NPR's 50 Great Voices series

50 Great Voices archive

Has anyone here been following this series? Basically, a few months ago (last fall?) NPR polled listeners and critics for their favorite singers and each week someone composes a piece on one of those singers with tune samples and history etc.

Not sure about the consensus about NPR here, but this series is pretty awesome. The expositions are sometimes fluffy and general, but the histories of the singers are well researched and interesting.

It's been going on for a while now, and the variety of nationalities and time periods is impressive. Like the first were Iggy Pop, Ahmad Zahir, Mahalia Jackson, Maria Callas, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Yesterday they did Lebanese star Fairuz, whom I've never heard of, but she's awesome on youtube.

Who else is good on this list? I mean, I guess they're all great, but who are the great greats?

Caruso, without question

also Ella without question

Yeah I've always heard Caruso's name, probably a few notes of a few recordings, but plan to really check him out now. This shit is amazing.

Definitely some unimpeachable choices. Very pleased they chose Asha over Lata. Never been that enthused about Dennis Brown, but it's a more interesting pick than Marley and I don't know who I'd substitute instead. Roy Orbison is a pretty great choice!

basically, the ppl on this list that I know make me certain that all of them are pretty much top-tier of whatever genre they inhabit

but it's a more interesting pick than Marley

Also Bob Marley is not a great singer

Dennis Brown is a good choice

Yeah, I know, but some of the choices seem designed to highlight other aspects of singing--Iggy Pop--and he often gets used both as a stand-in for all reggae/JA music and for political singing. To put it another way, I wouldn't be surprised to see Fela Kuti show up even though he's also not a great singer in the way that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is. Actually, looks like they're overdue to venture south of the Sahara.

I don't have anything against DB, I've just never been super excited by his singing. I probably would have gone with Burning Spear.

I've loved Lata for a while now, but haven't heard her sister till now. These Bollywood singers have such enormous catalogs, I'm pretty nonplussed for a single album or collection that would engender herself to me like Lata did. Is the Rough Guide good?

Also I fucking love Sandy Denny. Somehow her voice surprises me every time I hear Unhalfbricking.

^^^agreed!

Unfortunately, I don't have any advice for you on Asha---I mostly hear this stuff watching the odd Bollywood movie. There's a Bollywood S/D thread I was just looking at that might have some suggestions in it somewhere.

would maybe pick joseph hill of culture over dennis brown but yeah glad it wasn't marley

I prefer Isaacs to Brown, but I think Brown is a great choice (and better than Spear or Joseph Hill neither of whom frankly had quite the impact that Isaac or Brown had in Jamaica.)

This is a great list overall.

what are the chances of barrington levy making it?

I was sort of hoping to see Nitty Gritty.

xpost yeah i guess i don't know really who had the impact, i just love love love joseph hill's voice

No, Alex is right about that, DB is/was huge in Jamaica. There's a Blood and Fire reissue of one of his album's with some hilariously OTT defensiveness on that point iirc.

Barrington would be an great choice.

Shirley Collins for the folk set a must.

Never would have guessed Elis Regina would make this list, but I love her so no complaints.

that just reminded me of where I first heard about this project: Soul Sides. Alton Ellis is a good choice!

Lauryn Hill is a fairly odd choice considering how few albums she's made (two with the Fugees and one solo). Does she get extra credit for Sister Act 2?

nice list of people. the only two i wouldn't listen to on my own would be ella and janis. but i don't hate them or anything. just lots of jazz and blues and rock singers that i like more.

xp
sister act 2 is actually my strongest association with her due to my little sister's obsessive rewatching of that movie.

Buika--Afro-Spanish Singer (Who's more than just one of NPR's "50 Great Voices")

I like Afro-Spanish singer Buika

Never been that enthused about Dennis Brown, but it's a more interesting pick than Marley and I don't know who I'd substitute instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ6HImvDEz8

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TswNk8XIUUg&feature=related

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BI6Ftz-2ko&feature=related

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD4RoW5D6-A

Comparing Umm Kulthum's conservatory-honed art music to the blues is misleading, and I'm not talking about a value judgment here, but they simply are positioned very different culturally. Not every foreign music is some sort of equivalent to the blues, geez. I also am not comfortable with the implication that her music somehow stood as a check on modernity. Rather, it tended to be an Arab, specifically Egyptian, interpretation of modernity. At the very least, the styles in which her composers worked over the years changed quite a bit, and there was an expectation of novelty (see A.J. Racy on this in Arab music more generally) built into the aesthetic of which they were working, an expectation that seems to fit with modernity more than pose some sort of counterweight to it. ("Inta Omri," featured prominently in this segment, includes electric guitar after all, and draws influences from western classical music.) But anyway, I'm relieved she made the list.

I think I could probably automate these responses by now.