Top 10 Global CDs, January 2012

SoundRoots / Spin The Globe Top 10 Albums, January 2012 edition

1. Novalima: Karimba
   The third album from this Lima-based electro-Peruvian collective is a sunny-sounding, danceable romp suitable for club or beach, and definitely welcome in the midst of a deep northern winter.
   
   
2. Sia Tolno: My Life
   From an earlier review:"Tolno dips into various African music styles on the album, and the instrumentation and arrangements might force you into guess after guess about the music's origins. Let's just say that it comes across as modern African music -- with some funk here, some balafon there, and a whole lot of powerful vocals in various languages, often delivering conscious lyrics..."
   
   
3. Henry Cole & the Afro-Beat Collective: Roots Before Branches
   Afrobeat jazz? Based on the Puerto Rican bomba rhythm, this album brings the spirit of Fela Kuti to the new world, fusing those influences with Cuban rumba, US rock and jazz, and R&B.
   
   
4. Sambasunda Quintet: Java
   The latest from our favorite Bandung-based band brings ten tracks of mostly traditional music (and a track from 3 Mustaphas 3's Sabah Habas Mustapha) that are given a slightly modern  twist, for an accessible and engaging musical romp across the island of Java. Oh, and speaking of green isles, check out the track "Paddy Pergi Ke Bandung (Paddy Goes To Bandung)" -- in which Sundanese music meets Ireland.
   
   
5. Kora Jazz Band: Kora Jazz Band and Friends
   We're still deeply digging this album which graced the November charts and our Best of 2011 list. Piano + kora + a bunch of musicians who know how things are done. Sublime.
   
   
6. Leni Stern: Sabani
   I'm going to have to sit down and have a chat with Leni Stern some day. The German-born musician does west Africa up right on this recording with Malians Haruna Samake and Mamadou Kone, along with a few other friends. Stern will be touring the USA in February.
   
   
7. Vagabond Opera: Sing for Your Lives!
   The mention of the Timbers may elicit a chorus of boos here in Western Washington, but here and throughout the known world, there's nothing but admiration and no small amount of awe at the Portland-based klezmer-steampunk-Vaudevillian conundrum known as Vagabond Opera. They're so good at theater, drama, costumes, antics, and storytelling that it's actually possible to overlook their amazing musicianship. But don't.
   
   
8. Soul Rebels Brass Band: Unlock Your Mind
   New Orleans is the USA's best counterbalance to Serbian brass bands, and I'd put these guys on stage in Guca any day of the week. Sizzling energy, a sense of humor, and booty-shaking rhythms are the order of the day. Check out the cover of "Sweet Dreams Are Made of This" and the party anthem "Night People": "When the day world goes blind / Night people do fine" indeed!
   
   
9. Barika: Remember
   The New-England-based septet brings a big, multicultural sound on their debut album. Bandleader Craig Myers' kamel n'goni gives the outfit a distinct west African flavor, though other global influences and no small dose of rock make it great listening for ears more interested in borderless grooves than ethnomusicological purity.
   
   
10. TriBeCaStan: New Deli
    "I've been mulling the end of 'world music' as we knew it for a couple of decades, and this album adds fuel to that argument," we wrote in a recent review. This is another one not for the purist, but definitely for lovers of great instrumental music and adventurous cover songs.

Monday's mp3: Double Dragon

Happy year of the Dragon, all! Though not at all Chinese, I'm not at all reluctant to jump on the New Year bandwagon and wish you many exploding firecrackers with great music and tasty food. Any good excuse to celebrate, eh?

We could have used some dragons here in Cascadia over the last week; their fire-breathing capabilities would have made them quite desirable during our massive snow-and-ice storm. Finally a little sun and a lot of melting in the past two days have made life navigable again, and brought back the electricity that allows me to write and share music with you!

Just to throw you for a loop, our celebratory dragon songs today come not from China, but from France and South Africa. I suppose with all the Middle Ages questing, castle-storming, and sword-swinging, France is a natural hangout for dragons in search of tasty knights (crunch on the outside, gooey on the inside). But South Africa? The African stories and mythologies I've heard and read have included plenty of snakes, but I don't recall any dragons. (Well, there's this.) But that didn't stop Thomas Phale from singing about them, possibly as a restaurant offering(?).

Enjoy the tunes, and happy new year.

[mp3] Thomas Phale: Dragon Special

from the album The Kings And Queens of Township Jive: Modern Roots Of The Indestructible Beat of Soweto (Earthworks, 1990)


[mp3] Caravan Palace: Dragons

from the album Caravan Palace (Wagram, 2008)


more Caravan Palace:
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And check out the great animation in this Caravan Palace video for their song "Jolie Coquine"

Kickstarting the Nile

Now this is a great Kickstarter-funded project.

In a boat crafted of recycled water bottles, a beautiful Ethiopian-American singer / TED Senior Fellow and a brainy Egyptian ethnomusicologist / music activist are about to set sail down the Nile. The goal: Use music--from ear-candy pop to the eldest of traditions--to spark a spirited conversation and change the way people from Uganda to Egypt think about their river, their environment, and their communities.

