This Ain't Twitter

I heard a radio piece today about a music reviewer who tweets his reviews. Yes, he compresses his musings into haiku-like dispatches of 140 characters. It's intriguing, though not enough to make me want to join yet another social networking site. Still, there's something to the short-form review, particularly when one's desk (I didn't say my desk, I said one's desk - stop pointing fingers) is weighed down by a multitude of new releases clamoring for attention. So herewith, the first (only?) installment of SoundRoots world music review haikus. Enjoy.

Rail Band: Belle Epoque 3 Dioba (Stern's Africa)
Strings shimmer, vocals
by Salif, Mory, two fine
new-old Rail Band disks.

Lura: Eclipse (Four Quarters)
Cape Verde chanteuse
Lura sings island songs both
spicy and so sweet

Fula Flute: Mansa America (Completely Nuts)
Fulani flute rule:
no blowing without grunting
also: praise Barack.

Amadou & Mariam: Welcome to Mali (Nonesuch)
Albarn helps craft more
great African blues ("Djuru"!)
and some near misses.

Can you feel the meditative bliss soaking into your soul?

AfricaniTea

CD REVIEW

Tea: Dreams
(Teajuana Music)

Four years ago, I had mixed reactions to the debut album by the group Tea, made up of French guitarist Franck Balloffet, California drummer-keyboardist Phil Bunch, and some musical friends. The group's second release has a similar vibe, with lush, rich Afropop tunes more suited for chilling out than for gettin' down.

The songs following are widely varied, from the pop-ballad languor of "Haunty" to the club-beat "Ibiza," to the hint of reggae on the upbeat "Envie." And while music never really cuts loose, the musicians and vocalists are top-notch. Steve Kgondo, (formerly with Tabu Le Rochereau) sings the opening track "Vibration," which sounds something like Youssou N'Dour meeting a jazz-fusion band. And Brian Auger's B3 work on "Bilobela" is downright tasty.

No song notes or lyrics are included, so one may conclude that the group's emphasis is on the gently upbeat mellow vibe of the music. And that's fine, but as with a pleasant but somewhat bland meal, I'm left wanting to reach for a splash of something hot, something spicy. In the end I find myself wanting to like this album a lot more than I actually like it.

More Tea:
buy/hear CD
website
myspace

The Music(s) of Jamaica

June 19 was the birthday of Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin, and we celebrated with songs from him and other Jamaicans. And yes, there's a lot more to Jamaica than just reggae. We also dove into a pile of new releases and concert previews in hour 2, including a CD giveaway of the new album by Zap Mama.

(Note: If you like this show, be sure to listen to the July 10 episode of Spin The Globe, featuring global ska.)

Happy summer!

Music of Jamaica: Spin The Globe playlist for 19 June 2009
as heard on radio KAOS, 89.3 FM

Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com
More show info at http://spintheglobe.earball.net

Artist - Song - Album

hour 1
Larry McDonald - Brother Man - Drumquestra
Ernest Ranglin - Surfin’ - Below the Bassline
Queen Ifrica - Daddy (Spanish version) - Montego Bay
Alpha Boys Band - Mento Melody - Come Dance With Me
Skatalites - Freedom Sounds - The Caribbean
Ken Boothe - Is It Because I’m Black - Darker Than Blue
Mutabaruka - One People - Life Squared
Monty Reynolds and His Silver Seas Orchestra - Car Park - All Jamaican Calypsos 5
Macka B - Looks Are Deceiving - Looks Are Deceiving
Andy Hamilton - Jamaica by Night - Jamaica by Night
Unidentified - Jamaica Mermaid - Calypsos from Jamaica
Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come - Reggae Roots Vol. 5 1972-1995
Ernest Ranglin - Up on the Downstroke - In Search of the Lost Riddim

hour 2
Madera Limpia - La Corona - La Corona
Baka Women - Firefly Yelli part 4 - Baka in the Forest
Sertab Erener & Demir Demirkan - Habudiyar - Painted on Water
Goran Bregovic - Kalasjnikov - Welcome to Goran Bregovic
Ceu - Mais um Lamento - Ceu
Delhi 2 Dublin - Apples - Delhi2Dublin
Zap Mama - Singing Sisters - ReCreation
Vieux Farka Toure - Ai Haira - Fondo
Oumou Sangare - Mogokele - Seya
Fareed Haque + the Flat Earth Ensemble - Big Bhangra (excerpt) - Flat Planet
Santero - Ochosi - El Hijo de Obatala
King Sunny Ade - Gbobgo Lope - Gems from the Classic Years 1967-1974
Warsaw Village Band - Lazy Johnny Dance - Infinity
Maria de Barros - Fragilamor - Morabeza

Happy birthday, Ernest!

Monday's mp3: Youssou Remixed

==================
Note: With our PodOmatic bandwidth still maxed out, the audio archive is temporarily hosted with imeem. If you prefer to download rather than stream the show, make a donation for a PodOmatic upgrade, so we can bring you more, better music. Please head over to the SoundRoots "Tip Jar" on the right, and make a secure donation via PayPal. We're about 65% of the way to the funds for a dedicated PodOmatic account -- help put SoundRoots over the top!
==================

North Carolina meets West African today. Which isn't so odd these days, what with all the African fusion going on. Maybe you haven't noticed, but it's getting to be a movement. Just check out: Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara (whose CD Tell No Lies arrives June 16 - preview two tracks here), Markus James & various Africans, Afrissippi, Toubab Krewe.

Youssou N'Dour hasn't jumped directly on this bandwagon, but Toubab Krewe and others have gotten ahold of his song "Wake Up (It's Africa Calling)" and had their way with it. the result is a 6-track EP called Open Remix -- and it's available for free download from Amazon. Learn more about the project and nab some additional remixes here. Like this one from Mopreme Shakur. The whole project is a benefit for a new organization called IntraHealth, created to address the most critical health issues in Africa by putting the latest open source technologies directly in the hands of health workers

[mp3] Toubab Krewe and DJ Equal feat. Umar Bin Hassan, Youssou N'Dour and Nenah Cherry: Wake Up and Let It Go...
from Open Remix

Youssou is on my mind today in part because of a new film called I
Bring What I Love. I haven't yet seen it, but it's screening at the Seattle International Film Festival in a few days. Here's the trailer. If you've seen the film, feel free to add your review or reactions in the comments. Here's the trailer:

More:
I Bring What I Love website
Youssou N'Dour on Youtube

Monday's mp3: Sufi Magnetism

I don't know if you thought you were too busy or what, but if you didn't make time to get to the Giant Magnet Festival over the last week, just stop reading now or your culture-loving heart may just break over what you missed.

Formerly known as the Seattle International Children's Festival, Giant Magnet seems to have an irresistible attraction for great global acts. This year, they included Zimbabwean chimurenga musician Thomas Mapfumo, German chemist-comedians Hacki and Company, and the Gentlemen of the Carolina Chocolate Drops (on their own with Rhiannon Giddens due to give birth any day now). The Mermaid Theater of Nova Scotia brought their amazing blacklight puppetry retelling of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar;" Belgium's Les Argonautes demonstrated new ways of playing with blocks (and violins); and Kuniko Yamamoto engaged kids in origami-illustrated folktales from Japan.

But perhaps the most visually and emotionally engaging show was by Sidi Goma. The Sidis are black Indians with roots in East Africa, though the details of their past seem hazy. They are Sunni Muslims of the Sufi persuasion, which means they embrace ecstatic music and dance as part of their religion and culture. And whiel the details of their history may be hazy, the African influence is clear in their performance. The drumming, dancing, and body painting seem lightly removed from their African roots (think of Fela Kuti's more ecstatic moments).

Their performance began with a Muslim call to prayer, followed by several songs performed by the musicians seated in a semicircle. As the emotion and tempo rose, several Sidis rose to dance, inciting cheers from the young audience -- particularly when one Sidi broke out in some spinning break dance moves. Following a terrific solo on the malunga (the Sidi version of a berimbau), the troupe returned, changed from their white robes into more African looking garb consisting of peacock-feathered headdresses, cowry-shell anklets, and peacock-feathered skirts with straps across their bare chests.

The increasingly fervent drumming, the outfits, the dancing, the singing -- it all built to a climax in which the joy of life and the devotion of thought simply shoved out the nagging questions of just how to think about this unusual cultural hybrid. And the ecstatic focus allowed several Sidis to toss coconuts* high into the air, breaking them with their bare heads into fireworks of spraying juice as they fell back to earth.

[mp3] Sidi Goma: Salmini Salmini
from the album Black Sufis of Gujarat

According to Smithsonian Global Sound, "Salmini
Salmini" is from the East African repertoire of the Sidis and has many
references to East Africa both in local references and in music and
language. It has some Swahili words today only used among small coastal
communities around Mombasa, Kenya. The song says "We greet
you, receive our greetings, we greet the Great Spirit." But much of the meaning has been lost and
the performers have little or no idea of their meaning.

* Yes, they were real coconuts. After the performance, I ran into one of the Carolina Chocolate Drops digging into some fresh coconut meat.

More Sidi Goma:
website
youtube | news video

Giant Magnet Festival website
Giant Magnet slideshow

Monday's mp3: Guantanamera meets Gitmo

The new/old album by Hip Hop Hoodíos (out May 12) provides a chance to revisit some of our favorite guilty pleasures from the world's premier Jewish-Latino hip-hop outfit. Funny as hell, the Hoodios are nonstop outrageous, frequently crude, and always entertaining. The humor starts with the album's title; as the second (or, if you count the Raza Hoodio EP, second-and-a-half) album, it seems a little early for a "Best Of" -- but if you're new to the band or willing to duplicate some of the songs you already own, go ahead and nab this one. From the sophomoric ("Dicks and Noses") to the politically savvy ("Agua pa' la Gente"), this is an exercise in nonstop energy, odd cross-cultural lyrical and melodic lines, and simply the best musical narrative of the cross-pollination of Jews and Latinos you're willing to find anywhere this side of southern Spain.

On this track, an updating of the classic song "Guantanamera," the Hoodíos are joined by WilDog of Ozomatli, Frank London and Lorin Sklamberg of The Klezmatics, Kemo the Blaxican of Latin hip hop pioneers Delinquent Habits, and instrumentalists Walter Miranda (Beastie Boys, Plastilina Mosh) and Chris Washburne (The Syotos Band, Tito Puente).

"When we made the song," says HHH's Abe Velez, "I liked the idea of taking that tropical, bucolic image of this prototypical, idyllic Cuban woman, and use that to some extent as a metaphor for the purity of habeas corpus."

[mp3] Hip Hop Hoodíos: Viva La Guantanamera
from the album Carne Masada-Quite Possibly the Very Best of Hip-Hop Hoodios

More Hip Hop Hoodios:
Youtube
website
myspace

Kids & World Music

World music by and for kids this week, with previews of the Giant Magnet Festival (formerly the Seattle International Children's Festival - see Calendar). Plus an interview with Giant Magnet producing director Brian Faker about the festival, its new identity, and this year's performers.

World Music By, For, and About Kids: Spin The Globe playlist for 8 March 2009

Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com
More show info at http://spintheglobe.earball.net

Artist - Song - Album
Hour 1
Zap Mama - Zap Bebes - Ancestry in Progress
An Chang Project - We Are Happy: Perfect Tense - Monkey Harmonizing Songs
Angelique Kidjo - Battu - African Playground
Tomas Gubitsch et al - Toma que toma - Songs of Innocence
Bakra Bata - Happy People - Get Up and Dance
Thomas Mapfumo - Serevende / Without End - The Best of Thomas Mapfumo
LeBeha Boys - Gunjai - LeBaha Drumming
Anguilla children - There’s a Brown Girl in the Ring - Caribbean Voyage: Brown Girl in the Ring
Viva Killisly Chachati & Katia Cardenal - Nami / Angel - Lullabies from the Axis of Evil
Shara’a Simsim - Traditional Game Song - Sesame Street Playground
Kilimani Sesame - Don’t Be Sad Song - Sesame Street Playground
Oreka TX - Adabegi - Quercus Endorphina
Samite - Webake - African Lullaby
Pink Martini - Lily - Hang On Little Tomato
Les P’tits Loups du Jazz - L’Otorhinoceros - Animal Playground
Lokua Kanza - Good Bye - Toyebi Te

Hour 2
Flight of the Conchords - Foux du Fafa - Flight of the Conchords
Zap Mama - African Diamond feat. Tony Allen & Meshell Ndegeocello - ReCreation
Inbar Bakal - Hallelujah - Inbar Bakal
Kari Iveland - Takk - Avtrykk
Ba-Benzele Pygmies - Song of rejoicing after returning from a hunt - Africa: Ba-Benzele Pygmies
Interview with producing director Brian Fakar of the Giant Magnet festival
Sidi Goma - Salmini Salmini - Black Sufis Of Gujarat
Moana & the Tribe - Rangikane Ana - Wha
Cecilia Noel - Everybody’s Mambo - A Gozar!
Obo Addy - Gome - Okropong

Free world music compilation on iTunes

If you're interested in hearing more from yesterday's featured artist -- and a bunch of others as well -- check out this free world music compilation. While you need to be on Facebook, and befriend "Apple Students" to get the iTunes download code, the collection is well worth it!

Here's the link:
http://apps.facebook.com/freeonitunes/fb_gencode.php?cid=37

And here's the song list:

Artist Song Time Album

1. Bombay Dub Orchestra Journey 5:38 3 Cities
2. Zuco 103 Nunca Mais 3:33 After the Carnaval
3. K'naan Wavin' Flag 3:41 Troubadour
4. Rokia Traoré Dounia 6:21 Tchamantché
5. Chiwoniso Woman of the Well 6:15 Hear Globally - A Cumbancha Collection
6. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs La Luz del Ritmo 4:05 La Luz del Ritmo
7. Lal Meri Lal Meri 4:55 Lal Meri
8. Rupa & The April Fishes Maintenant 4:07 Extraordinary Rendition
9. El Guincho Kalise 5:12 Alegranza (Bonus Track Version)
10. Issa Bagayogo Sebero 4:18 Mali Koura
11. Marcio Local Samba Sem Nenhum Problema 2:53 3"'s of Music - EP
12. Susana Baca La Canoa 3:46 La Canoa - Single
13. Mamer Man 3:42 Eagle
14. Mexican Institute of Sound Alocatel 3:40 Soy Sauce
15. Seprewa Kasa Nkabom 6:39 Seprewa Kasa
16. Bajofondo Pa' Bailar (Instrumental Album Version) 3:59 Mar Dulce (Bonus Track Version)
17. Manu Chao La Vida Tómbola 3:16 La Vida Tómbola - EP
18. Debashish Bhattacharya Sufi Bhakti 7:13 Calcutta Chronicles: Indian Slide Guitar Odyssey
19. Novalima Tumbala (Chris Franck Remix) 5:20 Hear Globally - A Cumbancha Collection…
20. Aterciopelados Río 4:09 Río

Monday's mp3: You want Soy on that Taco?

Camilo Lara has so many records it's crushed both his love life ("I don't have a girlfriend, but I have my records.") and his body (back surgery). But not his spirit, which is in boisterous evidence on the latest Mexican Institute of Sound album, Soy Sauce. Starting with a zesty track simply called "Cumbia," the album veers all over the alt-Latin landscape, mashing traditional rhythms, gritty rap, jungle noises , and electronica into a crazy Latin mayhem.

"When I was working on Soy Sauce," Lara says, " I was obsessd with Cafe Tacuba's classic album Re. I wanted to record an album like that -- going from polka to punk in one second. ... I wanted my album to really cover the entire scope of my musical tastes."

This album was recorded with a live band, but it still has the DJ sensibility of older MIS tunes. Have a listen to one of my early favorite tracks:

[mp3] Mexican Institute of Sound: Reventón
from the album Soy Sauce

Oh, and since I don't know if I'll post tomorrow, happy Cinco de Mayo!

More MIS:
myspace
website
youtube

Global Rhythms

Rhythms from all over the planet were the focus of this show, to celebrate the return of the World Rhythm Festival in Seattle (and the rhythmic content of Olympia's annual Procession of the Species parade). Groove globally!

Global Rhythms: Spin The Globe playlist for 24 April 2009

Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com
More show info at http://spintheglobe.earball.net

Artist - Song - Album

hour 1
Larry McDonald - Brother Man feat. Shaza & Terri Lion - Drumquestra
Warsaw Village Band - Skip Funk feat. DJ Feel-X - Infinity
Zimbabwe Legit - Rhymin' Wit The African Symphony - Brothers From The Mother
La Minor - White Acadia - Oboroty
Various artists - One Love - Playing for Change
Gamal Goma - Zaar (Ayyoub) - Shake Me Ya Gamal: Hot Tabla Solos
Tactequete - Uapa - Tactequeque?
Kokolo - Congo Bongo - Love International
Megadrums - Dancing between the worlds - Terra Nova
K’naan - Wash It Down - The Dusty Foot on the Road
Lo’Jo - Kourchbene Bellissimo - Mojo Radio
Sayed Rekaby El Genena - Agebny - Jaafra
Te Vaka - Kaleve - Ki Mua
Kasbah Rockers - Shta - Kasbah Rockers

hour 2
Buika - Culpa Mia - Nina del Fuego
Yeshe - Elegua - World Citizen
Eliyahu & Qadim Ensemble - Desert Dub - Eastern Wind
Oreka TX - Dzuud - Nomadak tx
Julien Jacob - Ouou - Cotonou
Ayo Nelson-Homiah - Show Them - Hull Buyh Door/Heartbeat
Tumbatu Cumba - Taita Guaranguito - Tumbatu Cumba
Nomo - Discontinued - Nomo
Gabrielle Roth & the Mirrors - Speaking Curves - Jhoom
Samba Squad - Drums We Love - Batuque
Israel - El Barquero - Naranjas sobre la nieve
Yoshida Brothers - Storm - Yoshida Brothers

Monday's mp3: Lo'jo Mojo

A friend recently converted me to the cult of Flight of the Conchords, the nutty Kiwi duo who have their own HBO series and a unique knack for writing simple, often ridiculous songs that nonetheless loop in your mind long after you're done watching. I thought about stretching the SoundRoots umbrella and posting one of their songs -- perhaps the dancehall-ish "Boom" or their French lounge "Foux du Fafa" -- but I reconsidered. Find those on your own (if you don't mind that endless loop running in your head). Meanwhile, my thoughts turned to an actual French band whose music is equally catchy.

I don't think I've actually posted about Lo'Jo before, though they have been one of my favorite global bands since I first caught them live back at the first (I think) WOMAD USA. They're a loose collection of musicians, though always at the core are Denis Pean, Richard Bourreau, and the Nid El Mourid sisters Nadia and Yamina.

To me, their sound is dark yet open, a moody musical seaport open to influences from many lands but maintaining a core identity. You may hear in their music sounds from Africa (djembe, kora), along with vocal harmonies that evoke North Africa or the Middle East, combined with accordeon, flute, bass, and more. But instead of struggling through more attemted description, let me provide you with the sound:

[mp3] Lo'Jo: Amadoué Morito
from the album Mojo Radio

Lo'Jo has a new album just out called Cosmophono, and I'm eager to get my hands on it. I'll let you know when I do.

More Lo'Jo:
website
youtube
interview

Where's Cuba These Days?

Even as the Obama administration shows (long-overdue) signs of warming towards Cuba, there's still a cultural chasm with the island nation. Think about it. The Buena Vista Social Club thing was back in the late 1990s (album, 1997; film, 1999). Hip-hop group Orisha's groundbreaking debut A Lo Cubano album came out in 2000. And since then?

There have been musical releases from Cubans in the last decade (among them, Ska Cubano, Telmary, Yusa, and Juan-Carlos Formell), but none with such a broad impact. Where are the next generation of Cuban superstars? Why don't we know about them?

Executive producer Zack Winfield and his colleague Ado Yoshizaki, together with producer-manager Tim Hole, dreamt up the idea of marrying the extraordinary skills and talent of the cream of Cuba's young musicians with the know-how and worldly
perspective of cutting edge producers from the UK and the US. It’s from this idea that Revolution was born.

