WorldBeatUK (31st Show) - Broadcast Notes (19/10/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Chico Buarque Memphis Minnie Oscar Ibaņez Anxo Lorenzo Carla Pires Lou Dalfin Mauro Palmas Jackson do Pandeiro Paralamas Flavia Bittencourt Dumyarea E-Coli Sivuca Calle 13 dunkelbunt Neblina Blue King Brown Hot 8 Brass Caruaru
WBUK31 (19th October 2011) - SHOWNOTES
1 “Intro-Mat” by Matchatcha from the album “Nyekesse” (Melodie)
"You’re tuned into Rhubarb Radio and my name’s Glyn Phillips. [PAUSE] You’re listening to WorldBeatUK, the show that plays you the stuff that mainstream radio doesn’t even know exists.
Coming up on the show tonight we focus on Brazil ahead of this Friday’s Amazonas Groove night here in Birmingham, with forro - old and new, bossa nova, samba, batucada, pifano and ska brasileiro.
I shall bring you electroswing from Cab Calloway and the Andrew Sisters via Wales, Urban Roots music from Melbourne, Australia and Folk Punk Jazz from the Occitan-speaking valleys of North-West Italy.
[PAUSE]
There’ll also be an Ivory Lady, a Little Fish, and a Wayward Rooster. Bagpipe music from Galicia, Fado from Portugal, Folk Rock from the island of Sardinia, and Gbema music from Liberia!
And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve got more remixes, refixes, re-rubs and mashups than you shake a glue stick at!
If you want to know the connection between New York’s Beastie Boys, Denmark’s Analogick, Jamaica’s Bob Marley and Virginia’s Missy Elliott then you’d better stick around!
Throw in some funky New Orleans BrassHop, plenty of Balkanic fusions from Utrecht, Vienna, Rouen and Exeter, a killer mix of Puerto Rican rap and samba and some 1930s blues - we’ve got a show."
And straight in with the Brazilian theme to the night with this classic from the carioca singer, guitarist, composer, dramatist, poet and writer: Francisco Buarque de Hollanda - better known as Chico Buarque - one of the great names of the MPB genre. This is called “Essa Moça ‘Ta Diferente”. Bliss!
2 “Essa Moça 'Ta Diferente” by Chico Buarque
Now Chico Buarque was born into a very privileged family, unlike my next artist.
Memphis Minnie had it tough from an early age and supported herself from about 12 years old onwards. But they both made good music.
I played her rather playful song about her butcher man last week and this week she asks us: If you see my rooster, please run him home!
And I don’t think she’s talking about the feathered variety either!
3 “If You See My Rooster (Please Run Him Home)” by Memphis Minnie from the album “Hoodoo Lady: 1933-1937” (Sony)
That was Memphis Minnie from the album “Hoodoo Lady:1933-1937” on the Sony label.
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Let’s stay in the America of a bygone era now, but leap ahead a decade.
This is the great Cab Calloway and the Andrews Sisters showing us how they be “Doin’ The Rhumba”.
But with the twist that Cardiff’s electroswing don Ecklectic Mick has given a little electronic polish to make it shine!
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4 “Doin’ The Rumba” (Ecklectic Mick remix) by Cab Calloway/Andrews Sisters
[CONTINUOUS]
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5 “Segura Ele” by Oscar Ibañez (Zouma)
That last track was entitled “Segura Ele” by the Galician bagpiper Oscar Ibáñez and his band.
I’m not sure whether that’s from his own album or not - since it was on a compilation sampler from his record label Zouma.
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And also on that label and also from that same Celtic corner of North-West Spain, Galicia, comes the next artist - also a bagpiper.
This is Anxo Lorenzo and from his album “Tiran” a track entitled “The Ivory Lady”.
6 “Ivory Lady” by Anxo Lorenzo from the album “Tiran” (Zouma)
I’m a real sucker for the music of the Iberian peninsula and some of its lesser known musical offerings. It’s not all flamenco folks!
Galicia, might be technically in Spain, but its language, Galego, is closer to Portuguese than Castilian Spanish.
So for the next number we’re heading south into Portugal, the birthplace and home of that most wonderful and romantic of musical styles, Fado.
This week it’s the turn of a lady by the name of Carla Pires. From her 2005 album “Ilha Do Meu Fado” (Island of my Fado) on the Ocarina label, this is “Boca da Note” (the Mouth of the Night).
