8 October 2014, World Cafe

1 DakhaBrakha – Sho Z-Pod Duba (DakhaBrakha)

Album: Yahudky

           

DakhaBrahka from Ukrainian capital, Kiev, have been going since 2004 starting out as a theatrical project.  They use the vocal traditions of the Ukraine as a departure point, and build things from there using cello, concertina and percussion.  From one of their early albums.

2 Forabandit – Mum Olduk (Buda Musique)

Album: Port

Something from another bunch fusionists.  Forabandit are Sam Karpienia from Marseille and Ulas Ozdemir from Istanbul who both explore the troubadour traditions of their home regions, Karpienia singing in Occitan.  They are also great string players – on mandocello and baglama.  Joining them is Iranian percussionist, Bijan Chemirani, who lives in Marseille.  Something from their 2014 release. 

http://www.budamusique.com/infos/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ForabanditEngPres.pdf

3 Avi Avital – Bucimis (Bulgarian Traditional) (Deutsche Grammaphon)

Album: Between Worlds

The virtuoso mandolin player with a traditional Bulgarian tune.

4 Sondorgo – Drago Kolo (Riverboat)

Album: Tamburocket Hungarian Fireworks

Sticking in that neck of the woods, here’s a tambura brother band from Hungary.  The tambura is a mandolin-type instrument and in band on the three Eredics brothers and their cousin  - the bass tambura player being the only non-family member.  Here’s a traditional dance tune, a duet with only two of the members one of them on some kind of whistle – so only one tambura in evidence here, originally collected quite a long time ago by the great Hungarian composer, Bela Bartok.

5 Rachid & Fethi – Habit en Ich (Sublime Frequencies)

Album: 1970s Algerian Folk and Pop

One of the great Algerian pop bands of the 70s and 80s, who were also brothers.  Rachid was murdered in 1995, and the story goes that his brother has never performed again. 

6 Hijaz – Desert Dancer (Zephyrus Records)

Album: Nahadin

Hijaz seem to be a Belgium based group centred on the interplay of the oud played by Tunisian Mofadhel Adhoum and piano by Niko Deman.  On their 2014 outing, they’re joined by Italian Carlo Rizzo on percussion.  .

7 John Zorn/Rashanim – Zidon (Tzadik)

Album: Masada Rock

Rashanim is a trio with Jon Madof on guitar, and that was their version of the John Zorn composition.  It’s from their CD called Masada Rock which came out in 2005 – one of a number released to mark the label Tzadik’s tenth anniversary.

8 Majid Bekkas – Bania (Igloomondo / Igloo Records)

Album: Al Qantara

Moroccan Majid Bekkas has been playing the guembri for 40 years, plying his special kind of gnawa jazz fusion.  On this new album, he plays with Khalid Kouhen on percussion and Manuel Hermia on flutes and saxophones.

9 Abana Ba Nasery – Omwana Wa Mberi Nesiekhoira (Globe Style)

Album:!Nursery Boys Go Ahead! The Guitar and Bottle Kings of Kenya

Abana Ba Nasery or Nursery Boys were around first in 60s and 70s in Kenya, and whose career was revived in the early 90s by the British label Globe Style via a collection of their pre-90s material.  Globe Style went onto the release of an album of new stuff We heard the tune “Omwana Wa Mberi Nesiekhoira”.  In the mix are number of members of the 3 Mustaphas 3 and the Oysterband, believe it or not.

10 Malawi Mouse Boys – Zochita Zanu (Your Deeds) (IRL)

Album: Dirt is good

With the same kind of exuberance as Abana, but with a more DIY feel are the Malawi Mouse Boys, who also have a great, almost mythological back-story – they came to the attention of semi-famous American producer Ian Brennan when he passing through a Malawian truck-stop at which they were playing guitars and singing while flogging their principle wares, grilled mice on sticks.  Here’s Zochita Zanu from their second album “Dirt is good”.

11 Tabu Ley Rochereau, Afrisa International - Aon Aon (Stern’s Music) 
Album: The Voice of Lightness 1961-1977 – Congo Classics

One of the absolute greats of Congalese Rhumba, singer and songwriter Pascal-Emmanuel Sinamoyi Tabu or as he’s known Tabu Ley Rochereau, and the band he lead for many year, Afrisa International.  Tabu Ley died late in 2013. Over his 5 decade career he sang with all the other greats like Le Grand Kalle and Franco.  He’s said to have written 3000 songs and produced 250 albums. 

12 Kasai Allstars – Down and Out (Crammed Discs)

Album: Beware the Fetish

A more contemporary great of Congolese Music is the Kasai All Stars who concoct something radically different from rhumba or soukous.  They’re collective of 5 different musical groups from the Kasai Province in the DRC – 15 musicians altogether representing 5 different ethnic groups who have not tended to play together in the past to put it mildly. 

Their second album “Beware of the Fetish” is a double CD out on Crammed Disc and is seriously wonderful and quite epic – there’re an extra 24 guest musicians, and producer Vincent Kenis does an incredible job of burrowing deep into the wall of voices, drums, guitars, marimbas and electrified likembes or mribas. 

Sheer Music is bringing Crammed Discs into SA, so you’ll be able to get the Kassai All Stars and other Crammed Discs disks in good Music Stores

13 Family Atlantica – Manicero (Soundways Records)

Album: Family Atlantica

It’s the night of the fusionists – this time from Hackey, London.  Family Atlantica Family exist somewhere between Europe, South America and Africa.  At the core of the band is Heliocentrics member Jack Yglesias (we’re heard the Heliocentrics here a few times) and his Venezuelan wife Luzmira Zerpa.  Their tune “El Manicero” which is definitely hovering over Latin America.

