) Berrogüetto Hepta (Boa Music)
And sticking with Galicia a wonderful band of women called Ialma. In celebration of their 10 year anniversary these five beautiful singers or ‘cantareiras’ have just released a new album “Simbiose” (which means “Symbiosis”) on the De Fol Musica label, which fuses traditional folk with everything from rap to medieval music. This particular funky jazzy song is entitled “6am”.
5 6am (3.40) Ialma Simbiose (De Fol Musica)
The Galician language, Galega, is very similar to Portuguese, and Portuguese is also the language of Brazil. Which takes me very nicely onto the next track.
Serjão Loroza is a singer/composer from Rio de Janeiro who is also a comedian, as well as an actor of stage, film and TV. He’s well known for his tracks in the ubiquitous Brazilian style of MPB (musica popular brasileira) as well as samba, rap, soul, funk, reggae and beyond.
This laidback tune - with a peculiarly Brazilian reggae undercurrent - is from a live concert by Serjão and his band Us Madureiras and is entitled “A Dois Passos de Paraíso” (Two Steps from Paradise) . . .
6 A Dois Passos do Paraíso (3.44) Serjão Loroza Serjão Loroza & Us Madureira
Last Friday (8th April) was officially the International Day of the Roma and I’d like to give a shout out and a BIG big up to Rhubarb Radio’s very own ElliNoire and her Balkanic Eruption night. If you weren’t there, you missed another winning combination of gypsy joy and balkan madness.
I’d especially like to mention the Romany Diamonds from Poland, a trio of Roma musicians who mesmerised the audience using just an acoustic guitar, an accordion and the astounding voice of the violinist. He was no mean violinist either, I can tell you! All the more amazing considering they had to follow a very large, amplified Balkan-style wedding band called Aistaguca from Nottingham! So if you get the chance check them out!
OK so that must mean it’s now time for some Gypsy music. Parno Grazst are a Hungarian Roma gypsy ensemble founded in 1987. Their name means ‘White Horse’, whereby white is a symbol of purity and the horse a symbol of freedom. Their debut album “Rávágok a Zongorára” which translates into English as the much-easier-to-say: “Hit The Piano” reached No 7 on the World Music Chart Europe in Oct 2002. This is the title track from that and I’m dedicating it to the lovely ElliNoire whose balkan show you can hear on Rhubarb Radio tomorrow at 1pm. Opre Roma!!
7 Rávágok a Zongorára (2.44) Parno Grazst Rávágok a Zongorára (ie ‘Hit The Piano’) PPR Records
More Roma madness, this time from Serbia and the wonderful Gypsy Groovz Orchestra led by trumpeter Ekrem Sajdic. They are joined here by no less than 7 other ensembles on a huge jam which was recorded and made into a compelling album. This is the first part (“Djul Zulejha”) and the third part (for which I don’t have a name) of a 35 minute piece called “Festival Tople Volde” (which translates as ‘Hot Water Festival’), recorded last year, I think, at the Guca Festival.
Their management described this recording to me as - and I quote - “made by 75 brass musicians from South of Serbian village Vranjska Banja and 10 nyabinghi rastafarian drummers of freedom who played together on live 35 minutes long song as 1-100 catharsis.” Nope, I don’t understand what that means either - but who cares, the music’s great! The album is on the Network label and is called “Night Train for Lovers and Thieves”. The Gypsy Groovz Orchestra Goes Tuttimundi!
8 Festival Tople Volde (Pt 1: Djul Zulejha) (2.10) Gypsy Groovz Orchestra Goes Tuttimundi Night Train for Lovers and Thieves (Network)
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9 Festival Tople Volde (Pt 3) (4.06) Gypsy Groovz Orchestra Goes Tuttimundi Night Train for Lovers and Thieves (Network)
Now, the last few weeks I’ve been trying to balance the music on the show between uptempo and slow, between country and urban, and between dancefloor fillers and those of a more medit-at-ive nature and there’s usually one tune every show that demands a certain level of aural attention and openness of mind, yet delivers in turn a special spirituality or transcendency. The next track is one of those. It’s a collaboration between the Bulgarian vocal group Angelite, the Moscow Art Trio and the Siberian overtone singers Huun Huur Tu. Recorded at a live concert (always so much better than dead ones, I find!) this track - called “Fly Fly My Sadness” - is 10 minutes and 28 seconds of ethereal sonic beauty . . .
10 Fly Fly My Sadness (10.28) Bulgarian Voices Angelite, Huun Huur Tu & The Moscow Art Trio Gone To The Dogs sampler (Jaro)
Well, that certainly was music for the soul - and this next track is too, although in a more overtly religious sense. From Central Asia and Eastern Europe we’re going all the way to the Deep South of America and to the Blind Boys of Alabama.
Formed over 70 years ago in 1939 (yep, that’s what I said: 1939) by a group of young men from the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind, they have consistently poured out heartfelt gospel and RnB songs full of lush harmonies and deep roots, decade after decade. In that time they’ve won five Grammy’s, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and profoundly influenced countless artists from the genres of gospel, blues, rock’n’roll, soul and rock.
This track is a preview taken off their forthcoming album to be released on May the 9th called “Take the High Road”. It’s on the Saguaro Road Records label and is distributed by Proper Records and it’s the first time the Blind Boys have released a traditional country-gospel album.
Co-produced by Jamey Johnson it features guests spots by Willie Nelson, Lee Ann Womack, The Oak Ridge Boys and Hank Williams Jr amongst others. However the track I’ve chosen features just the Blind Boys themselves, so that you can really hear what all the acclaim is about.
So come on, scrub your neck, comb your hair and put on your Sunday best, boys and girls - let’s go to church: “Jesus, Hold My Hand”!
11 Jesus Hold My Hand (4.31) The Blind Boys of Alabama Take The High Road (Saguaro Road/Proper)
- - - CONTINUOUS - - - - - -
12 Nashanga (5.15) Michel Ongaro Senta Lain
- - - CONTINUOUS - - - - - -
13 Intro-Mat (1.47) Matchatcha Nyekesse
You’re listening to Rhubarb Radio. I’m Glyn Phillips and this is WorldBeatUK - 2 hours of the best world music coming at you live from the Custard Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham, in the United Kingdom.
Before the jingle break you heard the sounds of The Blind Boys of Alabama with “Jesus Hold My Hand” followed immediately by - coincidentally - another blind musician: multi-instrumentalist Michel Ongaro from Kenya and a track called “Nashanga” from his album “Senta Lain” - which mixes up traditional Kenyan benga music with soukous, gospel and cuban son - and that’s on the Dutch label Hippo Records.
If you’re wondering what the music is that I use as my theme tune for WorldBeatUK that came after that and you hear at the start of the show, it’s called “Intro-Mat” and is by Congolese guitar supremo Diblo Dibala and his band Matchatcha.
Details of all the tracks that I play can be found on my own world music website: www.worldmusic.co.uk - couldn’t be simpler! (so go to: www DOT World Music DOT co DOT uk) FORWARD SLASH ‘radio’ and look for the details there. We usually post them straight after the show - or by the next day at the latest.
OK, let’s set sail again and take our imaginary clipper up the Baltic Sea past Estonia and Finland onto Russia where we’ll dock in the ancient city of St Petersburg. There we’ll find a band called the St Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review playing a South African melody done Russian ska stylee!
If any of you own or once owned a 1962 album called “Swinging Safari” by Bert Kaempfert & his Orchestra then you might well recognise the melody. This is called “Skokiaan”!
(14) Skokiaan (3.23) St Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review Too Good To Be True (Megalith)
Lot of fun, lot of fun, the St Petersbug Ska-Jazz Review and Skokiaan!
Well we might have disembarked from the ship, but it’s time now to get on yer bike! Toronto-based Canadian band Mr Something Something are as well known for their methods of powering their shows as for their music. The band have taken the energy-wasteful music industry head on and are seriously trying all kinds of ways to reduce their carbon footprint. And one of those ways is via their Soundcycle system.
Audiences at their shows are asked to personally power the band using 10 special bicycles hooked up to dynamos that can create a current of about 200 watts per bike. The energy is stored in a bank of batteries and used to run the band’s equipment during concerts; the audience volunteers each spend about 10-15 minutes on average cycling during a show and it’s proved a big hit with them, giving a new outlet for dance floor activism.
And the music? Well it’s a sort of loose blend of jazz and afrobeat. Check it out. This is from their last album “Shine Your Face” and it’s called “The Antidote”.
(15) The Antidote (5.13) Mr Something Something Shine Your Face
When British people think of the Caribbean the default image is usually of Jamaica - or maybe Barbados, Trinidad, St Lucia or any other of the English speaking West Indies.
There are those who might be into latin american music and who will add Spanish speaking islands such as Cuba or Puerto Rico into the equation, or Francophiles who will mention Haiti, Guadeloupe and Martinique to the list.
But how many people are familiar with the Dutch speaking Caribbean? - Oh Yes, it exists! - in particular the islands of Aruba, Bonaire & Curação - or as they are often known: the ABC islands. ABC. Aruba, Bonaire, Curação… Geddit?
The great little Dutch label “Otrabanda Records” have long since sought out and tracked down all manner of artists and musics that deserve better attention and in the weeks to come I hope to play some of their recordings from the Pacific Coast of Colombia as well as vintage afrobeat, afrorock and electric highlife from Ghana.
But today I’m going to play you a piece by one of Curação’s most revered musical icons, Mr Oswin Chin Behilia from his album on Otrabanda Records called “Liber”.
The music shares many similarities with Cuban son - and there is a vibrant interchange between the ABC islands and their much larger neighbour, Cuba, to the North and with their nearest neighbour, Venezuela, to the South; but you’ve probably never heard the language before - it is the indigenous creole language of the islands called Papiamentu - a hybrid between Cape Verdean creole, Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, English, Sephardic Jewish Ladino, Arawak and various African tongues. This track is “Den Bo Kushina”.
(16) Den Bo Kushina (3.32) Oswin Chin Behilia Liber (Otrabanda Records)
Staying in the Caribbean and a group I featured two weeks ago this is the fantastic Jolly Boys from Jamaica and another track from last year’s “Great Expectation" album on the GeeJam label. The last time I played their version of Amy Winehouse’s hit “Rehab”; this time Steely Dan get the jollification treatment.
Some people, like my mate Neil, don’t like Steely Dan;
I, however, do - connected forever in my mind as they are to a wonderful summer spent hitch-hiking around Europe and in particular an amazing car journey through Western France on a warm balmy evening rolling along the French highways against a deep peachy-orange sunset and to a soundtrack of East St Louis Toodle-oo, Show Biz Kids, Bad Sneakers, Reelin’ In The Years, Bodhisattva and Rikki Don’t Lose That Number. Yes, I know, all terribly indulgent - but it’s my show and I’ll play what I like.
This time The Jolly Boys work their stripped-back mento magic on Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” - quite an appropriate title for a band who take their name from a strap-on female pleasuring device . . . (Steely Dan, that is! No, seriously!)
(17) Do It Again (3.21) The Jolly Boys Great Expectation (Gee Jam)
And talking of Doing It Again - here’s a track that I’d promised you all last week and had to pull at the last minute. From one of my favourite French producers, mashers and remixers of the moment, this is M’siou Rigolitch and his metal-reggae mash-up of Martinique’s Papa Tank and Australia’s AC/DC (yep, you heard right!) and a track called “Back In Babylone”.
(18) Back in Babylone (4.13) M’siou Rigolitch (AC/DC vs Papa Tank)
- - - CONTINUOUS - - - - - -
(19) Ska Father (1.54) Rudeboy Shut Up and Dance (Socan / Stomp Records)
Yes, yes, yes! That was the sound of Canadian ska band Rudeboy from Ottawa and off their 1998 album “Shut Up and Dance!” - a track I’m sure loads of you recognised as the theme from the Godfather film - that was the “Ska Father”.
Here’s another upbeat offering - returning to the Galician focus I had earlier on, this is a great number from the Bellón Maceiras Quinteto from their recent album “Folk Fusion” on the De Fol Musica label - called “Licantropia”’.
(20) Licantropia (4.09) Bellón Maceiras Quinteto Folkfusion (De Fol Musica)
- - - CONTINUOUS - - - - - -
(21) Azul Graso (3.53) Berrogüetto Hepta (Boa Music)
And there you had another track from a Galician band I played earlier, Berrogüetto, from their "Hepta" album and a special guest adding a bit of Hungarian groove on the cimbalom, Kalman Balogh, and a fantastic piece called “Azul Graso”.
Now here’s a piece of folk from the other end of Southern Europe, in this case Greece, as the international mash-up phenomenon that is the Falireas Brothers’ band: Imam Baildi take a traditional song by Dimita Galani and give it the cumbia dancehall treatment courtesy of MC Yinka. This is “Ta Hartina” and I defy you not to bounce up and down to this!
(22) Ta Hartina (4.16) Dimitra Galani (Imam Baildi rmx) The Imam Baildi Cookbook (EMI Greece / Sonic Bids)
Coming up towards the end of the show now - just another couple of tracks or so to go!
From the free download compilation album “Azucah Selectah” on the Latino Resiste! label and project, this is a mad piece of latin jungle by DJs Caballo and TMFK, featuring a compelling guajeo and some heavy, heavy, heavy effects!! “Azucah!”
(23) Azucah! (4.12) Caballo & TMFK Azucah Selectah
And if that wasn’t enough for you this is another mad drum’n’bass treatment of urban latin funk. Formed for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Festival in 2001 by Colombian singer Martha Acosta & bassist Javier Fioramonti, the band Manteca released this heavenly slice of dancefloor locura off their 2009 album on Freestyle Records called “Planet Latino”. Are you ready? “Tremendo Boogaloo”!
