WorldBeatUK (7th Show) - Broadcast Notes (13/4/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Rhubarb C Sharp Seth Lakeman Berroguetto ialma Serjao Loroza Parno Grazst Gypsy Groovz Blind Boys of Alabama Michel Ongara Oswin Chin Behilia Jolly Boys Bellon Maceiras Imam Baildi Azucah Manteca Rudeboy Rigolitch Huun Huur Tu
Show notes for WBUK7 (13/4/11)
1 Intro-mat (1.47) Matchatcha Nyekesse (Melodie)
Welcome back to another edition of WorldBeatUK right here on Rhubarb Radio. My name’s Glyn Phillips and for the next two hours I’ll be taking you on a musical journey around the oceans of world music.
On the show tonight we’re going to be sailing down to Galicia in Northwestern Spain for some fantastic folk-fusion, cruising over to the Caribbean for some reggae and mento from Jamaica and some papiamentu son from Curação, riding the iron horse to hear some gospel from Alabama, and on up to Canada for some afro-jazz fusion and ska, and somewhere along the way we’ll be calling in at Brazil, Kenya, Greece and two widely differing parts of Russia (St Petersburg in the Northwest and Siberia in the South East) as well as attending a wild gypsy festival in Southern Serbia. Just don’t say I don’t ever take you out anywhere…!
First up tonight let’s get it on - and get in the mood - with some ‘Lovers Rock’ from Jamaica’s C-Sharp - this is “My Love”:
2 My Love (3.35) C-Sharp
Well, ya feelin’ all loved-up now? Ready for a change of pace? This is England’s current face and voice of young English folk, Seth Lakeman, and the rocking title track off his 2010 album called “Hearts & Minds”:
3 Hearts & Minds (3.53) Seth Lakeman
And talking of folk music, last week I played you some glorious folk music from Galicia: the remote, verdant, Celtic region of Spain.
It went down so well that I’m returning there for a number of tracks tonight, kicking off with the first Galician band that really rocked my boat - the multifarious, multi-talented Berrogüetto and a track from their brilliant 2001 “Hepta” album on the Spanish Boa Music label.
This is called GaliATmatiasDOTtacom - or it might even be Galiamatiastacom - difficult to tell! Anyway, wrap yer lug’oles round this!
4 Galiamatiastacom (3.42) Berrogüetto Hepta (Boa Music)
And sticking with Galicia a wonderful band of women called Ialma. In celebration of their 10 year anniversary these five beautiful singers or ‘cantareiras’ have just released a new album “Simbiose” (which means “Symbiosis”) on the De Fol Musica label, which fuses traditional folk with everything from rap to medieval music. This particular funky jazzy song is entitled “6am”.
5 6am (3.40) Ialma Simbiose (De Fol Musica)
The Galician language, Galega, is very similar to Portuguese, and Portuguese is also the language of Brazil. Which takes me very nicely onto the next track.
Serjão Loroza is a singer/composer from Rio de Janeiro who is also a comedian, as well as an actor of stage, film and TV. He’s well known for his tracks in the ubiquitous Brazilian style of MPB (musica popular brasileira) as well as samba, rap, soul, funk, reggae and beyond.
This laidback tune - with a peculiarly Brazilian reggae undercurrent - is from a live concert by Serjão and his band Us Madureiras and is entitled “A Dois Passos de Paraíso” (Two Steps from Paradise) . . .
6 A Dois Passos do Paraíso (3.44) Serjão Loroza Serjão Loroza & Us Madureira
Last Friday (8th April) was officially the International Day of the Roma and I’d like to give a shout out and a BIG big up to Rhubarb Radio’s very own ElliNoire and her Balkanic Eruption night. If you weren’t there, you missed another winning combination of gypsy joy and balkan madness.
I’d especially like to mention the Romany Diamonds from Poland, a trio of Roma musicians who mesmerised the audience using just an acoustic guitar, an accordion and the astounding voice of the violinist. He was no mean violinist either, I can tell you! All the more amazing considering they had to follow a very large, amplified Balkan-style wedding band called Aistaguca from Nottingham! So if you get the chance check them out!
