This is the item for lovers of world music. Feel free to discuss
the virtues of "traditional world music" v.s. "ambient/trance/fusion,"
favorite world music cds, or upcoming world music performences.
Just for the record I am a big fan of Bachir Attar, King Sunny Ade,
Taraf de Haidoukes (Roumanie music), and Kocani Orkestra (Macedonian Brass
Band).
206 responses total.
What's "world music"? Of any variety?
I tend to think of "world music" as international music, typically pop music that is clearly influenced by a number of different cultures. Fer instance, the reggae boom of the 80's.
Would the Jamaicans consider that "world music"? I'm trying to determine if the term is an insular Americanism, or if it has a definition that would apply everywhere. Intercultural? That would make jazz "world music", wouldn't it?
Yup.
That needs a bit more elaboration. Reggae isn't "Jamaican folk music", but a recently developed form that took a lot from British pop music. then it got dragged to America and mucked with some more.
I used world music as an intentionaly broad term to get discussion going. re#2 You are probably thinking of "world beat" which is modern fusion based intercultural music. I would like this item to discuss both modern and tradational music from non-europeon cultures. re#3 Yes world music is a eurocentric term, but I couldn't think of a better term off the top of my head to cover the topic at hand. I would say that tradational bop/big band jazz is not world music because it has developed in the U.S. There is however a lot of world music, say Ravi Shankar, that is influenced by jazz. To make this all the more confusing sometimes I find cajun music in the world section at record stores. In short there is no concise definition of world music, my purpose in starting the item was to discuss non-americam (non-europeon??), non-jazz, non-western classical music from various cultures ranging from ambient to 4,000 year Jajokan music. Clear now? :-)
It also tends to involve the bringing together of diverse elements from multiple cultures. Though not always
Ummm I don't suppose anyone is interestred in talking about the music. I could always start another item for tedious wrangling about the definition of world music. :-)
I like it. I don't have a lot of it these days, since I feel like the big "world beat" sound mostly died out a few years ago :(
Well world music is more than world beat ethnofusion. For example two of my favorite world music cds Bachir Attar's "The next Dream" and Taraf De Haidoukes's "Honourable Brigands" came out within the last year and a half. It's true the world beat sounds of such people as King Sunny Ade has died out a bit which is too bad.
Yeah. I'm not so fond of the new-agey kind of stuff like Basia, etc. Guess I'm getting too old. >:)
Personally, the only music I listen to that could really be called "world beat" is Angelique Kidjo, and that's still pretty mainstream....
Uh I don't like new age stuff either but i like tradatuional jajokan music and tradational eastern europeon string and brass band music. All of these forms of music have beem played for hundreds of years before anyone thought up a catategory like "new age."
How mainstream can things get and still be talked bout here? Is Paul Simon's "Graceland" legal? How about latin-influenced jazz? The sitar part in "Love you to" or "The inner light"?
Uhh I don't think I put an obscurity requirement anywhere in #0. I would be interested in hearing about any music of non western cultures. For example I think Ofra Haza is quite cool and she's a *big* pop star from I believe Egypt.
Hmmm still no substantive comments about the music. I'm not going to have to forget my own item am I?
Maybe. I've been on a big Scandinavian binge the last few years. (Hedningarna is probably the best band in the world! :-) ) I went through a big African phase back in the early 1980's. I stumbled across a radio station in Washington D.C. which had a Saturday night show playing lots of cool African music with fast guitar lines. I would have my dad tape shows and mail them to me; the DJ had a heavy accent, so I could never understand the track announcements. One day I happened to be playing one of my mystery tapes for Ellen, an old girlfriend, who worked with lots of students from French-speaking Africa. "Oh, that's soukous," she explained. Her African friends had taken her out to a club show by Tabu Ley and M'bilia Bel, so that's where I started. Just in this week is the second album from the Swedish band Anitas Livs, WILD WORLD WEB. The band is made up of three women who sing and play percussion -- a lot more MIDI percussion on this second album, which I think spoils the purity of the concept too much. But they're still a lot of fun. They play three main types of songs: American blues from the 20's (mostly Bessie Smith), Sami (Lapp) folk music, and Indian classical and film music. A fun mix. Hey, don't give up yet, Raven, I'll get back and write more. I must have a crate or two of stuff which could go in this pigeonhole.
That band Anitas Livs sounds interesting. Where would one find a tape/CD of their music? Please don't tell me it's a $25 import? Their music from your description sounds similar to Annabouboula from Greece.
OK, I won't tell you it's a $25 import.... it's a $19 import, but you have to call England to order it...
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from Pakistan, who some people claim is the world's greatest singer, is getting a bit of airplay from his two duets with Eddie Vedder on the DEAD MAN WALKING soundtrack. Ry Cooder on guitar. I wonder if they'll ever try to take the concept to album length?
re #20 sigh, and they wonder why people tape other peoples CDs.
Yesterday I checked out an excelent web site for "world music" called roots world and it's sister site hollow ear. It has many review of very interesting sounding avant/world recordings. I could stay broke for years if I continue to chech in there. I don't have the URL offhand but try your friendly neighboorhood web searching engine to find these interesting sites.
That would be Cliff Furnald's place. The Swedish/Finnish band Hedningarna has now been packaged for USA release. Their last two Swedish releases have been edited together, and the band's name has been translated, so the US released is FIRE by The Heathens. Hedningarna has been my favorite band of the last six years or so: the material is based on folk styles, but they've added lots of electric guitars, some home-made bagpipes and lutes, and a ferocious percussion section. Plus two women singing in sharp harmonies. There's a used copy of this at Encore Music -- at least there was last Saturday -- if anyone wants to gamble $8 on my recommendation.
re # 23 Would that copy of the CD be in the world music section at Encore???
Yes, in one of the world music sections -- I forget exactly which country/concept they filed it under.
I found and bought the Hedningarna CD. I like it quite well so far. It reminds me a little of "Dead Can Dance" but with more authentic pagan roots. The muscianship seems quite outstanding.
Ah, it always warms my heart when I can get someone else interested in Hedningarna.
Right now I'm hoping to stumble across two African fusion albums. The first is by Afro-Celt Sound System; on the one track I've heard the pick-up band goes in for long extended jams with an underpinning of African drumming. The other is Radio Tarifa/ RHUMBA ARGELINA, a promising-sounding Spanish/North African hybrid.
I'm hoping to breathe some life back into this item by linking it to the restarted music conf. So come on and talk about your favorite music that isn't from the USA or British Isles.
Are Dead Can Dance "world music"? I would guess yes.
raven way back in r6 you mentioned Ravi Shankar being
influenced by jazz. That really throws me for a loop.
Could you elaborate?
Well I just ment that Ravi Shankar has played with some jazz musicians
(at least I think he has) I know he has done some pop albums which I think
had jazz musicans on them, perhaps I'm miss remembering?
I would say Dead Can Dead is world music infuenced with the middle
eastern percussion and singing, but not world music per sae because the
members are all from England I believe.
I don't believe that anything is inherently "world music," except by virtue of being filed in the world music bin at the CD store.
re # 32 True it is an artficial category to a large extent, however, I think it's useful to have an item to discuss non American, non British Isles music.