(24) Tremendo Boogaloo (4.03) Manteca Planet Latino
WorldBeatUK (6th Show) - Broadcast Notes (6/4/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Rhubarb Glyn Phillips Refugee All Stars Lek Sen Ebo Taylor Rusty Shackle Juan Sebastian Larobina Terrakota Juan Carmona Guadi Galego Mercedes Peon Edu Krieger Renata Jambeiro Carmen Souza Poly-Rythmo Fanga Barrio Tres Goldmaster Deladap
WorldBeatUK (6th Show) - Broadcast Notes (6/4/11)
1 Intro-Mat / Jingle - Matchatcha - Nyekesse (Melodie)
On the show tonight: we’ve got a bit of an african and afrocentric groove going on with some great 1970s afrobeat and contemporary vodoun afrobeat both from Benin, some retro-sounding afrofunk from Paris, as well as music from the diaspora: Brazil, Cabo Verde, and afro-latin gems from Cuba and New York; however we’re going to kick off with what is probably one of the most influential of all african descended music outside of the Blues/Rock/Jazz line and that’s reggae. Except this time we’re not heading over to the Caribbean but staying on this side of the pond.
From Sierra Leone this is the Refugee All Stars from last year’s “Rise and Shine” album on Cumbancha and “Jah Come Down”:
2 Jah Come Down - 5:21 - Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars - “Rise & Shine” (Cumbancha)
Hot on the heels another African reggae offering this time from Senegalese Lek Sen, now based in Paris and a track featuring Kiddus I and also Amadou Bagayoko of Mali’s Amadou and Mariam fame. This is from his 2010 album “Burn” (no, nothing to do with Deep Purple all you rockheads) on the French specialist Reggae label Makasound. This is called “Sa Nitee”.
3 Sa Nitee - 4:05 - Lek Sen Feat. Kiddus I & Amadou Bagayoko -“Burn” (Makasound)
Now a couple of weeks or so ago I was very excited to play a track from a great album called “Life Stories - Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980”, highlighting the career of Beninese guitar genius Ebo Taylor. This is another great album from the Strut Records label who have a wealth of hidden gems from Africa that they are gradually getting down, dusting off, buffing up and dazzling us with. This particular track was apparently sampled by Usher - no idea on which song, but if you know, drop me a line via the chatbox on the front of the Rhubarb Radio homepage. No prizes, but I’ll give you a shout out if you recognise it.
4 Heaven - 6:04 - Ebo Taylor - “Life Stories - Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980” (Strut Records)
Love that. Ok change of tack now away from Africa and down to Wales! Hooray! Now my good friend, ace fiddler, Twmpath queen and namesake Sian Phillips (no relation - although of course, how can anybody named Phillips with ancestry in South West Wales say that they are not related?!). Anyway, the lovely Sian (organiser of Oxfordshire’s BloxFest - more of which another day) sent me a track by a young Welsh band to listen to and here they are, with their own special brand of Folk’n’Roll, this is Rusty Shackle (www.rustyshackle.com) and a little belter called “Bandit Down”:
5 Bandit Down - 3:20 - Rusty Shackle - (www.rustyshackle.com)
- - - - - CONTINUOUS PLAY - - - - - -
6 Les Mangeux de Morues - 6:06 - Juan Sebastian Larobina
Yeah, love that last track. Yet another example of the mestizisation of world music, an Argentine born, Mexican raised, Canadian resident, Juan Sebastian Larobina, with special guest Quebecois accordionist Yves Lambert on a rollicking number called “Les Mangeux de Morues”.
And keep in the same mix it up vein musically speaking, this next track is a little bobby-dazzler!! I played the title track from their album last week, “World Massala” (on the Ojo Records label); but one track just wasn’t enough. So I’ve returned to it and selected this fantastic pot-boiler. This is Portuguese world music band Terrakota and “Kay Kay” (pronounced Kie Kie - rhymes with ‘eye’)
7 Kay Kay - 5:39 - Terrakota - “World Massala” (Ojo Records)
Last week I raved about the Belgian flamenco guitarist, Myrddin de Cauter, who as I speak is currently in London. Well, here’s another treat - much more in the style of Andalusian flamenco this is French born, gypsy descended, 3 x Grammy nominated guitarist Juan Carmona (distant cousin of the Habichuela Carmona’s of Ketama fame) and a beautiful track from last year’s “El Sentido del Aire” album on the French “Le Chante du Monde” label, featuring the vocal acrobatics of the great Duquende and one of Spain’s great jazz and flamenco pianists, Chano Dominguez. This is a ‘tangos’ entitled “Limosna”. Someone once said to me: ‘No se puede vivir de limosna’ (you can’t live on charity), but I almost feel I can live on this.
8 Lismona - 4:35 - Juan Carmona - “El Sentido Del Aire” (Le Chant du Monde) - tangos
- - - - - CONTINUOUS PLAY - - - - - -
9 Dum Paterfamilias - 5:10 - Guadi Galego & Vaamonde, Lamas & Romero - “Cantigas do Caminho” (FOL)
There is a little known region of Spain in the Northwestern corner that is greener, richer and more mysterious than the rest of the Iberian peninsula. This is the region of Galicia, the Celtic Corner of Iberia,where they speak a language closer to Portugese than Castilian Spanish.
One of Christian Europe’s most sacred centres of pilgrimage has stood there for centuries - the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela and people have flocked there from all over Europe using the famous Camino (or Path) to this remote region. The last track was by Galician bagpiper and singer Guadi Galego with her trio Vaamonde, Lamas and Romero and a track called “Dum Paterfamilias” from an excellent album dedicated to songs of the pilgrims’ route; “Cantigas do Camino” on the FOL label.
On the same label is the one-woman band and veritable force of nature that is Mercedes Peon who I saw in Copenhagen last year. She’s at the avant-garde of Galician experimentation in folk and this is from her recent album “Sos” and a track called “Deroran”
10 Derorán - 3:21 - Mercedes Peón - “Sos” (FOL)
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11 Intro-Mat / Jingle - Matchatcha Aimer La Danse Nyekesse
[Didn’t finish my notes this week in time - so freestyled the rest. Ahem! You’ll need to see a transcript of the show to know what I said . . .]
12 “Correnteza” 4:34 Edu Krieger “Correnteza”
13 “Oxóssi” 3:27 Renata Jambeiro “Jambeiro”
14 “Afri Ká” 5:41 Carmen Souza “Protegid”
15 “Holonon” 3:21 Orchestre Poly Rythmo “Cotonou” Club (Strut Records)
16 “Bassi Te” 5:55 Fanga “Sira Ba” (Underdog Records)
17 “Suave Me Gusta” 4:32 Barrio Tres “3am en La Habana” (Nueva Onda)
18 “Calle Luna Calle Sol” 3:46 Willie Colón - “Fania Records 1964-1980: The Original Latin Sound of New York”
19 “She’s The One” 4:12 Robin Del Castillo “Pa’ Mi Tierra “
20 “Train To Zion” 4:13 G T Moore & the Goldmaster All Stars “Alpha”
21 “Sign Your Name” 3:33 Goldmaster Allstars “Crossroads”
Now a head’s up for a couple of events happening this week at the Hare and Hounds, on Kings Heath High Street, Birmingham. First up is tomorrow night when Rhubarb’s coolest of cool cats, Shelley “I’m NOT the Boss!” Atkinson presents another Honeycomb Club, upstairs at the Hare and Hounds, featuring the heavy sounds of Birmingham’s very own ALTERNATIVE DUBSTEP ORCHESTRA alongside: RELATIVE DUB, Destroyers’ violinist LEIGHTON HARGREAVES MENDI SINGH on tabla.
As well as this expect DJ FEVA and MAXWELL 45 (alongside resident DJs: 3 x World Champ DJ SWITCH, THE DOCTOR and MALICIOUS DJ and visuals from BLENDSTATE'S LIAM d'AUTHREAU, as well as the usual great atmosphere. As Shelley points out the audience is as important as the music ...AND if that wasn’t enough …it’s the birthday of Rhubarb’s own globetrotting DJ ARIES - so expect some junglist homage! You can catch Shelley’s wonderful Sunday City Music Box right here on Rhubarb Radio every Sunday afternoon between 2 and 4pm.
Now if you like all things, Gypsy, Roma and Balkanic then here’s a shout out for the return of the great Balkanic Eruption, the first one of 2011 - on Friday 8th April (9pm-2am) at the Hare and Hounds, High Street, Kings Heath, probably the most happening venue in the West Midlands.
It’ll be featuring live music from Aistaguca (a 7-piece super high energy Balkan Gypsy Wedding Band) and also the Romany Diamonds (a Polish Roma Trio playing heart-thumping Gypsy Tunes) alongside DJ’s Chromatouch, and Uncle Zitty and probably Vjs etc.
It’s all in celebration of the International Day of the Roma and there’ll be a special screening of the short film “Be Roma or Die Tryin’”. Tickets are only £5 in advance, more on the door available via the ticketsellers.co.uk. Balkanic Eruption is put on by Rhubarb Radio’s very own hot mama ElliNoire and you can also catch her weekly show right here on Rhubarb Radio every Thursday at 1pm-2pm.
22 “Milaab” 5:22 DelaDap! (featuring RFB) “Gypsies United” (sampler)
23 “Back in Babylone” 4:13 M'siou Rigolitch (AC/DC vs Papa Tank)
WorldBeatUK (5th Show) - Broadcast Notes (30/3/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Rhubarb Radio Glyn Phillips Yancouba Diebate Kedjevara Luisa Maita Antonio Zambujo Show of Hands Namgar Myrddin Bongomatik Bombino Sargento Garcia Soundways Jolly Boys Terrakota Cumbancha Slamboree M'siou Rigolitch Zaperoko
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Playlist notes for 30th March 2011
1 "JINGLE 1" ("Intro-Mat" by Matchatcha)
Welcome to my fifth WorldBeatUK and the first on the new weekly slot of Wednesday and in the new timeslot of 7-9pm UK time.
Lots of goodies coming up tonight, including . . .
Tuareg Desert Rock from Niger, Baiao from Brazil, Fado from Portugal, Flamenco from Belgium, Dutch R’n’B latino, English Folk, Siberian Folk, Franco-Colombian cumbiaton, Puerto Rican Plena-Guaguanco, Colombian cumbia-guaguanco, Mento from Jamaica, Calypso from Balsall Heath and some absolutely corking Balkan Bangers and Mash-ups to name but a few!
So lock yourself into the station, turn up the speakers and enjoy the ride!
First up tonight is Chris Velan - a Montreal-based singer-songwriter and lawyer who produced a documentary film about a group of refugee musicians from Sierra Leone. Here he teams up with the subject of that film, the oh-so--logically named Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, on an almost Paul Simon-esque track (and that’s not a criticism) on the Cumbancha label called: “Iñez”.
2 “Iñez” - (5.29) - Chris Velan & the Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars (Cumbancha)
We’re staying in Africa for a little while now, and this next track comes from Senegal. It’s off a demo sampler from the French label Pure Son’g and features one of their artists, Yancouba Diebate, a wonderful kora player on a lovely piece entitled “Lannaya”
3 “Lannaya” - (4.15) - Yancouba Diebate - (Pure Son’g)
OK, last one now from Africa for a while and this is from the Akwaaba Music label. To mark the 2nd anniversary of their existence they’ve released a double album called “Chop Our Music - Akwaaba 2 year Anniversary Super Release!” - a CD containing no less than 50 songs gleaned from their roster of artists, many of whom I’d never heard of before - quite a treasure trove of artists and different styles from all over Africa from really traditional sounds to the overtly poppy and from dance dynamite to the ubiquitous hip-hop fusions. The track I’ve chosen for tonight is by Kedjevara from the Ivory Coast and is an uplifting dance piece called “Tchoucou Tchoucou”.
4 “Tchoucou Tchoucou” - (4.19) - Kedjevara - (Akwaaba)
A couple of quick announcements for people who’ve recently left us for the Great Gig in the Sky, firstly to the 97 year old Pinetop Perkins, American boogie-woogie pianist best known for his stints with Muddy Waters and Robert Nighthawk who was still gigging until very recently and who passed away last week.
And secondly the Brazilian singer/composer/writer and visual artist Lula Côrtes who was best remembered for his collaborations with Zé Ramalho (in particular the legendary album “Paêbirú”) as well as his solo work; Lula sadly died from throat cancer last Saturday in Recife aged 61.
However a big shout out for someone who’s still very much with us! Birmingham’s own Andy Hamilton, Jamaican jazz saxophonist, who’s just celebrated his 93rd birthday last week with a couple of gigs and is still to be found playing his own brand of Caribbean Jazz in the Midlands. Long may he do so.
Andy famously used to play for Hollywood legend, Errol Flynn back in Jamaica and near the end of show I’ve got another Errol Flynn connection with Jamaican mento superstars The Jolly Boys, who actually have Flynn’s widow in one of their recent videos . . . So stay locked into WorldBeatUK for that because it’s going to be a real treat!
OK, now a treat for lusophones and lusophiles with the next couple of tracks; first up is the rising star of Sao Paulo in Brazil, the beautiful Luisa Maita, who is being championed by the American label Cumbancha.
This version is from last year’s hit album “Lero-Lero” (although they’ve recently released an interesting remix version of the album called funnily enough “Lero Lero Remixed”!), but this is taken from the original; it’s a song set to the baiao rhythm of north-eastern Brazil and it’s called “Fulaninha” - which roughly translates as ‘Jane Doe’ to Americans, and translates to us in the UK as “Whatshername”; of course, if you’re listening to me from my motherland of the Black Country, it translates as “Wosserfairce”...
5 “Fulaninha” - (3.36) - Luisa Maita - “Lero Lero” (Cumbancha)
. . . CONTINUOUS . . . .
6 “Readers Digest” - (3.27) - Antonio Zambujo (Zouma Records)
You’re listening to WorldBeatUK on Rhubarb Radio, with me Glyn Phillips, your host amidst a planetful of world music.
