Cheb Mami - Meli Meli (1998)

«The traditional music of Algeria is combined with Spanish, Moroccan, French, and Arabic influences to create the dance-inspiring sounds of “the Prince of Rai,” Cheb Mami (born Khelifati Mohamed). Cheb Mami's music was described in a press release from the ARK 21 record label, as “Arabic rock & roll retaining virtues of traditional music but infused with urban urgency.” Reviewing his 1999 album, Meli Meli, CMJ New Music Report wrote, “As perhaps Rai's most popular vocalist, Cheb Mami is one of the leaders of the pack, turning the genre into a futuristic dance/funk hybrid with the power to pack the dancefloors of North Africa, Paris, and New York.”

A native of Saida, a small village in southwest Algeria, Cheb Mami has been attracting attention with his soulful singing since his early teens. In 1971, he placed second in a talent contest organized by Ihan Wa Chabab. Despite recording several successful cassettes in the 1980s, he made little money from their sale. Frustrated by the music industry in his homeland, he soon began to consider alternatives. Although he served a stint in the Algerian military, he relocated to Paris, France, following his discharge in 1975. With the release of his first internationally-distributed album, The Prince of Rai, in 1989, Cheb Mami reached the upper echelon of Rai music. Cheb Mami has continued to take the Rai tradition to new heights.

One of the finest records of the wildly-heralded “Rai” movement, Meli Meli is a true vocal lovers record. Mami's voice is one of the most versatile and powerful in world-pop music today. His three-octave range is truly something to behold, and his use of it on such songs as "H'Rabti" and "Parisien Du Nord" (performed with rap singer K-Mel of Alliance Ethnique ) and others will leave you breathless. Originally released to platinum success in France, Meli Meli is an awesome document that shows why Mami is one of the most respected middle-Eastern artists in existence today.”» (AMG)

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Gilles Peterson in Brazil (2004)

A great party record (two-disc set). Have fun!

«Radio One and Worldwide DJ Gilles Peterson is an authority on world music, and Brazilian music is the most happening global sound of the moment. This album has been compiled using Peterson's vast knowledge of what's been turning up the heat in clubs and on the radio. This is a two-disc edition, one containing Brazilian heritage and traditional music and one hosting cuts from the new generation of artists.» (Amazon)

Full tracklist and more English reviews here

Recensione in italiano qui

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Amadou & Mariam - The Best Of (2005)

«A musical husband-and-wife duo that got its start in Mali, Amadou & Mariam met in 1975 at Mali's Bamako Institute for the Young Blind. Amadou (born Amadou Bagayoko in Bamako in October of 1954) began his musical career in 1968, and by 1974 joined Les Ambassadeurs du Motel, a leading group (which counted Salif Keita as a member) in his home country. He wound up at the aforementioned institute after becoming blind as a teenager through a congenital cataract. His future wife, Mariam Doumbia (born in Bamako on April 15, 1958), was already at the institute (she became blind at the age of five), studying Braille as well as teaching classes in dance and music. Over time, the pair would have a huge influence on the artistic programs at the school, with Amadou directing a group of pupils and Mariam handling lead vocal duties for the school orchestra.
In 1980, the pair married and decided that they would make a good collaborative musical team. Over the next five years, they performed in their home country, and Amadou's solo career and work won him many accolades and awards. In 1985, the group toured out of country for the first time, with shows in Burkina Faso. In 1986, Amadou & Mariam, realizing that Mali and its distinct lack of recording resources would be a major hindrance in their career, opted to move to the neighboring Ivory Coast. There they began to release a series of cassettes (with help from the Nigerian producer Maikano) that would become the foundation of their later successes. By 1991, the pair had released four volumes of their work on cassette, and the buzz was enough that in 1994 they were invited to Paris to perform and record new work there.
Although the resulting sessions were never released, Amadou & Mariam kept on, and in 1998 they released their first CD album, Sou Ni Tile. From 1998 to 2002, a series of releases highlighting their early work (both together and solo) preceded their next album, Wati. In 2003, world music luminary Manu Chao began to work with the couple, and in 2004 Amadou & Mariam emerged from the studio with what was to be their landmark album, Dimanche a Bamako. The success of the album led to tours, awards, and accolades from all over Europe and Africa.
In 2005, they released a live album and DVD, and in 2007 […] performed at Bastille Day celebrations, as well as opening up for the American rock act Scissor Sisters in England. Released in 2008, Welcome to Mali featured guest appearances by K'Naan, Keziah Jones, -M-, Toumani Diabaté, Tiken Jah Fakoly, and Juan Rozoff, as well as production help from Damon Albarn.» (AMG)

