World Music News Wire

The Bayou Magic of Gulf-Coast Roots Rock ‘n’ Roll: Roddie Romero & the Hub City All-Stars Distill the Spirit of Louisiana

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By the muddy bayou, under moss-strung oaks, American rock ‘n’ roll was born--or at least, one of its many forms. It flourished in small bars and dancehalls, on local radio stations, in family vinyl collections, long before it morphed into its current commercial form. It’s still alive and kicking, thanks to bands like Lafayette, Louisiana’s Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars.

Where Creole meets Cajun, where age-old folk ballads bump up against funk, soul, and the blues, the accordion-driven, piano-pounding powerhouse picks up the throb, hum, and beat and delivers an engaging, deeply rooted set of songs on Gulfstream. These hometown heroes dig deep in their cultural roots, expanding their music high off of the levee of traditionalism.
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This isn’t a musical museum exhibit, some exercise in historic reenactment, or retro chic. Filtered through the expert ear of British record producer John Porter, whose credits include both seminal rock bands like The Smiths and Roxy Music and blues icons like BB King, Bonnie Raitt, and Taj Mahal, Gulfstream gives listeners a blast of Acadiana, the region of South Louisiana home to Cajun and Creole culture. It taps inspiration from local legends and unsung history-makers to refine and contribute to South Louisiana’s musical landscape.

“American rock and roll music started in this area. From the bayous of Southwest Louisiana to New Orleans, so much American music was born here and is still played here,” explains the All-Stars’ pianist and songwriter, Eric Adcock . “Swamp pop bubbled up here in the ‘50s and ‘60s and is still performed today. The bottom line: Lafayette is a magical musical and cultural place.”

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Hub City All-Stars front man, Roddie Romero, first heard the accordion when his grandfather would break out the instrument at family gatherings. He was hooked. “What attracted me first was the pure sound and shape of it, how sound came out of both sides of it. As a kid it sounded like a carnival to me,” Romero recalls. “I’d go and shut myself up for hours with all these old records, all locally produced.”

After success in his teens touring internationally leading a Cajun band, Roddie developed his soulful vocal skills and slide guitar chops as influenced by local guitar wizard, Sonny Landreth. Over twenty years ago he teamed up with his friend, pianist/songwriter Eric Adcock, and the Hub City All-Stars were formed. Together, their musical evolution began.

The wealth of local music keeps growing, in part thanks to the All-Stars. Long-adored local darlings, they went from their teenage years sneaking into zydeco bars to play, to sharing the stage with bands like Los Lobos and Grammy-winning producer, John Porter’s heart. With their Porter collaboration on Gulfstream, the band is poised to bring the spirit of their hometown, distilled over decades of rocking the bandstand to the world.

Music runs through life in Lafayette, LA; through sipping coffee, porch visits, and of course, celebrating the “joie de vivre”. Food, dance, socializing, and dancehall grooves make up the sense of place. “We come from this rich tradition of culture in Acadiana, but we’re only two hours away from the funk, groove, and soul of New Orleans,” Adcock says. “People here come from real roots. The Creole and Cajun communities here like to have a good time.  We’re a spirited community and we love to dance. Our music is a fun, soulful music. We have a festival for everything.”

The Hub City All-Stars dig deep into the magic of South Louisiana through original songwriting. They pay tribute to dear friend and mentor Buckwheat Zydeco and the sweaty, all-night dance parties that shaped their sound (“No Need for a Crown”). They illuminate the late-night antics and mystery of a historic New Orleans’ drinking establishment (“Creole Nightingale”). They collaborated with Louisiana musical legend and cultural scholar, Zachary Richard, on the French lyrics to “Donne-Moi, Donc”. 

They also reinterpreted lesser-known gems by songwriting greats Allen Toussaint, (“My Baby is the Real Thing,” “Po’Boy Walk”) and Bobby Charles, whose song “I Must be in a Good Place Now” which he recorded with The Band. “My hometown native Bobby Charles arguably incubated and started rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s, then later in life he teamed up with The Band,” recounts Adcock. “Roddie’s always noodled around with that song. Late one night in the studio, we were out underneath the oak trees at the studio where Bobby used to record. We decided, ‘Let’s cut it, just the two of us.’ We’ve always been old soul brothers, and it seemed like the right song to wrap up Gulfstream.”

“In Lafayette, it’s about spending time with people, telling stories, cooking, dancing, drinking coffee. And at the end of the day, you share everything with music. That’s life,” Romero adds. “You write a song about it, about the hardship, too. You connect with someone else that’s going through the same things.”

The hardship may be personal (as in the heart-crusher “I Hope”) or communal (“Gulfstream,” with its Springsteen-esque chronicle of small-town life), but it never gets the last word (or note) for the All-Stars. “We’ve been called an immersive Louisiana experience,” remarks Adcock with a proud grin, an experience that runs from inspired roots to the house-rocking future of Southern music.

