5 February 2014, World Cafe

1 Mulatu Astatke – Azmari (Jazz Village)
Album: Sketches of Ethiopia

 
 
 
 

In the 1960s when he was studying in the UK and US, composer and vibes player, Malatu Astatke came up with the amalgam of “5 tone” Ethiopian folk against Western “12-tone music” – as he calls it -  which got called Ethio-jazz.  He’s just released a new album with an expanded version of his British band, Step Ahead, called “Sketches of Ethiopia” – the allusions in the title to the Gil Evans and Miles Davis classic are deliberate.  “Azmari” refers to a kind of Ethiopian bards or griots – and you can almost hear their declamatory style of singing in there despite the lack of vocals.

2 TP Orchestre Poly-Rythmo & Honore Avolonto – Setche weda (International Disque (MA 001))

Single

We’re coming up for Mardi Gras in March, the second line parades will get going in New Orleans in February, so I thought we should focus a bit more than usual on the music of New Orleans this month. 

One of the many elements of New Orleans music, and that certainly isn’t one thing, is music of West Africa, especially music from Benin and Yoruba areas in Nigeria, as percolated through the Caribbean, especially Haiti.  Let’s start in Benin with one of the favourites of this show – the totally wonderful or Tout Pouissant Orchestre Poly-Rythmo.  An obscure single.

3 Lord Nelson – Shango (World Music Network)
Album: The Rough Guide to Voodoo

The syncretic Haitian religion, Vodou, has also had some influence especially at the level of lyrics – and there all kinds references to Vodou mythology in New Orleans music.  Calypso has never been at a loss for words, and one of the greatest songs about Vodou is by Lord Nelson and focuses on the Shango cults of Trinidad and Tobago.  It came out in 1978.

4 Dr John – My Indian Red (Warner Bros)

Album: Goin’ back to New Orleans

Dr John perhaps made the obvious overtures to Vodou, in fact he named himself after a prominent Vodou medicine man in the Louisiana area.  But he has also paid heavy homage to the Mardi Gras Indians, an essential part of the Mardi Gras tradition.  A few years ago, I played his version of the traditional New Orleans song, “My Indian Red”, that came was recorded as part of the HBO series “Treme”, which sadly has come to an end after season 4.  It was based on a swing arrangement that Danny Barker put together in 1947.  Here’s another version based on the same arrangement that Dr John brought out on his 1992 album, “Goin’ back to New Orleans”. 

5 Allen Toussaint – Lipstick traces (Rounder Records) (Universal)

Album: Songbook

Allen Toussaint is another great of New Orleans music.  Amongst his many musical abilities is moving seamlessly from New Orleans stride and boogie to sophisticated, elegiac chords.  This take of his song, “Lipstick Traces” in from a set recorded at Joe’s Pub in 2009, which Rounder Records brought out in 2013.

6 Professor Longhair – Big Chief Part 2 (Soul Jazz)
Album: New Orleans Funk vol.3 – The Original Sound of Funk

Professor Longhair was another incredible, much loved pianist and composer from NOLA.  Dr John definitely learned a few tricks from him, and aided him in many sessions. “Go to the Mardi Gras” is perhaps Longhair’s most well known tune, but I’ve played that already some time back.  “Big Chief Part 2” is some kind of b-side or outtake of “Big Chief”, another fairly well known song by him.

7 Chris Kenner – I like it like that (Metro Select)

Album: New Orleans: Gris Gris - Voodoo Grooves from the Crescent City

In the 50s and 60s New Orleans became a nexus for rock and roll and soul, and some of the best ever sides came from there.  This classic track was cut in 1961 with Allen Toussant, the pianist and arranger. 

8 Tami Lynn – Mojo Hana (Metro Select)

Album: New Orleans: Gris Gris - Voodoo Grooves from the Crescent City

In 1971 New Orleans soul singer Tami Lynn from Gert Town, NO, had some kind of hit with this song written by Clarence Paul and Andre Williams in the early 60s.