OK so that must mean it’s now time for some Gypsy music. Parno Grazst are a Hungarian Roma gypsy ensemble founded in 1987. Their name means ‘White Horse’, whereby white is a symbol of purity and the horse a symbol of freedom. Their debut album “Rávágok a Zongorára” which translates into English as the much-easier-to-say: “Hit The Piano” reached No 7 on the World Music Chart Europe in Oct 2002. This is the title track from that and I’m dedicating it to the lovely ElliNoire whose balkan show you can hear on Rhubarb Radio tomorrow at 1pm. Opre Roma!!
7 Rávágok a Zongorára (2.44) Parno Grazst Rávágok a Zongorára (ie ‘Hit The Piano’) PPR Records
More Roma madness, this time from Serbia and the wonderful Gypsy Groovz Orchestra led by trumpeter Ekrem Sajdic. They are joined here by no less than 7 other ensembles on a huge jam which was recorded and made into a compelling album. This is the first part (“Djul Zulejha”) and the third part (for which I don’t have a name) of a 35 minute piece called “Festival Tople Volde” (which translates as ‘Hot Water Festival’), recorded last year, I think, at the Guca Festival.
Their management described this recording to me as - and I quote - “made by 75 brass musicians from South of Serbian village Vranjska Banja and 10 nyabinghi rastafarian drummers of freedom who played together on live 35 minutes long song as 1-100 catharsis.” Nope, I don’t understand what that means either - but who cares, the music’s great! The album is on the Network label and is called “Night Train for Lovers and Thieves”. The Gypsy Groovz Orchestra Goes Tuttimundi!
8 Festival Tople Volde (Pt 1: Djul Zulejha) (2.10) Gypsy Groovz Orchestra Goes Tuttimundi Night Train for Lovers and Thieves (Network)
- - - CONTINUOUS - - - - - -
9 Festival Tople Volde (Pt 3) (4.06) Gypsy Groovz Orchestra Goes Tuttimundi Night Train for Lovers and Thieves (Network)
Now, the last few weeks I’ve been trying to balance the music on the show between uptempo and slow, between country and urban, and between dancefloor fillers and those of a more medit-at-ive nature and there’s usually one tune every show that demands a certain level of aural attention and openness of mind, yet delivers in turn a special spirituality or transcendency. The next track is one of those. It’s a collaboration between the Bulgarian vocal group Angelite, the Moscow Art Trio and the Siberian overtone singers Huun Huur Tu. Recorded at a live concert (always so much better than dead ones, I find!) this track - called “Fly Fly My Sadness” - is 10 minutes and 28 seconds of ethereal sonic beauty . . .
10 Fly Fly My Sadness (10.28) Bulgarian Voices Angelite, Huun Huur Tu & The Moscow Art Trio Gone To The Dogs sampler (Jaro)
Well, that certainly was music for the soul - and this next track is too, although in a more overtly religious sense. From Central Asia and Eastern Europe we’re going all the way to the Deep South of America and to the Blind Boys of Alabama.
Formed over 70 years ago in 1939 (yep, that’s what I said: 1939) by a group of young men from the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind, they have consistently poured out heartfelt gospel and RnB songs full of lush harmonies and deep roots, decade after decade. In that time they’ve won five Grammy’s, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and profoundly influenced countless artists from the genres of gospel, blues, rock’n’roll, soul and rock.
This track is a preview taken off their forthcoming album to be released on May the 9th called “Take the High Road”. It’s on the Saguaro Road Records label and is distributed by Proper Records and it’s the first time the Blind Boys have released a traditional country-gospel album.
Co-produced by Jamey Johnson it features guests spots by Willie Nelson, Lee Ann Womack, The Oak Ridge Boys and Hank Williams Jr amongst others. However the track I’ve chosen features just the Blind Boys themselves, so that you can really hear what all the acclaim is about.
So come on, scrub your neck, comb your hair and put on your Sunday best, boys and girls - let’s go to church: “Jesus, Hold My Hand”!
11 Jesus Hold My Hand (4.31) The Blind Boys of Alabama Take The High Road (Saguaro Road/Proper)
- - - CONTINUOUS - - - - - -
12 Nashanga (5.15) Michel Ongaro Senta Lain
- - - CONTINUOUS - - - - - -
13 Intro-Mat (1.47) Matchatcha Nyekesse
You’re listening to Rhubarb Radio. I’m Glyn Phillips and this is WorldBeatUK - 2 hours of the best world music coming at you live from the Custard Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham, in the United Kingdom.