09/13/2016 | Permalink

Mixed Culture: Moving in Roots, Moving in Dub

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Peru. It’s not a country that seems like an immediate inspiration for roots reggae. But when a young Cisco Lagomarcino moved back there from New Jersey with his family in the 1990s, that was the sound the surfers around Lima loved. One listen and the music clicked in a way he’d never expected. Lagomarcino was a roots convert. It became his obsession. Eventually he returned to the U.S., settling in South Florida where he formed Mixed Culture, which has become one of the biggest reggae bands in the area. And for their second album, they’re unleashing a two-pronged, double-CD attack, with the songs of Movement in Roots alongside the versions that make up Movement in Dub.

“We really wanted to do both songs and dubs,” Lagomarcino, the band’s singer and songwriter, explains. “I love dub, and we were lucky enough to get Gary Woung to mix them. He won a Grammy for his work with Third World. I’m big on musicality, and while it’s great to know people listen to the songs, I want them to hear the musicians, too, which they can on the dub versions.”
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Rather than rely purely on effects and space, as in traditional dub, these really serve to emphasize the melodies of the songs, isolating and highlighting individual elements, like the keyboards that form the broad foundation of “Crazy Dub.” It’s a different perspective on the music.

“The dubs are as important to me as the songs,” Lagomarcino says. “They’re designed to be a trip, a journey, but without the musicality they’re nothing. The way Gary presents them really take a listener somewhere else.”

But, of course, that musicality has to be there in the first place, andMovement in Roots demonstrates just how much Mixed Culture loves good melodies. There’s a sweetness at the heart of the music, soulfulness that won’t quit, with conscious lyrics that have real depth – exactly the way roots reggae ought to be.

“I need the songs to mean something, to give people a voice,” Lagomarcino insists. “In This Life” is about the Arab Spring, for instance. I saw all these images of people finding a voice, able to speak out at last, and that was incredibly powerful.”

It’s not the only political track on Movement in Roots. “Tuff Road” deals with the economic crash of 2008, when “bankers created the bubble and people had to try and protect themselves,” Lagomarcino recalls. And some of the material is more personal.

“When I wrote “Tesoro” I wanted to talk about trying to make a living in the arts, and the way people always ask when you’re going to get a real job.”

It’s a feeling all six members of the band know well; every one of them makes a living as a professional musician, and Mixed Culture is what brings them together in their devotion to roots reggae. But with backgrounds in Peru, Colombia, South Africa, Haiti, and Jamaica, as well as the U.S., there are inevitably other influences, too.

“We wanted something more Spanish on that track, a different vibe that mixed up roots and Latin jazz,” Lagomarcino says. “One thing about this album is that we’re not trying to do the same reggae riddims. We like to put our own spin on it all, to mix in more Western sounds, Latin sounds, and blend it all together.”

It works. There are strong choruses and plenty of sturdy beauty in the sound. They’ve honed everything extensively on stage, working with artists like Inner Circle, Steel Pulse, Toots and the Maytals, Yellow Man, and Freddie McGregor – a who’s who of global reggae royalty. They also brought Jamaican singer Perfect Giddimani on board for “Ganja,” the initial single from Movement in Roots, and made their first video with him.

“We play about four shows a month in Florida these days. It’s strange; plenty of Jamaican reggae musicians live round here, but there are very few roots bands. And we’re eager to take this out on the road, too. We’ve played all over the U.S. before and we’d like to get out on tour again. It’s time.”

It’s definitely time. Time for some movement in roots. And time for some mixed culture.

08/02/2016 | Permalink

Miami Makes Musical Medicine: Locos por Juana Create Positive Vibes and Pan-Caribbean Beats on Caribe Album Release and Summer Tour

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Miami’s masters of Pan-Latin hybrid sounds Locos por Juana know that music can heal. “In our world, music is about making you feel good. People are always trying to find ways to feel better, but you can do it all through music,” explains singer Itawe Correa. “For so many people, it’s the cure; music that says something, that helps you go home and make a change.”

For LPJ, that music has flowed from many sources. This time, on their latest Rock the Moon Productions release, Caribe, the GRAMMY- and Latin GRAMMY-nominated band traces the music back to the Caribbean, connecting their hometown of Miami with everything from soca to champeta--and sending out powerfully upbeat, life-affirming medicine.

Though spanning the seas, the album’s main roots lie in reggae and in its defiant positivity. It was a natural step for the Marley-loving band: “We didn’t sit down and decide we needed to get more reggae, or to sing in English,” guitarist Mark Kondrat notes. “It came naturally. You can’t force things in music, or in life. You have to let the timing be what it is, let things flow out of a really pure place.”

Things flow beautifully, in part thanks to support from Talib Kweli, West African reggae icon Rocky Dawuni, Bermudian reggae star Collie Buddz (“The Cure”), Colombian hip hop crew ChocQuibTown, reggaeton heavyweightNach (“La Vida”), Boston’s own Dispatch, and Midnite and MC El-B of the Cuban hip hop group Los Aldeanos (“Caribe”).

