Digital Africa is here . . . —DJ Spooky
Burkina Electric (Mai Lingani, vocals; Wende K. Blass, guitar, vocals; Lukas Ligeti [son of composer Gyorgy Ligeti], electronics, drums; Pyrolator [Kurt Dahlke], electronics), “Sankar Yaare”
Take 1: DJ Spooky Remix
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Take 2: Mapstation Remix
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lagniappe
Marilyn Monroe, DJ Andy Warhol Remix
More people than ever are cultural nomads. Take this guy, for instance: a Swiss-born Iranian, he moved to New York in 2008, after living in Japan. His music conjures places that can’t be found on any map—a jazz club in the desert, sand hills in Manhattan.
The Tehran-Dakar Brothers (Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi, tenor saxophone, with Ladell McLin, guitar; Al MacDowell, bass; Lukas Ligeti [son of composer Gyorgy Ligeti], drums), live, New York, 2009
“Welcome New Iran”
*****
“Desert Blues”
*****
“Khorasan”
*****
“Tavalod”
Listen to “Sunny Day” by Akon and Wyclef.—Luke (my 18-year-old son, on the phone the other night)
Akon with Wyclef Jean, “Sunny Day” (2008)
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One of the things I find intriguing about contemporary popular music is the widespread practice (particularly in hip-hop) of featuring guest artists, usually, it seems, people whose style and approach are very different from one’s own. Implicit in this is the notion that hearing two different musical personalities can make for a more interesting and rewarding experience than hearing just one. And including another artist opens a song up, making it less a fixed, static thing and more a vehicle for improvisation and variation, something subject to different takes, whose content and texture ultimately depend to a large extent on the identity and contributions of the featured guest.
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lagniappe
My son called from Minnesota the other day to tell me that the weather was terrible, his car had been towed, he didn’t like his job, and he had a cold and a sore throat. Is it bad that the only motherly advice I could think to give him was to listen to Fats Waller [2/9/10]?
*****
The drummer’s comments were great [Brian Blade, 2/13/10]. You layin’ down a pretty good groove your own self, Richard.
Here’s a voice I didn’t know if I’d ever hear again.
Gil Scott-Heron, I’m New Here (out this week)
“Where Did The Night Go” (Gil Scott-Heron)
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“Me And The Devil” (Robert Johnson)
Want more? Here.
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lagniappe
I’ve had bad times in my life when I’d rather be somewhere else doing something else, for sure. But you get to my age, that shit happens. You get in trouble; you maybe lose some folks—a parent or a friend. Maybe your marriage breaks up, you lose your wife, lose touch with your kid. But what life does not have those things in it?—Gil Scott-Heron (in yesterday’s Guardian)
You can pay 600 bucks to fly to Berlin—or you can play this clip.
Arto Lindsay, The Penny Parade, live, Berlin, 2009
Want more? Here.
It seems hard to believe, sometimes, that anyone escapes childhood with a shred of sanity.
I still remember, for instance, my mother dragging me to this movie. I was eight years old. Popcorn in hand, the lights dimming, I sat there in the gathering darkness, waiting. And waiting. Until, suddenly, I was transported to a cinematic Ft. Lauderdale, where, for the next 90 minutes, on sandy beaches under sunny skies, my playmates included Paula Prentiss and George Hamilton and Frank Gorshin and (who could ever forget) Connie Francis.
Where The Boys Are (1960)
Trailer
Clip
Title Song
This guy—one of my all-time musical heroes (someone I’ve been listening to for over 30 years)—makes you move. He makes you feel. He makes you think. What more could you ask for?
Henry Threadgill, alto saxophone
With His Very Very Circus, live, New York, 1995
*****
With his Society Situation Dance Band (featuring Craig Harris, trombone), live, Germany (Hamburg), 1988
Like a lot of live performances (especially ones where the musicians haven’t had many chances to play together [as no doubt was the case here]), this gets better as it goes along. At first, things are a bit tentative and raggedy. Then, at around 1:50, trombonist Craig Harris starts to find his way. By around 2:15, the horns and strings begin to sound more cohesive. By around 3:30, the drummers, having gotten more comfortable with the tempo and structure, start to push the groove harder. At around 8:00, with everything going full steam, Threadgill, feeling Harris feeling it, suddenly breaks things down, leaving just the ’bone and the electric guitar. And with that, the performance jumps out of its skin.
*****
With Judith Sanchez Ruiz (dancer), live, New York, 2008
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lagniappe
Music should go right through you, leave some of itself inside you, and take some of you with it when it leaves.—Henry Threadgill
No matter what musical language he’s speaking, you’d swear it was his first.
Marc Ribot, guitar
With Los Cubanos Postizos, “Aurora en Pekin,” live, France, 2002
*****
With Ceramic Dog, “Caravan,” live, Berlin, 2008
*****
Solo, “Bouncing Around” (Django Reinhardt, c. 1937), live, New York, 2009
Who else sounds like Kate & Anna McGarrigle?
Who else makes such wonderfully eccentric career moves—like, for instance, putting out an album all in French?
Who else has not one but two children following in their musical footsteps (Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright)?
Kate McGarrigle (February 6, 1946-January 18, 2010)
Kate & Anna McGarrigle
“Ce Matin,” live, Chicago, 2004
*****
“Talk To Me of Mendocino,” live, Saratoga Springs, New York, 1990
*****
With Family & Friends (including Rufus and Martha Wainwright), live, Mariposa Folk Festival, Toronto, 1989
*****
“Complainte Pour Ste. Catherine,” live, 1981
*****
“Proserpina,” live, London, 12/9/09 (Kate’s last concert)
“Check out Gonzales”—a longtime friend (in a recent email)
Gonzales, Piano Vision (2007)
Part 1
Part 2
(Yo, Scott: Thanks!)
music clip of the day 