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Soundscapes (& More) From The Third Planet
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«Anima Blues è il capolavoro di Eugenio Finardi, è un canto offerto alla sorgente del Mississippi, un’invocazione che sale ondeggiando come una lingua di fumo sui campi delle terre del sud, è un amore che esplode e travolge, la lunga strada verso casa del cantautore milanese. C’è una voce straordinaria in Anima Blues, una voce che avvolge come le onde dell’oceano e in cui ci si può perdere per sempre, e una spiritualità profonda che svela magie “annegate” nei caldi colori della musica nera. Come in Heart of Darkness, Eugenio Finardi risale il fiume della vita e, arrivato alla fine della sua ricerca, trova finalmente il disco che aveva perduto, quello inseguito per tanti anni, da tenere stretto a sé come un figlio, e c’è una purezza che commuove in questo, un dolce conforto dopo tanta amarezza per aver dovuto nascondere, come un cospiratore, un amore assassinato tante, troppe volte: l’immenso, appassionato amore per il blues.
Troverete tutto questo nell’ultimo, straordinario lavoro di Eugenio Finardi, autore sensibile e colto, spesso poco capito, tiranneggiato da un sistema che gli ha chiesto, a tratti, un’italianità ostentata a costo di farne una gabbia in cui soffocare l’anima preziosa della sua musica. “La vita comincia a cinquant’anni” diceva Bukowski e anche se Finardi ha in effetti una carriera importante alle spalle, forse solo ora, che canta in inglese dalla prima all’ultima nota, riesce a liberare la forma pura, intatta di un’arte germogliata in silenzio, lontano dai vacui clamori di un palcoscenico italiano che somiglia sempre più a un’arena, un circo, un mercato in cui fondamentale è vendersi. Anima Blues nasce dalla musica suonata, dalle jam fatte con due pards di lunga data come Vince Vallicelli e Pippo Guarnera a cui si è unito il giovane e talentuoso chitarrista Massimo Martellotta.
Con lui Eugenio Finardi firma undici delle dodici canzoni di Anima Blues, fatto questo che ha dello sbalorditivo se si pensa che l’autore milanese non scriveva canzoni di proprio pugno dai tempi di Accadueo. Si tratta fra l’altro di creazioni davvero felici che evidenziano in modo superbo la favolosa vena di Finardi: si va dal blues acido e tinteggiato di hard rock di Mojo Philtre ai profumi latini di Estrellita, dalle preghiere intrise di gospel di Holyland agli accenti sacrali di un country-blues visionario come Heart of the Country. Efficace e scintillante nelle musiche, con liriche personali e segnate da una matura dolcezza, Anima Blues consacra la rinascita artistica di Eugenio Finardi e ne fissa l’ampio respiro culturale prendendo le distanze dalle piccole miserie di un mercato italiano che assomiglia sempre di più a una piccola, malata colonia dell’Impero.» (bluesguitar.it)
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Official website: http://www.insingizi.net/
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Laila Orient is thus a collection of songs, mostly recorded only for this particular album. Among others, the album features the French version of Mirkelam’s song “Unutulmaz” (“Inoubliable”). Mirkelam's very popular song has been recorded in French version for this album only.
Another popular song is “Husan” recorded by “Bhangra Knights vs. Husan.” Husan has been a big hit and has been played over and over in a number of clubs in Istanbul during this summer.
The album also features Elissa’s catchy song Baada from his album “Avshalak”. Elissa is a rising star in the Arabic music world. Musa Göçmen’s two songs are also in this album: “Sufi” and “The End.”
Laila Orient has sold 100,000 worldwide, a figure considered very high in its category.» (From the Net)
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The instrumental elements have expanded into new terrain (unlike most folk bands, prog isn't a dirty word for this band), but Bruce Peninsula's focus is devoted to the singing, first and foremost. Singing from the gut, singing with gusto, singing the way we were made to sing… The early, simple call-and-responses have given way to more elaborate harmonies and compositions over time, but the teachings of those timeless old recordings from the American south remain in tact. There is no denying the power and conviction of old spiritual singers like Vera Ward Hall or Washington Phillips. And while each member of the band may have their own take on the powers that be, the words those legends sang (and, more importantly, the way they sang them) have forever converted Bruce Peninsula into devotees of the church of song.
