Al compas del mundo - programa #85

Al compas del mundo - programa #85 - Popurrí mundial

Another week, another trip around the globe. I like a narrow focus at times but a potpourri might just be my favorite type of program. Where else does Jamaican R&B lead off for Cannonball Adderley and Algerian Amazight (Berber) music? The Tuvan throat singers, Alash, do the seemingly impossible with their voices followed by Sebastian Cabot bringing it all back home with his. And coming home to roost is the jovial animosity between Bobby and the ex, Joanie, both claiming it ain’t me, babe. Many other good things worked into the show as well: Little Hudson blues, Congolese cha cha cha, Byard Lancaster off an “acid jazz” album (wtf is acid jazz?), Papago Warrior with their version of the familial-everybody-dances Waila, or Chicken Scratch dance. Envy No Good? The Mercury Dance Band from Ghana speaks truth. The Greek musical hero, Mikis Theodrakis, wrote lots of tunes in his days, most of them of a progressive bent. He composed soundtracks for the movies Z and State of Seige – always fighting the fascists, but his masterpiece was Canto General, sampled here with a cast of (sounds like) hundreds. The music is onomatopoeiac, full of glory, strength and bravery. And bravery was called for when Yanka Dyagileva sang her Russian protest song back in the 70’s. I don’t believe she enjoyed a very lengthy artistic career.

Playlist forPopurrí mundial, first broadcast 7-13-23

Deep throaters from Tuva

01 Skorpyons Of Jamaica - Think (About It) (Jamaica)

02 Cannonball Adderley - Mini Mama (USA)

03 Chérifa - Sniwa D Ifengalen (Kabilia, Algeria)

04 Alash Ensemble -Tuva (Tuva, Russia)

05 Sebastian Cabot reading lyrics from Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe (excerpt) (England)

06 Bob Dylan & Joan Baez - It Ain't Me Babe (USA)

07 Grateful Dead - Cold Rain and Snow (USA)

08 Little Hudson - I'm Looking For A Woman (USA)

09 Camille Feruzi and his Mystérieux Jazz - Emiyama (Congo)

10 Brazil Capoeira with Nazare Pereira - Rasteira (Brazil)

11 Byard Lancaster - Us (USA)

12 Cassimbas Negras - Bumburumbumbum (Colombia)

13 Mercury Dance Band - Envy No Good (Ghana)

14 Papago Warrior - Where the Chiefs At (Papago - Tohono O'odham, USA)

15 Mikis Theodorakis - Main Title (O Andonis) - Z - Original Soundtrack (Greece)

16 Mikis Theodrakis con Maria Farandouri - Algunas Bestias, de Pablo Neruda (Greece)

17 Yanka Dyagileva - Na Cherniy Den (Russia)

18 Yıldız Çam - Keşbükünün köprüsü (Turkey)

Comments

British Invasion - 1960s

I wanted to declare “Kick out the jams, mo’fos!” as a signpost towards the message in this week’s Al compás del mundo radio show, but that actually came about a little later. As humanity descended ever deeper into the Cro-Magnon state, Iggy Pop and the punks claimed that honor. What we have here instead, is a post-WWII let’s shake up the political order a bit, and no, not everyone has signed up to be an unconscious consumer attitude. There’s something afoot with these lads. Not exactly revolutionary fervor, but most certainly promoting a change in the general way of things. Recalling Che Guevara’s famous quote “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”, the Animals, Yardbirds, Rolling Stones et. al. pouted and preened – some more than others – in a way that hadn’t quite been done before. Youthful vigor ensued. These groups pushed the evolutionary chain of popular music a step further and we’re all better off for it. Set list Al compás del mundo programa #183, 6-5-25 - The British Invasion, 1960s 01 Yar...

Funk and Soul

Al compás del mundo - programa #169, 2-27-25, Funk and Soul 01 The Commodores - Brick House 02 Tower of Power - Drop It In The Slot 03 Parliament - Ride On 04 Sly & The Family Stone – Frisky 05 The Webb People – I’m Sending Vibrations 06 Ruby Delicious - Rock Steady 07 Mandrill - Git It All 08 The San Francisco TKOS – Herm 09 Ohio Players - Fire 10 Parliament - Mothership Connection (Star Child) 11 Kool & The Gang - Jungle Boogie 12 Chico and Buddy - A Thing Call the Jones 13 Little Ann – Possession 14 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Time Will Tell 15 Parliament - Ain't Nuthin' But a Jam Y'all What did James Brown mean when he said “we’re gonna have a funky good time”? This “funky” of which he spoke, was it strictly musical (and danceable), or maybe sexual, sociable, or even political? Or maybe a little bit of each? Funk, funky, funkify, funkadelic, funkalicious…all pointing at the pleasure principle…a new dialect for the “blue...

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...

Search This Blog