Locos por Juana will be touring the US, including dates at Reggae on the River and Manifestivus. They are hosting a monthly residency at Wynwood Yard in Miami.

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It’s hard to imagine Locos por Juana coming from anywhere else in the U.S. but Miami, the northernmost Caribbean city. The overlapping cultures sparked a unique sound, one further nurtured by international gatherings like Art Basel and major electronic and Latin festivals. “It’s a beautiful evolution of people and countries coming together. You can feel Latin America, without going there,” recounts Correa.

Locos por Juana was there at the start of this latest, party-friendly but wildly intelligent wave of Miami bands. With their hybrid tendencies, they prompted a seachange in the Latin scene, breaking new ground by putting lesser-known rhythms and styles, many from several of the band members’ homeland of Colombia, into bright contrast with familiar Latin or mainstream sounds. Electronic elements and Afrobeat, the glittering guitar of soukous and the catchiness of soca, pop sheen and rock grit have all found their place in the mix.

Yet the heart that beats behind it all is African. “The music of LPJ will always have an African base, because of the heavy influences and the beauty,” muses Correa. “Our sound is always going to be based in Africa.”

“Sometimes we feel like we’re music historians,” adds Kondrat. “We really love finding the roots of a style. And when you trace back the steps, you get to some really interesting places. You often end up back in Africa. Africa blessed the world with so many amazing rhythms, that heartbeat of life. That’s really strong. We really care about it.” They pay homage to one of their heroes,

One expression of that heartbeat is the laid-back yet powerful pulse of reggae, a musical style that’s run through LPJ’s tracks for the band’s two decade-long existence. Caribe puts the sound front and center, a twist the band never planned. It just happened.

Take “The Cure.” Even before dancehall star Collie Buddz and LPJ decided to collaborate, “we wanted the song to be reggae, with reggae horns, all-in,” smiles Kondrat. “We were on tour in Vermont, in the winter. We were freezing and wanted the Caribbean. Itawe came up with the hook, and it was in English.”

This moment marked a quiet turning point in LPJ history. Caribe features the band’s first bilingual tracks, a move the group is particularly excited about. “Back in our time with a major label, they tried to get us to sing in English. But it felt forced and awkward,” reflects Correa. “Now, I feel like I’ve absorbed so much of the language and culture that there’s a beautiful, English-language side to my experiences, and it’s wonderful to get to represent that American experience worldwide. It’s great to give our English-speaking fans who may not speak Spanish perfectly something they can really get into.”

Whatever the language, people get it and feel the medicine. LPJ wants to get everyone dancing, reveling, and savoring life’s gifts full on. This is the album’s first single “Mueve Mueve”’s simple but highly effective message: “You don’t need to know how to dance. You just need to get up and move your body!” Encourages Correa. Many fans heeded the call, racking up several hundred thousand views on Vevo for the track’s fun debut video in a few short weeks.

The healing magic of the little things, the tiny changes, vibrates throughoutCaribe, particularly strongly on revamped jams like “TikTok” and “Se Te Ki Te To,” which promises that it doesn’t take much to make life’s burdens feel lighter. “We’re saying that with only one smile, everything will go away,” Correa says. “People always forget that. It’s such a powerful move when you smile at someone. It’s such a great feeling.” It’s the soul of Caribbean, channeled by Locos por Juana.

07/26/2016 | Permalink

MasterMIND: Mara Explores the Mind via Indian Classical Dance and Indian Classical Music, Jazz, and Funk.

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Stop and notice your thoughts: They race, tease, betray, seduce, and melt away. Sibling collaborators and masterful Indian classical performers Aditya and Mythili Prakash have brought the peculiar rush and seductive snares of the mind’s inner workings to moving, singing life with Mara, a multimedia performance and album.

“We’re trying to unpack the mind,” Mythili explains. “Our jumping off point is to say that the mind is that which allows you to perceive yourself. It’s the things you think, the emotions you feel, the way you define yourself and your environment. It’s a projector that creates the world you experience.”
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Based in the highly disciplined but rich vocabularies of South Indian classical (Carnatic) music and dance (Bharata Natyam), Mara embodies metaphysical struggles in lush, multi-faceted sound and dynamic movement. The piece revolves around the demon Mara-- who infamously tempted Buddha, attempting to keep him from Enlightenment-- and the individual (Jeeva), whose struggles against the coils and toils of her mind (Mara), reflect the journey of every human being.

The sibling duo’s high-octane work has garnered recent praise from The New York Times, which raved that their “music and dance worked together in trance-inducing harmony.” Mara’s album-length soundtrack and a Hollywood performance at the Ford Theatre will give audiences a chance to wrestle with the beauties, torments, and potential release lying in their own minds. Their project will celebrate The Ford's grand re-opening, a reprise of MARA's sell-out premiere in 2013 at the 1,200-seat amphitheater. 