Before the jingle break you heard the sounds of The Blind Boys of Alabama with “Jesus Hold My Hand” followed immediately by - coincidentally - another blind musician: multi-instrumentalist Michel Ongaro from Kenya and a track called “Nashanga” from his album “Senta Lain” - which mixes up traditional Kenyan benga music with soukous, gospel and cuban son - and that’s on the Dutch label Hippo Records.
If you’re wondering what the music is that I use as my theme tune for WorldBeatUK that came after that and you hear at the start of the show, it’s called “Intro-Mat” and is by Congolese guitar supremo Diblo Dibala and his band Matchatcha.
Details of all the tracks that I play can be found on my own world music website: www.worldmusic.co.uk - couldn’t be simpler! (so go to: www DOT World Music DOT co DOT uk) FORWARD SLASH ‘radio’ and look for the details there. We usually post them straight after the show - or by the next day at the latest.
OK, let’s set sail again and take our imaginary clipper up the Baltic Sea past Estonia and Finland onto Russia where we’ll dock in the ancient city of St Petersburg. There we’ll find a band called the St Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review playing a South African melody done Russian ska stylee!
If any of you own or once owned a 1962 album called “Swinging Safari” by Bert Kaempfert & his Orchestra then you might well recognise the melody. This is called “Skokiaan”!
(14) Skokiaan (3.23) St Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review Too Good To Be True (Megalith)
Lot of fun, lot of fun, the St Petersbug Ska-Jazz Review and Skokiaan!
Well we might have disembarked from the ship, but it’s time now to get on yer bike! Toronto-based Canadian band Mr Something Something are as well known for their methods of powering their shows as for their music. The band have taken the energy-wasteful music industry head on and are seriously trying all kinds of ways to reduce their carbon footprint. And one of those ways is via their Soundcycle system.
Audiences at their shows are asked to personally power the band using 10 special bicycles hooked up to dynamos that can create a current of about 200 watts per bike. The energy is stored in a bank of batteries and used to run the band’s equipment during concerts; the audience volunteers each spend about 10-15 minutes on average cycling during a show and it’s proved a big hit with them, giving a new outlet for dance floor activism.
And the music? Well it’s a sort of loose blend of jazz and afrobeat. Check it out. This is from their last album “Shine Your Face” and it’s called “The Antidote”.
(15) The Antidote (5.13) Mr Something Something Shine Your Face
When British people think of the Caribbean the default image is usually of Jamaica - or maybe Barbados, Trinidad, St Lucia or any other of the English speaking West Indies.
There are those who might be into latin american music and who will add Spanish speaking islands such as Cuba or Puerto Rico into the equation, or Francophiles who will mention Haiti, Guadeloupe and Martinique to the list.
But how many people are familiar with the Dutch speaking Caribbean? - Oh Yes, it exists! - in particular the islands of Aruba, Bonaire & Curação - or as they are often known: the ABC islands. ABC. Aruba, Bonaire, Curação… Geddit?
The great little Dutch label “Otrabanda Records” have long since sought out and tracked down all manner of artists and musics that deserve better attention and in the weeks to come I hope to play some of their recordings from the Pacific Coast of Colombia as well as vintage afrobeat, afrorock and electric highlife from Ghana.
But today I’m going to play you a piece by one of Curação’s most revered musical icons, Mr Oswin Chin Behilia from his album on Otrabanda Records called “Liber”.
The music shares many similarities with Cuban son - and there is a vibrant interchange between the ABC islands and their much larger neighbour, Cuba, to the North and with their nearest neighbour, Venezuela, to the South; but you’ve probably never heard the language before - it is the indigenous creole language of the islands called Papiamentu - a hybrid between Cape Verdean creole, Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, English, Sephardic Jewish Ladino, Arawak and various African tongues. This track is “Den Bo Kushina”.
(16) Den Bo Kushina (3.32) Oswin Chin Behilia Liber (Otrabanda Records)
Staying in the Caribbean and a group I featured two weeks ago this is the fantastic Jolly Boys from Jamaica and another track from last year’s “Great Expectation" album on the GeeJam label. The last time I played their version of Amy Winehouse’s hit “Rehab”; this time Steely Dan get the jollification treatment.
