Episode 45
Episode 45 originally posted on April 15, 2019.
Tracklisting:
01) “Panaderos Flamencos” by Paco de Lucía.
From the 1975 album Entre Dos Aguas.
Algeciras, Spain.
The all-knowing Wikipedia tells enquiring minds:
“Francisco Gustavo Sánchez Gomes (21 December 1947 – 25 February 2014), known as Paco de Lucía, was a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer. A leading proponent of the new flamenco style, he was one of the first flamenco guitarists to branch into classical and jazz. Richard Chapman and Eric Clapton, authors of Guitar: Music, History, Players, describe de Lucía as a "titanic figure in the world of flamenco guitar", and Dennis Koster, author of Guitar Atlas, Flamenco, has referred to de Lucía as "one of history's greatest guitarists".
Brittanica.com says: “De Lucía began playing guitar as a small child under the guidance of his father,” and Allmusic says: “Paco de Lucia extended the former accompaniment-only tradition of flamenco guitar to include deeply personal melodic statements and modern instrumentation.”
02) “Yushu Lin Feng” by Jin Wei.
From the album Guqin Master.
Guangzhou China.
Sometimes, due to the nature of trying to find artists from everywhere, we aren’t always successful in finding out a lot of information about some of the artists we feature. According to a 2013 blog post:
“Jin Wei is a Guqin master from China. Jin is a calligrapher & painter as well as guqin master. He gave his first guqin solo recital at Peking University in 2003. Master Jin not only plays the guqin but also composes his own songs for this fascinating instrument. He published his treatise on guqin, "The Way of Qin", in 2004. It is a publication in traditional Chinese characters. It is also the first treatise on guqin in traditional Chinese bookbinding format in China since 1949.”
Search for the album at Amazon.
03) “Mercedes Elena” by Andrés Landero y su Conjunto.
From the 1976 album Que? Vallenatos.
San Jacinto, Colombia.
“Andrés Landero was born in San Jacinto , his father was the bagpiper Andrés Guerra and his mother Rosalba Landero. In his home, the boy grew up in the middle of a musical environment. From the age of eight he became accustomed to visiting the mountain and learned the sounds of nature, which later helped his artistic vein as a composer.”
Purchase the music at Amazon.
04) “Alech Taadi” by Cheb Khaled.
From the 1993 album N'ssi N'ssi.
Oran, Algeria.
Not to be confused with DJ Khaled. You may know this track from the Fifth Element movie soundtracks. You know, the car-chase scene, right? Anyway, Wikipedia tells us:
“Khaled Hadj Ibrahim (Arabic: خالد حاج إبراهيم, born 29 February 1960), better known by his mononym Khaled (Arabic pronunciation: [ˈxaːled]), is an Algerian musician, singer and songwriter born in Oran, Algeria. He began recording in his early teens under the name Cheb Khaled (الشاب خالد, Arabic for "Young" Khaled, as opposed to the traditionalist Sheikh elders), and has become the most internationally famous Algerian singer in the Arab world and across many continents.”
“Khaled Hadj Brahim, better known as Khaled, is an international star in World music, who has used the love of his native Algerian raï and his unique voice and charisma to bring cultures together and express concern for current social issues in Algeria, France and beyond.”
05) “Ye Ye De Smell” by Fela Kuti with Ginger Baker.
From the 1971 album Fela With Ginger Baker Live!
Abeokuta, Nigeria.
Wikipedia says:
“Fela Anikulapo Kuti (15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997), also professionally known as Fela Kuti, or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer, pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre and human rights activist. At the height of his popularity, he was referred to as one of Africa's most "challenging and charismatic music performers."
“Throughout his life, Fela contended that AfroBeat was a modern form of danceable, African classical music with an urgent message for the planet’s denizens. Created out of a cross-breeding of Funk, Jazz, Salsa and Calypso with Juju, Highlife and African percussive patterns, it was to him a political weapon.”
“Fela refused to bow to the music industry’s preference for 3-minute tracks, nor did he buckle under entreaties to moderate his overwhelmingly political lyrics. He went down in 1997 still railing against the consumerist gimmicks that taint pop music, with the aim, he felt, of promoting and imposing homogeneous aesthetic standards worldwide, thereby inducing passivity.”
Ginger Baker was an English drummer and a founder of the influential rock band Cream. According to Jambase:
“Following Cream’s disbandment, his participation in the short-lived supergroup Blind Faith and leading Ginger Baker’s Air Force, the drummer moved to Nigeria in 1970. For the next five years he studied local rhythms with legendary African musician, the late Fela Kuti, whom he first met and jammed with in the early-1960s at the World College of Music. During his time in Nigeria in the 70s, Baker recorded and toured with Kuti and his band The Africa ’70, filling-in for an ailing Tony Allen.”
06) “A La Truko” by Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra.
From the 2011 album I Lumia Mo Kher.
Antwerp, Belgium.
The group’s Bandcamp page says:
“A steamy brew of Eastern European gipsy music and Jamaican ska, seasoned with a rebellious spirit? That has been Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra’s trademark for the last decade.”
The group’s Facebook page calls the music: “Roma Gipsy melodies with the ultra-danceable ska groove.”
You are welcome to continue your musical exploration journey by seeing where each featured artists is from on a map of the world. This week’s artists are represented by red of the crimson variety map points. We currently use Google Maps which only lets us post 10 episodes at a time, so to see previous artists from previous episodes, visit here.