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Both Aditya and Mythili grew up steeped in South Indian arts. Aditya dedicated himself to singing, studying extensively in the US and India with revered teachers, and eventually touring with such lights as Ravi and Anoushka Shankar, as well as electronic hybridizers like Karsh Kale and MIDIval Punditz.  Mythili pursued the strict yet stirring approach of Bharata Natyam, a dance tradition that deploys with a wealth of subtly expressive gestures and powerful, rhythmic movements. They both have performed at top venues in the US and India (Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall) and toured Canada, Europe, and the Middle East.

Both were raised in the States, however, and had cultivated broader interests and influences beyond their core artistic language, everything from Alicia Keys to Snarky Puppy. “There is so much depth to the classical realm that we’ve grown up around,” reflects Aditya. “There are limitations, though. I heard so many different sounds, from hip hop and pop to jazz, growing up. All these sounds were in my head, but I couldn’t incorporate that music in a classical concert. This work gives us an outlet to express these other ideas.”

“We wanted to bring out something universal, yet do it in the languages we speak,” explains Mythili. “Indian dance is very based in Indian stories and myth. You can get so entrenched in the details that the universal aspects can get lost. But the mind is universal--as is the mischief it makes.”

The narrative evolved as the duo painstakingly considered how to ground essentially abstract concepts in real movement and sound. Both committed meditators, they had honed their observation of the mind. When they read a compelling retelling of the Buddha’s resistance to Mara, who usually merits little more than a passing mention in Buddhist lore, they began to see how to make their experiences tangible for an audience. Moving away from traditional plot structures,  Mara explores the journey of the individual (Jeeva), as she negotiates the dangerous, dazzling maze that is the human mind (Mara).

Mara’s soundtrack is essential to telling this tale and repurposes Indian elements in unexpected ways. Aditya uses intense, repetitive vocal exercises to hint at racing thoughts.(“Racing Thoughts”) The rhythms of Bharata Natyam inform the brass and percussion sections. (“Childhood”)

Yet Mara’s music departs from Carnatic structures in intriguing ways. The short, impactful pieces fold Western harmonic sensibilities into the interpretation of the ragas, coaxing novel moments and defying the rules of South Indian music. Aditya’s soaring voice often layers into resonant chords, with remarkable power and success. “Harmony in Indian classical music is tough,” he notes. “You have to pick the right ragas, the linear less phrase-oriented one. There are a lot of complex ornaments that can’t be harmonized. But it is thrilling to explore the possibilities, even if you have to add some notes that are taboo for that raga.”

The harmonic and rhythmic ideas flow from Aditya’s encounters with jazz and Western classical music, as well as funk, hip hop, and farflung global influences. (“Web of Addiction”) “I really discovered them at UCLA,” he recalls. There, he dived directly into the deep end, quickly gaining an ear for new styles. He focuses them in his twelve-member ensemble, which brings a saturated sonic palette to Prakash’s compositions.

It all serves one goal: To illuminate the workings of the mind, and the search for that which lies beyond it. “The inclusion of multimedia projection, created by our collaborator, video artist Kate Johnson, anchors the assumption underlying the production, which is that the world that we experience is a projection of our very own mind,” explains Mythili. “Throughout Jeeva’s journey, she feels a pull inward toward another reality that is radiant, beatific, peaceful, and ever-lasting. However, Mara tries his best to keep her from discovering that world, and in doing so creates for her a world that is whimsical, thrilling, illusive, and addictive. We bring our audience deep into that drama, as they wonder if Jeeva will break free from Mara’s ensnarement that binds her to this world. It’s a drama we all live, every day.”

07/19/2016 | Permalink

A Hypnotic Collection of Rock, Ambient, and Irish Folk: The Breath

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The_Breath_band 1_cr York Tillyer

Hailing from Manchester, The Breath is the new band from guitarist Stuart McCallum and singer Ríoghnach(pron. REE uh nah) Connolly. Such opposites in character and background it’s a miracle of integration; he is an urban musician from Manchester and the guitarist for Cinematic Orchestra, valued for his mastery of loops and effects. She is a singer and flautist from Armagh, Ireland and the voice of skewed barrel-house, folk-hop band, HoneyFeet. He trades in groove-based music that marries funk, rock and rave in a post-modern style. She is rooted in rural community and prone to ancestor worship. McCallum anticipates a blissed future. Connolly just wants to survive.

McCallum came across Connolly on MySpace in 2010 while looking for a singer. Discovering she too lived in Manchester, he contacted her, and took a raft of original songs from a previous collaborator to her where they would rehearse in her kitchen. Eventually her politeness about the songs broke down, the old material was jettisoned, and the pair began to write together.
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The result is Carry Your Kin (July 8th, 2016), their debut album for Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records.  

Delving deeply into the spaces between rock, ambient and Irish folk, it’s a powerfully hypnotic collection of mesmerizing guitar riffs, and rocking anthems with Connolly's soulful vocals interwoven into the electronic fabric of McCallum’s distinctive soundworld.  He has built the music layer by layer, overlaying embedded chords to create a big, big sound to frame Connolly’s singing.  Her songs pour forth from her own life in a torrent of meaning - the way she writes is so emotionally reckless – excavating raw feeling with little in the way of defence. She sings songs of birth and death, women’s rights, first love, the call of motherhood, the death of men at sea, and post-colonial wrongs.

