The media generated 'debate' over this new version of the US national anthem seems to me to be just one more stupid diversion to entertain a crumbling society.
My complaint is not the language (who cares? ) but the utterly boring music that acompanies it (why wasn't there a protest when Whitney Houston croaked it out? or Metallica? or Beyonce?).
I am waiting to hear some Norteno, rumba, cha cha cha and flamenco versions. That will certainly make for better listening than this current pop disater.
Give me the Hendrix version any day!
cliff
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
The immigration theory of world music
I do not normally present 'press promos' as part of this blog, but my long time compadre-in-music Ken Braun of Stern's Music in NY sent out this promo sheet with his current releases, and I just had to share it with you all...
Cliff Furnald, ed.
-----------------------------
Dear friends and colleagues,
The first people that ever lived in North America walked across the iced-over Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska about 10,000 years ago. They carried no documents and were not authorized to enter this country. Border bears spotted them and gave chase, and such encounters resulted in casualties on both sides. Law enforcement was obviously inadequate. Some of the "frozenbacks" were deported to their country of origin, but many (no one knows exactly how many) slipped into America. It’s been happening like that ever since, and not only on the northern border but also along every other frontier. See what happens without strict immigration controls? The country fills up entirely with people from somewhere else.
At least it’s been good for music. Without immigrants, American music would be little more than birdcalls, frog choruses, coyote howls and the wind in the trees. Thanks to all of the people who have come to this country from somewhere else, starting with Asians, followed by Europeans, Africans, Central and South Americans (whose ancestors had themselves originated elsewhere) and of course islanders from near and far, American music is the most diverse, dynamic and popular in the world. This phenomenon isn’t just historical, something that happened long ago; it’s ongoing and as vital now as it ever was. Consider how the Celtic music revival of the past few decades has inspired the bluegrass revival in this country, or the ways Indian and Indonesian forms have influenced some of America’s best modern "classical" composers. Think of the immense influence of Jamaican dub and dancehall on hip-hop, or the various Latin styles that color everything from the most serious jazz to the most ephemeral pop these days as much as in the past hundred years.
And African music? Elements of African music so thoroughly imbue so many kinds of American music that we can hardly imagine what our nation would sound like without them. True, this process began centuries ago, but it didn’t end with the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. Africans are still coming to America – this time of their own accord if not always by the book (ironic in light of the fact that it was once legal to transport their ancestors here against their will) – and they’re bringing new music with them. From African dance classes and drum circles to African club nights in cities across the country, and on to the millions of records sold by African-born stars such as Dave Matthews and John Legend, Africans continue to make themselves heard in America. The African components of American music are being replenished, building on what came before but introducing new things too, further enriching the national culture.
We at Stern’s Music favor liberal immigration policies. We believe hospitality makes us all better people. We’re thankful for our foreign-born colleagues and proud to promote the music of immigrants. We’re especially pleased this month to release three CDs by African artists now living and working in the United States. Martino Atangana, from Cameroon, teaches at the City University of New York Graduate Center, having gotten his Ph.D. at the Sorbonne, but he has also played guitar with Manu Dibango, Paul Simon, Jean-Luc Ponty, Henri Dikongue, Hassan Hakmoun and Shannon Jackson. Keeping one foot on the lecture forum and the other on the stage, he’s been gigging in and around New York for seven or eight years and has won a following that’s as multi-ethnic as his band, African Blue Note. Martino is a particularly nimble bikutsi guitarist but, as his new album demonstrates, he and his band are adept at Caribbean music and contemporary jazz as well as various African styles. One member of African Blue Note, pianist Azouhouni Adou, has recorded a CD of his own. In addition to the keyboards, Azouhouni plays clarinet, sings, and leads his own band, all with impressive skill and verve. He and his sidemen play in a variety of styles too, with a particular flair for funky jazz.
