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
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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:
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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

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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-hou