Now, you’ve just heard the wonderful Portuguese Fado singer, Antonio Zambujo from his last album, “Guia” on the WorldVillage/Harmonia Mundi label and a quirky, whimsical song called, strangely enough, “Readers’ Digest”. You can read my review of his Copenhagen concert at www.worldmusic.co.uk/reviews and look for Antonio Zambujo.
For those who might not be familiar with it, Readers Digest is - or certainly was - a small pocket sized booklet which contained articles and abridgements of classic stories for people who wanted to increase their knowledge of the world around them and in particular didn’t want to look stupid in front of strangers because they hadn’t read the most important novels in the English language. They could read these stripped down versions, gen up on the key points and also increase their vocabulary - a sort of original “Dummies Guide to…”
Readers Digest was sold to combat the fear of social embarrassment due to ignorance. This leads me nicely onto the next track which is entitled “Ignorance”. It’s by Birmingham’s very own steel pan virtuoso Jamma who belongs to one of the two main steel pan families in Brum - in this case Balsall Heath’s Stewart family which includes his brother Norman (who founded B’ham’s most famous steel pan orchestra, The Maestros), Jamma (3 x British Steelpan Solo Champion) and Jamma’s son Jamani.
This is a track Jamma first wrote back in the early 90s after an incident where was refused the opportunity to sit in on his steel pan at a local jazz club and mocked by the organiser, because they didn’t consider it a real instrument and certainly not a jazz instrument. Jamma wanted to take the steelpan (the only new acoustic instrument to be invented in the 20th Century) out of the stereotypical Caribbean themed event situation (all ‘Yellow Bird’ and ‘Hot Hot Hot’) and say this is a valid instrument for soloing in jazz just as much as a sax or guitar. Still he turned adversity into creativity - in this case using the traditional calypso format in its role as social commentary and satire. This is from his album “The Sun” and it’s called “Ignorance”.
7 “Ignorance” - Jamma - “The Sun”
Next up is a song also about ignorance - or in this case to give its full title: “Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed”. This is one of England’s finest folk duos, Show of Hands (made up of Steve Knightley and Phil Beer) and their award winning song which garnered them the 2010 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ ‘Best Original Song’ award). It was also featured recently on Andrew Marr’s political show on telly and was performed at last Saturday’s ‘March For The Alternative’ down in London.
You could say that Knightley and Beer’s song is is a form of English Calypso - certainly in intent if not in form - as Show of Hands deliver a scathing portrait of the current crop of monied ruling classes, Bankers, MPs, City Traders and CEOs who think they can ride roughshod over the majority of ordinary, decent folk, plunge us in to huge debts, recession and redundancy and then run off scot-free to their hedge fund protected lives with obscene bonuses and payoffs and expect the rest of us to bail ‘em out. There’s a lot of angry people in the world at the moment! This is from their recent album of the same name: “Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed”.
8 “Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed” - (5.00) - Show of Hands
OK, let’s get away from all this frustration and travel far from the UK, very far and remote indeed. and 8 timezones to the East of Birmingham. Namgar are a band with their origins in Buryatia province in the remote lands of Siberia, East of Lake Baikal and North of Mongolia, a country with whom the Buryatians share many cultural roots. From a land of grassy plains and huge blue skies this great band often fuse a punk energy and rock attitude onto their Buryat and Mongolian music; however this next song of theirs, from their 2008 album “Nomad” finds them in very traditional form as lead singer and founder, Namgar Ayushievna Lhasaranova sings about the “Orphan Camel Colt”. Listen out for the beautiful bowed instrument the Morin Huur (or horse-head fiddle in English) as well as the traditional Siberian Jews’ Harp and flutes. I’m dedicating this beautiful track to my good friend of over 30 years, Ana Georgievna
9 “Orphan Camel Colt” - (5.36) - Namgar - “Nomad”
I don’t know about you but that certainly had my spirit having an out of body experience over the wind-blown steppes of Siberia. Just beautiful.
And since I’m in that mood and we’re all now operating on a higher receptive plane, here’s a track that just blows me away every time I hear it. You might remember last week’s show when I played music from and talked about the amazing Belgian gypsy jazz band, Waso, and the two musical dynasties of the Limberger and de Cauter families that formed the basis of it. Well this comes from the pen of the youngest son of the brilliant multi-instrumentalist Koen de Cauter, Myrddin de Cauter - or to me ‘Myrddin’ [Welsh pronunciation] since it is the Welsh name for Merlin.
Myrddin grew up exposed to the North and Central European tradition of gypsy music as well as musettes, waltzes and chanson and originally played clarinet with his family; however at an early age he fell in love with flamenco, switched to guitar and became prodigiously talented on it, renowned not just for his stunning guitar technique, but more importantly for the sheer depth of his compositions and performances.
I beg you not to go and put the kettle on for a cup of tea or leave the room for the next 5 minutes and 3 seconds. Just lay back and float away . . . this is music to leave you gasping for breath as you are carried away upon the musical currents, the swells of emotion, and the virtuosic rip-tides that drag you under their spell. Off his 2009 album “Lucia Nieve” on the Zephyrus label this is “Ama”.
10 “Ama” - (5.03) - Myrddin - “Lucia Nieve” (Zephyrus)
You can catch Myrddin in London next Tuesday at the Notting Hill Arts Centre. I would dearly love to get him up here to Birmingham at some point; so if any of that has moved you, get in touch and let’s make plans somehow.
OK, staying near to Belgium let’s go North into Holland and a real find for me - a wonderful piece of R’n’B latino from a band called Bongomatik and a very cool, very funky track called “Adivínalo”.
11 “Adivínalo” - (3.02) - Bongomatik
. . . CONTINUOUS . . . .
12 “Miedo y Terror” - (7.38) - Truco y Zaperoko
. . . CONTINUOUS . . . .
13 JINGLE 2
Before the Jingle you heard the sounds of a combination of two great Puerto Rican bands Truco y Zaperoko and a track called “Miedo y Terror” (Fear and Terror) a fantastic track which fuses Cuban rumba guaguanco with the plena tradition of Boricua. I’ve been a huge fan of Zaperoko’s work for a long time and their first two albums are amongst the treasures of my vinyl collection.
OK, moving on now from the lush Caribbean to the harsh dry desert land of Niger in Saharan Africa and this is a track from Tuareg desert rocker Bombino from his brand new album on the Cumbancha label released just over a week ago on the 22nd of March called “Agadez”. Soon to become internationally well known via the release of a documentary film about Tuareg culture entitled “Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion” in which he features this is Omara Bombino Mouctar on a track which translates as ‘My Love’ and is called “Tar Hani”.
14 “Tar Hani” - (6.31) - Omara ‘Bombino’ Moctar - “Agadez” (Cumbancha)
Yeah that sounds like a really interesting album: Bombino from Agadez. And yet another new release on the Cumbancha label. This is a guy I’ve been a fan of for some years now: Bruno Garcia - better known to his fans in Francophone countries as Sergent Garcia and those in Hispanophone ones as Sargento Garcia! World famous for his trademark salsamuffin sound developed out of mixing Jamaican and Cuban music, for his new album he’s immersed himself into the vibrant Colombian music scene with predictably interesting results. The new album’s called “Una y Otra Vez” (Time and Time Again) recently released by Cumbancha in this country (but not until May 17th in the Americas) and this track is called “Mi Son, Mi Friend”.
15 “Mi Son, Mi Friend” - (4.15) - Sargento Garcia - ”Una y Otra Vez” (Cumbancha)
Sticking with Colombia and moving from 21st Century cumbiaton back half a century or so to the golden age of cumbia, this is another track from one of my favourite albums of the moment Soundways’ “Cartagena! Curro Fuentes & The Big Band Cumbia & Descarga Sound of Colombia 1962-1972” and a cumbia guaguancó by Puerto Rico y su Combo (Puerto Rico here being the name of a person, not the island) and a real potboiler of a track entitled “La Cumbia del Pescador”
16 “La Cumbia del Pescador” - (4.21) - Puerto Rico y su Combo - “Cartagena!” (Soundways)
. . . CONTINUOUS . . . .
17 “Balk To The Future” - (3.40) - Slamboree
You’re tuned into WorldBeatUK on Rhubarb Radio with me Glyn Phillips - 2 hours of the best world music from all over the planet!
You were just listening to the future of Balkan music - a track called “Balk to the Future”! Now there’s a Rhubarb Radio connection to that track since it’s by a brand new band called Slamboree which includes Birmingham and Rhubarb’s very own DJ Marc Reck (alongside DJ Mike Freear) and an all singing, all dancing, all trapeze-artist, circus juggling, band that fuse performance art with live music and dj and vjs to present a multimedia explosion all within one band. Slamboree have to date only just performed their debut gig up in Hebden Bridge to great acclaim. So watch out for them at a venue near you this Spring and Summer.
And since I’m in a Balkanesque mood, how about this. Ever wondered what you’d get if you mashed up the Amsterdam Klezmer Band with British supergroup Queen and Ozzie rockers AC/DC?? Well France’s M’siou Rigolitch has. This is “Back in Balk’”.
18 “Back in Balk” - (3.16) - M’siou Rigolitch
You know, I can’t get enough of M’siou Rigolitch - really loving his stuff at the moment! This is his remix of a Balkan Beat Box tune featuring MacManu and Charly B and it’s called “Bulgarian Lioness Call Me”
19 “Bulgarian Lioness Call Me” - (3.51) - Balkan Beat Box
Wasn’t that just GLORIOUS!! Oh, yes! Much earlier on in the show I mentioned that we’d be having some Jamaican Mento on the show and that time has arrived. Now then, I love this band. I’ll say it again, I love this band. Once more, I LOVE this band!
60 years or more ago, before dancehall, before reggae, before rocksteady, before even ska, there was Mento. Jamaica’s national music form - often confused by tourists as calypso. But mento nevertheless and all those years back in Port Antonio a loose group of musicians performed together in various line-ups, to tourists, to locals, to each other, even to Errol Flynn. This gradually coalesced into a band called the Jolly Boys and despite various lineup changes it still exists today even though half of them are septuagenarians, even octagenarians! (you see the power music has to keep us all young!).
Well, I was privileged enough to see them a few months ago right here in Brum at the HMV Institute and you can read all about that gig by going to my world music website: www.worldmusic.co.uk and looking up in the Reviews section for the Jolly Boys. This next track is off their recent album called “Great Expectation” on the Jamaican GeeJam label where the Jollies take iconic tunes from the worlds of rock, pop, punk etc and re-do them mento style; This track in particular sounds as if it was actually written for them; it’s enough to send a certain beehived songstress reaching for the bottle . . . Don’t worry, you’ll recognise it!
20 “Interlude” - (0.23) - The Jolly Boys - “Great Expectation (GeeJam)
. . . CONTINUOUS . . . .
21 “Rehab” (4.35) - The Jolly Boys - “Great Expectation (GeeJam)
Didn’t you just love that!! I certainly did! OK, Pretty much at the end of the show now.
This last track is a real treat. Portugal has been putting out some great music recently and this to me is one of those gems. The band’s called Terrakota, the track’s called “World Massala” from the album of the same name on the Ojo Records label. And it’s just that - a real masala of rhythms, flavours and cultures. Enjoy - I know I will!
22 “World Massala” - (4.09) Terrakota - “World Massala” (Ojo Records)
WorldBeatUK (4th Show)- Broadcast Notes (21/3/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Rhubarb Radio Dr John Dirty Dozen Waso Koen de Cauter Romani Lavotta Salmarina Big Chief Rosellys Palma Coco Soundways Ebo Taylor Gabbidon C Sharp Slamboree Strut Maria Kalaniemi Mariza Barry Phillips Aito
Playlist for Monday 21st March 2011
1 JINGLE 1 0:34 (Glyn Phillips voice-over “Intro-Mat” by Matchatcha)
Coming up on the show this evening: 1950s Gospel, 1960s Cumbia, 1970s Ghanaian Afrobeat, 1980s Gipsy Swing, 1990s Sevillanas, Noughties Fado and Teenies Reggae! But first this: In May 1970 Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Steve Winwood and a host of others (including various Stones and Beatles) came together to record an amazing album of blues - and the catalyst for all this? One Mr Chester Arthur Bennett. Better known to you and me as … Howlin’ Wolf!
2 Built For Comfort 2:11 Howlin' Wolf The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions (Chess/MCA) Blues
That was a track called “Built for Comfort” off the 1970 album “The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions” an experiment that teamed up the legendary Chicago Blues man with some of the then cream of the British crop. OK, so why am I kicking off a world music show with the Blues? Well, it IS world music - in fact along with Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Cajun, Zydeco and Country music it is America’s very own world music.
But more particularly, because yesterday marked the 2nd anniversary of the death of my father - one of two huge musical influences on my life (the other being Alexis Korner) both of whom planted the seeds of my interest in the wider musics of the world. So as a little homage to my father I’d like to share with you some of the tracks, musicians and styles that I grew up with during the 60s and 70s and into the 80s.
My old man played jazz and blues trombone, teaching himself from the age of 17 and throwing himself into the rebel music of his day (that day being 1951) - New Orleans Jazz! “Rebel Music”?! I can hear you say. Why, yes. to people brought up in the war years on American crooners and the British “Hee Hee! Pop the Kettle on Mother!” approach to musical entertainment, New Orleans jazz was wild, unpredictable, rebellious, You needed to learn it by ear, not by notes and best of all - yer parents hated it! Things really don’t change do they?
