Two bus-themed posts in two days. I thought about asking this post to park up somewhere for a bit to regulate the service, but really we all just want to get home don't we?
Be warned, there are some abrupt mood changes en route, especially between the last two stops. If standing make sure you are holding on to a stanchion for your own safety.
There is no Mandatory Reggae today, but Poser has stepped in to provide a Replacement Soca Service for that part of the route.
"On A Bus To St. Cloud" was always going to feature somewhere in this series, the only question being whether it would be the Jimmy LaFave or Gretchen Peters version. Then I thought "why choose when you can have them both?" - hence the first video (which also features Mr Tom Russell as the gooseberry).
As for the second video, I disagree strongly with the sentiments but the song is too good to leave out. And the third one is especially for George. We know he's a fan.
This series has now reached its last stop. Please remember to take all your belongings with you and enjoy a safe onwards journey.
Last week's post about the humble omnibus attracted a fair amount of interest, so here is another one. I have just about enough material left to squeeze out a third post, which would be appropriate as the common wisdom has it that you don't get any posts about buses for ages and then three come along at once. So watch this space.
Last time out I was critical of those who look down on buses as a means of transport (I am legally required to state at this juncture that Charity Chic is not one of them). But it is also possible to be too enthusiastic about buses.
Way back in the early 1990s I worked with a bus spotter. He had never mentioned his secret shame at work, but one Saturday morning I was on my normal bus route and he boarded along with a group of his fellow bus fanciers. Apparently this was the first day on which this particular route was using buses made by the Alexander Works of Falkirk and they had come over to join the party.
Having been outed like that it was as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he never stopped banging on about buses after that. He even persuaded me to take some photos of local buses for him when I went on holiday to Norway a few months later.
This was before we had phones with cameras in so there was no way to disguise what you were doing. The knowledge that everyone else in the Trondheim bus station was staring at me thinking "Hvorfor fotograferer den idioten busser?" induced an embarrassment I will never forget.
After that rambling introduction, here are today's selection of tunes praising not just buses of different types but depots and drivers as well.
The song in the video was mentioned by Charity Chic in the comments on the previous post. Once again I am legally obliged to point out that no inference should be made that the title of the song reflects his own views.
We have arrived in The Gambia - possibly prematurely for those of you who think it should be listed under T rather than G. We are also now exactly 40% of the way through our African tour. We kicked the series off back in May, so at this rate our bandwagon is unlikely to be rolling into Harare until November next year.
The Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa and, except for the 30 miles of coastline, is completely surrounded by Senegal. This is unusual but not unique. There is one African country that is completely contained within the borders of another country. There may be a prize for the first person to name it.
I've never visited The Gambia myself but my dear old Dad worked there for about a year in the mid-1960s, helping to build parts of the Trans-Gambia Highway. He had some great stories about his time there, like how he and his crew spent two days pretending to be hotel staff for the benefit of a French honeymooning couple who had been taken in by the hand-drawn 'Club Med' sign someone had put up outside their remote camp.
A group called Super Eagles were just getting started around about the time my Dad was working there. If you happen to own Volume 3 of the Luaka Bop "World Psychedelic Classics" series you will be familiar with them. They were a very good soul band, and nearly featured here in that incarnation, but in the mid 1970s they mutated into Ifang Bondi. With the name change came a change of style, with much greater use of indigenous rhythms and instruments. Today's choice is taken from their excellent 1978 album "Saraba".
Ifang Bondi's new style (known as 'afro-manding') inspired a wave of other bands. Foremost among them were Guelewar, or The Guelewar Band of Banjul to give them their full name, who set the local scene alight in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were also very popular over the border in Senegal, and the great Youssou N'Dour has evidently cited them as an early influence. I've opted for the title track of their 1979 album "Sama Yaye Demna Ndar".
Ifang Bondi's influence continues to be felt in many ways and in many places. Take the example of their former percussionist Musa Mboob who dedicates his life to promoting Gambian culture from his home in the remote village of (checks notes) Brighton. He also continues to make some cracking music in his own right, as demonstrated by this track from his 2010 album "Haral".
Our fourth act have also been around since the early 1980s, ploughing a similar furrow to the others, and are also still very much active today. They are the Juffureh Band, named after the town that was a major slaving post (and the fictional birthplace of Kunte Kinte in the novel "Roots"). Today's track comes from their 2018 EP, "Abarake Bake". Very good it is indeed.
We round off the audio with some Mandatory African Reggae courtesy of Masta Lion. Hailing from Birikama in The Gambia but now based in Finland, this track comes from his 2021 album "Tribute To Mama". Masta Lion managed to enlist the help of well-known Jamaican singers like Sizzla and Anthony B on the album, so he is clearly a well-connected man.
In the world of the creative arts, there is a case for declaring 2023 to be the Year of Gina Birch. Releasing her first solo album, the excellent "I Play My Bass Loud", playing a series of barnstorming gigs, and being the face of the 'Women In Revolt!' exhibition at the Tate Britain - she truly has bestrode the scene like a colossus.
Now she is rounding off the year with a new art exhibition. Titled 'No One's Little Girl' after the song by her old band The Raincoats, it is being held at Gallery 46 in London's swinging Whitechapel (as was her previous exhibition last year). This one closes on Friday (16 December) so you'll need to get a move on if you want to go along.
