| Side 1: Medley | ||||
| Yene Me Nka | ||||
| Mewu A Na Mobesu Me | ||||
| Abusua Ne Wo Ara | ||||
| Papa Ma Me Bi Nni | ||||
| Obra Ye Bona | ||||
Side 2: Medley | ||||
| Mfa Nhye Obi | ||||
| Kasekenken | ||||
| Wo Begyaa Me | ||||
| Odo Bra | ||||
I was excited to find this in a fleamarket recently, mainly because I've been loving the Covay song that appears on this recent post. I initially thought that it must be a compilation of tracks from throughout his career, but then was intrigued to find that its actually a reissue of his 1970 album "Different Strokes for Different Folks". Check out the man in his finery on the original cover:
This is a great blend of deep soul, funk and blues sounds and its been keeping me entertained. Here's the excellent closing track:| 01 | Sweet Thang | |||
| 02 | Daddy Please Don't Go Tonight | |||
| 03 | Why Did You Put Your Shoes Under My Bed | |||
| 04 | Stop By | |||
| 05 | Bad Luck | |||
| 06 | Hitching A Ride | |||
| 07 | Standing In The Grits Line | |||
| 08 | In The Sweet Bye And Bye | |||
| 09 | Ain't Nothing A Young Girl Can Do | |||
| 10 | If There's A Will There's A Way | |||
| 11 | What's In The Headlines |
Strong voices and explosive hand-clapping characterize
the devotional music known as qawwali. An
ensemble of usually 12 male performers conveys a
religious message through music and song based on
mystic poetry by Sufi masters. The texts usually deal
with divine love (’ishq), the sorrow of separation
(hijr, firaq) and the union (visal), these concepts being
symbolically reinforced and illustrated by the
music. Qawwali blends Iranian and Central Asian
poetic, philosophical and musical elements into a
North Indian base, combining popular music with
classical traditions. Following the same pattern of
combination and blending, the texts cover Arabic
and Persian, but the main text body is usually in a
simple idiom form of Indian languages: Urdu,
Hindi, Purbi and Punjabi. Qawwali is derived from
the Arabic word qaul, literally meaning “saying” but
has taken on the meaning of “belief ” or “credo” in
South Asian languages. Qawwali is spiritual in essence;
it is the devotional music of the Sufis to attain
trance and mystical experience—originating in the
10th century and blossoming into its present form
from the 13th century onwards.
Qawwali is inseparable from the name of a Persian
court musician, composer, poet and mystic of that
period: Amir Khusrau (1254-1325). Amir Khusrau
experimented with musical forms, combining the
Indian and the Persian, the Hindu Bhakti and the
Muslim Sufi to produce the present form of
qawwali.
Qawwali thus became a popular expression of
Muslim devotion open to all faiths throughout
Northern India. This form of music rapidly became
a vehicle for the Islamic missionary movement in
India, while at the same time reinforcing the faith of
the Muslims. In many cases, the original Persian
mystical text is followed by a translation in the local
idiom sung in the same manner as the original.
While the orthodoxy continues to reject what they
perceive as a blasphemous mixture of music and religion,
qawwali remains an expanding form of music
enjoying universal popularity in South Asia and
beyond. An even more energetic form of qawwali
developed around the 16th century in the middle
Indus at the crossroads between Iran, Central Asia
and India. This form, called the Punjabi ang, presents
the crystal-clear and profound texts of Punjabi
Sufi poetry and folk songs woven into attractive
melodies and powerful rhythms. The late Nusrat Fateh
Ali Khan belongs to this branch of qawwali.
Absolutely top notch collection of rare mid-'70s funk, soul and disco. The record contains some sweet northern soul like this one from Brother's Guiding Light:| A1 | Act One - | Tom The Peeper | ||
| A2 | Brothers Guiding Light - | Getting Together | ||
| A3 | Al Downing - | I'll Be Holding You | ||
| A4 | Joe Tex - | Cat Got Her Tongue | ||
| A5 | King Floyd - | Can You Dig It? | ||
| A6 | Aaron Neville - | Hercules | ||
| A7 | Cissy Houston - | Midnite Train To Georgia | ||
| A8 | Annette Snell - | You Oughta Be Here With Me | ||
| B1 | Whispers - | A Mother For My Children | ||
| B2 | Roy C - | Got To Get Enough (Of Your Sweet Stuff) | ||
| B3 | Etta James - | Out On The Streets Again | ||
| B4 | Joneses - | Hey Babe (Is The Gettin' Still Good) | ||
| B5 | Don Covay - | It's Better To Have (And Don't Need) | ||
| B6 | Ohio Players - | Streakin' Cheek To Cheek | ||
| B7 | Dramatics - | Choosing Up On You | ||
| B8 | Little Anthony & Imperials - | La La La At The End |
The power of Bad Brains' classic 1983 hardcore album has not diminished over the years. Lightning fast and taut like razor-wire this record helped to define the sound of American punk. While Rock for Light is available on CD, the version that you can buy is completely different to this vinyl release. The CD contains 20 songs, most of which are significantly faster than the original recordings.