Official Site (with full French bio): http://www.amadou-mariam.com/

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Home on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/homeproject

Nous vivons une période cruciale. Les scientifiques nous disent que nous avons 10 ans pour changer nos modes de vie, éviter d'épuiser les ressources naturelles et empêcher une évolution catastrophique du climat de la Terre. Il faut que chacun participe à l'effort collectif et c'est pour sensibiliser le plus grand monde que j'ai conçu le film HOME. Afin de diffuser ce film le plus largement possible, il fallait qu'il soit gratuit. Un mécène, le groupe PPR, a permis qui le soit. EuropaCorp, qui en assure la distribution, s'est engagé à ne faire aucun bénéfice car HOME n'a aucune ambition commerciale. J'aimerais que ce film devienne aussi votre film. Partagez-le. Et agissez.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Film disponible sur YouTube jusqu'au 14 Juin 2009

We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate. The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being. For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film.
HOME has been made for you : share it! And act for the planet.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Watch on YouTube until June 14th, 2009

Estamos viviendo un periodo crucial. Los científicos afirman que solo tenemos 10 años para cambiar nuestro modo de vida, evitar que los recursos naturales se agoten e impedir una evolución catastrófica del clima de la Tierra. Nos jugamos nuestro futuro y el de las siguientes generaciones por lo que cada uno de nosotros debe participar en este esfuerzo colectivo. HOME ha sido creada para hacer llegar este mensaje de movilización a todos los habitantes de nuestro planeta. Es por esta razón que la película HOME es gratuita, gracias al mecenazgo del grupo PPR y la distribuidora Europacorp, que ofrecieron su apoyo de forma desinteresada. HOME se ha creado para ti. Corre la voz y colabora con el planeta.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Ver en YouTube hasta el 14 de junio de 2009

Wir leben in einer alles-entscheidenden Zeit. Wissenschaftler sagen uns, wir hätten nur 10 Jahre um unsere Lebensweise zu ändern, um das Aufzehren von Rohstoffen zu verhindern und um eine katastrophale Entwicklung des Weltklimas zu verhindern. Jeder Einzelne muss an dieser gemeinsamen Anstrengung teilnehmen ; und um so viele Leute wie möglich darauf aufmerksam zu machen, habe ich den Film HOME gedreht. Damit der Film die größt-mögliche Verbreitung erhält, muss er um sonst sein ; unser Sponsor, die PPR Gruppe hat dies ermöglicht. EuropaCorp, der den Vertrieb sicherstellt, hat sich bereiterklärt, keinen Gewinn aus HOME erwirtschaften zu wollen, weil der Film nicht auf wirtschaftlichen Erfolg angelegt ist. Ich hätte gerne, dass HOME auch Ihr Film wird. Verteilen Sie ihn weiter. Und handeln Sie.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Auf YouTube bis zum 14 Juni anschauen

Ana Popovic - Comfort to the Soul (2003)

«The international appeal of the blues comes home with a fiery flourish on the breakout album by youthful Serbian singer/guitarist Ana Popovic. Her 2001 debut disc Hush! effectively displayed her potential and Comfort to the Soul demonstrates she’s well on the road to realizing much of it. Popovic, who relocated to the Netherlands in 1999, is much more than just the best Belgrade-born blues act. Although it’s her rockish energy, expressed on tunes like the opening Melissa Etheridge-style “Don’t Bear Down on Me”, that will garner the majority of the attention, the most impressive aspect of her music is its diversity. She exhibits some Elmore James-inspired slide guitar on a couple of tracks (most notably on an innovative up-tempo take on Howlin’ Wolf’s “Sittin’ On Top of the World”), shoots off more than a few hard-edged rocking blues solos elsewhere, and utilizes her affinity for jazz guitar in several creative contexts. Popovic’s music, like her blues persona, is obviously still a work in progress but her second album provides as much pleasure in the present as it does promise for the future.» (Michael Point, Amazon)

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Back to Peru: The Most Complete Compilation of Peruvian Underground 64-74 (2002)

