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 side of this exercise with some rock, an Italian playing a Dropkick Murphy’s song about Boston; electronica, and jazz.

All in a day’s work.

Al compás del mundo #178 the guitar, 5-1-25

01 Baden Powell [shown above] - Candomblé (Brazil)

02 Los Panchos - Caminemos (Mexico)

03 Rodrigo y Gabriela - Hanuman (Mexico)

04 Manolo Sanlucar - Cuando un Gitano Mira el Cielo (A Mi Amigo Manuel Morao) (Spain)

05 Duo del Mar - Danza de la Vida Breve (Spain)

06 Marc Ribot and Los Cubanos Postizos - Aquí Como Allá (USA and Cuba)

07 Boubacar 'Badian' Diabate - Fadento (Mali)

08 Bombino - Takamba (Niger)

09 Lowell Fulson [shown top of page] - The Thing (USA)

10 Mississippi Fred McDowell - You Gotta Move (USA)

11 Yo La Tengo - Surfin' with the Shah (USA)

12 Luca Stricagnoli - I'm Shipping Up to Boston (Italia)

13 Pierre Bensusan - Gavottes (De Trilport à Fublaines) (France)

14 Tortoise - Six Pack (USA)

15 Wes Montgomery - Twisted Blues (USA)

ás

Comments

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