14 Chancha Via Circuito – Jardines (ft Lido Pimienta) (Crammed Discs)

Album: Amansara

Heading to Argentina for some digital cumbia.  Chanca Via Circuito is basically Pedro Canele.  Lido Pimienta is on vocals on this track. 

15 Las Hermanas Caronni – Chiche Pempe (Snail Records)

Album: Baguala de la Siesta

We’ve had a couple of brother bands tonight, here’s a sister band from Argintina.  Laura and Gianna Caronni are both classically trained – on cello and clarinet – and play folk songs with some refinement. 

16 Los De Abajo – Cicatrices (Flowfish Records GbR)

Album: Mariachi Beat

Los de Abajo started out as a four piece Latin ska band in Mexico City in the early 90s, but they’ve more than doubled in size with constantly changing personnel and broadened their sound a lot since then.  Their latest album draws heavily on traditional Mexican music. 

17 Petrona Martinez – La Petronica Martinez (Tambora Golpia) (ft Martina Camargo) (Chaco World Music)

Album: Las Penas Aleges

A living legend of Colombian folk music, Petrona Martinez, is well into her 70s now.  The style she plays is called bullerengue and it’s from the Caribbean coast of Colombia.  A lead singer or cantadora improvises the verses while a choir responds – and it’s driven by drumming and clapping.  The particular rhythm here is tambora, and the tune was kicked off by Martina Camargo, with Petrona Martinez coming in later.  Martinez covers a lot of musical bases and we’ll be more in the future.  Thanks to Fred Salles for showing the way on this on.

18 Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor – Cumbietrope (Dub) (Vampi Soul)

Album: Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor

The band Frente Cumbiero is an innovative force in Colombian cumbia at the moment.  One of its members is Eblis Alvarez, the guy behind the Meridian Brothers.  In 2009 they teamed with the Mad Professor, one of the great second generation British dub producers, in Bogota.  The album Frente Cumbiero meets Mad Professor resulted. 

19 Althea and Donna – Uptown Town Ranking (Virgin Records/Music) (A Forrest/D Reid)

Album: Freedom Sounds (A Celebration)

Like all musicians, reggae musicians often have conversations across songs and decades with a fair amount of musical scavenging and cannibalism taking place in the process.  One of the great examples of this is the evolution of Althea and Donna smash 1978 hit “Uptown Top Ranking”

20 Alton Ellis – I’m still in love

Album: I’m still in love

Uptown Top Ranking has its roots in one of the great innovators of rocksteady, the singer Alton Ellis.  The song is “I’m still in love with you” which dates from the early 70s.  In this version Ellis duets with his sister Hortense Ellis.

21 Trinity – Three Piece Suit (Belmont Records)

Album: Three Piece Suit (Special edition)

That was Trinity’s Three Piece Suit drew heavily on Anton Ellis rhythm – Uptown Ranking was Althea and Donna’s direct response to this tune.

22 DJ Dawn and the Ranking Queens – Peace Truce Thing (Soul Jazz Records) / Jamrec Music

Album: Studio One Dancehall – Sir Coxone in the Dance: The Foundation Sound

At the dawn of what became known as Dancehall– the sub-genre that gained dominance after reggae in the late 70s – DJ Dawn and the Ranking Queens did a disco remix of Uptown Top Ranking. 

23 Jah Wobble presents PJ Higgins – Inspiration (Sonar Kollectiv)

Album: Inspiration

A couple of month’s ago we listened to something off Dub Collossus’ latest album “Addis to Omega”  and mentioned their current singer, PJ Higgins, was on a roll and on some kind of a career high and that I’d be playing more.  This is a collaboration with Jah Wobble – the title track of their album, Inspiration.  PJ Higgins has been around for ages – she started out in the mid 90s singing another of Wobble’s collaborators, Natasha Atlas.  There’s more of her stuff out worth listening to, and we’ll be doing that …

24 Nancy Kerr – The Priest’s Garden (Little Dish Records)

Album: Sweet Visitor

Sticking in Blighty, the traditional fiddle player, Nancy Kerr, has just released her first solo album.  It’s called “Sweet Visitors” and all the tunes on it are her own. 

25 Martin and Eliza Carthy – The Queen of Hearts (Topic)

Album: The Moral of the Elephant

Eliza Carthy is another great English trad fiddle player, and she’s actually played with Nancy Kerr – they have album together.  A trad tune from a 2014 release with her father Martin Carthy. 

26 Richard Thompson – Beeswing (Beeswing/Proper)

Album: Acoustic Classics

Richard Thompson has a new album out – a collection of some of his great songs played anew in utterly stripped down form by Thompson alone.  It’s embarrassment of riches.   

27 Gambangan, Gamelan Semar Pegulingan (Smithsonian Folkways)

Album: Music for the gods: The Fahnestock South Sea Expedition, Indonesia

We don’t often listen to Indonesian gamelan music here, but recent fusionist explorations reminded about how great it can be.  Let’s start with something old – field recordings made in 1941 in Indonesia archipelago by Bruce and Sheridan Fahnestock and available on a Smithsonian Folkway’s release. 

28 Glenn Kotche 7 Gamelan Galak Tika – The Travelling Turtle (Canteloupe)

Album: Adventureland

Glen Kotche, the drummer from Wilco, with a gamelan collective from his new album.

29 OOIOO – Jesso Testa (Thrill Jockey)

Album: Gamel

The Japanese experimental psych collective

Gjendines Badnlat (Gjendine’s Cradle Song) (Ozella Music)

Album: Hjemklang

Norwegian singer Gjertud Lunde with trumpeter, Arve Hendriksen, guesting.