The musical part of the duo is Ethiopian-American singer Meklit Hadero (who, by the way, is scheduled to perform in Seattle on Thursday as part of the CD release show for Gabriel Teodros's new album Colored People's Time Machine) and her scholarly partner is Egyptian Mina Girgis. Click for more.

asdf

Monday's mp3: MLK's dream of freedom

I've had some time to think today about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream, and about the changes to the social landscape during my life. Huge, mostly progressive changes. Changes that came at no small cost, however.

Some of this was prompted by catching a bit of the TV series Roots earlier today. The Africans chained in the belly of a white man's "canoe house" were talking. When I first saw Roots as a kid, their talk would have been as incomprehensible to me as their destination was to them.

Now, however, I can put some flesh on the bones of those words. While I still haven't been to West Africa (donations to the travel fund graciously accepted!), the music of the region has been a gateway for me to learn about the people and culture as well. When the en-route slaves talk of the Fulani, I think of the amazing Fulani flute sound, for example. You may also think of the djembe, or the kora, or the ngoni (precursor to the American banjo -- unless you subscribe to the theory that it was the ekonting instead). In any case, each enslaved person brought their tribe's own traditions: spiritual, social, culinary, musical.

As a result, the traditions of West Africa permeate the music and spirituality and culture of the western hemisphere today, but prior to Roots, the increase of interest in "world music" and other aspects of globalization, the links were largely unacknowledged, at least by the dominant culture.

That's one change. And then there are the legal and economic changes. The Civil Rights Act and numerous other laws leveled the American playing field, at least officially. I'm still aghast that if I'd been born a bit earlier or in another state, racial "purity" laws would have prevented me from marrying my now longtime spouse. This isn't ancient history, kids.

MLK's work was about economic justice as well, and progress in that area lags even farther behind. Corporations as "people"? Corporate executives making 434 times as much money on average as aworker? Sigh.

Bottom line: MKL's dream is still just a dream. The racial equality is closer to reality, the economic part not so much. And that's not good enough. If I can educate and inspire through SoundRoots and my radio show, great. If you can use your skills and abilities to improve the world, that helps too. This isn't about politics, it's about humanity. From you and me to the head of Monsanto and Wal*Mart, we all have to share this world.

As King said, "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And now, today's musical interlude... 

Oooohh... so close!

Thanks to those of you who supported the recent Kickstarter campaign for Spin The Globe's podcasting. We didn't quite make the goal, so you get to keep your money. Or maybe spend it on another worthy cause. Or, come to think of it, you could make a donation via the Paypal link here on SoundRoots.org -- which would be greatly appreciated. (And you were willing to part with that money anyway, so you'd hardly miss it, right?

Bottom line is that it's great to see a few people willing to put up some cash for access to global music reviews, info, interviews, and sounds. There may be another Kickstarter campaign in the future, but for now the STG show archive will remain available, free as always, on Mixcloud. Leave a comment here or there with any ideas, thanks, suggestions, or complaints.

And again, thanks for being part of the SoundRoots / Spin The Globe community.

DJ Scott

Monday's mp3: Finally, an American answer to 3 Mustaphas 3

Oops, I spoiled the punchline.

A couple years ago, in reviewing TriBeCaStan's Strange Cousin, I wrote that I'd begun "thinking of TriBeCaStan as something of an American version of 3 Mustaphas 3" though they "don't take their national mythology to such lengths as their British predecessors."

I stand corrected. Both the music and the liner notes of the band's latest offering, entitled New Deli, prove the duo of John Kruth and Jeff Greene to be just as untethered as their UK counterparts. And I mean that in a good way. Their music is crisper and better arranged than ever, with musical influences from around the world blended in a way that will guarantee head-scratching answers from anyone you pressed into guessing its origins.

Along with a slew of originals, they go all free jazz on "Two for Ornette (Dee Dee/Theme from a Symphony)" and twist around the rock classic "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."

I've been mulling the end of "world music" as we knew it for a couple of decades, and this album adds fuel to that argument. It's worldly, but not world music. Great musicianship, but without roots in any distinct culture. Says Greene:

We’ve not only been inspired by world-class global musicians like Bachir Attar of the Master Musicians of Jajouka, Carnatic mandolin master U. Rajesh, and the Austrian hurdy-gurdy virtuoso Mathias Loibner, we invited them to play as guests on New Deli.  As we say in TriBeCaStan, "If your toes all face one way, you will walk crooked." This means we must be in solidarity with all of the world to find the right direction. If you dig around in the '60s and '70s in music from India, Thailand and Ethiopia you hear how the musicians borrowed from and reworked American music. We’re just doing the same thing, but in reverse.

Imagine those foreign influences in a 60-mph head on collision with American folk and blues -- not a limb-threatening real-life collision, but the kind you see in movies, where everything slows down and there's a beautiful symphony of glass shards, mangled chrome, and actors with the uncanny ability not to smush their eyes shut and scream "Oh crap!" -- and you'll have the beginning of an inkling of what this sounds like.