(Don't mind me, I just get cranky about attempts to define the stylistic limits of such an artificial marketing category... of course, it has been a tremendously useful category. When I first got interested in African pop, back around 1980, you just could not find any recordings in Lansing, and you could only find a few in Schoolkids. I dragged most of mine back from Washington DC's Tower Records, after it opened. (Is Sheila Chandra's work world music?? She was born and raised in England. :) ) I will try to get to the reviews I promised long ago in response #28, now that I have both CDs.
BTW, would Rolf Harris' "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport" be considered world music, as it does reflect on life in Australia.
I haven't personally heard it, but I've heard an ever evolving musical thinktank called Ancient Future is very good. They're cut records with the masters of the non-traditional-western instruments, such as the tabla. They've also got a website, which I don't have handy.
razor I think bruin is teasing. that was a silly thing that became a pop
hit 30 years ago . .
tan me hide when I'm dead, Fred,
tan me hide hide when I'm dead.
don't leave it hangin' on the shed, Fred,
tan me hide when I'm dead.
somethin' like that.
RE #37 Jor, I believe the last two lines were:
So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde,
And that's it hanging on the shed.
Didn't they also mention playing a didge?
RE #39 That's "Play your didgerydoo <sp>, Lou."
That's pretty hysterical. The "world music" item resolves itself with Tie Me Kangeroo Down
re 37: thanks, jor, but that's not what i was making reference to- i was meaning i hadn't heard the band i was about to mention. I have heard that Tie me Kangaroo Down song... as well as "My Boomerang Won't Come Back" (more world music made right here in the USA by half-baked comedy troopers)
Its good to see a good apprecation of World Music on Grex.. If anyone knows of any Good Japanese Operas that are on CD i would really apprecatie it! then again... Living in a horrid Town that i live in, I more than likely won't find it! I have a freind that really got me into it, though, unluckily, due to his mother getting sick, he returned back to Japan, and has deiced to stay.
np: "Uhinez uhin" by Maixa Ta Ixiar. Pop-folk, accordion dominated, by a quartet of Basque women from Spain. I love accordions, which is why I got this, but it might seem corny to some of you. Trying to decipher the booklet is almost as much fun as listening to the album; the disc is a package for the local market, so the booklet is written in Basque only. Maixa & Ixiar are the singers -- "ahotsa" must be vocals, and "trikitia" is probably accordion.
Wow. I think I'll like this place! I've been interested in world culture for a while, and found that music was a useful avenue of discovery. I've recently begun to intensify my musical explorations after organizing a world music section at a large record store. World music is a rather vague term, but I tend to focus on the more traditional ethnic aspects. I am, however, not averse to discussion of other issues...
Matthew, I think Ofra Haza is Israeli.
re # 46 You are correct, sorry for the misinfo. BTW her album 50 gates of Wisdom is a wonderful blend of club music (not overdone) and tradational Yeminite Jewish music.
I've got Haza's _Kirya_, Matthew, which is pretty good. Don Was was even in on it! It's easy to misplace world music judging by the sound, as certain regions have a similar sound. The predominant characteristic of Haza's is Middle Eastern, of course. Another band you mentioned, Dead Can Dance, actually started out in Australia. Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard met in Melbourne and then moved to the U.K. Later, Gerrard moved back to Australia. Gerrard apparently grew up in a Greek and Turkish quarter, which would explain the Middle Eastern/Mediterranean feel to their music. There's also a strong Celtic feel (and it's interesting to note some similarities between Middle Eastern and Celtic music), which gives it a more European flavor. As another aside, the European lute was apparently developed from the Arabic oud. There are many interesting characteristics that identify and/or connect various styles of music around the world.
fanks for the info! i am too tired to think...
I of course adore Hedningarna, and Garmarna, and Hoven Droven (all Scandinavian folk). I also like some more *odd* stuff, such as MacUmba, which is a fusion of Scottish music with South American percussion. It's very neat, but unless you like bagpipes, you won't like it. The other group that I like a lot is Baba Yaga, which I believe is defunct. Sob. Russian (Georgian) choral singers, Yugoslavian musicians, and Irish singers. I really really liked the choral music, but I've been afraid to try any more traditional Russian stuff, since I don't think I'd like it.
Twila, can you tell me more about Baba Yaga being (1) Georgian, and (2) possibly defunct?
Recently Ashley MacIsaac, who combines 'rock' music (don't even *start* me trying to define that) with celtic fiddling, was at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit. I had tickets, but then I got pneumonia. :P
Heh. I would have put Ashley in the folk music item. I thought about that St. Andrew's show. But basically I'm being too much of a slug to go. I did see Ashley on the RITA & FRIENDS television show on CBC, and I would like to see him live some day: he seems like a pretty good showman.
Ken, did you tell me that MacIsaac had a female singer associated with him? A friend was trying to find out who the singer was on something that plays on The River, and he mentioned that it was in Gaelic and that he thought the name given was Susan or Sarah MacIsaac, but he did admit that there was a whole lot of fiddling in the track.
(answer jumped to item 27, Folk Music)
I had the chance to go to the MacIsaak show, but the thoguht about how Nanci Griffith walked off a tour with MacIsaak, so I decided to stand behind Nanci. Well, and I was pretty broke, too, so that made it easier... Twila, have you heard the _Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares_ album? That's a pretty cool one, and might be up your alley. Very haunting choral music. By the way, anyone going to see the McGarrigles at the Ark, Thursday, March 20, 8P?
I'm hoping to be at the McGarrigles' show. I need to find an identifiable Tshirt which fits. (Of *course* the McGarrigles are World Music: they're from Canada! Even better, from Quebec!!) As for Le Mystere etc. etc.: a former lead soprano for the Philip Koutev ensemble, Kalinka Vulcheva, married an English folk guitarist, Martin Jenkins, and they have now had their first metaphorical child, CROSS THE DANUBE by Vulcheva-Jenkins Incident. The album is divided quite nicely between English songs and Bulgarian ones. Some of the English songs are standards, such as "The Blacksmith," and it's unusual to hear the Bulgarian voice on them. Very nice guitar playing, and some bongo percussion very reminiscent of the old John Renbourn Group.
Hhhmmm. That definitely sounds interesting, Ken. Probably not doing McGarrigles, since I'm not volunteering at the Ark lately. Sigh. I've heard the Bulgarian choirs, but I haven't really listened to them, if you know what I mean. Right now, my newest purchase is a Scandinavian group called Varttinna, their latest album being Kokko. I have copies of their first and second albums, and like them greatly. This one is more, um, polished, and bears definite signs of having been pop-if-ied, or maybe jazz-if-ied -- I can't quite tell, but the instrumentation is lusher and more heavy, and the vocals aren't quite as "ethnic" as they were in the earlier recordings.
I had a chance to hear Vaerttinae's newest one, the other week. I enjoyed it -- it was fun listening. I'd like to hear some earlier stuff.