The forthcoming album The Revolution presents Revolution features Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim), Rich File (UNKLE), Poet Name Life (Black Eyed Peas), Guy Sigsworth (Bjork), Marius De Vries (Sugarcubes), and Cameron McVey & Jan Kybert (Massive Attack) along with an array of young Cuban musicians.

I'm curious, as always, about how well Revolution will balance the contributions of the Cuban and the non-Cuban artists, but it looks promising. Here's hoping that with our encouragement, perhaps US politicians will continue to restore links to our island neighbor and we'll be seeing and hearing more from there. The album hits stores June 1.

For more info check: http://www.rapsterrecords.com/therevolution

Portuglobal

Music from Portugal and Portuguese speaking lands, including Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, and Mozambique. Plus new releases and concert previews in hour 2. (Sorry - due to technical difficulties, no show archive/podcast this week.)

Portuglobal: Spin The Globe playlist for 17 April 2009

Artist - Song - Album

hour 1
DJ Dolores - J.P.S. - 1 Real
Tcheka - Transason - Nu Monda
Miriam Makeba - Mas Que Nada - Reflections
Digitaldubs - Se Liga Nelas - The Inspiring New Sounds of Rio de Janeiro
Boy Ge Mendes - Choros - Lagoa
Ledward Kaapana - Pau Pilikia - Hawaiian Slack Key Kings
Bonga, Marisa Monte, Carlinhos Brown - Mulemba Xangola - Red Hot + Lisbon
Neco Novellas - Tsanganane - New Dawn / Ku Khata
Orquestra HB - Salsa e Merengue - Farol Musica sampler
DJ Dolores - Azougue (original unreleased mix) - Bar Brasilia
Forro in the Dark - Forrowest - Bonfires of Sao Joao
Sara Tavares - Planeta Sukri feat. Boy Ge Mendes - Balance
Dead Combo - Rumbero - Vol. 1

hour 2
Terrakota - Metisses - Oba Train
A Filial - Aqui Se Faz Aqui Não Paga - $1,99
Muddy Face - Mokoma Wangu - Roots Rock Guitar Party
Doug Cox & Salil Bhatt - Make a Better World - Slide to Freedom 2: Make a Better World
Mariza - Ja Me Deixou - Terra
Ricardo Lemvo - Habari Yako - Ay Valeria!
Oreka TX - Jai Adivasi - Nomadak TX
Pete Lockett & Amit Chatterjee - Taalisman - Taalisman
Oreka TX - Adabegi - Quercus Endorphina
Golem - Train Across Ukraine - Citizen Boris
Ballycotton - Nebelstreif - Jenseits vom Ende der Zeit
CeU - Mais um Lamento - Ceu
Yoshida Brothers - Modern (Mishou Version) - Best of/Tsugaru Shamisen
Thomas Mapfumo - Zvandiviringa - The Best of Thomas Mapfumo

Mondays mp3: Honk if you love music

I have a regret. I failed to make Honk! Fest West a priority last weekend, instead taking the simple path of hanging out at the family Easter gathering. And now I feel that what I gained in shrimp salad and fruit-laden jello is overshadowed by the lost opportunity to hear and see some really great brass/marching bands in the streets and pubs of Ballard.

Sigh.

So I console myself on this overcast morning with the sounds of a band that would seem right at home at such a gathering. I only recently ran across the sounds of the West Philadelphia Orchestra. And of course -- being a sucker for well-constructed big band music, whether focusing on New Orleans, Balkan, Afrobeat, or some other genre -- I fell for them. Check it out:

[mp3] West Philadelphia Orchestra: Out of the Fly Bottle
from their self-titled album

The West Philadelphia Ochestra (WPO) is 14 of Philadelphia's best and most daring musicians playing music that is either from Eastern Europe (Balkan and klezmer primarily) or is inspired by such sounds and rhythms. This album, WPO, is their debut effort and features several original compositions, plus a few arrangements, some radical, of traditional tunes. 'Overflowing joy' is an apt adjective for the WPO experience.

More West Philadelphia Orchestra:
website (with more free songs!)
youtube
myspace

World Music Old & New

This week's Spin The Globe rambled globally and temporally, with old and new sounds from all corners of the planet plus a few concert previews.

World Music Old & New: Spin The Globe playlist for 7 March 2009

Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com

Artist - Song - Album

hour 1
Sally Nyolo - Djine - Tribu
Eva Ayllon - Mi Compadre Nicolas - Kimbafa (Joyous Energy)
Takashi Hirayasu & Bob Brozman - Chinnuku Jushi / Rice Gruel with Taro - Jin Jin / Firefly
Dietrich - Si T’saros - Evok
Te Vaka - Ika ika - Pacific Music
Amadou & Mariam - Djama - Welcome to Mali
The Ukranians - Olenka - Diaspora
S.E. Rogie - Jaimgba Tutu / The Joy of Success - Dead Men Don’t Smoke Marijuana
Hallelujazz Project - Eyin Baba - What’s on your mind
Gotan Project - La Del Ruso - Live
Abdoulaye “Djoss” Diabate - Kuma - Sara
Rossy - Mandry Ve - One eye on the future, one eye on the past
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - El Genio del Dub - La Luz del Ritmo

hour 2
Inemo - AfroFunk - Afro Funky Beats
Golem - Chervona Ruta - Citizen Boris
Rachel Magoola - Tuleerwani - Songs from the Source of the Nile
Chiha - My Only One - Mystic Bridges
Oreka TX - Oreka - Quercus Endorphina
Oreka TX - Areloreak - Nomadak tx
Midival Punditz - Har Ek Baat - Hello Hello
Aurelio Martinez - Yau - Garifuna Soul
Ballake Sissoko, Driss El Maloumi, Rajery - Anfass - 3MA
Lo Cor de la Plana - Feniant e gromand - Tant deman
Bala Miller & the Great Music Pyrameeds of Afrika - Ikon Allah - Nigeria 70
Samite - Kaleba - Tanula Eno

Monday's mp3: In the Indian Lounge

If there's one word that reveals the tone of Putumayo's new India compilation, it's "gentle." As in "a captivating musical masala featuring mesmerizing vocals and gentle beats." No fiery ragas here, nor Bollywood crooning, nor Punjabi partying.

In truth, I did find this disc somewhat enticing...also puzzling. The music -- yes, the gentle music -- is all soft edges and cool vibes. With lot of atmospheric keyboard/electronics floating around behind the vocals, guitars, and tabla. And yes, the predominant strings are guitars; there's nary a sitar to be found here.

It's nice music, and much in line with the Putumayo Lounge series (which raises the question of why this CD isn't called Indian Lounge). But having just returned from Delhi, I'm puzzled about just whose India this music represents. I heard nothing like it in the taxis, in the stores, in the concerts I attended. Is India really India without the musical passion?

Perhaps the explanation is that a number of these artists live or were raised and educated outside of India -- in Canada, the USA, the UK. In any case, the music is likeable enough, but don't expect it to have the dramatic, emotional impact of a Ravi Shankar solo or the latest hit from Panjabi MC.

[mp3] A R Rahman, Chinmayee: Tere Bina
from the album Putumayo Presents India

By the way, Putumayo is branching out into other media with this release, publishing a companion book called India: A Cultural Journey, which "combines photography, travelogue, and cultural exploration." Looks nice, from the sample pages. Nice and gentle.

Mixed Bag of Global Music

We mixed things up with lots of new music, and a few oldies and concert previews. Happy Spring (or Happy Fall to our southern listeners)! And Happy Norooz!

Mixed Bag of Global Music: Spin The Globe playlist for 20 March 2009

Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com

Artist - Song - Album

hour 1
Oreka TX - Saapmi - Nomadak Tx
Midival Punditz - Sun Mere Sanam - Hello Hello
Kari Bremnes - Mi egen skridt/making my way - Ly
Klezmer Juice - Happy Nigun - Jewfro
Golem - Tell Her You Love Her - Citizen Boris
Abdoulaya “Djoss” Diabate - Foday - Sara
Amadou & Mariam - Bozos - Welcome to Mali
Gokh-Bi System - Palestine - Voice of the Jali
Idan Raichel Project - Mai Nahar / River Waters - Within My Walls
Shimshai - Hara Mahadeva - Live Maui
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan - Kanday Utay - Charkha The Album
Jake Shimabukuro - Orange World - Live
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - Padre Nuestro - La Luz del Ritmo

hour 2
Toubab Krewe - 51 Ft Ladder - Live at the Orange Peel
Zanzibar Culture Club - Muziki Ni Kazi Yetu / Music is our domain - Shime!
Ballet Exotic du Robert - Hermentia - Caribbean Tropical Music Martinique
Meas Samoun - Dondung Goan Gay - Sleepwalking Through the Mekong (Dengue Fever)
Bio Ritmo - Bionic Boogaloo - Bionico
Radio Tarifa - Vestido de Flores - Temporal
Kiran Ahluwalia - Kina Nere - Kiran Ahluwalia
Neil Jacobs - The Fire Game - American Gypsy
Eva Ayllon - Akundun - Kimbafa
Habib Koite & Bamada - Batoumambe - Foly!
Antibalas - Big Man - Who Is This America?

Dengue Fever Goes "Home"

CONTEST: See below for a chance to win Dengue Fever's "Sleepwalking Through the Mekong"!

In the US consciousness, Asia is a mix of mystery and factories and food. Japan is known for cars and sushi; China is known for cheap (sometimes tainted) products, action films, and rising global power; Korea's got kimchi; India has curries and call centers; Vietnam has in increasing tourist draw replacing the post-war jitters; Indonesia has orangutans, giant lizards, and great chicken satay. And Cambodia? The land once ravaged by the Khmer Rouge has yet to emerge as a global player with a distinct identity. But a band from California has been providing what could be the soundtrack to modern Cambodia, and their new film documenting a trip to Cambodia may help put a contemporary face on the nation.

Dengue Fever's Sleepwalking Through the Mekong (set for release on April 14) includes a audio soundtrack CD along with the DVD, containing the 67-minute film along with several bonus features on traditional Cambodian festivals, dance, and a short but fascinating segment on Cambodian master musicians. The trip coincided with Cambodia's 2005 Water Festival marking the end of the monsoon, and included the irony-laced phenomenon of a Western band playing rock and roll inspired by the classic 1960s and ‘70s Cambodian pop music that was nearly eradicated by the cultural purges of the 1970s. (The film is "dedicated to the singers and musicians who perished under the Pol Pot regime.")

At the start of the film, band interviews find the musicians open but questioning, wondering what Khmer audiences will make of their music. On their first day in Cambodia, the mood is caught by bassist Senon Williams, sitting in his hotel room: "I have no idea what's really going to happen, or how we're going to be received, or where we're going to play ... but we will figure it out."

They do figure it out -- sometimes in unexpected ways -- as they negotiate their way physically, culturally, and musically through this culture that has infused their music since the band was formed around the turn of the millennium.

The companion soundtrack disc includes songs by Dengue Fever (including the familiar "Tip My Canoe"), collaborations with master musicians Tep Mary and Kong Nai, and classic tracks by Khmer musicians Serey Sothea, Meas Samoun, and Sinn Sisamouth. Listen to Samoun's "Dondung Goan Gay" and you might swear it's a displaced brother of 1960s Ethiopian pop or early Afrobeat -- styles echoed in Dengue Fever's live "Ethanopium." Also in the mix are two previously unreleased Dengue Fever instrumentals: the soundtracky "March of the Ballroom Animals" and a short sax solo called "Phnom Chisor Serenade."

It's refreshing that the film turns out to be about Cambodia more than about Dengue Fever, and that the band is so willing to let the nation and its people take center stage. More than a great musical film, this is a great cultural film. Dengue Fever may just turn out to be the cultural ambassadors the Khmer people need to usher in more understanding about their nation.

CONTEST
Win the CD/DVD Sleepwalking Through the Mekong plus a small movie poster signed by the band. To enter, send an email with the subject "sleepwalking" to contest at soundroots dot org. Winners will be selected by a random drawing one week from today, on March 26, and notified by email.

More Dengue Fever:
myspace
movie website

Monday's mp3: Sticking with the Basques

Some wag once defined "world music" as "other people's local music." So what happens when musicians take their local music and make it global, mixing their traditional sounds with the traditional sounds of others? This album is one answer to that question. Harkaitz Mtnez. de San Vicente and Igor Otxoa of the Basque txalaparta group Oreka Tx take their musical planks and sticks across India, Mongolia, Lapland, and the Sahara, recording the sounds of collaborations with local artists (and documenting the journey in an film also called Nömadak Tx -- see trailer).

This musical journey was inspired by a chance meeting, the txalapartari explain:

"This idea was revolving in our heads and we
thought about the idea of living as nomads in
order to go out to look for those sounds and
those experiences; then, one afternoon
something happened that gave life to this movie:
an Indian band of musicians and dancers was
touring in the Basque Country. Pablo Iraburu
was with them, he called us to meet them and
we got together to play. Pablo and Raul came
with us to take care of the camera and the
sound. Indian sounds and rhythms mixed with
the unusual Txalaparta and the result was
magical.

We laughed, we talked and we had a beautiful
afternoon creating, barely saying a word and
starting from cultures, traditions and customs
that are supposedly different. That afternoon,
the Txalaparta was the detonation, the catalyst,
and the gathering point among people and
feelings."

[mp3] Oreka Tx: Etzgarit
from the album Nomadak Tx

The resulting music is hypnotizing, the tlaxaparta accompanied by everything from throat-singing to Indian vocal percussion and tabla to oud. The txalapartari seem very respectful of the cultures they visit, frequently giving them the spotlight as their wooden percussion plays a supporting role. The whole experience may remind you of the 1 Giant Leap project, though the grounding sound of the txalaparta makes this even more of a cultural conversation, and not just a global collage of sounds. Highly recommended!

more Oreka Tx:
Nomadak Tx movie trailer
movie website
Youtube
label site

My Indian Sountrack

The music of my Indian journey this week (hour 1), plus new releases and other sounds. Follow along visually as you listen with my India slideshow. Thanks to everyone who supported KAOS during our recent Spring Membership Drive -- if you didn't quite get around to making that call, please call now and join/renew: 360-867-6894 -- or join online.

Soundtrack to My Indian Journey: Spin The Globe playlist for 13 March 2009
as heard on radio KAOS, 89.3fm

Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com

Artist - Song - Album

hour 1
Dhol Foundation - Colors of Punjab - Big Drum Small World
Rhydhun - The Tree of Rhythm - An Odyssey of Rhythm
Jasbir Jassi - Dil Le Gayee - #1s The Greatest Bhangra Hits
Debashish Bhattacharya - Gypsy Anandi - Calcutta Chronicles
Niraj Chag feat. Swati Natekar - Khwaab - India
Balkar Sidhu - Gabhroo - 100 Bhangra Groove
Tasa - Uma Dances - Urban Turban
Chirgilchin - Kyngyrgai - Aryskan’s Wind
Eccodek - Weightless Place - Shivaboom
Bapi Das Baul & Baul Bishwa - Vhabe Pare - Rough Guide to the Music of India
The Sabri Brothers - Ya Mustapha - Ya Mustapha

hour 2
Paco Pena - Alegrias - Acoustic World Flamenco
Amadou & Mariam - Djuru - Welcome to Mali
Ersatzmusika - Train-slow Adagio - Songs Unrecantable
MC Yogi feat. Krishna Das - Rock On Hanuman - Elephant Power
Delhi 2 Dublin - Apples - Delhi 2 Dublin
Puerto Plata - Te La Dejo Toda - Mujer de Cabaret
Israel - Eres - Naranjas sobre la nieve
Mgzavruli - Namgluri - There Is Such a Country; it is called Georgia
The Master Musicians of Jajouka w/ Bachir Attar - If the Moon Loves You - Live Vol. 1
Gabrielle Roth & the Mirrors - Skinny Lights & Fat Beats - Jhoom
Moh Alileche - Gathering / Timlilit - In Memory of a Hero
Oreka TX - Jai Adivasi - Nomadak TX
Extra Golden - Ukimwi - Thank You Very Quickly

Monday's mp3: Big Bags of Bhangra

Normally I'm all about quality. But once in a while I cave to the pressure for more. And standing in a little music shop in Delhi's Khan Market, I caved. I'd been looking for a bhangra artist I kept hearing on taxi radios, but was striking out. Then, there it was. A gleaming black box about the size of a DVD case...but far more compelling than High School Musical 3.

Gulshan Kumar Presents Bhangra Groove: six CDs, 100 songs, a nonstop Punjabi party for the bargain price of 199 rupees. I haven't checked out many of the unknown-to-me artists, but I know that Surjit Bindrakhia actually died in 2003. And Gulshan Kumar died in 1997, so just how he "presents" this music is a very interesting question. It may be true that this collection isn't the newest and shiniest music around, but it sure is fun. Sorry I don't have the cover scan for you, but here's a photo of Surjit sporting a dashing red turban.

Without further ado, here's 1% of the compilation.

[mp3] Surjit Bindrakhia: Dupatta
from the compilation Gulshan Kumar Presents Bhangra Groove

Sacred World Music + Jewbilee live

Back from my Indian vacation (well, working vacation...) and into the swing with global sacred music plus a live in-studio appearance by Jewbilee, who appear at the 7 March 2009 World Sacred Music Festival in Olympia, Washington, USA. It's also Spring Pledge Drive time for KAOS, so please support community radio by becoming a member -- you can do it quickly and painlessly online at kaosradio.org

Sacred World Music + Jewbilee live: Spin The Globe playlist for 6 March 2009

Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com

hour 1
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Mustt Mustt / Lost in His Work - Mustt Mustt
Yaron Pe’er - Keep Me / Psalm 17:8 - Orian
Portland Taiko - All Is Well - Big Bang
Word-Beat - I Know I’ve Been Changed - The Soul Dances
Soweto Gospel Choir - Lelilungelo Ngelakho - Blessed
Ancient Future - Ochun - Planet Passion
Youssou N’Dour - Allah - Egypt
Sean Gaskell - Kuruntu Kelefa - Advance from artist
Abrace - Saltando - Advance from artist
Jewbilee - Live music - Live in the KAOS studios

hour 2
Jewbilee - More Live music - Live in the KAOS studios
Kobo Town - Higher than Mercy - Independence
Andy Palacio - Watina / I Called Out - Watina
KAL - Komedija feat. Rambo Amadeus - KAL
K’Naan - ABCs feat. Chubb Rock - Troubador

Rahat's Indian Debut

I'm baaaaack!

Oh, the indescribable wonders and mysteries of India! On those, more later. For now, I want to start sharing with you some of the music I picked up from the surprisingly elusive music-wallahs of Delhi.

As a global music connoisseur, you no doubt know that Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is the nephew of the legendary Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and trained under him. Rahat has not achieved his uncle's global recognition, and this seems particularly true in India. I was surprised to see in the liner notes to Charkha that this album, released in 2007, is "his first full solo album to be released in India." Could it be India-Pakistan politics at work? Or is the qawwali fusion work of Rahat not to the taste of Indians?

Me, I like it. True, Rahat's singing here is far less emotional than the swirling ecstacy of Nusrat's live qawwali recordings. But with the addition of guitars, drumkit, and other non-traditional elements, Charkha is a great, accessible start for people who may be unfamiliar with qawwali-style vocals and not quite ready for all-out Nusrat.

[mp3] Rahat Fateh Ali Khan: Kanday Utay
from the album Charkha

A few of the arrangements on Charkha get cheesy, and if I ever run across the person responsible for omitting the names of the musicians who accompany Rahat, I'm going to kick him in the shins. Or maybe karma has already done that for me...

The charkha, by the way, is a simple form of spinning wheel, popularized by Ghandi and even featured on a provisional Indian flag.

For a few images of India, click here.

Monday's mp3: So the Journey Goes...

I'm writing this on the eve of a big adventure, one which you'll be sharing with me if you read SoundRoots in the coming weeks (and if I find the Internet to be accessible in the parts of North India to which I'm headed!).