Or you could just listen to this:

[mp3] TriBeCaStan: Jovanka

from New Deli

And those liner notes? Here's a whiff

Hello my friend! Very much, Hello! You are totally very welcome to the Grand Opening of TriBeCaStan's New Deli. Please to fill your ears until your heart and brains belch with satisfaction and contentedness from the many delights of our sumptuous sonic smorgasbord. As our most esteemed patron, you are absolutely invited to savor all of our delicious 32 flavors - one more than Mr. Big Shot ice cream man across the street, with his minuscule 31. Have you ever experienced anything like our yummy Marimba Mandolin Marmalade? Of course not! While poor Mr. Bobbins forces gangs of unpaid, underprivileged children to toil deep into the night, under the flickering of a single light bulb to invent such convoluted concoctions as his Chicken-Fried Sardine Peanut Butter Rumba Crunch, TriBeCaStan's musical Marco Polos, effendis Kruth and Greene, go chasin' down the genuine flava around the globe and bring it all home to you, my friend.

On the world map TriBeCaStan may be hard to find, but musically they're finding their home, and it's a wondrous land populated by sounds of all nations, living mostly in harmony.

More TriBeCaStan:
listen / buy CD (available 7 Feb. 2012)
website
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myspace
video

Kickstarter update

Just four days to go on the first Spin The Globe / SoundRoots Kickstarter project, and we're over the halfway point. In fact, we're at the two-thirds point. So close you can almost taste the victory. Will you help put us over the top and assure prompt and dependable posting of the show archives? Click below to go to the project page, and thanks!

Monday's mp3: Awalé: Just Have to Grow

This is one album I held back from the haiku treatment; I was curious to give it another thoughtful listen. The official bio for Awalé says the band plays "Afro Gipsy Beat" and was founded in London in 2009. They're a multicultural lot, with members from Cuba, France, England, Slovakia, and Tunesia. They reach even farther for musical influences, including Ethiopian, Latin, and Congolese elements.

That may sound like the recipe for a muddled mess, but the arrangements on band's debut album, Just Have to Grow, offset this cultural complexity with catchy melodies and danceable rhythms.

I love the voice of Badiaa Bouhrizi; she brings a jazzy sensibility and spices up several tracks with vocal runs that drift like windblown sand. My favorite at present is the Ethiopian-flavored "Merhaba," on which her voice plays tag with a staccato horn line.

[mp3] Awalé: Merhaba

from the album Just Have to Grow

Yet her voice is perhaps too feminine to fully carry the weight of the more Afrobeat-flavored tracks like "Seddick." Or maybe I just have odd preconceptions that Afrobeat vocals should carry a power -- even an anger -- that matches the furious horns and rhythms and solos.

My perhaps more-substantial issue is with the band's claim to "Gipsy" sounds. I don't hear it; and I wonder if it might be a misguided description intended to convey their wandering influences.

Those are minor quibbles on an otherwise compelling first album, and any music fan curious about the intersections of jazz, funk, North African, and Ethiopian musics will find this a compelling listen.

More Awalé:
listen / buy CD
website
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songs on SoundCloud
myspace
video

Out with the old... Another round of global CD Reviews in haiku

Out with the old, which
like autumn leaves, lies huddled
on last year's edges

Actually, the mess of albums below are not so old. Many are new releases, and a few are still to hit the stores officially. But I'm taking part of New Year's Eve to clear out the albums I haven't yet gotten around to writing about so I can start fresh in 2012. There aren't enough hours left in the year to write full reviews for these, so gird your loins and prepare for another installment of SoundRoots' inimitable Global Music Haiku Review. Ready?

Onward, then, intrepid reader!

Balkan brass from where?
NYC! crazy,
but their punk 'tude works
(Raya Brass Band: Dancing on Roses, Dancing on Cinders)

somber Persian tones,
sublime meditation from
land of hope and pain
(Kayhan Kalhor and Ali Bahrami Fard: I Will Not Stand Alone)

dance your prayers like the
fire danced in the burning bush
only jazzier
(The Afro-Semitic Experience: Further Definitions of the Days of Awe)

African hunters
invented the blues, plucking
on their n'gonis
(Sibiri Samake: Dambe Foli)

drifting like pollen,
Lomax caught the sound of Spain
under Franco's thumb
(various artists: Alan Lomax In Asturias)

danger in Lagos?
like Fela, these sisters sing
a nation on edge
(The Lijadu Sisters: Danger)

young Brazilians play
neo-samba-soul, and we
nod our heads gently
(various artists: Putumayo Presents - Brazilian Beat)

some I've heard before
but 30 tracks give us all
something new to hear
(various artists: The Rough Guide To The Best Music You've Never Heard)

sounds Cajun; isn't.
for the dancing of nations
is this global stew
(Captain Planet: Cookin' Gumbo)

simple Czech kids' songs
a bit lost in translation
still charming and fun
(Karolina Kamberska: Ríkadla a krikadla)  free song

music to rebuild
bridges crushed by 9-11
live, and full of life
(Kristjan Jarvi's Absolute Ensemble: Arabian Nights Live at Town Hall NYC)

