Skip to main content

Al compas del mundo – programa #82 - Music of India and its admirers




The country poised to take the lead as the most populous on the planet produces plenty of music, naturally. And it has admirers from across the international spectrum of classical, pop, cinematic and world music genres. So in order to offer a proper representation of Indian sounds we're going to barely scratch the surface in this program - what else could you do in only an hour? Is it proper? Don’t know, but I like what I hear throughout, whether tunes from Bollywood, devotional singing, unvarnished sounds straight from the countryside, highly polished contributions to today’s popular music scene, ancient and structured classical instrumentals, or a sampling of what outsiders have done with Indian melodic and rhythmic structures. The music found here is profound, whimsical, elegant and vital, so sit back and meditate, dance, or however it moves you…but do listen to what 1/6 of the planet’s inhabitants have to say.

Run list for Music of India and its Admirers - First broadcast 6-22-23

01 Shankar – Prarambh (India)

02 Thione Seck -  Assalo (Senegal)

03 D.R. Parvatikar – Svarǎmandalǎ (India)

04 Nagayya and chorus - Rama Bhajana (India)

05 Dissidenten - Lankra's  Odyssey, Ravi Bal's mix (Germany)

06 O S Arun - Saakshat Para Brahma (India)

07 Anoushka Shankar – Flight (India)

08 Purna Das Baul - Agun Pani (India)

09 Kishori Amonkar - Raga Bhimpalasi - Drut Khyal in Ektal Rang So Rang Milaaye (India)

10 Raj Kapoor – Awara Hoon (India)

11 Kiran Ahluwalia – Matadjem (India and Canada)

12 Lata Mangeshkar - Tera Jana Dil (India)

13 Musafir – Roomai (India)

14 DJ Cheb I Sabbeh - Shri Durga (Algeria and India)

Raj Kapoor, India's Clem Kadiddlehopper


 


 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Al compas del mundo, programa #92 - Japan

The Japanese historically have been a most creative people, excelling in aesthetic conventions like architecture, painting, culinary arts, theatre, music, and more. A craftsman’s care and an artist’s flair have come to define everyday household objects such as articles of clothing and kitchen ware, designed with a sensibility that imbues them with import and elevated status. After WWII in the United States however, an item inscribed “made in Japan” usually indicated a tchotchke of mediocre quality. A perfect example is the large number of Northwest Coast Native American-style bone totem poles made for the tourist shops in the Northwest. There is a distinctive difference in these “artifacts” from the real, home-made variety that illustrates someone from another culture tackling aesthetics they don’t fully comprehend. And that leads us to some of this week’s musical choices. Imitating Western pop, rock and jazz, Japanese artists have recorded many forgettable efforts – not unlike those o...

British blues of the 60s y 70s

  This has to be one of my favorite programs. The British blues scene gave us a healthy dose of reverential and, admittedly, imitative music that awakened a youthful audience suffering from pop fatigue on both sides of the ocean. Of course, the blues, as interpreted by young white musicians who couldn’t have been much further from the Mississippi Delta or the South side of Chicago, can be considered as cultural appropriation. At the same time, those involved in the scene have reminisced that playing the blues was largely a visceral reaction to a compelling combination of rhythm, lyrics and energy that was distinct from the British music scene up to that point. I don’t believe anyone at the time felt guilty playing the songs of their Southern US heroes. Does it make a difference that a number of these groups went on to earn far more money than the originators ever dreamed of? Probably, though many of the greats – Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson and others – profi...

Nuyorican boogaloo cha-cha-cha

 I’m labelling this week’s playlist as “Nuyorican” music, the lion’s share of the players from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican ancestry.  Two notable exceptions are Joe Bataan, a Filipino-African American, and Mongo Santamaria born in Cuba. What they all have in common, however, was centered around the music scene of New York City where African American and Latino musicians forged a common ground in creating “boogaloo” dance music, mixing elements of R&B, Soul, and Latin dance rhythms. The boogaloo genre was fairly short-lived, enjoying popularity during the 1960’s before giving way to salsa, in what was largely an East Coast and Caribbean impulse. “Watermelon Man” and ”El Watusi” were early and major boogaloo hits, but truly, most of the titles included in the program were popular recordings in their day, whether cha-cha-chas like Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va”, or GFyEN’s guajira. I’ve gathered them here for an hour’s worth of revelation for those too young to have heard thi...