Programa #128- ‘greatest hits’ from programs 14-16

These “greatest hits” programs are such a reward. All the effort that went into programming three or four distinct programs is narrowed down to a relatively easy selection of an hour’s worth of top-notch tunes. Is this an admission of laziness or even ennui in the task of music selection for a most demanding audience? Hardly. The best of the best deserves a second listening and making it all work as a cohesive whole brings sweat to my brow. Think I’ll take a nap.

The beer is consumed, the songs they are chosen, and what do we have here? A world music tour from West and North Africa, flitting across the Middle East, landing in various points of Latin America (Los Angeles counts, no?), and an overture (in the way of the final four selections) to Great Britain and the Appalachian immigrant sound. Must we finish with the sweetest Irish song these ears have heard in many a moon? We must.JH

Al compás del mundo - programa #128, ‘greatest hits’ from programs 14-16
First broadcast 5-16-2024

01 Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - Angelina (Republic of Benín)

02 Orlando Julius and the Afro Sounders - Buje Buje (Nigeria)

03 Ishumar - Tiguedimma (Mali, Niger)

04 Hayedeh - Che Alamy Dareh (Iran) Shown below

05 Ihashi Elimhlophe - Kulukhuni (South Africa)

06 Peru Negro - Lando (Peru)

07 Pedro Luis Ferrer - La Tarde Se Ha Puesto Triste (Cuba)

08 Nazare Pereira - Bahia Véia Bahia (Brazil)

09 Lilia Vera - Carmela (Venezuela)

10 La Santa Cecilia - La Negra (Mexican-American)

11 The Plugz - El Clavo Y La Cruz (Mexican-American)

12 Stick in the Wheel - Bedlam (England)

13 Hurray for the Riff Raff - Blue Ridge Mountain (USA)

14 Allison Krauss - You Will Be My Ain True Love (USA)

15 Linda Nicleoid - Fill-Iu Oro Hu O (Ireland) Shown above.

Che Alamy A Wop Bop a Loo Bop Dareh

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...

India y Nepal y Tibet

W here a human voice is heard in today’s program it’s often starkly different from what most Westerners might find pleasing and melodic. But I must remind my listeners that the West probably did not invent the concept of vocalizing as accompaniment to plucked/blown/percussed musical instruments. Why do we sing in the style that we do? I imagine there are knowledgeable tomes wrestling with that idea. I ’ve read that vocals were meant to imitate the sounds made by instruments...or vice versa? The chicken or the egg? I’m not here to answer that question, in spite of the college course I had taken of “Music Cultures of the World” decades ago. What I offer is the opportunity to pay attention to and digest musical expressions performed by people steeped in the traditional ways of their culture. T here is a geographic component to lumping together India, Nepal and Tibet as the Himalayas served to isolate and circumscribe the peoples of those northern regions. But here’s where I fud...

Guitarras del mundo

Choosing music and writing about “the guitar” opens many doors. I could have gone off in any number of directions and with a singular narrow focus - but I didn’t. Instead, I threw a whole bunch of varied tunes against a wall to see which ones stuck. Sometimes there’s a continuity and other times none: just two aesthetically pleasing pieces that worked well in tandem and, hopefully, were preceded and followed with similar morsels. Usually, that is how these programs come together. I receive a divinely inspired revelation for a certain theme, region, or style of music and build it from there. Baden Powell, Brazilian beatnik poet and guitar master, seemed to me an obvious choice to begin the program. From there (as you can well see) we stick around Latin America a bit; segue into Spain, notorious as a guitar hotbed; head South to North Africa for the venerable Bombino (yes, again!) and more of that desert blues ilk; logically morph into a short blues set and settle at the bottom sid...

Search This Blog