The desks at SoundRoots Central are piled high with CDs and a few DVD that we'll be reviewing soon...but in thinking about the appropriate song by which to sail off to excitements unknown than my Canada-based friends Autorickshaw.

Led by the rich vocals of Suba Sankaran (yes, daughter of the master drummer Trichy Sankaan), Autorickshaw have carved out a unique spot in the realm of Indian/fusion/jazz music. Their CD Four Higher includes tasty, exotic covers of "Caravan" and "A Night in Tunesia," along with great originals.

This is the title track from their 2007 album So The Journey G o e s -- it's an autobiographical song, Suba says, " loosely based in the bluesy south Indian Chalanata raga, complete with train rap from a south Indian railway line."

[mp3] Autorickshaw: So The Journey G o e s
from the album So The Journey G o e s

More Autorickshaw:
website
youtube
myspace
the namesake vehicle

I'll certainly end up in one of these in coming days... photos and harrowing stories will be posted here! And after this Indian interlude, SoundRoots will return to "normal" programming in March.

World Music Mix

Wander globally, listen globally, groove globally. We went all over the planet this week with tunes from Togo, Israel, Brazil, Cameroon, Algeria, New Zealand, India, and beyond.

This will be the last Spin The Globe podcast for February, due to a much-deserved vacation. Well, a working vacation. We'll be catching some dance and music at the first ever International Festival of Sacred Arts in Delhi, India -- http://www.sacredartsfestivaldelhi.org -- and you're sure to hear some stories about the trip on future episodes.

World Music Mix: Spin The Globe playlist for 13 February 2009

Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com

hour 1
Yawo - Ayelevi No Ku - Take Out the Fences
Didier Framcois - Leer Me Leven - Sjansons Patinees
Ballet Exotic du Robert - Oh Mama - Caribbean Tropical Music: Martinique
Bisan Toran - The Boat - Backstage Reveries
Blue Planet - Ganesh - Masala
Idan Raichel Project - Todas Las Palabras feat. Marta Gomez - Within My Walls
Tomer Yosef - I Want to Move - Laughing Underground
Daude - Dora - Neguinha Te Amo
Nino Galissa - Krebo Cheo - African Reggae
Salem Tradition - Waliwa - Krie
AoMusic - Yei Ha - Twirl
Burlakat - Briha / A Lad - Magie
Novalima - Tumbala - Coba Coba
Maghrebika w/ Bill Laswell - Tyran Perdant - Neftakhir

hour 2
MC Rai - Rana Ca Va - Raivolution
Etienne Mbappe - Olo Iyo - Mbappe
Sir Victor Uwaifo - Joromi / Monkey Yanga - The Rough Guide to the Music of Nigeria & Ghana
Avline Ava - Until You Try - Mulato
Mosh Ben Ari - Eem Rak Na’iz / If we just dare - Israel
Lo’Jo - Un Grand Voyage - Tu Connais Lo’Jo
Afro-Cuban All Stars - Maria Caracoles - A Toda Cuba le Gusta
Covita Scelsa Moroney - Hallelujah/Hareeru L’Adonai - Scriptures
Taffetas - Brahma - Fanta
Moana & the Tribe - Titokowaru - Toru
Autorickshaw - Surya - So the Journey Goes

Monday's mp3: Gimme Grammies

I take the Grammy awards with a big ol' bucket of salt. The reporting around them seems to be more about the attire and attitude of megastars than about the music. Still, nabbing one of those shiny statues can mean a whole lot of attention for artists, so I'll humor the system by reporting the relevant ethnic category winners, in case you hadn't heard.

• Best Native American album: various artists - Come To Me Great Mystery — Native American Healing Songs [Silver Wave Records]
• Best Hawaiian album: Tia Carrere & Daniel Ho - 'Ikena [Daniel Ho Creations]
• Best Reggae album: Burning Spear - Jah Is Real [Burning Music Production]
• Best Traditional World Music album: Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Ilembe: Honoring Shaka Zulu [Heads Up International]
• Best Contemporary World Music album: Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju & Giovanni Hidalgo - Global Drum Project [Shout! Factory]

Many, many deserving artists and albums didn't garner even the recognition of a nomination. None of SoundRoots' top 10 albums of 2008 were on the Grammy lists.

Which leads me to today's music. Ladysmith Black Mambazo are great, but a truly innovative album that deserves wider recognition is Sira by Ablaye Cissoko & Volker Goetze.

Goetze is a German-born, New York-based trumpet player. Cissoko is a Senegalese singer and kora (21-string African harp) player. Sira ("mermaid") is the name of Cissoko's youngest daughter, and an appropriate name for a type of music that seems fanciful and not easily glimpsed in the ordinary musical world.

Their collaboration is a masterpiece of improvisation, melody, and beauty. Somewhere between jazz and griot music, it captures an ethereal spirit of sublime communication between two master musicians in perfect balance.

[mp3] Ablaye Cissoko + Volker Goetze: Gorgorlou
from Sira

More Ablaye Cissoko + Volker Goetze:
myspace
label site
youtube

World Music from the USA

The upcoming Olympia Ethnic Festival (see calendar) compelled us to spin global sounds from right here in the USA -- some of them from our friends and neighbors -- on today's show. Plus new releases and some old faves in hour 2.

More show info at http://spintheglobe.earball.net

World Music from the USA: Spin The Globe playlist for 6 February 2009

Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com

hour 1

Quasi Nada - Coroa Imperial - Interrupt This Broadcast
Rabbinical School Dropouts - Mosquito from Megiddo - Cosmic Tree
Abrace - Saltando - WSMF sampler
Vagabond Opera - Hebbina - Vagabond Opera
Word-Beat - Balafon - The Soul Dances
Markus James - Takamba Blues - Timbuktoubab
Orkestar Zirkonium - Nekemtenemmutogatol Oro - Orkestar Zirkonium
Pink Martini - Mar Desconocido - Hey Eugene!
Imaginary Homeland - Jump for George - Jump for George
Guy Mendilow - Awendeje - Live
Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi - Svalaka Kozatshok - Borscht with Bread, Brothers
Brothers of the Baladi - Paint It Black - Eye on the World
Slavic Soul Party - Vranje - Teknochek Collision

hour 2
KAL - Oh Ma Cherie - Radio Romanista
Ablaye Cissoko & V. Goetze - Bamaya - Sira
Chiha - Jeleleni - Mystic Bridges
Berit Opheim Versto - Rudl Etter Trygve Haeve - Slattar Pa Tunga
John Wubbenhorst - Continuous Celebration - Facing Beloved
Moh Alileche - Sunset in Tamanrasset - In Memory of a Hero / Ur Ken Tetsu
Rokia Traore - Zen (remix) - Tchamantche
Glen Velez - Wren Chant - Assyrian Rose
Kokoura - Anitie - Anitie
Zuboly - Pannondrama - Ertem a Kujonsagot
Zap Mama - Locklat Africa - Sabsylma
Correo Aereo - El Caiman - Lo Que Me Dijo El Viento

Top 10 World Music Albums - January 2009

Look -- there at the top of the chart -- it's innovative Malian songstress Rokia Traore, who has just released her fourth solo album. "...an exquisitely recorded set that manages to sound contemporary but still distinctively African" raves the Guardian -- and who are we to disagree? Other entries on this month's chart include the Afropean dance sounds of Kokoura, the sacred-electronica of Caren Hope Project, and the Slavic Rock of Mumiy Troll. (We're never accused of settling for just one thing here at SoundRoots!)

SoundRoots / Spin The Globe Top 10 World Music Albums
January 2009
(click on album title for sound samples and more info)

1. Rokia Traore: Tchamantche
2. Kokoura: Anitie
3. Uxia: Eterno Navegar
4. Caren Hope Project: Calling Shiva
5. Lila Downs: Shake Away
6. Ablaye Cissoko and Volker Goetze: Sira
7. Fula Flute: Mansa America
8. Bat Makumba: Boteco
9. Novalima: Coba Coba
10. Mumiy Troll: Comrade Ambassador

Monday's mp3: Happy Year of the Ox!

Okay, I admit it: This song is not about an ox. In the few free moments in an otherwise busy day, I tried to think of an Asian song about oxen to share with you today. And I came up blank.

So instead, you get a song about the ox's cousin, the buffalo.

Fubuki Daiko is an innovative taiko group based in...wait for it... Winnipeg, Manitoba. Yes, that's in Canada. Yes, that's a long way from Japan, both geographically and culturally. But these folks can throw down with the big drums, and they've got a great sense of humor and musical adventure, as you might guess from the song titles "Lemon Lime Tang" and "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride."

This album was released in 2000. Their second album -- Zanshin: Leaving the Heart Behind -- was released in 2004. So I'm thinking we're due another album soon.

[mp3]: Fubuki Daiko: Buffalo
from the album Fubuki Daiko

Happy New Year!

More Fubuki Daiko:
website
youtube (Hiroshi plays drums with light sabers!)
CBC interview
flickr photos

My President

It's been a whirlwind around the SoundRoots headquarters, what with today's celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the parties leading up to tomorrow's transfer of power in the US. So this will be brief, but oh so sweet.

Fifteen years ago the walls of apartheid crumbled in South Africa and black South African was elected president in that nation's first election that allowed all people to vote.

Forty-five years ago, the walls of "Jim Crow" laws crumbled in the United States. But only now are people seeing the result of that change at the highest levels. I don't need to tell you that there's still racism in the US. But this time around, a whole lot of Americans decided that skin color wasn't an obstacle to voting, and this has given a lot of us a new hope and faith in the future of the nation.

Barack Obama won't solve all our problems -- not in four years, not even in eight. But he represents a step in the right direction. I'm inspired by his positions on the environment, social inclusiveness, engagement in international negotiations, alternative energy, and many other issues. And I feel pride and some relief in his call for people to perform national service...after the Bush years when the highest form of national service was apparently to go shopping or send a child to war.

But Bush is done; we're focusing on the positive now. And despite the plethora of songs about Obama, I'm going to expropriate a tune from that other liberated nation, one that reaches something inexpressible and joyful in my spirit. A song of pride in one's president from the late Brenda Fassie.

[mp3] Brenda Fassie: Black President
from the album Black President (also found on the CD/DVD set Mandela)

Black President video

Happy inauguration day!

Music of Yugoslavia

Some of my favorite music comes from a country that no longer exists. I visited Yugoslavia in the 1980s, and today the music is more exciting than ever, though you need more names for the place: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia. Hour 2 featured more global wanderings and some new releases and concert previews.

The Music of Yugoslavia: Spin The Globe playlist for 9 January 2009
as heard on radio KAOS, 89.3 FM

Listen/download for a limited time at: soundroots.podomatic.com

Artist - Song - Album

Hour 1
KAL - Romozom - Radio Romanista
Mostar Sevdah Reunion - A Strange Pain in the City of Mostar - A Secret Gate
King Naat Veliov & the Original Kocani Orkestar - Malajka - Cigance
Gonda Manakovska - Karafili Edje Zamaki - Rough Guide to the Balkans
Darko Rundek & Cargo Orkestar - Kuba / Cuba - Ruke
The No Smoking Orchestra - Dobrila - BalkanBeats Vol. 3
Amira Medunjanin - Mujo ogu po mejdanu voda - Rosa
Ivica Mit & Morava River Band - Poursuite - Ivica Mit & Morava River Band
Esma Redzepova - Abre Kako So Pijeja - Chaje Shukarije
Smadj vs Kocani Orkestar - Mi Bora San Korani - Electric Gypsyland 2
Lidija Bajuk - Sve Je Kao Prije - Luna
Felix Lajko w/ Boban Markovic Orkestar - Felix Kolo - Rough Guide to Balkan Gypsies
Ganesa - Gubim Te - Singles

Hour 2
Kasbah Rockers w/ Bill Laswell - Al Rafel - Kasbah Rockers
Avline Ava - Bonne Annee - Mulato
Hallelujazz Project - Silekun - What’s On Your Mind
Madame XD - Black Silk - Black Silk EP
Tomer Yosef - Little Man - Laughing Underground
Rokia Traore - Tounka - Tchamantche
Kokoura - Farafina - Anitie
Wei Xiao Dong - The River - Erhu Solo
Pablo Menendez - La Gitana - Havana Blues Mambo
Peggy - Uzonkhumbula - Peggy
Tyva Kyzy - Sit and Be Amazed - A Cheerful Song from My Soul

Monday's mp3: Authentically Neo-Roma

CD REVIEW

KAL: Radio Romanista
(Asphalt Tango)

KAL makes Roma/Gypsy music; KAL makes modern urban music. And there's no separation between the two.

The musical equivalent of nuclear fusion, the Serbian band seems to create ever more energetic tunes, upping the ante from their self-titled 2005 debut with the 13 songs on Radio Romanista (the title track tells of a radio station in the imaginary nation of Romanistan, homeland of the Gypsies). Traditional touches pervade the album, co-mingling with urban beats and outstanding (and often very speedy - check out the fiddling on "Romozom" and "I'm Gypsy"!) instrumental prowess. (audio samples)

[mp3] KAL: Krasnokalipsa featuring Marcello
from the album Radio Romanista

KAL bandleader Dragan Ristic has a fantastic ear for modernizing his rich musical roots without losing the essential elements. With KAL's success," says Ristic, "we're proving the music of your ancestors is still valid, still lives." And it's not merely alive, it's dancing down the street and pulling you along it its wake.

Ignore the narrow-minded reviewer who said of this album: "It's a sad commentary on the state of the world when you can no longer count on ethnic groups to behave the way you want them to." Tradition isn't static, music is constantly evolving. KAL's sound is as authentically "Gypsy" as anything from Vera Bila, or anything from Gypsy.cz, for that matter.

Sure it's early in the year, but go ahead and mark Radio Romanista as one of the best albums of 2009.

More KAL:
website
label site
youtube
wikipedia

God Rest Ye, Merry Beachgoers

I'm easing into the Christmas spirit this year. I haven't yet broken out any of my collection of odd holiday albums. Until today!

Here's a gentle easing into the holiday vibe, courtesy of the Banks Soundtech Steel Orchestra. Just the thing to distract my mind from the subfreezing temperatures and ice that have appeared outside, blanketing the Pacific Northwest in an uncharacteristic blanket of white (where usually we have a blanket of wet this time of year). Nothing like the ice storm in the Northeast, but pretty severe weather for us.

So sit back, grab something fruity to drink, crank up the heat if need be, and imaging yourself reclining (resting, as the song advises, ye merry gentlemen) in the sunshine to the soothing sounds of steel pan.

[mp3] Banks Soundtech Steel Orchestra: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
from the album Putumayo Presents Christmas Around the World

By the way, I'm having hard drive issues, so posts may be sparse until that's resolved. It doesn't mean I'm not thinking of you!

Top 10 World Music Albums - December 2008

The December chart has some new entries -- notably the sublime offering by Uxia, the multicultural fun of Kokoura, and the Middle Eastern dancehall stylings of Tomer Yosef (of Balkan Beat Box fame).

SoundRoots / Spin The Globe Top 10 World Music Albums
December 2008

(click on title for sound samples and more info)
1. Uxia: Eterno Navegar
2. Ablaye Cissoko and Volker Goetze: Sira
3. Lila Downs: Shake Away
4. Kokoura: Anitie
5. Tomer Yosef: Laughing Underground
6. Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat: I Am Eve
7. MC Yogi: Elephant Power
8. Franco & Le T.P.O.K. Jazz: Francophonic
9. Tara Linda & Luna Nueva: New Moon
10. Tchavolo Schmitt: Miri Familia

No one thinks of the flowers...except Azam Ali

CD REVIEW
Azam Ali, Keyavash Nourai, & Shahrokh Yadegari - Green Memories
(LilaSound)

Azam Ali is undoubtedly the big-name musician on this album. But if you approach it expecting something like her work with Vas or Niyaz, you'll be wrong. Sort of. Green Memories is billed as a "structured improvisation work by Shahrokh Yadegari," who plays the Lila, "a computer music instrument which allows the performer to process and manipulate live acoustic material in real-time. And in content, Yadegari describes the work as "a sad yet hopeful meditation on our natural and mental ecology."

“I wanted the piece to be the voice of the earth,” Yadegari explains. “And this is why the piece sometimes sounds ambient. Recent ecological changes are messages to us from the earth. We may be a little too late but… I think right now we really better listen.”

The whole project was inspired by the poetry of Forough Farrokhzad. You may not have heard of her, and even a knowledge of Persian won't help you understand the vocals, since Ali sings in sounds, not words (with one exception) -- as she does in her work with Vas. If you, like I, find it a but puzzling that musicians would pay tribute to a poet without actually giving voice to her poems, one listen will convince you that this is poetic music -- emotional, transcendental, and open to interpretation. It demands even more patience and focus than another recently released Persian album, I Am Eve by Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat. The rewards for your attention are rich. Layers of sound drift like seeds on the wind, patterns form and dissipate, and only on the final track is this sublime album's message finally given words, taken from a translation of the Farrokhzad poem "I Pity the Garden":

No one thinks of the flowers
No one thinks of the fish
No one wants to believe
that the garden is dying...

audio samples

Top 10/20/25 Global Albums of 2008

I've been asked by various publications/entities to create lists of my favorite global releases of 2008. Unfortunately, none of them agree on how many entries constitute a proper Top X list. So here, in three acts, is my list. (Disagree with my choices? Think I missed the best album of the year? Say so in the poll below the list, or leave your own list in the comments.)

2008 has been a rich year for world music. Curiously absent are any albums by the really big names, such as Angelique Kidjo, Buena Vista Social Club, Youssou N'Dour, Manu Chao, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Lo'Jo, and Oliver Mtukudzi. BVSC's new live album didn't quite make the cut, and perhaps we'll see new albums from the rest of that gang soon. The good news is, many other artists stepped up with amazing music to fill the void. Jostling for position in the list below are everything from a West African-jazz trumpet fusion to an Israeli hip-hop artist.

These are the albums that inspired me throughout the year, the albums to which I found myself returning again and again, both to play for Spin The Globe listeners, and just for my own satisfaction. They're albums of beauty and beat, tradition and modernity, and sometimes all of those things together. Most of them would make great starting points for folks new to global music, and all of them should appeal to broad-minded lovers of quality music.

The albums are listed alphabetically by artist within their top 10/20/25 groupings, and the links will lead you either to my review or to a site where you can sample/buy the album.

Top 10
Ablaye Cissoko and Volker Goetze: Sira
Bajofondo: Mardulce
Chiwoniso: Rebel Woman
Desert Blues 3 (various artists)
Firewater: The Golden Hour
Funkadesi: Yo Baba
MC Yogi: Elephant Power
Mounira Mitchala: Talou Lena
Tomer Yosef: Laughing Underground
Umalali: The Garifuna Women's Project

+10
Dengue Fever: Venus on Earth
DeLeon: DeLeon
Delhi 2 Dublin: Delhi 2 Dublin
Gamelan X: Satu
Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat: I Am Eve
Nation Beat: Legends of the Preacher
Nigeria 70-Lagos Jump (various artists)
Oana Catalina Chitu: Bucharest Tango
Tony Allen: Afro Disco Beat
Uxia: Eterno Navegar

+5
Emmanuel Jal: Warchild
Figli Di Madre Ignota: Fez Club
Neco Novellas: New Dawn/ Ku Khata
Pistolera: En Este Camino
Watcha Clan: Diaspora Hi-Fi

Free World Music Compilation

Just a quick heads up about a nice offering from Modiba Publishing. They have online a 16-track sampler of music, ranging from West African and Iran to Brazil and New Orleans. You can download -- free! -- individual tracks or the complete album.

