Around the World Preview - 25 & 27 July

Coming up on Sunday and Tuesday

Jul 23, 2021

Ahh - the heat, the heat. Wonderful, isn’t it? Weirdly warm in this town in this region which is usually pretty damp in July - not unknown to have the fire lit mid-month. I hope it’s comfortably warm where you are and readers/listeners in the southern hemisphere (yes, there are a few, mainly South Africa and Australia, but some in south America, too) are having a fine winter.

The weather reflects the music somewhat with a strong southern European and Mediterranean feel.

Around the World is on Ferry FM and Slice Audio on Sundays at 10:00 pm to midnight and on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm on Bangor FM, Lisburn’s 98FM and FM105 Down Community Radio.

Listen to last week's show

Album of the week: It’s weird, it’s wonderfully eccentric, it’s great to listen to: Xogo [pronounced chogo] by Radio Tutti and the Barilla Sisters. I wasn’t able to find out much about them. There are a lot of words around like “Electron liberated in the galaxy of the current world sound system, Radio Tutti & Barilla Sisters once again awakens the force with an explosive 2nd album. The music of southern Europe takes on a new shoot of classy arrangements and electro-shock for this trance-genre ball.” Which says a lot but doesn’t tell you much. Read the whole thing here and listen to the album which I hope you enjoy as much as me.

Here’s a video from 2017.

If you’ve found some music you think I should be listening to or playing on the show, please let me know. You can contact me here.

Music to look out for: You’ll know Elvis Costello and the Attractions and perhaps sing along to every song on This Year’s Model. Now here’s a challenge. Sing-a-long in Spanish.

Sebastian Krys who often works with Costello is reported in NME saying, “I have been in so many situations where I was trying to turn Latin artists onto Elvis Costello’s music. The feedback I heard most often was ‘I love it. I wish I knew what he was saying.

“Spanish Model is an opportunity to turn an entire side of the world onto this great record and through these voices, get these ideas out. Lyrically, This Year’s Model is still relevant today, what the songs have to say and how they say it.”

It’s due out in September but I’ll be playing the pre-release track Pump It Up with Colombian music star Juanes.

Folk/Not Folk: Whyte from Scotland. “The duo comprises electronic composer, musician and Scottish Album of the Year-longlisted Ross Whyte (Aberdeenshire) and Gaelic singer, songwriter and twice-nominated Hands Up for Trad Gaelic Singer of the Year Alasdair C. Whyte (Isle of Mull).” [You can buy their new album MAIM from Bandcamp] This is not the track I’ll be playing.

Spiro from England. “Bands often claim to be unique, but Spiro really do defy easy categorisation. They are an acoustic instrumental quartet, playing violin, mandolin, accordion and guitar (which is occasionally replaced by cello), and though they do make use of traditional themes, they are most certainly not a folk band.” [Hear all their music on Bandcamp]

Ireland with an Indian Twist. I’ll be playing Drowsy Maggie. “It features as tune no. 1425 in Capt. Francis O’Neill’s genre defining, O’Neill’s Music of Ireland ‘The 1850’ first published in 1903, dating Drowsy Maggie probably to the mid-nineteenth century. There are no definitive sources on this date and Drowsy Maggie’s origins remain somewhat of a mystery.” [McNeela Music Blog] But played by The Snake Charmer “India's 1st Professional Female Bagpiper” [Instagram]

I’ve never thought of the pipes as a heavy metal/rock instrument but this changed my mind. The Snake Charmer ad some other hard rock pipers and …The Final Countdown. (It’s a lot of fun, this.)

And for more search Shipping Up To Boston/Enter Sandman (or just click there). 27 million views can’t be wrong! Anyway, I’ll be playing Drowsy Maggie if I can tear myself away from these videos.

Some other highlights: My guilty pleasure of the year in 2020 was Un Canto por México, Vol I. And now Un Canto por México, Vol II by Natalia Lafourcade has been released featuring several guest musicians. One is another discovery from earlier this year Mon Laferte. Her track (two songs La Trenza / Amor Completo) is credited to Mon Laferte featuring Natalia Lafourcade rather than the other way round.

Here’s a “from the audience recorded on a phone” video of them performing the songs live from 2019. It has poor sound quality but worth watching a little.