5 June 2013, World Cafe

One of the heroes of this show, slide guitarist, collaborator, ethnomusicologist extraordinaire Bob Brozman, died tragically in late April.  We’ll have some kind of a tribute for him in August.  But check out these moving obituaries in the meantime:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/arts/music/bob-brozman-guitarist-is-dead-at-59.html?_r=0

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/apr/28/bob-brozman

 

The first five tunes are off more or less brand new albums, most of them uniformly great.  The first four are produced by two Brits, a Canadian and an American, all with hefty rock n roll chops. 

1 Rokia Traore – Tuit Tuit (Nonesuch)

Album: Beautiful Africa

Off the inimitable, boundary pushing Rokio Traore’s brand new album, “Beautiful Africa”.  The tune has a pumping soukous back bone but breaks down into something much more in the Malian Bambara tradition from time to time, with Mamah Diabate’s wonderful n’goni playing coming to the fore.  The album was produced by John Parish, most well known for this work with PJ Harvey, with another genre defining musician, Seb Rochford on drums.  Rochford is behind Polar Bear and Acoustic Ladyland, amongst others. 

2 Rachid Taha – Ana (Wrasse)

Album: Zoom

Algerian rocker who’s been around for a long time – in fact 30 years.  His ninth album is a stunning return to form, and this probably has a lot to do with Justin Adams, who we’ve heard a lot here with Juldeh Camara, Tinariwen, Jah Wobble and more.  Check out “Ana” with its middle-eastern surf guitar infusion.

3 Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba – Mali Koori (Out Here)
Album: Jama Ko

A stunning track off a stunning album – perhaps the best of the year so far.  “Mali Koori” is a paean to the cotton farmers of Mali, with the griot Zoumana Tereta doing the praising.  “Jama Ko” was recorded in Bamako in March 2012 as the military coup was taking place.  There’s a noisier and angrier sound than before, as Bassekou plugs his ngoni into a wah wah pedal and cranks up the amps. Howard Bilerman, who’s produced Arcade Fire and Godspeed you! Black emperor, recorded the album, and co-produced it with Bessekou.
 

4 Bombino – Her Tenere (Nonesuch)

Album: Nomad

Bombino, the nick name of their leader, guitarist, singer and songwriter Ghoumour Oumara Moctar, are from Agadez in Niger.  We’ve played them here a few times, but they’ve never sounded as fat and noisy as this, probably in no small part thanks to production ace, Dan Auerbach.  He was behind last year’s Dr John album “Locked Down”.  “Nomad” is a real crowd-pleaser, as they say in my household.

5 Monoswezi – Ndinewe (Riverboat Records) (Hope Masike)

Album: The Village

Monoswezi is a joint project of musicians from Norway, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and “The Village” is their second album.  Singing is courtesy of Zimbabwean Hope Masike, who also wrote the song and plays the mbira. The lyrical sax playing is from Norweigan Hallvard Godal.

 

Here’s a bit of a thematic insert: music from countries of the formerly Celtic world – a mouthful, I know, but I’m not sure there is such a thing as Celtic music.  There is definitely a modern day cross pollination of sounds and ideas – but is this really rooted in some real ancient past or some notion of what the past was?  Anyway, to say there’s damn fine music coming out Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany and Galicia is an extravagant understatement.  Cornwell, I’m afraid, doesn’t feature here.

6 Dolina Maclennan – Port a beul
Album: Bonny Lass Come O’Er the Burn

Folk revivalist of the 50s, 60s and 70s Dolina MacLennan is from a small village of Marvig on the east coast of the island of Lewis off Scotland.  “Port a beul” simply means “mouth music”: the voice being used for want of pipes, the words being nonsense. 

7 Sorcha Ni Ghuairim -  D-tegeas O Deabhasa (Children’s Game Song) (Smithsonian Folkways)

Album: Classic Celtic Music from Smithsonian Folkways

Irish Sorcha Ni Ghuairim was a sean nos singer, journalist and teacher.  She recorded “Children’s Game Song” for Smithsonian Folkways in 1945 while visiting her brother in the US.

