Rolling World Music 2006 Thread

I also like the *Congotronics 2* comp of suburban-Kinshasha Konono-style distortion drone music on Crammed Disc; best cuts, I think are by Kusai Allstars featuring Muambuyi, Kisanzi Congo, Basokin featuring Mi Amor, and, yep, Konono No. 1; actually, it seems they saved the two best for the end of the CD, which is a little annoying, but if there are great ones I've missed, somebody please let me know. Also, I haven't been able to get my copy of the DVD to work, for some reason. Bob Xgau, who knows a million times more about African music than I do, has told me that he thinks the Konono No. 1 album from last year was African music for people who don't like African music. I liked it okay (though not nearly enough to put it in my top ten - -actually, I liked both Konono CDs I heard okay), and admittedly, I'm not somebody who listens to African music much. I'd like to hear whether Konono fans and/or non-fans feel Bob's off base about that. For whatever it's worth, he's never been much of a Kraut-rock fan, and it''s probably not a stretch to say what's good about Konono might have more in common with what's good about Kraut-rock (when it's good) than what's more typically good about African music when ditto.

"More heavily-distorted sounds, more DIY amplification... but also a whole array of different rhythms, buzzing drums, swirling guitars and hypnotic balafons."

it's easy to see why people who don't listen to a lot of african music might want to hear it. i mean, duh.

um, that was in response to chuck's xgau line about people who don't listen to african music. i still haven't heard this stuff yet. i'm sure i would love it.

this might be true but only up to a certain point. as was pointed out on the konono thread, abd by scott above, the reason for this has to do w/ how it was marketed (i.e. it was sort of marketed as just that; african music for people who don't normally listen to it). still ... quite a few people on ilm who loved it also love african music in general, not to mention african music fans i know liked it. so there you go, the difference between how it was presented and reality.

yeah, the new congotronics 2 is pretty great though.

i still haven't picked up 'golden afrique' 2 - i think it was released elsewhere a few months ago but doesn't come out in the states until sometime this month. it looks just as good as the first.

is there a new Tom Zé record called something like "Estudando o Pagoda"? new stuff, old stuff reissued? I sure love Zé.

So, I'm now being mistaken for a hipster, am I? Anyhow, this is what I posted on the Pazz and double-p Jopp thread (album is called 1. Guitars of the Golden Triangle: Raw, Rare & Forgotten Archival Recordings from 1970's Shan State. Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar (Burma) Vol. 2

"I'm listening to this right now and it's achingly gorgeous and energetically ratty at the same time. If I'd been able to give it more than a cursory listen before the deadline it would have been a strong candidate. The title grabs your attention but is a bit misleading, since this is voice and song music at least as much as it's guitar music. The tracks were recorded in the '70s, but as far as the electric American influence, no one seems to have heard anything recorded later than 1967. No power chords and no sustain. A fellow named Saing Saing Maw, who's got a whole bunch of tracks, sings in a relaxed almost rockabilly style, somewhat reminiscent of Ricky Nelson, and like Nelson he has an intense band and a guitarist slinging ice pellets at us. He also - I'm serious - seems to have heard the Seeds' 'Pushin' Too Hard,' hence chords are played with a similar push. Other performers do tunes with an early '60s lilt. Not that my listing these influences gives much of an idea what the record sounds like. It's fundamentally Asian, with vocals that rise to a ringing high-pitch, and sad little descents. From a part of Myanmar [Burma] that's reputed to be lawless and to be inaccessible to outsiders."

So, "achingly gorgeous": I'm still in need of adjectival help, if Haikunym or someone else can give me any more suggestions.

(Guitars of the Golden Triangle would have made my P&J ballot for sure, were I voting today, and I did manage to sneak it onto my Nashville Scene Country Critics ballot as a reissue.)

I think the point I'm trying to make is that Eurodisco and World music are tied at the hip.

I definitely hear more Kraut-rock (obsessive repetitive clatter unto noisy guitar buildup) than punk in Konono and the Congotronics 2 comp. I like them fine. But yeah, not nearly as great as so many people say (or as noisy, or as avant-garde as far as I can tell.) (And I'm not saying they were *influenced* by Kraut-rock, which they may never have heard. Though I'd be surprised if they haven't heard certain techno etc that Kraut-rock spawned.)

Rockist, what is it that *Songlines* does better or different than *Global Rhythm*? (Just curious; I've never seen or read either magazine myself, at least not knowingly.)

So what have you cooked lately? (Year two.)

Your "Top 10 Albums of All Time" List

but it's really random. the numbers don't mean much. someday, i will do a real list.

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), January 8th, 2006. (later)

Yes, it came out in August 2005 on Trama, and I picked it up at Dusty Groove. It has gorgeous booklet, but unfortunately all the liner notes are in Portuguese. Where is my ex-Brazilian gf when I need her? The back of the CD makes a reference to his 1976 album, Estudando o Samba which means this might be some sort of sequel. From the lyrics, it seems to be laid out as a sort of three act opera.

The Global Rhythm mag used to be, I haven't seen it in awhile, real fluffy in its stylistic approach to "world music." I prefer to just read The Beat magazine, which is unfortunately cutting back on the number of issues per year it puts out.

Well, I only arrived in November, so wait a couple of months and give it another shot. I'm busily beating my head against the wall trying to fix all the things I think need improvement. (Including the inclusion of Norwegian black metal and Japanese noise, but I have dim hopes at best.)

Gecko Turner, *Guapapasea!* on Quango (Spanish, apparently; "former frontman for Perroflauta and the Reverendoes," whoever they are or were. Includes Dylan and soul music references, and allegedly Monk and Marley ones as well).

(Incidentally, just saw your question this morning.)

The difficulty here is that I've mostly just stopped bothering to look at Global Rhythm, so it's hard to make my complaints concrete at this point. Some of the reviews I've read in Global Rhythm didn't make any reference to what seemed like really stand-out features of the CD being reviewed. (For instance, the brief review of Marcel Khalife's Caress wasted time providing background on some past controversies, while not bothering to mention than unexpected instrumentation on the CD under review. I'm not sure it even mentioned the mixing of trad. Arabic with jazz elements.) I think the writing is generally bad. Not that many CDs are reviewed--the whole publication is pretty skimpy. Some of the editorials at the front of the magazine (written by a woman whose name I forgot) are really dopey. I don't have as strong an impression of the lengthier articles, except they haven't really left much impression.

Songlines is by no means flawless, but the reviewers generally seem pretty informed, and a lot of releases get covered. I don't necessarily read many of the articles. Recently, I liked the fact that they wrote up the Sense World label for Indian classical music (not that that's really my thing, but it's an interesting label).

Ah, I didn't think I'd noticed your name (not that I was looking that closely).

http://www.afropop.org/explore/album_review/ID/1558/Soul%20of%20Angola

http://www.sternsmusic.com/disk_info.php?id=wcd073

first track all sexed-up,
slow at first then gets all big
with the cuban stuff

(Even better: the new Jessica Lurie album, which has a Latin and Eastern European rhythmic influences on certain of its tracks.)

Also, Don Omar's mix CD is the best reggaeton album I've heard; blows the Tego and Daddy Yankee ones I've heard out of the water. (Tego's was is at least playable all the way through. Daddy Yankee's had what, maybe three good tracks? Though I do like "Rompe.")

Didn't hear Omar's live album; just his mix CD that came out in December or so. "Blows the Tego and Daddy Yankee ones I've heard out of the water," might be a slight exagerration, come to think of it. But given the choice, that Omar album (which, again, is a MIX CD, so most of it isn't even by Omar, obviously) is still the one I'd take.

just his mix CD that came out in December or so

I have heard good things about that. I want to hear the Reggaetony CD which sounds good based on the audio clips I checked.

I am intimidated by the reggaeton thread since I am only a dabbler, far from an expert.

Is there anyone who regularly posts to that thread who is not a dabbler?

But there's a whole reggaeton thread for reggaeton talk

True, but I brought it up to talk about how the year will unfold for Puerto Rican music, and to some extent Latin music in general, which is a world musicish subject: the emerging awareness of, etc.

But maybe this should mostly be a thread for "world musics" that don't tend to have their own threads, or for dabblers to talk about stuff they don't usually listen to.

Ivy Queen alb was hard for me to get through too, since she does a song and I like it OK and then its followed by four that are almost identical, then she'll switch to a new style, and I'll like the cut fine just because it doesn't sound like the previous five, then she'll do another four in the exact same style and I'm starting to nod off, then another switch in style and I'll go "Oh good," followed by another four tracks that are near identical...

AXE BAHÍA POSITIVO
Así se llama el nuevo disco del grupo de baile brasilero con el que pretenden presentar en el país la nueva etapa del grupo, un poco más alejada del axe e incursionado con otros ritmos como el reggaeton, funk y algo de electrónica, sin perder la esencia bailable que los lanzó a la fama. “Es una evolución. Cuando llegamos acá trajimos nuestra cultura de Brasil y lo mezclamos con lo chileno y a través de este país llegamos a otros y ahora lo que conocimos de esas partes, tratamos de reflejarlo en este disco, con las distintas mezclas de ritmos”, explica Jeferson sobre el nuevo estilo.