Two other players are integral to The Breath, both also born out of Manchester’s fertile music scene and both fellow Cinematic Orchestra alumni – drummer Luke Flowers and pianist John Ellis. Hypnotic, lush, powerfully raw and raucously punchy, the Breath have delivered a debut album of songs with soul cleansing vocals to entrance, uplift and break your heart.

Recorded in Manchester and at Real World Studios and mixed by sound guru Tchad Blake, ‘Carry Your Kin’ is released on 8th July 2016.

07/12/2016 | Permalink

Finn-Funky Vodun: Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble Conjure Up Musical Brotherhood on Fire, Sweat and Pastis

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Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble releases Fire, Sweat and Pastis and tours Canada in July 2016.

Finnish guitarist Janne Halonen was obsessed: He couldn’t stop listening to Lionel Loueke, the guitarist in Herbie Hancock’s ensemble. He knew Loueke was from Benin, and had to know what made his music tick. 

Before he knew it, his fascination took him to Benin. The country is home to Villa Karo, a Finnish-African cultural center established fifteen years ago to promote exchange by writer Juha Vakkuri, who wanted to spread his passion for the continent. There, Halonen met Noël Saïzonou. The two connected and the unexpectedly perfect Finn funk-meets - Voodoo rhythms of Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble was born.
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On Fire, Sweat and Pastis, the Ensemble’s second album available in North America, the octet of musicians experienced in jazz, funk, R&B, and traditional Beninese music intertwine the percussive rhythms of West African Vodun with funky basslines, soulful call-and-response vocals, and virtuosic brass and woodwind melodies.  They invite listeners to join them on a musical journey that is equal parts celebration and reflection.  

“Every song is a new discovery. It’s about the people, the individuals,” reflects Halonen,. “When you work with someone more, you learn what they’re all about.”

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Travelling to Cotonou, Benin’s most populous city, for the first time in 2009, Janne explains, “I was asking who is The Man? Who should I meet?”  Everyone pointed to vocalist and percussionist Noël Saïzonou. “The first time we met we greeted each other like old friends,” remembers Janne.  What followed was several years of songwriting sessions as Noël came multiple times to Finland. They learned about each other and crafted their sound.

In West African Vodun music, the drum gathers the ancestors, a spiritual call to action. Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble uses drums and bass as their foundation. Originally they were a quartet featuring Janne, Noël, drummer Juha Räsänen, and bassist Sampo Riskilä. Janne explains, “During the writing process we started from scratch. We met up and one of us would introduce a riff and we started to work from there.”  
In 2012, Janne Halonen finally went from Helsinki back to Benin.  A 4,000-mile flight, a flat tire, and a clandestine boat ride led Janne, Juha, and Sampo to a recording studio in Cotonou. Just two weeks later, they performed their new songs for African concert-goers that laid the foundation for Fire, Sweat and Pastis. “We wrote the songs for our second album on tour, between shows,” Janne laughs. “In the heat of the moment.”

Janne describes the origin of “Minin Vodjo”, the album’s third track. “That means do the right thing. Encouraging people to think positively and set aside things like jealousy and hatred.”  

The lyrics are collaborative, Noël composing in Goun, his mother tongue.  Onstage he banters with the audience, playing the role of conductor. While on tour in Africa, Janne encouraged Noël to speak to the audience.  “He would ask people to listen to the lyrics.  When there was something really specific in the lyrics people like, they’d applaud,” explains Janne.  

Fire, Sweat & Pastis is an energetic statement bursting with the desire to celebrate and share their music. And composer Janne Halonen has crafted a complete journey. An album that knows exactly when to change pace, like stopping to rest your tired feet at just the right moment.  “Interlude Part 1” and “Interlude Part 2” feature thumb-plucked Kalimba, melodic acoustic guitar, rolling Fender Rhodes, galloping hand drumming, and thumping bass in casual conversation with each other.

“Minin Vodjo” opens with light percussion, as Sampo’s buoyant, funky bassline is grounded by Visa Oscar’s sustained keyboard harmonies.  Noël leads the band with his assured verse, singing in counterpoint to the ensemble’s refrain.  Then the horn section comes bounding in, featuring Mikko Pettinen on trumpet and Joakim Berghäll on saxophone. Aided by Sampo and Juha’s interactive bass and drums, the song builds in intensity to the finale like a cresting wave crashing into a rocky shore.

“Light  is fading, the road is long,” sings Noël on the opening track. “Feet are aching, but we carry on.”  On this road, Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble celebrate every step.  Listening to each song on Fire, Sweat & Pastis is like stopping at a sleepy, roadside town, only to discover it is the place you’ve always longed to be.