One-click full album download at: www.modiba.net/pub

1. The Swarm - Noble Society (Guyana, USA)
2. Barap Barap - Abjeez (Iran, Sweden)
3. Sobe A Poeira - Nation Beat (Brazil, USA)
4. Off Duty Fortune Teller - Haale (Iran)
5. Pulse Conditioner - Cougar (USA)
6. So Nyame Mu - Shasha Marley (Ghana)
7. Teknochek Collision - Slavic Soul Party (Balkans, USA)
8. Senhora da Azenha - Dazkarieh (Portugal)
9. Cacador De Almas - Célia Mara (Brazil)
10. Sangare (Nickodemus Remix) - Vieux Farka Toure (Mali)
11. Hoviate Man - Yas (Iran)
12. Been So Long - União Black (Brazil)
13. Interstellar - Mission on Mars (India)
14. Yelema - Mamani Keita (Mali, France)
15. Yes I Am - pg.lost (Sweden)
16. Nuclear Summer - Youngblood Brass Band (USA)

Modiba is in the business of licensing songs, so if you have a project that could use some international music, consider this a taster. The rest of you, just enjoy!

The Music of Slavery

Sandwiched between two related observations -- The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery Dec. 2 and International Human Rights Day Dec. 10 -- this week's show focused on the music of slavery in hour 1. Hour 2 wandered more globally, and hit some new world music releases. Note: this podcast archive contains only the first 80-ish minutes of the show. More show info at http://spintheglobe.earball.net

More on modern-day slavery:
antislavery.org

Spin The Globe playlist - the Music of Slavery
5 December 2008
as heard on radio KAOS

(artist - song - album)
hour 1
Madrigaia - Zashto / 3 Chains of Slaves - Pleiades
Macka B - Effects of Slavery - Global Messenger
Kobo Town - Across the Dark Waters - Independence
Gnawa Bambara / Mallem Abdenbi El Gadari - Guingouba / Journey to Freedom - Bambara
Klezmatics w/ Kathryn Farmer - Go Down Moses - Brother Moses Smote the Water
Susana Baca - El Mayoral / Slave Driver - Eco de Sombras
Vilddas - Vilges Suolo / White Thief - Haliidan
Lucky Dube - Slave - Retrospective
Terakaft - Tenere Wer Tata Zinchegh - Ishumar: Musique Touaregue de Resistance
Menwar - Labolision Lesklavaz - Ay Ay Lo
Refugee All Stars - Mental Slavery - Living Like a Refugee
Lo’Jo - Rambling Talk - Au Cabaret Sauvage

hour 2
Abyssinia Infinite feat. Gigi - Lebaye - Zion Roots
Oumou Sangare - Seya - [single]
Uxia - As Nosas Cores (a pereira) - Eterno Navegar
Ablaye Cissoko + Volker Goetze - Domain Domain - Sira
Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat - Land of Love - I Am Eve
La Cherga - Ciganka - Fake No More
Enam & Friends - Om Namah Shivay - Jai Ganesha
Mamadou & Vanessa - Nemalon - Nacama / Destiny
Sabrina Malheiros - Eira Nem Beira (IG Culture House Mix) - Far Out Remixed Vol. 1
Cheb Mami & Ziggy Marley - Madanite - One World, Many Cultures
Buena Vista Social Club - Chan Chan - At Carnegie Hawll
Tara Linda & Luna Nueva - El Diablito y Su Accordeon - New Moon
Trio Romen - Gypsies from Mars - The Russian Gypsy Queen

Monday's mp3: Tomer Yosef

CD REVIEW

Tomer Yosef: Laughing Underground
JDub Records

I'm usually the first one to jump on an artist who ignores the obvious: I rail against West African musicians who eschew their fantastic drumming tradition in favor of machine-made beats, or for that matter, most anyone who embraces electronics at the expense of the wonderful acoustic traditions of their culture. I thought about mounting such complaints against Tomer Yosef's latest offering until I was swept up in the flood of infectious rhythms and I no longer cared about such petty complaints.

Yosef (also of Balkan Beat Box) has made perhaps the ultimate Middle Eastern party album, fusing ethnic motifs with deep booming bass, high-velocity rap with dancehall rhythms. The album defies categorization, drawing from rock, dub, rai, dancehall, pop, hip hop, Gypsy, folk, and who knows what else. Bubbling with borderless energy, the resulting global cocktail may be sung in Hebrew, but it's intended for the healing (and dancing) of nations.

[mp3] Tomer Yosef: I Want to Move
from the album Laughing Underground

More Tomer Yosef:
myspace
youtube

Steamed Turkey

It's cold here in the Northern Hemisphere. Sure, today is the day we all (well, those of us in the US, anyway) gather with family and friends, sharing warm companionship and an autumn harvest of foods.

For many, the economic crisis and the ongoing wars may undermine the joy of the holiday, and seem to limit the number of things we can be grateful for. Yet, there are good things afoot. I'm looking forward to a new government that tells us to hope instead of fear. I'm encouraged that with both Iraq and Afghanistan asking for a departure date for foreign troops, the end of those wars may be in sight (even if not quite on US terms).

I'm happy to visit locally owned shops and see them full of people, talking and connecting as much as buying. I'm heartened that the sacred music festival I book will be returning for a fifth year, despite having too little money to pay artists what they really deserve. I'm grateful for my family and friends, for home and community, and for a spiritual perspective that confirms that material circumstances are temporary, while Love is eternal.

Also, I'm grateful for music, particularly music that helps warm up these cold days. The theme of tomorrow's Spin The Globe is derived from a weak pun: it's focusing on the music of Turkey. But it gives me a chance to hear more great music from that diverse nation, including the warming music of the soundtrack to the 1997 movie Steam / Hamam: The Turkish Bath.

[mp3] Agricantus: Disiu
from the album Steam / Hamam: The Turkish Bath

Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday's mp3: Making the Monkey Dance

CD REVIEW

Figli Di Madre Ignota: Fez Club
Eastblok Records

Italy: Home of spaghetti, monotonous defensive soccer, and Balkan dance music. Okay...none of these may be exclusively Italian, but the new album from Milano-based Figli Di Madre Ignota makes a strong argument for the last item on that list.

The Balkans arguably lie across the Adriatic Sea, but some musical seed must have floated west across the waters, or become lodged in the tire of a truck hauling cabbages from Zagreb. And what grew from that seed, once nestled in the warm soil of Northern Italy, is a tireless party music replete with blasting horns, lilting accordion, past-midnight vocals, and a spirit that's every bit as Balkan as Shantel or Slavic Soul Party.

[mp3] Figli Di Madre Ignota: Fanfare Mocvara
from the album Fez Club

Seattle assemblage Circus Contraption makes an appearance on "Sadoman," a manic track that, we're pretty sure, features a kitchen sink. Fantastic music for people more interested in dancing than in having their papers ready at the border.

More Figli Di Madre Ignota:
website
youtube
cdbaby

World Music Top 10 Countdown

This week's show featured selections from our favorite new-ish global albums, from the sacred hip-hop of MC Yogi to the instrumental magic of a Senegalese-German, Griot-jazz duo. Plus some old favorites and other new releases in the second hour. Check out the new podOmatic listening link below.

Spin The Globe: Top 10 World Music Albums, November 2008
radio show archive from 21 November 2008
as heard on station KAOS, 89.3fm, Olympia USA


Artist - Song - Album
hour 1
10- MC Yogi - Son of Shiva feat. Rita Sahai - Elephant Power
9- Margot Leverett & the Klezmer Mountain Boys - Come Along Jody & Tumbalalaika - Second Avenue Square Dance
8- Brass Menazeri - Cocekahedron - Vranjski San
7- Nation Beat - The Preacher feat. Klezmatics - Legends of the Preacher
6- Chiwoniso - Wakashinga - Rebel Woman
5- Savina Yannatou - Addio Amore - Songs of an Other
4- Lucky Dube - Crime and Corruption - Retrospective
3- Funkadesi - Stir It Up - Yo Baba
Nickodemus - Crazy Stranger w/ Harel Shachal - Endangered Species
2- Lila Downs - Shake Away - Shake Away
1-Ablaye Cissoko + Volker Goetze - Gorgorlou - Sira

hour 2
Mondorchestra - Vaccuzza di Rosa - La Mafia non esiste
Baka Beyond - Aziz Aziz - Live & Pedal Powered
Hossein Omoumi et al - Delkash & Chaharmezrab - Acoustic World Persia
Charmaine Clamor - Mekeni King Siping Ku - My Harana
Varttina - Yks On Huoli - Oi Dai
Zuzana Novak - Chemutengure - Home Brewed Mbira
Charles Marcellesi - De Sul, De Norte - Corsicaboverde
Adrianne Grenbaum - Zhoks - Fleyt Muzik in Kontserti
Akim El Sikameya - Leila - Introducing Akim El Sikameya
Kala Ramnath & Ganesh Iyer - Raga Ahir Bhairav / Chakra Vahamn-Alap (excerpt) - Samaya
Curumin - Sambito (Totaru Shock) - JapanPopShow
Lani Singers - Mutok - Ninalik Ndawi
Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat - Caravan - I Am Eve
Hamid Ekawel - Mahi Igdalan Amerdeless - Ishumar

Limited-time audio archive:

Monday's mp3: Lisbon Bagpipers

Well honestly, they do more than just piping. There's also some great male vocal harmonies, and percussion. I don't know a lot more about the group Gaiteiros de Lisboa, but I was happy to discover them some time ago on a compilation from the Portuguese label FarolMusica. If Zap Mama were male and Iberian, I suspect they'd sound something like this.

The group's name does indeed translate as "Lisbon Bagpipers," and apparently their blend of music is quite popular in Portugal, having won them praise and some album-of-the-year honors. This track comes from their debut album, Bocas do Inferno (1997).

[mp3] Gaiteiros de Lisboa: Chula Gaiteira
from the album Bocas do Inferno

From the band's website:

WHY "GAITEIROS DE LISBOA"? ("Lisbon bagpipers") ?
Maybe because there are no bagpipers in Lisbon, or perhaps yes. Maybe because in Portuguese the word gaita has many different meanings. Our bag-pipes are everything we grab in the search for a sound, reinventing hurdy-gurdies, finding harmonies which were until now unknown to our throats, stretching animals' skin, trying to make percussion out of whatever others step on, untuning bag-pipes and tuning tubes for electrical installation. We worship the bagpiper of Trás-os-Montes (Portugal), who spent his life playing and drinking, while others would take care of his land estate (good old times!). We worship all the virtuous bagpipers from Galicia, Scotland and Ireland and others who, despite the agitation of now-a-days life, bring the bagpipe back to its habitat: social intercourse. We regard them as the saints on a musical altar, knowing, nevertheless, that our own course will never take us to that kind of saintly.

more Gaiteiros de Lisboa:
website
youtube
myspace
wikipedia

===
Blogkeeping note: After a fair amount of consternation and research, I'm returning to straight mp3s for the music postings on SoundRoots, and will try out podomatic for the Spin The Globe show archives. If you have comments, questions, recommendations, or concerns about the audio hosting, I'm happy to hear them. Praise too, and donations. Especially donations. That could help speed the long-pending site update. Thanks for your interest in global music, and for reading this fine print.

Aggressively Obtuse Is the New Hip

I love the public radio show The World, but then you probably would expect that from a blogger fixated on global music and culture. So I had to laugh at the comments on the blog Airbag Moments about the show and its "Global Hit" segment:

Aside from The World’s parchingly dry style, the only other complaint I have about the show is the time it wastes on aggressively obtuse world music coverage at the end of each episode. The more incongruously hybridized a musical group is, the more eager The World is to provide them with publicity.

Then again I do loves me some Tutsi/Cambodian trance-ragtime played on found antique Inuit toy instruments by Chechen octogenarians.

Now I'm thinking of renaming this blog Aggressively Obtuse World Music -- 'cause it's just such a compelling phrase.

Or, maybe not.

Music of Kenya + remembering Miriam Makeba

Playlist for Spin The Globe - 14 November 2008

Music of Kenya, Miriam Makeba remembered, and more
as heard on KAOS-fm

hour 1
Jabali Afrika - Tandi feat. Cosmas Sindani - Rootsganza
Kenge Kenge - Otenga - Introducing Kenge Kenge
Suzzana Owiyo - Mama Africa - Mama Africa
Athman bin Khamis - Coconut Pickers Song - Kenya & Tanzania: Witchcraft & Ritual Music
Hardstone - Uhiki (Pinye’s Remix) - African Groove
Kakai Kilongo & les Kilimambogo Brothers - Wanawake Wachawi - Best of Kakai Volume Two
Kalamashaka - Ni Wakati - Rough Guide to African Rap
Mamadi Kaba - Ballingaka N’Gai - Africa Jole
Nyota Ndogo - Chereko - Rough Guide to Kenya
Ayub Ogada - Wa Winjigo Ero - En Mana Kuoyo
Sila & Afrofunk Experience - Malaika - Live
Extra Golden - Obama - Here Ma Nono

hour 2
Chocquibtown - Somos Pacifico - Rough Guide to Colombian Street Party
Rafael Manriquez - Deja la vida volar / Let life fly - Que viva el canto! Songs of Chile
Mayra Andrade - Tunuka - Navega
Miriam Makeba - Click Song - Reflections
Miriam Makeba - Pata Pata 2000 - New World Party
Angelique Kidjo - Malaika - Keep On Moving
Lucky Dube - Different Colours - Restospective
Sergio Mendes - Odo-Ya w/Carlinhos Brown - Encanto
Ablaye Cissoko + Volker Goetze - Lountang - Sira
Cordero - Ruleta Rusa - De Donde Eres
Figli Di Madre Ignota - Nema Problema Tourist - Fez Club
Oana Catalina Chitu - Aprinde o Tigara - Bucharest Tango
Youssoupha Sidibe - Pekheme Yalla - Xelkom

Trying out a new audio/podcast host this week, since boomp3 seems to be belly-up with no links working. Let me know if you like it or not... or if you have recommendations for a better (free!) audio hosting service. I'll work to transfer recent links to a working service over the weekend. Thanks!

Related articles

• Singer Miriam Makeba dies aged 76
• Miriam Makeba, 1932-2008

Monday's mp3: Farewell, Mama Africa

Only once did I have the pleasure of seeing Miriam Makeba perform live. It was at the now-defunct WOMAD USA near Seattle in 2000, when she performed on a sunny afternoon at an outdoor stage before thousands. Her granddaughter Zenzi joined her on stage, and I snagged a coveted front-row seat, from which I snapped the somewhat fuzzy photo below. Now she's gone, and I have nothing more profound to say than the words uttered by former South African President Nelson Mandela:

The sudden passing of our beloved Miriam has saddened us and our nation.

For many decades, starting in the years before we went to prison,MaMiriam featured prominently in our lives and we enjoyed her moving performances at home.

Despite her tremendous sacrifice and the pain she felt to leave behind her beloved family and her country when she went into exile, she continued to make us proud as she used her worldwide fame to focus attention on the abomination of apartheid.

Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and disclocation which she felt for 31 long years.

At the same time, her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us.

Even after she returned home she continued to use her name to make a difference by mentoring musicians and supporting struggling young women.

One of her more recent projects was to highlight the plight of victims of land mines.

She was South Africa's first lady of song and so richly deserved the title of Mama Africa.

She was a mother to our struggle and to the young nation of ours. It was fitting that her last moments were spent on a stage, enriching the hearts and lives of others - and again in support of a good cause.

[mp3]Miriam Makeba: I'mm You'mm We'mm
from the album Live au Palais du Peuple de Conakry

Other tributes are pouring in for this giant of African music, who gained worldwide popularity in the 1960s with "Pata Pata" and "The Click Song," among others. She sang jazz as well as African songs, and was a friend and an inspiration to countless other musicians. The world is a richer place becuse of her, and a poorer place with her passing.

More Miriam Makeba
Spin The Globe review & photos
website
discography
youtube

Related articles

• Mandela mourns icon Miriam Makeba
• Hundreds gather to remember Miriam Makeba's life
• 'Mama Africa' singer Makeba dies at 76

Music of and inspired by Central African pygmies

Tomorrow, the great Afro-Celtic group Baka Beyond will perform here in Olympia (see calendar), and we took the opportunity to explore the Afro side of their musical inspiration, the magical songs of Central Africa's pygmies. Other groups have also been influenced by the sounds of the Baka / Ba-Benjelle pygmies, and we listened to some of those as well as new releases and an Obama praise song in the second hour of the show.

Spin The Globe playlist for 7 November 2008, as heard on radio KAOS
Music of and inspired by Central African pygmies

Artist - Song - Album
hour 1
Baka Beyond - Lupe - The Meeting Pool
BaAka - Makala - Worlds of Music
Aka Pygmies - Anduwa - Aka Pygmy music – Central African Republic
Aka Pygmies - Balibo Sasasa - Aka Pygmy music – CAR
Aka Pygmies - Nzombi - Aka Pygmy music – CAR
Sally Nyolo - Shana - Tribu
Manuel Wandji - Pygmy Stories - Planet Groove
Orchestre Baka Gbine - Mbunja’s Rap - Gati Bongo
Baka Forest People - Water Drums - The Big Bang
Deep Forest - Hunting - Deep Forest
Deep Forest - Deep Forest - Deep Forest
Zap Mama - Locklat Africa - Sabsylma
Ba-Benzele Pygmies - Hindewhu (whistle) solo - Anthology of World Music: The Ba-Benzele Pygmies
Francis Bebey - Pygmy Divorce - The Rough Guide to Yodel
Ba-Benjelle Pygmies - Family Evening Song - Song from the Forest

hour 2
Samba Mapangala - Obama ubarikiwe / Obama Be Blessed - single
Baka Beyond - Awaya Baka - East to West
Bat Makumba - Vai Explodir - Boteco
Zuco 103 - Fulero - After the Carnaval
Lani Singers - Waiyaowa - Ninalik Ndawi
Neco Novellas - Vermelha - New Dawn / Ku Khata
Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat - Mystery - I Am Eve
Toumani Diabate - Aminata Santoro - Djelka
Soweto Gospel Choir - Seteng Sediba - Live at the Nelson Mandela Theater
Ozomatli - Love and Hope - Street Signs
Cordero - La Yegua - De Donde Eres
Baka Beyond - Boulez Boulez - Baka Beyond live on Spin The Globe, 2005

limited-time audio archive:

Monday's mp3: Balkan Dreaming

CD REVIEW
Brass Menazeri - Vranjski San (Vranje Dream)

I can imagine the members of Brass Menazeri packing up for a gig... They shove all of their horns into a small hatchback, and drive across the Golden Gate Bridge with the last rays of light fading from the sky. They exit the road, pull up to a small Macedonian village hall, and spend the night insisting that everyone at the wedding get up and dance, till both dancers and musicians are too exhausted to continue.

The Balkans. The Bay Area. Brass Menzeri brings the former to the latter... and well beyond, with their sophomore album, Vranjski San (Vranje Dream). The album's title track "composed itself while [BM band leader Peter Jaques] slept in a hotel in Branjska Banja, while in Serbia with Slavic Soul Party."

That's not the only cross-band link. Members of Afrobeat group Aphrodesia join the fray on the raucous, funky "Opa Cupa Fly." For the most part, the Brass Menazeri themselves have plenty of juice to keep the tunes rolling and your feet dancing, even if your head is in a twist trying to keep up with the complex Balkan rhythms.

[mp3] Brass Menazeri: Kozarica Kolo
from Vranjski San (Vranje Dream)

Traditional songs from Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia, India, and Macedonia line up with a handful of original tunes, and with such unique arrangements only the most knowledgeable Balkan music fan will be able to tell them apart. Closer to village tradition than modern club, Brass Menazeri are driving a clownishly crammed old car on a musical bridge to somewhere.

More on Brass Menazeri:
website
myspace
cdbaby

Monday's mp3: Buika Uncovered

CD REVIEW

Buika: Nina de Fuego
Warner Music Spain

It's a disservice to Buika that she appears half-naked on the cover of this CD, like some tawdry aspiring pop star. From the first note she sings on her sophomore album, her breathy voice evokes the bittersweet nature of life with a maturity that is belied by that photo.