«Outside of a handful of reissues from Inca rock outfits like We All Together, Traffic Sound, and Laghonia, the Peruvian music of the rock & roll era has gone largely unrecognized and underappreciated in the rest of the world. Back to Peru, a superbly eclectic and comprehensive overview of the scene during its 1964 to 1974 heyday, goes far in correcting the error, casting a net over the best hard rock, garage, soul, and unclassifiable weirdness the country has to offer. According to the engaging liner notes, this stuff is rare even in its native land, going far beyond the few Peruvian artists who have earned international notice into uncharted territory – the sheer scope of the material is impressive enough, but its consistently high quality really pushes the disc over the top. Highlights include Hot Butter Sound's Pa Pa Pa, los Holys' Holy's Psicodelicos, and Black Sugar's Funky Man.» (AMG)

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Cal Tjader - Plays the Contemporary Music of Mexico and Brazil (1962)

«This 1962 set by Cal Tjader, recorded at the beginning of the bossa nova craze in the United States (released in the same year and on the same label as the smash Jazz Samba by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd), has one of the most boring titles imaginable — which doesn't begin to describe the laid-back yet magical innovations in the grooves. Produced by Creed Taylor, the date was arranged and orchestrated by the great pianist Clare Fischer (who also wrote the liner notes). Tjader set out to offer a very modern portrait of the music pouring out of Mexico City by showcasing selected Mario Ruíz Armengol compositions and out of Brazil by spotlighting numbers by singers such as Elisete Cardoso and João Gilberto. Tjader's vibes are placed in juxtaposition with Fischer's piano and percussion by Changuito, Milt Holland, and Johnny Rae, with a woodwind section that included both Don Shelton and Paul Horn, and even some wordless exotica vocals by Ardeen DeCamp. In addition, Brazilian guitar star Laurindo Almeida helps out on about half the set and contributed "Chôro e Batuque," while Fischer offers "Elisete," named for the singer. The feel here is gentle with infectious rhythms and beautifully wrought woodwinds (check "Se é Tarde, Me Perdoa"), gorgeous piano, and spacious vibes. The arrangements by Fischer certainly represent the era, but they endure into the 21st century because of the shining example of interplay between the percussion and melodies (note the breezy "Silenciosa"). Tjader had been playing samba on records for a number of years by this point, and worked with Getz in 1957, but this was the first place he allowed his own complex yet delightfully subtle melodic (rather than just rhythmic) sensibilities to shine on the vibes. The most remarkable thing about this set is how effortlessly the two traditions blend.» (AMG)

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Petru Guelfucci - Corsica (1991)

«Born in Sermanu in 1955, Petru Guelfucci was always impassioned since tender childhood by the Corsican song. Already adolescent, he joined a folk group called “A manella”. In 1973, he met the talented Ghjuvan Paulu Poletti, one of the principal actors of the cultural movement of the Seventies in Corsica. Shortly after that they formed a band of young people. This band, with, inter alia, Ghjuvan Paulu Poletti and Petru Guelfucci will lead to the foundation of the well known (even today) Corsican group: Canta U Populu Corsu. Crucible of the most known artists to date, this group will revive the nationalist flame within a whole generation. After 15 years of success, Canta U Populu Corsu disappears. Canta was the group of the FLNC and one found all the sensitivities of the nationalist movement there. After its dissolution, Petru Guelfucci continues a solo career, recording albums such as Isula, Memoria and Corsica (The album’s theme song, Corsica, was a great success, as well as another song, Catalinetta). Petru devotes his time also to his other group of polyphonies, Voce di Corsica.» (Last.fm)

«The absence of a percussive anchor to Petru Guelfucci’s pop version of traditional Corsican vocal music launches his operatic, thrown vocal style into the romantic ether without a tether. But aside from a single song, the famous Corsican polyphony is intermittent and used primarily as a dramatic device for thickening Guelfucci’s beautiful solo voice. Still, this is pop mastery at its best, with nods to flamenco, Mideastern genres, and other styles. While the pop vocabulary shifts from song to song, Guelfucci’s vocals stay the same, as if he’s pining for a genre that does him justice. For a hint of what might have been, check out the full-blown Corsican polyphony on the traditional-based I detti di u ventu.» (AMG)

Official site: http://www.petruguelfucci.com/

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Sally Nyolo - Multiculti (1998)