I have precious little recorded material to show for his almost 6 decades of performing. This next piece was given to me by a man who came to his funeral who had played with him back in the 60s in a (very non-rebellious) early form of ‘tribute band’, given over to recreating note-for-note 1920s style jazz - very much not my old man, but hey it was a gig; however, please listen to this and revel in his ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ 12 second trombone solo which single-handedly blasts away the tuba player and the rest of the band’s cobwebs and shows - albeit briefly - that to him music needed to be ‘felt’ not just played. This is Birmingham’s own Ken Ingram’s Classic Jazz Kings and a track called “Deep Henderson”
3 Deep Henderson (Take 2) 4:06 Ken Ingram's Classic Jazz Kings KICJK Vol 6 Jazz
Only one more jazz one now because I can feel my brother already gnashing his teeth and reaching for the tranquilizers. There are so many musicians I could pick that I remember him spinning records to in the front room, but this guy is probably the one that most subconsciously influenced my old man’s playing style - full-on broadsides of ‘bone and big sweeping notes that used the whole length of the slide. This is on vinyl - an old Vogue label ep - and it’s “St Louis Blues” by the great Kid Ory.
4 St Louis Blues - Kid Ory Vogue epg1006 Jazz
[VINYL]
If you’ve just tuned in - don’t worry, you’re still listening to WorldBeatUK with me Glyn Phillips - I’m just taking the opportunity to use this first hour to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of my father’s death with a little homage to what ‘world music’ we could lay our hands on in those far off days before the 80s. We’ve had Blues, we’ve had Jazz; now for the 3rd of the great triumvirate of 20th Century Black American music: Gospel! And in our house two ladies stood head and shoulders above the rest: the excitable dynamo Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the mighty rock of faith that was Mahalia Jackson. We’re going on a journey bound for glory with Sister Rosetta on “This Train” and that’s followed by an absolute masterclass in control and deep belief in Mahalia Jackson’s “In The Upper Room”. Firstly though . . . All Aboard!!
5 This Train 2:50 Sister Rosetta Tharpe The Original Soul Sister Gospel & Religious
[CONTINUOUS]
6 In The Upper Room 5:58 Mahalia Jackson Gold Collection Gospel & Religious
Leaving America behind now, but not the ladies, we move into more recognisable world music territory. In 1965 my parents went to Portugal, guests of the son of some very well-heeled Portuguese people. They were taken to a fado house in Lisbon and returned home with a couple of wonderful ep’s. It was my first taste of foreign language music - and I really took to it. Who else but the Grand Diva of Fado, the woman in black, the legend in her own lifetime: Amalia Rodrigues and from that very same ep (“Amalia the Beautiful”) this a track known in English as ‘The Song of the Sea’ - Solidão (Canção do Mar)
7 Solidão (Canção do Mar) Amalia Rodrigues Amalia the Beautiful (Columbia) Fado
[VINYL]
Ok, Briefly back over the Atlantic to the States. New Orleans Jazz might have very unjustly got a bad name from the ranks of the ‘Cool Jazz’ brigade (you know, they should really study their musical history, Jazz did not start with Bird, Trane and Miles!) - however this next track sets out to demonstrate the fuller picture of the Crescent City - on the one hand the Funky, Funky, PHONKY brass bands and on the other the amazing pianists. This track combines two examples of the best - it’s The Dirty Dozen Brass Band fronted by the Night Tripper himself, The Gris Gris Man, the living embodiment of New Orleans Juju, Dr John Creaux - or just Mac to his friends. “It’s All Over Now”!
8 It’s All Over Now 4:57 The Dirty Dozen Brass Band (Dr John) Jazz Moods - Hot (Columbia/Legacy) Jazz
During the 60s and 70s besides listening to oceans of rock (proper rock mind!) my ears were always open to hear anything that spoke of foreign climes - there wasn’t a lot but I remember Dad playing Ravi Shankar, Manitas de Plata, The Drummers of Burundi etc all of which swam around in my head next to The Beatles, Santana, Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Hawkwind, Slade - yes, Slade, why you got a problem with that?
However, one chance meeting had a profound effect on my musical development as a teenager. During the later 70s my father and I pitched up at a small jazz festival in Kent and met four amazing Belgian musicians (yes, I’m back talking about Belgium again). It was a gipsy jazz quartet called Waso and they were to become our friends and unwitting musical mentors for years to come. The band consisted of Michel Verstraeten on Double Bass, the Manouche gipsies Vivi Limberger on rhythm guitar, and his cousin Fapy Lafertin on lead guitar and Koen de Cauter on reeds and vocals. Actually they were all multi-instrumentalists but more of that later. First off I’m going to play a track from their 1983 album “Gipsy Swing Vol 5” which is typical of the style that made them firm favourites of discerning British jazz audiences during the 80s. This is their gipsy jazz version of the old Russian theme “ - Ochi Chorniye” - “Black Eyes”.
9 Les Yeux Noirs 2.58 Waso Gipsy Swing Vol 5 (Munich Records 1983) Gypsy Jazz
[VINYL]
This was incredibly exciting music - and tracks like this were capable of being played at breakneck speed; just the sight of Fapy Lafertin’s fingers effortlessly flowing over the frets was enough to make most British Django devotees hang up their guitars in shame. However, it wasn’t just all gipsy swing standards; the band’s frontman Koen de Cauter had a very personal style of singing and comic facial expressions that often masked his true skills; so I was exposed also to musette, chanson and, as here, an idiosyncratic rendering of the waltz - “Flambée Montalbanaise”
10 Flambée Montalbanaise 3:38 Koen de Cauter & friends Django! (DeWerf 2004) Gypsy Jazz
That last track was taken off an album recorded in 2004 called “Django!” and featured not just Koen and Fapy from the original Waso, but also two of Koen’s sons Waso de Cauter on rhythm guitar and Dajo de Cauter on double bass. So far, so good. But is this world music? Yes, yes, yes! You just need to leave your preconceptions at the door. As the night went on, Waso would treat their British audiences to a taste, just a taste of the hidden world of Central and East European music. You have to remember it was virtually impossible to hear anything like this in Britain 30 years ago, let alone buy it anywhere.
The next track although recorded in 1996 by another offshoot of the original Waso band called Romani, is again typical of the treats they had in store for the lucky few able to cram into the tiny clubs where they played to absolutely breathless audiences. The band here features Vivi’s son Tcha Limberger (now internationally famous in his own right) on vocals and violin, Vivi himself on rhythm and backing vocals, Koen on lead guitar and his son Dajo again on double bass. It is a sublime piece the original of which I remember playing to death on an old scratchy worn out cassette. This is “Letscho Kurko”
11 Letscho Kurko 5:43 Romani Romani (Map Records) Gypsy Jazz
[CONTINUOUS]
12 Serenade 2:24 Lavotta Le Chemin des Tsiganes Gypsy Jazz
To finish off the North European gipsy section that was the wonderful Lavotta from an album called “Le Chemin des Tsiganes” and a track entitled “Seranade” - You can get all the details for these tracks right after the show by logging onto my world music website, called appropriately enough www.worldmusic.co.uk and then clicking on the Radio category - there you’ll find playlists for all my shows.
Just to remind you, you’re listening to WorldBeatUK here on Rhubarb Radio, with me Glyn Phillips and for this first section of the show I’m paying homage to my late father and to the music he either introduced me to or discovered with me back in the 60s, 70s and early 80s. I would like to have played you some 60s music by the Southern French gipsy, Manitas de Plata - but I can’t put me hands on his album - so this is again from my father’s collection; it’s from Andalucia in Southern Spain and it’s a sevillana by the choral group Salmarina called “Fue en Sevilla” (It Happened in Seville).
13 Fue en Sevilla 3.39 Salmarina Sevillanas de Carlos Saura (Polydor) Sevillana
Ok this is the last one in homage to my father. You might remember that earlier on in the programme I played a piece by the most famous fadista of all time, Amalia Rodriguez; the next song is by the most famous fadista of her generation, who might yet prove to eclipse Amalia in time. Who else but: Mariza. Just as with Eva Cassidy, I can remember distinctly the first time I ever heard her; I was driving along College Road in Handsworth when this astounding voice came out of the radio and I had to pull over to the kerb and listen, since all the hairs on my arms were standing up and I began to feel faint. Now THAT’s the power of music! My father discovered her around the same time in the early noughties and loved her voice equally.
One of my last memories of true closeness to him took place after he’d been told he didn’t have long to live; He was struggling to breathe through his oxygen mask, so we just sat next to each other and he got me to put on a documentary about Mariza and her life. We sat there experiencing the joy of music, the longing for more time and the sadness of impending loss. True ‘saudade’. The next week he stopped listening to any music at all, because he couldn’t bear the pain of knowing he’d never play trombone, never sing, never dance, never truly live again. This is “Meu Fado Meu”.
14 Meu Fado Meu 3.26 Mariza Transparente (EMI/World Connection 2005) Fado
Did I say that was the last song for my father? Well, technically this is. Good friends of me and my dad’s and North London ambassadors for mixing up styles from Soweto to the Crescent City, this is Big Chief and . . . . “Song For My Father”
15 Song For My Father 6.48 Big Chief Live at the Bull (Teepee Records 2005) Jazz
[CONTINUOUS]
16 JINGLE 2 1:01 (Glyn Phillips voice-over “Intro-Mat” by Matchatcha)
[CONTINUOUS]
17 Emoções 3:04 Jose Da Camara Emoções (Sony 2010) Portuguese
(Jose Da Camara Canta Roberto Carlos)
Welcome back to WorldBeatUK with me Glyn Phillips right here on Rhubarb Radio. You were just listening to the sounds of Portuguese singer Jose da Camara singing a song called “Emoções” (‘Emotions’ in English) from the album of the same name, subtitled Jose da Camara Canta Roberto Carlos (J d C sings the songs of Roberto Carlos). That’s on the Sony label 2010.
A quick reminder that this is the last show on a Monday! If you tune in next Monday between 6-8pm you’ll probably get the wonderful Marc Reck, but not me. WorldBeatUK is moving from next week to WEDNESDAY evenings at the slightly later time of 7-9pm UK time (overseas listeners please check the time differences because the UK’s clocks go forward an hour this weekend coming!). So that should be much better for those who struggle to get back home in time for 6pm to join me. There’ll be no excuses now!
Now here’s a band that are playing here in Birmingham next week at the Kitchen Garden Cafe in wonderful uptown Kings Heath on Monday 4th April at 8.30pm. I was going to get them to come on the show and play live for us, but of course as you’ve just heard, I won’t be here on Monday - because I’ll be here next Wednesday! The band’s called Polly and the Billets Doux an eclectic mix of folk/soul/pop and I don’t know what really - but it’s nice! Sort of halfway between Bonnie Raitt and Norah Jones. This is from their album “Fiction, Half-Truths and Downright Lies” and it’s called “Lead Me On”.
18 Lead Me On 4:31 Polly And The Billets Doux Fiction, Half-Truths and Downright Lies Pop/Soul/Folk
[CONTINUOUS]
19 Caught Me At A Bad Time 2:38 The Rosellys One Way St (2008) Americana
You’ve just been listening to a pair of Birmingham’s finest young musicians who play what’s often referred to nowadays as ‘Americana’ - as I’ve been trying to point out all through the programme, world music is a lot broader than you might think. That was The Rosellys and “Caught Me At a Bad Time” from their album “One Way Street”. Check out their website www.therosellys.com. They often play at the Tower of Song in Cotteridge, South Birmingham and are well worth checking out indeed!
Ok, here’s a tune that at first seem to have overtones of American folk and hillbilly, but is in fact performed by the Finnish-Swedish accordionist, Maria Kalaniemi - originally written by Hilma Ingberg, probably in the early 20th Century. I’d love to know whether it’s the Appalachian influence on Scandinavia or the Scandinavian influence on Appalachia in this tune - who knows - but I do know I like the track. This is from her 2010 album on the Aito Records label entitled “Vilda Rosor” which means ‘wild rose’ and it’s a track called “I Fjol” - which I have no idea what it means. Just enjoy!
20 I Fjol 5:22 Maria Kalaniemi Vilda Rosor (Aito Records 2010) Swedo-Finnish Folk
[CONTINUOUS]
21 Interlude (Callin Gramma) 0:38 Ortegon - Interlude
[CONTINUOUS]
22 Muchacha 3:13 Ortegon - (Palma Coco) Salsa
That was another track by someone I featured last week, the Colombian producer and musician Sr Ortegon and a track called “Muchacha” (preceded by a weird phone conversation to someone’s granny . . .). Ok let’s stay in Colombia and return to that great album I played last week: “Cartagena: Curro Fuentes & the Big Band Cumbia & Descarga Sound of Colombia (1962-72)” on the Soundways label. This is a cumbia with a tango intro by the great Lucho Bermudez. “Fiesta de Negritos”. A Bailar!!!!
23 Fiesta De Negritos 2:34 Lucho Bermudez Y Su Orquesta Cartagena! (Soundways) Tango-Cumbia
Sticking with re-releases from the golden years, this next track is from a recent re-release of Ghanaian Highlife and Afrobeat Classics from 1973-1980 on the Strut label, called “Life Stories” and all of the tracks are by or associated with Ebo Taylor. I’m hoping to play a lot more from this label - there’s a new album coming up called “Nigeria 70” - so as soon as I get that, I’ll play some stuff off it for you (big shout out to Stephanos!). In the meantime this is a heavenly slice of music called, funnily enough, “Heaven”. . .
24 Heaven 6.04 Ebo Taylor Life Stories (Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1973-80) (Strut 2011) Afrobeat
Now closer to home - much closer. We here in the UK like our reggae; here in Birmingham we really like our reggae - and we’ve got the musical pedigree to prove it. From my neck of the woods, Handsworth, one band has stood out on the international stage. Who else but Steel Pulse - and founder member Basil Gabbidon is still playing around Brum with his band, Gabbidon, and I was lucky enough to be playing at the same venue (the Tower of Song in Cotteridge) as him and Carol Brewster, the soul and gospel singer, a couple of weeks ago. This is from his recent album called “Reggae Rockz” - it’s “Kool Runnings”.