7 “Boca Da Note” by Carla Pires from the album “Ilha Do Meu Fado” (Ocarina 2005)
Wasn’t that beautiful!
Europe’s a funny old place. Layer upon layer of different cultures, ethnicities and languages and constantly shifting borders and power politics.
There’s a temptation to make sense of all this by easy labelling and pigeon-holing, but as we’ve seen in Spain there are other languages and cultures besides Castilian Spanish (Galego, Catalán and Euskadi to name but three).
Even France has a huge North-South divide - true French really only derives from the Northern part where the Franks came from; for the fiercely proud southerners there is the language Occitan which spreads from the Atlantic coast near Bordeaux all the way South to the Pyrenees into Spain and across to the Mediterranean Coast and the Alps into Italy. And it’s from these valleys in the Southern Alps of Italy that the next band come.
Lou Dalfin was founded in 1982 by the hurdy-gurdy player Sergio Berardo and since then has been a bulwark in promoting the occitan language and it’s Eastern dialect.
So the next two tracks are from their 2008 album “Virasolelhs” (which means Sunflowers in English - literally “Sun Turners”).
The first is a 45 second interlude in English bizarrely called “Little Fish” and the second their irreverent mix of folk, jazz and punk in “Occitania e Basta”. Enjoy!
8 “Little Fish” by Lou Dalfin from the album “’Virasolelhs” (Felmay 2008)
[CONTINUOUS]
9 “Occitania e Basta” by Lou Dalfin from the album “‘Virasolelhs” (Felmay 2008)
A double-bill there from Italian Occitan flagbearers, Lou Dalfin.
Staying in the Mediterranean area but coming out of the Alps, heading for the coast, and sailing due south past the French-influenced island of Corsica we head toward the mysterious island of Sardinia.
An island with links both to France and especially Italy throughout it’s long history and a fiercesome reputation as a haven for pirates and brigands and savage independence, Sardinia has long kept its folklore to itself.
More recently it’s been actively promoting its output around the world. This next track is from the guitarist/singer Mauro Palmas and is from his 2005 album “Caina” on the S’ard Music label. This piece is called “Oltre Il Mare”.
10 “Oltre Il Mare” by Mauro Palmas from the album “Caina” (S’ardmusic 2005)
OK, we’re going to leave Europe far behind for the next few numbers.
At the top of the show I said that I’ve got a focus on Brazil going on in the show today and this is because I’m trying to flag up a new night taking place this Friday (21st October) at Birmingham’s very own Brazilian churrascaria restaurant, Amazon Brazil, on 197 Broad St, Birmingham (just down from the UGC Cinema).
The night called “Amazonas Groove” will feature some great Brazilian dance music of all styles and periods with samba pagode, samba de roda, carimbo, MPB, Afoxe and lashings of forró. It features DJs Zuppa Inglese, Ricardo and El Hombre Elastico on the decks, starts at 10pm and allegedly goes on till 4am and is only £5 for all that groove!
So here’s some classic forró music from the North-East of Brazil to get us going. This is Jackson do Pandeiro (from a 1991 compilation album called “Brazil Classics 3: Forró” on the Luaka Bop label and an old track entitled “Tum-Tum-Tum”.
11 “Tum-Tum-Tum” by Jackson Do Pandeiro from the album “Brazil Classics 3: Forró” (Luaka Bop 1991)
Now, during my years in South America in the 1980s I travelled the length and breadth of Brazil taking in the different styles of music in this vast country.
However I was surprised to find that the country looked as much to the outside world for inspiration.
I don’t know why I was surprised, thinking about it now, but at the time it seemed strange hearing styles that I was familiar with infused with that peculiarly Brazilian flavour that defies description.
Here’s a good example - I loved this band at the time and played the cassette to death for years afterwards, and it still gets me going now.
This is the legendary Rio rock band Os Paralamas do Suceso and from their 1984 album “O Passo Do Lui” a piece of punky brazilian ska entitled “Meu Erro”.
12 “Meu Erro” by Os Paralamas do Suceso from the album “O Passo Do Lui
Yep, still gets me rocking after all these years!
And now to one of the more defining sounds of Brazil - particularly Rio de Janeiro. Samba Batucada. This is a piece of pure percussion in the batucada style.
The band is Os Reis do Batuque (The Kings of Drumming), the album released in 1977 is entitled “Batucada No 4” and this track is “Repicando”.
