Each week I preview the coming Around the World and add a few notes and videos. You can find out more on my blog. You can get this newsletter every week when you subscribe.
See last week’s running order is here (9 & 11 January 2022). You can listen to Part 1 and Part 2 of last week’s show and all previous shows on Mixcloud here
Around the World is on Slice Audio, Ferry FM, and Radio Larne on Sundays at 10:00 pm to midnight. On Tuesdays at 7:00 pm the show is broadcast on Bangor FM, Lisburn’s 98FM and FM105 Down Community Radio.
This week’s featured album: What happens when a hard rock band meets 18th century dance music in Finland? The answer is Ritva Nero. They are a five piece who have taken polite fashionable dances like polka and mazurka, dipped them in heavy metal and released the music into the community.
The Nordic region and Finland in particular do rather excellent heavy rock. Maybe it’s the long winter nights or the ice and snow, but the musicians tend to be of the tougher variety. Ritva Nero formed in 2017. This isn’t just thrash for the sake of thrash. There is very competent musicianship here too – and a line up of instruments you would not expect in either a metal band or a polka ensemble.
“Lead instruments played in the band are Soprano Saxophone, Finnish Bagpipes and Nyckelharpa, complimented by a rock style Bass and metal music style Drums. Folk dance tunes are cleverly combined with the metal tradition of our time in a contemporary manner.” More here
The album Immortal Tradition was only just released (14 January) and there’ll be 4 tracks on the show. In the meantime, here are some videos.
Some of the places we’ll hear music from: Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Jamaica, Spain, Italy, Bosnia, France, Germany, Mali, Ethiopia, Morocco, Guinea, Hawaii, and Japan
I’ve mentioned this before and perhaps it’s worth mentioning again. One of the ways that this programme came to be is that I got very bored with the music I was hearing. And because I have always been fascinated by the Mediterranean – a place where three continents meet and there is a vast area of sea to make travel between those continents easier and for the people and the cultures, and the food and the music and the arts mix more freely.
Because of that I sat in my room a few years ago with Spotify, Wikipedia and Google maps and tracked my way around the Mediterranean searching for interesting music.
A good example of how the Mediterranean region produces unique music is Mólo Sâyat’s excellent new album Hadaeq with a Lebanese singer, Mediterranean musicians, formed in Brussels drawing on Arabic, Italian and Romani language and songs.
Every week on the show I try to stretch the boundaries of the music we hear on the radio. As someone brought up on The Beatles and the Stones and the Monkees, then Jimi Hendrix and Cream, as a punk playing radio DJ and into all sorts of other music, Claudio Prima and Seme make the sort of music I would have missed. “Enjoy” is a fantastic album and not what you tend to hear everyday. It might take a subtle retuning of your expectations and taste, but once you get right into the music you cannot help but be lifted by it.
Other music you can expect: From Colombia, Latin Grammy award winners Aterciopelados have teamed up with protest singer La Muchacha for this single
A new single from German marching band, Meute.
And after seeing this video Cabo Verde is on my “Future Destinations” list
And Finally there’s a Canadian musician, Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, known as The Weekend. He is a massive music star who played the half time in the Superbowl last February. Although his new album – his 5th studio album – Dawn FM is really impressive it’s not the sort of thing to get onto the playlist. We take a different path on this show. We go looking for the less obvious.
The Weekend was born in Canada, but his parents were Ethiopian immigrants. He was raised by his mother and grandmother. He learned Amharic from his grandmother and also spoke it with his mother. He attended services at the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Some of his music influences come from Ethiopia. And in turn he has brought success to musicians from his parents’ home country.
Which is a very long way of introducing Aster Aweke, one of his inspirations.
There is a stack more music. Please join me or go to Mixcloud after the show.
The Around the World archive on Mixcloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/davysims/
And on Radio Garden
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