As we strap into the Wayback machine we’re hoping to discover a brave new future in a worker’s paradise (or at least a summer vacation in the Catskills) driven by our fervent calls for regime change and, perhaps, armed revolution. Those were the days, circa 1965-75, when throughout Latin America,  leftists caught a glimmer of hope that life could factually improve for the most downtrodden amongst them. These songs were born of that movement toward justice, equality and a pollo in every pot. A rediscovery and rebirth of traditional folk music was part of the inspiration as well     . . .  [continues below] Al compás del mundo - The Latin American “New Song” movement, 1960s and 1970s First broadcast 4-18-24 01 Soledad Bravo - Punto y raya (Venezuela) 02 Isabel y Ángel Parra - Este presente festín se lo regalo a cualquiera (Chile) 03 Haciendo Punto en Otro Son - La vida campesina (Puerto Rico) 04 Amparo Ochoa - Por medio de la lectura (México) 05 Atahualpa Yupanqui - Indiecito dormido (Ar

This will be the second time around on Al compas del mundo featuring the music of Sudan and Ethiopia. Apart from the totally mesmerizing and distinct sounds from these East African neighbors, there are two major underlying motives for my appreciation. When we lived in Cairo for a year back in 1982-83, one of our August vacation options was Sudan and its capital of Khartoum. Similar desertic topography to Egypt and a summer time average temperature of 105-115 degrees steered us toward the alternative: Turkey – green, Mediterranean, and politically stable (mostly). Still, I (almost) left my heart in Sudan. The music did all it could to win me over.  Purchasing cassettes of Sudanese music in the streets of Cairo, I was exposed to the mellifluous strains of Sudanese orchestras, soloists, and singers. There’s no other music on the planet quite like it. Cuts 2, 7 and 9 may be exceptions only in that they are straight out of the country and unlike the urban sounds I’m particularly enthralled

Hmmm…what to say that hasn’t been said already about the music in today’s playlist? After all, you’ve heard them all before back in January and February of 2022 when they were first played. That is, if you were paying attention back in those days. Days of pandemic fears and stay-indoor avid radio listening. Glad to have been of service, presenting major attention-grabbers the likes of Cachaito Lopez (Cuban beatnik music – so cool), Sidney Bechet’s licorice stick, Les McCann and Eddie Harris putting everybody in their place, Hayadeh and her spooky Iranian organ, the Velvet Underground searing our brain-pans, shakin’ with the Guess Who (who knew they were Canadian besides their mothers?), losing control over that good thang with the Troggs, and pleading the fifth with The Animals. Seems to me a proper summation of musical choices made long ago, seemingly with little or no logic other than taste leading me on. -J.H. Runlist for “greatest hits” of Pandemic programs 10-14 First broadcast 4-

It’s spring! Which, I suppose, means different things in different places. Boston just got dumped on with hella snow; San Francisco is seeing cold (relatively), clouds and rain; and we here in Tequisquiapan, Queretaro in the middle of Mexico are suffering our way through 80-degree blue-sky days. I remember youthful exuberance in Madison, Wisconsin, when we played baseball on a March day when the temperature suddenly reached 50 degrees. We dodged patches of snow that still remained, but I guess that’s also something from the past that remains a wistful memory. Anyway, I’m searching for a theme for this week’s program that really has nothing to do with spring. But look! And smell the blossoms! The Kazakh folk group sings of flowers and Roma Indians from Rajasthan dance for the sheer joy of being alive! Regrettably, Johnny can’t dance as per Clifton Chenier and Billy wishes Stackalee hadn’t doubted his reading of the dice. But mostly it’s a positive bunch of tunes we’re putting forth here

Jazz is…raucous and somber, mellow and frantic, morose and uplifting…everything an art form can attain to…and offers more notes than most people can handle. So let this playlist wash over you and don’t sweat the small stuff. Hear what you can hear. - JH Run List for  – Jazz - raucous, somber, mellow and frantic| First broadcast 3.21.24 01 Art Farmer and Benny Golson – Avalon 02 Sonny Rollins - Sweet Leilani 03 Benny Golson - The Touch 04 Elmo Hope – Ecstasy 05 Roland Kirk - Slow Groove 06 Dave Brubeck - Charles Matthew Hallelujah 07 Don Braden Septet - Creepin' 08 Roy Campbell -Thanks To the Creator 09 Donald Byrd - Pentacostal Feelin' 10 Miles Davis - Nature Boy There was a boy A very strange enchanted boy They say he wandered very far From East St Louis To Santa Monica ...

Any program that starts and ends with Little Walter has got something going on right. And in this version of Mexican radio’s Al compas del mundo (radioactivaTX.org – in Tequisquiapan, Queretaro) I can do no wrong. Though I kind of, sort of, do a chronology of the harmonica in American blues, I had to start off this playlist with Little Walter Jacobs for reasons obvious to me and, I’m certain, many others. Followed by an all-time favorite – Rollin’ and Tumblin’, with Walter again, Muddy Waters, Baby Face Leroy Foster and an unnamed participant or two. It is a given that the blues developed in the United States brought by an enslaved population that introduced African characteristics from many different roots and regions. This lyric-less version of Rollin’ and Tumblin’ is played, moaned and wailed to create a mood that – to these ears – evokes the sound of the motherland, how distant that might be. Followed by early recordings of a novelty harmonica solo, jug bands, and country sounds. F