El disco será lanzado en 25 países – incluido Europa- y contiene 10 temas nuevos además de 5 bonus track de canciones antiguas. Como plus para fanáticos trae de regalo un DVD, donde se podrán nuevos video clips, aprender las coreografías y revisar hitos en la historia del grupo como la partida de Bruno y Francini, con la despedida en un programa de la televisión mexicana incluida.

http://miarroba.com/foros/ver.php?foroid=205663&temaid=3180561

chuck, I don't understand how you don't hear some Brazilian funk in this. It's just very popified.

"It is a evolution. When we arrived here we brought our culture of Brazil and we mixed it with the Chilean and through this country we arrived at others and now what we knew those parts, we tried to reflect it in this disc, with the different mixtures from rates ", Jeferson explains on the new style. The disc will be sent in 25 countries - including Europe and contains 10 5 new subjects in addition to bonus track of old songs. As extra for fanatics brings of gift a DVD, where they will be able new video clips, to learn the choreographies and to review landmarks in the history of the group like the Francini and Bruno game, with the goodbye in a program of the Mexican television including.

This is the track list for the one I'm talking about:

01-positivo_drink.
02-yo_quiero_bailar.
03-la_cucarachina.
04-pusha_pusha.
05-es_o_no_es.
06-la_bomba.
07-las_descontroladas.
08-un_zombi_sexy.
09-mueve_la_pompa.
10-filete.
11-beso_en_la_boca_(verion_internacional).
12-tapinha_(version_en_espanol).
13-thu_thuca_(version_en_espanol).
14-sacudiendo_a_yaca_(version_en_espanol).
15-onda_onda_(version_en_espanol).

Translation (by me):
Axe Bahía Positivo
is the name of the new record from this Brazilian dance group with which they try to present (bit hazy here) in their fatherland the new era of the group, a little bit more removed from axe (some sort of musical genre?) and mixed with other rhythms such as reggaeton, funk and something of electronic, without losing the essential danceable aspect of their music that brought them to fame. "It's an evolution". When we arrived here we brough our Brazilian culture and we mixed it with the Chilean culture and through this country we arrived at others (other countries?) and now what we know of these places we are trying to reflect in this record, with the distinct mixtures of rhythms." Jefferson explains the new style.

1. Beso En La Boca (Namorar Palado)
2. Tesouro Do Pirata (Onda Onda)
3. Danza De La Manivela
4. Tudo Bem
5. Maomeno
6. Tekila
7. Tapinha
8. Thu Thuca
9. Cachetada En La Cara (Sempre Quer Me Bater)
10. Ali Baba
11. Gingado De Mola (Mostra)
12. Amo Voce
13. Namorar Pelado (Beso En La Boca)

No vids, unfortunately. Album cover has two chicks and three guys, bathing suits only, chicks lighter-skinned than guys, only one guy dark enough to be brown.

So, "Politcas Ratas" on the new El Tri album *Mas Alla Del Bien Y Del Mal* sounds like a nicely barbecued '70s ZZ Top rip, but I don't think there's much else on the CD. Lots of '50s rock'n'roll revival, one song that reminds me of "Rockin' in the Free World," I dunno what else. I think this is like their 50th album though, so maybe there's a kick-ass greatest hits album somewhere down in Mexico. Or maybe not.

It may be that on first listen, "Echu Mingua" is all over the place. But that's only because Díaz is standing at a crossroads, trying to let so many varied strands of rhythmic tradition flow through his masterful hands. Sometimes you need to lose focus so you can hear the drums sing.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/ny-fflatin4609925feb05,0,6660721.story?coll=ny-music-print

This is the one that reminds me of Lou Harrison and Fred Frith (not as guitarist exactly but as composer). I don't hear any flamenco in it, but I don't really know flamenco.

I still can't believe that you guys haven't heard Javier Garcia's 13 from last year, it's so great and hooky and poppy but deep too. And I found his self-titled Fonovisa disc from 1997 -- AMG is crazy, it's awesome and atmospheric and weird.

I really like this new Zaperoko CD (on Libertad Records, which put out the last Spanish Harlem Orchestra CD) of plain old salsa. It's proof that salsa taking 70s New York salsa as its model doesn't all need to sound the same. It's jazzy and danceable and some parts of the first track almost remind me of Afrobeat (as well as some of Ruben Blades/Willie Colon's Brazilian-tinged experiments).

Also, what are those pipe sounds that are sampled at the beginning of "Freeform"? They sound like they could be Celtic.

Unfortunately, "Conga Carnaval" loses me. I can tolerate it, but I find it a let-down.

I just got around to looking up what the word means and found: Slang term used by certain Latino communities to describe men who sleep with other men (usually for money or as an active sexual partner) but do not identify as being gay.

(Note: those two thoughts aren't linked.)

I don't know that song, but that's not a bad description. It's probably the same person. Eddie Palmieri got an EP's worth of good material out of her on an album in the 90s, but even so she isn't the strong point. Also, she recorded one really good song with Celia Cruz.

Also, I think La India's husband, Louie Vega, had salsa connections (along with his involvement with house and Latin freestyle).

Brenda K. Starr is an atrocious salsa singer, but she's been doing it for several years now. I haven't heard her other stuff (as far as I know).

But overall, I am tired of her snarling on the other songs. Ivy Queen makes a guest appearance on the second half of "Cuando Hieres a una Mujer," and does a pretty good job (more interesting to me than India's singing throughout).

According to the Smucker piece, she loved soul and disco and Gloria Gaynor and Aretha and Janis and the move to the salsa market was because that's where she found a commercial opening in the early '90s. Not that she disliked salsa, but it hadn't been her prime music.

I was actually hoping this thread was gonna be about the Winter Olympics opening ceremony last Friday, where all the teams walked in to disco songs, many of them quite gay. I forget which country got "YMCA," but it definitely made the list. The United States got "Daddy Cool" by Boney M, which was hilarious, since the USA might be the only country on earth where it *wasn't* a hit. There were a couple early '80s picks like "Just Can't Get Enough" by Depeche Mode (still their best song ever!) and someting by the Eurythmics, probably "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)", but mostly it was total disco revenge. Biggest surprises besides "Daddy Cool" where "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Santa Esmeralda and "Spank" by, who? Jimmy "Bo" Horne? Or am I confusing his spank song with another spank song? Either way: Absolute deep-voiced proto-house. It rocked.

I should note that I don't particulaly like the tracks on this where Jessica *sings* (especially the one that opens the record), though that may have something to do with me hating most jazz singing period.

on the other hand we virtually never hear the same thing in any music we both listen to, so maybe not

anyway, hijos del culo is a great album. last year's testosterona, which i didn't know was out until the day after p&j ballots were due, was kind of a rehash of all their styles, but would still have been my #3 or #4 album of 2005

Phil(pdf): Is the Keita cd you received a US version? Keita put a new cd out on Universal in France last year that topped some 'world' and 'afropop' polls over there(UK and France), but it has yet to come out here in the US I thought. TRG and I wondered about this on the African music 2005 thread.

well, i don't speak spanish, so for me this is kind of a moot point.

Oh, never mind.

My new obsession is Jovino Santos Neto's album Roda Carioca, Brazilian jazz yes but with much pop sensibility, wild tempos/time signatures, guest shots from Joyce & Hermeto Pascoal; the latter plays "melodica, euphonium mouthpiece, voice on glass with water and chewing gum wrapper" on one song. So much fun, really puts most U.S. jazz out the window like Fred Flintstone always did to that sabertoothed tiger.

and there are also deft Latin-style salutes to saxophonist John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and Charles Mingus's "Round Midnight."

Charles Mingus, or one of those jazz guys.

Maurice El Médioni & Roberto Rodriguez
Descarga Oriental
Piranha CD-PIR2003
Full Price (62 mins)
*****

What a blindingly obvious idea, in retrospect. El Médioni, the sprightly 77-year-old Algerian Jewish exile (probably the sole exponent of the Arab-Latin-jazz hybrid he terms ‘oriental piano’) forged his style under the influence of black and Puerto-Rican GIs in the nightspots of 40s Oran. Here he is teamed up with a Latin band. Simple. But who would have guessed it would turn out to be this good?

El Médioni’s rippling oriental keyboard riffs rise to the occasion so buoyantly and gracefully that he sounds at times like a North African Eddie Palmieri. That thick, measured New York Latin bass, so different from any bass El Médioni has previously recorded with, is perfect. The richly syncopated percussion – totally distinct from El Médioni’s usual straight ahead darbuka and drum kit – is subtle and powerful.

