WorldBeatUK - The Past, Present and Future
Tagged with: Glyn Phillips WorldBeatUK WorldMusicRadio WorldMusic.co.uk World Music Radio Radio Presenter Broadcaster Rhubarb Radio Custard Factory Birmingham Flavia Bittencourt Renato Martins.
My radio show, WorldBeatUK, started in February 2011 and was initially aired on a (now defunct) community radio station operating out of the Custard Factory arts and media complex in Birmingham, UK.
The first 32 shows were 2 hour live shows transmitting online every Monday evening, and then after a few weeks changing to every Wednesday and gradually built up an audience all over the world, people tuning in from as far apart as Russia, California, Ecuador, Argentina, the Caribbean, Ghana, Cameroon, and even New Zealand to name but a few, as well as all over mainland Europe and the UK.
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The idea was to present a lively, independent world music show that showcased a wide mix of music from all over the world in an exciting, friendly, accessible manner but packed with information and interesting musical ideas all delivered with passion. The musical policy was broad, exploring the margins of what might or might not be considered world music to some, as well as presenting the most culturally grounded and rootsiest of artists and genres. I'd rather err on the side of inclusivity than exclusivity. If I think a piece of music or artist has something worth listening to then that's all the mandate I need. Much of the music was recently released, some of it not yet officially released, some of it very old indeed . . . There were also a few interviews notably the Brazilians: singer Flavia Bittencourt and percussionist/composer Renato Martins.
Unfortunately, the radio station that was hosting the show, Rhubarb Radio, had significant quantities of equipment stolen from its premises in early Novermber 2011 - effectively rendering the station incapable of operating at all. At that point, I withdrew from Rhubarb (as did the majority of its presenters) and looked for alternative solutions to hosting the show.
Since then, I have started to make pre-recorded shows ready for transmission via a new online radio station, WorldMusicRadio.com. Obviously this is a different kettle of fish to doing a live show. The amount of talk has gone down (previously it was about 75:25% music to talk) with now only about 15 minutes of speech over a two hour show - more music in effect! One of the problems with the original show is that the vast majority were not recorded by Rhubarb or were lost when the equipment went. The new station should fix that problem since all the new shows (from WorldBeatUK33 onwards) will be available via the archive pages.
We also decided to remake the original 32 shows using the original playlists, shownotes and scripts as a basis but obviously changing the more topical references and original jingles etc and adding new music and script where necessary to fill the gaps (eg where interviews couldn't be repeated - but still keeping to music that would have been available at the time and trying to keep within the flow of the show).
These new 'old' shows are part of the WorldBeatUK (Refixed) series and are packed with great music, although delivered in a slightly more laidback style to the original live shows.
For the future I'm still working up new WorldBeatUK shows as pre-records and these will all be added to the WorldMusicRadio.com ready for it's launch during 2012. Same commitment to providing great world music with integrity and passion. I'm also working on special shows covering specific musical areas or themes. We hope to re-start the live WorldBeatUK shows at some point this year, since they are a whole lot of fun and the interaction with the listeners is one of the highlights for all concerned.
So if you trawl this blog previous to this post you will find the Shownotes pertaining to the original shows to give you a flavour of what I was putting out. These are scripted shownotes, not transcripts (since so many shows were never recorded) but give the basis of the show - just without all the spontaneous banter and happenings of the live shows... Check 'em out.
From this blog post onwards I shall start posting the Shownotes for the new shows (the pre-recorded ones from WBUK33 onwards) due to go out on WorldMusicRadio.com from Spring 2012. I also hope to get back to using this blog for more general use relating to WorldMusic.co.uk.
Watch this space . . .
Glyn Phillips
WorldBeatUK
WorldBeatUK (12th Show) - Broadcast Notes (18/5/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Rhubarb Radio World Music Juanafe Moneyman Julio Sosa JuJu Kim Sinh Tlahoun Gessesse Vampisoul Strut Mdungu Lena Kovacevic Svang Ieye Sexto Sentido Almeida Girl Easy Star Monosonicos Paratiisin Pojat El Hijo de la Cumbia
WBUK12 - SHOW NOTES (18/5/11)
1 Intro-Mat (1:47) Matchatcha from album 'Nyekesse'
Welcome - Coming up . . .
2 La Makinita (3:48) Juanafé - ‘La Makinita’ (Oveja Negra; 2010) - Cumbia
Chile to Argentina
3 La Mara Tomaza (3:53) El Hijo de la Cumbia - ‘Freestyle de Ritmos’ - Cumbia Argentina
Staying in Argentina
4 Mano A Mano (3:17) Julio Sosa - 30 Aniversario 1964-1994 - Tango
Still in Argentina . . .
5 Chacarera Del Puestero (2:27) Los Puesteros - Chacarera
Due to technical probs last week … going to replay “Life” - Moneyman - Nigeria 70" album
6 Life (6:17) Moneyman And The Super 5 International - ‘Nigeria 70: Sweet Times’ (Strut Records) - African (Nigeria)
And from Nigeria to Gambia - or more correctly where Gambia meets the UK. The next band is called JuJu and includes Britain’s Justin Adams on electric guitar, bendir and backing vocals) and Gambian Juldeh Camara (on lead vocals, ritti and talking drum - and here I must apologise because last week when I played another track from JuJu I confused the nyatiti which is a harp with the ritti which is the one-string fiddle which Juldeh is an expert on). So this next track is also from their forthcoming album “In Trance” on the Real World Records label and will be released in the UK on the 13th June. This bluesy track is called “Waide Nayde”.