«Sally Nyolo is one of the most successful vocalists to emerge from the jungles of Cameroun. Although she's lived in Paris since the age of 13, Nyolo remains tied to the tribal rhythms and musical traditions of her birthplace. As she explained during a 1998 interview, "I try to be as rootsy as the (Eton) language would like me to be because it's a language we speak with images… I try to be like old singers used to do traditionally in Eton. I try to do like them, speak with image, give my best feeling to the audience." Known for her strong and throaty vocals, Nyolo built her initial reputation as a background vocalist for such Afro-French artists as Toure Kunda and Princesse Erika. Meeting members of Belgium-based women a cappella ensemble Zap Mama at a festival of world music, Nyolo was invited to join the group in 1995. She remained with Zap Mama for a year before resuming her career as a soloist. Nyolo's strengths as a songwriter have been reflected by her solo albums. Her debut recording, Tribu, released in 1996, featured twelve original songs written in the Eton language. The album received a prestigious Decouverte RFI award from Radio France Internationale in 1997. With her second solo album, Multiculti, released in 1998, Nyolo took a more-acoustic approach, forsaking electronic instrumentation for complex, vocal multi-layering.» (AMG)

Full album review inside the zip file. Much more info (in English & French) here.

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Postcards from Paris - Belleville

Monna Bell y Aldemaro Romero - La Onda Nueva en Mexico (1970)

«For those unaware of the greatness of Venezuelan conductor Aldemaro Romero, we could compare him with the better known Esquivel. Romero and Esquivel had more than one thing in common. In addition to being piano virtuosos with a futuristic sense for popular music revitalized with vocal arrangements and original instrumentation, they each experimented in the recording studio and maintained a mutual admiration and friendship. Probably the rarest album from Aldemaro Romero is this homage to traditional and popular Mexican songs, with the Pop singer Monna Bell on vocals. The musicians (well-skilled Jazz players from Mexico) were free to bring in any idea to the studio and to improvise during the recordings. The result was an explosion of tonalities that, in spite of being essentially popular traditions, revealed something exceedingly unique cosmopolitan and modern. La Onda Nueva en Mexico has remained a cult record among those searching for rare grooves because of its completely unique concept of combining traditional Mexican music arranged by a cosmopolitan Venezuelan influenced by Bossa Nova, sung by a Chilean pop singer and orchestrated by Mexican jazz musicians, all on one record! Vampisoul. 2007.» (Amazon)

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Fairuz - Modern Favorites (2001)

«Born and educated in Beirut, Fayrouz (alternative spellings: Fairuz, Fairouz, Feyrouz, Feiruz) began her musical career as a chorus member at the Lebanese Radio Station. In the late 1950s her talent as a singer became fully acknowledged. Met with unprecedented enthusiasm, Fayrouz's early songs featured the singer's distinct vocal timbre and lyrics expressing romantic love and nostalgia for village life. They meshed with a delicate orchestral blend in which certain Arab instruments figured prominently but which also subtly incorporated European instruments and European popular dance rythms.

She also sometimes sang adaptations Arab folk tunes. By the early 1960s Fayrouz was already one of the main attractions of the annual Baalbeck Festivals and a celebrety not only in Lebanon but throughout the Arab world. The dissemination of hundreds of songs, many musical plays and several films had widened her audience to include Arabs living in Europe and the Americas.

During most of her singing career, Fayrouz was part of a three-member team which included the two Rahbani brothers. Generally, her lyrics were written by Mansour Rahbani, and the tunes were composed and arranged by his brother 'Assi, Fayrouz's former husband. Fayrouz's songs owe a great deal to the musical and poetic genius of these two Lebanese artists. In recent years they have also reflected the composing talent of Ziad Rahbani, Fayrouz's son. In addition, they testify to Fayrouz's broad musical background, which encompasses Christian liturgical forms as well as the secular traditions of Arab music.