The surge of experimental music in Toronto has been equally important for Bruce Peninsula, bestowing upon them a wide-eyed, anything-goes mentality. Purists may argue that the blues or folk tradition can't be properly expressed without an old steel string and a slide, but this band has never been too concerned with trying to crack open closed minds. And so, a march of metalophone, lap-steel, zithers, and bells. Of drums and sticks and any other oddities of interesting and pleasing tone. Voices blaring all the while. A Mountain Is A Mouth is their debut LP.» (Canadian Music Wiki)
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The brain child of journalist turned musician Jean-Marie Ahanda, the well-named band blew the minds of many in hard-to-shock Cameroon. When the singer, who was serving as arts critic at the Cameroon Tribune, founded Les Têtes Brulées in 1986, he wanted to present an alternative to the zouk and makossa music that was dominating the country at the time. Combining the Bituksi rhythm of the Beti tribe with electric instruments, Ahanda’s band brought something very fresh to Cameroon’s music scene. The band’s image was as surprising as its music – while many zouk and makossa artists went for costumes and a very Western look, Les Têtes Brulées sported tribal body paint.
Les Têtes garnered international attention to match their local fame after members appeared in two documentaries: Man No Run, which recorded their first tour of France, and Bikutsi Water Blues, which featured band guitarist Zanzibar discussing the politics of water in Cameroon. […]
Consistently inspired, Hot Heads underscores the band’s resilient nature. Les Têtes Brulées had suffered a major loss in 1988, when guitarist Zanzibar committed suicide. But in 1990, this solid effort proved that the outfit still had a lot to offer. What truly sets Les Tetes apart is their pioneering attempts to bring a punk mentality to a highly traditional art form.» (AMG)
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From the beginning of the 1990s, most of these recordings were reissued on CD by the label Auvidis, which later became Naïve. Until 2003, a total of 115 CD titles were released. These reissues, new issues and compilations were made available under five new series: Music and Musicians of the World, Anthology of Traditional Music, Traditional Music of Today, Celebration Collection and Listening to the World.
In 2005, the collaboration with Naïve ended, and the titles are currently not available for purchase. However, a new partnership is in preparation in order to make the titles of the Collection available again to the general public. In addition to the previously released issues, some 15 unpublished titles will finally be released. More information will be posted on this internet page when it becomes available.» (Unesco)
For more info about this specific release, see the explanatory booklet included.
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In 1977, Suso flew to Chicago in the US where he began his recording career as well as forming a group, Mandingo Griot Society, with the percussionist Adam Rudolph. […] Since then, he has taught and recorded with many well known jazz artists, including the trumpeter Don Cherry, and Herbie Hancock, with whom he recorded the album Village Life while on their tour of Japan. The group opened new ground in what is known as World Music in numerous other collaborations, such as with Ginger Baker using Suso’s skillful and heavenly playing of the West African lute in a number of pieces.
After the band broke up they Suso re-united with its members Rudolph and Hamid Drake in 1984 to create the album Watto Sitta. The album was produced by Bill Laswell, and was a milestone of modern African music, skillfully and effortlessly merging Suso’s cutting-edge kora playing with an effortless equilibrium of natural and synthesised tunes.» (accessgambia.com)
For more Foday Musa Suso’s projects on Babe(b)logue click here.
Enjoy!
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Even in London where, by chance I came to live, nobody had heard of them. I never got the chance to hear the record either in Venezuela where most people get rid of their vinyls as soon as the cd player appeared (a Venezuelan tendency: new always means better!!), or in the country in which it was recorded. And then, a decade and a half later, I open the usual padded envelope holding a CD to review and it that word that had escpaed my lips so often but I'd never seen in print: Spiteri. At first I thought I'd misread it, but there it was, the very same band that has been evading me all this time, that magical cd, recorded in London, by two Venezuelan brothers (Charlie and Jorge). This album, originally recorded in 1973, released in Venezuela but never in England, has now been re-released by one of the most exciting Latin Music labels today: Vampisoul.
