Around the World - Preview
15 November 2024
Show Previews
This Week
Music from: Australia, Cape Verde, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, USA and Wales.
Music by: Adrian Sutherland & Rodrigo Massa, Amsterdam Klezmer Band, Andrew Gurruwiwi Band, BaBa ZuLa, Carlos Haayen Y Su Piano Candeloso, Carmen Souza, Catrin Finch & Aoife Ní Bhríain, Church Street Shuffle, Dal:um, Lina_, Driss El Maloumi, Folkemusikk frå Møre og Romsdal, Manu Chao, Mauro Durante & Justin Adams, Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, Orquesta Akokán, Parno Graszt, Sangit, Şatellites, Seun Kuti Egypt 80' & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, Sinimouso, Vimma, and Zvezdana Novaković.
Featured Album - Homeland - Chapter 1 by Seckou Keita
Seckou Keita - Chaque Jour
When I saw Seckou Keita play on a warm summer evening in the shore of Lake Bled he was accompanying the Welsh Harpist Catrin Finch. It was a magical, gentle, even drifting music that passed too quickly. (You can see the whole concert here.) Together they have released three albums. As a solo artist or with other musicians, Seckou Keita has recorded a further six albums. Homeland - Chapter 1 is his most recent.
Unlike his work with Catrin and some other musicians, this album is filled with short, upbeat, optimistic songs showing the diversity of the music he can play as a kora master. He remains one of the leaders of the newest generation of African traditional musicians, fusing the traditional forms and instruments with those of other cultures. "Hendrix of the Kora".
Homecoming is recorded in Dakar Senegal, London and Brussels with at least 15 other musicians participating.
For this project, it is no surprise that Seckou Keita, known as a master of collaboration, was compelled to bring in other sounds, other voices and other stories to such an important project.
So he teamed up with his friend, one of the most sought-after Senegalese producers, Youssou N'Dour co-producer, Moussa Ngom to create a unique, crossover sound that subtly brings together acoustic and electronic music, traditional rhythms and urban beats.
On this journey, it became evident that he needed to work with the most relevant hip hop voices from Senegal… So he reached out to his old friends and the global sensation band Daara J Family which led to the beautiful track ‘Home Sweet Home’, a mixture of acoustic and hip hop recorded at 3 am on a dusty morning!
“At the heart of Homeland is storytelling, an essential part of the griot tradition, which has been shaped over centuries and is an integral part of my life and my culture. Above all else we are the preservers of stories and history.” - Seckou Keita
So it is not surprising that the album begins and ends with pieces written and delivered in the traditional ‘griot tradition’ style, beautifully rendered by the voice and preserver of Mandinka Culture, Abdoulaye Sidibé.
For Seckou, it was important to go further and make sure that words, poetry in particular, had a special place and weight within the album. This is where Hannah Lowe entered with her special Deportation Blues piece, along with Zena Edwards with her quietly but powerfully delivered Reflections. [Hudson Records]
Featured Time and Place
Last week, when I was pulling together the weekly preview, in the piece about Orquesta Akokán and their influences, I wrote “I might find some music from these guys for next week’s show!” And I have.
The place: Cuba. The Time: 1950s and 1960s. Sprinkled throughout the show this week is music from those musicians who have influenced not only Orquesta Akokán, but a whole style of music and musical heritage. And even TV advertising!
You can hear Benny Moré, Los Machucambos Machito & Machito & His Afro-Cuban Orchestra, Pérez Prado and His Orchestra.
PEREZ PRADO - Guaglione (1958)
I’m not sure whether this will become a regular feature, but I’m already considering pre-revolution psychedelic rock from Tehran, dance club music from Cairo in the swinging 60s, Punk in Yugoslavia.
What do you think? Any ideas? All suggestions welcome.
Back to This Week
Baba Zula - Yok Haddi Yok Hesabı Radio Edit (Official Video)
Improvision, psychedelia, Turkish roots, avantgarde, experimental Baba Zula from Istanbul. Formed almost 30 years ago by founding members Levent Akman (spoons, percussions, machines, toys), Murat Ertel (electric saz and other stringed instruments, vocals, theremin), now joined by darbuka and percussion player Ümit Adakale and Esma Ertel on vocals and dancing.
