Listen to last week’s show and see the running order on DavySims.com and find out more about the show. You can also listen to Part 1 and Part 2 on Mixcloud.
Hear the show on the web on Sundays at 10:00 pm to midnight:
Slice Audio, Ferry FM, and Armagh City Radio .
And on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm on the radio and web
Bangor FM 107.9: http://radio.garden/listen/bangor-fm-107-9/IycUhUbT
Lisburn’s 98FM: http://radio.garden/listen/facebook/ASeqAEl8
FM105 Down Community Radio: http://radio.garden/listen/fm-105-down-community-radio/K8lBDGFf
About 10 days ago, soon after listening to the new Cimarrón album, an email arrived from Ana Veydó the singer and leader of the band. They are Grammy and Latin Grammy nominated and winners and of 2020 Songlines Music Awards (Best Group).
The Colombian band from the Orinoco River in the Amazonian Jungle have a strong reputation for tight, fast, syncopated musicianship with energetic almost gymnastic performances. Ana told me , “We are just releasing this week our new album La Recia, which means "the strong woman" and refers to my vision as a bandleader and producer (after the death of my husband and Cimarron co-founder Carlos Cuco Rojas) of an album that breaks down the stereotype of Colombian cowboy and honours our true indigenous origins. This new musical journey goes deeper into the ancient spirituality of the Orinoco and brings back forgotten sounds, such as the sound of Manguaré, a percussion instrument never recorded before.”
I had been anticipating the release of this new album for quite a while. And I have not been disappointed. It’s long on excellent music but short on videos. I posted the only full video on last week’s newsletter. All there is left on YouTube to share with you are the soundtrack videos (above). And, by the way if anyone is thinking of buying me a hat, bear this video in mind.
Some other picks of the week
Congotronics International are something of a supergroup bringing together several well known musicians and bands. There’s Konono Nº1 themselves quite a large group of musicians, percussionists and dancers from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. They have existed in one form or another since 1966. Kasai Allstars who had a great album out last year [Bandcamp] are a 25-piece musical collective also based in Kinshasa. Juana Molina, a singer from Argentina. San Francisco band Deerhoof, the Swedish duo Wild Birds and Peace Drums, and Skeletons’ Matt Mehlan from Ohio.
Here’s a condensed version of Pierre Laffargue’s 100-min film documenting the birth of the collaborative project.
Pelerinaj by Erol Josué. I’ll just be playing the one track this week, but it would be worth your time finding the album and listening to the whole thing. It works best as a long form piece rather than individual tracks. Erol is the Director of the National Bureau of Ethnology in Haiti and has been since 2012. And from there and through mainly universities in the US he has been showcasing Haitian vodou culture.
Small Island Big Song - Lament for a Dying Ocean (feat. Putad, Sauljaljui & Kekuhi) Our Island is the second album in the Small Island Big Song project. “Small Island Big Song is a music, film, live project featuring over a hundred musicians across 16 island nations of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, creating a contemporary and relevant musical statement of a region in the frontline of cultural and environmental challenges.”
Also on the show you can expect to hear Amai Kuda Et Les Bois, Arat Kilo, Black Mango, Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita, Cláudio Jorge, Hushman, Inni-K Kolonien, La3no Cubano, Magalí Sare, Milena Warthon, Oumou Sangaré, Ramy Essam, Riccardo Tesi & Elena Ledda, Wynona Bleach and Ibrahima Cissokho & Mandingue Foly.