The Fayrouz-Rahbani legacy is a peculiarly twentieth-century cultural phenomenon. During the early postwar decades, most urban communities in the Arab world underwent rapid expansion, partly because of an influx of population from the rural areas. The city of Beirut in particular had absorbed a substantial number of people whose ethnic and social roots went back to various Lebanese villages, especially those in the mountainous regions of central and northern Lebanon. Politically and socially influential, this segment provided fertile ground for the rise of a new artistic tradition - music, dance, poetry, fashions, handicrafts - whose context was unmistakably urban but whose ration was folk and rural.» (alMasriq, from Fairouz: legend and Legacy – click for much more about Fairouz)

Official Site: http://fairuzonline.com/

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Various Artists: Musiche dal Mondo - Madagascar (2000)

This long-out-of-print Italian compilation is a great introduction to Malagasy music, featuring as it does some of the most interesting artists of this isolated and fascinating country’s contemporary scene, like Tarika, D’Gary, Solo Razaf, Madame Masy and many others. A real must for all lovers of inventive neotraditional music. For more info about (and more music of) some of the artists presented in this compilation, click here. For a general introduction to the music of Madagascar click here (English / Italian). Check also Afromix’s and National Geographic’s monographic pages. Have fun!

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Tanghetto - Emigrante (Electrotango) (2004)

«Tanghetto è una band argentina diretta da Max Masri (sintetizzatori e programmazione) e Diego S. Velázquez (chitarre), formatasi nel 2002. Il nome “Tanghetto” (la combinazione delle parole “tango” e “ghetto”) si ispira alle comunità di esiliati argentini all’estero.
Negli anni ‘90, Max Masri (uno degli ultimi e più giovani discepoli del leggendario compositore Virgilio Expósito) torna a Buenos Aires dopo aver vissuto esperienze interessanti fra emigrati argentini in Germania. Porta con sé un’idea: creare un nuovo linguaggio musicale. Nel 1998 comincia a lavorare con il compositore e strumentalista Diego S. Velázquez e i due incidono le loro prime tracks di “electrotango”. Nel 2001 l’idea viene rinnovata, con un suono moderno, con composizioni proprie e con un nome: nascono i Tanghetto.
La formazione attuale oltre a Masri e Velázquez include Federico Vázquez (bandoneón), Matías Novelle (batteria acustica e elettronica), Antonio Bovadjian (piano) e Chao Xu (violoncello e strumento cinese a corda frotada ehru).
Nel dicembre 2003 esce il primo album, Emigrante (electrotango). Subito diventa un successo di vendite, guadagnando un disco d’oro. Nel 2004 l’album è nominato ai Latin Grammy nella categoria “Miglior Album Strumentale”.
Sempre nel 2004 il gruppo intensifica la sua attività dal vivo, partecipando ad alcuni degli shows più importanti di Argentina: Mundial de Tango, Festival Buenos Aires Tango, Festival della Avenida Corrientes, ecc. Il 2005 è l’anno dei primi concerti europei. Il gruppo intraprende una tournée che li porta in Italia e in Francia fra novembre e dicembre. Nel 2006 è la volta degli Stati Uniti.» (Last.fm)

Check also their side project Hybrid Tango (also for reviews in English, Spanish and French).

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Shelagh McDonald - Stargazer (1971)

«As much myth as musician, singer/songwriter Shelagh McDonald seemed poised to emerge as a major voice in British folk music when she abruptly vanished mere months after the release of her breakthrough LP. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, McDonald arrived in London sometime in the late '60s. While performing at the Troubadour, she befriended fellow singer/songwriter Keith Christmas, who would prove instrumental in landing her a record deal with the B&C label. Album followed in 1970 to decent reviews but mediocre sales, but 1971's Stargazer was a far different story. With McDonald dubbed "the new Sandy Denny" by the U.K. music press, the record was a critical smash and sold respectably.

But after recording a handful of tracks for a proposed third LP, McDonald suddenly disappeared, leaving no clues to her rationale or her whereabouts. While many friends and fans speculated she returned to Scotland, unhappy with her life and career in London, others believed she fled to either the U.S. or Canada in an attempt to recover from a failed relationship or to cure a drug problem. In truth, it was a life-altering LSD trip that sent her into seclusion and also ruined her voice. After a time spent putting her life back together, she married a Scottish bookstore owner and drifted away from society again, only this time happily.
With the CD re-release of Album and Stargazer, her music was embraced by a new generation of fans, and in 2005 Castle/Sanctuary released Let No Man Steal Your Thyme, a compilation of McDonald's complete recorded output, including outtakes and demos. 2005 also was the year McDonald finally resurfaced. After reading a story about herself in The Scottish Daily Mail, she submitted to an interview that cleared up much of the mystery behind her disappearance.» (AMG)

