This week’s Al compás del mundo music program couldn’t be more potpourri-ish if it were a sack of dried sweet-smelling flowers and spices. So, let’s take a look at what the program has to offer. Chacalón and his group proclaim he’s just a country boy. John Denver with an Amazonian tropical beat?  Los Baguales drum out heavy percussion and counter with Andean flutes – yet for some reason they’re calling the work “Potpourri of Eastern Music”...? It’s the northwestern part of Argentina where Andean style music can still be heard. Could it be their world is upside down below the equator?  Manuel de Jesús Abrego y Abdiel Nuñez’s slice of Panameñan carnival life verify Panama’s membership in the constant party coalition. And what better cultural combo than a classic Colombian cumbia played by the Frente Cumbiero, sung in Japonese by the Minyo Crusaders. Suzumeno Tears follows with a down-tempo and pretty song that borders on Japanese folklore, though preformed with a Western s...

Shown here - Tony Gatlif filming in Transylvania - I was introduced to Tony Gatlif by virtue of the music from some of his films. Hearing Romani (formerly Gypsy) songs of great beauty, rhythm and passion, I felt the need to explore further how they came to be and who brought them to the world at large. Gatlif, a film director, producer, screenwriter, composer, and actor, focused largely on his Romani roots in some 20 film projects. These took him to record vignettes of Romani life in India, Egypt, Algeria, Hungary, Romania, France, Spain, and elsewhere. Music was an essential element in these depictions, and in fact,  Latcho Drom , likely his best-known film, was a dialogue-free exposition of Romani song and dance around the globe. Gatlif has made it his life’s mission to reveal to the world at large the relevance, strength, creativity and value of a people largely despised by society, wherever their nomadic journey took them. The musical gems included in this playlist owe their pl...

  A well-known and much beloved editor for this fine blog once queried “Whither jazz?” Funny he should ask, cuz I don’t have a clue. Ask me about the past. Jazz goes where it wants to and where it’s accepted. Creatives will journey forth and the hope its followers will appear. But for every Snarky Puppy band there are hundreds of sound shifters without the recognition that could motivate them further. After all, the starving artist gig wears out its welcome and grates on the soul as quick as you can say “waitress job.” So jazz follows a unique trajectory, catering to a certain population that embraces improvisation above all, and doesn’t mind that a tune sounds different every time it’s played. Mostly grey hairs. And this population is a relatively small one. And getting smaller. Jazz appeals to a limited demographic these days due to all those young people milling about. Jazz is so yesterday, for Boomers. It’s a dense foreign language to youthful ears and whatever attracted their ...

So here’s the challenge: listen to the program streaming live at radioactivatx.org on Thursday or Saturday at 3:00 Central time, same hour as Mexico, or find it in the archive on the station’s website after it has been published several days later (I’m led to believe this presents a challenge in and of itself). The challenge consists of your identifying the songs based on the musical intro. Most of the songs are oldies so I suppose that leaves out a major portion of the potential listening audience, but for those Boomers amongst you or your educated progeny, see how well you score. Some, like the Italian version of “Paint It Black” call for instant recognition. Others like “Norwegian Wood” from an Indian artist, drift off into local traditions and is not recognizable until the singer reaches the chorus. It’s all in good fun, though, with some quality tunes and some abominations. I particularly enjoy hearing “White Rabbit” sung in Arabic; Masaaki Hirao’s (Japanese teen hearthrob) take o...