7 Waide Nayde (5:09) JuJu (Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara) - ‘In Trance’ (Real World)
A real treat now - the guitar work of the Vietnamese multi-instrumentalist Kim Sinh, has been the stuff of legend and cult status for a a few years now - but mostly amongst American rock and jazz guitarists, who can’t see how this septuagenarian Vietnamese gentleman who has not been brought up on blues seems to be steeped in the Delta sound! The truth is that his music is actually from a traditional vietnamese theatre music called Cai Luong first created in the 1920s.
Kim was born in 1930 in Hanoi, Vietnam and plays all manner of instruments both traditional as well as violin, hawaiian guitar and specially tuned guitars that are reconstructed to use Vietnamese music scales. Enough talk, just listen to this. The track is “Liéu Duong Hoang Thiên Khúc” and it’s from the album “Music from Vietnam 4” on Caprice Records. Eat your heart out Jimmy Hendrix!
8 Liéu Duong Hoang Thiên Khúc (4:35) Kim Sinh - ‘Music from Vietnam 4’ (Caprice Records) - Vietnamese Guitar music
9 Tule Meilla Vaan - Come On Over (3:32) Paratiisin Pojat - ‘Paratiisin Pojat’ (Poko Records; 2008) - Finn-Mex
Another treat from a forgotten age now as we hear the Ethiopian singer Tlahoun Gessesse who died just over two years ago, being accorded a state funeral attended by tens of thousands. Regarded as one of the most popular of Ethiopia’s Golden Age in the 60s, he was known just as ‘The Voice’. This is a track called “Sema” (and thanks to Rhubarb Radio’s own Soesmix Edan for introducing this to me) and is from the album ‘Ethiopiques 3, Golden Years Of Modern Ethiopian Music 1969-75’ on the Buda Musique label.
10 Sema (4:19) Tlahoun Gèssèssè - ‘Ethiopiques 3, Golden Years Of Modern Ethiopian Music 1969-75’ (Buda Musique)
Last week I played you a track from Nottingham’s own tropical band, Monosonicos, and here’s another from the multicultural, multinational band, which mixes afrobeat and latin rhythms with Spanish lyrics and steelpans etc. Very interesting. This is called “Sin La Luna” (or Without The Moon).
11 Sin La Luna (4:23) Monosonicos - Latin/afrobeat
The next two tracks come off an album I received recently from the excellent Spanish re-issue label Vampisoul. The album’s called “Highlife Times Vol 2” and is another one of the recent releases of excellent 1960s and 70s highlife from Ghana and Nigeria which is currently enjoying a renaissance in popularity. The first track I’m going to play is by “Bobby Benson & his Combo” and reminds me of old Jamaican rhythm and blues in a way. This one’s called “Taxi Driver”
12 Taxi Driver (3:25) Bobby Benson & his Combo - ‘Highlife Times Vol 2’ (Vampisoul 129) - Highlife
[CONTINUOUS - CONTINUOUS - CONTINUOUS]
13 Ogiobo (5:43) Sir Victor Uwaifo & his Titibitis of Africa - ‘Highlife Times Vol 2’ (Vampisoul 129) - Highlife
The last track you heard was also sfrom the album “Highlife Times Vol 2” on the Vampisoul label and was called “Ogiobo” from the wonderfully named Sir Victor Uwaifo & his Titibitis of Africa! Yep, that’s what I said.
Sticking with the whole afrocentric groove - here’s a modern take on it. From Holland the band is Mdungu and taken from their album “Afro What?!” on the Zimbraz label this is "Boolow Gambia".
14 Boolow Gambia (5:36) Mdungu - ‘Afro What?’ (Zimbraz/Music & Words MW3035) - Afro
15 S’ Mediterana (3:41) Lena Kovacevic - ‘Dobar Dan Za Pevanje’ - Serbian Jazzy
Balkan Connection
16 Haidukka (4:53) Svang - “Sväng” (Aito Records AICD005; 2004) - balkanesque
Bill Withers tune (Gil Scott Heron also)
17 Mama’s Hand (3:50) Ieye - ‘Fever Grass’ (Shenghen Clan) - Reggae
Jamaica
18 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (4:33) Easy Star All-Stars Feat. Frankie Paul - Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band (Easy Star Records 1018)
also for Lucy
19 Barfly (4:25) Almeida Girl & Descarga - ‘Llanita’ (KAMOCD1) - Salsa
20 Guajiro (3:22) Sexto Sentido - ‘The Way’ - RnB Cubana
Sexto Sentido and the succes of "Guajiro" in Cuba: seven weeks at No 1 in Cuba and another 7 weeks at No 3 (just behind Don Omar’s Danza Kuduro and Shakira!); the video of this won the Lucas Award (like a Cuban Oscar for videos) and hit international latin american charts too - and that’s without being released on an album or available digitally yet! The girls intend to release their third album called “The Way” with this track on, in the summer in Europe. So I’ll be playing more from them in the run up to that over the coming weeks.
OK, here’s another angle on the Latin scene - the mashup between traditional afro-latin forms such as cumbia with contemporary electronic-driven styles such as dubstep; this is a tune by Tony Camargo entitled “Año Viejo” (the old year) refixed by bootlegumachine into a piece of ‘raverton’. Enjoy!
21 Año Viejo (5:44) Tony Camargo (bootlegumachin refix) - Raverton
Thank yous and goodbyes. Announce the Rea River Soul night.
22 Oye El Consejo (3:26) Ibrahim Ferrer - ‘Buenos Hermanos’ (World Circuit WCD065; 2003) - Son
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