25 Kool Runnings 3:30 Gabbidon Reggae Rockz (Runcum Music RMCD25) Reggae
Sticking with reggae, this is a great Jamaican band name of C-Sharp, who wrap some sweet tunes around some very insightful lyrics. Really liking their work. They’ve had hits in Jamaica with “No More” (that dealt with the often taboo subject of severe depression) and more recently “Nurse” (in 2009). This is from their new - as yet unreleased - album, “The Invitation”, and it’s a fitting cry to the madness of the world all around us today. This is called “What’s the Matter with the World”.
26 What's The Matter With The World 3:58 C-Sharp The Invitation (C-Sharp Music) Reggae
[Remind people that WorldBeatUK is moving to Wednesdays from next week onwards and will start and end an hour later (7-9pm) - which should make it easier for everyone to tune in.]
27 Balk To The Future 3.40 Slamboree - - Balkan Dance
WorldBeatUK (3rd Show)- Broadcast Notes (14/03/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Rhubarb Radio Cheik Lô Pressure Sounds Lee Perry Ranglin Jeremy Marre Inner Circle Vampisoul Majid Bekkas Tamikrest Soundways Poly-Rhythmo Owiny Sigoma Watcha Clan Rango Oy Moutinho Fexomat Chalice Gevende
Show Notes for 3rd WorldBeatUK world music radio show with Glyn Phillips
(broadcast on Rhubarb Radio - 14/03/11)
1 Jingle 1
Great show coming up this evening with quite an influence from Africa later on, as well as new releases and pre-releases from Watcha Clan, Lee Scratch Perry, Owiny Sigoma, Soundways, Vampisoul, Tamikrest, Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo, Pedro Moutinho, Sr Ortegon and Chalice.
But first off, some African reggae from Senegal’s Cheik Lô - this is “Warico Dub”.
2 “Warico Dub” Cheik Lô
Now this one’s for the reggae and dub heads out there. Just like to say thanks to Steve Williams of UKVibe for the heads-up on this one. Pete Holdsworth and record label Pressure Sounds have collated and released a very interesting selection of Dub Plate Mixes and Rarities recorded by The Upsetter himself, Mr Lee “Scratch” Perry, dating from 1973 to 1979. The album’s called “The Return of Sound System Scratch” (Pressure Sounds PSCD70) and it’s essentially a compilation of some of Perry’s more obscure - even extreme - recordings, most from the Black Ark period.
As well as Lee Perry there are many different variations of the Upsetters on this album with special guests such as Junior Murvin, Candy Mackenzie, Leo Graham, George Faith, Jimmy Riley and Jack Lord; there are also tracks by Aleas Juve, The Unforgettables and the Silvertones. Some of the tracks are previously unreleased and many are exclusive dub plate mixes; some are very accessible commercial tracks and others are pure Lee Perry fantasy world dub weirdness.
However, the cut I’m going to play is much more user-friendly and you don’t have to be swirling in a haze of holy herbalness to appreciate it. It’s by Candy Mackenzie & the Upsetters and is a previously unreleased track called “Long Enough”
3 “Long Enough” Candy Mackenzie
[Continuous - No Break]
4 “54-46” Ernest Ranglin ft Toots Hibbert
That was legendary Jamaican ska and jazz guitarist Ernest Ranglin on one of my favourite numbers “54-46”; I’m also a big fan of 634-5789 (by Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper), 344-3025 (by Giraldo Piloto)! They don’t write numbers like that anymore… But hey, that just me! Vocals were from the equally legendary Toots Hibbert.
Now, while we’re still on a Jamaican tip, I want to play a very rare track recorded live during a field recording in Jamaica in 1977 for a documentary called “Roots, Rock, Reggae”. The documentary highlighted the real life street level music of Jamaica at a time when, apart from Perry Henzell’s “The Harder They Come” film, there was very little real film of music and life there getting out into the mainstream and even in Jamaica, reggae was viewed with scorn by many in power. And the guy who happened to be in the right place at the right time? Jeremy Marre. M-A-R-R-E.
Ring any bells? No? Well it should do - he’s the film-maker behind the legendary late 70s/early 80s “Beats of the Heart” documentary series on world music (from which this documentary comes) - this was before we even called it world music - an incredibly influential work documenting a seminal point in the global consciousness of the world’s music outside of the mainstream. Those of us involved today owe a big debt to pioneers like this.
Is he resting on his laurels? Nope. Last Month’s “Reggae Britannia” series on BBC was his, as was the brilliant series, “Latin Music USA” and also “Soul Britannia” as well as stuff on James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Phil Spector and more. Jeremy Marre, as they say, knows his onions!
For “Roots Rock Reggae” Marre had to play a sleight of hand trick with the Jamaican authorities at the time and pretend to be making a film about calypso and jazz to be able to get permission to film. Once there the team had to try and establish contact with reggae musicians on the ground amidst many difficulties and a background of gang wars, street violence and the mayhem created by the competing factions of the politicians Michael Manley and Edward Seaga.
It’s a fascinating documentary showing the reality of the late 70s for Jamaicans and the volatility which forged conscious reggae. It’s available (as are many of the re-issued “Beats of the Heart” documentaries) via the DVD label Digital Classics at www.digitalclassicsdvd.co.uk - I’ll try and put details up on my site later.
This track by Inner Circle was recorded live at an afternoon stage show in a Kingston street - complete with vocalist Jacob Miller berating the crowd beforehand for not behaving themselves! This is “Love is the Drug”.
* Inner Circle - “Love is the Drug” (audio from Roots Rock Reggae DVD)
Moving away from Jamaica we’re going to early 60s black urban America and the sound of early RnB from the vaults of King and Federal. Rhythm and Blues as world music. Yep! You’d better believe it.
The fantastic Spanish re-issue label Vampisoul has just released Volume 2 of their series RnB Hipshakers; this album’s entitled “Scratch That Itch” and this track is by a man who later was better known as a comedian, actor and film producer, Rudy Ray Moore. Most famous for his title role as the “uniquely articulate pimp” Dolemite in the 1975 Blaxploitation comedy film, this is Rudy Ray taking us all for a “Buggy Ride” . . .
5 “Buggy Ride” Rudy Ray Moore
Rhythm and Blues grew out of the Blues and here’s an example of how it all links back to Mama Africa. This is the Moroccan gnawa master Majid Bekkas from his 2002 album “African Gnaoua Blues” on the Belgian Sowarex Igloomondo label and a track called “African Blues”.
6 “African Blues” Majid Bekkas
Going south from Morocco over the Sahara you eventually end up in the desert area of northwestern Mali. We’re used to hearing the more southern sound of this vast country, but here’s a track from its Tuareg community 2,000 miles north of Bamako. Tamikrest are a young band who fuse more traditional Tuareg music and the Tamshek language with influences from Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley.
Never underestimate the power of music - the band’s leader Ousmane Ag Mossa didn’t have access to even cassette tapes until 2000 around the time he started learning guitar - and what did he listen to? Dire Straits and Bob Marley. As he said “That changed my musical vision completely and I stopped to classify music. Music is just music, no matter where it comes from”. Amen to that.
Tamikrest’s new album “Toumastin” won’t be out until April 25th but here’s a preview from it. This is “Arantane N Tinariwen”
7 “Arantane N Tinariwen” Tamikrest
Well I’m REALLY excited about this next release - I’ve been jumping up and down for joy for a few days now. The brilliant British label Soundways specialise (amongst other things) in digging out the lost and forgotten recordings of the world’s most vibrant musical cultures. Here they focus on the music of Colombia’s Caribbean coast and the output of Curro Fuentes’ recordings from Cartagena. And this is a gem of an album, with Roberto Gyemant aided by Miles Cleret and Quantic’s Will Holland assembling some diamond moments.
It’s full name is “Cartagena - Curro Fuentes & the Big Band Cumbia and Descarga Sound of Colombia 1962-72” and it’s chock-full of goodies! Anyone who knows me knows my longstanding passion for cumbias (especially from the golden years) and I wasn’t disappointed with cumbia, porro, gaita, merecumbé and tamborera all thrown into the mix; however it was the descargas that really blew me away.
This is the wonderfully named Clodomiro Montes y el Super Combo Curro and a track called Puerto Rico Zuuuuuuumbando!
8 “Puerto Rico Zumbando” Clodomiro Montes y el Super Combo Curro
[Continuous - No Break]
9 “Pardon” Orch Poly-Rhythmo
The last track was “Pardon” from the Beninese afrobeat band Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo. Now then, that was a preview track from their new album called “Cotonou Club” which is to be released on the Strut label in a fortnight’s time. Amazingly it’s their first new album in 20 years! With five members of the original 1960s band, two from the 70s incarnation and three new members, they also invited guests Angelique Kidjo, Fatoumata Diawara and member of Franz Ferndinand on their new release.
Here’s another new release. Owiny Sigoma is a new band formed by the combination of a collective of UK musicians brought over to Kenya on a grassroots level cultural exchange programme to work with Nairobi based Joseph Nyamungu who plays the 8 string lyre, the nyatiti and drummer Charles Owoko who specialises in traditional Luo rhythms. The resulting album recorded in a disused factory outside Nairobi has subsequently been championed by Gilles Peterson and is to be released by Brownswood Recordings on April 18th with a special pre-release of the 12” single “Wires” exclusive to Record Store Day - that’s April 16th in case you didn’t know! - backed by a Theo Parrish remix. This is the original version...
10 “Wires” Owiny Sigoma Band
Staying with the London-Africa connection here’s some Township jazz from Barnet, North London by the excellent ‘Rhythm-&-Blues-and-everything-in-between’ band Big Chief recorded live outdoors at the Ealing Blues and Roots Festival last July and on their new album “On Broadway”. This tune is written by them and features a great horn section of John and Chris Fry and Ed Benstead blowing out on “Africa Rag”.
11 “Africa Rag” Big Chief
Now then, think Brazil and you think Samba, Bossa, Baile Funk, Forro, Axe, Maracatú, etc, etc - a whole semi-continent of rhythm. However this next band look Northward to a tiny island far far away - as many of us do - for our inspiration. The Orquesta Brasileira de Musica Jamaicana are part of the latin ska phenomenon currently ripping up latin dancefloors from Argentina to Venezuela. This is from their album “Volume 1” on the Scubidu label and is a re-imagining of “Tico Tico No Fubá”.
12 “Tico Tico No Fubá” OBMJ
[Continuous - No Break]
13 “Perfection” Boogat (Geko Jones/N Ron) - cuts before proper end!
14 JINGLE 2
Before the break you heard the track Perfection by Boogat (big shout out going to Geko Jones and N Ron in New York for that one).
Now, remember I was talking earlier about British label Soundways and their new album “Cartagena”? Well it’s so good I’ve just got to play another track. This is Crecencio Camacho y el Super Combo Curro and a tune called “Santana en Salsa”. The background to this cut is that after a night’s playing the band have just finished a gig and are now starting to play just for fun. This is a monster tune with a heavy, heavy, groove. Just intoxicating… Pa’ to’os ellos que le ‘usten la musica colombiana de lo’ años de oro!
15 “Santana En Salsa” - Crecencio Camacho y el Super Combo Curro
[Continuous - No Break]
16 “March of the Morons” Oy Division
You just hear the traditional Jewish sounds of the gloriously named Oy Division and “March of the Morons”.
Here’s another brand new release due out on the 4th April here: this time it’s Marseille’s global beat outfit Watcha Clan and a track from their new album “Radio Babel”. They’ll be playing in London tomorrow at the Rich Mix Bar in Bethnal Green Road E1 to promote the new album. This is a wonderful piece of dubsteppy reggae worldness entitled “Im Nin’alu”.
17 “Im Nin’alu” Watcha Clan
[Continuous - No Break]
18 “Sawakin” Rango
What you just heard was a track called "Sawakin" from an album entitled “Bride of the Zar” by the Egyptian based but Sudanese descended band, Rango, (no relation to the animated gecko currently at the cinema I might add). Their back story is too long to go into here, but includes mystic healing ceremonies, Sudanese trances, Nubian weddings, a 190 year old xylophone, an Arabian vampire, ghosts, aerosol cans, chickens, sardines and recycled aerosol cans. Intrigued? You will be! Please check them out at www.30IPS.com (which is their label) and the other bands there too.
I’m a sucker for Portuguese music and fado in particular; this is the lovely soothing sound of Portuguese singer Pedro Moutinho - in a duet with the luscious Mayra Andrade from Cabo Verde from Pedro’s album “Lisboa Mora Aqui” on the Uguru label. “Alfama”
19 “Alfama” Pedro Moutinho & Mayra Andrade
OK, let’s up the adrenaline with some heart-pumping salsa dura from the very talented producer, composer and musician, Señor Ortegon from Cali, Colombia. This is right on the money - “Fiesta de la Calle”
20 “Fiesta en la Calle” Ortegon
If you like Gypsy music and also like Breakcore then this one’s for you; some diamond-tipped Balkan Hardcore from Berlin: Fexomat and Sum and a remix of “Golden Days”
21 “Golden Days (rmx)” Fexomat & Sum
[Continuous - No Break]
22 “Celick Comak” Gevende
You’re listening to WorldBeatUK with me Glyn Phillips and you’ve just heard a track that I had to move from last week’s show, the Turkish psychedelic folk band Gevende and a track from their first album “Ev” on the Baykus music label called “Celick Comack”:
OK, I’m going to take it down slightly now with some smooth Jamaican soulful reggae, this is Chalice and “Caravan of Love”
23 “Caravan of Love” Chalice
Now last week I got into terrible trouble with my missus, who threatened to beat me around the head with a fryingpan because I played a track with lyrics she didn’t approve of. It was a mash-up between Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and something by Cobra and Beanie Man with some rather heavy Jamaican Patois. Now, to be fair I didn’t really listen to the lyrics and couldn’t understand much of it anyway, revelling instead in the musical juxtaposition of the sounds and rhythms involved (I am a drummer after all!). How was I to know he wasn’t going on about a small kitten?