Some people, like my mate Neil, don’t like Steely Dan;
I, however, do - connected forever in my mind as they are to a wonderful summer spent hitch-hiking around Europe and in particular an amazing car journey through Western France on a warm balmy evening rolling along the French highways against a deep peachy-orange sunset and to a soundtrack of East St Louis Toodle-oo, Show Biz Kids, Bad Sneakers, Reelin’ In The Years, Bodhisattva and Rikki Don’t Lose That Number. Yes, I know, all terribly indulgent - but it’s my show and I’ll play what I like.
This time The Jolly Boys work their stripped-back mento magic on Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” - quite an appropriate title for a band who take their name from a strap-on female pleasuring device . . . (Steely Dan, that is! No, seriously!)
(17) Do It Again (3.21) The Jolly Boys Great Expectation (Gee Jam)
And talking of Doing It Again - here’s a track that I’d promised you all last week and had to pull at the last minute. From one of my favourite French producers, mashers and remixers of the moment, this is M’siou Rigolitch and his metal-reggae mash-up of Martinique’s Papa Tank and Australia’s AC/DC (yep, you heard right!) and a track called “Back In Babylone”.
(18) Back in Babylone (4.13) M’siou Rigolitch (AC/DC vs Papa Tank)
- - - CONTINUOUS - - - - - -
(19) Ska Father (1.54) Rudeboy Shut Up and Dance (Socan / Stomp Records)
Yes, yes, yes! That was the sound of Canadian ska band Rudeboy from Ottawa and off their 1998 album “Shut Up and Dance!” - a track I’m sure loads of you recognised as the theme from the Godfather film - that was the “Ska Father”.
Here’s another upbeat offering - returning to the Galician focus I had earlier on, this is a great number from the Bellón Maceiras Quinteto from their recent album “Folk Fusion” on the De Fol Musica label - called “Licantropia”’.
(20) Licantropia (4.09) Bellón Maceiras Quinteto Folkfusion (De Fol Musica)
- - - CONTINUOUS - - - - - -
(21) Azul Graso (3.53) Berrogüetto Hepta (Boa Music)
And there you had another track from a Galician band I played earlier, Berrogüetto, from their "Hepta" album and a special guest adding a bit of Hungarian groove on the cimbalom, Kalman Balogh, and a fantastic piece called “Azul Graso”.
Now here’s a piece of folk from the other end of Southern Europe, in this case Greece, as the international mash-up phenomenon that is the Falireas Brothers’ band: Imam Baildi take a traditional song by Dimita Galani and give it the cumbia dancehall treatment courtesy of MC Yinka. This is “Ta Hartina” and I defy you not to bounce up and down to this!
(22) Ta Hartina (4.16) Dimitra Galani (Imam Baildi rmx) The Imam Baildi Cookbook (EMI Greece / Sonic Bids)
Coming up towards the end of the show now - just another couple of tracks or so to go!
From the free download compilation album “Azucah Selectah” on the Latino Resiste! label and project, this is a mad piece of latin jungle by DJs Caballo and TMFK, featuring a compelling guajeo and some heavy, heavy, heavy effects!! “Azucah!”
(23) Azucah! (4.12) Caballo & TMFK Azucah Selectah
And if that wasn’t enough for you this is another mad drum’n’bass treatment of urban latin funk. Formed for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Festival in 2001 by Colombian singer Martha Acosta & bassist Javier Fioramonti, the band Manteca released this heavenly slice of dancefloor locura off their 2009 album on Freestyle Records called “Planet Latino”. Are you ready? “Tremendo Boogaloo”!
(24) Tremendo Boogaloo (4.03) Manteca Planet Latino
WorldBeatUK (4th Show)- Broadcast Notes (21/3/11)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips Rhubarb Radio Dr John Dirty Dozen Waso Koen de Cauter Romani Lavotta Salmarina Big Chief Rosellys Palma Coco Soundways Ebo Taylor Gabbidon C Sharp Slamboree Strut Maria Kalaniemi Mariza Barry Phillips Aito
Playlist for Monday 21st March 2011
1 JINGLE 1 0:34 (Glyn Phillips voice-over “Intro-Mat” by Matchatcha)
Coming up on the show this evening: 1950s Gospel, 1960s Cumbia, 1970s Ghanaian Afrobeat, 1980s Gipsy Swing, 1990s Sevillanas, Noughties Fado and Teenies Reggae! But first this: In May 1970 Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Steve Winwood and a host of others (including various Stones and Beatles) came together to record an amazing album of blues - and the catalyst for all this? One Mr Chester Arthur Bennett. Better known to you and me as … Howlin’ Wolf!