The Spanish-only liner notes may leave some holes in the monoglot's understanding of the lyrics, but perfectly clear is Buika's craft in creating a tasty album with courses including traditional Spanish fare (coplas, flamenco, gypsy rumba) along with a jazz/torch sensibility and a sprinkling of Afro-Cuban spice. She also spent a couple years in Las Vegas, sometimes doing Tina Turner and Diana Ross impersonations. But, she says, "Las Vegas is not like a normal city. There is no humanity there."

A little digging reveals that Concha Buika was born in Equatorial Guinea, and grew up near a Gypsy community on the island of Mallorca. As for her defiance of musical genres, she says "“I don’t know what is flamenco or what is blues or jazz or rock. I only know what is singing and playing. For me the flamenco of [Mexican singer] Chavela Vargas is the same as Dinah Washington. It’s music that comes from the depths, from the place where everything pure comes from. For me [musical] styles seem like little dictators.”

The reality is so much more than the CD's cover can convey, since Buika's voice and musical choices convey a bare emotional richness much more engaging, enticing, and satisfying than any titillating photograph.

[mp3] Buika: Culpa Mía
from the album Nina de Fuego

More Buika:
website
myspace
youtube

Germany Meets Cuba - a Spin The Globe playlist

One tiny authoritarian Caribbean island. One European economic powerhouse. One radio show that brings them together. This week's Spin The Globe ping-ponged between Germany and Cuba in the first hour, followed by wider rovings in the second hour. Oh, and we started out with a song from Lura, since we're still floating from her fantastic show last night at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts. Cape Verdian bliss...

Playlist for Spin The Globe - 24 October 2008
as heard on radio KAOS-fm

Artist - Song - Album

hour 1
Lura - Vazulina - Di Korpu Ku Alma
Sambadromo - Cara Preta - Abfahrt!
Ska Cubano - Yiri Yiri Bon (DJ Panko Mix) - Rough Guide to Latin Lounge
Mo’Horizons - Tu Fiesta Personal - Rough Guide to Latin Lounge
Barbarito Torres - Cangrejo no tiene na’ - Havana Café
Tacheles Klezmer Company - Yash / Patsh-Tantz - Balkan Reggae
Buena Vista Social Club - Chan Chan - At Carnegie Hall
17 Hippies - Was Bleibt - World 2004
Bebo Valdes - To Mario Bauza - Rough Guide to the Cuban Music Story
Di Grine Kuzine - Havu Ez Lata Ish - Funky Pukanky
Grupo Afro Cuba - Oshun (Guiro) - Raices Africanas / African Roots
Shantel - The Veil - Disko Partizani

hour 2
Orishas - 537 C.U.B.A. - A lo cubano
Buika - No Habra Nadie En El Mundo - Nina de Fuego
Oana Catalina Chitu - Ca La Nunta - Bucharest Tango
Muslum Gurses - Kendimi Kaybettim - Rough Guide to Turkish Café
Jamal Porto - Gamar Badawi - Acoustic Arabia
Genevieve Laloy - Mille - Hirondelles
Marianne Dissard - Les Draps Sourds - L’entredeux
Watcha Clan - La Patera - Diaspora Hi-Fi
Baka Beyond - Cotu - Journey Between
Gilfema +2 - Your World - Gilfema +2
Dozan - Ya Layl - Introducing Dozan
Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys - Boreasca - 2nd Avenue Square Dance
Mayra Andrade - Lua - Navega

Limited-time show archive:
Boomp3.com

Monday's mp3: Black Magic Lila

CD REVIEW

Lila Downs: Shake Away

I like to think that I'm the first to hear new global albums, but this one snuck up on me. I was listening to KAOS radio, and heard an eyebrow-raising version of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" (which, frankly, I think of as a Santana song).

Turns out it was Lila Downs and guest Raul Midon, from Downs' new album Shake Away. Her previous project was a collection of Norteno, corrido, and cumbia music called La Cantina, with a very different feel.

On this latest outing, Downs teams up with a variety of guests: Mercedes Sosa on "Tierra De Luz," La Mari on "Ojo De Culebra," Ixaya Mazatzin Tleyotl on "Perro Negro," and others.

I dove hard into the opening track "Little Man" with its blast of horns and biting observations of cross-border matrimony. But the album feels unsettled, with a roots feel here, a jazz feel there, and odd bits of border-music-meets-New-Orleans elsewhere. I'm less than smitten with several tracks, such as the draggy "I Envy the Sun" and the smarmy "I Would Never," despite the fascinating variations in Downs' powerful voice (which is particularly apparent on the title track!).

Maybe that reveals a bias against her English-language songs, but I like the rhythm of her voice and her musical choices much better on the Spanish (or bilingual) tracks. Her breathy rap on "Justicia," her reedy voice on the accordion-driven "Taco De Palabras," her twang on "Skeleton."

I'm a fan of variety, but Shake Away goes in so many directions, I'm not sure what holds it together as an album. Which won't stop me, however, from repeating some of these tracks over and over again.

[mp3] Lila Downs: Ojo De Culebra feat. La Mari
from Shake Away

More Lila Downs:
facebook
myspace
website

Global Rhythm Drops Print Mag, Goes Digital Only

Subscribers to Global Rhythm magazine may be in for a shock this week. Instead of a November issue, subscribers will find in their mailbox a copy of the November relix magazine, a decidedly less global publication, with a letter from the Global Rhythm brass explaining that "due to astronomical costs increases and our desire to reach a broader audience, we have decided to take [Global Rhythm] completely digital."

The Global Rhythm website shows no sign of this change as of this writing, and offers a free one-year trial subscription to the digital magazine, though the July 2008 issue is the most recent issue available online.

Global Rhythm has diverged somewhat from its focus on global music to include less worldly folk and rock as well as travel and food features. Like me, some readers may wonder if this contributed to the demise of the print magazine. And those who still want a global-music-centered print product may well turn to alternative publications such as fRoots and Songlines.

We're sad to see the demise of the print Global Rhythm, but if the magazine can thrive as an online publication, that's far preferable to its complete disappearance. SoundRoots wishes everyone at Global Rhythm the best during the transition. And we hope they get the website updated pronto!

For now we're going to dig into relix and see if there's anything besides the one-page Global Beat section (featuring Burning Spear) that would be of interest to world music fans.

Playlist: World Music Top 10 + your support for community radio...

We spun tunes from the Top 10 World Music Albums of October 2008, and asked for your support to keep spinning more. Your calls and emails are great, and even better is if you can slip us a few dollars and become a listener-member of KAOS. You can do so by calling 360-867-6894 or pledging online at www.kaosradio.org

With your support, KAOS can keep going for another 35 years (35? Are we that old aready?) and beyond, bringing you the best in local voices, global music, and independent news. Not to mention the interviews and live music you hear frequently on Spin The Globe. Please support KAOS!

Spin the Globe playlist for 10 October 2008

Artist - Song - Album
hour 1 (with Top 10 ranking preceding album name)
Afrissippi - Singha - 10-Alliance
Terne Chave - More, Love! - 9-More, Love!
Michael Franti & Spearhead - Nobody Right, Nobody Wrong - 8-All Rebel Rockers
DeLeon - A La Una Yo Naci - 7-DeLeon
Nation Beat - Coroa Imperial - 6-Legends of the Preacher
MC Yogi - Ganesh Is Fresh (w/ Jai Uttal) - 5-Elephant Power
Chiwoniso - Nruva Ye Kufara - 4-Rebel Woman
Lila Downs - Little Man - 3-Shake Away
Shukar Collective - Taraf - 2-Rough Guide to Romanian Gypsies
Funkadesi - Galsun - 1-Yo Baba

hour 2
Jugalbandi Trio - Raga Bageshree - Doab
Orkestar Zirkonium - Heavy the Foreign Land - Orkestar Zirkonium
Kore Ionz - All We Need - Half-hour Revolution
Lura - No Bem Fala - M’bem di fora
Louis Mhlanga - Zuva - World Traveller
Richard Bona - Engingilaye & Ekwa Mwato - Bona Makes You Sweat
Maurice El Medioni` - Ahla Oua Sahla - Pianoriental
Boom Pam - The Souvlak - Boom Pam
Ashoo Punjabi - Punjabi Sheran Ne - Bollywood Dreams Bhangra
La Cherga - Rembetiko 22 - Fake No More

Top 10 World Music Albums, October 2008

This month's Top 10 is led off by the funk-meets-Bollywood goodness of Chicago-based Funkadesi, a band that has the good fortune not only to have assembled a first-class group of musicians, but also to have a nice endorsement quote from the candidate now leading the polls in the US presidential race. Tune in to Spin The Globe on Oct. 10 to hear songs from all of these albums, or catch the show archive right here on SoundRoots.

SoundRoots / Spin The Globe Top 10 World Music Albums for October 2008
(click on title for sound samples and more info)

1. Funkadesi: Yo Baba
2. various artists: The Rough Guide to Romanian Gypsies
3. Lila Downs: Shake Away
4. Chiwoniso: Rebel Woman
5. MC Yogi: Elephant Power
6. Nation Beat: Legends of the Preacher
7. DeLeon: DeLeon
8. Michael Franti: All Rebel Rockers
9. Terne Chave: More, Love!
10. Afrissippi: Alliance

Mostly Acoustic French Diaspora Music

CD REVIEW

Putumayo Presents Acoustic France

The first song on the new Putumayo compilation Acoustic France begins with a bossa nova guitar riff and cuica. Continental confusion? Naw...this really is French music. What could be more French than a breakthrough hit about unemployment? And the "cuica" on the song "Assedic / Welfare" is in fact a voice. Oh, those clever French!

I'm a little puzzled about Putumayo's definition of "acoustic" however. Sandrine Kimberlain's poppy "Le Quotiden" features some (admittedly tasty) organ and electric guitar. But what the heck -- the "France" part of the title is also stretched by including New Brunswick singer Pascal Lejeune and San Francisco group Rupa & the April Fishes. In any case, expect some engaging tunes by great French-speaking artists, and you can decide for yourself if maybe it should be called "Mostly Acoustic French Diaspora."

Hear song samples and read more at Putumayo's website

Funkadesi interview and other reasons to support KAOS community radio

This week's show featured music to pledge by, plus an interview with Funkadesi bass/guitar/sitar player Rahul Sharma about the band's new album Yo Baba and other musical topics.

There's a lot of funk in that desi.
- U.S. Senator Barack Obama

Like this? Please take a moment and a few dollars to support this unique programming and stick a thumb in the eye of consolidated corporate radio, by becoming a new KAOS member or renewing your membership.

Give a boatload of money if you can, but even if it's just 20 bucks, it helps -- and members are just as important to us as money. Call 360-867-5267 during Spin The Globe and I'll even hand-pick your thank-you CD. Or you can pledge online at www.kaosradio.org. Thanks!

Artist - Song - Album
hour 1
MC Yogi w/ Jai Uttal - Rock On Hanuman - Elephant Power
Oliver Mtukudzi - Kunze Kwadoka - African Party
Nation Beat - Mare Cheia ft. The Klezmatics - Legends of the Preacher
Funkadesi - Makhana - Yo Baba
interview with Rahul Sharma of Funkadesi
Funkadesi - Crash Da Party - Yo Baba
Bole 2 Harlem - Bole 2 Harlem - Volume 1
Baka Beyond - Wandering Spirit - East to West

hour 2
Red Buddha - Girl from Orissa - Rain Dance
Dr Didg - King Tut - Out of the Woods
Chiwoniso - Pamuromo - Rebel Woman
Getachew Mekuria & The Ex - Eywat Setenafegagn - Moa Anbessa
Delhi 2 Dublin - Apples - Delhi 2 Dublin
DeLeon - La Ner V’Livsamim - DeLeon
Think of One - Maconha Do Brasil - Chuva Em Po
Kokolo - More Consideration - Afrbeat Sudan Aid Project
Rhany - Un Mot de Toi - North African Groove
Lura - M’ Bem Di Fora - M’ Bem Di Fora

Sesame Street Is the Weapon of the Future

No wait...that's not right. But both music and the children's TV show are tools for cross-border communication. As a kid watching Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, I had no idea that kids in foreign lands might be watching the same characters, and hearing them in their own languages.

A new CD/DVD combo from Putumayo shows how the culture of Sesame Street has spread around the globe, with 13 songs from Tanzania, Brazil, France, Russia, South Africa, India, China, Israel, Mexico, Palestine, and the Netherlands. The inclusion of a DVD with five music videos helps balance the relative brevity of the music CD, weighing in at under 30 minutes.

Music is an extremely powerful medium... While musical style is unique to different regions of the world, music itself is something we have in common. (Sesame Workshop President Gary Knell)

Many of the songs are either unknown to me or forgotten with other childhood details. Others are clearly distinct to their own cultures, such as "Galli Galli Sim Sim," the Indian show's theme song that sounds like a kids Bollywood tune. And the "Traditional Game Song" from Palestine.

I would gladly have done without the USA version (or any version) of "Elmo's Song," but the Tanzanian "Don't Be Sad Song" really lives up to its billing, with an uplifting rhythm and Kiswahili vocals.

[mp3] Kilimani Sesame: Don't Be Sad Song
from Sesame Street Playground

But honestly, who could argue that the album's highlight is a Chinese version of "Rubber Duckie," sung by Zhima Jie. As kids' albums go, Sesame Street Playground will stand up well to repeated listenings by adults. Just skip over Elmo.

Monday's mp3: Chi's Modernized Mbira

CD REVIEW

Chiwoniso: Rebel Woman
Cumbancha

Chiwoniso is a woman poised for success. The Zimbabwean singer has just released her third album, but it's far and away her most mature, engaging, appealing work to date. After two sparsely distributed albums (Ancient Voices and Timeless) and contributions to a number of compilations including the delightful Women CARE, Chiwoniso has hooked up with dynamic label Cumbancha for her latest, and also has rounded up a crack team of musicians including guitarist Louis Mhlanga and Oliver Mtukudzi drummer Sam Mataure.

The songs on Rebel Woman feel clearly rooted in Zimbabwean traditional music, partaking heavily of mbira riffs in particular, though all 12 tracks are originals. With the insistent rhythms created by a tight rhythm section of bass, drum kit, and rhythm guitar, this is clearly very modern Zimbabwean music. The touches of Chiwoniso's musical influences can be clearly inferred: Tuku on "Nguva Ye Kufara," Hugh Masekela on "Listen to the Breeze," and elsewhere Stella Chiweshe, Thomas Mapfumo, and others. There might be a bit of Angelique Kidjo in there as well, particularly on the near-Afrobeat drive of "Gomo."

[mp3] Chiwoniso: Gomo
from the CD Rebel Woman

Chiwoniso sings mostly in Shona, though a fair amount of English is also heard on the album. In an exclusive Spin the Globe interview, the singer dismisses critics of this choice, asserting that both languages are part of her identity, particularly since she was born in Olympia, Washington, and spent a good portion of her childhood there. (Her father, the esteemed mbira and marimba teacher-musician Dumisani Maraire, lived in the USA for a number of years, helping to create the culture that now results in the annual Zimfest.)

Deeply spiritual, Chiwoniso champions women's rights and anti-police-violence causes. That her songs include positive messages is just one more argument for Chiwoniso to finally get widespread recognition for her compelling music.

more info:
www.chiwoniso.com
Chiwoniso video interview about censorship
Chiwoniso performing with Kris Kristoffersen (!)

Fantasies of a Bollywood Love Thief

Just a little more Bollywood, if you'll indulge me. Along with audio research for yesterday's radio show, I also sat down with the book Fantasies of a Bollywood Love Thief: Inside the World of Indian Moviemaking by Stephen Alter. It's not as much of a juicy insider expose as the title might suggest, but still an engaging read as the author uses the filming of the movie Omkara as a jumping off point for larger points about India's huge cinema industry.

Omkara is Vishal Bhardwaj's Bollywood adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello, The Moor of Venice. Those knowledgeable about US film making may find some intriguing differences detailed in the discussion of production, sets, and the business side of movies, India style. But more than once the point is made that despite the derivative name, Bollywood is not a cheap knockoff of Hollywood. India produces more than 900 films a year, most of more than two hours long, and most featuring a handful of song and dance numbers that themselves spawn spinoff industries of soundtracks and even game shows.

The domestic and regional market for such films is huge, though few of them seem to make it to any significant release here in the USA. Having read about the behind-the-scenes action, I'm curious to see Omkara, but probably won't get a chance to see it in an actual theater.

The book is certainly worth a read if you're interested in Bollywood. And the trailer gives you a taste of this hard-edged adaptation of the Bard.

Chiwoniso Meets Bollywood?

Spin The Globe playlist for 26 September 2008

as heard on radio KAOS 89.3 FM, Olympia USA

An hour of Bollywood deliciousness, an interview with Zimbabwean musician Chiwoniso, and even a few new releases. What a show!

Congrats to listener Eric, who won the giveaway for the CD Yo Baba by Funkadesi, and to listener Bob, who won a copy of Chiwoniso's CD Rebel Woman

Artist - Song - Album
hour 1
Udit Narayan - Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani 2000) - Rough Guide to Bollywood
Sukhwindher Singh, Kavita Krishnamurthy - Main Albeli - Zubeidaa soundtrack (2001)
Nitin Sawhney feat. Reena Bhardwaj & Jayanta Bose - Koyal - Asian Lounge
Labh Jhanjua & Sunidhi Chauhan - Chhuriyaan - Money Hai Toh Honey Hai (2008)
Dick Lee feat Jasintha - Mustapha - The Mad Chinaman
Najma - Piya Tu Ab To Aaja (Caravan, 1971) - Forbidden Kiss
Sonu Nigam & Javed Ali - Nagada Nagada - Jab We Met (2007)
Kronos Quartet feat. Asha Bhosle - Dum Maro Dum / Take Another Toke (Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, 1971) - You’ve Stolen My Heart
Kazi Aniruddha - Piya Tu Ab To Aaja (Caravan, 1971) - Bollywood Steel Guitar
Kunal Ganjawala, Shreya Ghoshal - Masha-Allah - Saawariya soundtrack (2007)
Funkadesi - Makhana - Yo Baba
Bollywood Brass Band - Ek Tu Hi Bharosa - Rahmania
unidentified - In the Garden - Bollywood Breaks Sampler

hour 2
Chiwoniso - Matsotsi - Rebel Woman
Chiwoniso - African Woman - Women CARE
Chiwoniso interview
Chiwoniso - Vanorapa - Rebel Woman
Souad Massi - Ghir Enta - Acoutic Arabia
Watcha Clan - Call of Hagar - Diaspora Hi-Fi
Terne Chave - Amare Chaja / Our Girls - More, Love!

For more Bollywood music and info, especially out of print soundtracks, check out:

• Music from the Third Floor
• Old Classic Hindi Songs
• Parties, Sarees, and Melodies
• Bollywood for the Skeptical

Gnawa Ecstasy

This is a story... a story of two men who found each other like lost brothers, separated by time.

That's the beginning narration of this engaging DVD that traces the connection between Sibiri Samaké -- an animist hunter from near Bamako, Mali -- and Maalem Brahim El Belkani -- a Muslim master musician from Marrakesh, Morocco.

The film is simple, containing just the 52-minute feature with no special features. It's also deep, with intimate images and stories of the men's families and musical history. "Widjan" is Arabic for "ecstasy," perhaps the defining element of Gnawa music and a crucial element linking these two men and their passion for the sacred rhythms and rituals that define Gnawa culture.

While the DVD does include some of the history of the Gnawa, who were brought as slaves from West Africa to North Africa, bringing with them sacred healing practices that developed into the Gnawa healing ceremonies known as lila (or leela) the focus is on Gnawa music, tradition, and culture. A fascinating aspect is how these two men came to a similar place despite such differences . And not entirely answered is the question of whether and how the Gnawa traditions will survive in the modern world.

Buy the DVD at Amazon
Read more: Gnawa music at Wikipedia
See a clip from Widjan

World Music Miscellany

It's fall cleaning time, and here are some tidbits that recently landed in SoundRoots' inbox:

Six Degrees Records has a new blog, where they highlight new releases (yes, their own releases) and have some free mp3 tracks: globalnoize.blogspot.com

WOMADelaide took place way back in March, but if you missed it you can still catch some of the audio goodness through podcasts posted at serendipsy.wordpress.com, including interviews and performances from the likes of Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra, Susana Baca, and Cesaria Evora.

