song for the berber woman

berber women in parts of africa are restricted from dancing, or must do so on their knees.

we may feel outrage at this, but how about resrictions we put on ourselves? i for one have spent so much of my life containing myself.

i've restricted words, movements, emotions, covered myself up, locked myself in... you name the cage, i've built and lived in it.

yet recently i've felt distrust melt into innocent friendliness. opinions loosen into open-mindedness. and stiffness flower into the most oddly refreshing movement... like learning to walk for the first time.

discussing this with one of my teachers, i mentioned the idea of swirling with the sufis. his response was that even this would limit; that i should instead find a forest and let the natural world move me.

and here deep in the forest what music would rattle through my head, pour out of my ears and echo through the trees? something berber, no doubt.

listen: abdelli - amazine (moonlight):


or perhaps:

• nitin sawhney - moonrise
  
• bruknahm project - siba dub plate
  
• rahat fateh ali khan - o re piya
  
• diego stocco - music from a tree

find out more at www.abdelli.com

pop roches

it's the holidays and i've decided to catch up on the quirky and arty and underrated films i haven't had a chance to watch yet....

one such film is "please give", the opening of which is a montage of several women's breasts - in all manner of shapes, sizes, colours, and volumes - all being plopped and squished down by a glass plate for mammograms. the funny thing is, the best part of the montage isn't the breasts. nope! not at all. it's the song they play over this mammary montage: a quirky tune called 'no shoes' by the roches.

the band is comprised of three sisters who started their musical journey by singing christmas carols in their new jersey neighbourhood while in high school back in the 1960s. 'no shoes' is taken from a recent release called "moonswept".

with about 15 records under their belt (more if you count them individually or in duos), along with their lovely harmonies, quirky lyrics, immense stage and recorded presence, the roches managed to somehow fly under my radar. until i watched 'please give' the other day. i literally had to pause the film and shazam the thing.

so here's my christmas carol to you this year! hope you like.

the roches - no shoes:


related:

• nneka - africans
  
• bonobo - walk in the sky
  
• derek vincent smith / pretty lights - finally moving remix
  
• nostalgia 77 - seven nation army

get this at theroches.com

lhasa on the living road

a little something for my travels....

lhasa de sela is a montreal-based wandering soul who grew up traveling with her family between the us and mexico in a converted schoolbus, listening to everything from eastern european folk tunes to traditional arabic odes and old mexican standards.

anything but ordinary, lhasa sings in no less than three languages: english, spanish and french. she took time from her music to tour with her sisters and perform circus acts. and then there's her music... everything from marimbas to ukulele and accordion.

her voice and style are anything but typical too. long, drawn out syllables, a unique lyrical poetry and throaty, breathless crooning make for an interesting combination.

just when you think everything has already been done, along comes lhasa.

the living road is a beautiful album to soundtrack the more reflective moments of driving through the mexican countryside... perfect for a train through las barrancas del cobre - mexico`s deepest and most striking canyon system.

lhasa - con toda palabra:


lhasa - para el fin del mundo o el ano nuevo:


related or unrelated to this:

• up, bustle and out - all out king
  
• andre désilets - mission apollo
  
• amadou + miriam feat manu chao - senegal fast food

get this at amazon

footnote on my return from mexico - i was saddened to hear while in was in the yucatan that the beautiful lhasa lost her battle with breast cancer. she lives on in our heads and hearts...

as serious as your life

another genius to inspire me with.

this one from camden, uk,
and had two records released by age 24, they say.

i simply don't get.
why kieran hebden goes by the name four tet.

see, he's only one guy.
they call his style "folktronica", and i can see why.

colourful guitar strums broken down by the pixel put back together
like a mashed up rubix cube pattern mutating forever.

but it works.

take a listen...

four tet - as serious as your life:


and then there's the jay dee remix,
same, same but sans guitar licks.



related to this:

• yonderboi - riders on the storm / pink solidism
  
• heliocentrics - once upon a time
  
• heliocentrics - sirius b
  
• mc 900 ft jesus - the city sleeps
  

ghalla gurian

the track opens with the quiet confidence of a woman singing almost acapella... almost to herself. we listen as if watching her from a distance. too afraid to draw attention to ourselves, too afraid to scare her off.

and as her opening verse echoes off, a guitar and dholak (a north indian drum) draw us in. the addition of the flute and then the harmonium (imagine an accordion played lying down) round out the sound beautifully. and it's done. we're caught, unable to resist.

what she sings of, who knows? the mystery makes it all the more interesting.

uk's panjabi mc (aka rajinder rai) included this song on "the album", almost a 'greatest hits' record, which fuses hip-hop with bhangra. this track may seem out of place but there is a common thread - the showcase of traditional instruments like the dholak and thumbi, fundamentals of rai's ancestral punjabi folk music, which he fuses with hip-hop and guitar rhythms to give birth to very infectious sounds.

one bite we're reeled in. his music was bootlegged in europe, smuggled to north america where jay-z blew it up, causing it to resurface again in europe as 'bhangra-hop'. today, panjabi mc is a household name.

the addition of the guitar on this track opens it up for many who would not normally listen to punjabi folk music. all the instruments he brings together here are brilliant, especially the voice. it's the debut for UK vocalist, hema sharma, who was rumoured to have been only 14 years old at the time of recording... a sweet, innocent, and strong sound. i hope to hear more from her.

ready to get reeled in?
panjabi mc - ghalla gurian:


related to this:

• shiva's lounge
  
• gigi shibabaw
  
• live qawwali at fatehpur sikri
  

une rose noire

so i'm driving along the road heading into work one spring morning, tuned into toronto's few french music radio station and i hear the end of this song...

...and i can't get it outta my head for the rest of the day.

i search around and can't figure out what it is, until a friend finally calls the station for me and finds out (by the way, thanks, this one's for you!).

"une rose noire" is short, upbeat, happy-go-lucky song on an all french album - a first for cargnello, an anglo montrealer who has been described as an acoustic folk-punker. the simple, optimistic tune and lyrics along with the catchy harmonica and guitar riffs make it one of those unpretentious but lovable songs that you suddenly find yourself whistling as you walk down the sidewalk on a sunny day. and i hope you will!

so here's to plenty of sunny days ahead...

paul cargnello - une rose noire:


available at: amazon.

related:

• salty kisses
  
• l'ascenceur pour le ghetto
  
• mission apollo

nina's sinnerman

nina simone - sinnerman

there is nothing like truth.

some people live by it. others shout it from the rooftops.

schooling the ignorant masses who have erroneously bestowed on them their given "class", their "status", their "place" and their "lot", a few people had the guts to tell it like it is, in their own skin.

this was one such woman. even when she whispered, she belted out the truth. that yes, she had class. she had status. she had important places to go and she had a lot to teach the world. and no one's fear could keep her truth locked up. and the world is better for it.

like the woman behind it, this track is an epic. spanning styles and influences like classical piano, jazz infused bass, gospel wails, flamenco-echoed hand claps, funky blues guitar, and not to mention a be-bop inspired scat to top it all off... this is what music is made of. truth. this woman had something to say. and i'm glad she did, because i doubt anyone could sing the truth they way nina sang it.

nina simone - sinnerman: