Around the World Preview – 7 & 9 November 2021
සෑම සතියකම මෙහි පණිවිඩයක් ඔබ දුටුවේ නම් මට දන්වන්න
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.
See last week’s running order is here
Listen to Part 1 on Mixcloud here
Listen to Part 2 on Mixcloud here
Around the World in on the road and up in the air again. Plans to present the show from interesting and exotic locations fell apart at the beginning of last year and by that time I’d only managed one show from abroad and that was from Sarajevo.
This time I was in Portugal.
I was on my way to WOMEX – The World Music Expo – in Porto, but I stopped off in Lisbon first.
The first half hour or so of the show will be from Lisbon and a small demonstration of the breadth of music from the city including Sara Tavares, Beautify Junkyards, Branko, and Mariza.
Here’s an example of Beautify Junkyards
And of course, Mariza
In Porto but before we turn to WOMEX, let’s spend a moment thinking about the humble Francesinha. With the “I’ll try that.” attitude to menus that I don’t understand, I pointed at the list of food in Portuguese, said “por favor”. 10 minutes later the francesinha arrived. It was big – a great big sandwich covered in cheese, filled with steak, ham, spiced sausage, and chipolata and … and … and… topped even further with a lightly fried egg. (Apologies to my vegetarian friends who are feeling either queasy or disgust – probably both.) But that’s not all. It is served in a large bowl … of spicy tomato soup. Oh, and there are chip/fries. It is Porto’s own traditional lunch and should you ever go there --- get one!
In the meantime, here’s a recipe. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/213143/recipe/francesinha
WOMEX Opening Night. The opening event at WOMEX was held in the Rem Koolhaas designed Casa da Música which opened in 2005. It sits 1300 people and was packed to see Porto ReFolk Express, a showcase of folk music made in Portugal.
I’ll say now – it is impossible to capture the power of some of this music on record. The opening band was Retimbrar - a musical collective from Porto that explores deep Portuguese rhythm. I think I counted 9 drummers drumming, short pipes and a guest singer from Galicia, Uxía.
From 9 drummers and other musicians to 10 singers singing. Again, a powerful performance from Sopa de Pedra.
I was in the second row from the stage for these marvellous performances and there was no better place to sit to get the full effect of the percussion from this trio thump thump thumping into my chest. They are only a three piece but Seiva were very powerful.
And I can’t even begin to desctibe the stick-dance and tumbling that accompanied Galandum Galundaina
But you’ll get some idea from the video below.
On the show this week I’ll also be playing music from some of the bands who were my highlights. And some that I missed.
The best of all was from Ayom who I had been looking forward to seeing, but was completely taken aback by their live performance which ended with the audience forming a conga line and dancing through Porto’s national theatre.
Here’s a similar performance posted just a few days ago
Another outstanding performance was from Slaento’s Antonio Castrignanò.
He shared the stage with Bab L' Bluz.
Among the most surprising and gripping performances was from Maria Mazzotta
Her’s was one of the daytime performances which left the audience emotional wrecks yet between the dramatic songs she made them laugh. It was an exceptional performance.
Another brilliant daytime performance was from piper Brighde Chaimbeul from Skye.
WOMEX haven’t posted all their videos yet. When they do you’ll find them here on YouTube or here on their website.
The Around the World archive on Mixcloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/davysims/
Slice Audio:
https://www.slice.audio/
Ferry FM:
https://ferryfm.com/
Radio Larne:
https://www.radiolarne.co.uk/
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