8 June Tabor, Iain Bellamy, Huw Warren – As I Roved Out (ECM)

Album: Quercus

The authoritative voice of June Tabor giving an object lesson in bridging the gaps between traditional, folk and jazz singing on her 2013 release.  She seems to get better and better.  “I roved out” is an old Irish song.  On piano is Huw Warren, someone she’s played with for a quite a while, and on sax is Ian Bellamy.  They first played together as part of bigger band in 2005 on Tabor’s fantasic “At the Wood’s Heart”.   
 

9 Yann-fanch Kemener & Aldo Ripoche – Gwerz Dom Yabb Derrian (Buda Misique)

Album: An Dorn

Yann-Fanch Kemener has been around on the folk revival scene in Breton since the 1970, a contempory of Dan Ar Brau and Alan Stivell.  He often seeks out the linkages with Medieval music, especially in his playing with cellist and gamba player Aldo Ripoche.  A “gwerz” is a type of ballad from Breton. 
 

10 Mercedes Peon – Aiche (Discmedi)

Album: Siha

Mercedes Peon is definitely my favourite Galician musician.  “Siha” is a fabulous record from 2007 which I didn’t know about until a few months ago.  It’s probably her best.  Not only does Peon sing, play bagpipes and a bunch of agricultural implements, she also teaches music across Galicia, hosts TV programme about early Galician music, collects songs and publishes her field research.

11 Fernhill – Dawns o Gwmpas (Beautiful Jo Records)

Album: Whilia

Julie Murphy is a larger than life figure from the Welsh revival scene, although she’s English and so are a bunch of fellow musicians in Fernhill, including diatonic button accordionist, Andy Cutting.  “Dawns o Gwmpas” means “dancing around”.

12 Macy Gray – Off to sea once more (Anti)

Album: Sons of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys

From Blighty we’ve “Off to sea once more” bound for the West Indies … with Macy Gray of all people.  “Son of Rogues Gallary: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys” is a follow up to the 2006 “Rogue’s Gallery” – a collection of cruel and unusual versions of chanteys and such put together by maverick producer Hal Willner with aid from Johnny Depp.

13 Da Grynch – Possessed Dub (Necessary Mayhem)

Album: Release the Hounds

Curtis Lynch aka Da Grynch started off deejaying jungle music at the age of 15 and since then has steeped himself in the techniques of the great dub producers, especially King Tubby and Scientist.  “Possessed Dub” is a dub version of a song by Tarrus Riley, and on his fine 2012 CD “Release the hounds” which he brought out on his own label.

14 The Lions – This Generation (Malik Moore & Black Shakespeare) (Stones Throw)

Album: This Generation

The Lions are 18 piece band from LA, who are keen on that 70s reggae sound.  The title track off their new album, “This Generation”, has quite ska-ish, not a little like The Specials or The Beat. Black Shakespeare, Robbie Shakespeare’s son, does the vocal honours with Malik Moore. 

15 The Gladiators – Bongo Red (Soul Jazz)

Studio One Ironsides

A wonderful tune from some time in the 70s.    

16 Clinton Fearon – Bless Your Heart (Dulce)

Album: Mi an’ mi guitar

Clinton Fearon was a long time member of the Gladiators, their bassist and one of their singers. For the last while he’s been putting out albums of stripped down versions of classic songs.  This tune is from an album that came out a while ago called “Mi an mi guitar”.  We’ll listen to something from brand new record soon.

17 Chris Smithers – What they say (Signature Sounds)

Album: Hundred Dollar Valentine

Chris Smither was raised in New Orleans although probably lived most of this life on the East Coast of the US – no doubt some NOLA influences remain, though.  This tune is off his fine 2012 album “Hundred Dollar Valentine”.