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LS Kancara Sari - Kacapi Suling Bangbara (1997)

«The Sundanese are Indonesia's second largest ethnic group. They live in the province of West Java (also called “Sunda” by many foreigners), encompassing the interior highlands, the coastal areas, and Cirebon, a culturally distinct region. The boundary between West and Central Java lies at the eastern foothills of the Priangan Highlands, and a wide band of west-central Java from north to south incorporates cultural elements from both West and Central Java. Those who consider themselves ethnically and politically Sundanese speak Basa Sunda in addition to Bahasa Indonesia (the national language), and most Sundanese are Muslims. When the Sundanese refer to their performing arts, they are careful to describe what they call khas Sunda – that which is characteristically Sundanese – a designation that bears a sense of regional identity. […]

The Sundanese zither (kacapi) often serves to represent Sundanese culture. It plays as either a solo or an ensemble instrument, associated with both villagers and aristocrats. The instrument may take the form of a boat in tembang Sunda, or the form of a board zither in kacapian. It is sometimes drastically modified to include more strings, electric and electronic devices, and various styles of playing. Pantun is a genre of Sundanese epic narrative, most often performed by a blind male vocalist who accompanies himself on the kacapi. The performance of pantun usually occurs as part of a ritual Sundanese feast, and can last for most of the night. Tembang Sunda is a type of sung poetry developed in the regency of Cianjur in the late 1800s. Its topics include Sundanese history, aspects of nature, mythology, romance, heroic figures, and tragedies. In performance, one or more singers are accompanied by an 18-string zither (kacapi), a smaller, 15-string zither (rincik), and a 6-hole end-blown bamboo flute (suling). Tembang Sunda is traditionally performed in the evenings for the descendents of the Sundanese aristocracy. Kacapi-suling developed during the 1970s as an instrumental offshoot of tembang Sunda, using the same instruments by without the vocalist. In a typical performance (still primarily in recordings, as kacapi-suling is rarely performed live), the kacapi player outlines a cyclic structure of a song and the suling player improvises a melody based on the original song from the tembang Sunda repertoire. Kacapian refers to a flashy style of playing a board zither, and it is known as one of the sources of Sundanese popular music. It can be accompanied by a wide variety of instruments, and can be played instrumentally or as the accompaniment to either a male or female vocalist.» (Sean Williams – read more)

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Postcards from Paris - Eiffel Fantasy

Cassandra Wilson - Glamoured (2003)

«Cassandra Wilson has garnered a deserving reputation for her soulful, visionary reads of songs by legendary composers old and new, from Robert Johnson to Van Morrison. On Glamoured, Wilson composed half the album, and her songs are as provocative and deserve the same weight of grace critically afforded her covers. She uses her trademark fluid, smoky delivery to redefine songs such as the old soul nugget "If Loving You Is Wrong"; the poignancy it was written with tells of a woman lost in the delirium of a forbidden love with a married man. The ache and euphoria in her voice shot through with producer Fabrizio Sotti's stunning acoustic guitar interplay is nearly overwhelming in its emotion. Her Afro-Caribbean read of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" is a different – and perhaps better – version than the original. It doesn't weep and it doesn't get bogged down in its melody; it is shot through with a smoldering drone and eclectic polyrhythms that reinvent it harmonically. Willie Nelson's "Crazy" is kissed with the same elegance and soul that her version of "Tupelo Honey" was. But it is on Muddy Waters' "Honey Bee" and Abbey Lincoln's "Throw It Away," which closes the album, that Wilson offers her greatest gift: that of an improvisational blues and jazz singer who understands these songs to be living embodiments of still developing traditions. Recorded in Jackson, MS, her hometown, these songs are shot through with mischief; a controlled, winking sensuality; greasy, rollicking, and syncopated rhythms; and melody lines to kill for. Wilson's songs, particularly "I Want More" and "What Is It?" with their funky backbeats and jagged verses, are seemingly new forms for the pop song, while "Broken Drum," "Sleight of Time," and "Heaven Knows" could have been written for Nina Simone, such are their out-of-the-ages, folk-infused jazzy cadences, but Wilson makes them unclassifiable in terms of any time but the present and she is working out new forms for color, phrasing, and rhythmic interplay for her voice. Glamoured, like its Gaelic definition, is the sound of the supernatural in a human being.» (AMG)