13 “Repicando” by Os Reis do Batuque from the album “Batucada No 4” (Philips)
Ha ha ! Yeah, Os Reis do Batuque. And trust me that was one of the most influential albums on early British Samba schools - we all used to listen like mad to each track trying to pick apart the rhythms, work out the techniques used and memorise the breaks.
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OK, let’s move ahead over 30 years and to a particular favourite of mine Brazilian singer, Flavia Bittencourt who I had the pleasure of interviewing on this very show a few weeks ago.
Flavia is originally from the State of Maranhão in the far North East of Brazil, but now lives in Rio.
She contacted me last week and sent me a couple more of her tracks over.
So this one is a track I saw her perform here in Birmingham a couple of times.
It’s a rocky forró called “Parangolé Bounce”.
14 “Parangolé Bounce” by Flavia Bittencourt
Lovely, thanks for that Flavia.
How’s about some very traditional nordestina music now? Here’s a band formed way back in 1924 (yes, that’s what I said) and who only recorded their first album in 1972 when they went all the way down to Rio! The album was called “Zabumba Caruarú” and is as fresh today as it was then.
The band is called Banda de Pífanos de Caruarú and play in a very traditional formation that not only includes the zabumba drum and triangle (found in forró music) but also clashed cymbals, rattling tarol snare and several flutes known as pífanos.
This track is the shoulder-shaking, butt-wriggling, full-steam ahead express train that is “Cavalinho Cavalão” - take a listen and you’ll see what I mean. I defy anyone to sit still during this!
15 “Cavalinho Cavalão” by Banda de Pífanos de Caruarú
[CHANGE CDs!!]
[Don’t forget you’re listening to . . .]
Now, I’m going to take a break from Brazil for the moment - but we’ll be returning there in a few tracks’ time.
This next track comes from Liberia in West Africa and has been heard all over that country this Summer - probably the most played track of all. The artists are Junior Freeman and African Soldier and it’s being released outside of Liberia by the Ghana-based record label Akwaaba Music.
The story behind it is worth telling. The track is performed in a style known as Gbema - where traditional Liberian music is taken and - as someone described - is put through a “digital sieve”. At the same time there is a musical renaissance growing throughout Liberia and a whole generation of young urban-dwellers are creating new forms of music and speech, including the hip-hop influenced genre of Hipco.
Liberia’s language is English, but stems from its history as a nation artificially carved out of a part of West Africa to take newly freed African-American slaves and repatriate them in an attempt to make amends for displacing them in the first place. I suppose a little like what happened in Europe with the Jews and the creation of modern Israel.
The name itself stems from ‘Liberation’, so I suppose the country means “Freedom”. Sadly, Liberia has suffered severely with a dreadful civil war for years - freedom is one thing, quality of life is another.
This catchy, upbeat tune is actually quite political in nature and Junior Freeman takes the market-place phrase “Dumyarea” (This is my area) and speaks to the masses of staking their own place within this battered country.
The phrase and concept became so popular that even the President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf used the song to launch her re-election campaign. She is the first and only female president in Africa and also the joint winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.
So, here you go, from the “Lone Stars Vol. 1: Hipco & Gbema” album on the Akwaaba Music label, this is Junior Freeman and African Soldier and the track “Dumyarea”
(1) 16 “Dumyarea” by Junior Freeman & African Soldier from the album “Lone Stars Vol. 1: Hipco & Gbema” (Akwaaba Music)
[CONTINUOUS]
(2) 17 “Amen Gypsy” by E-Coli
Ha ha! Complete change of style and pace there!
That was some heavy Balkanic dubstep courtesy of DJ and mixer, E-Coli, all the way from Exeter in Devon!
Bet you didn’t see that one coming did you!
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Ok, back to Brazil now and some old school forró followed by some very jazzy forró.
First up is the very hard to track down David Cruz and a track entitled “O Corpo Precisa de Alcóol” (the body needs alcohol)!
Ok if you say so, David...
(3) 18 “O Corpo Precisa de Alcóol” by David Cruz
[CONTINUOUS]
(4) 19 “Forro” by Sivuca from the album “Brasil” (Soul Jazz Records 1994)
You just heard one of my all-time favourite Brazilian tracks.