No McGarrigles for me, alas. And the last time I tried to see them -- Philadelphia Folk Festival, 3 or 4 years ago -- I was driven under shelter by a torrential thunderstorm. I see Mark is a purist about Finnish accent marks. :) I'm told that the correct version would be Vaartinaa, if I remember correctly; in ASCII, I'm a cultural imperialist and I lop off all accent marks. I need to write some more about Varttina when I have more time. News item: Sari Kassinen, who has been the leader, is reported to be leaving the band. I published a fanzine last year which had a good article on Varttina, written by a Finnish net-correspondent; it's quite the best article I have ever seen on the band. I'll have to get you a copy, Mark. Over on the Hedningarna front, I have finally started paying attention to their new album HIPPJOKK. It's much more groove oriented, less melodic than the last couple of albums. The instrumental textures are still identifiably Hedningarna; the drummer comes much more to the fore with this album, I think. More on Hedningarna later -- I'm just putting this in to torture Twila.
Bad Ken, bad bad. :-) Shall I ever forgive you?!
Anyone catch Tarika? They played the Ark, yesterday. Article on Varttina and other related bands in March 1997 _Rhythm Music_. Some mention of Hedningarna... Finally found the new Geoffrey Oryema album, _Night to Night_. Wonderful voice, but I think I favor his first two Real World releases, more. Speaking of Real World...any thoughts regarding? Sometimes, I've been impressed, both for reasons I probably shouldn't be (wall of electronic quicksand) and for reasons I should (introduction to some fascinating cultural aspects). Sometimes not, for roughly the same reasons. Even given that ambivalence, I have to say that the soundtrack to _Last Temptation of Christ_ is pretty amazing. Ditto on _Passion Sources_. And while we're on the subject, what of the modernization and/or cross-pollination of world music? Madredeus, Marta Sebestyen, Salif Keita, Varttina, Enya, Tarika...some varying examples of one or the other, or both. As much as I favor ethnic roots, the growth (and tangle) is pretty exciting, too. All of the above-mentioned people/groups fascinate me.
Reopening the "What is World Music?" can of worms, in my experience it tends to be whatever the record store can't conveniently shelve in one of their other categories (i.e. it's not "Rock", "Jazz", "Country", or "Soundtracks") as ludicrous as it may be to pretend that even those basic are mutually exclusive or immutable. At any rate in my extensive career of pillaging North America's finer music stores I've found enough strange and inappropriate things filed under "World Music" that I tend to see it less as a musical genre and more as a shelving cop-out. Anyways.. As far as good, interesting, out-of-the-mainstream music goes I had a visit from a former college roommate this weekend and a joint record- shopping expedition netted him an album from (ex-Talking-Head David Byrne's) Luaka Bop label -- part of a series called "Afro-Peruvian Classics". Now that he's continued on to the next destination on his trip I think I may have to go and seek out a copy of my own -- it was quite intriguing and worthy of further exploration.
Well, if you ever get a chance to look at the East Lansing, MI Tower Records world music section, please do so. I worked pretty hard to organize it respectably. I'm not sure what's happened to it, since then, but I'm pretty sure some of my original vision still remains...
Ack, I am stacked up about five responses behind. Let me just briefly mention that Real World is probably the "world music" label I pay the most attention to: in part because of the Peter Gabriel connection, and in part because they advertise lavishly in FOLK ROOTS magazine from the UK. Because I see all the ads, I usually don't have trouble telling the more "authentic" items, such as "Table Songs of Georgia," from the more contemporary stuff like Tarem Quartet, Sheila Chandra, or Afro-Celt Sound System.
Varttina was the first of the modern Scandinavian bands to attract my attention: they'd been mentioned on rec.music.misc (back when it was the most wonderful music discussion group in the world) after someone had caught a track of them on a shortwave program. At this point, I didn't know how to get CDs out of Scandinavia yet. I ended up finding a kid in Finland to trade with: he got some sort of American classic rock disk, and some historical-reproduction New York Yankees baseball caps. I got Varttina's second CD, MUSTA LINDU, and their breakthrough third album, OI DAI. Getting historical NY Yankees baseball caps was a real nuisance. OI DAI became an instant favorite; it's the album where Varttina was working primarily with traditional material -- mostly songs about sex -- but working with a pop producer. Another Finnish correspondent, Pekka, described Varttina's home image as "Five girls who sing naughty songs loud." The Finnish vocal styles seem to have something in common with the Bulgarian. Unfortunately Varttina's followup album, SELENIKO, was a complete bust for me. I suspect it's because they were writing their own songs. I have a copy of AITARA, album #5, sitting around somewhere, but I've never played it. I'm still thankful to Varttina to alerting me to some of the interesting music which was being made in Scandinavia; without them, I would not have paid attention when the first mentions of Hedningarna and Hoven Droven flitted across my radar screen.
Ken- excellent. I think I'll probably make _Oi Dai_ my first, Varttina, then.
By the way, a wonderful guidebook for the world music tour is the _Rough Guide to World Music_. I've gone with many of their recommendations, and been very happy. I've also found a great deal of information about the performers and the music in there. Very handy book...
Hhmmm. Will have to rustle up a copy, then. I still like Varttina, but Ken's Right, _Oi Dai_ is probably their best one.
Twila- I'd like to find out more about volunteering at the Ark...
I was just wondering ... I have been listening to the last Hedningarna album, and it features something called jojking. Sounds to me like some kind of incantation, but since I dont' speak Swedish or Finnish I have no idea exactly what's going on here. Anyone more informed?
I have usually seen this spelled "joiking." As best as I can recall, it's a traditional Sami (Lapp) form. One could almost compare it to improvisational rapping; the singer is improvising in the Sami language on a given subject. I think. The improvised song is a "joik" (noun). The joiking/jojking on the new Hedningarna album is done by someone named Wimme (last name forgotten); Wimme also appeared on a couple of tracks on the previous album TRA. The style also comes up with Mari Boine and Annelin Liedat/Angelin Tytot (Mari is a woman, Annelin Liedat is a group), who are also Sami. (Lapp, incidentally, supposedly means "eaters of raw meat" and it is considered a derogatory reference to the people and culture of northern Scandinavia. So when you see the term Sami and Samiland, this is what we learned in school as Lapp and Lappland: the folks with the reindeer herds. Conceptually they seem very similar to the Inuit in North America, and musically it feels like there are similarities though I have not done any real comparing.)
So rapping isn't all that new a phenomenon, eh? Though I think I like the Sami version better.... I don't think I've ever heard Inuit music -- what's available out there?
Not Inuit, but there's a nice Smithsonian collection I've been meaning to get called WOMEN OF FIRST NATIONS.
I nearly had the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian/Folkways offices, last summer. Sadly, plans never got coordinated. I'm still looking forward to a visit, sometime in the near future. What a place!