07/05/2016 | Permalink

A love letter to Miami; The Baboons pay homage to Miami's diversity

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The Baboons Current Line Up

The Baboons' ambitious new bilingual recording Spanglish features all-original songs that pay homage to Miami's diversity and draw inspiration from the mix of global cultural influences found on the streets and beaches of their hometown. Throughout the years, the band's music has evolved into a rich global fusion that combines Latin American, Caribbean, African, Middle Eastern and American roots influences.

"Spanglish is a love letter to Miami where diverse people from all over the world live, love and influence each other every day," said Majica, who along with Pila served as a principal songwriter on the album. “These songs are stories about real Miami characters. They come from different worlds, they struggle, but in the end they all call Miami home."

Spanglish Cover ArtThe title song ‘Spanglish’ is the story of a young woman that comes here to ‘get away from the cold’ and winds up falling in love and becoming ‘fluent in amor.‘ The fan favorite ‘Soon Come Samba’ is about a samba-loving little sister dreaming of future carnavals and the older sister that warns her not to grow up too fast. ‘Cebolla’ tells the story of an aging mambo master who works construction by day but is a hero to the kids in his working-class neighborhood when he blows his horn at night. ‘Dashiki Blue’ is about a homesick college student overwhelmed by a parcel from home. ‘Pequena Habanera’ is a coming-of-age tale about a domino-hustling Little Havana princess and the love-struck son of the baker who courts her with guava pastries. The band’s audacious mix of seemingly disparate musical elements provides the perfect framework for these South Florida stories.

There are plenty of weird and wonderful mash-ups on Spanglish, from the exotic bombast of 'Balkan Thang' to the Fela-meets-Hendrix onslaught of 'Yuca,' the instrumentals that bookend the CD. In between there's the merengue-punk of 'El Tiki Tiki,' the gospelly country waltz 'Crazy Confirmation,' and the catchy 50's rocker 'This Is Me,' which celebrates and reinforces the message: 'This is me, I am what I am!'"

The seven-piece outfit on "Spanglish" features sultry singer Majica on lead vocals and founder Mano Pila on drums and vocals (the two also host the Global Gumbo with Majica & Mano P. radio show Sundays on 88.9 FM WDNA, 4-6 p.m.), Miguel Rega on percussion, Ike Blues on guitar and vocals, Michael Mut on bass, and Dominick Cama and Paul Messina on saxophones and flutes. “Spanglish” CD cover art by Eva Ruiz.

Spanglish was recorded at Miami's Red Door Studios and the finishing touches at were added at several studios in South Florida. Special guests include Senegalese griot Morikeba Kouyate on kora, Jose Domenech on piano, AJ Hill on baritone sax, Rich Dixon on trumpet, Jose Elias and Buffalo Brown on guitars, Kenneth Metzker on steel drums, Phil McArthur on Bass and JJ Freire on djembe.

06/21/2016 | Permalink

Heart, Homeland, Overtones: Galician Master Victor Prieto’s Quicksilver Accordion Speaks Volumes on The Three Voices

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Spanish-born, NYC-based composer and accordion player Victor Prieto has discovered a whole new language for his instrument. In his hands, it trips and dances, growls and laughs. It captures all the luminous fluidity of a perfect jazz line, or bursts with dance-ready sensuality and wry humor.

From the town of Ourense in Galicia, Prieto’s roots extend into everything he does. Yet they do not limit his wild creativity, which springs from a love of jazz, a childhood spent in South America, surrounded by its sounds, and a willful fascination with pushing the boundaries of keys and bellows.
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In the original pieces on The Three Voices, Prieto reimagines Celtic-inflected Galician dance tunes, extracts every expressive nuance from simple sambas, and exposes the core of timbre via overtone singing. It’s all part of the Grammy nominee’s decades-long exploration of genre and technique, recognized by everyone from Yo-Yo Ma to Arturo O'Farrill.

Victor Prieto will perform at Symphony Space on June 21, 2016.

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“The accordion is the instrument that gathers people together to have fun. Even though in jazz, it’s not a popular instrument, everyone who came to the US, say, they listened to the accordion all the time,” Prieto muses. “The importance of the accordion in American musical history is huge.” And Prieto is determined to write the latest, unexpected chapter in that history.

Prieto hails from Ourense, Spain, in Galicia’s musical and cultural heartland. Though Prieto’s parents moved to Venezuela for several years when Prieto was a boy, his mother insisted he keep his connection to his native culture by learning the region’s most beloved instrument, the accordion. “If you go to a party, an accordion is present. On radio, on TV, it’s all over the place,” explains Prieto. “When you talk about accordion, you talk about the identity of Galicia.”

The spirit of Galicia is woven into Prieto’s work, both clearly and more subtly. He pens avant-muineiras, a popular accordion-driven dance form (“Muineira for Cristina” Pato, the ace bagpipe player). He pays tribute to his beloved grandfather, whose farm Prieto recalls with great sweetness. The full breadth of that feeling resounds in the touching “Papa Pin,” as Prieto’s accordion sings and sighs with surprising emotion.