Moravian songs
and scriptural readings ring
with Christmas spirit
(Cimbálová muzika Stanislava Gabriela / Dulcimer Band of Stanislav Gabriel: We Carry the News to You / Neseme vám tú novinu) - free song

US-Taiwan pair
use old sounds to build a nest
where they raise new songs
(Mia Hsieh: A Moving Sound)

These forty songs sing
the story of a city
crossroads of east, west
(Dunya: A Story of the City: Constantinople - Istanbul)

varied Uzbek styles
explained in photos and notes
performed by old souls
(various artists: Music Of Central Asia Vol. 7: In The Shrine Of The Heart: Popular Classics From Bukhara And Beyond)

a Berber banjo
songs of love, revolution
dry, wonderful sounds
(Imanaren: Imanaren)

saudade, guitar
blend well and you have music
of life, bittersweet

(various artists: Bachata Roja: Amor Y Amargue)

India's north, south
meet west under Ravi's ear
strange ragas are born
(Ravi Shankar: Nine Decades, Vol. III - Orchestral Experimentations)

Israel world jazz
crisply recorded, played sweet
with an edge of tang
(Guy Kark & Between Times: 4 Quarters)

scratchy Afro-soul
Benin legend tells his tale
many years later
(El Rego: El Rego)

channeling Nusrat
alongside Tinariwen
takes chops like Kiran's
(Kiran Ahluwalia: Aam Zameen: Common Ground)

polyphonic voice
meets overdub on soundtrack
telling Sarno's tale
(various artists: Oka! Soundtrack)

sounds of Moorish Spain
recaptured by UK troupe
with a jazz flavor
(Jadid Ensemble: Sigh of the Moor)

chanchona music
makes me want to dance, and I'm
not Salvadoran
(Los Hermanos Lovo: ¡Soy Salvadoreño! Chanchona Music from Eastern El Salvador)

raga-fusion group
says you should turn off your mind
and hear the colors
(Lightsweetcrude: Listen to the Colour)


===========================
All of that and I'm still hanging on to a few albums for full reviews. Whew!

Out with the old, then
mind clear, desk clean, I await
sounds of twenty twelve.

Happy new year!

Monday's mp3: Freak Fandango Orchestra

Honestly, how can you not like that name: Freak Fandango Orchestra?

Along with the compelling moniker came this compelling email:

Hello,
We're a band from Barcelona, Spain, called The Freak Fandango Orchestra and we're just released of our 2nd EP called "Tales of a dead fish". We're playing something like: Balkan-gyspy-polka-beat and it sounds a bit like Gogol Bordello and a bit like Django Reinhardt jamming with the Sex Pistols.

That's all I know about them, though I can confirm this is an accurate description of their sound. Which could also be called a kind of violin-fueled Spanish Balkan Beat Box. Just six songs on their pay-what-you-wish EP, but watch for more from this crazy group. And their killer bat logo.

[mp3] Freak Fandango Orchestra: Balkan Beats


from the album Tales of a Dead Fish

More Freak Fandango Orchestra:
listen / buy CD (name your own price!)
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video

Deep Throat, the Blog

Well, okay, it's not that we're about providing impeachable evidence, or even leaking classified military info. But it's pretty cool that a recent Washington Post blog post about holiday music includes James Whetzel's “God Rest Ye Funky Bhangra (2011 Mix)” via a link to our recent post here on SoundRoots. We're almost famous! Oh, and Whetzel too! Happy holidays, yo.

Monday's mp3: Music for the Bleak Midwinter

I was pulling out the holiday tunes the other day, thinking of which of the crazy global versions of Christmas carols I would share here and on on the radio. I hadn't seen any new releases worth talking about this year. Until this arrived. I'm not familiar with Jennifer Cutting or her Ocean Orchestra, but in this cold season I'm warming to their music.

The album in question is called Song of Solstice, and is billed as a collection of originals and rare Celtic and medieval songs. It's rather refreshing how the 12 tracks celebrate the different faith observances of the season, most directly Christian and Pagan (and the song "Light the Winter's Dark" wraps in Islam and Buddhism as well). We are all in this cold dark winter thing together, after all.

Much of the music has a distinctly acoustic Celtic feel to it, including the male-voice "Song of Solstice" and "Green Man," both originals. The Emily Bronte poem "Fall, Leaves, Fall" gets a somewhat overwrought arrangement -- the orchestration curiously floral for lyrics celebrating the death of the season -- with a short section of guitar-led rock anthem. The rock-anthem sound emerges again in the latter half of "Time to Remember the Poor," before the album ends with the nicely harmonized men's a capella "Light in the Winter's Dark," the Scottish lullaby to Jesus "Baloo, Lammy," and finally a song celebrating the circular Celtic view of time on "Summer Will Come 'round Again."

This fresh collection of carols, chants, and hymns to the season may even have the power to rejuvenate the jaded hater of holiday tunes. At the very least it's a change of pace. Though I'm still going to be listening to the Klezmer Nutcracker sometime soon.