There are few other embellishments: a tres as piquant as the rouille in an Oranais fish soup; a trumpet redolent as much of the banda in Oran’s bullring as of a Cuban septeto; and a grainy electronic organ in the moody guajira-ised ‘Tu N’Aurais Jamais Du’. Roberto Rodriguez, notable for his outstanding work with Marc Ribot, leads the accompanists on percussion, and the rhythms are grippingly well-adapted, ranging from son and guaracha variations to a hypnotic shekere-boosted dengue. The nine satisfyingly meaty tracks are partly instrumentals and partly vehicles for El Médioni’s gruff amiable voice, crooning the praises of ‘belle époque’ Oran – the aperos, the nougatiers, the Casino de Canastel with the great entertainers who gave it “la classe et le prestige”. Qualities this record exudes with every note.
Philip Sweeney--Songlines

I'm reviewing Cristina Branco's first U.S. concert on her Ulisses tour next Saturday, she's really doing some amazing stuff with fado, including sexing it up (her last album, Sensus, was pretty hotsy totsy) and doing Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" in fado style, etc.

Just got the most amazing jazz packages from Italy and Brazil, had to share. Pretty impressive: Kaspar Ewalds Exorbitantes Kabinett, album called Reptil, very adventurous big band jazz from Germany (on Italian label Altrisuoni); Banda Mantiqueira, v.a.b.b.j. from Brazil; the second volume of Bocato & Lea Freire's Antologia da Cancao Brasileira, etc.

But the biggest find is this insane 2-CD album by Itibire Orquestra Familia called Calendario do Som. It is a HUGE teaching jazz/classical orchestra led by Itibire Zwarg, a Brazilian bass player, packed with kids who appear to be in their teens and twenties. It's big-band jazz but it's majorly shot through with Third Stream and Webb/Bacharach-type pop (including "ba-ba-ba" vocal breaks just like the 5th Dimension) and tons of Brazilian forms, then caffeinated up so it never rests in one style, no dominant soloist, strange offshoots during every minute. I think this would be JBR's dream disc. Oh, and each of the 27 tracks are "named" for a different bandmember's birthday, which is just effed up.

Sorry for the long ass post.

As an aside, Algeria is one of the only countries where an Arab style of playing piano has been mostly highly developed. That's one reason I expect this could be good.

Those CDs you mention sound interesting too, especially the Itibire Orquestra Familia.

Lucas Prata *Let's Get It On* on my probably favorite dance label Ultra is excellent outer borough guido-disco (see also: Razor & Guido a few years ago) from I think Queens since that's what it says on his t-shirt in some photos on the inner sleeve unlike the front cover where he's wearing a superhero costume, plus I bet he weighs 200 pounds easy, probably more. Also he covers "The Ma Ya Hi Song" as he calls it by Romanians (I think) O-Zone which I voted for as one of my top ten singles last year. Plus his ballads split the difference between boy band pop & early '80s power ballad rock. Even more interestingly, tracks like "Never Be Alone" sound quite Italo-disco, which makes me wonder what the connection is between Italo-disco from Italy and guido-disco from Queens and Brooklyn Hmmm....

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also, from teenpop thread:

speaking of Reggaeton Ninos, I noticed in Billboard this week that there is one other album (*La Pluma Negra* by El Chichiuilte -- sounds Mexican, right?) that is both on the "Top Kid Audio Albums" chart and the "Top Latin Albums" chart, always a good sign. Anybody know anything about it or them? (Also in Billboard: "Love of My Life," a duet with Reina off the Louis Prata guido-disco album I mention above, is at #16 on the "Dance Airplay" chart. Good for him!)

I think that's the only Central Asian music I've heard that I like. That and a couple poppy Afghan things.

Anyway, in the end, I decided Tania Maria didn't cut it, Jorge Ben covers or no.

Nothing really pop about these releases, although the dvd and liner notes make clear that these musics have updated their ethnic minimalist folk traditions a bit. They've started to grow on me with repeated listenings. On Disc 2, Tajikistan’s Academy of Maqam sings Sufi Muslim poetry in Tajik, a dialect of Persian, over the classical rhythms of frame drums and lutes. I like when the women vocalists sing. On disc 3 Homayun Sakhi strums and picks Indian derived ragas on the rubab, an Afghan lute. Sakhi lives now in Fremont, California--I just learned that Fremont has more Afghans than any other city in America.

They're gonna be in DC on Wednesday and Thursday for the start of a short US tour.

though Ben Ratliff (I believe) compared their droning to "certain slow metal bands" (or something like that; don't have the review in front of me) (and also to Indian music) in this morning's Times!

Also: Charles Lloyd's upcoming Sangam on ECM is a live trio album with drummer Eric Harland and the world's best tabla player, Zakir Hussein. I just got it in the mail. In two words: GOT DAMN.

They're due out on Wednesday I think. Good to know they are already wasting the opportunity to bring new attention to the Fania catalogue. (If not now, with Barretto's recent death, a movie about Lavoe in the works, and somewhat heightened awareness of Puerto Rican music, thanks to reggaeton, when?)

Do Perspehone's Bees count as world music? I know I saw their name in Billboard, but can't remember whether it was on one of the European charts or on the dance chart. Music is Eurodancepop from, uh, somewhere; I don't have the press release handy. Album out on Columbia next month. Girl singer, though she sounds like new wave era Geddy Lee or maybe the guy from Sparks on the first song, and the second one has her saying you're on the bottom and she's on the top climbing, and "Nice Day" is totally pretty and summery, and "Muzika Dlya Fil'ma" has a title in some world language or other, and closer "Home" brings it back home with an extended Link Wray twang rumble. Cool, but what the heck?

Do Boom Boom Satellites count as world music? They're from Japan, and a goofy sort of a throwback to Chemical Prodigy Bros big beat, and Matt likes their new album too and he is right (I was gonna say for a change but I won't). Anyway, the last Boom Boom Satellites CD I got was five years ago and had their pictures on the cover but this one sadly does not!

Turns out Persephone's Bees (who I spelled right this time) are San Franciscans with a Russian singer (as somebody on the teen-pop thread less google-lazy than I found out.)

Over on that Luciano thread(the microhouse guy not the reggae singer) they keep raving about a mix he did of a Salif Keita song. I see that was originally on a 1,500 copies only box set of Salif Keita remixes. African microhouse--now there's a concept.

So how come nobody has been talking about the new Rammstein album, *Rosenrot*? Probably because like me they figured it was just like all those other Rammstein albums, and so like me they were procrastinating about getting to it. Well, it IS sort of like all the other Rammstein albums (the ones I've heard), but it's also very good beginning to end, and it has all sorts of catchy parts and bodybuilder parts and beautiful parts and sad parts and airy parts and Falco parts and funny parts. Right now my favorite tracks are opener "Benzin" (because I understand what "alcohol" and "gasoline" and "kerosene" mean plus they all work like hooks), "Wu Bist Du" (because I understand what the title, also a hook, means, and I like how the easy-listening opening -- which quotes I think some very famous song, though I'm not sure which one - makes way for Sprockets-metal overdrive), "Strib Nicht Vor Mir/Don't Die Before I Do" (for the opera lady dueting in English), and especially "Te Quiero Puta!", which I mentioned above (for its mariachi horns and people saying "amigo" and "si senor"). The "Bring Me Edelweiss" type yodeling leading into "Zerstoren" is also zehr wunderbar sauerbraten.
-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 20th, 2006.
And oh yeah, there is also "Spring." Which I believe is about spring.
-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 20th, 2006.
>So how come nobody has been talking about the new Rammstein album, *Rosenrot*?
Because it still hasn't been released in the US? I love it, though, except for "Te Quiero Puta," which just sounds like they're making fun of their huge South American fanbase.
-- pdf (newyorkisno...), March 20th, 2006.
Ha ha, I totally disagree. Continental Europeans pretending to be Latin Americans (the Off, Magazine 60, Two Man Sound, Los Umbrellos, I think all those guys fit in there, and where were the Gibson Brothers from?) is one of my all-time favorite musical genres. And I'm not sure, but I think it's quite possible this is the funkiest song that Rammstein has ever done.

I'm not really looking forward to death metal type things being smuggled across the border into the world music world, but maybe I'll find something that pleasantly surprises me.

I'm listening to the new Dhafer Youssef disc

He was on the last Jon Hassell album, too (in case you didn't know).

>finally bought the akon CD today at princeton record exchange, after procrastinating for like 2 1/2 years. (he belongs on the teen-pop thread because frank said he does, in the first post.) "locked up" and "ghetto" are even better than i remembered. who i'm realizing he sometimes reminds me of is shinehead. (he also belongs on the world music thread! and if there was an industrial thread, the percussion of "locked up" would belong there!)
-- xhuxk (xhux...), March 25th, 2006.

more akon thoughts: (1) i think i like the version of "locked up" without styles p better than the version with him since i prefer the jail-guitar-door slamming effects to his rapping; (2) when "lonley" was played on radio disney, did they just bleep the "bullshit," or what?; (3) "ghetto" is the song that reminds me of shinehead -- when akon's not as good, he reminds me more of shaggy, which is still okay; (4) best non-hit maybe: "journey."
-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 26th, 2006.