Two new items I've run across in the past week: a Lyrichord disc of Aborigine music and an Axiom disc of the Egyptian music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab, as performed by Simon Shaheen and assorted players. I've been looking at the Lyrichord one for some time, now. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot in the way of recorded Aborigine music in traditional form, and this one seemed to be a good choice. I've had good luck with another Lyrichord disc regarding (interestingly enough) traditional Egyptian music. Like my previous Lyrichord purchase, it did seem to faithfully represent a cultural art, yet lack substantial liner notes. Worth listening to, but perhaps not textually educational. The Axiom disc of Abdel Wahab's material as performed by Shaheen, however, is well documented, and a fantastic album, to boot. Abdel Wahab was apparently a fairly worldy composer, having studied both Western and Middle Eastern music. Shaheen, a virtuoso of violin and oud, seems well-placed as a vehicle for the music. For those of you, by the way, who have heard Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman's _Songs From the Victorious City_, put together from sessions in Cairo, you will be impressed by how easily you will slide into the apparently faithful Shaheen rendering of Abdel Wahab's more traditional material. Very nice!
Shaheen's violin and oud playing really add to Material's "Seven Souls" album, which I believe we've mentioned in another item..
And, if that wasn't enough, Shaheen will be performing a free recital at Schoolkid's, this Saturday, May 31st, at 5:30p. I highly recommend checking it out. Unfortunately, I gotta work...
And, he appears on a new Waterlilly Acoustics release with V.M. Bhatt. _Sultanna_ is the name, if I recall. I've heard it's pretty good, too. As I've heard previous Waterlilly albums and enjoy Shaheen, I might try this one out, too.
Hmm.. Didn't know he was going to be in-store at Schoolkids' That's cool! Shaheen will also be playing a free concert in Chene (sp?) Park -- that's all the info I've got but you can call 313-496-2029. Why do these things always happen on the weekends when I've got plans? Oh well, at least I'll get to see Yo La Tengo this weekend..
Where and when is the park concert? I will most likely working Saturday afternoo, and early evening but I'll be free before and after and would love to see him play.
Sorry, I think the park concert is on Sunday.. That, and the phone number I mentioned are the only pieces of information I have about the concert..
For those interested in checking out Simon Shaheen, I came across _The Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab_ at the Ann Arbor Public Library, in the Middle Eastern section. Schoolkids' music also got ahold of the same album, recently.
Scandinavia dept: There are new American releases for Hedningarna and Hoven Droven, two of the Swedish bands I keep raving about. The Hedningarna album is HIPPJOKK, a straight issue of their current Swedish release. Hoven Droven's disc is GROOVE, a compilation from their two albums; I agree with the selection the compiler made. These are on the new Northside label, an imprint of ESD.
I'm kinda interested in hearing some Hedningarna. I liked Vartina, from what I've heard, so far...
Listening to Mari Boine's new one, _Radiant Warmth_ (1996) as I type. Boine is a Sami storyteller of great power and spirit. I'm enjoying it a great deal, only three songs into the album. The Sami, who reside mostly in Norway, were traditionally reindeer herders, and musically bear some resemblance to Native Americans. This particular album features a good deal of interesting drumming, well balanced with other intruments, traditional and modern. Seems both faithful to the past and comfortable with the present. Worth checking out! I ran across mine at the library.
AEnima, Tool
steve, this is the world music item, not what yer listening to;) heh, carry on.
Wow...Mari Boine is good. She reminds me a lot of Native American Buffy Sainte-Marie, in style, energy, and subject matter. _Radiant Warmth_ is a fantastic album. I'll have to check out _Gula Gula_(1989). There was some mention of yoiking, earlier, and this album apparently features it. Yoiking is seemingly a powerful repetition of phrases with a spiritual and magical emphasis. It has some connection with an adult right of passage in Sami culture, as well. Upon further research, it seems that Boine has been active in pointing out repression, both of indigenous people and women. This might make her a little difficult, but it seems that she approaches the subjects with some measure of understanding.
It is? sometimes I can't tell. Besides, my head is playing tricks on me, or it was then. The Wings had just pulled it out.
I cracked open another long-sealed disc today, Mari Boine's new live album EALLIN. (Don't you hate when releases in the USA and the rest of the world get out of sync? RADIANT WARMTH is a compilation from two European albums, one of which I don't have, the other of which is LEAHKASTIN/UNFOLDING; to make matters even more confusing RADIANT WARMTH shares the cover art of EALLIN. But enough about marketing...) I don't know Mari Boine's catalog well enough to compare the live versus studio versions, but I really enjoyed the 7-10 minute grooves the band gets into at several points; I think there was a good energy flowing between the band and the audience. I think I've enjoyed this more than the other Mari Boine discs I have. As I mentioned somewhere up above, Mari Boine reminds *me* of a Smithsonian/Folkways collection I have heard, WOMEN OF FIRST NATIONS.
"Good groove" is exactly what I would use to describe what I heard on _Radiant Warmth_, actually. There's some really good percussion and bass grooves going on, and everyone seems to really be in sync with each other. Very impressive...
Ken- Just listened to Hedningarna's _Tra_. Very cool...
Go to the fair! Witness operatives of the Covert Andean Musical People's Front! They'll be following you...
Were we overrun by Andean bands again? Heh. Mark in #89: there is an interview with Mari Boine in the August/September issue of FOLK ROOTS magazine. I can't remember if you still get that regularly. Mark in #76: I have a vague memory of the short promotional campaign for SONGS FROM THE VICTORIOUS CITY when it came out: Tower was pushing it. A year or so ago I heard a cut from it on a CBC broadcast; the announcer said that it was unlikely that one could still find copies of it. I kind of liked it, too. Sigh. Will have to warm up the hunting energy. Mark, from a party chat some time back: write something about Madredeus?
Ken- I'm having trouble finding _Folk Roots_, actually. It seems to appear intermittantly at Tower, or other people are getting to it before I am. I suppose a subscription is in order, one of these days. I love that magazine...
Ken- I've seen _Songs From the Victorious City_, around. Let me know if you want me to chase it down for you. I suspect you'd really enjoy Shaheen's album, _The Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab_, even more, if you liked that one.
At Borders yesterday I discovered that the long hard-to-find Material album "Seven Souls" has been re-released with a different track order. I happen to have liked the old track order but any re-release of this album is better than it perishing in obscurity. I very strongly recommend this album if you want to hear some pretty cool stuff mixing William S. Burroughs & egyptian influenced music..
Mark, you won't be finding FOLK ROOTS at Tower any time soon. The editor reported that they got into a billing dispute, with Tower claiming they never received one issue and refusing to pay for it. I started to subscribe once the magazine began offering two free sampler CDs per year; I figured that the free CDs would accelerate the flight of issues out of the store. The only reliable place I know to get FOLK ROOTS on a per-issue basis in the USA is House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, which does mail order. Thanks for the offer on SONGS FROM THE VICTORIOUS CITY; with your report that copies were in town, I went to Encore this morning and snagged one.
Out of curiosity did they have more than one? I used to listen to that when a former housemate owned it but when he moved out I never acquired it for myself..
Ken- the last _Folk Roots_ I was able to get from Tower was the April issue. But the Ann Arbor store seemed to get it rather sporadically, anyway. Oh, well. Subscription time, then...
Ken- Wonderful! I'm delighted to hear that you found it. I'll transfer the offer to Mike, then, if he thinks he might have trouble locating it.