Guelel Kumba also came through New York, but this Senegalese-born Fulani singer and guitarist has wound up, seemingly by gravitational pull, in the same part of northern Mississippi that has given birth to so many great bluesmen. There he and a bunch of local musicians have formed a band they call Afrissippi. Like the late Ali Farka Touré jamming with Taj Mahal, Gatemouth Brown or Ry Cooder, Afrissippi instinctively finds the crossroads where West African traditions and the blues meet. This is truly African-American music. In fact all three of the artists we’re focusing on this month are making music that is both African and American. Pass out the green cards.
We’re not saying everyone should settle in America. On the contrary, we think that instead of either trying to keep immigrants out the U.S. or throwing open the gates to unregulated cheap labor, our government and businesses would do far more good by supporting international policies and programs that strengthen other countries’ cultures, economies and democracies. Help to give people good reasons to stay home, opportunities to lead fulfilling lives wherever they are. At its best (though perhaps its most paradoxical), globalism encourages nationhood and independence as much as freedom of movement and enterprise. It comes down to all people’s right – and the actual possibility – of self-determination. Which is why we’re so enthusiastic about Midnight in Mali. (You knew there had to be a musical angle.) This latest Stern’s Africa CD was recorded at an extraordinary concert in Bamako featuring a once-in-a-lifetime array of some of Mali’s greatest artists, including guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, balafon virtuoso Keletigui Diabaté, n’goni whiz Basekou Kouyaté and singer Dieneba Seck, all under the direction of Habib Koité. As Banning Eyre’s introduction observes, "It was that rare occasion when musical giants dare to risk the new, rely on their wits, and freely explore their shared heritage: the majestic, matchless variety of Malian music." Such a concert could not have happened in New York, only in Bamako. So while we advocate mixing and exchanging, we also celebrate tradition and uniqueness, and we see no contradiction in that. Our slogan is "Support local music everywhere!"
Stay well,
Ken Braun
Stern’s Music
-------------------------------------------------
You will find (or will find soon) many of the CDs mentioned by Ken at cdRoots
Cliff Furnald, ed.
-----------------------------
Dear friends and colleagues,
The first people that ever lived in North America walked across the iced-over Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska about 10,000 years ago. They carried no documents and were not authorized to enter this country. Border bears spotted them and gave chase, and such encounters resulted in casualties on both sides. Law enforcement was obviously inadequate. Some of the "frozenbacks" were deported to their country of origin, but many (no one knows exactly how many) slipped into America. It’s been happening like that ever since, and not only on the northern border but also along every other frontier. See what happens without strict immigration controls? The country fills up entirely with people from somewhere else.
At least it’s been good for music. Without immigrants, American music would be little more than birdcalls, frog choruses, coyote howls and the wind in the trees. Thanks to all of the people who have come to this country from somewhere else, starting with Asians, followed by Europeans, Africans, Central and South Americans (whose ancestors had themselves originated elsewhere) and of course islanders from near and far, American music is the most diverse, dynamic and popular in the world. This phenomenon isn’t just historical, something that happened long ago; it’s ongoing and as vital now as it ever was. Consider how the Celtic music revival of the past few decades has inspired the bluegrass revival in this country, or the ways Indian and Indonesian forms have influenced some of America’s best modern "classical" composers. Think of the immense influence of Jamaican dub and dancehall on hip-hop, or the various Latin styles that color everything from the most serious jazz to the most ephemeral pop these days as much as in the past hundred years.
And African music? Elements of African music so thoroughly imbue so many kinds of American music that we can hardly imagine what our nation would sound like without them. True, this process began centuries ago, but it didn’t end with the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. Africans are still coming to America – this time of their own accord if not always by the book (ironic in light of the fact that it was once legal to transport their ancestors here against their will) – and they’re bringing new music with them. From African dance classes and drum circles to African club nights in cities across the country, and on to the millions of records sold by African-born stars such as Dave Matthews and John Legend, Africans continue to make themselves heard in America. The African components of American music are being replenished, building on what came before but introducing new things too, further enriching the national culture.