[mp3] Jennifer Cutting's Ocean Orchestra: Song of Solstice

from the album Song of Solstice

More Jennifer Cutting / Ocean Orchestra:
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We Have Liftoff! Er, I Mean Kickstartedness

You're the crowd, you who enjoy the weekly world music podcast of Spin The Globe. And since the show has no advertising, corporate backing, or really any other funding outside of my own pockets, I'm asking you to step up and make a donation towards the podcast hosting. Without your help, the podcast may not be available as globally; with your donation, you can assure that the music keeps playing not only for you, but for all the people planetwide who are beyond the show's FM broadcast signal.

Yes, SoundRoots' first Kickstarter campaign has begun. You'll see this graphic in the right column of the blog for the duration of the campaign, and I'd like nothing better for Christmas than to see the little green bar jump over to the far right. The first supporter just signed up at the $15 level; what is it worth to you to have 52 episodes of Spin The Globe (that's, wait ... doing the math... 104 hours of global music!) available free online over the next year? Please answer via Kickstarter. Thanks!

Monday's mp3: I'm Making a List

...and I've checked it more than twice. It's the

SoundRoots Top 20 Global Albums of 2011

Which sounds pretty exciting, and it is. Because here are the best CDs of 2011, globe-style. We returned to these again and again, and Spin The Globe listeners responded by demanding more. You've read about many of these albums here, and heard them on the STG podcast. If you haven't had time yet to make your wish list for Christmas (or your own culture's equivalent gift-fest), feel free to print this out hand hand it to your loved ones.

Ladies and gentlemen, in no particular order, the list:

• Kiran Ahluwalia: Aam Zameen-Common Ground
• Kora Jazz Band: Kora Jazz Band and Guests
• Tribeqa: Qolors
• Te Vaka: Havili
• Les Freres Smith: Contreband Mentality
• Nawal: Embrace the Spirit
• Nation Beat: Growing Stone
• Antwerp Gipsy Ska Orchestra: I Lumia Mo Kher
• Aurelio (Martinez): Laru Beya
• Ravid Kahalani: Yemen Blues
• Vusi Mahlasela: Say Africa
• DeLeon: Casata
• Ocote Soul Sounds: Taurus
• Hadag Nahash: 6
• Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestra and Fanfare Ciocarlia: Balkan Brass Battle
• Sia Tolno: My Life
  
• Orchestre Poly-Rythmo: Cotonou Club
• Trio Chemerani: Invite
• Tinariwen: Tasili
• Cacique '97: Cacique '97
  

The well-informed reader may note that the Tribeqa CD was technically released in 2010, and wonder therefore about its inclusion on the list. Here's the deal: the year that counts is the year that the album got into the hands of SoundRoots' crack team of reviewers. We're willing to bend rules, 'cause we're more interested in great music than in arbitrary rules and boundaries. So there.

Sia Tolno's My Life was the last album added to the list, and deservedly so. It's a solid offering with bits of Afrobeat, Congolese rumba, desert blues and more rendered in Creole, English, and her native Kissi. Read more in last week's SoundRoots review. 

And this being Monday, I can't leave without sharing some music with you. Another recent release comes from the Kora Jazz Band, consisting of Abdoulaye Diabate (piano), Yakhouba Sissokho (kora), and Moussa Sissokho (percussion). They've got some magic going on, with original Afro-jazz pieces, alongside creative arrangements like this interpretation of Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va." Enjoy!

[mp3] Kora Jazz Band: Oye Como Va

from the album Kora Jazz Band and Guests

More Kora Jazz Band:
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If you must know, here are the 2011 Grammy nominees

Whatever shred of caring SoundRoots maintained for the importance of the Grammy Awards is pretty much gone, due in part to the stripping of several key categories, and due more to the Academy's persistent message that music that sells well is better than, er..., everything else. SoundRoots' own list of the best music of 2011 will be posted here later this week. For now, in the interests of an informed public, I give you the nominees for the few reaming Grammy global categories. The winners will be announced at the official ceremony on Feb. 12.

Best World Music Album 

• AFROCUBISM – AfroCubism
• AFRICA FOR AFRICA – Femi Kuti
• SONGS FROM A ZULU FARM – Ladysmith Black Mambazo
• TASSILI – Tinariwen

Apparently the Academy heard no significant non-African music this year. Which is not to impugn the quality of these albums. Several are likely to land on the SoundRoots Best of 2011 as well, but they'll have some non-African companions.


Best Tropical Latin Album

• HOMENAJE A LOS RUMBEROS – Edwin Bonilla
• THE LAST MAMBO – Cachao
• MONGORAMA – José Rizo’s Mongorama

Best Reggae Album

• HARLEM-KINGSTON EXPRESS LIVE! – Monty Alexander
• REGGAE KNIGHTS – Israel Vibration
• REVELATION PT 1: THE ROOT OF LIFE – Stephen Marley
• WILD AND FREE – Ziggy Marley
• SUMMER IN KINGSTON – Shaggy

Best Latin Pop, Rock, Or Urban Album

• ENTREN LOS QUE QUIERAN – Calle 13
• ENTRE LA CIUDAD Y EL MAR – Gustavo Galindo
• NUESTRA – La Vida Bohème
• NOT SO COMMERCIAL – Los Amigos Invisibles
• DRAMA Y LUZ – Maná