2 Built For Comfort 2:11 Howlin' Wolf The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions (Chess/MCA) Blues
That was a track called “Built for Comfort” off the 1970 album “The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions” an experiment that teamed up the legendary Chicago Blues man with some of the then cream of the British crop. OK, so why am I kicking off a world music show with the Blues? Well, it IS world music - in fact along with Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Cajun, Zydeco and Country music it is America’s very own world music.
But more particularly, because yesterday marked the 2nd anniversary of the death of my father - one of two huge musical influences on my life (the other being Alexis Korner) both of whom planted the seeds of my interest in the wider musics of the world. So as a little homage to my father I’d like to share with you some of the tracks, musicians and styles that I grew up with during the 60s and 70s and into the 80s.
My old man played jazz and blues trombone, teaching himself from the age of 17 and throwing himself into the rebel music of his day (that day being 1951) - New Orleans Jazz! “Rebel Music”?! I can hear you say. Why, yes. to people brought up in the war years on American crooners and the British “Hee Hee! Pop the Kettle on Mother!” approach to musical entertainment, New Orleans jazz was wild, unpredictable, rebellious, You needed to learn it by ear, not by notes and best of all - yer parents hated it! Things really don’t change do they?
I have precious little recorded material to show for his almost 6 decades of performing. This next piece was given to me by a man who came to his funeral who had played with him back in the 60s in a (very non-rebellious) early form of ‘tribute band’, given over to recreating note-for-note 1920s style jazz - very much not my old man, but hey it was a gig; however, please listen to this and revel in his ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ 12 second trombone solo which single-handedly blasts away the tuba player and the rest of the band’s cobwebs and shows - albeit briefly - that to him music needed to be ‘felt’ not just played. This is Birmingham’s own Ken Ingram’s Classic Jazz Kings and a track called “Deep Henderson”
3 Deep Henderson (Take 2) 4:06 Ken Ingram's Classic Jazz Kings KICJK Vol 6 Jazz
Only one more jazz one now because I can feel my brother already gnashing his teeth and reaching for the tranquilizers. There are so many musicians I could pick that I remember him spinning records to in the front room, but this guy is probably the one that most subconsciously influenced my old man’s playing style - full-on broadsides of ‘bone and big sweeping notes that used the whole length of the slide. This is on vinyl - an old Vogue label ep - and it’s “St Louis Blues” by the great Kid Ory.
4 St Louis Blues - Kid Ory Vogue epg1006 Jazz
[VINYL]
If you’ve just tuned in - don’t worry, you’re still listening to WorldBeatUK with me Glyn Phillips - I’m just taking the opportunity to use this first hour to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of my father’s death with a little homage to what ‘world music’ we could lay our hands on in those far off days before the 80s. We’ve had Blues, we’ve had Jazz; now for the 3rd of the great triumvirate of 20th Century Black American music: Gospel! And in our house two ladies stood head and shoulders above the rest: the excitable dynamo Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the mighty rock of faith that was Mahalia Jackson. We’re going on a journey bound for glory with Sister Rosetta on “This Train” and that’s followed by an absolute masterclass in control and deep belief in Mahalia Jackson’s “In The Upper Room”. Firstly though . . . All Aboard!!