I don't know if I'd go that far.

http://worldlydisorientation.blogs.com/worldlydisorientation/2006/03/instigating_wow.html

here's how i'd rank the recent teenpop/worldpop hits that frank kogan just burned for me (at least today; these rankings could easily change tomorrow):

1. lily allan (u.k. i guess?) "LDN"
2. wir sind helden (germany) "von hier an blind"
3. aly & aj (u.s.a. i guess?) "rush" (this reminds of joshua clover i think it was calling beth orton's song with the chemical brothers i think it was a cross between fairport convention and silver convention, except this blows anything by beth orton out of the water)
4. mahsar (iran) "vase chi"
5. tinchy stryder f. wiley (u.k.?) "uptown girl"
6. cansei de ser sexy (brazil) "let's make love and listen death from above" (a reference to how skye likes death from above 1979 these days?)
7. light beat (tunisia) "nhary liel"
8. amy diamond (sweden) "what's in it for me"
9. saian supa crew (france) "la patte"
10. dx7 (spain) "el plan semanal"

(and even that #10 one is pretty good, i admit)

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=65232492

"Twitchy Hand Mover" is a bit more world sounding, but "Of and About" is in the realm as well.

Also, check his site www.mickkarn.net if you're interested in his new single, which has one album track "All You Have" and another single-only track.

Anyway, he's London based, so not "world" in that regard. But if you've heard his fretless bass playing, you'll understand. And, no, I'm not street team...just a big fan.

(Also, I think Diaspora was my least favorite Atlas CD, of the ones I've heard.)

Filmfest DC (filmfestdc.org) from April 19 to April 30th includes a bunch of world music related offerings:

"Brasileirinho"-Finnish Director Mika Kaurismaki's 90 minute doc of the Brazilian genre of choro (Paulo Moura, Elza Soares and others)

"Bellek" -A 54 minute documentary by Belgian director Bart Van Dijk about the hiphop scene in the Moroccan city of Sale (including breakdacing to an acoustic guitar version of James Brown's "Sex Machine")

"Crossing the Bridge-The Sweet Sound of Istanbul"-90 minutes on Istanbul "classical Arabesque...indie rock and rap"

"East of Havana"-a Charlize Theron(!) produced(directed by others) 86 minute look at 3 Cuban rappers(names not given)

"Favela Rising"-said to be about Brazil's afroreggae scene (82 min.)

"Hali Halisi"-30 minute doc on rap in Tanzania

"Hiphop Colony"-97 minutes on Kenyan rap and a Kenyan rap hybrid called Genge music

"Hiphop Planet"-a bunch of shorts about rap in Cuba, Palestine, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Senegal and the US

"Le Fabri-K"-62 minute cuban hiphop doc

"Maria Bethania: Music is Perfume"-82 minute doc on this Brazilian singer

"Piaf: her stories...her songs"

"This is Bossa Nova-The History and Stories"-129 minutes

"U-Carmen eKhayelitsha"-126 minute South African adaptation of Carmen in the South African language of Xhosa

Great question! (I have wondered this many times myself.) Of all Latin-American musics, I have long been convinced that the Cuban stuff may well be the boring stuff available.

I really can't formulate it, but most traditional Cuban music doesn't do much for me (despite my liking lots of salsa, which is clearly rooted in Cuban music, but somehow different--unless it happens to be salsa cubana). Exceptions: I seem to like bolero. I like some Afro-Cuban rumba/religious music, but even that's not really my favorite thing. (Also I seem to prefer it mixed with something else, like in a couple tracks from the Sos Lazaga album that came out last year.) I have started to warm somewhat to Beny More, even when he's singing something other than boleros, so my taste could change.

Apparently, I just don't hear what's going on in Cuban music, since many many people, musicians and others, whose opinions I respect, swear by it. But I'm certainly not going to force the issue.

On the Cuban stuff, I love Celia Cruz who is from Cuba but moved to the US in 62 so I guess she does not count. I also love some old Los Van Van and NPR faves Buena Vista Social Club. Now the most recent Los Van Van cd I had did not impress me--it lacks the spark of earlier stuff by them, and does not offer the same thrill as Puerto Rican salsa. I have not heard much Cuban rap.

We need Ned Sublette and that Yale professor (whose name I've just spaced on) to school us on more Cuban sounds.

Have frankly never remotely understood the appeal of Buena Vista Social Club. (And I am well aware that that makes me a total asshole, but I can't help it, I was born that way.)

I thought you (curmudgeon) liked Cuban music a lot more than I did. Since there are only a handful of specific recent Cuban songs (that I've heard) that I do like, maybe I should attempt to write something about each of them (but not now).

x-post:

Have frankly never remotely understood the appeal of Buena Vista Social Club.

I think I understand what some of the appeal is (the legend around them, the movie, etc.) but as far as the music itself is concerned, I don't like it all that much really.

x-posts

Is Akon's Bananza (Belly Dancer) The First Great Use Of A Fun Boy 3 Sample????

I have liked individual (but sometimes only one) tracks by: Maonlin, Sixto Llorente, Cesar Pedroso, Felix Baloy, Sos Lazaga, Juan de Marcos Afro Cuban All Stars (last album), and Don Dinero (who is basically Latin rap), off the top of my head.

*Now Latino: !Esto Es Muscio! Latino: 30 Chart-Topping Hits* has both songs that are more boring than Buena Vista Soical Club (Luis Fonsi's "Estoy Perdido," Sin Bandera's "Suelta Mi Mano", etc.) and songs that are less boring than Buena Vista Social Club (La 5a Estacion's "Daria," Chayanne's "No Te Preocupes Por Mi," etc.) But I have not listened to the whole thing, and may not for months. And I am on the fence about the reggaeton songs.

Here's what I just wrote on the country thread about the world music album I've listened to the most so far this year, even though it apparently came out in 1994 on Tritonkt Records:

>And by the way, have I noted how over the top insanely great that *Texas Bohemia: Polkas Waltzes Schottisches: The Texas Bohemian-Moravian-German Bands* album I bought at Princeton Record Exchange a couple weeks ago is? Well, it is. It's barely left my CD changer since, and the amazing thing is that I keep forgetting it's not Mexican music, which it absolutely sounds like until they start singing in German or whatever. Some of the bands are really big, but some of them just seem to consist of nothing more than a drum and a tuba. Pick hits: Adolph Hofner "Beautiful America - Waltz" 1959 (in which he says everything in America is beautiful including the girls. I have a great album on vinyl by him, too. Must have been really hard to have a name like that in America in the 50s!); Vrazel & Majeks & Bobby Jones Czech Band "Corn Cockle Polka" 1992 (party in the background rock!), Tuba Meisters "Edelweiss" 1993 (yes, that "Edelweiss", but not the "Bring Me..." one); Henry Tannenberger & his Orchestra "On Our Porch Polka" 1986 (on Oompah Records out of San Antonio!); The Red Ravens "Stone Heart Waltz" 1977; Leroy Ryback's Swinging Orchestra "El Rancho Grande" 1985; Knutsch Band "Zwei Wie Mir Zwei" 1993; Vrazels & Majeks & Bobby Jones Czech Band (again!) "A Ja Sam (All By Myself)" 1992.

I only know Akon's "Lonely" and I like that. I saw an article on him in Fader where they had nice pictures of him going back to visit his musician father in Africa.

I like Cubanismo and I saw a documentary on Cuban music at an earlier year's version of that Filmfest DC that I mentioned above that included music I liked. There are other Cubans I like but I am spacing on their names right now. Hmmm, maybe despite the fact that Cubans manage to hear sounds from elsewhere and ocassionally get to tour the world, they are still isolated in such a way that affects their music.

Merengueton Concert & Music Video Filming Tonight at Bravo Bravo As Part of International Fridays

Tonight, April 7, 2006 Bravo Bravo hosts Merengueton featuring Grupo Aguakate, Gordo Brega, and Mad Family. Grupo Aguakate will be filming a music video tonight at the club. Cover is $20 in advance with tickets available at Bravo Bravo or $25 at the door. Bravo Bravo: 1001 Connecticut Ave NW Washington DC 20036 | (202) 223 5330 | Doors Open @ 10pm | www.bravobravodc.com more info on Grupo Aguakate

x-post:

I think dance music genres in general are pretty liberal about creating new hybrid names for new hybrids. I've already also seen salsaton and bachataton (I think), and remember there has been merenhouse for a long time.

Just listened to that Sussan Deyhim this weekend. With the aid of downtown NY jazz folks she gives traditional Persian material an other-worldly kinda gothic feel.

http://www.rashid.com/search_result.asp?special=New+Release

http://www.musicomh.com/audio/natacha-atlas_0406.htm#

Okay, now the second track is pretty annoying so far, with this "it's freaky baby" rap chorus.