We at Stern’s Music favor liberal immigration policies. We believe hospitality makes us all better people. We’re thankful for our foreign-born colleagues and proud to promote the music of immigrants. We’re especially pleased this month to release three CDs by African artists now living and working in the United States. Martino Atangana, from Cameroon, teaches at the City University of New York Graduate Center, having gotten his Ph.D. at the Sorbonne, but he has also played guitar with Manu Dibango, Paul Simon, Jean-Luc Ponty, Henri Dikongue, Hassan Hakmoun and Shannon Jackson. Keeping one foot on the lecture forum and the other on the stage, he’s been gigging in and around New York for seven or eight years and has won a following that’s as multi-ethnic as his band, African Blue Note. Martino is a particularly nimble bikutsi guitarist but, as his new album demonstrates, he and his band are adept at Caribbean music and contemporary jazz as well as various African styles. One member of African Blue Note, pianist Azouhouni Adou, has recorded a CD of his own. In addition to the keyboards, Azouhouni plays clarinet, sings, and leads his own band, all with impressive skill and verve. He and his sidemen play in a variety of styles too, with a particular flair for funky jazz.
Guelel Kumba also came through New York, but this Senegalese-born Fulani singer and guitarist has wound up, seemingly by gravitational pull, in the same part of northern Mississippi that has given birth to so many great bluesmen. There he and a bunch of local musicians have formed a band they call Afrissippi. Like the late Ali Farka Touré jamming with Taj Mahal, Gatemouth Brown or Ry Cooder, Afrissippi instinctively finds the crossroads where West African traditions and the blues meet. This is truly African-American music. In fact all three of the artists we’re focusing on this month are making music that is both African and American. Pass out the green cards.
We’re not saying everyone should settle in America. On the contrary, we think that instead of either trying to keep immigrants out the U.S. or throwing open the gates to unregulated cheap labor, our government and businesses would do far more good by supporting international policies and programs that strengthen other countries’ cultures, economies and democracies. Help to give people good reasons to stay home, opportunities to lead fulfilling lives wherever they are. At its best (though perhaps its most paradoxical), globalism encourages nationhood and independence as much as freedom of movement and enterprise. It comes down to all people’s right – and the actual possibility – of self-determination. Which is why we’re so enthusiastic about Midnight in Mali. (You knew there had to be a musical angle.) This latest Stern’s Africa CD was recorded at an extraordinary concert in Bamako featuring a once-in-a-lifetime array of some of Mali’s greatest artists, including guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, balafon virtuoso Keletigui Diabaté, n’goni whiz Basekou Kouyaté and singer Dieneba Seck, all under the direction of Habib Koité. As Banning Eyre’s introduction observes, "It was that rare occasion when musical giants dare to risk the new, rely on their wits, and freely explore their shared heritage: the majestic, matchless variety of Malian music." Such a concert could not have happened in New York, only in Bamako. So while we advocate mixing and exchanging, we also celebrate tradition and uniqueness, and we see no contradiction in that. Our slogan is "Support local music everywhere!"
Stay well,
Ken Braun
Stern’s Music
-------------------------------------------------
You will find (or will find soon) many of the CDs mentioned by Ken at cdRoots
Thursday, April 20, 2006
World Music Charts Europe, April 2006
Here is the April edition of World Music Charts Europe, a chart compiled by DJ from across Europe based on radio airplay.
