Around the World – 29 & 31 May 2022 - Preview
Untypically tropical. Show notes and preview here.
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, 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
Album of the Week:
Leyla McCalla. Breaking the Thermometer
Featured this week is the new album from Leyla McCalla. Breaking the Thermometer was released as an album in early May, but it has been a multi media project by the Haiti born Leyla McCalla who is now based in New Orleans.
It was premiered in Duke University in North Carolina in March 2020.
The Breaking the Thermometer website explains that the project explores the legacy of Radio Haiti-Inter, Haiti’s first privately owned Creole-speaking radio station, and the assassination of its owner, Jean Dominique, in 2000. . It uses archive from the station held at Duke, including voices from journalists who worked there who fought to lift the voices of the ordinary people of Haiti. “We see Haiti through Leyla’s eyes as she grapples with the harsh political realities of its people and the journalists, like Dominique, who fought to uplift their voices.”
The project launched in 2020. It was due to tour after that -but circumstances and global shut down probably put a stop to that plan. I can’t find out just now if a new tour is expected, but the album was released in early May.
The website explains that “breaking the thermometer to hide the fever” is a proverb to describe the spirit of Haiti's marginalized poor in the face of violence and political oppression.
It is a very fine album and worth chasing.
BARETO
The Peruvian band mix versions of Amazonian Cumbia classics with their own compositions. They’ve been playing since 2003 – and this may well be the first time you’ve heard of them. It’s the first I’ve heard of them and I want more. And in coming weeks there will be.
ROSALÍA
Yes, even more from Motomama … one of my top albums of the year.
If you think Flamenco is just women in big dresses dancing in high heals and snapping castanets while med sweat over Spanish guitars hammering out syncopated rhythms it is time to acknowledge that was once Flamenco - but there is a modern interpretation rom young musicians like Rosalía and C. Tangana. I’ll be playing Bulerías “a fast flamenco rhythm made up of a 12 beat cycle with emphasis in two general forms as follows: [12] 1 2 [3] 4 5 [6] 7 [8] 9 [10] 11or[12] 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 [7] [8] 9 [10] 11” Want to know more? Wikipedia will help.
Eliane Correa & La Evolución
One of this week’s finds is UK-based Cuban timba / salsa fusion Eliane Correa & La Evolución. The12-piece orchestra features original arrangements by Eliane Correa, “performed by Europe's top Latin and Cuban musicians.” Here’s the new album on BandCamp. And if you just want some excellent relaxing tropical music for a sunny afternoon, start the live concert on the video and (excuse me but I am going to use the word) …Chill.
Inni-K
Cuc-a-neaindí is the first track I’ll be playing on what is likely to be a featured album soon, ‘Iníon’. While Rosalía plays modern Flamenco, Inni-K merges sean-nós and jazz. While other influences touch on the Dublin based singer’s music, she stays true to the original spirit and sense of the music.
As she explains “ The roots of this album reach deep. In my mind’s eye, I see myself, aged 11, at home, tracing my finger across a small dent in the front of the record player and listening to a Gael Linn record that Mam and Dad had, hearing the singing of Seosamh Ó hÉanaí. In that moment, I was transfixed. I became fascinated by sean-nós singing and, through the years since, have explored that compulsion alongside other musical curiosities and influences. Iníon is a circling back to my musical lineage to honour my first deep love of sean-nós song and what has been passed onto me. The same momentum carries me and this music forward, joyfully falling into step with fellow explorers of different musical genres, from jazz to classical, to imagine together and share new iterations of some of the songs I love most from our singing tradition.”
WMCE Nominations
Each month I make my nominations for World Music Chart Europe along with around 40 other broadcasters from around Europe.
I can only nominate 10 and it is always a difficult choice. The list comprises music I’m playing and planning to play.
Here is this month’s list:
1 Echo Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita - Theatr Mwldan, ARC Music Wales/Senegal
2 Motomami - Rosalía Columbia Spain
3 Ritual - Ana Alcaide ARC Spain
4 Babilonia - Antonio Castrignanò Ponderosa Italy
5 Talm Ur Galon - Startijenn Paker Production Bretagne/France
6 Janus - Annbjørg Lien Heilo/ Grappa Musikkforlag Norway
7 Iníon - Inni-K Green Willow Ireland
8 Our Island - Small Island Big Song Small Island Big Song Pacific and Indian Oceans
9 Quicksand - Black Mango Gustaff Mali/France
10 Nava - Toranj Nava Ireland