Ourense and Galicia may be Prieto’s foundational inspirations, but they haven’t stopped him from leaping in other equally powerful directions. From the start, his music formed at the intersection of many international influences. Prieto’s accordion teacher in Caracas was Italian, and life in the Venezuelan capital introduced him to other styles and forms, from Piazzolla’s take on tango (“Michelangelo”) to folk traditions.

Prieto eventually fell in love with his instrument, thanks in part to his mother’s adamance he practice. He moved from proficiency to virtuosity to bold innovation, inventing his own fingering technique to create a whole new set of chordal possibilities. “The basic idea is that I have created a new fingering, changing the fingering completely on the left hand and playing in the places you are not supposed to play,” notes Prieto. “I combine different chords together and move these chords at intervals. The whole concept is to create a new color.” These colors shine on pieces like “Chatting with Chris,” a dialog with saxophonist and frequent collaborator Chris Cheek.

Prieto is not content to leave this exploration of color and timbre to his instrumental works, however. He also digs into unconventional realms of vocal resonance on tracks like “The Three Voices.” Prieto finds independent vibration for each vocal cord, creating his own haunting approach to overtone singing.

This willingness to play with tone and sound, with technique and form has generated an entire vocabulary for Prieto. “My music is never one thing. It’s a mix of cultures, starting from the Galician roots. It’s the music I hear in my head,” says Prieto. “I want to show the diversity of the instrument through my roots, and by channeling all the music I’ve absorbed in New York over the last twenty years.”

06/14/2016 | Permalink

Basking in the Glow: Youthful Trio Ten Strings and A Goatskin Bring Fresh Fuel to Tradition’s Fire

http://www.worldmusicwire.com/

04_10strings copy

Age-old entertainments--sitting around the fire, telling tales--can take on ever-new faces. Young acoustic power trio Ten Strings and a Goat Skin from Canada’s Prince Edward Isle know this, transforming tradition with vigor, curiosity, and sparks of goofy humor.

They’re inviting a new circle of listeners Auprès du Poêle (“around the woodstove”) for sometimes moody, sometimes high-energy set of original and traditional songs. Expanding on the Scottish and Acadian roots of PEI’s traditional music, Ten Strings and a Goatskin weave old-school Franco-Canadian, Breton, Irish, and Scottish tunes with wickedly current grooves and clever quirks, flirting with indie’s best moments.
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“We’re less anchored in traditional structures, the way many players assemble dance sets,” remarks Rowen Gallant, one of the trio’s string players. “We’ve left them by the wayside. We retain the melodic elements, but we’re not opposed to messing with things.”

Working closely with producer Leonard Podolak of Grammy- and Juno-winning eclectic roots favorites The Duhks, Ten Strings and a Goat Skin push their music into new territory, adding B3 and crazed pump organ, clever effects and taut vocal harmonies, for a rich sound with a direct, funky edge. It promises to gather listeners outside of folk circles, where they are already darlings, around the warm glow of fast-burning tradition.

“Leonard really urged us to create themes and then keep coming back and hinting at them. We never do a movement the same way twice,” adds Caleb Gallant, whose main role in the group is traditional percussion. “We’re always refreshing the feel of the tune, as the idea changes ever so slightly.”

Ten Strings and a Goatskin will tour the US in July 2016.

“A seamless, polished, barrel-drum-tight, rhythmically innovative and a wildly entertaining traditional music powerhouse”--The Guardian

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“It’s been a wild ride. It happened to us early,” explains Rowen, considering the trio’s rapid rise to prominence on the folk circuit. Already embraced by the Canadian folk scene, they recently made the Kansas City Star’s list of top traditional acts at this year’s Folk Alliance.

“We were fortunate to start touring and engaging more professionally in our teens,” Rowen muses. “There have been great resources to help us along in that change. But really, it’s only been in the last year or so, that we reached a point where we’re doing most of the songwriting and all the arrangements. The project has embraced more and more of who we are, with tradition acting as our anchor point.”

It’s been a lifelong anchor for the Gallants, who remember travelling with their mother to Irish and Scottish  music sessions around the Canadian Maritimes. They started a band with schoolmate and guitarist Jesse Périard, sticking to traditional repertoire at first. Soon, however, inspired by musicians friends from PEI’s lively avant-pop and rock scene, they began exploring new approaches to arranging and began crafting their own songs and instrumentals. Their work with Podolak, a trailblazer in making folk fresh, urged them in dynamic, engaging directions.

“We love trad music and we have a long list of bands we listen to all the time,” notes Périard. “But we get lots of other ideas from other music. There’s lots of amazing music from PEI that’s less trad, more pop, and that’s shaped us.” “Coal not Dole” and “Maudit Anglais” (featuring the gorgeous voices of Montreal’s alt-folk favorites Les Poules à Colin) highlight this cross pollination.

Yet the trio never forgets its powerful ties to the many musics of PEI, the island’s rich mix of Celtic and Francophone elements that ramble from mouth music to foot percussion. Originals take their cues sonically from this wealth and lyrically from a deeply felt connection to the history of Eastern Canada (“Caledonia”).

