Malome to The Stripper - greatest hits from programs #39-42,

Back by popular demand, or perhaps by my lack of ingenuity, are tunes from long ago that begged to be heard yet again. It’s typically challenging, rewarding, even fun, to search for a theme and an hour’s worth of fulfillment while putting together the weekly Al compas del mundo radio show. Skimming from the 40,000+ titles on my portable mp3-filled hard drive, augmented by choices from every musical notion ever recorded off YouTube, I somehow manage to come up with a new concept and fresh songs on a weekly basis. There are times, though, when the creative aura slips and the temptation to just take it easy breaks through and ”back by popular demand” becomes the go-to theme. And who doesn’t want to hear South African group, The Movers, extoll the (admittedly limited) virtues of Soweto; the Littles doing their version of Iranian garage band rock; Johnny Otis band’s sultry version of “Harlem Nocturne;” or for old-time’s sake, peeling the banana of our imagination with David Rose’s “The Stripper”? As compelling as this music is, you’ve heard it all before. But don’t worry, be happy. And like my favorite guru says: “open your eyes and listen.”

Al compás del mundo #180, greatest hits from programs #39-42, 5-15-25

01 Tau Ea Matsekha - Malome (Lesotho)

02 The Movers - Soweto Inn (South Africa)

03 Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabate - Queen Bee (USA and Mali)

04 Hallelujah Chicken Run Band - Ngoma Yarira (Zimbabwe)

05 Chiwoniso - Zvichapera (Zimbabwe)

06 Lilia Vera - Gotas De Lluvia (Venezuela)

07 Dobet Gnahoré - Pygmées (Ivory Coast)

08 Littles - Fatemah Sultan (Iran) pictured below

09 Hoba Hoba Spirit - Tri9i (Morocco)

10 Noura - Idurar nagh (Algeria)

11 Jil Jilala - Kouna kountoum (Morocco)

12 Django Reinhardt - Blue Drag (Romani-France)

13 Yves Simon - Au Pays Des Merveilles De Juliet (France)

14 Dom Um Romao - Cinnamon Flower (Cravo E Canela) (Brazil)

15 Johnny Otis Band - Harlem Nocturne (USA) See sheet music above

16 The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra - Peter Gunn Theme (Czech Republic)

17 David Rose - The Stripper (England-USA)

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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