So to set matters straight here’s a song with words that I completely understand and it really IS about the singer’s loving relationship with his girlfriend’s faithful feline companion. And if you choose to interpret it in any other way, then that’s your filthy minds, not mine . . . This is Robert Crumb (yes, cartoon fans, he of the steatopygically robust ladies) and the Cheap Suit Serenaders. You’ll pick the title up as you go along!
24 “My Girl’s Pussy” - Robert Crumb and the Cheap Suit Serenaders
Goodbyes, reminders for next week, thank yous, etc
NB: I'd like to thank Marc Reck for letting me have his slot!
I’m going to leave you with a real banger:
25 “Feelin Alright” Joe Cocker (Matty Blades remix)
WorldBeatUK (2nd Show) - Broadcast Notes (7th March 2011)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Rhubarb Courtney John Macire Sylla Sierra Leone Petrona Martinez Thornato Shawn Lee Carvalho Baba Zula Gevende Va Fan Fahre Trilhos Batucada Tabala Ophex Saf Vetex Phil Beer Hijaz Farka Toure Tango Fado
Hi everybody,
Since February 2011 our editor, Glyn, has been broadcasting a weekly world music show called “WorldBeatUK” (Wednesday 7pm –9pm, UK time) on Rhubarb Radio live from Birmingham, England. After some requests from some of our regular listeners we are going to try an experiment - we shall be posting the full show transcripts (within our WorldMusicUK Blog section) to help our listeners find references to the past shows artists and to get a feel for the vibe of the show.
It will also help any listeners that missed a particular WorldBeatUK show to catch up on all the musical gems that Glyn finds. Let us know if you find it useful, as we really do appreciate the feedback, and look forward to giving you many hours of world music pleasure. And for any agents, world music PR staff, record labels, etc, please feel free to email us with any World Music artistes you might like us to feature.
Regards, Dylan.
**********************************
So following are the notes for the WorldBeatUK show broadcast on the 7th March 2011. (We have no notes for the first one until we can transcribe the show).
Notes for Second WorldBeatUK show (07/03/11) –
1 VOICE OVER 1 [Theme music for the show is "Intro-Mat" by Diblo Dibala's band Matchatcha from the album "Nyekesse" (Melodie)]
Welcome to another edition of WorldBeatUK right here on Rhubarb Radio with me, Glyn Phillips! Coming up on the show tonight we’ve got music from Portugal, Colombia, South Africa, Turkey, Belgium, Mali, Argentina, New Zealand, Jamaica, Sierra Leone, Guinea Conakry and even some Kizomba from Handsworth Wood right here in Birmingham!
But right now let’s kick off with some Belgian Brass Band music! Well, kind of . . . !
2 "Moliendo Cafe" - Orch Int du Vetex - 'Flamoek Fantasy'
That was the huge brass ensemble Orchestre International du Vetex and their version of an old salsa hit, “Moliendo Cafe” off the album ‘Flamoek Fantasy’.
Staying in Belgium - and why not? - this next track is by a guy called “Saf”, off his album on the Zephyrus label - also called simply “Saf”. He’s been described as a sort of Belgian Tom Waits, combining Flemish wit and satire with musette, tango, waltzes, chanson and gipsy-swing. I’ve no idea what he’s singing about, - my sum total of Flemish being “Alles Kits Achter Der Rits” - but I really don’t care, because I love the way he just pulls you in to his Ghentish world. This track is called “t’Vertellement”.
3 "t’Vertellement" - Saf - 'Saf'
Here’s another face of the country that gave us Belgian chocolates, Belgian waffles and Tintin! Baloji is a rapper originally from Lubumbashi and Kinshasa in Congo and was previously the MC with Starflam. From his album “KInshasa Succursale” this is a wonderful track that goes by no less than three names: “Le Jour D’apres” (The Day After), Siku Ya Baadaye, and even “Independence Cha Cha”. Check out also the video on YouTube - B-a-l-o-j-i. Baloji!
4 "Le Jour D’Apres" - Balojji - 'Kinshasa Succursale'
Now then, if you’re into English Folk music at all, you can’t have failed to have come across the names Phil Beer and Steve Knightley of the duo “Show of Hands”. Phil was recently voted Musician of the Year 2010 in the Spiral Earth Awards, so I thought I’d play something celebrating that. This next track is off his 2010 box set album, named aptly enough, “Phil Beer Box Set One” released on his own Chudleigh Roots label. It’s the first in what should be a long series of archive material from Phil’s illustrious career, with some great fellow folk musicians thrown in to boot.
And because this is a world music show, and I like to mix it up a bit, I chose a track from the early 90s when Phil and Steve together with English accordionist and concertina player, Dave Townsend teamed up with some fine Chilean musicians Mauricio Venegas, Vladimir Vega and Sergio Avila in a project called “Alianza” (which is Spanish for “Alliance”); I was lucky enough to be able to see that show in Birmingham’s mac when I worked there - and it resonated with me on a couple of levels; firstly I was playing percussion with Birmingham based Chileno-Peruvian outfit Caliche at the time so I was very much into the folk side of Latin American music, and secondly because whilst living in South America during the mid-1980s I found out that my great-grandfather had actually lived and worked in the Atacama desert over 120 years ago.
So this connection between the British Isles and the far-flung reaches of South America, and the amazing journeys in sailing ships which Welsh, English and Chilean sailors took across the vast seas of the Atlantic and Pacific via Tierra del Fuego and the treacherous Magellan straits, up to central and Northern Chile, was brought wonderfully to life through this alliance of musicians. For landlubbers the seas are enormous barriers, but for the sailors they are merely pathways to another world. This track is called “Santiago”.
5 "Santiago" - Phil Beer (& Alianza) - 'Phil Beer Box Set One'
Now, if you board a ship in Chile’s Valparaiso, go up the Pacific coast of South America from Chile past the Atacama Desert and Peru, over the equator and past the mangrove swamps of Northern Ecuador you’ll eventually end up in the Colombian port of Buenaventura; from there go inland to the salsa city of Cali, and you might hear something like this . . .
6 "El Chontaduro" - Nancy Murillo - 'Tia Tova'
That was the sound of the Paris based caleña Nancy Murillo and a track called “Chontaduro” off her ‘Tia Yova’ album. You can find that on the French Label “Pure Son’g”.
More from Colombia later, but in the meantime I want to return to Belgium - or rather a mythical land that lies somewhere between Belgium, the Levant and North Africa. This is a jazzy track by the band Hijaz off their just released album ‘Chemsi’ on the Zephyrus label, and is named after an idyllic Tunisian town called “Sidi Bou Said”.
7 "Sidi Bou Said" - Hijaz - 'Chemsi'
And while we’re on a jazzy fusion tip, have you ever imagined Portuguese Fado mixed with jazz sensibilities? These guys have. This is the band Fado em Si Bemol (which translates as Fado in B minor) and a live track with a brazilianesque groove called “Fado Tropical”.
8 "Fado Tropical" - Fado em Si Bemol - 'Fado em Si Bemol'
Let’s leave Lisbon and sail South West to another great port, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and what else but the shimmering, soul-searching, sultry sounds of … TANGO! This is another band I had the honour of experiencing some years ago - one of the finest contemporary orchestras of Argentine tango, El Sexteto Mayor and a track off their ‘Vida, Pasión y Tango’ album (on the Intuition label): “Oblivión”.
9 "Oblivión" - Sexteto Mayor - 'Vida, Pasion y Tango'
Now, today, the 7th of March 2011, is exactly five years to the day of the death of one of Africa’s most famous and celebrated musical sons. I’m talking of course about the Malian guitar legend Ali Farka Toure. Born in 1939 and the only surviving child out of 10, Ali Ibrahim Toure was nicknamed “Farka” (which means ‘donkey’) by his parents in respect of his tenacity and stubbornness, presumably in managing to survive. He found international success relatively late in life and was still working as a sound engineer until 1980. The British record label, World Circuit (of subsequent Buena Vista Social Club fame) took him on board in 1990 and the rest as they say is history.
After the amazing success of “Talking Timbuktu” with Ry Cooder, Ali practically gave up his international career and went back to being a farmer on the banks of the River Niger, where he felt happiest. It was five years before he cut another album, 1999’s “Niafunké” and Ali refused to leave his village, let alone his country, so World Circuit built a studio on his land and recorded the album there!
A few years after that a French film crew went to find Ali in his village and shot a documentary about his life on the farm, interspersed with impromptu footage of him playing music. This absorbing film, shot by Marc Huraux and called simply “A Visit to Ali Farka Touré”, has been re-released on the Digital Classics label and can be found on their website DigitalClassics.co.uk or on Amazon, etc. It’s beautifully shot and really gives you a feel for what grounded this great guitarist in the soil of Mali. This next track was recorded not long before he died of bone cancer and is a duet with the great Malian kora player Toumani Diabate; it’s called “Ai Ga Bani”.
10 "Ai Ga Bani" - Ali Farka Touré - '2006 BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music'
From Mali to South Africa now and probably the most famous acapella group ever to come of out Africa, the legendary Ladysmith Black Mambazo, survivors of the apartheid era who shot to fame after being featured on Paul Simon’s “Graceland”. Like Ali Farka Toure they express their love for the land and agriculture on their new album called “Songs from a Zulu Farm" (out on the Proper Records label). This track is typical of their vocal style and is all about “Uthekwane” - an ugly bird who believes in her own beauty.
11 "Uthekwane" - Ladysmith Black Mambazo - 'Songs from a Zulu Farm'
Complete change of direction now: Ever wondered what you’d get if you crossed Bach with Brazilian Baile Funk? Ophex has . . .
12 "Bach Goes Baile Funk" - Ophex
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13 "El Toche y La Cotorra" - Sexteto Tabalá - 'Con Un Solo Pie'
Ok, that last track was called “El Toche y La Cotorra” (‘The Bird and the Parrot’) by the afro-colombian palenqueros Sexteto Tabalá (it’s from their album “Con Un Solo Pie” on the OM Producciones label). They play a mix of bullerengue, porro and baile cante as well as son palenque music, which is related to - but distinct from - the more famous Cuban son: there are no guitars, or tres, and the double bass is replaced by the tumba drum and the marimbula (similar to the marumba box of jamaican mento). In fact the cultural traditions of the area of San Basilio de Palenque have been considered so important that the entire region and its traditions have been declared a “Master Piece of Oral Heritage” by UNESCO in 2005.
Now Colombia is bursting with unbelievable rhythms and musical traditions, the most famous of which is ‘Cumbia’ from the country’s Caribbean coast. So, let’s take some cumbia and drop it thousands of miles away in New Zealand in the hands of the Batucada Sound Machine and see what happens: it changes, it becomes... “Cumbia del Cambio” . . . !
14 "Cumbia del Cambio" - Batucada Sound Machine
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15 "El Choclo" - Fabricio Gatta
16 Voice Over 2
Welcome back. Before the break you heard the beautiful tango “El Choclo”, performed by the Argentinian pianist Fabricio Gatta.
Next up, just to prove that it’s not just fado that comes out of Portugal this is “Celta 1” by Trilhos off their album “Avariação”
17 "Celta 1" - Trilhos - 'Avariação'
So, a shout out going to Michael de Schryver over in Ghent - hope you’re enjoying the show so far; if not then this should buck you up: More Belgian brass madness - Va Fan Fahre’s first tune off their second album (“Zet Je Maar”): This is “Mashki”!
18 "Mashki" - Va Fan Fahre - 'Zet Je Maar'
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19 "Celick Comak" - Gevende
The last track was from Turkish psychedelic folk band Gevende entitled “Celick Comack” who sing their songs in a language they’ve completely invented themselves;
Following that, we’ve got their stablemates on Pasion Turca roster, pioneers of Turkish psychedelia and an amazing live band, Istanbul’s very own Baba Zula. Imagine if Hawkwind and Gong had been genetically transplanted into Asia Minor replete with electric saz, mind-zapping visuals and costumes, psychebelly dancers and some heavy-weight moustaches that make even Lemmy look like he’s only got teenager’s bumfluff on his top lip! Look for them on the Doublemoon record label. This track is called “Abdulcanbaz”.
20 "Abdulcanbaz" - Baba Zula
You think all world music is made elsewhere”? Then think again. Birmingham is just dripping with great musicians brimming with ideas. Handsworth’s Rob Carvalho has offered us up this Kizomba track: “One More Dance”.
21 "One More Dance" - Carvalho
Staying in Britain, London-based American composer Shawn Lee once again brings out his Ping Pong Orchestra to record another album on the Ubiquity label, this time called “World of Funk”. Featuring Clutchy Hopkins and Dengue Fever’s Cambodian singer, Chhom Nimol this is “Ghost In The Rain”:
22 "Ghost In The Rain" - Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra - 'World of Funk'
I’m sorry, I can’t resist it anymore - I jus’ gots to go back to Colombia! Right back to the village of San Basilio de Palenque and the Thornato remix version of “Sepiterna” by the great afro-colombian singer Petrona Martinez - la reina del bullerengue
23 "Sepiterna" - Petrona Martinez (Thornato rmx)
Last week I played a strange sexy tune called “Jungle Fever” by the Belgian based afro-Colombian band, Maguaré, which got some good feedback from you guys out there. The singer of that band, Paola Marquez, is also in another band on the Zephyrus label called ‘El Sur’, but they come from a very different Latin American tradition, that of the nueva trova. This is a beautiful ballad entitled “Canción de las Simples Cosas” - Song of the Simple Things . . . Esto es para ti, Marangita...