Well, talked to the wonderful woman I see there all the time at Main Street News about _Folk Roots_. She seemed pretty interested, took down some contact info from my last, lonely, dog-eared April issue. Perhaps we'll see it here in Ann Arbor, yet!
I don't really have my notes together, at the moment, but here's a quick memo about Madredeus... Madredeus is a modern Portuguese champion of the "new fado". Fado, itself, is not new -- it's comprised of traditional Portuguese songs of sadness. The term was apparently coined in the early 1900s, but the music was germinating in the early 1800s, as a result of the growing integration of African and South American people in Lisbon from Portugal's imperialist era. It's not surprising, then, that it bears some resemblance to Cape Verdean morna, currently exemplified by Cesaria Evora, or maintains some similarity to the tango of Argentina which can be heard recently in Astor Piazzolla's works, or the Algerian rai of Cheikha Remitti, or even the Gypsy flamenco, or American blues. All of these styles share dark, earthy, emotional roots, and all have arisen from what imperialism uprooted and the advance of industrialization forced: culture was threatened, people were moved, and urbanization occurred. The result? A deep, sad longing. Madredeus has updated fado by tasteful instrumental complementation. Synthesizer keyboards are ever-so-gently worked occasionally into the music. Perhaps the most amazing feature of the Madredeus, however, is the crystalline voice of lead singer Teresa Salguero. An apt comparison would be the soprano of Emma Kirkby. Pure, powerful, and heavenly... You may not understand Portuguese, but Salguero will make you cry. Two recordings to check into: their first international release -- _o espirito da paz_ (1994) and the soundtrack to Wim Wender's _Lisbon Story_ (1996) (a no-doubt somewhat autiobiographical story of a filmmaker's infatuation with a female fadista). Both are absolutely amazing, by the way.
I realized that I may not have mentioned another favorite band from a far corner of the earth... For years, I've been listening to a great German rock band called BAP. I first learned about them from hearing an album in German class that someone had brought back from a trip. Of course, I don't understand all of it, since it's in German, and, to make matters even more complex, in a dialect (Baeyern, if I recall). I was able to secure two of their albums from an American music importing mail order business, several years ago. It's great stuff, too. And they're not only good, but intelligent. One of their songs, "Kristallnaach" deals with the infamous night of brutality. They've also been involved in some anti-racist concerts.
Speaking of language classes... my first introduction to that damn Macarena song was a little while before it became deathly popular, when someone brought the original version from Spain or wherever into a Spanish class that I was in. At the time, I somewhat liked it. Since, I've changed my mind. :)
I actually heard the original song on a Spanish radio station while I was driving in my car. The static was really bad, so it was hard to understand. Then I bought an album titled _club cutz_ for John Scatman's "Scatman" track on it. The Bayside Boys mix of the Macarena was also on it. Now at the time, the Macarena wasn't wildly popular yet. But I figured it was a really good song, and that it would be popular because English lyrics had been put to it. Ironically, when the song did become popular in the Anglo part of the U.S., I was told it had been sweeping Latin America for quite some time before. Indeed, it had been almost a year since I had heard the original Fe-mix, until the time I heard the Bayside Boys one. My high school Spanish teacher said that the grade school kids in Mexico had been dancing it all over the place. By the time the craze had crested, Hispanic Americans had already gone on to a new dance step fever. I wouldn't doubt the song is from Spain. I was at a music store today and found a copy of the sheet music with full Spanish lyrics (which I then finally understood reading them, because Hispanics run vowels of adjoining words together). The song is all about Macarena, who has a bf by the last name of Vitorino, how she moved to New York, etc. But believe me, Anglos aren't the only ones who can run a song into the ground. My sister Kris (marsha) almost got sick of The President's "Coco Jambo" because one of the members of her host family played it off the wall when she was in Mexico.
I remember hearing it several places in Puerto Vallarta when I visited. That was about a year before it really became a monster hit here..
If I had a dime for every time the Macarena was played...
...you'd be drowning. The one thing I recall about the lyrics...which we did translate in that Spanish class...is that the boyfriend's name, Vitorino, means 'cuckold'.
make yourself rich, make it a dollar!
Interesting-- Vitorino means 'cuckold'? Ah, the lyrics make total sense now!
I'm really wary of any song that has its own dance. I mean, just look at the examples: the hokey-pokey, the chicken dance, the macarena...
but for young children these songs help them learn to corrdinate themselves and learn that isn't okay at times to look like a complete idiot! =) I personally think the hokey-pokey rocks, but there are also some songs (traditional ones) that have their own dances that are much more dignifying. .
The twist, perhaps? lumen - cuckold means a man with an unfaithful girlfriend/wife. When my translations need translation I know I'm in trouble...
Orinoco - yes, I know. That's why I said it made total sense!
Okay, I figured you were being sarcastic.
*lumen chuckles*
Well, if you haven't heard, already, noted Pakistani qwaali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan passed away, the other day. The past decade saw Khan's talents begin to gain recognition in the United States after work with Peter Gabriel's soundtrack to _The Last Temptation of Christ_ (the album officially titled _Passion_) and with Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam on the _Dead Man Walking_ soundtrack. Although it's disappointing to lose him on the cusp of such recent discovery, here, I'm sure that mourners can take comfort in how much his music brought people of different ages, beliefs, and places just a little closer together.
I mentioned Cesaria Evora in passing in my response relating the Portuguese "fado" to other styles of music. If you`re interested in catching a performance of the well-received Cape Verdean, for yourself, look no further than the Michigan Theater, Friday, October 17, 1997. Should be a nice show.
Just picked up Rounder's _The Alan Lomax Collection Sampler_. A handy introduction to a fairly extensive series. The sizeable included booklet describes each cycle of recordings, represented on disc usually with about four pieces. A nice overview of Lomax's career and vision is provided, as well.
Just a reminder that Hungarian ethnic music group Muzsikas, featuring Marta Sebestyen, will be performing at the Ark tomorrow, Monday the 27th of October, 8P. Highly recommended...
RE #122 I believe that Muzsikas appeared with Garrison Keillor on last night's broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion."
Really? I'll have to set up to tape the repeat on WUOM -- at 1 pm Sunday, if anyone cares, and sees this in time.
Hmmmm...it's almost 1p, now...maybe I'll flip on the radio...
i heard that! I didn't know they did some of the music for the English Peteint, great movie with great music. I am currently getting interested in Egyptian vocalistic music... so if you know anything, casn recomend anything, etc... give me a e of a mail. More to come as i get educated and aquainted wiht this.
Yeah, let me know what you run across. All I've seen in this regard are some vocal samples on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts - hardly a representative sample -but I'm quite curious.
Q for Mike McNally: what, if anything, do you know about a ska anthology titled THE THIRD WAVE on Shanachie? It was being played in Borders, sounded kind of catchy... In general I'd be curious for recommendations for some ska albums which won't trigger my audiophile allergies... a lot of the classic ska such as Desmond Dekker seems to have been recorded in lo-fi circumstances.
