Al compás del mundo - programa #98

Al compás del mundo - programa #98 - Orchestral potpourri

In plotting out the next program I’ll often come up with a single song that has stuck in my craw as a foundation. From there the playlist either leaps forward or limps along grimly. The guilty party, in this case, was Zappa’s tour de orchestral force. Ok, I’ll play that. But what goes with it? Long and drawn-out contemplation led to the baker’s dozen of tunes listed here. Also, some dialing around and the tossing of darts to see how fate would have it. I believe I’ve scored in most measures: Kafka and Kronos lead off with a pair of classic tunes that most every Mexican will recognize (this is a Mexican radio station, you’ll recall), though with a few screeks and scronks to distinguish them from the pack and lend them an artsy-fartsy air. Kiyohiko Senba and his Haniwa All-Stars offer a logical progression if you’re looking for atypical takes and quirky notions. And then comes Peaches – very much not a novelty tune like some of Zappa’s work – a seriously clever and compelling arrangement that still defies easy typecasting. Then things slow down, almost till the end, with a number of cross-cultural statements that overcome the usual barriers to marrying one tradition with another (my advice is don’t eat at a restaurant that advertises “Chinese Food, Hamburgers, and Donuts”). Successful is Shankar and Limón – never envisioned sitar and flamenco in the same breath, but I’ll look for more of this. Also Lloyd Miller playing classical Persian santur (dulcimer-ish) and segueing into a jazz trio format. Nancy Mounir doesn’t so much cross cultures as cross generations. Her contemporary embroidery of tunes from the 30’s gives us an Egyptian musician’s update on her version of roots music. And then there’s Lambarena: the entire album is a most rewarding melding of traditional Gabonese musical expressions interspersed and overlaid on the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. Seamless. Who’d a thunk it?! - JH

Runlist for Orchestral potpourri, etc. - First broadcast 10-19-23

01 Kafka Ensamble - Cancion Mixteca (Mexico)

02 Kronos Quartet - Tabu (USA-Cuba)

03 Kiyohiko Senba and his Haniwa All-Stars - ようやくI LOVE YOU Just Only, I Love You (Japan)

04 Frank Zappa - Peaches In Regalia (USA)

05 Agnes Obel - Bee Dance (Denmark)

06 Le Trio Joubran - Laytana (Palestine)

07 Anoushka Shankar, with Javier Limón - Si No Puedo Verla (India and Spain)

08 Lloyd Miller - Gol-e gandom (USA)

09 Nancy Mounir - Gannentini (original recording sung by Zaki Murad) (Egypt)

10 Youssouf N'Dour - Allah (Senegal)

11 Tunde Jegede - Songs of The Eternal (Nigeria-England)

12 Lambarena – Sankanda + 'Lasset Uns Den Nicht Zerteilen'-V (Gabon and France)

13 l'Occidentale de Fanfare - Rondeau de lan 2000 (France)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Comments

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...

Al compás del mundo - programa #99 - Los Folkloristas

This week’s Al compás del mundo earns a pair of dedications. Primarily, to Las Folkloristas, a group of Mexican musicians who first came together in 1966 and who continue to the present day, delighting their public and educating them as to the breadth of folk music genres and instrumentation found in every corner of Latin America. The second dedication is to me and my sweetheart wife Claudia – we met at a concert of Los Folkloristas at the Sala Agora in Mexico City, in 1976. And yes, we too are still together. Get out your handkerchiefs and dry your eyes because there’s a story to be told as evidence that there’s a soulmate out there for everyone. You just have to make the effort to look, even if it takes you to a foreign land. And so it goes like this: I spent all of 1976 living in Mexico City, ostensibly to learn Spanish, but en realidad to loaf around, drink beer, practice my saxophone, and maybe, just maybe, look to meet a señorita. I lived in a pension (boardinghouse) owned by Jul...

Al compás del mundo – programa #119 –Blues Harmonica

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...

Search This Blog