Intrepid Norwegian Trond is again spearheading the World Song Festival, an internationally judged competition of songs from many, many nations. I've been a judge in the past, and he's now looking for new judges. If you think you've got what it takes to listen to and score something like 100 songs from around the world, email: trond.skara [at] gmail.com

I haven't seen it, but I sure would if I were on the other coast in the next couple of weeks. The new musical Fela! has been extended through Oct. 15. Directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones, the show is described as a journey into "the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti. Using his pioneering music (a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies), Fela! explores Kuti's controversial life as artist, political activist and revolutionary musician."


I'd have a conflict if I were in New York this weekend, however, since I'd have to decide between Fela! and a show by guitarist/vocalist Lionel Loueke from Benin and bassist/vocalist Richard Bona from Cameroon. They're doing two sets Friday and Saturday nights at The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, on Broadway at 60th St., NYC. Doesn't that sound tasty!

My favorite global newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor, is celebrating 100 years in the business with special features on a new website section at www.csmonitor.com/100

The Guardian has an engaging interview with Reem Kelani in which she talks about the late poet Mahmoud Darwish and the precariousness of Palestinian existence, and lists ten key people and styles to know if you're interested in Arabic music.

I'm enjoying the increasing number of videos showing up on Vimeo, which are consistently higher quality than those on YouTube. The latest comes from Latin rock outfit Cordero. The describe their song Ruleta Rusa as “a dance song about the end of the world.” The band stands at the end of the world and recreate a modern version of the Greek myth of Moirae, three mythical creatures who measure out fate the way a spinner measures out a thread. I'll leave you with that as the concluding bit of world music miscellany today. Enjoy, and be sure to send SoundRoots other bits of global music news.

Cordero, "Ruleta Rusa" from Bloodshot Records

Happy Birthday, Dear Spin The Globe!

This week's Spin The Globe was something of a celebration, marking the show's 9th year on the air. Some new releases and older favorites, lus an interview with members of the African-blues group Afrissippi. And Congrats to listener Coral, who won this week's CD giveaway for Afrissippi's Alliance.

Spin The Globe playlist for 12 September 2008
as heard on radio KAOS, 89.3 FM (streaming live online at www.kaosradio.org)

Artist - Song - Album

hour 1
Dhol Foundation - Big Drum Small World - Big Drum : Small World
Bole 2 Harlem - Bole 2 Harlem - Bole 2 Harlem Volume 1
DeLeon - Raheliha Baila - DeLeon
Firewater - Borneo - The Golden Hour
Kalman Balogh - Sirba, Tropca & Hora from Dobrogea - Master of the Gypsy Cimbalom
Afrissippi - Debbo Ndoogu - Alliance
interview with Justin Showah of Afrissippi
Afrissippi - Singha - Alliance
Susheela Raman - Amba - Love Trap

hour 2
Kobo Town - Beautiful Soul - Independence
Fiamma Fumana - The Hunter - Home
KAL - Papusha - KAL
Cankisou - Zuha - Le La
Ali Hassan Kuban - Mabrouk Wo Arisna - Nubian Magic
Daude - Ala-La-O - Neguinha te amo
Funkadesi - Stir It Up - Yo Baba
Lo’Jo - In the Arena of the Bold - Au Cabaret Sauvage
Ojos de Brujo - Silencio - Techari
Gamelan X - Gammafro - Satu
Watcha Clan - Balkan Qoulou - Balkanbeats Vol. 3
Boban Markovic Orkestar - Meksikanka / Mexican Girl - The Promise
Dengue Fever - Integration - Venus on Earth
Balkan Beat Box - Baharim (outro) - Nu Med

Music of Zimbabwe w/ live mbira

It was the music of Zimbabwe on last Friday's Spin The Globe, plus an interview with Myrna Capp (author of Keeping the Embers Alive: Musicians of Zimbabwe) with live mbira tunes from Sheree Seretse.

Also, congrats to listener Tina, who won this week's CD giveaway for Oliver Mtukudzi's Nhava

Playlist for Spin The Globe as heard on radio KAOS-fm
5 September 2008

Artist - Song - Album

hour 1
Afrida Marimba Band -- Makanani -- Tales of the Marimba
Thomas Mapfumo -- Mukadzi Wangu -- Rise Up
Tendai Muparutsa -- Nhemamusasa Collaboration -- Zimbabwe Acoustics
Oliver Mtukudzi -- Neria -- Ndega Zvangu
Interview with Myrna Capp & Sheree Seretse
Oliver Mtukudzi -- Todii -- Musicians of Zimbabwe: Keeping the Embers Alive
Ephat Mujuru, Myrna Capp, Sylvester Mujuru -- Improvisation -- Musicians of Zimbabwe: Keeping the Embers Alive

hour 2
Stella Chiweshe -- Chachimurenga -- Talking Mbira
Shukar Collective -- Taraf -- Rough Guide to Romanian Gypsies
Les Orientales -- Alger, Alger -- Acoustic Arabia
A Fula’s Call -- Malam Mix -- Liingu
Mo’Horizons -- Tu Fiesta Personal -- Rough Guide to Latin Lounge
Ayarkhaan -- White Crane -- Echoe of the Past
Seprewa Kasa -- Towoboase -- Seprewa Kasa
Lightning Head -- Afro Spot -- 13 Faces of Lightning Head
Lila Downs -- Nueve Viento -- Tree of Life
Mounira Mitchala -- Talou Lena -- Talou Lena
Issa Bagayogo -- Dibi -- Mali Koura

spin the globe, radio, kaos, world music, radio, playlist, zimbabwe, interview, myrna capp, sheree seretse, mbira

Monday's mp3: Labor Day USA

Today is Labor Day here in the USA, the equivalent of May Day in much of the rest of the world and a day when one is supposed to take the day of and celebrate the accomplishments of workers and (if you're not a corporate fat cat) the achievements of labor unions.

In truth, it's a day of when many in the US just go shopping. Or take one last vacation before the start of school. Or sit around and watch sports on TV. And here I am, hard at work bringing you global music; I hope you appreciate it!

Suzzana Owiyo has been compared to Angelique Kidjo and called "the Tracy Chapman of Kenya." I don't know about all that. But this Kenyan singer-songwriter-guitarist has a sound that gracefully blends traditional and modern instruments, creating a unique sound. One of the best features on this CD - and one of the most unusual to Western ears - is the use of orutu, a one-stringed fiddle that sometimes sounds like a Brazilian cuica, sometimes like a human voice.

More liner-note details on the instrumentation would have been nice and several tracks wander dangerously close to cheesy pop. But the compelling music does convey a sense that Owiyo is singing from her roots. While the Luo-language lyrics aren't translated, the summaries tell of universal themes: don't hurry, value wisdom, love your family, child labor is bad. And some not-so-universal themes, like "Kisumu 100" urging investment in the city on the shores of Lake Victoria, or "Suna Ka Ngeya" describing insect infestations. A promising, if slightly uneven, debut from an African artist to watch.

[mp3] Suzanna Owiyo: Sandore
from the album Mama Africa

I'm told this song has a video with some hard-hitting images regarding child labor, specifically "the plight of house girls at the hands of their employers," but I've been unable to locate the video online.

Since the release of this album in 2004, Owiyo has released a second album called Yamo Kudho and, in partnership with Mbilia Bel, an EP called Koko Ka, neither of which I've heard (anyone care to help with that problem and send music?)

Owiyo video of the song Koko Ko (feat. Mbilia Bel)
Owiyo's website: www.suzannaowiyo.net

Spain Meets Japan...

...and the new sport/musical genre of Txalaparta-judo is not born. But we had a great time nonetheless.

Playlist for Spin The Globe as heard on radio KAOS-fm
29 August 2008

hour 1
Radio Tarifa -- Cruzando el Rio -- Fiebre
Ryuku Underground -- Soi Soi -- Ryuku Underground
Chambao -- Detalles -- Con Otro Aire
Yoshida Brothers -- Modern (Hishou Version) -- Tsugaru Shamisen
Fermin Muguruza -- Ari Du Hotza -- Brigadistak Sound System
Kodo -- Nanafushi -- Ibuki
Eliseo Parra -- La Rama -- De ayer manana
Duo En -- Winter Cranes -- Winter Cranes
Son de La Frontera -- Arabesco -- Son de la Frontera
Nami Makioka -- Subayado Bushi -- Rough Guide to the Music of Japan
Javier Ruibal -- Por la Puerta De Elvira -- Sahara
Kyoko Enami -- Sayonara Mo Ienakute -- Tokyo Bossa Nova Lounge

hour 2
Ojos de Brujo -- Ventilaro R-80 -- Bari
KAL -- Mozzarella -- KAL
Akim El Sikameya -- Le Sultan Tyran -- Introducing Akim El Sikameya
Mazeltov -- Awek, Awek, Awek -- Amsterdam
Funkadesi -- Saheli -- Yo Baba
Cankisou -- Caloubadia -- Le La
Las Tres Orillas del Atlantico -- La Palmeca -- Fandango, Duende y Taraf
Max Wild -- Teerera feat. Oliver Mtukudzi -- Advance single
Chiwoniso -- Nhemamusasa -- Ancient Voices
Kazu Matsui -- Shadow of Its Soul -- The Stone Monkey
Afrissippi -- Singha -- Alliance
Forro in the Dark -- Forrowest -- Bonfires of Sao Joao
Bajofondo -- Hoy feat. Juan Subira -- Mardulce

Monday's mp3: Neco Novellas' Mozambique Masala

CD REVIEW

Neco Novellas: New Dawn/Ku Khata
(Times Square / World Connection)

I've been listening to a fantastic new African album this week. I had never heard of Neco Novellas before, but I'm now a firm fan. I wrote the notes below during my initial listen, cut off from the research possibilities of the Internet.

I know what to expect from many global labels and artists, but once in a while a album appears that I know nothing about. And it floors me. New Dawn/Ku Khata is just such an album. Perhaps it's just as well that I'm writing this unconnected to the Internet. Instead of looking up biographical information on Neco Novellas, I have only my ears and scant liner notes to go by.

The album opens with the South African-style a capella vocals of the title track, sung in English and Chopi (Chopi? Where's my Google?). Then it's off to something sounding like Cameroonian- jazz-meets-Brazilian-samba on "Vermelha/Red" sung in Portuguese (Angola, perhaps, or Mozambique?).

It's a disservice to the music to focus on describing the details of the songs and languages used (also including Ronga, Hebrew, Xangana, Spanish, English, and French, by the way). Despite knowing nothing about the musicians and little about the songs, I find this immensely joyful music. What do I care that people around me may puzzle at the goofy smile that grows on my face as I play endless loops of this album on my headphones.

[mp3] Neco Novellas: Zula Zula
From the album New Dawn/Ku Khata

With its rich harmonies, fantastic arrangements, and global influences, this is the rare album that isn't clearly rooted in a specific location but nonetheless hits my heart in a very specific spot. Neco Novellas has crafted a sound that's inviting, genre-defying, and a great soundtrack for the global optimist.

Now that I'm re-connected to the information lifeblood of the Web, I know that Novellas is from Mozambique, and now makes his home in the Netherlands. Subsequent listens have revealed some weakeness in the CD: The English-language songspeak of "Phumela" seems oddly (and not necessarily flatteringly) reminiscent of Paul Simon's Graceland, and other songs sprawl around to suggest influences as diverse Ladysmith Black Mambazo to The Police to Hugh Masekela and Al Jarreau. Is this too much for a single album to undertake? Perhaps. Still, New Dawn/Ku Khata highlights Novellas as talented musician with a fresh vision, and one to watch as his own musical identity emerges more clearly from those who have influenced him.

More Novellas info at www.worldconnection.nl
Novellas interview/music on youtube
Novellas on myspace

Benin Meets Romania

...and KAOS ensues, on Spin The Globe, 22 August 2008 edition.

Today's show ping-ponged between the musics of Benin and Romania, with some fun surprises. And more broad-ranging sounds in hour 2. Congratulations to listener Richard, who won the Fanfare Ciocarlia CD Maskarada that was today's giveaway.

The Playlist: (Artist - Song - Album)

hour 1
Fa -- Tale Tale -- Defi
Fanfare Ciocarlia w/ Antoine Tato Garcia & Sabrina Romero -- Quando tu Volveras -- Music Meeting Festival Highlights 2008
Gangbe Brass Band -- Ajaka -- Togbe
Toni Iordache -- Hora de la Bolintin -- Rough Guide to the Balkans
Julien Jacob -- Graine -- Shanti
Yale Strom -- Reizel -- Garden of Yidn
Taraf de Metropulitana -- Espresso -- Rough Guide to the Music of Balkan Gypsies
Gansango -- Ji / Rain -- Ji
Denagan Janvier Honfo -- Sinago -- Hovivi
Taraf de Haidouks -- Romanian Folk Dances (Bela Bartok) -- Maskarada
Angelique Kidjo -- Bitchifi -- Fifa

hour 2
Shukar Collective -- Taraf -- Urban Gypsy
Fela Kuti -- No Agreement -- The Best Best of Fela Kuti
Watussi -- El Bato -- Tequila * Sangre * Fuego
Getachew Mekuria & The Ex -- Sethed Seketelat -- Moa Anbessa
Nation Beat w/ The Klezmatics -- Mare Cheia -- Legends of the Preacher
Kalman Balogh -- Kalotaszegi Cigany Csardasok -- Master of the Gypsy Cimbalom
Sultana -- Kusu Kalkmaz -- Rough Guide to Turkish Café
Bajofondo -- Cristal -- Mardulce
KAL w/ Rambo Amadeus -- Komedija -- KAL
Elisa Vellia -- I Myrtia -- Ahnaria
Chambao -- Respira -- Con Otro Aire
Rupa & the April Fishes -- Poder -- eXtraordinary Rendition

Xenophiliacs, unite!

Playlist for Xenophilia
(thanks to regular host David for letting me fill in)

Artist - Song - Album
hour 1
DJ Logic & Jason Miles -- Quero Dancar -- Global Noize
Suthukazi Arosi -- Abelungu Abamnyama -- Women’s World Voices 3
Natacha Atlas -- El Asil / Sunset -- Ana Hina
Madras Special & Charlie Mariano -- Xillob -- Music Meeting Festival Highlights 2008
Wendo Kolosoy -- Mobembo -- The Very Best of Congolese Rumba: Kinshasha Abidjan Sessions
Zap Mama -- Take Me Coco -- Play These Songs Often EP
Carla Bruni -- Le Temps Perdu -- Carla Bruni
Police in Dub -- Bring on the Night / Dub On the Night -- DubXanne
Mark Lotz meets Omar Ka: A Fula’s Call -- Ni Wanoh -- Liingu
Bajofondo -- El Anden feat. Mala Rodriguez -- Mardulce
DeLeon -- La Ner D’Livsamim -- DeLeon
Salamat -- Noura -- Nubiana

hour 2
Zawose & Brook -- Chilumi Ch Kwetu / Voices from Home -- Assembly
Athena -- Beyoglu -- Hersey Yolunda
Tomer Yosef -- Little Man -- Laughing Underground
Issa Bagayogo -- Fimani -- Mali Koura
Kayhan Kalhor & Brooklyn Rider -- Parvaz -- Silent City
Getachew Mekuria & The Ex -- Musicawi Silt -- Moa Anbessa
Mo’Rockin -- Lilit Hob -- One World
Omega Bugembe Okello -- Amazima / Truth -- Kiwomera Emmeeme
Gaudi + Nustrat Fateh Ali Khan -- Dil Da Rog Muka Ja Mahi -- Dub Qawwali
Tcheka -- Telemovel -- Lonji
Talike -- Where Are You -- Women Care
Sir Victor Uwaifo -- Idogo (Ekassa 42) -- Guitar Boy Superstar 1970-76

Limited-time archive

CD REVIEW

Police in Dub: DubXanne
Echo Beach Records

The global influence of The Police may not rival that of, say, James Brown or The Beatles, but their early pop blend of ska and reggae beats with Sting's message-driven songs was a revelation to many. I've got a soft spot, particularly for their earlier, edgier work. This compilation of reggae reinterpretations of Police songs is somewhat uneven, with cheezy duds like "Can't Stand Losing Dub" [sample] brushing shoulders with the dreamy "The Bed's Too Big Without Dub" [sample].

The album includes covers of some more obscure Police tunes, such as "Once Upon a Daydream" [sample] and "Someone to Talk To" [sample] as well as ones you'll know from the radio: "Message in a Bottle" [sample], "Walking on the Moon" [sample], and "Spirits in a Material World" [sample]. Remarkable to me is how even melodies and bass lines that are part of my personal life soundtrack sound diluted, even simplistic when the punky spirit of the original is replaced with rather uninspired, ordinary reggae beats.

Police in Dub aren't going to find a regular place on my playlist; they're better suited to elevators. But I'm grateful for the prompt to pull out my Police albums for another listen of the original.

Monday's mp3: The Buena Vista Rumba Club Loses its Founder

I first heard Congolese crooner Wendo Kolosoy (born Antoine Kalosoyi) some eight or nine years ago, and immediately started spinning his tunes on the radio. I mean, what's not to like about a septuagenarian singer who has also worked as a boxer and a riverboat mechanic, and was having a resurgence thanks to a Buena Vista Social Club-like musical resurrection? Not to mention that the upbeat music was a joy to the ears.

If you know anything about Kolosoy, you've probably heard the legend of his song "Marie-Louise." It's said that when he sang that song, the dead got up and danced. It became his first Pan-African hit in 1948, which illustrates the man's staying power.

His music isn't easy to find, with the exception of the album listed below, released in the last decade. If anyone has earlier Wendo, I'd love to hear it. But his sweet voice stayed with him right to the end at age 83. I haven't yet seen the recently released film On the Rumba River (movie trailer), but I understand it's a beautiful biography of both Wendo and the joyous, lyrical music of which he became the grandfather.

I was saddened to learn recently that Kolosoy passed on a couple weeks ago. The world will be a little less joyful without him singing new songs.

On this song, Wendo is joined by guitarist Vula Missy.
[mp3] Wendo Kolosoy: Soki Olingi Ngai
from the album Marie Louise

a partial Wendo Kolosoy Discography:
On the Rumba River (Marabi, 2008)
Amba (World Village, 2003)
Marie Louise (Indigo, 1999) (listen/download mp3s at Calabash)

Compilations:
The Rough Guide to Congo Gold (World Music Network, 2008)
The Very Best of Congolese Rumba (Marabi, 2008)
The Beginner's Guide to Africa (Nascente, 2006)

video tribute: Reared by the River Kongo (youtube)
2002 Afropop Worldwide interview with Wendo Kolosoy

Mauritania On Air

Mauritania has been on my mind recently. And not just because the relatively unknown nation in northwest Africa has been in political turmoil since a military coup last week. My mind was also led there by a fascinating article on Radio Mauritanie, which broadcasts from Mouakchott.

It seems that every evening from Sunday to Thursday, a man named Yahya ould Taleb ould Sioli (or, simply, Yahya) broadcasts a program called Al-Balaghat wa al-itissalat al-shaabiya (or, simply, Al Balaghat -- "the messages"). The format is simple: Short messages are sent in by listeners around the desert nation, announcing births, deaths, weather, travels, and other social news.

"Radio was what connected Mauritanians, taught us that there was a state, that there was a president, and there were ministers, and there was a parliament," says Mauritanian radio personality Mohamed Lemine Salleck in explaining the show's importance. "There were shows with singers, and we took time to sit and listen to the music, but when Al-Balaghat came on, it was more important. The other world was for leisure, but this was something that could change your life."

[mp3] Al Balaghat sample

You can read the complete story and listen to more audio here.

I can't understand the language, but I can appreciate the artistry in the musical reading of the announcements. The show has been on for 42 years and continues undaunted by the advent of high-tech forms of communication.