It would be too good to be true that this album lived up to the legend, but the bare truth is that it does. It's a beautiful combination of psychedelic rock with Venezuelan folk music, a sound so fresh, so unique, so vibrant, that it is pure Spanglish bliss in a totally insane way that could only have been produced in the 1970s. It was way ahead of its time in terms of musical vision, a true fusion album when only very few musicians were daring to attempt it. It combines Afro-Venezuelan rhythmns with English melodies in a daring way, enhanced by a musical understanding and skill into something truly innovative and rare.
According to the CD booklet Spiteri was Britain's answer to Santana. Unfortunately, while Santana's appearance at Woodstock launched his career into the maintream music market, Spiteri never played at Glastonbury. They also only ever recorded one album. After listening to it, it leaves you wondering what would have happened if they had been given the exposure or stayed together as a band. One of those things we'll never know. And so this one gem makes its mark in history as a collectors' 'must have' and an album that could have been.... but never was. Still, never too late to enjoy it!» (Candelalive)
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When Nathalie Natiembé crosses many people bearing her name in Catembé, in the south of the country, she finds out that her family extends outside of Reunion to the lands of Africa. With the Sankèr album, Nathalie Natiembé delivers her vision of what Maloya could become. Surrounded by musicians from the Indian Ocean (Reunion, Mauritius and Madagascar), she confronts this genre typical of Reunion and opens it to new horizons... thus finding the heart of it.» (Mondomix)
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Released in June 2000, Nou La (short for "Nou la, nou byen la" – We're here, really here!) featured 15 tracks recorded in Toulouse and mixed in Paris. But it was clear that the songs had been written and lovingly prepared in Martinique, the group’s eternal source of inspiration.» (RFIMusique, click here for full bio)
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Baba Zula, Turkey’s most beloved alternative music purveyors, provide an ideal soundtrack for this region in flux. The Istanbul-based band combines dub and reggae influences, traditional Turkish instruments, and electronica into a truly one-of-a-kind psychedelic sound. Comprised of electric saz player and vocalist Murat Ertel, electronics and percussion maestro Levent Akman, and darbuka player Coşar Kamçi, the three-piece band creates an enormous sound bathed in myriad melodies and polyrhythms. In concert, Baba Zula is a quartet that also features the talents of Ceren Oykut, a renowned graphic artist that creates and renders projected digital images in real time.
While it is relatively unknown in the West, the saz is the foremost stringed instrument used in Turkey. With three-to-12 strings on a bouzouki-like body, it possesses a distinct, bright, and ringing high-pitched sound that’s pleasing to the ear. It’s at the core of the group’s sound and that of many other contemporary and traditional Turkish acts.
Baba Zula just released Roots, its sixth album. It’s a stripped down affair that represents the essence of the group’s trio interaction. Previous discs featured many special guests, as well as outside producers, but the band was intent on keeping things in the family for its latest outing. The album features 25 mostly short pieces that largely came out of studio improvisations, as well as three dub mixes by noted Japanese producer Naoyuki Uchida.
Listeners abroad may have been previously exposed to Baba Zula in Crossing the Bridge, a remarkable documentary by Fatih Akin now available on DVD worldwide. The film takes viewers through Istanbul's contemporary and avant-garde music scenes with a level of depth and intrigue rarely found in musical travelogues. The documentary has helped elevate Baba Zula’s international profile considerably. Don’t be surprised if they hit your local scene in the near term...» (Anil Prasad, Innerviews, click here to read the interview)
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Radu.
P.S. As far as I know, this somewhat mysterious CD collects two beautiful Pela Simba’s albums originally published during the first half of the 80’s, Pela Simba and Sambara. If you discover more info, please leave a comment here. Cheers!
«Pela Simba, chanteur-guitariste d'origine congolaise, fondateur du groupe Thu Zahina, neveu de Tabu Ley (l'un des pères de la musique africaine moderne), vous propose une musique ethno-urbaine où s'enroulent tout en couleur poésie, rythmes, chants et joie de vivre.
Thu Zahina” est le nom d’un groupe musical qui fait parler de lui au Zaïre dans les années soixante dix. C’est le premier groupe composé uniquement de lycéens. Parmi les cofondateurs de “Thu Zahina” il y a Pela Simba.