Best Regional Mexican Or Tejano Album

• BICENTENARIO – Pepe Aguilar
• ORALE – Mariachi Divas De Cindy Shea
• AMOR A LA MUSICA -Mariachi Los Arrieros Del Valle
• ERES UN FARSANTE – Paquita La Del Barrio
• HUEVOS RANCHEROS – Joan Sebastian

Best Banda Or Norteño Album

• ESTARE MEJOR – El Güero Y Su Banda Centenario
• INTOCABLE 2011 – Intocable
• LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE AND FRIENDS – Los Tigres Del Norte
• EL ÁRBOL – Los Tucanes De Tijuana
• NO VENGO A VER SI PUEDO… SI POR QUE PUEDO VENGO – Michael Salgado

Monday's mp3: Meet the musical daughter of Angelique and Miriam

If her music wasn't so compelling, you might be drawn to Sia Tolno simply for her story of hardship and triumph. She fled an abusive home in Sierra Leone, then had to flee that country's civil war, ending up selling palm oil and singing in clubs in Guinea. It was there that she was "discovered" after her entry in a talent contest.

That's just a skimming summary of her story, because I want to focus on the music on Tolno's wonderful new album My Life. Many seem to compare her to Miriam Makeba, but I hear more Angelique Kidjo in her energetic delivery and in the sophisticated arrangements on this sophomore album. (Her debut, Eh Sanga, came out in 2009.)

The album with a tradition-rooted song in praise of the town of Blama in Sierra Leone, where Tolno used to attend a festival at the end of each year. The town was devastated by the war, but Tolno says "I wanted to tell people that in this town we had a very joyful festival, where we just sing and play all these traditional instruments. I wanted to open with my tradition, to show where I am from."

Tolno dips into various African music styles on the album, and the instrumentation and arrangements might force you into guess after guess about the music's origins. Let's just say that it comes across as modern African music -- with some funk here, some balafon there, and a whole lot of powerful vocals in various language, often delivering conscious lyrics, as on this song:

[mp3] Sia Tolno: "Blind Samaritan (Poor Man)"

from the album My Life

More Sia Tolno
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Monday's mp3: God Rest Ye Funky Bhangra

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us and December looms on the frosty horizon, it can be revealed that James Whetzel has remixed his holiday classic to add more sleigh-shaking bass.

[mp3] James Whetzel: God Rest Ye Funky Bhangra
God Rest Ye Funky Bhangra (2011 Mix)
 
More Whetzel on his Soundcloud page

Just this quick post today because I'm immersed in compiling the SoundRoots' best of the year post, finishing off the Thanksgiving leftovers, and trying to keep the fire going (it's cold outside!).

Monday's mp3: Balk-American Horns of Raya Brass Band

Around the SoundRoots offices (well, office... or rather, desk), Balkan brass music is always welcome. Even if it doesn't come from the Balkans. We've hobnobbed with the Bay Area's Brass Menazeri, and now from the right coast comes the lip-numbing blast of Raya Brass Band. If you're a brass fan, you'll be hooked from the opening notes of the rambunctious "Djevadov Čoček" to the last swinging notes of "Nevestinsko Oro."

Between those two are ten other metallic wonders, rooted in the Balkans but given a definitive injection of New World style that hints at funk, punk, and other junk. The music is in your face and demands your participation in its swirling energy. Which really makes me want to see Raya BB live...and soon.

It was live performance (and audience participation) that drew the band members to this style of music. “When I was in Greece, I remember hearing this incredible music coming down street. It was a brass band, wandering through the village,” recalls accordion player Matthew Fass. “I was struck by the immediacy and the intimacy. That drew all of us to this. We don’t want to play on stage so much; we love to be out on the dance floor, to break down the walls between us and the audience.”

I somehow missed the band's 2009 self-titled CD, but I'm glad to catch up with them now. The album is out in January; here's a sneak peek (three more tracks up for the listening on their bandcamp page).

[mp3] Raya Brass Band: "Djevadov Čoček"

from the album Dancing on Roses, Dancing on Cinders

More Raya Brass Band:
listen / buy CD (pre-orders; official release 10 January 2012)
website
facebook
video

Kutiman's "Thru Jerusalem"

Just found this buried in my email (Sorry, Yaeli). No, Kutiman is not a Fela imitator; he's an Israeli audio-visual artist who apparently made a name for himself mashing up found Youtube videos, using them as the raw material for building new songs. Check out his works "My Favorite Color" and "Mother of All Funk Chords."

His recent project finds him scouring not the Internets, but the city of Jerusalem for his materials. He wandered the historic city, recording musicians (asking them to play whatever they want, but in the key of D) then editing the video into a unique Kutiman mashup.

In a Wired interview, Kutiman says "I just tried to be a tourist and make the video regardless of race or religion. My only goal was to show the beauty of the city."

It's a fascinating concept, and an enthralling result, kind of a one-city version of the Playing For Change project. With, you know, more editing.