Ahmed Adawaia still rules Egyptian style shabi, imo.

good to know about a new sussan deihim record

if anyone into tuvan throat singing is looking for a band doing something new with it, I recommend Chirgilchin's 'Collectible' from last year -- really spacy and floating and built out of layered harmonics than melodies than Huun-Huur-Tu or Yat-Kha.

http://www.purenaturemusic.com/chirgilchin.htm

about Huun-Huur-Tu, I've really been enjoying their Live 1 & Live 2 albums from a few years back recently. they really seem to catch fire when they're in front of a crowd.

the first Jihen record had a few fantastic songs, but it was transitional. Karuki Zamen Kuri No Hana is the one before that, and the "Ringo No Uta" cd single ends with Ringo Catalog.

OUTERNATIONAL -- This ethnically mongrel local quintet's three-song EP, produced by Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello, suggests Rancid's Tim Armstrong sort-of-rapping vague but well-meaning political slogans with his worn-and-torn throat over a ska-jazz-Latin-klezmer-horned rockero mixture that wouldn't have sounded out of place in Argentina or Mexico circa 1993.

PARIS COMBO -- These escargot-eating eclectiques get variously filed under "jazz," "flamenco," "chanson," and "cabaret", but their faster songs actually new-wave in the goofily percussive rhumba-on-rai tradition of Les Negresses Vertes or Les Rita Mitsouko. And 2001’s passingly delectable (and recently reissued) *Attraction* had fewer slow snores than earlier efforts.

CORDERO -- Bilingually Latin-lilting Brooklyn quintet, led by a Puerto Rican-American woman who grew up in Atlanta and later absorbed Mexican rhythms in Tuscon. Not as oddball as somewhat comparable Calexico or Caramelize; too folkloric, for one thing. But pleasant. On their new CD, Antibalas's hor

The godfather of "modern" Egyptian music.

http://www.millenniumstage.blogspot.com/

In addition to his legacy, Sayyed Darweesh's music exerted an unmistakable, and indelible influence on the most important generation of Egyptian composers that followed: Muhammad Abdel-Wahab, Riyad Al-Sunbati, Zakaria Ahmed and Muhammad Al-Qasbgi. All of whom had a major role in defining Arabic music in the 20th century, and on.

so far, my favorite cuts on the natacha atlas album are "feen," "bathaddak," and "la lil kwowf," all of which have guests on them. it's actually a really varied album (i even noticed today that there's a bossa nova; it has "bossa nova" in its title, am i slow or what?), and as i said, maybe her most pop album since her debut, which is good thing. though seeing how she has one of the planet's greatest voices, i've never really *not* liked her. phil, what don't you like about it?

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&EAN=702397735625&ITM=1

Some of the snippets here sound more middle eastern than what Zorn comes up with himself. (Maybe I only think that because it says the performer is from Israel.)

but not really much
when compared with chiweshe
or afro-techno0

But forget all this...Has anybody heard that new all-Spanish Latin-star version of the National Anthem yet? not me, but NPR is reporting than the president already denounced it! (For all I know, he denounced it a couple days ago, but I'm just not learning about it.) Wow. Viva la revolucion, or however you spell it. Most significant record of this year, no contest, right?

I can't really recall - I only listened to it once, and I listened to some other really boring stuff that day (a Laswell Indian-trance-dub disc, for one), so maybe it blurred into the haze of bad, cliched "world music" in my brain/ears.

>that new all-Spanish Latin-star version of the National Anthem...Most significant record of this year, no contest, right?

Yeah, for kinda ridiculous reasons, seeing as how the National Anthem was first translated into Spanish back in 1919. Oh, well.

>The stupid chorus I mentioned<

..is what's known as a "hook." And it's one of the best hooks on the album. The girl's name is apparently Princess Juliana, and she's on another of my favorite tracks, "Bathaddak," as well. Basically, she sounds like Left Eye from TLC. And she gives these songs some extra sugar and spice. (If she was on the bossa nova cut and the slow closer "Yariet," they'd be better, too.)

..is what's known as a "hook" -- one of the better ones on the album, as far as i can tell. the person reciting it is one "princess juliana," who basically sounds like left eye from TLC, and who also provides sugar and spice to another of my favorite tracks on the album, "batthadak." they should've stuck her onto the bossa nova and the boring closer ballad "yariat," too; she would have improved those. right now, though, i'm leaning toward my #1 fave track being "hayati inta," for it guitar raveups and crazy siren effects and tough male backup vocals; off hand, i'd say that track probably stands up to anything on the eno/byrne CD, with which natacha is now sharing space in my CD changer. (though anyway, in general, i'm not saying this is necessarily natacha's *best* album since *diaspora*; just her most immediately catchy. which counts for something.) (also, i probably don't need to say this, but there's nothing inherently stupid about choruses that tell you it's freaky, baby.)

I know what a hook is, thanks, this is just cheerless garbage.

The poppiest recent Arab thing I can think of that I really like is Ali Aldik's album Aloush, which I think you would probably like too.

Boring purists, and maybe some other curious people, may find this exciting (not that this says who's going to be there, but I'm hoping that if they are announcing it already, it will be something big):

Kennedy Center Plans Festival As Olive Branch To Arab Culture
Organizers of 2009 Event See Performing Arts as Means To Foster Understanding

By Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 28, 2006; C01

The Kennedy Center said yesterday that it will stage a festival of Arab culture in 2009 to bring many little-known artists onto an international stage and provide a counterpoint to the reality of war and violence that many Americans associate with the region.

Buoyed by the success of the China Festival, during which hundreds of artists played to sold-out audiences last fall, Michael M. Kaiser, the center's president, said he was looking for the next challenge. He said he was searching for a way to drive home the point that arts are a window onto understanding people:

"We don't know enough about what other people are about. We read about government and politics. That doesn't say anything about what they like, what they find beautiful. Also, the idea starts from my rather naive belief that arts create peace."

Kaiser said such a festival could be a good way to start breaking prevalent stereotypes. The League of Arab States is helping introduce the center to various performing groups, but the center will make the selections and have curatorial control, Kaiser said. "The countries want you to be encyclopedic, but the audience doesn't want that," he added.

Ambassador Hussein Hassouna, the Arab League's representative in Washington, said the festival "is very much needed at this time. In our world of today, and we all agree that it is very sad, all we hear is bad news. In the U.S., they only hear about conflict in the region, about violence, about problems, but they don't hear enough about the bright things that are happening."

The programming will be built around performing arts from the 22 countries that belong to the Arab League, from the founders, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen, to Bahrain, Somalia and Djibouti. The United States has been at war in Iraq since March 2003.

The events will probably take place over three to four weeks, and include film, visual arts and literature. "With this festival, we are going to explore the heritage, also. What the countries did in early centuries -- with maps, science and astronomy," said Alicia Adams, the center's vice president for international programs and dance.

Festivals anywhere in the non-Arab world that focus on Arab culture are very rare, Hassouna said. When Arab groups have performed in Washington, he said, it becomes an occasion for the Arab American and diplomatic communities. Last year, the Syrian band Hewar performed on the center's Millennium Stage. In February, the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble -- a group of musicians from the United States, Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Israel and France -- performed the work of Egyptian composer Sayyed Daweesh, also on the Millennium Stage.

Last year, for the first time in 39 years, the Smithsonian Institution spotlighted an Arab country, Oman, in the annual Folklife Festival.

"An Arab festival is a huge challenge. Every culture is political, and the representation [raises] issues of politics and religion," said Richard Kennedy, deputy director of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

The plans drew praise from Rochelle Davis, an anthropologist at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. "There's a vibrant production of dance and arts, and culture from high culture to the folkloric song and dance," Davis said. She introduces her students to the music of the Egyptian legend Oum Kalthoum and the Lebanese singer Fayrouz, as well as the contemporary Rai music of Algeria in her classes. "We have so many stereotypes -- seeing people performing dances and songs breaks down our ideas about how they are all evil," she said.

The planning will include a symposium next spring in Cairo to discuss the needs of arts organizations in the Arab world, Kaiser said. "It is very important for the Kennedy Center not to lose touch with the groups that come to the festivals. We are not doing our job if they come here and then go home without an ongoing relationship," he said.

For the China festival, Adams made nine trips in four years and saw performances throughout the country. Her office eventually coordinated the travel of 900 people. Logistics for this event will be more difficult, she predicted, and "war will limit where I travel. But we have not had a festival where we haven't been able to get the artists into the country."

I'll be a little more specific later.

or maybe i just don't hate pop music. (bordeom's got nothing at all to do with it.)

and right, i'm not saying the latin parts aren't otherwise common in middle-eastern music. as we've talked about on other threads, latin and middle-eastern have shared sounds back and forth approximately forever, and quite a bit in the past couple decades.

It's all crate digging, both focus on '60s, '70s and '80s.

Boredom: downtempo/trip-hop generally puts me to sleep; blah bossa nova; vocal improv over kanun soloing, but without the tension that normally makes that interesting.