I don't have a lot of music from Mauritania, but one artist who has released music internationally is the singer Malouma (full name Malouma Mint Moktar Ould Meidah -- what is it with Mauritanians and king-sized names??) comes from a griot family and started to sing at age 12, inspired by traditional songs and by the singers she heard on the radio: Oum Kalthoum, Hlim Hafez, Fairouz, Dine, Nasri Cherns, and others.

Malouma's music frequently explores themes of injustice, gender inequality, and oppression, though this one is more of a love song. She sings: "With a destructive song / She wraps a scarf around her head / Or slips into her bubu to seduce me / All the time I spend loving her."

[mp3] Malouma: Welfi
from the album Dunya
(Malouma also has a newer CD out, called Nour)

Malouma on YouTube
Malouma's website: www.malouma.com

On the Cover of the Rolling Stone...

Well, not quite on the cover. But SoundRoots has garnered a mention in the Nov. 30 issue of that warhorse of music publications, Rolling Stone. The column Site Specific uses a search for the music of Ali Farka Toure as a launching point to discuss sources for global sounds, including the new National Geographic music site, the sorely-in-need-of-an-update Awesome Tapes From Africa, and SoundRoots.

Curiously, RS calls SoundRoots an aggregator. Which leaves us puzzled. Sure we comment on and link to lots of articles, sites, and mp3s from around the Web. But our content is original and mostly exclusive to SoundRoots. Oh, well. While we're basking in our 15 minutes of fame, have a listen some African music. Consider it a publicity-driven Monday bonus.

Toumast may be riding the coattails of Tinariwen's global success, but their music stands on its own. The album Ishumar was released a few weeks ago, and you can catch two songs on toumast.com.

Ismael Lo has a new album out, called Senegal. Some critics are already giving it a lukewarm reception, and I admit I haven't had a good listen yet. More on that soon; in the meantime here are some older songs from Ismael Lo for your enjoyment.

tags: worldmusic, ali farka toure, rolling stone

Monday's mp3: James Bond in Ska

Gonna be a quick post today, 'cause it's snowing outside and I want to go play. It's a Bond doubleshot. Following last week's Gypsy brass cover of the Bond theme, I've been digging the variety of tracks on this great new release, from the Bond theme to "Ball of Fire." This is classic stuff, timeless and timely since the Skatalites are on tour, hitting Seattle's Studio Seven this Friday (see calendar).

[mp3] Skatalites: "James Bond Theme"
from the album In Orbit Vol. 1 (Xaymaca Records)
band site: skatalites.com

For more ska and reggae -- including some from unexpected places -- tune in to Spin The Globe's webstream this Friday 10am-noon (Pacific).

tags: worldmusic, skatalites, jamaica, ska

Giving Thanks

Today in the USA we observe Thanksgiving, perhaps my favorite holiday of the year. Other holidays have become so commercialized, or politicized. Thanksgiving is about gratitude, and it's hard to mess with that.

I've got to go bake a pumpkin pie for my family gathering, but first a few words and a song for you.

Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.
--Mary Baker Eddy, in Science and Health

And a song from Norwegian Sondre Bratland and Pakistani Javed Bashir, who recorded a beautiful album of sacred music together, blending Christian and Muslim texts. This song of thanksgiving includes the words: "Countless as sand, and tremendously as the deep waters of the ocean is the grace of God which he pours over my head every morning. Every morning He freely offers me an immeasurable grace in my bowl."

[mp3] Sondre Bratland & Javed Bashir: "Morning Hymn"
from the album Dialogue (2006, KKV)

Happy Thanksgiving. And thanks for reading SoundRoots.

tags: worldmusic, thanksgiving, norway, pakistan

Monday's mp3: Gypsy Spy Brass

It's a perfect convergence of movies and sounds. First, there was my recent viewing of When The Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan. Then, the release of the new (or are we calling it a remake?) James Bond adventure, Casino Royale. Add them up and what do you get? Gypsies playing the James Bond theme song. Oh, yes.

Fanfare Ciocarlia is one of the five Gypsy/Rom artists featured in When The Road Bends, and Gili Garabdi is their most recent album. While often referred to as Balkan Speed Brass, this kind of music isn't all about pushing the pace. While much of it is fast and furious, that would get dull without the contrasting slow sections and without the emotion that underlies it all, fast or slow. Among the Ancient Secrets of Gypsy Brass on this album are Gypsyfied covers of Ellington's "Caravan" and Brubeck's "Time Out" as well as a colorful essay by Garth Cartwright, author of Princes Amongst Men: Journeys with Gypsy Musicians.

[mp3] Fanfare Ciocarlia: "007 (James Bond Theme)"
from Gili Garabdi-Ancient Secrets Of Gypsy Brass

If you like this track and/or When The Road Bends, be sure to check out the documentary Iag Bari - Brass on Fire for more on the band and their 400-resident Romanian village, Zece Prajini.

tags: worldmusic, gypsy, brass, james bond, fanfare ciocarlia, romania

You Need to Know Louis Mhlanga

Louis Mhlanga may be the best South African musician that nobody knows.

Oh, I'm sure this guitarist/composer/arranger/producer is well known in southern Africa. But if his albums have been released at all in the USA (except for recent exposure on Calabash), I'm not aware of it. Fortunately you can take advantage of the Internet to order straight from South Africa. His melodic hooks and stellar guitar playing are worth it, trust me.

A little background: Mhlanga's parents fled apartheid South Africa and he was born and raised in Zimbabwe. But other musicians lured him back to his homeland, which has been so musically rich (not that Zimbabwe isn't, but the conditions there are another story). His music teaching found him in the Netherlands for a year, where he hooked up with an enduring collaborator, the Dutch bassist Eric Van Der Westen.

Mhlanga has played with and produced albums by a stellar array of musicians, including Andy Narell, Habib Koite, Thomas Mapfumo, Hugh Masekela, Busi Mhlongo, King Sunny Ade, Vusi Mahlasela, Oliver Mtukudzi, Orchestra Baobab... It seems silly to list them all. Suffice to say he's a musical extrovert. And he's musically adventurous and his songs range from traditional African to modern jazz, and even a touch of rock in "Kamba Kemaziso," his tribute to Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower."

I recently had a chance to ask Mhlanga a few questions:

SoundRoots: How important were your teachers/mentors? Who are/were they?

Louis Mhlanga: I am self taught and come from a musical family. My brothers and sisters would bring other musicians at our home and that inspired me a lot too. I grew up in the late 60's when soul music, underground music, blues were still dominant and I listened a lot to that kind of music from Tamla Motown artists and the rock musicians like Grand Funk Railroad to Tower of Power to name a few, there were lots of them.

SR: What music are you listening to? What are your favorite artists or styles of music?

LM: I listen to all African music that I can get hold of and I love George Benson. Earl Klugh, Dwight Sills and other guitar players out there even Spanish guitar players. I also listen to Segovia the late classical guitar maestro.

SR: Describe your favorite experience(s) collaborating with other musicians.

LM: I have enjoyed working with everyone I came across and the experience I shared is of different quality its like smelling a flower to another flower and appreciating different sweet smells. Also I have learnt a lot from meeting and sharing the music.

SR: What non-musical job would you most like to try?

LM: I always wanted to be a medical doctor but I thought about the time which one has to put up in study then I gave it up.

SR: Do you think it's important for musicians to address social and political issues?

LM: Music shapes the culture of our lives and its the most powerful art which can reach the people with a positive message. Of course all the issues of the world can be addressed quicker through music.

SR: What's the story behind "Kamba Kemaziso," in which you quote "All Along the Watchtower"?

LM: "Kamba Kemaziso" means a house full of eyes literally and it's the watch tower. We were asked to do a song in memory of Hendrix, myself and a bass player from Holland, Eric van der Westen, and we chose this song as a dedication.

Listen:
Download tracks from a live show with Mhlanga and Van Der Westen at the Jazzpower club in the Netherlands (requires a free registration).

Louis Mhlanga Discography:
Louis Mhlanga & Friends: World Traveller (2006, Sheer Sound / Calabash)
Regis Gizavo, Louis Mhlanga & David Mirandon: Stories (2006, Marabi)
Louis Mhlanga: Tinganekwane (2004, Sheer Sound)
Louis Mhlanga & Eric Van Der Westen: Keeping the Dream (2004, EWM)
Louis Mhlanga: Shamwari (2001, Sheer Sound)
Vusi Mahlasela & Louis Mhlanga: Live at the Bass Line (1999, BMG Africa)
Louis Mhlanga & Eric Van Der Westen: Song for Nomsa (2000, BMG Africa)
Musik Ye Afrika [Mhlanga with Jimmy Indi & Iethro Shasha]: Musik Ye Afrika (1997, Upenyu)

More:
www.louismhlanga.com
Cape Town Magazine has an illuminating interview with Mhlanga.


Tags: worldmusic, louis mhlanga, south africa, afropop, afrojazz

World Music Top 10: November 2006

SoundRoots/Spin The Globe
Top 10 World Music Albums - November 2006

1. Boom Pam: Boom Pam
2. Salem Tradicion: Krie
3. Habana Abierta: Boomerang
4. Izaline Calister: Kanta Helene
5. Bola Abimbola: Ara Kenge
6. I-Fam: Du Nouveau Sang
7. Régis Gizavo, Louis Mhlanga, David Mirandon: Stories
8. Bole2Harlem: Bole2Harlem Vol. 1
9. Marta Topferova: Flor Nocturna
10. Bela Lakatos: Introducing Bela Lakatos & the Gypsy Youth Project

Speaking of Gypsies, there's a great movie now making the rounds of film festivals. When The Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan is a documentary about the Rom (Gypsy) musicians who participated in the "Gypsy Caravan" concert tour. Stark contrasts emerge as the film cuts between the musicians' life on the road (in the USA and Europe) and life at home. Equally fascinating are the interactions between the musicians from different parts of the Romani diaspora. They don't all speak the same languages, their music is different, and their physical appearance has wide variations. They can't verbally define the essence of what makes them one people, but the brotherhood is clear in their music and they way they bond during the tour.

The artists included are Esma "Queen of the Gypsies" Redzepova of Macedonia [mp3], Antonio El Pipo Flamenco Ensemble of Spain [mp3], Fanfare Ciocarlia of Romania [mp3], Maharaja of Rajasthan, India [mp3], and Taraf de Haïdouks of Romania [mp3]. Be sure to check out the movie trailer.

This is a challenging but life-affirming film that confirms the power of music not only to change and connect hearts, but also to make practical changes, like bringing electricity to a village. Catch it on tour.

Tags: top 10, world music, gypsy, rom, roma

Monday's mp3: Remembering Jabu Khanyile & Roots Africa

Two African losses this week remind that grief is relative.

South African singer Jabu Khanyile had legions of fans around the world. He had a following with his band Bayete for a decade or so starting in the mid-1980s, and later embarked on a solo career that saw the release of three albums: The Prince (2000), Umbele (2002) and Wankolota (2003). More recently he performed on the Johannesburg Live 8 concert. But Saturday night he was admitted to a hospital in the South African capitol and he never came out, according to the BBC.

Truth is, I don't have any of Khanyile's albums, and I'm not that familiar with his music. The loss I'm mourning this week is that of my favorite African radio show, Roots Africa. Hosted by Kim and Don Mack on KAOS-fm out of Olympia, Washington, USA, the show was a weekly journey through not only great African music, but also African news and on-the-ground reporting from their sister station in Uganda. After a three-year run, the final Roots Africa show was last Thursday. I miss it already.

Sigh. So for music today, here's a quiet Afro-Indian tune that features Jabu Khanyile on vocals. If anyone has more of his music, I'd love to hear it (I did find two clips at cama.org.za). Just sad that it took his passing to bring him to my attention.

[mp3] Trilok Gurtu with Jabu Khanyile: "Ingoma"
from the album The Beat of Love

Tags: Jabu Khanyile, worldmusic, africa, african music

Music for a Changing Landscape

I can't remember another election in my lifetime where so many other voters agreed with me on so many things. Instead of fighting off despair on election night, I watched with a calm smile on my face, hopeful that some degree of change might be afoot. The most relished defeat was of two men not even on the ballot: Bush and Rumsfeld. Funny how quickly they changed their tune about so many things following Tuesday's wake-up call.

I don't put a lot of stock in the Democrats. Just wanted to make that clear. Too many Democrats are in the same boat as the Republicans: too wealthy, too out of touch, too close to global money interests, more interested in power and party than in long-term public good. Yet they will provide some checks and balances to Bush's White House in the next two years. And maybe, just maybe, some vision and leadership.

And in the interests of diversity, two specifics are worth noting: 1) the USA is about to get its first female Speaker of the House. This is the position second in line to the presidency (should anything happen to the president and vice president -- like impeachment -- she's the boss!). 2) Minnesota voters have elected the first Muslim (Keith Ellison, also Minnesota's first black Congressman) to the US Congress. I know nothing about him or his policies, so this isn't an endorsement of him, just an acknowledgment of his achievement.

In the long term, I think the answer to re-invigorating US democracy is tied to things like instant runoff voting and third parties. The kind of things that keep a candidate in a two-party race from running on a "vote for me because I'm not HIM" platform.

Thanks to all of you thoughtful Americans (and even you angry ones) who took the time to participate in this mass exercise of democracy. It ain't perfect, but look how it can be self-correcting!

I've been pondering what would be a good song for this electoral mood. This might do the trick. Mighty Sparrow, of course, was one of the premier calypsonians, and in this 1957 song (originally from a Cook LP called Calypso Kings and Pink Gin) he talks about resistance to policies causing rising prices. Just thing of yesterday's US election as a big piece of mango wood, and it'll all make sense.

[mp3] Mighty Sparrow "No, Doctor, No"
from the album Calypso Awakening

Tags: election, usa, worldmusic, calypso

Monday's mp3: Hangin' Ten in Tel Aviv

Boom Pam is a band that defies logic and plain good sense. I mean, Israeli music is supposed to be all about old klezmers kvetching into their clarinets and women wailing ethnicly, like Ofra Haza or Yasmin Levy. Right?

Well, yes and no. Remember that Israel is a nation of immigrants, and it's got lots of nice waterfront. As much as anything, those two factors explain Boom Pam's pairing of duo surf guitars with tight tuba bass lines. Crazy Balkan time signatures and minimalist percussion make their self-titled album irresistible to the musically curious, whether your usual fare is rock or world music. Mostly instrumental, the feisty songs bear titles such as " The Souvlak," "Kova Plada (aka Tango)", and "Wedding Song."

One should take warning of the immensely creepy song "Let Me Touch" with lyrics indicating a certain, um, lack of romantic sensitivity. I'm not saying I dislike it -- I laughed out loud at the over-the-top lyrics. But it's scary enough that I included it in a Halloween show. Whether because of that track or in spite of it, this album comes highly recommended.

[mp3] Boom Pam: "Wedding Song"
from their self-titled album Boom Pam
boompam.org

[Whether the surf guitars have anything to do with the Israeli surfing scene, I don't know. Maybe you should ask someone at the beach.]

A number of other new Jewish/Israeli albums have been showing up recently, which we may or may not get around to reviewing. They include:
Lenka Lichtenberg & Brian Katz: Pashtes/Simplicity info
Channe Nussbaum & Spielniks: Copenhagen Klezmer and Jidishe Mame info
Theresa Tova: You Ask Me Why-Tova Sings Beyle info
Makondo: Makondo info

Tags: world music, israel, jews, jewish music, tuba

World Music News

Cleaning out my desk and my mind today, and look what I found!

The Sauti za Busara music festival will take place in Zanzibar, February 9 -14th 2007. Among the artists already confirmed are Amani Drummers of Burundi, Ba Cissoko, Chibite, Culture Musical Club, Menwar, The Collaboration ft Chiwoniso & Busi Ncube, and Yunasi. Oh, and admission is free before sunset! Info at www.busaramusic.com

Also some time off but requiring some planning is Lark Camp. Sounds like a great lineup of classes, workshops, and fun for anyone interested in world/folk music and dance. Lark Camp runs July 27-Aug. 4, at the Mendicino Woodlands in California. More info at www.larkcamp.com

The 7th Annual Latin Grammys have been announced, including Mercedes Sosa nabbing Best Folk Album for Corazón Libre, Sergio Mendes winning Best Brazilian Contemporary Pop Album for Timeless, and Diego El Cigala's Picasso En Mis Ojos tapping to the top of the Best Flamenco Album contenders. For full results, see grammy.com

Anyone seen the Borat movie yet? Officially titled "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," it looks amusing and culturally subversive enough to be funny...maybe. A vote firmly in its favor is this review in the Christian Science Monitor, a newspaper generally known for its sensitivity to global culture.

More from YouTube:
trailer from the second installment of the 1 Giant Leap films.
teaser from an upcoming documentary on Hip Hop in Uganda
playing of the Kulintang gongs in the Phillippines
stroking the sarod by Alam Khan, son of Ali Akbar Khan
crooning by Yma Sumac
singing like a Nubian, and
grooving like only Tinariwen can...

Ah, my mind feels so much lighter now! Any questions?

Livin' Like a Refugee

I have no idea what it's like to be a refugee, to live in a "camp" or on the street after having been displaced from your home or nation by war, pestilence, disaster, or malicious neighbors. (I don't think Tom Petty does either.) But a surprising number of my neighbors do have this experience (this area is populated with many folks displaced from SE Asia and Latin America). And many more around the world do as well.

Putting together a radio show on refugees, I dug into the UNHCR statistics and compiled a list of the top 10 nations producing refugees, displaced persons, and the like. The numbers are staggering. And some of the Top 10 are surprising.

You might expect a number of African nations on the list, and there they are making up half of the ten -- Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Liberia, Burundi. But two of the top three are the countries the USA is currently "liberating" from, uh, something. Apparently the residents of Afghanistan and Iraq haven't got the upbeat message that the White House is beaming towards its own citizens.

Then there's Colombia (shouldn't Plan Colombia be helping?), and Azerbaijan (whose president was warmly welcomed at the White House in April), and right in Europe, Serbia & Montenegro. Here's the list.

Country # of persons
Afghanistan 2934076
Colombia 2540074
Iraq 1765011
Sudan 1567214
Somalia 839203
Azerbaijan 816346
Liberia 805968
Serbia & Montenegro 547683
Burundi 526679
DR Congo 525637

Top 10 Origins of refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, returnees, stateless persons, and others of concern to UNHCR, mid 2005

Some 70,000 refugees will find their way to the USA in 2007, according to the White House. Sounds big-hearted until you consider that US policies around the planet seem to be displacing more people than they re-settle. Heavy sigh.

• Listen to last week's Spin The Globe, featuring music from these nations - playlist.
• or to Afghani Wahid Qasimi's "Zindagee" (many more such mp3 downloads at afghansite.com)
• Watch a video by the Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone (coming next week to Seattle).
• Catch a free screening of Iraq For Sale: the War Profiteers Nov. 5 in Olympia or elsewhere - schedule - trailer

Tags: refugees, world music, culture, iraq, sierra leone

Monday's mp3: Lament of the Igil

It was a fine evening for world music fans last night as Huun Huur Tu brought the sounds of the Tuvan steppe to Olympia. HHT are one of the pioneering groups of overtone singing, having toured the world extensively. This track is from their first album, when Albert Kuvezin was still part of HHT (he left after this album and formed the harder-edged Yat-Kha, who recently released a crazy CD of rock covers called Re-Covers).

An igil, by the way, is a fretless, bowed, two-stringed Tuvan instrument, something like a lute. Perfect for laments.

[mp3] Huun Huur Tu: "Sygyt: Lament of the Igil"
from the album 60 Horses in My Herd

Huun Huur Tu has a couple more Washington gigs before they move on to Colorado. View tour schedule. Here's a video of the group from the Philadelphia Folk Festival in August.



