Eclectic instrumental gem pluck

Say the magic word and win $100 (Wanna buy a duck?) “Eclectic” it is! And yet, you protest, every program of Al compas del mundo is eclectic. No? We’re going to do the ol’ dictionary trick and cite a proper definition of that word: “deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources”. I think that pretty much nails it as a prime motivator in choosing a playlist for this weekly radio program. And today it’s a set where no one opens their mouth, unless they’re blowing a trumpet, harmonica, or some sort of wind instrument, [Ed.note or cello ala Zoe Keating] or maybe exulting in musical pleasure (see: Yarina from Ecuador.) There’s no singing to interrupt the instrumental reveries. There’s quite a lot of globe-hopping to be heard though, touching on North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. I might have missed Australia and Antarctica - perhaps next time. My head spins just trying to find a way to tie all of this together in some logical descriptive fashion, so I won’t. Suffice to say, I relied on instinct and a pair of well-educated ears to pluck these gems for you today. And it’s not called Al compás del mundo (World Beats) for nothing.

Kutumba

Al compás del mundo - programa #164, 1-23-25, eclectic instrumental music

RunListo

01 Kutumba - Feb 1 (Nepal)

02 anonymous – title unknown (Kazakhstan)

03 Ballake Sissoko - Sy (Mali)

04 Radio Tarifa - Conductus (Spain)

05 Angele Dimovski Kavalsko - Oro (Macedonia)

06 Sükrü Tunar y Oyun Havasi - Ciftetelli (Greece)

07 The Chieftains - Carolan's Welcome (Ireland)

08 Yarina - Atzil Inti (Ecuador)

09 Zoe Keating - Legions Reverie (Canada)

10 Cachaito Lopez – Tumbanga (Cuba)

11 Mulatu Astatke - Emnete (Ethiopia)

12 Foday Musa Suso - Early Walk (Gambia)

13 Lou Harrison - Suite for violin, piano & small orchestra (USA)

14 Malicorne – Bourrée (France)

15 Warsaw Village Band - Polska Fran Polska (Poland)

Pic Top - Zoe Keating

Pic Below- Groucho Bird with the Secret Word

Why a Duck?

Comments

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...

Electric Chicago blues

Al compás del mundo Run List #172, 3-20-25 - electric Chicago blues 01 James Cotton - Love Me or Leave Me 02 Sonny Boy Williamson - Wake Up Baby 03 Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers - Wild About You, Baby 04 Howlin Wolf - You'll Be Mine 05 John Lee Hooker – Louise 06 Junior Wells - Snatch It Back and Hold It 07 Koko Taylor - Wang Dang Doodle 08 Little Walter - I Don't Play 09 Jimmy Rogers - Walking by Myself 10 J.B. Lenoir - Don't Dog Your Woman 11 Otis Rush - Keep on Loving Me Baby 12 Muddy Waters - I Can't Be Satisfied 13 Sunnyland Slim - Shake It 14 Walter Horton - It's Alright 15 Buddy Guy - When My Left Eye Jumps 16 Magic Sam - She Belongs to Me 17 Johnny Young - Cross-Cut Saw 18 Eddie Boyd - Third Degree 19 Willie Dixon and Friends - I Cry for You Got to feature the blues from time to time on Al compás del mundo as there seems to be a shortage of such on Mexican radio. Although RadioactivaTX.org, the ...

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...

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