I popped in yesterday afternoon to view the art and to listen to Gina in conversation with the art critic Louisa Buck. It was a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion which covered Gina's artistic influences and origins, her Catholic education, shoplifting with Palmolive (The Slits's drummer, not the soap) and much more besides.
As you can see in the background, one part of the exhibition consists of portraits of musicians and artists who have inspired Gina; from left to right Ari Up, Kim Gordon and Ana Mendieta (there is also a very good one of Yoko Ono). The other main themes are sexual abuse - including some pretty graphic paintings - and a set of smaller icon-style portraits of female saints. I'll leave you to pick the pieces out of that lot.
If you are interested in seeing Gina's paintings I have put a selection on Flickr for those of you unable to make it to the exhibition in person - a poor substitute admittedly. As for the music, the first track comes from Gina's album (click on the album title above to find it on Bandcamp). If you have been following the clues, the second will come as no surprise.
Last Thursday I posted some Japanese music, which prompted me to search for more of the same when Bandcamp Friday rollewd round the next day. After a fair bit of exploring I alighted upon the work of one Yuma Abe, and that's where the money went.
Mr Abe is the main singer and songwriter for a shiny pop band called never young beach (all lower case, no doubt in order to make a point of some sort), who have recently released their fifth album called which is called "Arigato". In 2021 he released his first solo album as a sideline. It is called "Fantasia" and it is very good in a mellow sort of way.
"Fantasia" contains heavy hints of the 'tropical' style developed by the great Haruoki Hosono (co-founder of Happy End and the Yellow Magic Orchestra) on his mid- to late 1970s records. Which is maybe not that surprising when you learn that Mr Hosono mixed some of the tracks. It seems that the two of them have a bit of a mutual fan club going.
"Fantasia" is available from Mr Abe's Bandcamp page, as is his recent EP "Surprisingly Alright" which was released in August. Also on Bandcamp you can find a couple of never young beach albums. They are all worth checking out.
Today we are treating you all to one track from "Fantasia" and one from never young beach's debut album, "Yoshinoko House" (2015). As an extra treat I have added a track from Mr Hosono's own debut solo album from 1973, "Hosono House", made after Happy End split but before the Yellow Magic Orchestra emerged. So many houses.
Bus travel is the most commonly used form of public transport globally. According to the latest ONS data, 3.1bn bus journeys were taken in the UK last year compared to 1.7bn train journeys. In India and Brazil there are respectively an estimated 70m and 60m bus journeys taken every day. These are just a few examples.
Despite the essential support that buses provide to so many people all over the world there are people who look down their noses at them. I won't point fingers or name names but there is one particular blogger who takes a very uncharitable view of bus travel, apparently considering it not to be as chic as using trains, boats or planes.
As a regular bus user I feel the humble bus should be given the credit it deserves - a view shared by many musicians, of which the ones below are just a small selection. Please note the inclusion of some Mandatory Reggae Bus Travel.
If you missed this post about buses don't worry, there will be another one along shortlly.
We're back on the bus again, and in the absence of any African countries beginning with F we are skipping straight from the Es to the Gs, starting in Gabon.
Gabon is one of those African countries that I suspect many of us would struggle to locate on a map. It is on the west coast between Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and the Republic of Congo if that helps.
Gabon is possibly best known internationally for the Bongo political dynasty. Omar Bongo and his son Ali between them ruled the country from 1967 to August just gone when Ali was deposed in a military coup. Fun names but not particularly fun guys by all accounts (and certainly not as fun as the other Ali Bongo).
According to the not particularly informative Wikipedia entry on the music of Gabon, "the history of modern Gabonese music did not begin until 1974, when the blind guitarist and singer Pierre Akendengué released his first album". I have no idea whether that is true, but in the absence of firm evidence to the contrary let's say it is, making Pierre the perfect place to start. The selection below comes from his 1990 album "Silence".
Next up we have the snappily titled Orchestre International Akweza de Libreville with the lead track from their self-titled 1979 album. I am very grateful to the mighty Moos at the Global Groove blog for sharing this album and many more delights,
I have not been able to find out anything about the Orchestre but they were clearly heavily influenced by the Congolese rumba style wafting westwards from Brazzaville to Libreville. Not all Gabonese musicians fell under its spell though. Some stuck with more traditional sounds, like the harpist Papé Nziengui.
Papé has been recording since the late 1980s. His excellent 1989 album "Kadi Yombo" was reissued last year and you can get hold of a copy on Bandcamp. While there, why not read the informative and pretentious blurb that accompanies the album. Evidently he is a "man of rupture" whose "harp penetrates the initiates”, who are presumably ruptured in turn.
As well as his solo career, Papé is the go to guy for other Gabonese musicians when they need a harp. Among others he has accompanied Pierre Akendengué and our next artist Annie-Flore Batchiellilys. She combines traditional Gabonese sounds with a touch of jazz and blues, as you can hear on this track from her 2013 album "Mon Point Zérooo".
The Mandatory African Reggae comes courtesy of one Didier Dekokaye, described in an article from 2012 as "the last Gabonese dinosaur of the reggae wave of the late 80s and early 90s". Perhaps stung by this taunt, later that year he released "Nzila", his first album in five years and the one from which today's selection comes.
Links stay up for a month or so. If you are an artist or copyright holder and want me to remove the link, or if you want to get in touch for any other reason, e-mail me on leggies27@hotmail.co.uk.