I very much doubt the horn sounds come from Mexico--more likely to have come to Egypt by way of Turkish marching bands. So the Mexican connection thing seems off to me, though I can't prove it (btu I'm also not pulling this completely out of my ass, since I am basing this on partly remembered things I've read in liner notes, etc.). Either way, those horns are a part of the particular Egyptian style she is working with.

x-post:

but i'm not really sure what rockist means by "this kind of singing," though, to be honest

I mean she's clearly referencing certain Arabic vocal techniques, even doing "layali" vocal improvisations in more than one song. Maybe she's just referencing and not trying to really pull them off. But anyway, it's like she's doing these vocal Arabesques but hardly going anywhere really. (I don't think it's necessarily a matter of vocal range--I'm not sure I could tell anyway.) But it is a matter of emotional too. Whatever it is I'm not hearing is also making her vocals less emotionally potent.

(There are plenty of technically impressive Arab musicians who I don't rank so high because they generally don't hit me emotionally: Munir Bachir and Simon Shaheen being a couple examples.)

Tried listening to Gigi's *Gold Wax* today -- interesting (or at least "interesting") Bill Laswell worldbeat grooves around a dull voice I can't connect with. Can somebody explain her? I'm pretty sure she's considered great in some circles, but I really have no idea why.

Way more fun - Gruppo Sportivo, *Design Moderne*, Dutch new-wave-gaining-chops-and turning-world-prog goofball rock from 1982. I've loved their debut *Mistakes* album for half a century, and bought this for 50 cents at Mondo Kim's a year ago, but never had time to get around to listening til now. I like it! Cool wacky appropriatiions of African, Mexican, and Middle-Eastern music worked in. Plus my new theme song: "Happily Unemployed."

oh yeah, also having trouble getting into *sanam*, latest world-jazz effort by charles lloyd (who i've liked before),though some of its less worldly/more jazzy selections (e.g. "tender warriors") float my boat okay. not nearly as good as the new dave douglas CD *meaning and mystery*, which i like a lot and have nothing to say about, except that i always seem to like everything he puts out, but it's okay my tounge's tied since this isn't a jazz thread.

(and just noticed that above phil dismisses the gigi disc as trip=hop, which makes me feel better. though he apparently likes her voice more than i do.)

nothing yet this year
touches my three favorite
Brazilian albums*

*check the Linha Rolando thread for Cibelle, Itibirê, Apollo 9

Stuff I'm writing about for the August issue of Global Rhythm: The Bug, Rob Mazurek's new project Sao Paulo Underground, Cheikh Lo's new album, Arielle Dombasle's cheesy retro standards disc (it sounds like a Jayne Mansfield album, or something from the pre-rock 50s)...

I have Heart Of The Congos on my iPod, or at least I did at one point, but I can't remember ever listening to it all the way through or caring much about the parts I heard. This fisherman album seems like too much of one thing for me.

I think Heart Of The Congos is about as great an album as 2 7s Clash, but I'd put the rest of Culture's output a long way ahead of what else I've heard by the Congos. Culture are one of my favourite 'bands' (in that it's Joseph Hill and whoever - he often works with a local pick-up band outside Jamaica) ever.

For whatever it's worth, anybody who already owns *My Life in the Bush of Ghosts* should think thrice before buying the new reissue for its bonus tracks, which are not unpleasant but add absolutely nothing. (On the other hand, fans of the Butthole Surfers' *Pyschic Powerless Another's Man Sac* owe it to their selves to hear "Help Me Somebody" once.)

"Vamos de Nuevo" (with the Secta All Stars--a reggaeton outfit) starts off with a sub-par Santana imitation (and does kind of remind one of "Smooth" but not as good), but the various rapping reggaetoneros rescue it (and the horn parts are nicely done, as they are on just about every track).

"Nunca Había Llorado Así" begins in unfortunately sappy salsa romantica territory, but Don Omar brings it alive, and the coro picks up toward the middle. (Omar sings a little, even sounding a little like Tito Nieves at one point.) It's pretty melodramatic and very stop-and-start (which can be annoying for dance purposes), like typical VM, but I like it.

I think "Nuestro Amor Se Ha Vuelto Ayer" may have been out as a single a while before the album was released. Don't like it until close to the end of the song. "El Perdedor" also takes a while to get going, but is more satisfying. Both of them are pretty typical VM songs, though, so there's no special reason to be interested.

Also really wound up liking *Raivolution* by MC Rai, a Tunisian dude recording in California, mixing rock guitar, dancehall raps, reggae basslines, undie rapping, Martin Denny-type exotica, and jig parts into rai (an apparently into Tunisia's rai equivalent, whatever it's called). "Hen Alina," fast with wild backup, is my favorite track.

The Kekele album which came out earlier in the year on Sterns is great - it makes explicit the links between Congolese and Cuban music.

Introducing Daby Balde is a pleasant listen, which I keep coming back to.

Also been listening to one of the Masters Of Persian Music CDs (details not to hand), about which I can offer nothing in the way of intelligent comment, except to say that I find it alternately grating or delightful depending on context. It works best for me at daybreak, or in hot sunny weather. So there you go.

The new Ojos De Brujo sounds like more of the same, and I wasn't completely won over by Bari - probably an act you need to see live first, in order to fully get the point.

Kind of the same as my Marion Raven problem, except I like almost all of Marion's songs, I just feel water-logged after I've heard four or five of them in a row, no matter how good they are; and I think they'd all be better if she'd turn down the faucet some.

*Speaking of Baby Bear, this is entirely off-topic, but if your last name is Bare, how can you think of naming your son Bobby? And then, if this has been done to you, naming your own son Bobby Jr.? Or not calling yourself Robert or Rob?

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7042265&style=music&cart=339969570&BAB=M

(More detailed credits:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/21772.10?vfjzVYYw;;565)

The Twiins, Mexican Music made in America
by JOSH KUN
Adolfo and Omar Valenzuela have created an industry home-base for Mexican regional music. Their next project: a pro-immigrant protest song featuring the biggest names in the genre.

"For more than a decade, the pair have lent their market-driven touch to dozens of albums. Now they are focused on something they regard as a bigger project: a pro-immigrant protest song featuring the biggest names in the genre. Though still in the planning stages, the song (which follows the recent release of "Nuestro Himno," a Spanish version of "The Star-Spangled Banner") is set to include artists like El Chapo, Graciela Beltran, Lupillo Rivera and Conjunto Primavera, and will be written by Pepe Garza, the programming director for the city's Mexican regional radio powerhouse, QueBuena FM.

"This will be 'We Are The World' for Latinos," said Adolfo. "We decided we needed to get together to a make a musical statement about what's been happening in this country. As immigrants ourselves, we believe in freedom of expression, and we believe we all have the right to follow our dreams."

Los Cuates Valenzuela, or the Twiins, as Adolfo and Omar are more commonly known, arrived in the United States when they were 14. Now 30, they are on their way to doing for Mexican regional what Timbaland and Jermaine Dupri have done for rap music: setting a new standard for production while mastering the commercial formulas behind radio and the singles charts. The brothers have been ahead of the curve (convincing huge pop stars like Thalia and Paulina Rubio to record banda songs) and behind it, ready to cash in on dance crazes."

(Sorry, that's not a response.)

http://cdbaby.com/cd/sunnyjaincollective

The vocals help pull me in (I mean, just because I tend to like vocals--although I also do like this singing, specifically). Seems like a much happier (= more successful) fusion of jazz and Indian music than I've generally heard (but that might just be another way of saying I like it).

http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.press_release/project_id/265.cfm

Esma Redzepova

I like the latest Salif Keita cd, that only recently came out in the US. The live show in DC was good the other night. Any of you New Yorkers going to see him at the Apollo Saturday night? I heard a public radio feature about that upcoming gig. Keita said he loved the James Brown live at the Apollo album, and is psyched that he is gonna be able to perform there.

The Sunny Jain Collective's Avaaz is quite good. About half of it is Indo-jazz fusion, a track with a bhangra rhythm running through part of it, a bollywood cover, etc. I think those tracks all have very pretty vocals which appear to me to successfully straddle the line between Indian vocal technique and a jazz sensibility. The other tracks are more straight ahead or fusion (in the rock-jazz sense) oriented, with hints of free jazz. Even when the music isn't doing ethnically unusual because of culture-mixing, it sometimes has interesting touches: nice use of bowed bass, for instance. Something about much of this album reminds me of early 80s solo projects by Prime Time members. There are some occasional subtle electronic touches. (Maybe there are even more than what I heard and they were simply too subtle for me to catch.)

cdbaby has generous sound bites:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/sunnyjaincollective

Speaking of Latin rock shows in New York, Phil, have you seen the signs for the mostly Mexican (with one Italian band I think) death metal or whatever show in Queens next week? Well, maybe you haven't seen the signs if you're not out here in the world's biggest melting pot, but I have. My better half, who's about a million times more fluent than me, says there's info if you click on "Eventos" on the link below - -but not *much* info, apparently, and right now on my computer clicking is getting me nowhere. Anyway, the show is next Sunday night; I may or may not be going, I'm still not sure yet:

http://pueblaproductions.com/

Spent $50 at Greenpoint thrift store The Thing yesterday; brought home a huge stack of records, some of them apparently hugely collectible, for that amount (the list is on the "recent purchases" thread); didn't get any "world music" per se I don't think (unless Eurodisco counts), but bigger fans of the genres than me should know that there's TONS of '80s and early '90s reggae, calypso (I guess that's what Lord Creator and Lord Nelson are, right?), and Latin stuff of many persuasions there, very cheap, $2 an album -- more records for that price in those dusty catacombs than I've ever seen anywhere, in my life, I think. Anyway, I almost bought this reggae toasting (I guess) thing called *Government Boops* I think it's called by this guy Lovindeer that I owned once before, but didn't buy it because, uh, I sold it the first time. Still LOOKS promising, though. Lovindeer looks real goofy, in a Navy outfit or something, and every single song has the word "Boops" in the title, so I'm guessing they're some kinda novelty, like Roxanne Roxannes or Big Bertha Butts or whatever. Does anybody have any idea who the guy is?