Tags: worldmusic, tuva, throat singing, overtone singing, mp3, huun huur tu

Belgian Afrobeat, Lazy Linguistics, Air Mail

Some time ago, SoundRoots reader Guuzbourg was kind enough to contribute a song from The Belgian Afrobeat Association (BABA). I know precious little else about the band, except that their website is, frankly, quite minimal. Great horns and a driving rhythm section make this a fun listen, regardless. I'd love to hear more of their music, if any of you have some or know where to get it. Guest contributors in other "world music" genres also welcome.

[mp3] The Belgian Afrobeat Association: "Femme Fatale"

Forgot to mention in my posting about the Rebirth Brass Band something ignorant and mildly amusing. The person who introduced the band (who shall remain nameless here, but hails from a certain Pacific Northwest NPR/jazz station), gave a plug for other upcoming shows at the venue. Susana Baca was next up (in fact, she's there tonight). This person could have called her an Afro-Peruvian chantreuse, or one of a new generation of Peruvian singers, or a vocalist "rivalled only by Omara Portuondo and Cesaria Evora" (as the BBC put it), or "one of the greatest divas in South America (Calabash), or any number of other descriptions.

What did she actually say, you ask? She called Baca -- and I quote -- a "world music vocalist." Now, I'm one that finds the term "world music" useful in some instances. But in this case, the term is next to meaningless. It could apply to anyone from Kongar-ol Ondar to Susheela Raman. Those in the audience unfamiliar with Baca's work gain no insight whatsoever from this description. What lazy language. What a missed opportunity.

Finally today, a couple photos from the wonderful duo Correo Aereo, played last night and tonight at Traditions Fair Trade Cafe in Olympia. Madeline "Mean Maracas" Sosin and Abel "Got a New Guitar" Rocha have the chemistry and the musical chops to emotionally reel in an audience, and they did. Music from their newest album Para Cantarle al Rio (To Sing a River), and some things from previous albums, including their seasonally appropriate, fast-paced version of "La Llorona." Catch them if you have the chance.


Tags: worldmusic, belgium, afrobeat, mp3, world music, susana baca, correo aereo

Remembering Lebo Mathosa

As you may have seen in a slew of tribute articles (Afropop, BBC, Mmegi) in recent days, another of South Africa's musical stars has been extinguished. A car accident Monday took the life of 29-year-old South African kwaito singer Lebo Mathosa, who was known for her mesmerizing performances and shocking blonde hair.

Mathosa was lead vocalist with Boom Shaka, a hugely successful kwaito group in the 1990s, then launched a solo career that garnered her a number of awards for her singing and dance tunes. Oh, and she also won the 2001 Style Best Dressed Woman of the Year award and was distinguished (if that's the right word) by FHM Magazine of one of Africa’s sexiest women. Not that we're obsessing on her looks or anything...

In an ArtMatters interview, Lebo said "I adore chilling at home with my family, my mom; Lebo Mathosa is different from the stage performer and actress. She loves to relax. ... In the past I have been portrayed badly at times. Most is not true. I try to be a role model for younger people and do my best to give that good impression to younger artists and fans."

Benn Loxo has a nice tribute and an mp3 of Mathosa. For more kwaito (alas, without Lebo or Boom Shaka) check out the album Tales of Urban SA.

-----
Don't confuse South Africa's Boom Shaka with the reggae band of the same name, which sounds more like this:
[mp3] Boom Shaka: "Rastafari Is the Future"
from the album Fertile Ground

And in completely unrelated news, dj earball dropped by Jazz Alley last night to catch the hijinks of the Rebirth Brass Band. You've surely heard of them -- they're one of the pillars of the New Orleans brass band tradition. They ripped up the place, converting a pale, stolid Seattle crowd into a mass of bouncing, bead-wearing partiers in just under two hours. Not bad for an octet of flood-displaced horn players & drummers in baggy shirts. San Francisco is next on their tour.

Tags: lebo mathosa, south africa, worldmusic, kwaito, africa, new orleans, brass bands, boom shaka

Sally Nyolo

The innovative Sally Nyolo has another album set for release in just a couple of weeks, and you can get a preview track at the link below. Advance word is that Studio Cameroon

tells the story of Sally's quest to explore and develop the local music scene. While searching for fresh talent, she set up a studio in a modest tin-roofed building: somewhere she could meet with other musicians in a relaxed environment. For Sally, it was very important to record here as she wanted to cumulate some of the sounds that had stayed with her since childhood: traditional expressions and instruments, songs from the church, market and around the town. She describes it as ‘magical music from small villages like the one where I was born'.

Nyolo, as you may know, joined up with Zap Mama in 1993, and later went her own way, producing some great solo albums including Beti and Multiculti. Her song "Tilma" (from Zaïone) was also featured on the compilation Drop The Debt, in remix form with Japanese group Shingo2 (sample mp3).

But enough links and blather. "Sokolo" is a promising hint of the new album, a call to dance to Afro-Latin rhythms (admittedly sounding more like Congo than her native Cameroon). Enjoy

[mp3] Orchestre D'Essono & Sally Nyolo: "Sokolo" -click here for album info and free mp3 download
from the forthcoming album Sally Nyolo and the Original Bands of Yaounde: Studio Cameroon
official release date: 07 November.

Tags: world music, mp3, africa, cameroon, sally nyolo, new releases

P.S. Are you experiencing trouble posting comments? Haven't seen many of late, though I know you're still visiting and enjoying the music. Let me know what you like/dislike/crave. Feedback is vital to SoundRoots' health. If you have trouble posting comments, email direct to info [at] SoundRoots [dot] org.

Oh, and we're also trying out FeedBlitz, which delivers new blog content via email. If SoundRoots readers find it useful, we'll keep it. For more info or to sign up, click here.

Monday's mp3: Sounds of the Soul for Eid & Diwali

Ramadan concluded this morning, with prayers locally at Masjid Al-Nur. And yesterday marked local celebrations of the Indian festival of lights, Diwali. We've got some music for you today appropriate for such an auspicious convergence.

Diwali is the festival of lights. It comes from the word Deepawali. Deep=lamp, awali=line. The most popular legend is of Lord Rama returning to Ayodhya after 14 year exile. Its believed that the people of Ayodhya lit lamps and the whole city glimmered as Raam entered Ayodhya. Diwali is also a kind of post-harvest festival. Traditionally, folks clean their houses, paint them and its like an annual overhaul. Traditional Indian financial comes to an end on Diwali, and account books are closed. (source: the India South Sound Association)

[mp3] Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay: "Rama Simara"
from Bhakti: The Sound of the Soul

Happy Diwali!


We've talked plenty about Ramadan. So much, in fact, that my Tanzanian friend Alex is getting annoyed at everyone who wished him a Happy Ramadan (I suspect he was actually embarrassed at not observing the fast). So you know that it's the Muslim holy month in which Muhamed received the first chapters of the Quran. It ends with Eid al-Fitr, a festival marking the breaking of the fast.

Eid ul-Fitr is a joyful celebration of the achievement of enhanced piety. It is a day of forgiveness, moral victory and peace, of congregation, fellowship, brotherhood and unity. Muslims are not only celebrating the end of fasting, but thanking God for the help and strength that they believe he gave them throughout the previous month to help them practice self-control. (Wikipedia)

[mp3] La Sulamiyya: "Al-Ada"
from Chants Soufis de Tunis

Eid Mubarak!

Tags: world music, mp3, india, diwali, islam, ramadan, sufi

Media Consolidation, KAOS, & You

Today is a special day. It's a celebration of sorts. You've read here about SoundRoots sister project Spin The Globe, a radio show broadcast on KAOS-fm in Olympia, WA, USA (and webcast globally).

Well, today's installment of Spin The Globe is part of the KAOS membership drive. Twice a year KAOS asks for support from listeners to help stay healthy and vibrant. It's about raising money, sure. But it's just as much about getting people to stand up and say

I support KAOS because I love the music (and news and public affairs). At a time when more and more media are conglomerated by huge corporations and fed a sanitized stream of music from some central headquarters, I find it valuable to have stations like KAOS airing local voices and independent music. Music in genres like 'world' and Hawaiian and experimental jazz and electronica and African. I value the live music and interviews I hear on shows like Spin The Globe, including recent appearances by Gamelan Degung Girijaya, Deobrat Mishra, Chirgilchin, Hejira, and Marta Topferova. And I value it enough to step up and become a listener-member.

Become a member. Pledge what you can, whether it's $20 or $2000. Nothing would make SoundRoots happier than to have some phone calls (or online pledges) come in from all over the world during Spin The Globe this morning.

The show starts in about 30 minutes, at 10:00 am Pacific Time. How to join?

Call 360-867-5267
or join online.

Thanks.

Monday's mp3: Just One Big Irie Family

Browsing through past SoundRoots ramblings, you'll notice that we're not raving fans of reggae. Sure, we like us some Bob Marley, and now and then other reggae folks sneak into our ears, the likes of Alpha Blondy, Matisyahu, Macka B, and The Refugee All Stars.

Here's another group we've been groovin' to of late. I-Fam is a Belgium-based world/reggae act, and they've recently released an album called Du Nouveau Sang (New Blood) on Home Records. The label has released some truly intriguing (and difficult to categorize) music of late, from the likes of Turlu Tursu and Jugalbandi Trio. But I digress.

The music of I-Fam (aka One Big Irie Family) is tough to describe. It certainly has reggae roots, but hip-hop vocals dominate songs like "Fils Du Levant" (mp3 sample) though it's hip-hop with tasty live music, not canned beats. The title track (mp3 sample) starts with beat-boxing, then swings into insistent vocal harmonies. The lyrics speak of resistance: "We are the lions in this kingdon / and if you come against us / we become more and more strong / 'cause we are young / and we got thunder, brimstone and fire." The rest is French to me.

[mp3] I-Fam: "Le Roseau"
from the album Du Nouveau Sang
You can download two other songs from the album at I-Fam's myspace.

and a bonus from their self-titled CD
[mp3] I-Fam "Enfer"

Curiously, neither the band's site nor the Home Records site seems to sell this album, so finding it may be tough. Though I'm sure if you contact either the band or the label, they'll be happy to help.

Technorati Tags: reggae, world music, mp3, belgium, cd review, worldmusic

New Pics: Marta Topferova Live, 14 October 2006

Some images from last night's performance by Marta Topferova and her trio in Olympia, WA, USA. With Marta were Pedro Giraudo on bass and vocals, and Adam Kilker on clarinets and flute. The concert, opened by Olympia group Ocho Pies, was the first of the JazzArts series at the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts (next show is Pearl Django with Hot Club Sandwich on 27 January 2007).

The Marta Topferova Trio

Marta Topferova: vocals, cuatro, arrangements, bandleader

Pedro Giraudo, an amazing and attentive bass player (and NYC big band leader)

The trio once more

Marta's next stop is California. See her tour schedule.


Technorati Tags: worldmusic, marta topferova, czech, latin, olympia, concert, live music

More Tunes from the Axis of Evil

One more evil tidbit: I've created a playlist of tunes from the Axis of Evil at spintheglobemusic.net, and you see it, hear it (60 sec. samples), and learn more about the artists by simply clicking this link (will open in a new window):

Listen To Tunes from the Axis of Evil

This is a new feature SoundRoots may be using more to highlight certain albums or music with a theme, in addition to our regular mp3s of course. Feedback or future theme suggestions are most welcome.

Also, have I mentioned that our sibling radio show, Spin The Globe, now has a myspace site? Late to the party, sure, but it has already resulted in some interesting new connections with musicians around the globe. Check it out at myspace.com/spintheglobe

Technorati Tags: axis of evil, world music, worldmusic, iran, cuba, palestine, korea

Evil? Or just kind of exotic?

You've gotta hand it to those presidential speechwriters. Even when they're doing global culture a disservice by branding an entire nation or region as evil (Empire of Evil, Axis of Evil, etc.), they manage to spark new cottage industries.

Take W's "Axis of Evil," for example. We've already talked about the great compilation Lullabies from the Axis of Evil and related things. Now there's a book. Yes, for a mere $17 or so, you add to your evil culture collection the book "Literature from the 'Axis of Evil': Writing from Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Other Enemy Nations." Edited by Alane Mason, the book Includes thirty-five works of fiction from seven countries--deemed
"enemy nations" by the American government, most of which have never
been translated into English.

Read subversive...

And while you're reading, check out another track from an evil nation. Azam Ali, of course, is the Iranian-born singer of Vas, as well as a successful solo artist. This is from her most recent album. Enjoy, evil lovers!

[mp3] Azam Ali: "In This Divide"
from Elysium for the Brave

Technorati Tags: axis of evil, evil, world music, literature, worldmusic, global culture

World Music Top 10 - October 2006

SoundRoots / Spin The Globe
Top 10 World Music Albums - October 2006

1. Régis Gizavo, Louis Mhlanga, David Mirandon: Stories
2. Izaline Calister: Kanta Helene
3. Habana Abierta: Boomerang
4. Introducing Bela Lakatos & the Gypsy Youth Project
5. Marta Topferova: Flor Nocturna
6. Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra: Boulevard de L'Independance
7. Bola Abimbola: Ara Kenge
8. Ska Cubano: ¡Ay Caramba!
9. Salem Tradicion: Krie
10. Ana Moura: Aconteceu

If music makes you hungry, check out Soul Cocina, a blog featuring recipes/ingredients (xacuti, ulri phital, elephant foot yams, German chocolate puris...) and related songs, many of which are global in nature. Informative and delicious all around.

[mp3] Antwerp Gipsy Ska Orkestra: "Turk's Fruit"
more AGSO tracks on their website

Technorati Tags: top 10, world music, african music, music charts

Monday's mp3: Czech...Latin...Marta!

In the notes to her newest album, Latin chanteuse Marta Topferova sets the tone by quoting Hermann Hesse:

...Every man is more than just himself he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point in which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again...

Perhaps its her way of explaining her unique musical and personal path, which has taken her from her Czech homeland, across Western Europe, finally landing in New York City where she now makes her home.

In a recent interview (on which, more soon...) Topferova described the visual inspiration of her music, using as an example this song, "Dia Lluvioso" on which she pairs her voice and cuatro with the marimba of Adam Cruz. With a more stripped-down sound than her previous album, La Marea (the Tide), Flor Nocturna achieves a delicious aural intimacy that perfectly suits the poetry of the lyrics. Have a listen.

[mp3] Marta Topferofa: "Dia Lluvioso"
from the album Flor Nocturna
martatopferova.com

Topferova is currently on tour. She starts a run at Seattle's Jazz Alley tomorrow (she went to high school in Seattle, by the way), and will be here in Olympia on Saturday. For more details see the SoundRoots calendar or Marta's website.

Technorati Tags: czech, latin music, world music, marta topferova

Monday's mp3: Old Ethiopia Meets New York

Ethiopia's first family of hip strikes again. This time it's Gigi's little sister Tigist, who joins up with Maki Siraj as the voices of a multicultural monster that takes East African grooves to a new level.

Anyone familiar with the marvelous Ethiopiques series of releases will find this album a natural progression into modern sounds. But for the uninitiated, this will be nothing short of a musical revelation, a plexus punch of exotic vocals and catchy beats backed by a wall of horns.

The group grew from a collaboration between Ethiopian-American vocalist/ songwriter Siraj and composer/ producer/ multi-instrumentalist David Schommer, who explains where some of the musical influences originated:

I go to my corner bodega and hear the best salsa and merengue. I walk down to the Ital juice store and hear the best reggae. The Senegalese and Malian vendors are blasting their traditional and modern music. Our album has a little bit of all that stuff in there. Some of the songs, like ‘Hoya Hoye,’ are like a walk down the street in Harlem. I heard one of the hat vendors playing an old school break-beat and thought, ‘Of course! That’s the same tempo as Hoya Hoye!’ Then I came upon one of Harlem’s church choirs spilling onto the streets on a Sunday morning. That inspired the opening line of the song that goes ‘Feelin’ alright!’ We used riffs that could be either from the American Blues or from Amharic Tizita. We are open to all the sounds of Harlem and the experiences of Ethiopia.

This could have been a risky venture. Combining such disparate elements as traditional Ethiopian singing, kalimba, hip hop beats, reggae guitar, dance beats, kora, gospel organ might have resulted in an unpalatable brown stew with indistinguishable ingredients. With the elements tastefully ("gently" seems inappropriate term for such a powerful album) combined, Schommer steps up as a world music force. And Bole2Harlem makes the kind of earthy, danceable music likely to be met with enthusiasm by critics and world music fans alike.

From the Ethiopian port of Bole to the cultural hub of New York's Harlem ("the entry/exit place for Contemporary African Music in America," the liner notes point out), this music starts from the experience of Ethiopians abroad. “Bole2Harlem is about being from Ethiopia and living in Harlem, in America, around the world,” says Siraj. “It’s a journey, one CD that takes you thousands of miles from one place to another.”

[mp3] Bole2Harlem: "Ametballe"
[mp3] Bole2Harlem: "Ya Selam"
from the album Bole2Harlem Volume 1 (Sounds of the Mushroom)
bole2harlem.com

One of our favorite tracks at present is "Ensaralen Gojo," which happens to come with a video:

Technorati Tags: africa, world music, bole2harlem, ethiopia

Monday's mp3: Fresh Fruit from Mamadou Diabate

I love this time of year. Yeah, the air is getting crisper and the light is gorgeous as the days grow shorter. Also our local newspaper runs breathtakingly obvious headlines like "Naked trees, cooler temps ahead."

But really, it's the food. Ripening all at once are apples, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, peaches, basil, greens, fall raspberries, grapes...the list goes on. Yesterday I picked a load of Italian prunes, which variously ended up in the dehydrator, canning jars, or my stomach. I also plucked some wonderfully crisp apples, and apple pie is on the menu for tonight. Yesterday it was grapes, that became grape juice, or were eaten fresh, or will become grape jelly.

The dark shadow on this autumn bounty is the amount of waste I see. Many years ago, people planted fruit trees as a matter of course. Now many of those trees are neglected or ignored. The fruit I got yesterday was from several such trees. Even with folks like the local Gleaners Coalition working to collect and distribute surplus produce, much of it ends up on the ground. Sure, it gets composted back into the soil, but that doesn't help the folks who aren't getting enough to eat. Need and waste seem to be constant companions here in the USA.

Today's song is about fruit. Mamadou Diabate is a Mali-born, US-based kora player familiar to world music fans. His upcoming album Heritage features his instrumental group, which includes Guinean guitarist Mory Kante, balafon player Balla Kouyate, percussionist Baye Kouyate, and bassist Noah Jarrett. Diabate acknowledges a musical growth achieved by living in the US and playing with jazz musicians:

Playing jazz has developed my techincal skill and my improvisations. If I go too far, I lose the character of Mande music. But in jazz, I am free and that has changed me. In Mali I would not have these experiences. Living in the United States has made me a better musician.

But back to the harvest. "Djiribah" is a pentatonic tune that talks about "the big tree," which provides delicious fruit to the people. Elders are compared to that tree, for when they leave, it is a sad day for the people.

[mp3] Mamadou Diabate: "Djirbah"
from the forthcoming album Heritage (World Village, 2006)
Diabate's website
Diabate's previous solo kora CD is Behmanka (World Village, 2005)
-------
Locals in the news:Sean Williams, a local college instructor and musician who has appeared on Spin The Globe, has published The Ethnomusicologists' Cookbook, which emphasizes the connection between music and food by offering over 35 complete meals, from appetizers to entrees to side dishes to desserts and drinks. A list of recommended CDs fills out the culinary experience, along with hints on how to present each dish and to organize the overall meal. Listen for an interview with Williams about the book on an upcoming installment of KAOS shows Island Time (Mondays 10-noon) and Cover the Earth (Tuesdays 10-noon).

And the KAOS show Radio8Ball was featured this week on NPR's All Things Considered. While the concept of a quirky indie community radio show being touted by a major media outlet twists our brains into odd synaptic contortions, we're delighted for Andras and Tammy. Radio8Ball airs Tuesdays 6-8pm (and streams live via kaosradio.org).

Technorati Tags: africa, world music, mamadou diabate, new releases, mp3, kaos, cookbook, olympia, autumn