Top 10 Global CDs, November 2011

SoundRoots / Spin The Globe Top 10 World Music Albums – November 2011

1. Nawal: Embrace the Spirit
2. Kiran Ahluwalia: Am Zameen:Common Ground
3. Sola Rosa: Get It Together
   
4. Les Freres Smith: Contreband Mentality
5. Lila Downs: Pecados y Milagros
6. Jadid Ensemble: Sigh of the Moor
7. March Fourth Marching Band: Magnificent Beast
8. Anoushka Shankar: Traveller
   
9. Te Vaka: Havili
   
10. Kora Jazz Band: Kora Jazz Band and Friends

Lots of new music this month, coming in just in time to be considered for next month's Best of 2011 collection. Perhaps the most likely to succeed in that regard is the last album on this list, the new offering from the Kora Jazz Band, a stunning and powerful album featuring guests Manu Dibango, Andy Narell, and Omar Marquez, though for me a highlight is the piano playing of Abdoulaye Diabate. Just damn! You'll also see new music here from Lila Downs, Kiran Ahluwalia, Sola Rosa (reviewed earlier this week), and more brilliant instrumental music from the Jadid Ensemble. It's a strong chart, so feel free to explore it for gift ideas. Or just for your own listening pleasure.

Monday's mp3: Sola Rosa's Kiwi Soul

Before we get to the music, a gentle reminder that SoundRoots is supported by you, the reader/listener. This labor of love gets no corporate funding or government grants. A trickle of spare coins from you and a few affiliate links is it, and it's needed to support the website and the Spin The Globe podcast. So please take a moment in this season of Thanksgiving and give a little for the cause. That little golden "Donate" button is our friend, yes it is. (If you're seeing this via a feed reader, please click through to www.SoundRoots.org where you'll find said button.) Thanks!

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What the haka is going on in Aotearoa? When I visited some time back, the music I heard was mostly Crowded House and the bleating of sheep. And Maori sounds, of course, which I continue to enjoy primarily through the work of Moana & the Moahunters/Tribe. But recently some of the best chilled funk around is coming from the wee island nation. Fat Freddie's Drop seemed to kick this trend off, and now there's the fantastic new* album Get It Together from a group called Sola Rosa.

The group may not pass a strict "world music" litmus test, though an argument could be made based on their inclusion of Latin beats, a great horn section, and a general vibe of openness to various sounds.

While global music fans may warm to this, it's also geared toward swing-jazz fans: Just check out "Humanised." They even get a bit retro-soundtracky on "Bond Is Back." Fat Freddie fans might want to start with the track "Turn Around" featuring smoky vocals by Iva Lamkum (a Wellington-based singer upon whom, it should be revealed, SoundRoots may have a serious crush).

Somehow I missed Sola Rosa's 2005 debut album Moves On, an error I expect to remedy in short order to know where these guys are coming from, musically. Even without such background, however, I can assure you that the new album is worth a listen for its fresh blend of soul, swing, reggae, hip-hop, and electronica.

[mp3] Sola Rosa: "Get It Together"
from the album Get It Together

*When I say "new," I should point out that I mean new to me, and to the USA market. The album originally came out in March 2009, but the crate of CDs bound for the new world apparently came via a leaky fishing boat that first made stops, well, everywhere but here.

More Sola Rosa:

• listen / buy CD
• website
• facebook
• video

Monday's mp3: Ocote On the Road

Just a quick entry today, since I'm busy starting work on the SoundRoots Best of 2011 list and a couple of upcoming live performances on Spin The Globe, but it's Monday and I can't neglect your listening needs.

We've visited with Ocote Soul Sounds a couple times before, in conjunction with their releases Coconut Rock and Taurus. This time it's a great tune in support of a tour. These guys have just the right blend of cool and feisty in their Latin soul/funk blend. Don't take my word for it; listen for yourself, and catch them live if they're swinging through your neighborhood...

[mp3] Ocote Soul Sounds - Primavera

from the album Taurus

Remaining Tour Dates:
12/7 - Low Spirits, Albuquerque, NM
12/8 - Solar Culture, Tucson, AZ
12/9 - The Satellite, Los Angeles, CA
12/10 - Brick & Mortar Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
12/13 - Nectar Lounge, Seattle, WA
12/14 - The Media Club, Vancouver, CAN
12/16 - The State Room, Salt Lake City, UT
12/17 - The Walnut Room, Denver, CO

More Ocote Soul Sounds:
Listen / buy Taurus
website
another website
facebook
myspace
concert video

Monday's mp3: A musical journey across continents Several

Okay, this is one of those days that nearly paralyzes one with the sheer possibilities. It's Halloween here in the USA, and it's also Samhain, the anniversary of the assassination of Ghandi, the eve of Dia de los Muertos / All Saints Day, and the birthday of Vanilla Ice.

Okay, we're not going to spend any time celebrating that last one. But the others are all viable, leading me to near choice-freeze when thinking about writing today.

What's keeping me from locking up completely was the great listener response to last Friday's episode of Spin The Globe, featuring music for Halloween and Day of the Dead. You know, musics dark and spooky, songs about ancestors and ghosts and demons. That kind of thing.

