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)
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12 Nashanga (5.15) Michel Ongaro Senta Lain
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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)
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(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)
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(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
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