Très vite populaire chez les jeunes, ce groupe, avec son style nouveau, fait naître dans son sillage d’autres groupes de lycéens tels que “Zatko”, “Bella Bella”, “Stukas” et bien d’autres.
Dès le départ, “Thu Zahina” se trouve un parrain de choix en la personne de l’artiste Tabu Ley (Rochereau). En effet ce dernier: chanteur et auteur-compositeur, est l’une des plus grandes stars du Zaïre et d’Afrique. Quelques temps plus tard ce groupe de lycéens est produit par Luambo-Makiadi dit “Franco”, une autre grande star du pays et du continent africain. L’arrivée de “Thu Zahina” et de tous ces autres groupes est sans conteste le départ d’une nouvelle musique zaïroise. C’est le début des artistes comme Papa Wemba, Pépé Manuku, Evoloko. Nyoka Longo,...
Après son départ du groupe “Thu Zahina”, Pela crée les “Saphirs” et ensuite rejoint Pépé Kallé, Vata Mombassa dans le groupe “Myosotis”.
En 1977, Pela arrive à Paris pour des études d’audiovisuel et de journalisme qu’il terminera quelques années plus tard avec succès. Mais ses études ne l’empêchent pas de continuer de vivre sa passion: la musique. C’est ainsi qu’il consacre ses heures de liberté à la création de l’une des premières formations musicales, d’étudiants d’Afrique Centrale.
Avec Jean-Faustin Missamou et Aimé Kobo ils fondent les “Mongali”.
Quelques années plus tard, avec Maika et Bony Bikaye, Pela joue aux côtés de Ray Lema dans le groupe “Carma” sponsorisé par Jean-François Bizot et son journal “Actuel”.
Puis toujours avec Maika, c’est la naissance du groupe “Malaika” avec des musiciens comme Denis Hekimian, Manou Lima ou le saxophone Jimi Mvondo.
En tant qu’auteur, compositeur, arrangeur ou interprète, Pela participe à un grand nombre de disques avec des artistes de renom tels que Tabu Ley, Mbilia Bel, Franco, Tchounou Bowen...
En 1986, on lui confie la direction artistique du “Kiss Club”. Il en fait très vite un haut lieu de la musique black et métisse à Paris. On s’y presse tous les soirs pour y rencontrer des artistes connus ou inconnus; et danser et chanter sur des rythmes de toutes les couleurs.
Pendant deux ans Pela et son groupe le “Mouvement AYE” s’y produisent tous les soirs. Et les invités pour “taper le boeuf” seront pas les moindres: Higelin, Eric Serrat, Alpha Blondy, Rido Bayonne, etc.
Pela s’est produit dans de nombreux lieux réputés de la nuit parisienne tels que “Le Bataclan”, “La Chapelle des Lombards”, “Le Rex Club”, “L’espace Cardin”, etc. et dans un grand nombre de villes hors de Paris.» (EspaceConcert)
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Today, “Yengi Yol” has set off again, towards a new, totally original adventure where Turkish Ottoman music meets Uzbek music. The four European musicians (A.Espinouze, S.Halaris, A.Morineau et E.H.During) who took up the challenge already had sound experience of Ottoman high culture music, but they had never tackled high culture tradition from Central Asia.
The meeting occurred in May 2007 in Uzbekistan when three concerts were given (in Samarqand, Bukhara and Tashkent) to an audience dumbfounded by the new tones brought by “Yengi Yol” to their music. A few videos and some recordings give an account of what had probably never happened in centuries.
In the 15th century, exchanges were still flourishing between the door to Europe and the heart of Asia. Thus, musicians from Samarqand or Bukhara were able to play at the Ottoman court of Istanbul and vice versa. The works of the repertoire would travel over thousands of kilometres, from one end of a chain of transmission to the other, and were organized into a both refined and complex codified knowledge: the Maqam or the art of high culture music, shared by the elite of musicians from the Maghreb to China. With the passing of centuries and due to the setting up of political borders, the Maqam was progressively divided and interpreted in accordance with local claims, each region developing its own style and repertoire.