A track entitled simply “Forró” from a 1994 album entitled simply “Brasil” on Soul Jazz Records - delivered with breathtaking skill, energy and panache by the legendary accordionist Sivuca.
I’ve been DJing with that one for years and long shall I continue to - absolutely love it!
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The last now in the Brazilian focus on the show, although in fact this is a mashup between Puerto Rico and Brazil.
Take the latter’s Erasmo Carlos and the former’s Calle 13 - two young rappers and reggaetoneros with a huge pan-latino following all over latin america extending from street-level latinos through musical and political champions like Rubén Blades right up to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez (these guys have made an impression on all of them) - and then let it all be mashed up by one of my favourite mixers, the carioca, DJ LK and this is what you get “Samba de los Aburridos”.
I love it!
(5) 20 “Samba de los Aburridos” (DJ LK mashup) by Calle 13 vs Erasmo Carlos
[CONTINUOUS]
(6) 21 “Alive Gipsy” (DJ Magyar) by Beastie Boys vs. Analogik ft. Dunkelbunt
That was another mashup - this time cooked up by DJ Magyar from Utrecht.
Featuring Danish jazzy-balkanists Analogik’s “Gipsy Doodle”, New York’s much sampled rappers The Beastie Boys, Vienna’s Ulf Lindeman aka [dunkelbunt] and of course Helen, Roy and Roy at the beginning.
Did you slip off your shoes and run on the spot?
More mad mashups now.
This one’s The Beastie Boys again but this time they run up against Bob Marley in Barcelona-based mashers and mixers Neblina Sound’s track “Triple Chatterbox” from the album “Recycled Mashups Vol 1”.
Do you want to know ‘the Real Deal about the Three’?
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(7) 22 “Beastie Boys vs Bob Marley - Triple Chatterbox” by Neblina Sound from the album “Recycled Mashups Vol. 1” (Neblina Sounds)
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Ok, let’s whizz right round the world now all the way to Melbourne in Australia and one of Oz’s most celebrated world music bands: Blue King Brown.
Really like these guys.
They’re releasing a new album soon, but this one is from their 2006 album “Stand-Up” on Roots Level Records and it’s called simply “Water”.
Trust me this is a monster tune!
Time to get bouncing in your chairs again!
(8) 23 “Water” by Blue King Brown from the album “Stand-Up” (Roots Level Records, 2006)
Fantastic, Australia’s Blue King Brown there.
Fancy some balkan madness?
Here you go then.
This is the balkanesque band Flex’Orkestar from Normandy in Northern France and a piece remixed by Rouen’s M’siou Rigolitch, who I’m a big fan of, entitled “Hora de la Bucuresti”.
Hold on to your hats guys - here we go!
(9) 24 “Hora de la Bucuresti” by M'siou Rigolitch VS Flex'Orkestar
That’s enough to shake your cobwebs out!
Let’s get it on - I think it’s time for Virginia’s Missy Elliott and Belgium’s Typsy Gypsy of the Balkan Hotsteppers to get their freak on, dub styleeeeeeee!
(10) 25 “Get Your Freak On” (Typsy Gypsy Remix) by Missy Elliot
[CONTINUOUS]
(11) 26 “Sandman Jamming” (DJ LK mashup) by Metallica vs Bob Marley
Bet you didn’t see that one coming.
Rio’s DJ LK and his unlikely mashup between the king of reggae Bob Marley and California’s heavy metal royalty, Metallica in “Sandman Jamming”.
OK, time to go now.
[Shoutouts, reminders - Amazonas Groove, Leeanne etc at the Edge, I WON’T be here NEXT week -so it’ll be pre-recorded show. Off to Womex see you all in a fortnight, etc]
This next track is a remix. What do you get if you merge the Looney Tunes Brass Band with the High Steppers Brass Band?
The Hot 8 Brass Band of course!
These guys from New Orleans blend hip-hop, jazz and funk alongside traditional Crescent City brass traditions.
They’re signed to the UK’s Tru Thoughts label (alongside Quantic) and are the label’s only American signing.
They also appeared in Spike Lee’s 2006 documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina “When The Levees Broke”.
This is East London’s Henry Orchard’s house remix of the Hot 8s version of Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”!
Still with me? Don’t worry, just enjoy it!
See you all in a fortnight!
(12) 27 “Sexual Healing” (Post Toby Mix) by Hot 8 Brass Band (Henry Orchard remix)
WorldBeatUK (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
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