9 Mahalia Jackson – Didn’t It Rain (Legacy)

Album: The Best of Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson was probably the most celebrated gospel singer ever.  She was born and raised in New Orleans. “Didn’t it rain” is an old gospel song dating back to at least the 19^th century that appeared as sheet music in 1920s.  This version was recorded in New York, August 11th, 1958.

10 Nathan Abshire & The Balfa Brother – Nathan’s Lafayette Two Step (Ace Records)

Nathan Abshire Master of the Cajun accordion: the classic Swallow Recordings

Although not strictly a part of Mardi Gras, there is space to consider Cajun music as part of the canon of New Orleans music – as pointed out in the series “Treme”. In fact there are zydeco/Cajun festivities held at the time of Mardi Gras.  Accordion player Nathan Abshire is one of the greats of Cajun music.  This track was recorded in the 1960s for Swallow Recordings.

11 Steve Earle & The Dukes (& Duchesses) – After Mardi Gras (New West)

Album: The Low Highway

Ending off our special on Mardi Gras: “After Mardi Gras” is written for the TV series “Treme” by Steve and Lucia Micarelli the violinist-actress from series.  Earle, himself, also appears in the series.

12 Shovel & Rope – The Fall of Charleston (ATO Records)

Album: Various Artists - Divided & United: The Songs of the Civil War

In 2013, Randell Poster, a so-called “music supervisor”, who worked on Broadwalk Empire, put together a wonderful collection of American Civil War songs specially recorded by a bunch of Americana luminaries.  Here’s something somewhat atypical of the project - a ramshackle version of the “The Fall of Charleston”, which is about evacuation of Confederate troops from Charleston and entering of Federal troops in 1865.

13 Lucy Ward – Marching through the green grass (Navigator)

Album: Single Flame

Lucy Ward released her second album in 2013.  This is her version of the traditional song.

14 The Full English – Arthur O’Bradley (Topic)

Album: The Full English

The English Folk Dance and Song Society has recently put together a digital archive of source materials called the Full English, which you should check out: http://www.vwml.org/search/search-full-english.

 

The Society commissioned Fay Hield, who we’ve heard from a number of times here, to create new arrangements for a number of songs on the archive and The Full English band and album was born.  The line-up is terrific – besides Hield, there’s Nancy Kerr, Martin Simpson, Seth Lakeman and Sam Sweeney. 

15 Georgia Ruth – Etrai (Gwymon)

Album: Week of Pines          

Welsh harpist, keyboardist, singer-songwriter Georgia Ruth Williams, or Georgia Ruth, as she’s now calling herself, released a fine album in 2013. 

16 Alasdair Roberts & Robin Robertson – Farewell to the Fowler (Stone Tape Recordings)

Album: Hirta Songs

The Hebridean archipelago of St Kilda was abandoned in 1930s and since then has become home to a number of bird colonies.  Alasdair Roberts’ latest project is a collaboration with poet Robin Robertson about the St Kilda.

17 The Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues (2^nd Version) (EMI)

Album: Fisherman’s Box: The Complete Fisherman’s Blues Sessions 1986-1988

Before coming up with their fantastic album of 1988, “Fisherman’s Blues”, the Waterboys spent three years cultivating the new sound for the album and recorded a mass of stuff in the process, including several versions of the title track “Fishermans’s Blues”.  All that stuff has just been put on the 7CD collection called “Fisherman’s Box”.

18 Rant – Tha M’fhearann Saidhbhir (Own label)

Album: Rant

Rant are a fiddling supergroup of sorts – four of Scotland’s finest fiddlers, two from the Shetland Islands and two from the Highlands.  They are Bethany Reid, Jenna Reid, Sarah-Jane Summers and Lauren MacColl. 

