Skip to main content

Ethnic “orchestral” potpourri



I’m calling this week’s selections an “orchestral” potpourri from here and there. And maybe that’s not as precise as should be. You won’t always find the big orchestral sound on these recordings that the label suggests, but when you don’t, what you will hear are studio sessions where music is overdubbed, mixed, or merely enhanced in some electronic way. Roots music this ain’t. Starting with the appropriately named opening “Genesis Theme” by Ravi Shankar, the program ends with his daughter, Anoushka, also a sitar master. In between find many gems ...  [continued below] 

 Al compás del mundo - programa #150, 10-17-24, ethnic “orchestral” potpourri run list

01 Ravi Shankar - Genesis Theme (India)

02 Agnes Obel - Red Virgin Soil (Denmark)

03 Angelo Badalamenti - Dance of the Dream Man (USA)

04 DakhaBrakha - Karpatskyi Rep (Ukraine)

05 Lambarena - Pepa Nzac Gnon Ma + Prelude from Partita for Violin No. 3, J.S. Bach (Gabon - France)

06 Kronos Quartet - Wawshishijay (Our Beginning) (USA)

07 Cheb I Sabbah - Alkher Illa Doffer (Peace Is Found Behind Wounds) & Ad Izayanugass (What Will Happen Will Happen) (Algeria-USA)

08 Le Trio Joubran - Min Zamân (Palestine)

09 Al-Andaluz Project - Morena (Spain-Germany)

10 Lou Harrison - Music for Violin & Various Instruments (USA)

11 Toumani Diabate and the London Symphony Orchestra - Moon Kaira (Mali and England)

12 Anoushka Shankar - Naked (India - England)


[continued here] ... such as Badalmenti’s finger-snapping jazz reverie (“Dance of the Dream Man” from the movie Twin Peaks); a successful melding of Western classical and Gabonese folk music from the Lambarena project (an album dedicated to Dr. Albert Schweitzer and his service in Gabon); famed Kronos string quartet performing Ghanaian Obo Addy’s “Wawshishijay”; and another sample of Europe meets Africa found in Toumani Diabate’s collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra.

That music from both Ukraine and Palestine is included here is no coincidence. Their voices need be heard and their cultures placed in the foreground while desperate forces attempt to delete them. A painful present to behold, but like DJ Cheb I Sabbah says, “peace is found behind wounds.”


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...