Yengi Yol proposes to go in the reverse direction. While keeping the specificities proper to each culture, they want to play Ottoman and Uzbek pieces having obvious similarities by drawing from the ancient – up to 15th century – repertoires of the court as well as Sufi brotherhoods.
As obvious and natural as the result may appear, such a meeting has never happened before.» (Yengi Yol’s MySpace page)
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Despite a series of well-received live appearances throughout Western Europe and North America, the Salt project proved short-lived, and in late 1972, Jones, Odumosu, and Akintobi formed Blo, touring relentlessly in the months to come, prior to recording their EMI Nigeria label debut Blo: Chapter One. Drawing equally on the pioneering Afrobeat of Fela and Tony Allen as well as the American psych-rock of bands like the Grateful Dead and the Byrds, the record failed to live up to EMI's commercial expectations, and after signing to Afrodisia, Blo resurfaced in 1975 with Phase 2, pushing further into funk and R&B territory. Grand Funk Railroad and the Isley Brothers were the primary influences on the trio's third LP, Phase 3, but as lackluster sales continued to dog the group, Blo faced greater corporate pressure to reflect contemporary musical trends – specifically, disco, a shift culminating with 1980's Bulky Backside, recorded in London. Blo dissolved following the 1982 release of Back in Time.» (AMG)
«One of the hippest groups of the Nigerian scene of the 70s – presented here in two classic albums, back to back on a single CD! Chapter One is a landmark set of African grooves – very unusual in both conception and execution – with a feel that's unlike anything we can think of! There's definitely a rock influence in the set, but the music isn't rock at all – it's a very dark, almost dubby groove at points – and a bit more straightforwardly funk at others – almost a post-colonial style that clearly comes from a London influence, given to the group by a previous association with Ginger Baker. Rhythms are quite tight, and the bass is as strong as the drums – mixed up nicely with riffing guitar, and moody vocals that color the whole thing nicely. […]. Phase II is a critical next step for the group – music that's even deeper than before, but a bit funkier too! There's clearly some touches here of other African funk of the time – especially in the way the guitar parts groove with the rhythms – although those heavy Blo basslines from before are still nicely in place, as are some of the fuzzier production elements too.» (Dusty Groove America)
Check also RPM Records’ Blo page.
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In Asian Fusion, Jim Hurley and Matthew Montfort's shared violin-and-guitar-line leads catch hold of a strong melody and bite down hard. But despite Zhao Hui's Chinese gu sheng board zither, Bui Hui Nhut's dan bao Vietnamese one-stringed lute, and assorted ethnic percussion, vernacular instruments don't share equal weight with the band's folk-classical thrust, and the cuts that are carved from indigenous music – "The Dusk Song of the Fisherman" or the lovely Indonesian degung of "Sunda Strait" – tilt somewhat toward the generic. Still, the disc's got plenty of fire, and its loveliness often surprises.» (AMG)
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«In 1997, it came as a quite a surprise when Fantasy reissued Opa’s albums Goldenwings (1976) and Magic Time (1977) on a single 74-minute CD – surprising because this fusion trio had only a very small following; its albums were far from big sellers, and the original LP versions were in print for only a few years. If one notices some similarity between the melodic blend of jazz, rock, funk, pop and Brazilian music heard on this disc and Airto Moreira’s CTI dates of the 1970s, it’s no coincidence – Moreira produced and played percussion on both albums. Opa members Hugh Fattoruso (keyboards, vocals), George Fattoruso (drums, vocals, percussion) and Ringo Thielmann (bass, vocals) often worked with the percussionist and his wife Flora Purim in the 1970s, and his influence clearly rubbed off. It’s regrettable that Opa was never as commercially successful as either Moreira or Purim, although this CD points to the fact that it wasn’t due to a lack of rewarding material». (AMG)
Many thanx to Blbs (see pic) for this post.
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Questo blog non rappresenta una testata giornalistica in quanto viene aggiornato senza alcuna periodicità. Non può pertanto considerarsi un prodotto editoriale ai sensi della legge n. 62 del 7.03.2001. Si declina ogni responsabilità per contenuti, commenti e collegamenti ad altri siti.