19 Karim Baggili – Toummai (with Le Trio Joubran) (Homerecords)
Album: Kali City

Born in Belgium of Jordanian and Yugoslavian extraction, Karim Baggili normally plays classical guitar but for his 2013 outing, “Kali City”, he’s taken up the oud and the results are fantastic.  Here’s backed by what he calls his Arabic Band, the track was Toummai. 

Here a wonderful youtube of two tunes - Lea and Kash – watch to the end, you will not be disappointed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkm2qPGfhbA

20 Anoushka Shankar – River Pulse   -- written by Nitin Sawhney (Deutsche Grammaphon)
Album: Traces of you

Anoushka Shankar came up with a homage to her father in 2013 – remember, he died just over a year ago in his 90s.  This is a composition by Nitin Sawhney, who also produced the album.
 

21 Maziar – Bot (Pharaway Sounds)

Album: Goush Bedey: Funk, Psychedelia and Pop from the Iranian Pre-revolutionary Iran

Over the last few years I’ve played a bunch of pop music from pre-revolutionary Iran.  Pharaway Sounds have a new collection of that sort of thing. 

22 Jon Balke, Amina Alaoui, Jon Hassell, Kheir Eddine M’Kachiche, Barokksolistene – Ya Safwati (ECM)
Album: Siwan

In 2009 Norwegian keyboardist and composer, Jon Balke was commissed by the Oslo Club Cosmopolite to come with something reflecting a harmonious meeting of different cultures.  He took the Al-Andalus (or medieval Andalusia) as his basis and worked with a baroque ensemble, and musicians from Algeria, Iran, Morocco and Norway as well as trumpeter, Jon Hassel, to come with “Siwan” – which in the Latin-Arab hybrid language of Aljamiado, means “balance”. 

 

23 Augustus Pablo & The Upsetters – Pride (Pressure Sounds)

Album: Lee Perry and his Upsetters present Roaring Lion: 16 Untamed Black Ark Masters & Dubplates)

The great British reggae re-issue label, Pressure Sounds, have uncovered yet more unreleased material by Lee Perry from the Black Ark period in the mid to late 70s.  This is something with melodica player Augustus Pablo at the fore, a great producer in this own right. 

24 Carlton and the Shoes – Love Is All (Studio One)

Album: Love me forever

From the same period as those Black Ark recordings, Carlton and the Shoes with “Love is all” from their 1968 album “Love me forever” recorded at Studio One.

25 Debademba – Djiki (World Village)

Album: Souleymane

Debademba is a Paris-based paring of guitarist and percussionist Abdoulaye Traore from Burkino Faso and Malian singer, Mohamed Diaby. They have a new album out.  “Djiki” features the flautist, Naissam Jalal.

26 Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba – Poye 2 (Out Here)

Album: Jama Ko

Buried in the one of the great albums from 2013 is kind of a blues with very obvious links to delta blues – basically a celebration of west African blues with Taj Mahal guesting.

27 Van-Anh Vo – Green River Delta (Innova Recordings)

Album: Three-Mountain Pass

Van-Anh Vanessa Vo is an emerging composer and player from Vietman, who trained for decades in Hanoi and is now based in San Francisco.  This is a collaboration with the Kronos Quartet on which she plays the dan Tranh, which a 16 string zither resembling the koto.

28 Laraaji – I Am Sky (All Saints Records)

Album: Celestial Music 1978 – 2011 (Cosmic Tape Experiments)

Autoharp player Laraaji Nadabrahmananda is often associated with the new age, but that probably is to do him a disservice.  He’s a wonderfully inventive player who’s taken the instrument into new dimensions, especially with his tape experiments.  All Saints Record have collected a bunch of his stuff of his more obscure stuff from between 1978 and 2011 on “Celestial Music 1978 – 2011 (Cosmic Tape Experiments)”.

29 Andrew Bird – Hover I (Grimsey)

Album: I want to see Pulaski at night

Andrew Bird off his new EP with one of his own tunes.