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...

phoenix

and now for a little fun! i'm about to traverse mexico with no set schedule.

first stop: phoenix, arizona.
so i propose: how's a little phoenix for phoenix?

the band is a brilliant french alterna-rock foursome, with four releases to date. the first two here appear on their debut album, united. the last is a pretty remix of a track on their 2009 wolfgang amadeus mozart. and i have yet to hear their live in mexico bonus tracks on the mexican release of their third album, but perhaps i'll pick it up down south.

until then...

phoenix - too young:


phoenix - if i ever feel better:


related or unrelated to this:

• the black keys - busted
  
• payolas - eyes of a stranger
  
• andre désilets - mission apollo
  
• amadou + miriam feat manu chao - senegal fast food

get this at amazon

mission apollo

taking a break from reading resumés and this guy has been singing to me en francais for the last hour or so. and i feel so lucky and spaced out.

first heard him on cbc this afternoon in the car over. there is such a subtle joy in taking in new music in a self contained mobile machine made of black glistening metal as the sun shines down on a crisp fall afternoon. the music plays, the car accellerates, the tires spin faster, the wind catches in the slivers of open windows, and the world outside passes by: people going about their business, pushing carts on the sidewalk, opening doors for elderly people, waiting with their hot coffee for the street lights to change, then there's a girl bouncing along holding her boyfriends hand, he feeling so lucky and slightly embarrassed, watching as i zoom by lost in sound as i tap tap tap on my steering wheel inside and full steam ahead outside.

'mission apollo' was the track that got me. a trip-hopped-up electrically acoustic guitar radio-headded french vocal track that seized my being enough to make me pause and note the time and place so i could look up the track on a playlist just to relive it, remember what the world was like at that moment, perhaps capture it with words like i'm doing now.... as i procrastinate making decisions about who i'm going to spend 40 hours with each week.

one thing's for sure, it won't be the talented alexandre désilets - mission appollo:



available at: itunes.

related:

• une rose noire
  
• salty kisses
  
• l'ascenceur pour le ghetto

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

salty kisses...

dobacaracol - baiser salé

just back from almost a month in africa and didn't once jump into the ocean... i did, however, spend a glorious and magical two days on the nile river...

thanks to measha b for introducing me to these two ladies - who charmed me with their beautiful melodic voices. despite the familiarity of their french accent, the bell like guitar and tumbling drum rhythms led me to dream they were from west africa. i was so wrong.

turns out the duo doriane fabreg (aka 'doba') and carole facal (aka 'caracol') and their entourage are from montreal, quebec.

so i've returned home with the gorgeous memory of my last days in africa, surrounded by wild animals, serenaded by two seemingly african mermaids swimming and singing along the nile river.

in my dreams, the nile bears salty kisses...

dobacaracol - baiser salé:


thanks to paul at aurgasm for the posting. available at amazon.

related:

• l'ascenceur pour le ghetto
  
• une rose noire
  
• mission apollo

city of light

it's dark. i am inside. i pull down the shades to block out the pinpricks of light invading the window. all i can see now is the light from the disc player. i set it in motion and lie down. close my eyes...

enter a lonely trumpet. soon accompanied by keys, keeping time. then a talking saxophone... and finally a lazy drum-brush.

this is the opening of city of light, the brüknahm project's latest and yet to be released album, recorded in paris.

this is the science of music. tracing in the footsteps of the greatest jazz 'ghosts' that ever were, the track is pure math and science and soul set to sound. i am paralyzed now, listening to the bass that breaks up the middle of the track as the saxophone comes back in to enchant me, and then the track continues its story. an epic that ends in a banging drum and dizzying horn.

and from there it's a choose your own adventure. any track on this album could chase it and you could find yourself at street level hustling in an immigrant hood, in a ancient basement jazz club in the 5th, at dinner or cozied up in front of a fire in the republique...

as i lay here, powerless and motionless in the dark, this track sends me right back to the brilliant, throbbing, and nostalgic city of light.

although i've never met the brüknahm project, which is saundi wilson and sebastian bardin-greenberg, listening to this song makes me feel as though they know me inside out. their music is powerful. it's thoughtful and sensual and has the ability to move me, more and more every time i listen.

the brüknahm project - all those great ghosts:

Sell Music online at ReverbNation.com

december 2010 update: the bruknahm project have just released 'city of light' online... you can find it at itunes

congrats!

related:

• bruknahm project - siba dub plate
  
• up, bustle and out - all out king
  
• bonobo
  
• mulatu astatke - yegelle tezeta

l'ascenseur pour le ghetto

amadou + miriam feat manu chao - senegal fast food

freshly back from a driving trip from paris to dakar, i'm re-living the sights and sounds of senegal through this track. and i so ache to go back.

this song by malian amadou + miriam (featuring manu chao and his infectious guitar) recalls our travel: choo-chooing train whistles, gearshifting between french and wolof, soulful harmonica and west african guitar.

watching this makes me feel like that's my family i've left behind. brilliant art direction visually bringing lyrics to life: local joints with western names like 'le paris' cinema or 'manhattan fast food' ('over 2,000 served'!) show how eager senegal's people are to leave their country in search for a better life elsewhere... but where? bamako, mopti, algeria, tunisia, italy - pas de problème - anywhere but here! amadou + miriam respond: 'you may leave but never forget your family, your home'.

yes it's midnite in tokyo. it's 5am in mali. but 'what time is it' in the paradise of a rich country? yes we have health care, education and porcelain toilets. but do we have each other?

almost a lyrical-satirical play on 'stairway to heaven' is 'l'ascenseur pour le ghetto': inevitably, most refugees to rich countries land in the heart of the ghetto. so why leave the sun and the beach for the cold and the hustle? funny, my travel partner alexis theorized a country's gross national product is inversely related to its 'human happiness' product. could he be right?

the video gives us a glimpse. yes a west african life is tough. 'family' means a dozen people in the house, grandparents, grandchildren, but it's also all the more love...

i especially treasure how real the video is - endless fishing boats on the coast, sweet tea served in little glasses, donkeys pulling carts, shell-casting by the roadside... if any of this makes you want to get in a car and drive to africa, pas de problème: call me and i may just join you.

amadou + miriam featuring manu chao - senegal fast food:

related:

• salty kisses
  
• une rose noire
  
• mission apollo