5 This Train 2:50 Sister Rosetta Tharpe The Original Soul Sister Gospel & Religious
[CONTINUOUS]
6 In The Upper Room 5:58 Mahalia Jackson Gold Collection Gospel & Religious
Leaving America behind now, but not the ladies, we move into more recognisable world music territory. In 1965 my parents went to Portugal, guests of the son of some very well-heeled Portuguese people. They were taken to a fado house in Lisbon and returned home with a couple of wonderful ep’s. It was my first taste of foreign language music - and I really took to it. Who else but the Grand Diva of Fado, the woman in black, the legend in her own lifetime: Amalia Rodrigues and from that very same ep (“Amalia the Beautiful”) this a track known in English as ‘The Song of the Sea’ - Solidão (Canção do Mar)
7 Solidão (Canção do Mar) Amalia Rodrigues Amalia the Beautiful (Columbia) Fado
[VINYL]
Ok, Briefly back over the Atlantic to the States. New Orleans Jazz might have very unjustly got a bad name from the ranks of the ‘Cool Jazz’ brigade (you know, they should really study their musical history, Jazz did not start with Bird, Trane and Miles!) - however this next track sets out to demonstrate the fuller picture of the Crescent City - on the one hand the Funky, Funky, PHONKY brass bands and on the other the amazing pianists. This track combines two examples of the best - it’s The Dirty Dozen Brass Band fronted by the Night Tripper himself, The Gris Gris Man, the living embodiment of New Orleans Juju, Dr John Creaux - or just Mac to his friends. “It’s All Over Now”!
8 It’s All Over Now 4:57 The Dirty Dozen Brass Band (Dr John) Jazz Moods - Hot (Columbia/Legacy) Jazz
During the 60s and 70s besides listening to oceans of rock (proper rock mind!) my ears were always open to hear anything that spoke of foreign climes - there wasn’t a lot but I remember Dad playing Ravi Shankar, Manitas de Plata, The Drummers of Burundi etc all of which swam around in my head next to The Beatles, Santana, Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Hawkwind, Slade - yes, Slade, why you got a problem with that?
However, one chance meeting had a profound effect on my musical development as a teenager. During the later 70s my father and I pitched up at a small jazz festival in Kent and met four amazing Belgian musicians (yes, I’m back talking about Belgium again). It was a gipsy jazz quartet called Waso and they were to become our friends and unwitting musical mentors for years to come. The band consisted of Michel Verstraeten on Double Bass, the Manouche gipsies Vivi Limberger on rhythm guitar, and his cousin Fapy Lafertin on lead guitar and Koen de Cauter on reeds and vocals. Actually they were all multi-instrumentalists but more of that later. First off I’m going to play a track from their 1983 album “Gipsy Swing Vol 5” which is typical of the style that made them firm favourites of discerning British jazz audiences during the 80s. This is their gipsy jazz version of the old Russian theme “ - Ochi Chorniye” - “Black Eyes”.
9 Les Yeux Noirs 2.58 Waso Gipsy Swing Vol 5 (Munich Records 1983) Gypsy Jazz
[VINYL]
This was incredibly exciting music - and tracks like this were capable of being played at breakneck speed; just the sight of Fapy Lafertin’s fingers effortlessly flowing over the frets was enough to make most British Django devotees hang up their guitars in shame. However, it wasn’t just all gipsy swing standards; the band’s frontman Koen de Cauter had a very personal style of singing and comic facial expressions that often masked his true skills; so I was exposed also to musette, chanson and, as here, an idiosyncratic rendering of the waltz - “Flambée Montalbanaise”
10 Flambée Montalbanaise 3:38 Koen de Cauter & friends Django! (DeWerf 2004) Gypsy Jazz
That last track was taken off an album recorded in 2004 called “Django!” and featured not just Koen and Fapy from the original Waso, but also two of Koen’s sons Waso de Cauter on rhythm guitar and Dajo de Cauter on double bass. So far, so good. But is this world music? Yes, yes, yes! You just need to leave your preconceptions at the door. As the night went on, Waso would treat their British audiences to a taste, just a taste of the hidden world of Central and East European music. You have to remember it was virtually impossible to hear anything like this in Britain 30 years ago, let alone buy it anywhere.
The next track although recorded in 1996 by another offshoot of the original Waso band called Romani, is again typical of the treats they had in store for the lucky few able to cram into the tiny clubs where they played to absolutely breathless audiences. The band here features Vivi’s son Tcha Limberger (now internationally famous in his own right) on vocals and violin, Vivi himself on rhythm and backing vocals, Koen on lead guitar and his son Dajo again on double bass. It is a sublime piece the original of which I remember playing to death on an old scratchy worn out cassette. This is “Letscho Kurko”
11 Letscho Kurko 5:43 Romani Romani (Map Records) Gypsy Jazz
[CONTINUOUS]
12 Serenade 2:24 Lavotta Le Chemin des Tsiganes Gypsy Jazz
To finish off the North European gipsy section that was the wonderful Lavotta from an album called “Le Chemin des Tsiganes” and a track entitled “Seranade” - You can get all the details for these tracks right after the show by logging onto my world music website, called appropriately enough www.worldmusic.co.uk and then clicking on the Radio category - there you’ll find playlists for all my shows.
Just to remind you, you’re listening to WorldBeatUK here on Rhubarb Radio, with me Glyn Phillips and for this first section of the show I’m paying homage to my late father and to the music he either introduced me to or discovered with me back in the 60s, 70s and early 80s. I would like to have played you some 60s music by the Southern French gipsy, Manitas de Plata - but I can’t put me hands on his album - so this is again from my father’s collection; it’s from Andalucia in Southern Spain and it’s a sevillana by the choral group Salmarina called “Fue en Sevilla” (It Happened in Seville).
13 Fue en Sevilla 3.39 Salmarina Sevillanas de Carlos Saura (Polydor) Sevillana
Ok this is the last one in homage to my father. You might remember that earlier on in the programme I played a piece by the most famous fadista of all time, Amalia Rodriguez; the next song is by the most famous fadista of her generation, who might yet prove to eclipse Amalia in time. Who else but: Mariza. Just as with Eva Cassidy, I can remember distinctly the first time I ever heard her; I was driving along College Road in Handsworth when this astounding voice came out of the radio and I had to pull over to the kerb and listen, since all the hairs on my arms were standing up and I began to feel faint. Now THAT’s the power of music! My father discovered her around the same time in the early noughties and loved her voice equally.
One of my last memories of true closeness to him took place after he’d been told he didn’t have long to live; He was struggling to breathe through his oxygen mask, so we just sat next to each other and he got me to put on a documentary about Mariza and her life. We sat there experiencing the joy of music, the longing for more time and the sadness of impending loss. True ‘saudade’. The next week he stopped listening to any music at all, because he couldn’t bear the pain of knowing he’d never play trombone, never sing, never dance, never truly live again. This is “Meu Fado Meu”.
14 Meu Fado Meu 3.26 Mariza Transparente (EMI/World Connection 2005) Fado
Did I say that was the last song for my father? Well, technically this is. Good friends of me and my dad’s and North London ambassadors for mixing up styles from Soweto to the Crescent City, this is Big Chief and . . . . “Song For My Father”
15 Song For My Father 6.48 Big Chief Live at the Bull (Teepee Records 2005) Jazz
[CONTINUOUS]
16 JINGLE 2 1:01 (Glyn Phillips voice-over “Intro-Mat” by Matchatcha)
[CONTINUOUS]
17 Emoções 3:04 Jose Da Camara Emoções (Sony 2010) Portuguese
(Jose Da Camara Canta Roberto Carlos)
Welcome back to WorldBeatUK with me Glyn Phillips right here on Rhubarb Radio. You were just listening to the sounds of Portuguese singer Jose da Camara singing a song called “Emoções” (‘Emotions’ in English) from the album of the same name, subtitled Jose da Camara Canta Roberto Carlos (J d C sings the songs of Roberto Carlos). That’s on the Sony label 2010.
A quick reminder that this is the last show on a Monday! If you tune in next Monday between 6-8pm you’ll probably get the wonderful Marc Reck, but not me. WorldBeatUK is moving from next week to WEDNESDAY evenings at the slightly later time of 7-9pm UK time (overseas listeners please check the time differences because the UK’s clocks go forward an hour this weekend coming!). So that should be much better for those who struggle to get back home in time for 6pm to join me. There’ll be no excuses now!
Now here’s a band that are playing here in Birmingham next week at the Kitchen Garden Cafe in wonderful uptown Kings Heath on Monday 4th April at 8.30pm. I was going to get them to come on the show and play live for us, but of course as you’ve just heard, I won’t be here on Monday - because I’ll be here next Wednesday! The band’s called Polly and the Billets Doux an eclectic mix of folk/soul/pop and I don’t know what really - but it’s nice! Sort of halfway between Bonnie Raitt and Norah Jones. This is from their album “Fiction, Half-Truths and Downright Lies” and it’s called “Lead Me On”.