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Ska Cubano - ¡Ay Caramba! (2005)

«Take the propulsive backbeat shuffle of Jamaican ska and blend it with soulful Afro-Cuban son, and the result is Ska Cubano.The band is the creation of London promoter Peter Scott, who came up with the brilliant idea of blending two of the Caribbean’s most influential music styles. He brought London ska artist Natty Bo to Santiago de Cuba, where they collaborated with local musicians to create the unique Ska Cubano sound. It was in Santiago that they discovered the band’s future lead singer, Juan Manuel Villy Carbonell, a.k.a Beny Billy, a rough-and-tumble former boxer and crooner whose voice is a dead ringer for that of Cuban legend Beny Moré.» (Putumayo)

Click here for full biographies and infos.

Scheda biografica in italiano qui.

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Lobi Traoré - Duga (1999)

«Lobi Traoré was born in 1961 in Bakaridianna, on the left bank of the Niger, some 20 kilometers from Ségou. He's the son of Samba and Nana Djiré, both singers in the komo secret society. As such, Lobi was an "initiated" directly at birth.

Generally in komo, men become true adults quite late. Before circumcision, the adolescent joins the komo, and for three or four months undergoes tests of character, such as leaping across fire, passing through a forest inhabited by lions and hyenas, or going a whole day without food and water.

In the second phase, the true initiation, both his knowledge and behavior are subject to scrutiny before he is allowed to enter into the mystery of the komo. He gives his word never to betray the secret society or to reveal its mysteries; this is why the Bambara say: "When you join the komo, you never leave".

When you mention the word komo to Lobi Traoré, his expression goes blank as if he hadn't heard you and there's no point insisting! He cannot and must not speak of the komo!

At 16, he crossed the river and arrived in Ségou to join a folk group as a Bambara singer. He then left for Bamako and played in another similar outfit before meeting his first musical master, who gave him a guitar.

Three years later he discovered the Djata Band, Zani Diabaté's orchestra, then the rage in Bamako. This was one of the first Malian orchestras to tour France in the early '80s to sing the Bambara repertoire. (Mali includes many ethnic groups, and in each musical formation there are often several singers, each addressing their own ethnic public, be they bozo (fishermen), peuhl (shepherd people) or Songhai (from the Timbuktu region).

When Lobi Traoré started his solo career, he played for weddings and in bars. It was at the Bozo, an important (now closed) live music venue in Bamako famous for its beer, that the public discovered and appreciated his Bambara blues in the early '90s. Since then he has recorded three albums and toured extensively in Europe, Canada and Africa. He also met the Paris blues harmonica player Vincent Bucher, who accompanies him often and has helped him develop the material for his Duga album.» (National Geographic, courtesy Calabash Music)

French bio here

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Postcards from Istanbul: Taksim Square

Taksim Trio - Taksim Trio (2007)

«The Taksim Trio gave one of the standout showcases of last year's WOMEX in Seville. Of the three instrumentalists, Hüsnü Şenlendirici, has the highest profile as one of Turkey's top clarinettists – his last album sold over 160,000 copies and topped the Turkish charts for weeks. But kanun (zither) player Aytaç Doğan and electric saz player Ismail Tunçbilek form a beautifully balanced ensemble in a way that feels quite classical and traditional, yet which is actually quite bold and experimental in its approach. Taksim is the name of the busy square at the heart of Istanbul's Beyoğlu district (pictured on the album's cover)[in Western countries – the one you find here is the Turkish version] , but also the word for an instrumental improvisation in Turkish classical music. The music certainly feels fresh and improvised, although I suspect it is more pre-planned than it sounds. The three instrumentalists emerge from the trio to take solo breaks and then dive back in to toss around short phrases and motifs. Always there are the three distinct textures of dark clarinet, filigree kanun and saz veering towards electric guitar. Each of them gets a solo improvisational taksim track to really show off their skills, but it's in the organic interaction of the trio that this album really shines, as in the wistful closing “Muhayyer Kürdi Saz Semaisi”. Turkish classical, popular music and jazz seem to combine on a genuinely equal footing. The album would benefit from a little more exuberance and fire, but will appeal to newcomers to Turkish music as well as cognoscenti. And we already know that they're sensational live.» (Simon Broughton, Songlines)

Taksim Trio’s MySpace page
Turkish review here
Recensione in italiano qui

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