More charts
- KAL Kal, Serbia (Asphalt Tango)
- KINAVANA Kekele, D.R. Congo (Stern's)
- DESCARGA ORIENTAL/THE NEW YORK SESSIONS Maurice El Medioni meets Roberto Rodriguez, Algeria/Cuba (Piranha)
- TECHARI Ojos de Brujo, Spain (Diquela / Pias Recordings)
- PART TWO Kora Jazz Trio, Senegal (Rue Stendhal Diffusion)
- BOULEVARD DE L'INDEPENDANCE Toumani Diabate & Symmetric Orchestra, Mali (World Circuit)
- REMIXED Amsterdam Klezmer Band, NL/Russia/Germany (Essay Recordings)
- LA VIDA TE DA Amparanoia, Spain (Wrasse)
- LAMP FALL Cheikh Lo, Senegal (World Circuit)
- LA CANTINA Lila Downs, USA (Peregrina/Narada)
- M'BEMBA Salif Keita, Mali (Emarcy Records/Universal)
- BELLOW POETRY Maria Kalaniemi, Finland (Aito)
More charts
Hooray for Bollywood? Indian Idol 2 perplexes
It seems India's version of the pop idol TV craze is getting some interesting results.
Indian songwriter and producer Anu Malik talks about Indian Idol
"When Indian Idol 2 started, I believed we would have a female idol this time. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and it is really funny. Women are ruling in every sector, so why not in music? It's all about the audience. How can Monali, Meenal, Neha or Antara not get astounding votes? Strangely, somewhere down the line, we still feel boys should be given first preference." Read the rest of his interview at Rediff.com.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Ambrozijn - new world music from Belgium
Ambrozijn, the Belgian trio of Tom Theuns, Wim Claeys, and Wouter Vandenabeele, rejoin their now customary producer Gabriel Yacoub for their fifth recording, Krakalin. It is an oddly varied musical experience. The instrumental prowess is immediately evident and compelling, but the choice of material can be difficult, even deliberately disturbing as in "Kuifje in Bergom." Theuns' vocals demand acclimatization from the listener, and his lyrics are even more difficult to conveniently categorize. And Ambrozijn challenges expectation in an even more subversive fashion, by essaying popular French styles of the recent past as in "l'Avion" and "Sur la Rive Gauche," avoiding tackiness and imbuing them with sympathetic resonance... Read More and listen to a full song form the CD
Friday, April 14, 2006
A world of music, preserved at the LOC
2005 entries in the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry
Full details and listings at the LOC
Here's a sampling of the 50 recordings chosen for special recognition and preservation
(in chronological order)
1. "Canzone del Porter" from "Martha (von Flotow)," Edouard de Reszke (1903)
6. "Ory's Creole Trombone," Kid Ory (June 1922)
8. "Tanec pid werbamy/Dance Under the Willows," Pawlo Huemiuk (1926)
10. First official transatlantic telephone conversation (Jan. 7, 1927)
11. "El Manisero" ("The Peanut Vendor"), Rita Montaner, vocal with orchestra
(1927); "El Manisero," Don Azpiazu and his orchestra (1930)
15. "Wabash Cannonball," Roy Acuff (1936)
20. "John the Revelator," Golden Gate Quartet (1938)
25. "Jole Blon," Harry Choates (1946)
28. "Anthology of American Folk Music," edited by Harry Smith (1952)
33. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," Jerry Lee Lewis (1957)
35. "Poeme Electronique," Edgard Varese (1958)
36. "Time Out," The Dave Brubeck Quartet (1959)
37. Studs Terkel interview with James Baldwin (Sept. 29, 1962)
41. "Are You Experienced?" Jimi Hendrix Exerience (1967)
42. "We're Only in It for the Money," Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (1968)
45. "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers," Firesign Theatre (1970)
46. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," Gil Scott-Heron (1970)
47. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1972)
48. The old fog horn, Kewaunee, Wis., recorded by James A. Lipsky (1972)
Full details and listings at the LOC
Here's a sampling of the 50 recordings chosen for special recognition and preservation
(in chronological order)
1. "Canzone del Porter" from "Martha (von Flotow)," Edouard de Reszke (1903)
6. "Ory's Creole Trombone," Kid Ory (June 1922)
8. "Tanec pid werbamy/Dance Under the Willows," Pawlo Huemiuk (1926)
10. First official transatlantic telephone conversation (Jan. 7, 1927)
11. "El Manisero" ("The Peanut Vendor"), Rita Montaner, vocal with orchestra
(1927); "El Manisero," Don Azpiazu and his orchestra (1930)
15. "Wabash Cannonball," Roy Acuff (1936)
20. "John the Revelator," Golden Gate Quartet (1938)
25. "Jole Blon," Harry Choates (1946)
28. "Anthology of American Folk Music," edited by Harry Smith (1952)
33. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," Jerry Lee Lewis (1957)
35. "Poeme Electronique," Edgard Varese (1958)
36. "Time Out," The Dave Brubeck Quartet (1959)
37. Studs Terkel interview with James Baldwin (Sept. 29, 1962)
41. "Are You Experienced?" Jimi Hendrix Exerience (1967)
42. "We're Only in It for the Money," Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (1968)
45. "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers," Firesign Theatre (1970)
46. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," Gil Scott-Heron (1970)
47. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1972)
48. The old fog horn, Kewaunee, Wis., recorded by James A. Lipsky (1972)
From Cuba to Africa and back
...world music crossing the Atlantic
Africa's influence on New World music is hardly news, but beginning in the 1930s, in the throes of global economic crisis, the Gramophone and Victor companies began to repackage their Latin American catalogues with Ghana, Nigeria and the Congo region in their sights, marketed as the GV Series. Powerful radio transmitters broadcast the music to keen West African audiences, and local performers began to incorporate Cuban elements into their repertoire. The spread of the phonograph and the increased availability of affordable musical instruments, especially following World War II, only enhanced the popularity of Cuban dance music, and the rest is history.
Michael Stone listens to some interesting new releases:
Out Of Cuba: Latin American Music Takes Africa By Storm, Los Afro-Salseros de Senegal and Kekele from Cuba to Africa and back.
Africa's influence on New World music is hardly news, but beginning in the 1930s, in the throes of global economic crisis, the Gramophone and Victor companies began to repackage their Latin American catalogues with Ghana, Nigeria and the Congo region in their sights, marketed as the GV Series. Powerful radio transmitters broadcast the music to keen West African audiences, and local performers began to incorporate Cuban elements into their repertoire. The spread of the phonograph and the increased availability of affordable musical instruments, especially following World War II, only enhanced the popularity of Cuban dance music, and the rest is history.
Michael Stone listens to some interesting new releases:
Out Of Cuba: Latin American Music Takes Africa By Storm, Los Afro-Salseros de Senegal and Kekele from Cuba to Africa and back.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
BBC World Music Awards - 2006
The annual awards for world music, presented by the BBC, were announced this week. Not, in my opinion, the most challenging collection of music imaginable, but it's always nice to see a new (really) Ry record get some recognition after years of him sitting in the background strumming. - cliff
# Ry Cooder (USA): Americas
# Souad Massi (Algeria): Middle East/North Africa
# Amadou & Mariam (Mali): Africa
# Fanfare Ciocarlia (Romania): Europe
# Sain Zahoor (Pakistan): Asia/Pacific
# DJ Shantel (Ukraine/Germany): Club Global
# Nitin Sawhney (India/UK): Culture Crossing
# Konono No 1 (Congo): Newcomer
# Amadou & Mariam (Mali): Album of the Year
More info about the awards, and audio of the performers' music, is available online:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic
# Ry Cooder (USA): Americas
# Souad Massi (Algeria): Middle East/North Africa
# Amadou & Mariam (Mali): Africa
# Fanfare Ciocarlia (Romania): Europe
# Sain Zahoor (Pakistan): Asia/Pacific
# DJ Shantel (Ukraine/Germany): Club Global
# Nitin Sawhney (India/UK): Culture Crossing
# Konono No 1 (Congo): Newcomer
# Amadou & Mariam (Mali): Album of the Year
More info about the awards, and audio of the performers' music, is available online:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic
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