Monday, January 25, 2016

Cate Le Bon performing "Fold The Cloth" on KCRW



Wales is that forgotten little country (did you know it was a country?) tucked under the UK's left wing on the UK's left coast and left there to prosper or rot, like it or not, earliest of the non-English additions, so approaching from another Angle, Celtic and proud, determined but not loud... and not Gaelic.  Ireland and sometimes Scotland get all the Celtic sympathy, but Wales is more traditional IMHO and likely predates it, the two languages dissimilar enough to indicate a notable degree of separation  in time if not space, but you're not likely to hear anyone speaking 'Irish' (Gaelic) there, much less complete with radio radio, but you will find exactly that in Wales, found it cruising through on the train to the ferry port, in fact, wasn't even looking, so there!  That was then 2003 fast forward to now and I'm looking for Welsh music, sorting through all the genres, generally ballads for the most part, with the occasional punk and the inevitable Celtic-woman-like show act, God help us.  Then I found Cate.  Wait a minute; I've heard this before--but where?  KCRW, of course.  And yes, she can do it in Welsh, too, all night long, figure our son would look just like me and the daughter just like her, you know the rest... move over, Enya...

Friday, January 22, 2016

Afro Arab Dance And Music - Bahrain - Record No. 1



This is interesting: and pretty darn good, too.  I'm not sure where the African DNA comes from, but I'm guessing the slave trade.  Seems it ended in these parts not so long ago--oops! The most interesting part of Bahrain's music in general is the syncopated clapping which seems to pop up everywhere almost any time.  Enjoy.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

4U DVD Vol.37 - Tieng Mom Sotheavy " ចាស់ជួរអែម "



This is my vote for modern successor to Ros Sereysothea; song and singer definitely reminds me of the good old days of Sinn Sisamouth and others, just straight-ahead R & R Asian-style, with no self-conscious aping of the latest trends overseas, good news since a decade ago seems they were reduced to cheap imitation of Thai pop--yuk!

Saturday, January 16, 2016

اغاني يمنيه ، أغاني يمنية Yemen music, Yemen songs



If you've heard any Yemeni music at all, it's probably Yemen Blues, the Bill Laswell-produced ode to all things blue and all things Semitic, Hamitic, and Cushitic, the middle Eastern cacophony of cultures that forms a strong third branch of world music, after sub-Saharan African and Latino.  There's only one problem: it's really not Yemeni.  It's Jewish Yemeni.  Not that it's hard to find 'real' Yemeni music.  It's not.  It's only hard to find a name attached to any of it.  So I chose this video as representative, since it shows scenes I witnessed every day while there, including my hotel.  I hope it's still there.

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