"The Stukas Boys had gotten their start as a neighbourhood band doing James Brown covers in 1968, nearly two years before their more successful competitors Bella Bella and Zaiko came along. In 1970 the group had improved to the point that it was able to secure a booking at the prestigious Para Fifi night club...and the next year it cut some records. By than a fairly stable core had evolved that included singers Lita Bembo, Lomingo Alida, Kisola Nzita, and Suka Bola, guitarists Samunga Tediangaye and Bongo Wende, and drummer Bakunde IlondjokoHere's a clip of this great band in action on a Saturday night variety show:
Like the Trio Madjesi, The Stukas Boys were known less for their music than for theirgreat live performances. And Zaire's developing show system was made to order for their front man, the incredible Lita Bembo. Young and athletic, Lita...had a workmanlike voice but the instinctive moves of a premier dancer. Once on stage, he alone commanded the audience.
Samunga, barely into his twenties, anchored the band with a flashy lead guitar which he sometimes plucked with his teeth a la Jimi Hendrix. But when the 'showman' Lita Bembo appeared, no one else had a chance. 'The young man will literally dominate the scene,' reported. 'He will make the mike "suffer." Dropping to his knees like a voodoo man in a trance, exhibiting his sacred dance...Lita Bembo proves his skill by showing off his impossible postures.' After his stellar performance at Zaire 74, Salongo declared 'he set the tone for the evening. And the concert he presented to the public brilliantly confirmed his rank as a great star of Zairean music'"
This is a great archive of sounds from that delicious moment when hip hop burst out of New York's ghettoes in a blaze of spangly disco grooves and delerious, sharp tongued swagger. Here's a clip from the 1984 BBC documentary, Beat This, which featured all the great dj's, mc's, breakers and bombers of the time:| 01 | Twennynine Featuring Lenny White - | Twennynine (The Rap) | ||
| 02 | T-Ski Valley - | Catch The Beat | ||
| 03 | Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde - | Genius Rap | ||
| 04 | Afrika Bambaataa & The Jazzy 5 - | Jazzy Sensation | ||
| 05 | Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - | Superappin' | ||
| 06 | Bon Rock & The Rythem Rebellion - | Searching Rap | ||
| 07 | Tom Tom Club - | Rappa Rappa Rhythm | ||
| 08 | Compass Point All Stars - | Peanut Butter |
Absolutely stunning gypsy flamenco recorded live at the festival of Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer in the Camargue region of France. During the '60s and '70s, Manitas de Plata (Little Hands of Silver) was one of the most famous flamenco guitarists in the world, playing the Carnegie Hall, the Royal Variety Performance and at a United Nations gala. For purists, his music was too raw and unpredictable to be considered as flamenco, but the improvisational flair of his performances and his ecstatic immersion in the creative moment make for engrossing listening.
Picked up this fabulous compilation of Colombian Musica Tropical at a local bootsale. Full of cumbias and porros by some of the country's best bandleaders, it's a thoroughly entertaining listen that evokes the excitement of the dancehalls and fiestas of urban Colombia in the '50s and '60s.
"This is dub revolution: music to rock the nation"
Here's some more of that frantic fuji music. This album has it all: frenzied talking drums, groovy out of tune keyboards and Barrister's rough toasting, it is delightfully demented.
In Georgia culture polyphonic singing has been preserved as a vital part of the national identity. Georgian polyphonic tradition is likely to be older than that of Western Europe. In Georgia, it is primarily the men who do the singing. A typical Georgian song is sung a cappella by men, in three voices. However, occasionally the string instruments and panduri are used as accompaniment. In 2003 Georgian Church issued an ordinance according to which no more then three voice polyphony is eligible for official praying in churches and during official ceremonies. The chords are also the subject to be taken into account and singers are asked to avoid modern and innovative harmonic language. According to existing opinion the Georgian Church tries to preserve the old traditions and unique musical language of Georgian chants which are of hundreds of years old.Polyphonic singing has always had its natural place in Georgian social life, both at festivities and at work. Today, the most common forum for the tradition is the dining table. Not only at banquets, but also in common restaurants, one may here a company of gentlemen singing a beautiful song in chorus. Many Georgian ensembles pass on the tradition in concert form as well.
