Folk Danmark, 2010 - radio with Morten Alfred Høirup

Cliff Furnald: Thursday mornings, 6 AM to 9 AM

Live playlists and audio archives (well, as live as I can handle in the morning) will be online during the show


Thursday, May 27th, at 8:00 AM, WPKN Radio will feature a special English-language edition of "Folk Danmark, 2010," a program of music from the little Nordic country with the big musical heart. The program is produced and hosted by Danish musician Morten Alfred Høirup and will feature contemporary and traditional music from the tradition and beyond. Artists presented will include Carl Erik Lundgaard, Phønix, Henrik Jansberg, Rasmus Lyberth, Valravn, Klezmofobia, Afenginn and Evald Thomsen among many others. This program is co-produced with Danish radio D2R. Thursday, May 27 at 8:00 AM.

I will also be featuring Nordic music, new and old, throughout the regular program starting at 6 AM.

Please join me, and pass the word along about this special program?

Tab Benoit: Hurricanes, oil spills and Cajun blues

A little over a year ago after storm surges from Ike and Gustav almost washed away Terrebonne Parish, Delta bluesman Tab Benoit took the mic in defiance as wisps of wind snaked through the scrim draping the backside of the stage. Friday's early evening crowd stayed put as Benoit offered reassurance that this, the sixth annual Voice of the Wetlands Festival, would continue come hell or high water..."This is our rally. This is our cry for help." Just a few months later, the explosion of British Petroleum's Transocean/DeepwaterHorizon's wellhead took eleven lives, and the subsequent "river" of oil is now poisoning shrimp, oysters, bottlenose dolphins and sea turtles, as well as human livelihoods. The Louisiana Delta, shorelines and marine sanctuaries from Grand Isle to the Florida Keys are in peril, but the men and women profiled in this article are not giving up. New roots singers have joined with their voices. Sadly, this account will not be "outdated" for decades to come.

Georgianne Nienaber talks with Tab Benoit (and also Ann Savoy, Waylon Thibodeaux, Cyril Neville and other musicians who are part of the "Voice of the Wetlands" All-Stars) about the the music, the culture, and the future of the Lousiana coast.

Read more

Whatever happened to Dirty Linen Magazine?

Dirty Linen Magazine was where I first started writing about music in a serious way. In fact, my column, Radio Planet 3, was in the first edition of the magazine to appear under that name (it was called "Fairport Fanatics" before then).

So it is a shame to see that, after so many years of working so hard to maintain a magazine of great musical and writing standards, Paul and Sue Hartman have been forced to abandon the magazine. After a few years of trying to work with a new publisher, impossible differences have led them to announce their "retirement" from DL.

I know them both pretty well after all these years, and I know they will not be out of the game for long. You can find out more about their future plans on their blog, What happened to Dirty Linen?.

The Golden Age of Youssou N'Dour

Etoile de Dakar featuring Youssou N'Dour

Once Upon A Time In Senegal: The Birth Of Mbalax 1979-1981 (Stern's Music)
2 CDs

There are not many African artists whose names are as well-known as Youssou N’Dour’s. And it’s not just his ‘7 Seconds’ duet with Neneh Cherry, or his frequent collaborations with Peter Gabriel and others. No, you don’t reach his status just by who you hang out with, you get there by who you are and what you do. On one level these 2 CDs form a chapter in the story of who Youssou N’Dour is. But on another they show him simply as an equal member of a band … a band in the right place at the right time and doing the right things. That brief but vital moment in time is captured in these 23 tracks selected from the cassettes that Etoile de Dakar recorded between 1979 and 1981. Several have never been released outside of Senegal, and all have been sensitively re-mastered from the earliest available audio source. These are the best sounding recordings of this material available.

Listen to some audio samples

Buy the CD at cdRoots

Norah Jones: new directions

I know, this is not the usual RootsWorld fare, but bear with me and maybe just humor me a bit. Norah Jones has released new video for the song "Young Blood" from hew CD 'The Fall' this week! Jones is experimenting with different sounds and some new collaborators, including Jacquire King, a noted producer and engineer who has worked with Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, and others, and a new group of musicians to perform on the album, including drummers Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green), and guitarist Marc Ribot. You can find links for the video and some audio samples at hear.com