I'm afraid lo-fi is pretty much what you get with the best early ska recordings -- the musicians recorded in tiny studios under less-than-ideal conditions on shoestring budgets and until fairly late in the game when some of the bigger producer figures dominated the recording scene production was minimal and primitive. Chris Goosman might be better qualified to comment on this than I am, seeing as he's both a ska fan *and* a recording-engineer-type-person.. I don't know anything specifically about "The Third Wave" but usually "Third Wave" ska is fairly recent (the original Jamaican ska was the first wave, the Two Tone bands like The Specials & The (English) Beat were the second, and the third wave encompasses as much as late 80's to the present..) I'm more into "first wave" ska than any of the others, however I'd be more than happy to put together a listening list and a stack of CDs for you to borrow..
Hmm...Most ska fans I know tend to be pretty insulting towards Third Wave, but I really haven't heard much earlier to compare it to, so I wouldn't know myself.
It tends to work better live. I don't think the third wave recordings have the staying power of the classic first wave stuff (or even that of the 2nd wave stuff, much of which still sounds good to me..)
Dan, I recommend some of The Wailers early stuff. They made some good 'first wave' ska. Its fairly easy to find. I think there's even some on Bob Marley's box set.
(Dan?) I'm a Skatalites fanatic. Haven't been wowed by anything they've done lately but I think their early work was the backbone of the ska scene.
Oh dear. And here I am listening to The Skatalites/HI-BOP SKA, billed as "The 30th Anniversary Recording," from 1994. I picked this one out because it has jazz player Monty Alexander playing on piano on several tracks, and Leslie & I like him a lot. The sound quality is beautiful, heh. There was another recording over at Flat Black & Circular, which was supposed to be most of The Skatalites playing under a different name -- maybe I'll go pick that up after lunch. (For some odd reason, some of my shopping has been influenced by mcnally this month.)
My birthday's in November so that's when my amazing mind-control powers are at their peak. There's nothing particularly wrong with "Hi-Bop Ska", especially if you're not familiar with the earlier stuff. I just think the earlier stuff is more creative and energetic, at this point in their careers they don't have a lot new to say. They still put on a great show, though..
That is soooooo true Mike. I consider myself to be *extremely* luck to have actually seen the Skatalites once, but I've been able to see them nearly a half a dozen times. In some ways it's like watching my grandfather on stage. The 'lo-fi'-ness of the "first wave" or "traditional" ska is just a symptom of the recording conditions of the day in Jamaica. Also, the fact that many of the versions that get released are many generations removed from the 'original masters'. The technology they were using in the early to mid 60's was roughly equal to what the US had in the early 50's. The music shines through in any case. I'd pretty much follow Mike's Ska Timeline (tm) with a small exception at the end. Third wave I'd hazard ended in the early 90's (92ish) and now most modern ska is a blend of genres i.e. Ska-Core, or Punk-Ska. A good example of post-third wave is The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, or Buck O'Nine. Locally we have an excellent outfit called the Articles who are more in the traditional vein of Ska with a little third wave thrown in.
I've heard people refer to a 'fourth wave' of Ska - would the Ska-Core, etc. that you refer to be what they're talking about?
yep, sorry. i meant to mention the new ska is the 'fourth wave'
Aha. It all becomes clear.
Well, I'm a little disappointed in Mark now...:) Unless I scanned past it, he never mentioned Seamus Egan....If any of you have seen the movie Brothers McMullen, He did all of the music for it, plus as done instruomental backgrounds for many other artists. He's a Celtic instomentulist....plays probably 10 or more instroments....Wonderful music...:) There's a german a-capella group calle Prinzen that's really wonderful...but I don't know if it's possible to get any of their stuff in America...
Probably any mention of Seamus Egan would be in the Celtic music item. We must keep our pigeonholes straight and tidy! Wednesday, I picked up that other ska album I'd mentioned, TRICIA & THE SUPERSONICS. Supposedly the Supersonics are the Skatalites under another name. This disc seems fairly lifeless to me; Tricia sounds like she was recorded using authentic early 60's Jamaica studio technology. There's a party denizen named TwoTone who thinks most stuff on the Moon Ska records label should be pretty good, but this album was a bust. I did hear, at Schoolkids today, a decent-sounding compilation of the Skatalites; this is new on one of the Rounder Records imprints, a 2-CD set.
We have a Celtic music item? Gosh, I didn't even know... I saw Solas when they were in town a year or so ago. Ms. Horan, their fiddler, was very generous and spent quite a bit of time talking with some folks after the show. I've been meaning to pick up a Cherish the Ladies album, sometime (another band that Horan was in).
And, wow...thanks for coming over, Megan!
Of course we have a celtic music item, silly.
I'm sure Mark was being sarcastic..haven't you posted over there, Mark?
No, I haven't, actually. But that's easily corrected...
Actually, can anybody think of a style of music that we *don't* have an item for? We appear to have quite the diverse selection.
Australian? Polka? Gregorian Chant?
re #147: You don't want to throw out a challenge like that in this newsgroup, really.. there're plenty of styles for which we don't have a corresponding item, including many of my favorites. we do get around to discussing quite a lot, though..
Well, after much doubt about the possibility of making the show, I finally caught Beausoleil this week at the Ark. Wow! What a blast! Fiddle, guitar, accordion, drums, bass and percussion -- six guys, altogether -- blasting out the spicy cajun tunes and a little good humor. They cleared the aisles for dancing, and people were out on the floor for most of the show. Warm fun on a cold winter night...
Hmmmm....by Australian, do you mean Aborigine (sp?) ? And I think I've seen Polka and Gregorian Chant mentioned once or twice in various items (true, they don't exactly have their *own* items). Mike, what are some of your favorites that don't have an item?
Dub, ska, surf, just to name three things I listen to regularly.. I can't swear that they don't have items (there *might* be a ska item) but you get the point.. Lately I've also been starting to listen to more "alternative" and "insurgent" country, though I don't have much of either..
I know I mentioned something about an album of aboriginal music here, a while back. And I'm into Yothu Yindi, too...
What's insurgent country?
The insurgent country item is item:18 which has lain fallow since July.
Surf music? Hm...I've not heard much of that beyond the usual oldies-station fare, but knowing the denizens here, I'm sure there's something more interesting afoot...
Oh, certainly...there's loads beyond Dick Dale and the Beach Boys. Some pretty intersting new bands like Laika and the Cosmonauts and Man or Astroman?... good stuff...
Yep, there seems to have been something of a surf revival lately. It had a small followingalready going when "Pulp Fiction" was released and suddenly surf music was cool for fifteen minutes -- I can only guess that during those fifteen minutes a number of bands were successful in signing with labels because there're a bunch who're still operating and getting quite wide distribution. I recommend the excellent collection "Beyond the Beach" (if you can still find it, it's been a copule of years..) for a good sampling of bands.. When I've got time to listen to it, I plan to pick up the new Aqua Velvets record.. Took a listen in the store and it sounded pretty cool..
There's also a local surf compilation called "Surfing the Spillway", which you can get at Schoolkids or (better yet) at Boss Guitars on North Main.