18 Lead Me On 4:31 Polly And The Billets Doux Fiction, Half-Truths and Downright Lies Pop/Soul/Folk
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19 Caught Me At A Bad Time 2:38 The Rosellys One Way St (2008) Americana
You’ve just been listening to a pair of Birmingham’s finest young musicians who play what’s often referred to nowadays as ‘Americana’ - as I’ve been trying to point out all through the programme, world music is a lot broader than you might think. That was The Rosellys and “Caught Me At a Bad Time” from their album “One Way Street”. Check out their website www.therosellys.com. They often play at the Tower of Song in Cotteridge, South Birmingham and are well worth checking out indeed!
Ok, here’s a tune that at first seem to have overtones of American folk and hillbilly, but is in fact performed by the Finnish-Swedish accordionist, Maria Kalaniemi - originally written by Hilma Ingberg, probably in the early 20th Century. I’d love to know whether it’s the Appalachian influence on Scandinavia or the Scandinavian influence on Appalachia in this tune - who knows - but I do know I like the track. This is from her 2010 album on the Aito Records label entitled “Vilda Rosor” which means ‘wild rose’ and it’s a track called “I Fjol” - which I have no idea what it means. Just enjoy!
20 I Fjol 5:22 Maria Kalaniemi Vilda Rosor (Aito Records 2010) Swedo-Finnish Folk
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21 Interlude (Callin Gramma) 0:38 Ortegon - Interlude
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22 Muchacha 3:13 Ortegon - (Palma Coco) Salsa
That was another track by someone I featured last week, the Colombian producer and musician Sr Ortegon and a track called “Muchacha” (preceded by a weird phone conversation to someone’s granny . . .). Ok let’s stay in Colombia and return to that great album I played last week: “Cartagena: Curro Fuentes & the Big Band Cumbia & Descarga Sound of Colombia (1962-72)” on the Soundways label. This is a cumbia with a tango intro by the great Lucho Bermudez. “Fiesta de Negritos”. A Bailar!!!!
23 Fiesta De Negritos 2:34 Lucho Bermudez Y Su Orquesta Cartagena! (Soundways) Tango-Cumbia
Sticking with re-releases from the golden years, this next track is from a recent re-release of Ghanaian Highlife and Afrobeat Classics from 1973-1980 on the Strut label, called “Life Stories” and all of the tracks are by or associated with Ebo Taylor. I’m hoping to play a lot more from this label - there’s a new album coming up called “Nigeria 70” - so as soon as I get that, I’ll play some stuff off it for you (big shout out to Stephanos!). In the meantime this is a heavenly slice of music called, funnily enough, “Heaven”. . .
24 Heaven 6.04 Ebo Taylor Life Stories (Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1973-80) (Strut 2011) Afrobeat
Now closer to home - much closer. We here in the UK like our reggae; here in Birmingham we really like our reggae - and we’ve got the musical pedigree to prove it. From my neck of the woods, Handsworth, one band has stood out on the international stage. Who else but Steel Pulse - and founder member Basil Gabbidon is still playing around Brum with his band, Gabbidon, and I was lucky enough to be playing at the same venue (the Tower of Song in Cotteridge) as him and Carol Brewster, the soul and gospel singer, a couple of weeks ago. This is from his recent album called “Reggae Rockz” - it’s “Kool Runnings”.
25 Kool Runnings 3:30 Gabbidon Reggae Rockz (Runcum Music RMCD25) Reggae
Sticking with reggae, this is a great Jamaican band name of C-Sharp, who wrap some sweet tunes around some very insightful lyrics. Really liking their work. They’ve had hits in Jamaica with “No More” (that dealt with the often taboo subject of severe depression) and more recently “Nurse” (in 2009). This is from their new - as yet unreleased - album, “The Invitation”, and it’s a fitting cry to the madness of the world all around us today. This is called “What’s the Matter with the World”.
26 What's The Matter With The World 3:58 C-Sharp The Invitation (C-Sharp Music) Reggae
[Remind people that WorldBeatUK is moving to Wednesdays from next week onwards and will start and end an hour later (7-9pm) - which should make it easier for everyone to tune in.]
27 Balk To The Future 3.40 Slamboree - - Balkan Dance
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