The album’s title track, “Auprès du Poêle,” highlights where these connections twine with contemporary sensibilities. Caleb penned the poem after the first snow fell on PEI. It chronicles the joys of work completed, of chasing winter’s gloom away around the stove, a feeling that stuck with the trio as they recorded in Quebec with Podolak.

“We’d come home after a 12-hour studio day and enjoy the most wonderful elements of traditional culture in the winter,” recalls Rowen. “Lots of wonderful music was played all around us, thanks to Leonard and the Duhks,” who make guest appearances on the album’s party-set closer “Duhk Duhk Goat.” “Those moments became the inspiration for the record. There’s a culture of fighting off the doldrums of winter that’s build into the traditional home. The stove is an integral part of that.”

“Musically the song takes you in a bunch of different directions, and shows how far we’ve come as arrangers,” adds Périard. It’s something that all three of us put an even amount of work into, and we’re very proud of it.”

06/07/2016 | Permalink

The Trap (Beats) of Liberation: Global Electronic Duo Release The Cleaner Video, Hit the US for May/June Tour

http://www.worldmusicwire.com/

Filastine Train Yard Session w Miguel Edwards - 2

As a maid scrubs a wall of lurid pink and orange tiles in a public toilet, her body begins to rebel against the claustrophobic space. When faced with the empty task of mopping an empty pool, she snaps, throwing aside her tools and uniform to dance with abandon.

This is the tale of The Cleaner, the second installment in a four-video series, Abandon, by the electronic-meets-multimedia duo, Filastine. With one partner from Indonesia, the other from the American underground, the group’s sound and vision captures the musique concrete of global capitalism, with its mix of wretched ache and real hope. In Abandon, the duo tells four tales from four perspectives (an Indonesian miner, a Portuguese maid, American office workers, and a Barcelona’s migrant scrap metal salvagers).

“As with the first video in the series, The Miner, there are two parts, two escapes in The Cleaner,” explains Grey Filastine. “The first escape is an ephemeral daydream. She comes back to the practicality of resuming her work, then reaches her epiphany, to commit, and transform daydream into reality. Yet unlike the Miner, who flees the landscape of extraction to find solace in nature, The Cleaner finds peace within herself. Her’s is a meditative, interiorized abandon.”

The music underlines this tension, hinting at the likes of Major Lazer or Flying Lotus, but with more farflung inputs. The urgent rhythms of trap & Baltimore club collide with melodies made from shouts, noises, and fragments of voice crafted of Filastine’s street recordings from South Africa to South Asia.

Filastine shot the video on one blazing hot Lisbon day, tapping the striking Portuguese-Angolan dancer Piny Orchidaceae to embody the main character. “This is the most elemental production of the Abandon series, the story that could be told without embellishments or production tricks ,” notes Grey. “I think it’s compelling for its raw urgency”

The duo will be touring the US in May and June 2016.

"Filastine creates tracks so geographically and chronologically diverse that they sound less like "world" music and more like music from another world." -Pitchfork

"Powerfully political and distinctly global" - NPR Music

"Dystopian bass music for crumbling urban futures. the soundtrack to a rising heat humidity index." - Spin Magazine

"The prototype of globalized urban sound" -Prefix Mag

Abandon’s tracks will be available on Filastine’s next album, out November 9, 2016.

About Filastine

Filastine is the duo of composer/director Grey Filastine and vocalist/designer Nova Ruth. Before starting Filastine in 2006, Grey was part of the insurrectionary marching band Infernal Noise Brigade. He spent much of his life recording soundscapes and studying rhythm across the world. One of those travels brought him to Indonesia in 2010, where he met Nova Ruth rhyming in the hip-hop group Twin Sista. Since then Nova has added her rich musical roots to Filastine’s sound; she grew up singing pentecostal spirituals, koranic recitations in the mosque, and playing Javanese gamelan. They are now based in Barcelona.

Filastine’s compositions fuse contemporary electronic beats with concrete sounds, voices, percussion, and acoustic strings. This is future bass music from a future where the globe has been flipped, the sonic territories remixed, where syncopated mid-eastern rhythms and asian melodies shape a new urban sound. Filastine have released a trilogy of full-length albums, a half dozen vinyls on an equal number of record labels, and a grip of heady conceptual mixtapes

Beyond music, Filastine uses video, design, and now dance, as forms of universal language to communicate their vision. Last year Filastine debuted 4RRAY, a live AV system that uses bespoke software to control multi-screen projections in a powerful cinematic performance. They have toured the five continents and played nearly five hundred gigs, ranging from music festivals: Sonar (ES), Decibel (US), Les Vieilles Charrues (FR), to art spaces: V&A Museum (UK), Foreign Affairs (DE), Erarta Museum (RU) to ephemeral places: Calais Jungle migrant camp (FR), Downtown Cairo Arts (EG), Hidden Agenda (HK).

05/31/2016 | Permalink

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