18 Wolf Krakowski – Tife Griber, Royter Laym (Deep pits, red clay) (Tzadik)

Album: Goyrl: Destiny

Wolf Krakowski’s revelatory version of the Emil Gorovets song.  Emil Gorovets was born in the Ukraine in 1923 and died in NYC in 2001.  Famous for a string of his own songs in Russian, Ukranian and Yiddish, but also for singing well known European and American songs in Russian.  Wolf is a friend of this show – check out his comments.  His album was produced by Frank London of The Klezmatics.

19 Hasidic New Wave – Debka (Tzadik) (trad/arr)

Album: The Complete Recordings (originally from “Jews and the Abstract Truth” (1997))

Hasidic New Wave is another one of trumpeter Frank London’s projects, this time with sax player Greg Wall.  Hasidic melodies infused with free jazz, rock and funk – and vice versa. 

 

20 A Hawk and a Hacksaw – Marikam, Marikam (Hungary) (Traditional) (L.M. Dupli-Cation)

Album: You Have Already Gone to the Other World

A Hawk and a Hacksaw with a jews harp led “Marikam, Marikam”, a traditional tune.  A Hawk and a Hacksaw is Jeremy Barnes, ex-drummer for Neutral Milk Hotel, and violinist Heather Trost and they’re from Albuquerque, New Mexico.  It’s on their absolutely fabulous new album.  There’ll more about that project in the August show.   

21 Alexander Turnquist – Standing at the Entrance of a Hidden City (Tompkins Square)

Album: Imaginational Anthem vol. 5

The label Tompkins Square has become a home for new guitarists taking forward John Fahey’s American Primitive acoustic guitar ragas.  Alexander Turnquist is an Idaho guitarist and composer who brings minimalism into the guitar raga fray. 

22 Inle Myint, Yi Yi Thant – A Huntsman Enchanted (Smithsonian Folkways)

Album: Mahagita: Harp and Vocal Music of Burma

From the Mahagita, a Burmese collection of great songs based on the Indian classical tradition, harpist Inle Myint Maung, who plays a 16-string arched harp, and vocalist Yi Yi Thant, who also plays percussion. 

23 Unknown Artist – Sabaithong Powpuri/ Broken Heart So Let’s Dance (Sublime Frequencies)

Album: Molam: Thai Country Groove from Isan

Heading south to the rural areas of Laos and Isan region of Thailand, for some molam.  Molam, which means “master singer”, is an umbrella term for many regional singing styles usually accompanied by a free-reed bamboo mouth organ and various lute-like instruments.  The late 70 early 80s saw the introduction of electric instruments into the area and a fantastic array of responses. 

24 Fatimah Amin & the Clans – Oh Teruna (Oh young bachelor) (Sublime Frequencies)
Album: Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock from Singapore and Malaysia 1964-1970: vol 1

Even further south to Singapore and Malaysia, from the “Pop Yeh Yeh” era spanning from the mid 60s to 1970.  Who would have thought surf music could travel so far?

25 T.K. Ramamoorthy – Ranjani (EM Records)
Album: Fabulous Notes & Beats of the Indian Carnatic-Jazz

T K Ramamoorthy was a brilliant composer in the Carnatic tradition who also made forays into jazz. In 1969 he released a really fabulous record called appropriately called “Fabulous Notes and Beats of the Indian Carnatic Jazz”. I’ve mentioned this encapsulation I found on the web before, but I like it so much here it is again – “a syncretic combination of Carnatic raga and bachelor-pad lounge”.

26 Jan Bang & Erik Honore – The Ruminative Gap (SamadhiSound)

Album: Uncommon deities

Norweigan musicians Jan Bang and Erik Honore on various kinds of samples and processors, together with trumpeter Arve Hendriksen and vocalist Sidsel Endresen.  “Uncommon deities” out on David Sylvian’s label SamadhiSound.