Boukman Eksperyans were great live last night in a 2 hour set before a small crowd. For some reason, while they played SOBs in NY and the show was plugged to Haitians, the DC show, in a Virginia folk-rock club, was not so advertised. I once saw them with about 350 people, mostly Haitian, but there were only about 75 there last night.

i saw julieta venegas on spanish-language tv the other day. there was this very great-looking, very *vivid* woman singing and playing accordion, and everyone in the room was saying, "she's really fantastic!" and she was, and no one could figure out who it was. i'd never seen any pictures of her, and had only heard one or two songs, including the amazingly beautiful "me van a matar" from '00. i saw a review of her new one in the times recently--and she's been around for a while, she's 35 or so, and from southern california/tijuana, apparently. anyone have any opinions about her?

I think they had just gone through membership changes. I saw them before then, in front of a largely Haitian crowd at a local community center and the percussion wowed me. This time around the percussion was still impressive, but I was most impressed by the lead female vocalist. While her hubby wants to be Bob Marley (but doesn't do it very well), she's got a unique talented set of pipes.

http://www.vinilemania.net/CDs.htm

The "Nica's Dream" here is rescued from just being average thanks to the way the percussion becomes brilliant about halfway through (although the whole thing is danceable Latin jazz, so maybe that's not the only thing that saves it):

http://www.vinilemania.net/vSONORAPONCENA.htm

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=22485

http://cdbaby.com/cd/kaash

(cdbaby.com needs to start sending us money for all the publicity we give it on the rolling threads.)

R_S I will listen to this when i get home, your tireless help is always appreciated.

"tireless help" haha, well that's a generous way of putting it.

The rest of the Horoscopos is marginally better than last year's. A little more rhythmic variety and a rap that breaks into the end of one of the genteel polkas from out of nowhere. That first song, though, is really good. I don't have it with me, so I regrettably can't tell you more right now.

mi cancion favorita del momento es "arriba arriba," el antem de la copa mundial al mexico: pablo montero, anais, mariana, y ana barbara, todos on el mismo cancion!

I did buy that Sayed Darwish collection from the Chicago-based orchestra, but I can't say I love it. I think I prefer this older repertoire to early-20th century Arabic music (though not necessarily to mid-20th century Arabic music).

new Gustavo Cerati is kinda rockish, haven't had the chance to fully absorb it all yet

("No Es Una Novela" streams when you load the site, or it did for me.)

Changing gears, I've been listening to Paris-based Congolese band Kekele's Kinavana. It's their ode to Cuban rumba and rural Cuban sounds with guest NY Latino musicians. Kinda easy-listening, and as the pr hype goes, it's got that Buena Vista feel (3 of 'em were in Soukous Stars, they're now in their 50s). When I saw 'em live though, without all the guest musicians, they just did 2 songs from that latest cd, and came across nicely as a Congolese rumba band. More energy than the latest cd, though still leisurely compared to when I saw some 'em in Soukous Stars.

http://www.maqam.com/cgi-bin/cdtest.cgi?category1=Ahlam

Got a promo of Marcos Valle -Jet Samba. Eh. Sleep-inducing Brazilian lounge music. I'm not wowed by Azim Ali's Eylsium for the Brave on first listen. It's gothic middle eastern. Will give it another shot though.

Some interesting postings about carioca favela funk at the beat diaspora blog.

Just picked up the Diabete the other day. I haven't picked up Lo yet. The Diabete, like Salif Keita's latest, is just good solid Malian grooves with gorgeous vocals using trad stringed instruments like kora and ngoni, trad percussion, and slightly more modern electric guitar, bass and trap drums.

I saw Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe later at the 'Planet Arlington' Festival outside DC( I skipped the earlier acts) . I like Thomas Mapfumo more, but Tuku and his band were pretty good (although a tad too mellow for me). When they got upbeat and the guitars sounded more West African while the female harmonies resembles South African sounds I was most enthused.

http://bennloxo.com/

http://laondatropical.blogspot.com/

I'm eagerly awaiting this...their last two albums were absolutely amazing from start to finish, and I can't wait to hear this one. they're a pretty interesting band too - the singer, gino, was a major pop star in bosnia before the war, akin to bobert wiliiams, and escaped to the US. his horrific war experiences convinced him to devote his life to his artistic vision rather than a pop career. they have a fantastic DVD available called 'dialogs' which features some great footage and lots of insightful interviews with the remarkably intense gino.

here endeth the spiel.

http://www.slate.com/id/2148561

I was sent the Taraf de Haidouks(Crammed Discs/Ryko) but haven't listened to it yet. That Beirut thing, that he also reviews in the piece, is getting lots of attention.

This is really good. I'm not used to the distinctive busyness of a lot of gypsy, but I do like this, and particularly Romica Puceanu's singing.

On to something else--I wanna see the Brazilian music dvd Moro No Brasil, that Pete Margasak has written about-

http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/post-no-bills/2006/09/18/brazilian-invasion/

I am so happy this is being reissued. I think it's a good moment for it too. (On the other hand, I barely remember what it sounds like. Maybe I will be disappointed.) I enjoyed the live performance by this group that I saw in 1987.

Henry Kaiser / Charles K. Noyes / Sang Won Park: Invite the Spirit 2006 [#7617]

One of the most evocative and successful meetings of East and West reunites to weave their magic spell via kayagum, electric guitar and percussion. Invite the Spirit was a sensation when it was first released in 1983 and now over twenty years later they are sounding better than ever. Joined by two scintillating Korean P’ansori vocalists on several tracks this is a whole new take on the Korean shamanistic tradition. Over seventy minutes of timeless, ecstatic, magical music unlike anything you’ve ever heard.

I been tryin, man, I been tryin my ass off.

Today, though, I'm all about Los Tigres Del Norte. I just got the reissued soundtrack to La Banda Del Carro Rojo, entirely by Los Tigres and paired with a DVD of the movie. Sweet.

http://goldderbyforums.latimes.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3226059864/m/5461019033/p/3

Dude, my grandfather's Mexican. I've been listening to LTDN for years, off and on. I just happened to get this one from their publicist yesterday - they share a publicity firm with Calle 13, who I was interviewing - so I've been playing it and the office copy of 20 Corridos Inolvidables all day.

This is great! I finally got a chance to really listen to it. It's got a great joyful anything-goes vibe to it.

Extra Golden - meeting of two members of the Kenyan band Orchestra Extra Solar Africa (awesome name, never heard of them, have you?) and two members of the Washington, DC band Golden. Reminds me of the Roswell Rudd/Toumani Diabate record from a few years back, where you see these collaborations and think it might be a rote overslick exercise in 'world beat' genre mashing, turns out to be a very sympathic and effusive meeting where the sum is greater than the parts.

http://www.dubmc.com/dubmc/2006/09/palm_pictures_d.html

Palm Pictures Downsized with No New World Music Releases In Sight
Sources have reported to DubMC that Palm Pictures has let go of most of their remaining staff today with "only a few accountants still walking around the office" and a couple of marketing staff. Approximately fifty staff members have been let go in the past month or so. This is not a total surprise since Palm has not released much if any physical product in several months. This follows on the heels of Triloka Records getting absorbed by Artemis and Narada getting fully absorbed by its parent company Virgin/EMI, with neither label continuing to release product under their world music imprints, and neither of Triloka's and Narada's founders still with the companies.

September 29, 2006 at 03:27 PM in Music Biz | Permalink

By Jessica Hopper
Special to the Tribune
Published October 10, 2006

excerpt---

"This fall, Molina will be one of a handful of independent South American artists touring America; Jose Gonzalez from Argentina, CSS, Tetine and Bondo De Role from Brazil have all made recent Chicago stops. Though some are ex-pats, South American artists are being embraced by the American underground. Amy Phillips, news editor at Pitchfork Media, says several things have helped open the door and generate interest.

"It's not just one factor -- these artists are filtering through in a context that indie rockers are comfortable with -- the right people and labels are saying it's cool," Phillips says. "Juana Molina is on Domino, CSS is on Sub Pop, Diplo is deejaying a lot of Brazilian music.

