Around the World – Week beginning 29 January 2023 - Preview
Music from Barcelona, Bosnia & Heregovina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cote D'Ivorie Finland, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mexico, Portugal, Red Lake Nation of Ojibwe, Spain, Turkey, & USA
Apologies if you have already received the newsletter. There were network errors, so I have had to re-send to the full distribution list.
Artists on this week’s show include: Arnau Obiols, Berikely & Zama, Branko Mataja, Carmen Souza, Eneida Marta, Grant Lazlo (Marvin Gaye & the Grant Lazlo orchestra) Hermanos Gutiérrez, Joe Rainey, Los Amparito, Marala, Maria Rita, Mostar Sevdah Reunion, Okra Playground, Päivi Hirvonen, Payadora Tango with Aviva Chernick and Olga Avigail, Sona Jobarteh, Taraf Syriana, The 2:19, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Vanessa Bissiri, and the featured album from Gyedu-Blay Ambolley.
Featured Album - Gyedu - Blay Ambolley and Hi - Life Jazz Afro-Beat by Gyedu-Blay Ambolley
For more than 40 years Gyedu-Blay has been mixing jazz, highlife, funk, soul, and afrobeat. If you wanted to categorise this album, “Highlife Jazz” would be as good a term as any. This veteran of Ghanaian music marks his 35th album release with this record. For reasons beyond me, he is often known as the James Brown of Ghana. Perhaps it’s the tight band, strong musicianship, and a grip on them, but he’s no frantic dancer and remains looking and sounding cool throughout both recording and performance. As well as original numbers, there are several covers on the album including Thelonious Monk’s Round Midnight and Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.
Now into his 70s, Amboly started out in the sixties in the Uhuru Dance Band, and learned music from artists like Ebo Taylor, with whom he founded The Apagya Show Band in 1974. Now, a living legend he often guests on recordings by young emerging musicians as well as more established artists. Recently he appeared on K.O.G’s Zone 6, Agege, and two years ago on the Alostmen’s debut, Teach Me
Unfortunately, there is no supporting video for the album, so here’s something wonderful from three years ago. You’ll get the idea.
Gyedu Blay Ambolley & Sekondi Band - E day walk for Ground
Hear last week’s programme on davysims.com
Part 1 is here on Mixcloud
Part 2 is here 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 .
On Tuesdays at 7:00 pm on the radio and web
Bangor FM 107.9 (Radio Garden)
Lisburn’s 98FM (Radio Garden)
FM105 Down Community Radio (Radio Garden)
Wednesdays Radio Skye at 10:00 pm to midnight (Radio Garden).
Also on the show
I’ll continue to play more from Okra Playground’s Itku. Here’s an introduction to the band who are from Finland.
Meet Finnish Ensemble Okra Playground
It’s too easy to dismiss an album halfway through the first track. I did with Hermanos Gutiérrez’s El Bueno Y El Malo. Luckily as it was on, I was distracted with other matters, and it played all the way through. It is fantastic. They sound as if they are from Texas close to the border with Mexico and they sound it, too. But … hold it … can this be true? They are Swiss.
Hermanos Gutiérrez is a two-piece band formed by the brothers Alejandro and Estevan Gutiérrez. “Two brothers, two guitars, two distinct identities, who become one soul when they compose music. Stephan and Alejandro, are the Hermanos Gutierrez, an instrumental music band with an unmistakable genre that is rooted in Western and Latin American sound. Born from an Ecuadorian mother and a Swiss father they grew up being forged by both cultures, bridging between two worlds, both of which are home.” From Ladygunn WHO ARE HERMANOS GUTIERREZ?
Hermanos Gutierrez ‘El Bueno Y El Malo’ - The Blues Kitchen Presents...
Last week we looked forward to Australia Day on 26 January. This week we look back to 27 January International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
"Silent Tears" is based on a poem from the Terrace Holocaust Survivors Group led by Dr. Paula David (University of Toronto) at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto, Canada. “It tells the story of a mother and her three children who were on the run from Nazis, hiding in a forest - and starving. So, the mother goes to a village to try and steal some bits of food for her kids and they become separated.”
Here’s a radio piece from CBC last January.
Silent Tears, The Last Yiddish Tango featuring Aviva Chernick & The Payadora Tango Ensemble
And finally, Joe Rainey, a powwow singer and a member of the Red Lake Nation of Ojibwe people.
“Born in Minneapolis, a Native hub, he has been putting pow wows to tape since he was 8 years old. “Being a recorder at the pow wow got me wanting to learn,” he says. (He maintains an extensive archive of these recordings on SoundCloud.) His mother encouraged his education, signing him up for drum and dance activities, and his entry into the world of inter-tribal social gatherings was fostered by Minneapolis’ flourishing Native community.” [Pitchfork]
I’ll be playing “b.e. son”.
Joe Rainey – b.e. son (live for The Current)
Have a great weekend.
Davy