The show elicited lots of listener calls, particularly for the electro-tango of Tango Saloon and the non-Halloweeny sounds of DeLeon. Also on that playlist was to cover of "Spooky" by ethno-blues outfit Slide To Freedom (reviewed here a couple weeks ago), which got me thinking about the ethno-jazz troupe No Blues.

No Blues are a multicultural band based in the Netherlands, and despite their name, they play what they describe as "a unique blend of American folk blues and Arabic music." A machine translation of the band's bio explains further:

Hela Hela is more than just a new album. On this record, Ad van Meurs, Haytham Safia and Anne-Maarten van Heuvelen Show That They Are true masters of this new genre They created an ad and They play fully African flavor to the blend. The band takes the listener on a musical journey across continents Several.

On Hela Hela you find Palestinian Morad Khoury guest musicians on violin, and as guest vocalist Shereene Danial All which ad strength and depth to the combination of American and Arabic musical tradition. This comes together perfectly in the title track Hela Hela work based on a traditional Arabic song and an American counterpart. This is the ultimate appeal to the world for working together.

For today, I want to post the most arguably Halloween-ish track on the album, the song of love-turned-to-murder "Digging a Grave." Yes, it's a stretch, since nobody later rises from the grave as a zombie/mummy/vampire, but I'm sticking by my choice. And I urge you to check out their other songs, most of which feature more apparent Arabic influences. Try "Farah" and "Le" and "Hela Hela" (available as a free download) for example. Free listening at the band's Bandcamp page.

[mp3] No Blues: Digging a Grave

From the album Hela Hela

As far as I can tell, this 2010 album hasn't been released in the USA, and is not readily available from US retailers. You can, however, find it at Amazon UK.

More No Blues:
Listen / buy CD
website
facebook
video

Monday's mp3: Sing for Your Lives!

Late at night, when most of us past our 20s are long asleep, a musical underground unites fans of Yiddish theater, steampunk culture, klezmer, operatic rock (or rock arias), tango, and musical storytelling. And the chief purveyors of this music are the mysterious troupe known as Vagabond Opera.

We've delved into this band's mysteries a couple of times on Spin The Globe, including a recent studio visit just prior to the release of their latest recording, Sing for Your Lives! On the album, as in the studio, VO weaves an irresistible musical web that will appeal to, well, anyone who likes a great story. It begins with "Red Balloon," a tale of love, exploration, and adventure above the city of Bordeaux with Robin Jackson's tenor floating above cello, accordion, drum, and bass.

Like the odd and amusing "Beard & Moustache" on which Polish vocalist Ashia Grzesik sings of her deep desire for manly facial hair, there's little that would make you stand up and declare "this is world music!" Yet between these songs is "Tough Mazel," a pretty straight up klezmer piece. And there's Balkan influence here as well, on "King of the Gypsies." And perhaps my favorite is the swinging "Hanumonsoon," which is not so much Bollywood (as you might expect from the title), but what you might hear if Yma Sumac had been from Serbia.

[mp3] Vagabond Opera: Hanumonsoon

from the album Sing for Your Lives!

That an operatic element frequently makes an appearance is no accident. "We've always asked, 'Why not work in this beautiful medium, opera, but  surround it with all these unexpected instruments and sights and stories?'" says tenor/accordionist Eric Stern. "We take this big, ambitious art form and distill
it. We make it portable."

The band blends ethnicities, languages (including made-up ones), and instruments in a unique way that, despite the odds, works. They've just finished a US tour (including a show at SteamCon), just wait and they'll swing by your neighborhood again soon. They're vagabonds after all. Until then, check out this unique, entertaining CD from a band that wants you to start loving opera...their kind of opera.

More Vagabond Opera:
listen / buy CD
website
facebook
video

SoundRoots / Spin The Globe Top 10 World Music Albums – October 2011

1. Les Freres Smith: Contreband Mentality
2. Nawal: Embrace the Spirit
   
3. Tribeqa: Qolors
   
4. Boban & Marko Marcovic Orchestra vs. Fanfare Ciocarlia: Balkan Brass Battle
5. March Fourth Marching Band: Magnificent Beast
6. Te Vaka: Havili
   
7. Vagabond Opera: Sing for Your Lives!
8. Nation Beat: Growing Stone
9. The Mickey Hart Collection*
10. Cankisou: Fayt

Some fantastic stuff on this month's chart. So fantastic that it was able to knock such wonders as Kiran Ahluwalia's new Aam Zameen: Common Ground (with Tinariwen and Terakaft). I mean, that takes a lot! New M4 brass mayhem at #5 on our chart this month, and be sure to check out the amazing Afropean jazz-funk-hiphop stylings of Tribeqa (#3), a band new to me but sure to be in my ears for some time to come.

* Okay, this is kind of a cheat. The collection is really 25 separate  albums being re-released by Smithsonian Folkways, and they feature Hart  in quite a variety of roles. But it's significant enough to global music fans that it deserves a place on the chart. We'll select a track from  one of the 25 albums to represent the whole collection on the 21 October edition of Spin The Globe, but know that you should browse through the  whole amazing collection.