This week's whim from Schoolkids Records was LA BANDA, a two-CD set from the Enja label. The banda is the village brass band in Italy -- I think the term also pops up in Mexico. Volume I of the set is brass band arrangements of popular opera themes from the 1800's and early 1900's; the notes talk about how such arrangements spread the music into towns and villages where people were too poor to afford to be able to attend the opera themselves. Volume II, which I hope to get to in a couple of days, is the same musicians taking on contemporary jazz themes. I'm eating this up like candy, but then I was raised on Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, and played for years in a junior high school band. (I was willing to take a flyer on it because I recognized almost all the opera tune titles; and because Enja is generally a pretty good label for me.)
I've been a brass player in the past and I think this would be very, very interesting.
The legendary Malian singer Salif Keita, among others, will be appearing on July 2 in Detroit. I'll have to check the venue, but it's part of an African festival. Highly recommended!
Also, Baaba Maal has a July date at the Ark, if I remember the Observer listing correctly.
Yes, Baaba Maal is at the Ark on Wednesday, July 22, at 8P.
I just got my hands on a tape by a band doing both traditional and more modern African drumming called Talking Drums - I'll post a review when I've given it more than a cursory listen.
<krj prods orinoco for the review mentioned in item #165. :) > np: "Africa Never Stand Still," an anthology box. This was one of the first of the compilations from Ellipsis Arts; I bought it years ago but then I gave up on African music for a while, so it has been gathering dust until I opened it up today. I suspect I should just stick to compilation CDs for a while in this field; I have found that I really like African radio programs, with a mix of performers, but single artist CDs tend to drag for me.
Actualy, I still haven't given it the 'more than cursory listen'. It's just languishing in my tape drawer right now. I'll pull it out again tonight.
Well, I'm finally enjoying the Buena Vista Social Club, with Ry Cooder and friends. Good stuff!
Listening now to !Cubanismo!'s _Reencarnacion_ (1998). Wow! We've been missing out on some musical treasures, south of Florida. Virtuoso musicians taking back party music...
...and you can catch them *live*, April 16, 1999, courtesy of University Musical Society...
NEWS FLASH: This came in too late to add to the local events calendar, but Mali's Salif Keita will be appearing in town, Saturday, February 20, at Pease Auditorium, EMU, 8P! Tickets are $18, through the EMU Ticket Office. I missed him when he was around, last time, and I don't intend to, this time. His voice is legendary!
I got some mail from the former M-net user sky today. She wrote: > A friend of mine is being haunted by some music in an Audi commercial and > I thought I'd see if you or Leslie might be able to "name that tune." She > says the commercial takes place in a foreign country and the car drives > along in front of old Roman ruins or buildings in slow motion and the > background music is a choral piece that sounds like medieval church music. > Have you seen that commercial? Know the music? She's hoping to be able to > get a recording of the piece somewhere. And I wrote back: If it's the commercial where the car splashes through a puddle, then I know the music very well. The song title is "Polegnala e Todora," and it is the last track on the first album titled LE MYSTERE DES VOIX BULGARES. CD Now shows 4 other CDs which contain this song. A French guy named Marcel Cellier went to Bulgaria in the late 60's(?) and recorded The Bulgarian State Radio & TV Female Vocal Choir, under the direction of Philip Khoutev. Cellier released the album in France with the title LE MYSTERE etc. etc. and the album became a bit of a cult classic for years. In 1986 it resurfaced when the trendy British label 4AD, which specialized in ethereal women singers such as the Cocteau Twins, re-released it, and since then it's been recognized as one of the landmark albums of "world music," whatever the heck that is. The Bulgarian State Radio & TV Female Vocal Choir started touring the world after the 4AD release. They decided they needed a catchier name, so they grabbed the French phrase "Le Mystere etc." even though they are Bulgarians. They have released maybe eight albums by now. "Polegnala e Todora" is their big pop hit; it's even been arranged for a brass ensemble by David Byrne. The Byrne connection is how I first learned about the Bulgarian singers. The downside: The original LE MYSTERE DES VOIX BULGARES album, even though is a classic and a gem, is hissy. Audi is using a more recent recording of the same arrangement. CD Now shows that one of the places which the track has appeared is on a New Age compilation called "Invocation," and there is a RealAudio sample of "Polegnala e Todora" on there, if any of this does your friend any good. So, your friend's choices are probably: 1) buy the original classic, if she wants to hear 35 minutes of music in this wonderful formal Bulgarian style and can put up with the hiss. (This would be my choice, and you know how fussy I am about sound quality.) 2) buy the INVOCATION compilation, if she wants to hear a more "New Age-y" mix of styles, and PROBABLY a more modern recording. ---------- And, since I haven't written much else for the conference lately, I thought I would stick this in.
Read over the responses over the last 3 years and see little mention of Latin America, then again, my preferences from that region of the world might not be considered "world music"... oh well...
Depends on your definition of Latin America, I guess.. Well, Marc mentioned a Cuban recording within the last five responses We don't really hear much music here from Central America, most of the music we get that comes from this hemisphere (excluding Canadian and American music) comes from the Caribbean, South America, or Mexico. There seems to be a big geographical music gap from Guatemala to Panama. Mexican pop doesn't do much for me, I'm afraid, but I like a lot of the music that comes out of Cuba and Brazil. And there was a very nice (and very accessible to American tastes) album released a few years ago called "The Soul of Black Peru" that I can recommend very highly..
I can't say I am into all Central American music, although I lived in El Salvador for the first 6 years of my life and was able to get a feel of music such as Mambo, Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia and also Rock in Central America. My parents listen to that stuff alot so I appreciate the music. What I listen nowadays in spanish, are ballads. I listen to people like Ana Gabriel, Cristian, Emmanuel, Laura Pausini and Soraya (my favorites). I also listen to rock bands such as Cafe Tacuba, Fobia and Mana (my favorite). But then again this music does not come from Central Ameri, it varies, from Mexico to Italy. And yes Re:#174 Brazilian music is really fun to listen and dance to. I went to a dance club called Copa Cubana and it was Brazil Night that night and the floor would not stop shaking all night ;) and it was really really crowded and they had a big wide screen tv playing films from various carnivals in Brazil , the best thing about it was that they had a live brazilian band playing that night. oops I made an error the club's name was Copa Cabana. But i think there were too many breasts to see on that big screen that night ;)
well, I don't know if I consider "rock en espanyol" as being world music, but I am definitely into it... (I have all of Cafe Tacuba and Fobia's albums in my collection). But Mana doesn't really do anything for me... I guess I consider them to be more "pop" than "rock".
World Music, in the pages of Ian A. Anderson's wonderful magazine FOLK ROOTS, is now defined as: "local music, not from here." So one's definition of "world music" is clearly dependent on where your "here" is. :)
I missed the Grammies. I am watching an interview with Ricky Martin, an ex-Menudo, from Puerto Rico. Apparently he won a Grammy for best latin pop performance. He just started making the cross over from a latin audience to an english audience and he's the first who's performance was actually televised. Aside from Gloria Estefan but she's been around for a long time so she doesn't count *teehee* j/k. So anyway Ricky is hot!