24 "Canción de las Simples Cosas" - El Sur - 'Música con Fundamento'
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25 "Living Stone" - Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars - 'Rise and Shine'
You’ve just heard the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars from last year’s hit album on Cumbancha, ”Rise and Shine”, and a track called “Living Stone” - geddit? We are the Living Stone? Livingstone? “Livingstone, I presume”… Well, I enjoyed the pun, thanks guys.
Swiss based, but Conakry Guinean-born chanteuse Macire Sylla’s latest album ‘Talitha’ on the French Pure Son’g label is full of bubbling grooves and catchy afro-pop. This is a new version of an older song of hers called “Aidara”.
26 "Aidara" - Maciré Sylla - 'Talitha'
Getting near to the end of the show now. I’ve been receiving some really interesting releases and pre-releases from Jamaica recently and very much ‘hot off the press’ is Courtney John’s album “Made In Jamaica” and the wonderful lovers’ rock tune (with a great video to boot - check it out on YouTube), “Lucky Man”.
27 "Lucky Man" - Courtney John - 'Made In Jamaica'
*** Well thanks for listening. See you all next week!
I’m going to leave you with this ‘interesting’ little track. Enjoy the rest of the evening!
28 "Don’t Worry, Be Happy"- Bobby McFerrin, Cobra, Beanie Man
No Longer Poles Apart
Tagged with: Poland Polish Dagadana Folkoperacja Mariusz Kus Mosaic Paluki Hambawenah Esus Maria Pomianowska Chopin Beltaine Warsaw Music Pakt Transetnika Ritmodelia Ostroda Folk Krotoszyn Warsaw Glyn Phillips WorldMusic.co.uk Review indialucia
No Longer Poles Apart
Over the last few years Poland seems to have come out of the cold and entered into the World Music market with some vigour. At the globe’s leading world music trade fair, Womex, last year, Polish artists were well represented by agencies and musicians. This is a round up of some of the CDs, DVDs and samplers that I picked up or have been sent to me.
First out the bag is:
Dagadana - “Malenka” (Offside Records 005; 2010)
"If this is the new face of Poland, then I want to kiss it."
This a confident album full of beguiling, quirky tunes from these three young Poles/Ukrainians, mixing a seeming endless amount of genres and influences into wonderfully accessible music. It’s almost pop music sometimes, at others art house, with warps and wefts spun from jazz, tango, hip-hop, film noir, funk, samba, traditional musics, classical . . . If this is the new face of Poland, then I want to kiss it.
Sadly I can’t understand any of the sleeve notes (apart from the only lines in English: “Friendship can cross borders and overcome obstacles. Poland Ukraine. Love and music. Dreams do come true!”), but there’s lots of lovely pictures of children’s toys like plastic dinosaurs, a wind-up crocodile, a wooden tortoise, a child’s windmill and Thunderbirds dolls to go with the sight of Daga, Dana and Miko rolling about on the floor hitting each other with a plastic mallet and having a lot of fun! And that shines through the music. Very enjoyable album.
www.dagadana.pl
www.myspace.com/dagadana
www.offside.com.pl
Maqama - “Maqamat” (sampler CD)
Dark rock/metal stuff. Why, oh why do agents persist in sending us stuff that is not relevant? Just because you live in the world and record music, doesn’t necessarily make it ‘world music’. And please don’t engage me in the old world music definition debate. Just accept it. Send this to Kerrang instead.
Folkoperacja - (7 song sampler)
Folkoperacja are a 6-piece band (drums, bass, guitar, vocals, accordion, flute, violin) from Slaskie in Poland. This is a 7 song sampler as they’re are still working on their album. Overall it sounds like 1980s folk-rock - nothing wrong with that (anyone remember South Yorkshire’s “Oscar The Frog”?). Some tunes are very much in an old school rock vein, others with a more middle-european folk feel and some a mixture of both with ska and reggae undertones. Competently enough played, quite enjoyable, probably a good pub band and be fun for festivals. I’m slightly confused as to whether they are in fact the same band as “Bartnitzky” - the musicians all look the same and have the same name, have the same management. I’ll put a link to them as well anyway.
So far, so good. But then I realise I have been given a second CD by Folkoperacja. The omens aren’t good: it’s a Christmas CD. Against a background of computer generated snowflakes our six heroes come wading through a waist-high computer-generated snowfall in black shades, white shirts, black ties and black leather jackets. Smiling. It’s not a good look. Like a 90s boy band with a dodgy manager. The guy on the left looks like they’ve brought their old science teacher along for the photoshoot. Hmmm. The CD titles translate as: “Festive Folkoperacja. Carols and Pastorals. Highlander Folk Screen”. No I don’t know either (good old Google Translate!). But fair enough, some traditional Polish Folk Carols for Christmas. Let’s give it a whirl.
Oh dear. Oh, deary, deary me! I’m guessing they are supposed to be traditional carols and songs and I can hear a penny-whistle somewhere, but it’s all set against a background of cheesy rock, funk-lite, electro, pseudo hip-hop, africanesque guitars, and quasi-Chris Rea mood music . . . Oh dear. Don’t get me wrong, I am not at all a ‘purist’. I’m all for mixing it up and seeing what happens. But, sometimes ‘this’ happens. And it’s not good. Maybe you have to be Polish to know the tunes, understand the history and culture and to appreciate the lyrics in their new ‘world’ settings. But it’s not for me.
Hold on a moment. I’ve worked it out. I get it now! Have you ever been to a family do at Christmas and someone gets out one of those mass-produced, Tesco checkout CDs of ‘Brendan O’Somebodyorother’s Irish Christmas’ and sticks it on to get everybody ‘in the mood’ - a few standards, a few singalongs, some dreary laments . . . Well, it’s like that. But Polish. No, I’ve never been to a family do like that either, but I’ve seen it on the telly. Honestly, it’s bargain bin music. Go to any charity shop in the UK and you will see racks of cassettes of this type of stuff, usually next to the cardboard box full of old vinyl - you know Classical records, 1970s TOTP compilations and Val Doonican. Maybe Folkoperacja make a killing recording and selling this type of stuff in Poland - maybe it even supports their ‘real’ music, who knows. But, please, I’m begging you: don’t bring it to Womex with you next year!
www.folkoperacja.pl
www.myspace.com/folkoperacja2
Booking: Mariusz Kús at 4 Events Music Agency (www.4-events.pl)
www.bartnizky.pl
And just to show that I really haven’t got anything against fusions in world music (good ones!), this next album proves my point:
Mosaic - “Ludo Va Va”
"a beautiful album: deftly arranged, inspiringly performed"
Mosaic fuse traditional Polish songs with oriental instruments, creating “a remarkable marriage of Slavic wilderness and melancholy, oriental mystery, sounds of nature, urban chaos, the old world order and contemporary eclecticism”. On this album, “Ludo Va Va” (which translates as ‘folk-ish’), the five musicians play a bewildering combination of medieval fiddles, swedish and galician bagpipes, dulcimer, oud, mandola, flutes, ney, recorders, duduk, tampura, udu, darbuka, tombak, foot bass, frame drums and hurdy gurdy as well as wonderful vocals. It really is a beautiful album; well thought out, deftly arranged, inspiringly performed. Very much recommended.
www.mosaic.art.pl
Management: Maciej Szajkowski, info@www.mosaic.art.pl
Paluki Quartet - Lilija (Sampler)
"And what a strange offering this is."
This is a five track, home-burnt CD (recorded at a concert in Wagrowiec in July 2010) with no liner notes, apart from a sentence which says: “music based on the traditional melodies from Wielkopolska region”. And what a strange offering this is. The first track “Lilija” seems to be a traditional melody formed from multilayering bagpipes and some form of zither/dulcimer/harp (I think!), with a saxophone played in an almost Caribbean jazz style, very muted drums and a bass guitar that sounds like it’s been recorded with an old towel stuffed into the speaker, and quite possibly some other instruments. Not what I expected, but quite jolly nonetheless.
The second track, Chopin’s “Wiosna” (Spring), is meditative with lovely haunting saxophone, vibraphone, double bass and violin. And then, “Polka od Szczuczyna, a folkdance piece using, I don’t know, is it a clavichord, some form of dulcimer, I’m not sure - I’m at the limit of my knowledge here; but very enjoyable anyway. “Siwy Baran, Czarny Baran” (Shiva Ram, Black Sheep) is much more safely in jazz territory - alto sax over ¾ time, bass and vibes. In the words of the Fast Show’s Louis Balfour: “Hmm, nice… Jazz!”
And to finish: “Swieci Miesiunc” (Holy Month). What’s this? Country Blues harmonica, dodgy vocals, some shuffling badly recorded slightly out of time drums and that strange bass guitar played inside a sock draw; oh, and now a not so cool vibraphone solo. Guys, honestly, you should have stopped at Track 4. I was ready to condone the idiosyncracies up to that point. What an anticlimax. Still, some nice bits beforehand.
Hambawenah - “Turururu”
Hambawenah are a much more traditionally orientated folk band. They’ve been around since 1996 and have long concentrated on the work songs and recreational music of the Polish bargemen who use their rafts to transport timber and other goods up and down the River Vistula. Researching this lifestyle through oral traditions, ethnographic sources and archives, they have invested much work in trying to preserve the original melodies, dialects and characteristic jargon of the bargees. Although they do use bass, electric guitar and drumkit alongside the violins and accordion, and you can hear elements of jazz and rock sensibilities, it is done sympathetically and to make the music “more attractive to contemporary listeners, yet not depriving it of its folk character”.
The root part of their name (hamba) translates as ‘journey’. The musicians obviously feel a great affinity to this folk culture and to their specific chosen field and this comes across on the album which has all the pride and assurance of the current generation of Welsh and Scottish folk bands. “Turururu” sweeps you along with the band as they travel along the Vistula of their music.
www.hambawenah.art.pl
www.myspace.com/hambawenah
Management: Grzegorz Switalski gs@hambawenah.art.pl
Esus - (4 track sampler)
"a sort of Polish Piazzolla"
Esus is a four piece ensemble that grew out of the Polish Chamber Orchestra AUKSO in 2007 (and not to be confused with Esus the French ‘Black Metal’ band!). They mix classical music with jazz, having replaced the standard cello with a double bass and included percussion and electric instruments alongside the two violins as well. Esus reminded me of a sort of Polish Piazzolla both in terms of the use of chamber instruments and the rich array of musical influences incorporated - luckily none of it feels forced.
I must admit though, the first track, “Wirus” (Virus) I found a bit impenetrable at times, although there are plenty of opportunities to play ‘spot the quote’ as the track rushes around from one musical thought to another - it’s jazz, baby, just not as you expect it. “Riffballabiff” after a dark start turns into a cheerful, snappy swing piece to get your toes tapping. I think track 3, “Przebudzinie” (Awakening), is my favourite piece - electric guitar joins them with shades of Phil Lynott and Gary Moore’s “Parisienne Walkways” over tango and bossa rhythms - very enjoyable indeed. To finish off “Dla Zoneczki” (For My Wife) is gentle, wistful and pretty. I had to listen to this sampler a couple of times before I tuned in to what they were about, but it was worth it.
Maria Pomianowska & Friends: “Chopin on 5 Continents”
"a real labour of love and beautifully executed ... a marvellous album"
Now, here’s an idea! Take one world famous Polish composer steeped in the folk/classical oeuvre of the Mazovia region and perform his music on the traditional instruments - and in the styles - of some of the richest musical cultures to be found around the globe. This is a real labour of love by multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer Maria Pomianowska and beautifully executed. Classical music is definitely not my strong point and Chopin to me was always just another ‘old dead white man’; but . . . this just brings it alive. I was able to come to terms with the compositions because the unusual instrumentation forces you from the familiar settings you expect to hear these pieces in and gives you a fresh set of ears to hear through. A marvellous album - and I say this as a complete outsider to Chopin.
Imagine Chopin’s Prelude “Raindrop” (Op 28, No 5) against an African backing of balaphone, djembe, kora, ngoni, beat-box vocals and children’s choir, or the Etude “Chanson de L’Adieu” (Op 10, No 3) sung in Chinese (don’t ask me which dialect!) against the bowed er-hu, gongs, dulcimer, harps and dizi (transverse flute), or even the Krakowiak Rondo (Op 14) performed with the Siberian input of Jews’ Harp, and Khoomei (Tuvan throat singing). And yet, it works!
The album places the Largo from Fantasie Impromptu in India, the Waltz (Op 64, No 2) in Andalucia, the Nocturne (Op 9, No 2) in Brazil and even gets on the steamer all the way to New Orleans for the “Minute Waltz”; Persia, Japan, Arabia, Bulgaria, Armenia and the Balkans all get visited by Chopin until we arrive back home in Poland with the song “A Young Girl’s Wish (Op 74, No 1).
"The performances are exemplary and the instruments fascinating"
Pomianowska isn’t purist either in the selection of instruments for each track since, for instance, the Australian didgeridoo appears on the Siberian track and her beloved Polish suka appears on 11 tracks altogether. But each interpretation has its own distinct flavour and it’s a feast for the ears. The performances are exemplary and the instruments themselves are fascinating: the Armenian duduk (an oboe that sounds like a cross between a saxophone and a cello), the Tuvan doshpuluur (a trapezoidal plucked instrument), the Iranian kemanche (spike fiddle), the Polish hurdy-gurdy, the Balkan kaval (end-blown flute), the Iranian setar, the Bulgarian gadulka, the Slovakian koncovka (a shepherd’s duct-blown overtone fipple flute) . . .
Such an array of sounds. Riff, daff, zarb, ney, saz, oud, shawm, sarangi, koto, cajon, tabla, morin-hur to name but a few, and all explained in the accompanying booklet. There are three special Polish instruments here too: the Miedzyleska Pipe is an experimental instrument made from a wooden tube; the Fiddle of Plock is a copy of a 16th C birchwood instrument uncovered by archaeologists; and the Suka of Bilgoraj - reconstructed on the basis of nothing more than an 1895 watercolour painting, carved out of a single piece of cherrywood and played using the lateral touch of a fingernail.
"This is a great album. Impressive on so many levels."
I didn’t know what to make of the album at first. A Polish composer I knew nothing about, a brave (almost foolhardy) attempt to assemble a ridiculous amount of musicians and often obscure instruments from all over the world, before even mentioning arranging the music for them, and then to market it with a picture of Chopin sporting dreadlocks! Seriously! (I even met the girl who supplied the original locks whilst in Copenhagen last year!). And yet, this is a great album. Impressive on so many levels. Even if you don’t like (or don’t think you like) Classical music or Chopin in particular, this could just be the album that changes your mind. Hat’s off to Ms Pomianowska!
"Hat’s off to Ms Pomianowska!"
www.pomianowska.art.pl
www.cmrecords.eu
www.musart.pl
Beltaine - (DVD)
"high-octane performances"
If you feel more comfortable with British Celtic folk-rock bands then you’ll feel immediately at home with globe-trotting Polish band Beltaine, who mix traditional Celtic tunes and instruments with a more modern sound and global instrumentation. With a great reputation as a live band, Beltaine deliver high-octane performances and were nominated for the Top Celtic Rock Band in the the Irish Music Awards in 2010.
Nu - PL (sampler - various artists)
"full of surprising stuff!"
This 17 track sampler is - as its name suggests - a glimpse into the contemporary state of Polish world music. It is full of surprising stuff! Two of the artists here I have covered already in separate (and highly complementary) reviews above: Mosaic and Maria Pomianowska. Highly regarded folk outfit Transkapela’s track “Joc Dans” is led by fiddle and a strange buzzing flute over drone guitar, bass drum and bell. Swoja Droga (translates as “His Way”) offer haunting jazzy contemporary folk (with very effective spooky bass clarinet) which contrasts with Lao Che’s folkpunk. Nina Stiller’s sophisticated dubby electro-folk mixes arthouse with lush balladry and Middle Eastern seasonings. The Village Kollektiv similarly mash-up jazz, dub and trance with folk whereas Trebunie Tutki (Poland’s oldest folk group) are a family coming from the Podhale mountain region; famed for their collaborations with the Jamaican Twinkle Brothers amongst others, here they perform a more typically East European piece using violin and cymbalom over a driving rhythm.
"a delicious menu"
The upclose voice of Maria Natanson over the dry chuk-chuk of a muted guitar leads us into the next artist: Caci Vorba are a Polish-Ukrainian band that serve up a delicious menu of “Roma Swing” from gypsy, Carpathian and Balkan sources recreating the craziness of a Balkan wedding on traditional instruments such as the Hungarian bracsa, the Turkish kemence, Greek bouzouki and Romanian cobza. Very good indeed! Bubliczki are another Polish folk band that look towards their surrounding cultures for extra inspiration bringing in gypsy, Balkan and klezmer influences to play in a very danceable mix with their Kashubian roots. Orkiestra Sw.Mikolaja (The St Nicholas Orchestra) have been going since 1988 and are often cited as repopularising Polish folk music at a time when it was neglected and considered an irrelevance. The seven musicians use a large array of instruments to create their original and meticulous compositions.
The highly polished, immaculately produced music of singer/violinist Joanna Slowinska is very much at odds with the full-on hip-hop folkpunk of Masala. The dark, biometal neofolk sound of Pyschoteka mixes closely harmonised female vocals against some very dark swirling organ, pounding drums and heavy bass. Still in the heavily experimental, Gadajaca Tykwa’s track “Mantra” pits didgeridoo, khoomei throat singing and pulsating balafone against djembe drums, drones, bagpipe-sounding organ in a driving trance track (their name means “Talking Gourd).
"Speechless"
And then, joy of joys, hosannah to the highest, I’m in musical heaven! I can’t believe this: I’d been trying to find a certain track I heard a few years ago on YouTube with no luck whatsoever and then, out of nowhere, it turns up on a Polish compilation CD: Michał Czachowski’s Indialucia and the spinetingling combination of Spanish rumba flamenco with Indian sitar, tabla and syllabic percussion that is “Raag’n’Olé”. I cannot praise this tune highly enough. Even if it’s the only one they ever make, for me it will be sufficient to justify their existence. Speechless. Just listen.
To finish this Polish sampler album, the ‘double duo’ quartet of the Lutoslawski Piano Duo and the Hob-Beats percussion duo come together to create the band Kwadrofonik. Their track on this compilation is “Obere-kuku” - which I can best attempt at describing as like a Philip Glass style piece of jazz minimalism.
www.transetnika.pl/nu-pl
www.mosaic.art.pl
www.transkapela.com/polska/home_a.htm
www.myspace.com/swojadroga
www.laoche.art.pl/
transetnika.pl/warsawmusicpackt/nina_stiller.php
www.myspace.com/villagekollektiv
www.vk.com.pl/
www.trebunie.pl/eng/historia_e.htm
www.cacivorba.pl/content/about_band_en.html
www.myspace.com/bubliczki
www.mikolaje.lublin.pl/
www.slowinska.art.pl/
www.myspace.com/masalasound
www.last.fm/music/Żywiołak/_/Psychoteka
www.myspace.com/gadajacatykwa
www.indialucia.com/india_eng.html
www.kwadrofonik.pl/
Warsaw Music Packt - (Sampler CD & DVD)
“he who does not get on the tram sports a moustache"
This is another sampler from the same people that put together the “Nu-PL” one above. Some of the artists are repeated here (with different tracks), but there are some more new ones to me.
The Prusinowski Trio play typical village music in the style of the wandering musicians that were once common from Tadjikistan to Brittany, using violin, bass, small drum, shawm and flute; as opposed to Pablopavo i Ludziki, who is at the other end of the spectrum with a sound that is more urban and owes more to hip-hop and dub than folk.
The Warsaw Village Band are probably the best known of the Polish bands on the world music scene, having successfully reinterpretated the music of the Central Mazovia region updating the sound whilst remaining faithful to the performance styles.
Cukunft (Yiddish for ‘Future’) are a four-piece that perform and reinterpret pre-war Jewish music amidst their own spontaneous original compositions, for instance mixing rock’n’roll electric guitar with klezmer clarinets over dancehall reggae inspired percussion.
Vavamuffin as the name implies is a Warsovan raggamuffin band with a crazy live reputation all over Europe. As their publicity has it Vavamuffin is a tram linking Warsaw with Kingston - “he who does not get on the tram sports a moustache”(!). Uh? What’s wrong with moustaches . . . Poland has many fine examples.
Czessband are an acoustic band from Warsaw that mix up folk music from all over the world: Bohemian polka, Argentine tango, the drive of American bluegrass, Oriental themes, Balkan melodies, Hungarian stomp and Polish energy. Here they play an adrenaline-pumping czardas on some crazy instrumentation.
The music of Roberto Delira & Kompany has been described in many ways: folkrock, heavy folk, burdonrick, dronpunk, psychofolk all of which hint at Robert Jarowski’s dark arrangements of Baltic folk performed on violins, baraban, hurdy-gurdies, hybrid experimental instruments and even his recreation of an archaeologically recovered find.
The terenNowy Project is an open collective of musical artists who create spontaneous pieces, a sort of free music expression. And that’s about all I can comment on that one.
www.transetnika.pl
transetnika.pl/warsawmusicpackt/prusinowski.php
transetnika.pl/warsawmusicpackt/pablopavo.php
warsawvillageband.net/
transetnika.pl/warsawmusicpackt/wvb.php
www.myspace.com/cukunft
transetnika.pl/warsawmusicpackt/vavamuffin.php
www.myspace.com/czessband
www.myspace.com/robertodeliraikompany
www.terennowy.info/new.html
Ritmodelia - “It’s Not Batucada!"
"a wealth of ideas ... excellently and inventively played"
Polish percussion band, Ritmodelia’s debut album is an exploration of what the 10-piece outfit can achieve with nothing but a studio full of percussion and a pile of rhythms. Ironically, there are actually a couple of batucada-based tracks on here, but that’s not surprising as the group grew out of the fascination with Brazilian street samba of a number of Warsaw based percussionists. They soon found that creating their own rhythms and combinations was far more satisfying musically than slavishly copying batucada.
There’s a wealth of ideas contained within this album and it’s excellently and inventively played by the percussionists; but I can’t help feeling that an entire album of it is a little much to sit down and listen to at home - and I say that as a percussionist myself (and long-standing sambista). Unless you’re actually performing the music yourself, or at least watching it unfold in a live situation, it can start to lose its hold on your concentration and imagination. The pieces are almost all played using combinations of Brazilian samba instruments (surdo, agogo, tamborim, chocalho, snare, repinique, cuica, reco-reco, whistle, etc, etc), admittedly with the addition of djembe, chekere, karignan and other assorted hand percussion. This lends each track a certain sameness of overall sound, even when the rhythms are distinct. After a few tracks my attention was starting to wander and I found myself wanting to hear something even more original in the sonic texture.
But that’s just my opinion. As an introduction as to what these talented percussionists are capable of, and a calling card for their live shows, it’s a good album and well produced. But I’d just like to see them stretch their creative capabilities with far more variety on the next one. Their members have an enviable background in different percussive styles - afro-cuban, african, folk, rock, pop, reggae, jazz, classical, hip hop, dancehall, funk, soul - not to mention being integral members of some of Poland’s best young bands outside of Ritmodelia, so there’s no paucity of skill or inspiration amongst them. Come on guys, show us what you’re really capable of.
As well as selling their album on a wide variety of sites (see link below for more details) they are also offering free samples from the tracks as ringtone downloads. Surprise your friends with a pocketful of rhythms!
www.ritmodelia.pl
Ostroda Folkowo.pl - (sampler - various artists)
The Ostroda Folkowo Festival started as a festival in 2006 to promote the local folk music and to include some of the bands from Director Marius Kuz’s mountain homeland in the Beskidy region. After five years it now features bands not just from all over Poland but from as far afield as Kenya, Nepal and the US. The sampler to accompany the festival includes a large varied selection of styles and artists split into electric and acoustic groupings over 2 CDs. The festival is usually held in June - further details from the link below: http://www.folkowo.pl/ or Director Marius Kuz’s events company www.4-events.pl
Krotoszyn Folk Festival - (sampler - various artists)
This festival held usually in August has a very international leaning. The sampler contains tracks from the Heptones (Jamaica), Russkaja (Austria/Russia), The Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan (India), Huun Huur Tu (Tuva), Mahala Rai Banda (Romania), Fanfara Kalashnikov (Germany), Mu (Portugal) and the Czech bands Gipsy.CZ and Al. Yaman; Polish bands represented include Mosaic, Beltaine, Bubliczki, Tolhake, Psio Crew, Kroke, Kwartet Jorgi and Papadram. For more info contact the link below.
Finally, Warsaw is trying for European Capital of Culture 2016.
For any more info on this, check out:
Glyn Phillips
WorldMusic.co.uk
Uguru - World Music from Portugal
Tagged with: Uguru Portugal Fado Amelia Muge Ana Lains Ana Moura Citania Gnomon Jorge Fernando Karl Seglem Laura D'Alma Maria Berasarte Pedro Moutinho Rão Kyao Rodrigo Leão Fabia Rebordão Cristina Pato review world music Glyn Phillips
Just listening to a sampler from one of Portugal's leading world music Management and Booking Agents, Uguru. They are actively promoting little known sides of Portuguese music that live in the shadow of the overwhelming national music, fado, as well as promoting music from outside their borders.
"Portugal has been pouring out rivers of good music over the last few years"
Portugal has been pouring out rivers of good music over the last few years and is definitely worth checking out. Having said that, on this sampler most of the works are what I would term 'midnight music' - alone, in the velvet of the night, to dimmed lights and with closed eyes - and that inevitably includes fado as well as ballads.
"beautiful songs shot through with sadness and longing"
I'm particularly enjoying the work of Amelia Muge who sings beautiful songs shot through with sadness and longing "Quem a Janela" and "Nevoeiro", as does the confusingly named group Laura d'Alma (which contains not a single women named Laura, being a band fronted by singer Catia Oliveira).
I would also recommend the Spanish speaking, Basque-born Maria Berasarte singing the tango-esque "Cosas Que No Sé" and the more traditional "Dos Pajarillos". Ana Lains also contributes two tracks, the sparse voice and piano of the haunting "Parolagem da Vida" and the definitively Portuguese sounds of "Não Sou Nascida do Fado".
"stripped-bare honesty and integrity"
For the men, the award winning fadista, Pedro Moutinho, sings the jaunty title song of his latest album," Um Copo de Sol" as well as bringing a stripped-bare honesty and integrity to his treatment of "Vou-te Levando em Segredo". Moving away from song, the legendary Portuguese bansuri flautist and saxophonist Rão Kyao is worth checking out on "Na Graça".
In the equally legendary Rodrigo Leão (Cinema Ensemble, Madredeus, Sétima Legião), Portugal has an inspiring, idiosyncratic composer of international level whose name can be mentioned in the same sentence as Michael Nyman and Ryuichi Sakamoto. ("Voltar" and "Vida Tão Estranha").
"a truly sumptuous duet on "Vida"
The fabulous singer and composer Fernando Jorge teams up with Fábia Rebordão for a truly sumptuous duet on "Vida", which also features the guitarwork of Custodio Castelo. Jorge then appears alongside Ana Moura on another track "Por Um Dia".
The sampler rounds off with offerings of late night jazz from Karl Seglem ("Portugal"), two tracks by Citânia (one featuring Galician bagpiper Cristina Pato), and the bagpipes and drums of Gnomon on "Alvura" amongst other tracks.
I'll be blogging some more on the wealth of Portuguese talent in the weeks to come...
Glyn Phillips
WorldMusic.co.uk
www.myspace.com/mariaberasarte