The Georgian language, one of the four South Caucasian or Kartvelian languages, is very old. It is not related to any other living language, and its original traits are well preserved due to the land being geographically isolated. It has also served as protection from aggressors throughout the centuries.
The most significant feature of the Georgian language is its richness in consonants. Despite this, Georgian singing is never rough or angular. On the contrary, it sounds warm, generous and marrowy - both when softly affectionate, spiritually sincere or defiantly proud.
The songs had many functions in a traditional village community:
- Table songs did not only express joy at the festivities. The textual forms of blessing elevated the meal shared with a guest to the level of ritual, which both strengthened the individual participant and the community, and further affirmed the existing social norms.
- The songs of the two groups competing against one another during field work (Naduri), serve on the one hand, to organize the work and increase group productivity, and on the other, to transform the physically extremely strenuous days into a festival, where old fertility rites could continue to be celebrated.
- The perkhuli, or circle dance, also performed by two alternating groups, joins dance to words and music. Most of these songs are associated with festivals and customs of a religious nature. One finds them especially often in the high mountain regions, where religious concepts often have no more in common with the Georgian-Orthodox Church than the name.These peasant songs, sung in region-specific ways, constitute only half of the traditional folk music of Georgia. The embodiment of this advanced Christian civilization was not only to be seen in the leading architecture of its many churches, its frescoes, icons, book paintings or its religious and secular literature. The spiritual centers of Middle Ages Georgia were also centers of religious vocal art. Here, peculiar within the Orthodoxy, a three-part form of liturgical singing developed, which for the most part, was also handed-down orally. Only in the 19th century, when Georgian churches lost their autonomy (Autokephalie) as a consequence of the Russian occupation of 1801, and the services became increasingly Russianized, did the priests and musicians begin to set down the orally-transmitted songs in written form. These constitute an important foundation for the re-birth of this vocal art, almost totally obliterated during the time of the Soviets (1921-1990).
From http://www.georgian-music.com/free_music/georgian.php
Here's a rare glimpse of Georgian Voices singing round the dinner table:
01 The Lake Sleeps
02 Mado Chkimi
03 A Winter
04 Svanetian Lazjgvashi
05 Varado
06 Voisa
07 Bullock-Carter
08 Khasanbegura
09 Azari and Sharatini
10 A've Known You Since Long Time
11 Kakhetian Mravalzjamieri
12 Shemogmeoluri
13 O God (Choral)
14 Mravalzjamieri
15 Girl, You are so Good
16 Qalan
17 Moonset
18 Karkuchi
19 Dala Kojas Khelguajale
20 Mravalzjamieri
Get it HERE.
Mahasti, the Lady of Hearts and Flowers, was a popular singer in pre-revoltionary Iran, and this crackly album sounds like a relic from a long forgotten time, despite the fact that it was only released in the mid '70s. Its not just the poor condition of the vinyl that makes these songs sound antiquated, its also some elusive quality to the music itself. It has a weight that seems to be lacking in much Western pop musics. It is heavy, mournful. Those strings are dramatic and Mahasti's beautiful voice is filled with sorrow and weary resignation. 
| 01 | Comin' Home Baby | |
| 02 | On A Clear Day You Can See Forever | |
| 03 | Basin Street Blue | |
| 04 | Nobody Likes Me | |
| 05 | I'm A Boy In Love | |
| 06 | People | |
| 01 | In The Still Of The Night | |
| 02 | Ebb Tide | |
| 03 | Just A Pretty Song | |
| 04 | Lost Continent | |
| 05 | Prime Of My Life |
| 1. La Colegiala - Rodolfo Y Su Tipica RA 7 |
| 2. La Subienda - Romero, Gabriel |
| 3. La Zenaida - Hernandez, Armand |
| 4. Amanciendo - Echeverria, Adolfo |
| 5. Navidad Negra - Laza, Pedro |
| 6. Cumbia Cienaguera - Conjunto Tipico Vallenato |
| 7. Tabaco Y Ron - Rodolfo Y Su Tipica RA 7 |
| 8. La Piragua - Romero, Gabriel |
| 9. La Pollera Colora - Los Immortales |
| 10. Se Me Perdio La Cadenita - La Sonora Dinamita |
| 11. El Pescuador De Baru - Los Warahuaco |
| 12. Cumbia Sampuesina - Conjunto Tipico Vallenato |
The title track from this album is probably familiar to many, its deep, minimal gospel inflected
