Each year people from the music industry convene from WOMEX, the World Music Expo. This year Lisbon is the venue. And I’m here.
Estonia’s Duo Ruut play in the daytime showcase on thursday 20 October.
On the show this week, there will be a “mixtape” of some of my favourites from this year’s WOMEX.
Listen to last week’s show here on Mixcloud:
Hear the show on the web on Sundays at 10:00 pm to midnight:
Slice Audio,
Ferry FM,
Radio Larne, 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
Featured Album
Doctor L - Time Travelling
This album was released in June and to be honest I simply can’t remember how I came across it a couple of weeks ago. But I got very excited and played a track from it last week. This week four tracks on featured. Who is Doctor L? He was born in Dublin in 1968 as Liam Farrell but raised in Paris. His father was the famous Irish artist Michael Farrell
Laim is a musician, composer and producer. He began in Parisian Hip-Hop and Punk later worked in New York, Paris, London, Lagos, Berlin, Bamako, Marseille and I expect several other places. This he has worked with include Assassin, FFF, Psycho on Da Bus, Tony Allen, Mbongwana Star, Babani Koné, Nneka, and Les Amazones d’Afrique.
Time Travelling extends his journey through Africa with collaborations with musicians in Benin, Gambia, Mali, Angola, Senegal, DR Congo, and Ivory Coast.
You’ll find the album on Bandcamp.
The main reason why the newsletter is a day later than usual is to wait for the official release of the video and single Kolyskova by Ukranian musician Valya Levchenko. The single and the video premiere is on October 21. Valya Levchenko has produced an arrangement of a traditional lullaby from her country and the video that shows the struggle of Ukrainian mothers fleeing the country due to the war there. All royalties will be donated to independent organizations in Ukraine that work with children and orphans.
Valya Levchenko | Kolyskova
The singer and composer has roots in eastern Ukraine and but she has developed her musicianship and found influences in several countries and cultures. Valentina was born in former Soviet Union but grew up and built a successful business career in independent modern Ukraine. She studied under Rhiannon’s and Bobby McFerrin’s patronage and explored different music techniques in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. In 2019, in Brazil she released her first album, “Berehy”, a mix of Ukrainian folk music combined with Brazilian and African instruments and rhythms.
WOMEX
In addition to a 30-minute “mixtape” of music from WOMEX, other artists performing at the event will pop up on the show too. People like Alicia Edelweiss an Austro-British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actress and visual artist based in Vienna.
Alicia Edelweiss - Leonie
All the way around the world - and just around the corner
There’s always a place for music that’s local to me on the show. Championing music from Belfast is where I started. And one of those bands I was playing in the early days was Shock Treatment. Davy Treatment (a.k.a. Davy McLarnon), is still making music with Auld Gods with Marty Williamson and Mike Williamson. Their Older? Wiser? was released at the beginning of the year.
On 28 October, At the Cecil will be the final single from the album to be released from the album.
Mike Williamson told me the story behind the song.
At the Cecil - Auld Gods
“It’s the story of the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. Built in 1924 the hotel was the last word in luxury attracting a moneyed clientele as Los Angeles boomed. Following the Great Depression, the hotel's fortunes took a tumble, and it eventually became a source of low cost accommodation as poverty drove the surrounding area, in the centre of LA into a haven for the hopeless known as Skid Row.
“During this time the hotel gained a reputation following a series of lurid homicides which were greedily taken up by the tabloids, the most infamous being the Black Dahlia. Things didn’t improve in the 80s and 90s as the hotel guests included serial killers Richard Ramirez and Jack Unterweger.
“The hotel attempted to relaunch itself as a centrally located place for backpackers in LA. At this time a student from Vancouver, Elisa Lam, staying there disappeared sparking a frantic search eventually culminating in the discovery of her body in one of the hotel's water storage towers. A CCTV of Elisa behaving in a strange way in the hotel elevator went viral on the internet and a stream of theories were floated by frenzied YouTubers. The truth was in the end straightforward and deeply sad in that it was believed that she climbed into the tank during a psychotic episode resulting from under medication for a severe bipolar disorder.
”The song captures the febrile atmosphere during Elisa’s disappearance starting with a simple piano riff and eventually building to a cacophony of guitars. Davy’s vocals build during the song with a background of treated guitars, bass synthesizers and a simple bassline slowly rack up the tension.”
Also on the Show
Antonis Antoniou, Björk, Brenda Navarrete, Dani Larkin, Djana Sissoko, Djazia Satour, Duo Ruut, Eneida Marta, Hushman, Jesse Cook, Kalàscima, La Mambanegra, Maison Bélier, Ronan Skillen, Shimaï, Solju, Son Rompe Pera, Startijenn, Tau & the Drones of Praise Feat. Damien Dempsey & Pól Brennan, The Hu, and Wesli