His proformance was AWSOME! :) Music wasn't my style, but it was alot of fun to see him on the stavget having fun for the crowd, with the crowd. :)
I got the coolest new album on Friday -- a Putumayo collection called "From Dublin to Dakar". Normally, I like Putumayo all right, but not enthusiastically, since usually, I *have* all the stuff on their collections, and I'm just getting something to listen to at work, so I don't have to have ten CDs sitting there, you know? But this.... "From Dublin to Dakar" is "African, Gypsy, Latin, Arabic, Indian, Scandinavian, and Reggae elements combined with Celtic music to create a unique cross-cultural music feast".... I was exceedingly pleased by the number and the flow of this collection -- from Alan Stivell and Noussou N'Dour to Modena City Ramblers to Cheb Mami to Aine Minogue to Rita Erikson to Oysterband to Na Lua to Kila.... Just a really really nice album that showcases how much influence Celtic music has had on world music, and how world music is coming back and influencing Celtic music.
I've been looking at a few of their albums...hmmmm....think I must get that one....:)
I'll have to try that one as well. I've been picking up compilation CDs of new music I want to try since it's easier to buy one and hear several bands than buy 10 different ones. I'll definitely pick up "From Dublin to Dakar" though.
TUVANS RIDE AGAIN... Catch a former member of Huun-Huur-Tu at The Ark with his new rock band, Yat-Kha, Sunday, May 30 at 7:30pm. Tuvan throat singing is undoubtedly one of the most unusual vocal styles around, and it will be interesting to hear it outside of the traditional presentation...
Catch them where?
The Ark, dummy. ;)
Yeppers. Of course, I'm going to see Great Big Sea on Saturday this week, and far too many other shows at the Ark. :-)
Oh wow. That sounds very cool.
I have no idea what Yat-Kha will sound like but I really liked Hun-Huur-Tu when I caught them at the Ark a year or two ago..
News item: Peter Gabriel's "Real World" label has switched USA distribution from Caroline to Narada. It looks like a lot of the label's back catalog is being allowed to lapse out of print; for example, Sheila Chandra's three Real World albums are replaced by one anthology, and I think the Terem Quartet Russian albums are gone. So, if there are any older Real World albums you have been thinking about buying, you might not want to stall too much longer on them.
hmmm.. I noticed that the RealWorld sampler had been released on Narada but I hadn't known that Caroline was handling distribution before..
is the Sheila Chandra collection you spoke of different than the 'greatest hits' collection that's been out for quite some time?
Um, I dunno. Which 'greatest hits' collection are you thinking of? I found a web reference claiming that the "Moonsung" collection came out in April 1999, and I think that's the one I am thinking of. "Weaving My Ancestors Voices," "The Zen Kiss" and "A BoneCroneDrone" were the original 3 Real World albums of hers.
Now that I think of it I think the "hits" collection came out before the RealWorld albums. IIRC it's called "Silk"
Right, "Silk" was drawn from her Indipop albums, with some stuff from her "transitional" period after she emerged from her five year break but before she signed to Real World. I'd forgotten about SILK, even thought I have it in a box somewhere. I was quite a bit of a Sheila Chandra fan in the earlier, poppier stages of her career. (Geez, so she has done nine albums now, plus the two compilations... I feel old, I remember buying her first album at Schoolkids, back when each one came personally autographed.)
NP: Geoffrey Oryema, SPIRIT. First album to be purchased because of those wonderful canned radio shows on http://www.wen.com. Oryema is originally from Uganda, now resident in Paris and recording in London with pop producer Rupert Hine. This is very pop stuff, but it's really good pop. It struck me that in its rock/African fusion it can be reminiscent of Talking Heads in the REMAIN IN LIGHT period. Perhaps to make the connection explicit, Oryema includes a cover of the Heads' song "Listening Wind" from that album, Byrne's song of nationalist terrorism. This album brings up my frustrations with the experience of trying to read about music. I've been aware of Oryema since he started recording for Peter Gabriel's Real World label, and never did I read anything which made me think I would like Oryema's work. But when I get to hear a couple of songs by him on http://www.wen.com radio shows by Charlie Gillett, it turns out that I like him a lot.
The similarity to the Talking Heads goes deeper than that -- Brian Eno helped out on Oryema's previous album, "Exile" (Ken, you've probably heard at least one track from that, as there was one on the "10 out of 10" RealWorld sampler that Tower was selling last year..)
Oh dear. I have no idea what became of my copy of that sampler, or if it even got played. Did you like the "Exile" album, Mike, if you heard it?
I liked "Exile" relatively well but predictably preferred the songs which featured more involvement from Eno and Gabriel.
Twila has a friend who travelled to Lithuania and brought back a copy
of a very good album by a Latvian band called Ilgi. We didn't think
we were going to be able to find a copy of this, but tonight I did
some Google-digging and came up with three sources for the Ilgi
album we're heard -- "Saules Meita" -- plus two other albums.
www.upe.parks.lv is the website of the label in Latvia which has an
online shop.
www.sveiks.com is a website in the US (I think) aimed at
delivering Baltic news and geegaws to the heritage
communities in the states.
www.digelius.com is the well-known Scandinavian music shop who have
been around for years. Unfortunately they only have
catalog on line, not an order facility: they want you
to use fax or snail mail for credit card orders.
I've had a Digelius order which I've been too lazy
to mail out since the spring.
I guess maybe the lure of the Ilgi album will get me to send off for the
Digelius order.
Stylistically, Ilgi is very similar to the beloved Hedningarna from
Sweden.
There are MORE albums by them?! Coolness! (Twila is going to have to figure out a way to get some... heh heh heh.)
Hmmm, the new Ilgi album "Seju Veju" is pretty good. (See last few responses...) One of my favorite albums from last year just came out in a USA release, and it's in a play station in the downtown Borders if you're curious. Amadou & Mariam, "Tje Ni Moussou." A blind married couple from Mali, who have a lot of feel of the old Stax/Volt R&B sound to my ears. This is essentially an African rock album.
There was a recent NPR piece on Amadou & Mariam (if I'm not mistaken it was on last weekend's "All Things Considered")
sigur ros. they are from iceland. amazing.
July 13-15 at Chene Park in Detroit: the Concert of Colors festival, which claims to be America's largest free world music festival. http://www.concertofcolors.org is the web site. As I'd mentioned, I was thinking of going to this, mostly to see the fabulous French band Lo'Jo on Saturday afternoon. But my calendar is too crowded. The Polynesian band Te Vaka is also part of this festival, and they are going to do a free promotional show on Thursday, at Downtown Home and Garden, 7 pm, according to the listing in Current. Te Vaka has been highly praised in Folk Roots magazine.
The free concert by Polynesian band Te Vaka has been cancelled, according to the woman who answered the phone at Downtown Home & Garden.
Their manager called 2 days before the show to say their equipment didn't arrive with them, so they had to cancell. Big bummer. Tho it was hard to say how much fact stretching went on during the conversation. There was a good crowd for the Berea College folk dancers on Tuesday night. I just had time to drive by slowly on my way to dinner, but it looked like everyone was having fun.
You have several choices: