2 February 2011, World Cafe

(1) Mercedes Peon – Deroran (Do Fol)

Mercedes Peon draws mainly on peasant music from the Galician region, in NE Spain. Her singing and tambourine (or pandeireta) playing is distinctively Galician. “Deroran” comes off her latest CD, “Sos”, which means “alone” in Gallego. On the cover of the CD, Sos is given another meaning by translation into Morse code – SOS. Peon is also keen to emphasise the connections with Portuguese, Moroccan and Berber music.


2) Gaiteiros de Lisboa – O Fim da picada (Sony UK/Zoom)

Wizard vocal polyphony, clattering farm-implement peasant percussion, early music and jazz are all grist to Gaiteiros de Lisboa’s mill – and they also bring in instruments of their own invention. “O fim de picada” literally means “the end of the pinprick” and comes off their 2006 release, “Satiro”. The bass line is provided by something Cape Town’s The Honeymoon Suites used to play and called the “Plastic Fantastic” - basically PVC pipes of different lengths, hit end on with beaters that look like the soles of flip flops.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_KKFb-b1Ws&feature=related

3) Dupain – Au Jovent (Virgin France)

On a slightly heavier note than Gaiteiros de Lisboa, Dupain hail from the Occitan-speaking city of Arles in Southern France, and are proud of it. “Au Jovent” is Occitan for “To the youth”, and is hurdy-gurdy and snare drum propelled.

4) Andrew Bird & Sobanza Mimanisa – Ohnono/Kiwembo (Crammed Discs)

“Tradi-mods vs Rockers” is basically a 2 CD collection of post-rock and electronica luminaries’ reinterpretations of tunes from the Congrotronics stable. Congrotonics was a bunch of Kinshasa street bands brought to the global market by the Belgian label Crammed Discs … bands like Konono No 1. “Ohnono” is Andrew Bird’s take of the same tune we heard in January – Konono No 1’s “Kule Kule”.

5) The Good Ones – Eduia (Dead Oceans)

The Good Ones are from Rwanda. Africa has recently become the hunting ground for new gritty, unaffected, edgy urban sounds – probably sparked by the success of Congrotronics, and the plethora of boutique reissue, crate-digging labels, like Analog Africa. US-based independent Americana and folk-rock label, Dead Oceans, recently sent crack producer Ian Brennan to Rwanda to see what he could find. According to the press release, he looked long and hard, and towards the end of his stay, stumbled across a 3 piece band called The Goods Ones – a pretty destitute, often instrumentless, group. Their CD is called “Kigali Y’Izahabu”.

Both “Kigali Y’Izahabu” and “Tradi-mods vs Rockers” hit the shops this month. Thanks to Sheer Music for sending through the review copies.

6) Tiyiselani Vomaseve – Vanghoma (Honest Jons)

Another of bit of African grit which came to the global market in 2010 hails from South Africa and has been given the handle Shangaan Electro. It’s basically Shangaan pop music, the raw and soulful singing still intact, and the guitar, bass and drum stripped out and replaced with some of the cheesiest, trashiest, obnoxiously in-your-face electro pop I’ve heard in a long time – mostly created by producer “Dog” for a new generation of urbanizing rural Xitsonga-speakers strung out between Jo’burg and Limpopo and Mozambique. Over the last while some of the tunes became global viral hits on Youtube, one thing led to another, a record deal ensued, and the collection, “Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music From South Africa”, came out, much to the horror of some people who seem to consider themselves insiders. The Mail & Guardian published a story about it towards the end of 2010.
For more of the story, also check out:
http://www.thefader.com/2010/02/24/ghetto-palms-90-new-styles-shangaan-electro-south-africa-road-epic/
and
http://www.mahala.co.za/culture/curio-dance-music/


7) Lee Perry and Adrian Sherwood – All will be well in the garden (On-U Sound)

Since Lee Perry burned down his legendary Jamaican studio The Black Ark in the late 70s and more or less went into decline, Adrian Sherwood (the driving force behind one of the bastions of roots reggae and dub, British label “On-U-Sound”) has probably been responsible for nearly all the quality stuff coming out from Perry. “All will be well in the garden” comes off “Dubsetter”, the dub version of 2009’s “The Mighty Upsetter”.


8) Dub Syndicate – Dubaddisababa (On-U-Sound)

In David Katz’s tome on Perry, “People Funny Boy”, Sherwood tells how he’s got into the habit of recording Perry’s gnomic utterances, which he says are often way stranger, wittier and insightful than what is formally recorded for albums. In the mid-90s he wove some of these utterances into Dub Syndicate’s ultra icy, clinical reggae on “Dubaddisababa”.

9) Dub Colossus – Habasha Dub (Real World)

Very much in the spirit of Adrian Sherwood and On-U Sound, that was Dub Colossus, producer Nick Page’s collaboration with a bunch of Ethiopian musicians. It’s from their 2009 EP “Return of Addis”.

10) Muluken Mellesse – Ete endenesh gadawo (Buda Musique)

From the Ethiopiques’ very first release, “Golden Years of Ethiopian Music 1969 – 1975”.

11) Omar Khorsid – Sabirine (Sublime Frequencies)

Egyptian Omar Khorsid is often called the greatest Arab guitarist, but is not very well known in the west. Sublime Frenquencies’ 2010 “Guitar El Chark” (“Guitar of the Orient”) collects some of the stuff he put out in Beirut between ’72 and ’78, and from that collection, we just heard “Sabirine”, the guitar heavily cloaked in really sumptuous synthy strings. Half the glory of the tune is probably due to sound engineer Nabil Moumtaz, who has managed to weld together very rootsy, multilayered Arabic percussion to synth, organ and guitar. Prior to the heady days in Beirut, Khorsid had formed a beat group in Cairo and played in orchestral settings with Oum Kalthoum.

12) Los Beltons – Cumbia Pop (Vampi Soul)

Cumbia is popular South American dance music. 1960s Peruvian cumbia is perhaps an unlikely place to find some of the most scorching surf guitar you’ll hear anywhere. Besides Hank Marvin, think Link Wray. The tune comes from Vampi Soul’s 2010 collection “Cumbia Beat Vol 1: Experimental Guitar Driven Tropical Sounds from Peru 1966 to 1976”.

13) Manzanita – Agua (Roots of Chicha 2 – (Crammed Discs)

Peruvian Cumbia played on guitar and other pop instruments is also often called chicha. Crammed Discs also put out a fine collection of 60s and 70s cumbia in 2010, “The Roots of Chicha 2: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru”.

14) Franco – Mario (Sterns)

In 1985 Franco released what would become his biggest hit in the DRC and beyond, “Mario”. Its success was surprising for several reasons. Firstly, the tune wasn’t rhumba or soukous, for which Franco was best known. It was something of Franco’s invention which he called “odemba”, which he claimed came from a kind of ritual dance, although no one has been able to trace it. Secondly, there were two versions of the single released, which thinned out record sales, and, thirdly, both versions were in excess of 13 minutes long, which didn’t make them radio friendly. Lastly, the song was told from a woman’s point of view – in the song a rich woman of independent means complains about her over-educated slacker boyfriend. People have looked for hidden meanings that reflect Franco’s life in the lyrics, but according to Ken Braun’s notes in Stern’s “Francophonic vol 2” collection, the song is just an example of what he calls Franco’s “social portraiture”.

15) Mayaoula Mayoni – Potopotoville (Disc’orient)

Mayaoula Mayoni is clearly a great Congolese singer and guitarist, although there’s not much information out there on him, besides the fact that he sang in Franco’s band at some point. “Potopotoville” is also not standard soukous or rumba. It was released on the LP “Le Grand” and is long out of print. You can find it on the Global Groove blog.

16) Celestine Ukwu and his Philosphers National – Ebemi (Phillips Nigeria)

Heading briefly into some laidback highlife territory, this is Celestine Ukwu and his Philosphers National from Nigeria, off a fantastic LP “Ndu Ka Aku”, which you can also find on the Global Groove blog.

17) Ruth Theodore – Overflow (River Rat)

Relatively new on the scene and invoking all sorts of comparisons to Lili Allen and other lippy London widegirls and boys, Ruth Theodore brought out a new CD in 2010 – “White Holes of Mole Hills”. She’s much folkier, jazzier, and generally wittier, quirkier and darn right more inventive. That was her single “Overflow”. Something to do with evolution, communication and effluent – who knows, but it’s pretty infectious

18) Andy Cutting – Edges/Thin Waltz (Lane)

Andy Cutting has long been on the cutting edge of button accordionists. His 2010 release was his first solo one, and it’s just called “Andy Cutting”.

19) Dalla – Gannel Crake/ Cribbar/ Two Borders (Dalla Records)

Staying with traditional dance music from British Isles that was Dalla from Cornwell, who actually sing in Cornish. Hilary Coleman provides the wonderful bass clarinet on the tune we’ve just heard “The Gannel Crake”, and that comes off their 2010 release “Cribbar”. Buried in the mix is the crowdy crawn, which is kind of Cornish bodhran or frame drum.

20) Huun Huur Tu – Kozhamyk (World Village)

Tuvan band Huun Huur Tu return to a more traditional sound on their new CD “Ancestors Call”. It’s a fine CD, possibly their best.

21) Albert Kuvezin and Yat Kha – The Way my Poetry should Go (Yat Kha Records)

Tuvan Albert Kuvezin’s latest CD, “Poets & Lighthouses”, was recorded on a remote Scottish island and is just out on Kuvezin’s own label, Yat Kha Records. On the album Kuvezin sings texts and translations of Japanese, Russian and Tuvan poetry. The wonderful clarinet playing there is by Sarah Homer.

22) Moondog – Fog on the Hudson (425 W 57th Street) (Honest Jons)

New York street musician, Moondog, demonstrates his love for non-Western timings, with something clearly recorded in the field, the totally atmospheric, in-the-place, “Fog on the Hudson (425 W 57th Street)”.


23) Yim Yames and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band – St James Infirmary (Preservation Hall Recordings)

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans (which both preserves New Orleans jazz and helps support aging musicians from the scene) put out what they call a benefit and outreach album in 2010. Basically it’s an album of pairings between the band and well known guests, largely from the current Americana scene. Yim Yames is also Jim James, the singer from My Morning Jacket. Some people credit the song “St James Infirmary” to 19th century songwriter Irving Mills (aka as Joe Primrose), although it seems to be based on the 19th century English song, “The Unfortunate Rake”.