Their new album İstanbul Sokakları (Streets of Istanbul) includes on site (field) recordings of the sounds of Istanbul - a remarkable city filled with noise, and music and the smell of cooking - often fish, whipped out of the Bosphorus and immediately barbecued by the dozens of fishermen on each side of the Galata Bridge.
Their latest album İstanbul Sokakları (Streets of Istanbul) contains no shortage of the hypnotic jams that have become their calling card. Across three extended pieces – the six-minute “Arsız Saksağan (Cheeky Magpie)”, the eight-minute “Yaprakların Arasından (In Between the Leaves)” and the eleven-minute “Yok Haddi Yok Hesabı (No Limits No Calculation)” – they delve deep into group meditations that surge and swell with relentless percussion, dark atmospherics constantly pushed into ecstatic peaks by the biting electric saz, and vocals by turns seductive and exhorting by Murat Ertel and female vocalist (and spouse), Esma Ertel.
On the album we also find characteristically strong fusions of modern vibes with traditional Turkish flavours. The catchy “Pisi Pisi Halayı” features an acid house squelch ornamented with Esma’s powerful vocals sung in the zilgit style – a type of ecstatic ululation found in Turkey (Türkiye) and throughout southwestern Asia.
On İstanbul Sokakları, BaBa ZuLa further pursue their quest to modernise Turkish musical tradition by examining a key element of Turkish classical music known as the taksim. Closely related to the alaap, which usually begins an Indian raga, the taksim was traditionally an improvised introduction in which the mood of a particular scale is established with melodic variations played over a root-note drone. “At the beginning of the 20th century, taksims were very popular in Turkish culture, but then this tradition slowly died,” Ertel states. “I was excited with the idea and really wanted to use it on the album.” [Glitterbeat Records]
You can find İstanbul Sokakları on Glitterbeat Records.
Where and When to hear Around the World
Friday:
Akaroa World Radio 2:00 pm local New Zealand Time (3:00 am GMT 4:00 am CET)
NAR-GROUP Germany – 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m (CET)
Mosel Radio – 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m (CET)
NAR-Alf – 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m (CET)
Saturday:
RCFM (Radio City FM) Duisburg, Germany 3:00 – 5:00 pm CET
World FM 10:00 pm local New Zealand Time (11:00 am GMT, 12:00 noon CET)
Essential Radio Midnight to 2:00 am GMT (1:00 am CET)
Sunday:
West Coast FM Namibia 10:00 pm to 12:00 noon Central Africa Time (2:00 to 4:00 GMT)
NFRS Osaka Japan: 12:00 noon local time (3:00 am UK time 4:00 am CET)
973FM in Singapore and 11:00 pm local time (3:00 pm/15:00 hours UTC – Universal Time).
Slice Audio 10:00 pm local time (11:00 pm CET)
Armagh City Radio 10:00 pm local time (11:00 pm CET)
Monday:
SparkFlame Radio: 00:00 am GMT (01:00 CET)
Waterwaves Radio: 8:00 pm GMT (21:00 CET)
KNC Radio St Lucia 6:00 am local time (10:00 am GMT 11:00 am CET)
BR2 Pure Gold Radio – Costa Blanca, Spain 10:00 pm local time (CET)
Akaroa World Radio 10:00 pm local New Zealand Time (11:00 am GMT, 12:00 noon CET)
World FM 10:00 pm local New Zealand Time (11:00 am GMT, 12:00 noon CET)
Wednesday:
World FM 4:00 am local New Zealand Time (5:00 pm Tuesday GMT, 6:00 pm CET)
Slice Audio 4:00 am local time GMT (5:00 am CET)
Life Right Radio (London) 7:00 pm
Best City Radio (Belfast) 10:00 pm
Radio Skye (Radio Garden) 10:00 pm GMT (11:00 pm CET)
Stirling Community Radio 10:00 pm GMT (11:00 pm CET)