"Secondly, right now, a lot of hipster types are going down to Buenos Aires and spending a lot of time there, because it's inexpensive and has a lot going on -- it's like Prague was in the '90s. Also, indie rock always needs another culture to exoticize -- it's their turn."

The American underground's embrace of South America's latest crop of artists as good news for Molina, though she admits she's conflicted about it. "This is the good part of globalization; it works out for bands," she says. "But, I know, with globalization and the Internet, with people having access to all kinds of information -- I do not like the idea of every place being the same place. It can be interesting, cultures mixing, but people are losing distinct identity and place."

That is funny. Thanks Amy.

I'm listening to Brazilian Chico Buarque right now. He's ok.

Currently enjoying Golden Afrique 3: Disc 1 is South Africa, and Disc 2 is Zambia/Zimbabwe. However, the cumulative sweetness gets a bit cloying over the course of a full length disc, particularly with the samey chord progressions on the South African disc.

The new World Circuit compilation is a better bet: it's particularly good at emphasising the connections between West African and Cuban musics.

2. Molina's Son is my favorite record so far this year. The central track, "Mikael", is three minutes of stunning. The whole thing is more accessible and less wifty than Tres Cosas, her previous record, and a lot more confident and sophisticated than Segundo (which was pretty fine). She deserves the attention she's getting.

3. To change the topic, Nuevo Leon's ragacumbiamuffin anti-Kinky El Gran Silencio has a new record out, Communicaflow Underground. (Roughly three years after the missed release date for what was SUPPOSED to be their next record.) It's great! Somewhat more organic and less varied than previous EGS offerings, more hip-hoppy, but with live drums and acoustic guitar on almost every track (and still lots of accordion). Haikunym, where are you? (Things that suck about it: crappy booklet with no credits, no lyrics, and no good art.)

4. Also, apparently my very favorite artist Rachid Taha released a new record, Divan 2 (Divan was 10 years ago), in France and England last week. Canada next week, U.S. in three. Has anyone heard it?

5. What good does it do to register on these people's websites, and they don't even bother to send you an e-mail when they release an album that you are willing actually to buy without question?

Henry Kaiser / Charles K. Noyes / Sang Won Park: Invite the Spirit 2006 [#7617]

One of the most evocative and successful meetings of East and West reunites to weave their magic spell via kayagum, electric guitar and percussion. Invite the Spirit was a sensation when it was first released in 1983 and now over twenty years later they are sounding better than ever. Joined by two scintillating Korean P’ansori vocalists on several tracks this is a whole new take on the Korean shamanistic tradition. Over seventy minutes of timeless, ecstatic, magical music unlike anything you’ve ever heard.

http://www.folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=3127#

(For the anti-purists: I am such a purist about this because, at its best (which it rarely is), oud taksim hits me emotionally in a very particular way that I almost never get from other types of oud performances.)

http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/sgs_live.aspx#Mideast

Well, that and Los Burbanks and Gomez and Itibirê Familia Orquetra and OOIOO and Tanya Stephens and um some other stuff.

xpost2: My partner heard some of the new Rachid Taha on the radio, and said it was more rai and less rock... well, good.

N.A.D.M.A.?

I'm loving Paura.

In other news, It would have nice to have to the WOMEX festival/conference in Sevilla--

http://www.womex.com/realwomex/main.php?id_headings=28&id_realwomex=8&subheading=29

Akli D. (Algeria / France)
Kabylian Berber singer´s avant-Afro/Algerian/Blues/world mix with Manu Chao producing his latest.

Eskorzo (Spain)
Una mezcla fantástica! From Adalusia to Bulgary, from Uruguayan ´Canbombe´to the funk of New Orleans, from reggae to rock and hip-hop comes this home grown, high energy group of musical revolutionaries from Granada.

Afel Bocoum & Alkibar (Mali)
Mali's messenger of desert blues tends musical and agricultural roots

El Tanbura (Egypt)
Egyptian collective wants to invite you to a party

you can see some of the performances here http://www.mondomix.com/event/womex2006/

Momo's actually has a free world music show every Tuesday so folx hld check whats coming up

The Kemia Bar at Momo presents BRASIL DO FUTURO Party - featuring Cibelle (LIVE) + SPECIAL GUEST DJ : RKK from Radio Nova (Paris) on TUESDAY 28th NOVEMBER – 8pm – Free admission !!! 25 Heddon street, London W1

Click on http://ecard.atnetplanet.com/rkk/en/ to launch the ecard

Despite it being a Putamayo acoustic event marketed mostly to American-born NPR listeners, a number of DC based folks from various African countries plus locals got onstage and danced and showered performers with dollars African-style.

Also, from the rolling country thread (interesting that this has inspired no talk here, being from the #1 movie in the U.S. and A.):

the Borat, which I think is actually very good (being quasi-Asian it has twice the twang of new country);
-- Frank Kogan (edcasua...), October 31st, 2006.

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That's a good band on Stereophonic Musical Listenings That Have Been Origin In Moving Film Borat; not clear to me how literal their ripoff/appropriations of Middle Eastern European (or whatever) pop are (for all I know it could just secretly be like one of those Sublime Frequencies albums where the music is all stolen from found cassette tapes) (the "credits" on the CD cover are in real or fake Kazakh, ha ha), but the actual music balances out "In My Country There Is a Problem (Throw The Jew Down The Well)" and "You Be My Wife" (rhymes with "we'll make love whenever I like") appropriately.

"O Kazakhastan" on Borat's album is on now. It'd fit right in on the new Laibach album Volk, which is their renditions of national anthems from the world over. Maybe they read what Frank wrote about Rammstein making a folk move upthread, and decided to one-up them?

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), November 4th, 2006.

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Borat (just saw the movie, which was slightly disappointing though still frequently hilarious but maybe the disappointment was just that it had been built up so much by so many people, but at any rate i also just realized today that the soundtrack is a compilation, and track #7 is beautiful, and i think it's by o.m.f.o. but it's hard to tell because there are not the same number of titles on the cover as tracks on the cd, since some of the tracks are just snippets of dialouge and stuff, so you can't just count down to the seventh title, which is "grooming pubis", and also "o kazakhastan" which ends the movie sounds more like laibach than most of the national anthems on laibach's own new album) -- xhuxk (fakemai...), November 19th, 2006.

So I figured out with 95 percent certainty the track #7, my favorite (and probably the most pop, thanks to the sweet-voiced lady singer) track on the Borat soundtrack, is "Eu Vin Acasa Cu Drag" by Stefan De La Barbuletsi, which originally supposedly appeared on AMMRA Records S.R.I. The other legit/non-Borat-sung tracks (apparently middle eastern and or eastern European, though maybe or I assume not usually Kazakh per se) are consistently really good, too, and first came out on labels like Piranha, Essay, Crammed Discs, World Connection, etc. O.M.F.O., who made an album I liked a couple years ago, have two tracks, which I'm pretty sure are tracks # 10 and 12. The only really confusing thing if you sit down with a pen and paper is that there seem to be three "real songs" between Borat's "You Be My Life" at # 13 and his "O Kazazhstan" at # 18, but only two titles between them. Which makes tracks #14 throuh #16 somewhat mysterious (since #17 is Borat high-fiving a gay-bashing redneck of some sort).
(Hey Frank brought the album up! I guess I should put all this on the world music thread too. I'm not sure what it has to do with country, though yeah, there's a twang in the music now and then, and didn't one of you guys vote for Gogol Bordello in a Nashville Scene poll once? This CD belongs on a shelf near them, Kultur Shock, Balkan Beatbox, etc, unless like me you file in alphabetical order.)

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), November 19th, 2006.

it's interesting to compare pitbull's el mariel with tego calderon's el subestimado as world music albums as opposed to hip-hop or reggaeton (esp because pitbull has NO reggaeton to it). both are great, love them very much.

http://laondatropical.blogspot.com/

!

Anyhow, I know I mentioned this elsewhere but there's a reissue of a record by Marconi Notaro from the early '70s (Brazilian psych tropicalia thing) that I just love. It's sort of what I expected Os Mutantes to sound like before I ever heard them.

Just got it from dustygroove. It is amazing; by far my favorite Ze since Fabrication Defect. Definitely more over-the-top experimental/hi-energy than his past few. As usual, there is a clear overarching conceptual hook that I am once again way not fluent enough in portuguese to get.

Listening to Toumani Diabete - Boulevard de l'Independance, after hearing about it on a podcast (Tape Op does one where engineers & musicians talk about a favorite record).

It's a great record, sort of a pan-African fusion concept with Senegalese drummers, horns arranged by Pee Wee Ellis, a salsa track, etc. The sabar drums sound amazing, even if they're kept pretty reined in rhythmically.

Oh I had forgotten about that album and just listened to it again. I like the way the softer sounds of Toumani Diabete's harp-like kora and the yearning vocals of Kasse Mady Diabate interact with the punchier sabar drums.