RSS feedArchive for March, 2010
The April/May 2010 Songlines podcast is available through iTunes from March 18
Posted on March 17th, 2010 in Songlines Blog by Songlines.
This podcast includes highlights from the April/May 2010 issue of Songlines (#67) opening with an excerpt by comedian-actor Steve Martin (our cover artist this issue). Songlines editor in chief, Simon Broughton, plays an extract from the second free CD with this issue, Iranian Underground as well as a bonus track from Steve Martin’s playlist – ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’ from the album Earl Scruggs And Friends.
Features include: Nasim Masoud with the nominations for the 2010 Songlines Music Awards, Lucy Wilson on Balkan Beat Box and Jenny Cathcart on Senegalese band Xalam. Nathaniel Handy brings you the latest news with the Official UK World Music Album Chart, as well as music from Amparo Sánchez (Wrasse) and a preview of Jim Moray’s forthcoming album, which will be available for free, exclusively with the next issue of Songlines. The podcast ends with an extract from Cesaria Evora’s Nha Sentimento album on Lusafrica.
The next Songlines podcast, featuring highlights from the June issue (#68), will be available from April 30 2010.
Comedian Steve Martin playlist and the 10 best new releases in the April/May issue of Songlines (#67)
Posted on March 17th, 2010 in Songlines Blog by Songlines.
The April/May 2010 issue of Songlines – on sale March 19 – features a free covermount CD packed full of the best new sounds from around the world, plus 5 tracks selected by comedian Steve Martin.
The covermount CD includes tracks from Bollywood playback legend Asha Bhosle; Gotan Project duo Müller & Makaroff; soulful DRC singer Lokua Kanza; versatile Scottish piper Michael McGoldrick; Cuban salsa and son troupe Asere and new Saharan desert blues outfit Tamikrest, among others.
Pick up your copy here on the website, at selected WHSmith’s and at all good record retailers. Feast your ears on these all-new tracks:
* Piston Mahlathini & The Queens ‘Nomacala’ on Strut Records
* Balkan Beat Box ‘Look Them Act’ on Crammed Discs
* Asere ‘Palo Santo’ on Astar Artes
* Tamikrest ‘Alhoriya’ on Glitterhouse Records
* Michael McGoldrick ‘Pontivy’ on Vertical Records
* Lokua Kanza ‘Dipano’ on World Village
* Asha Bhosle ‘Chura Liya Hai Tum Ne’ on Nascente
* Ian King ‘Adieu to Old England’ on Fledg’ling Records
* Müller & Makaroff ‘Andrés Retamal’ on Mañana
* Martín Portillo & Marcelo Rojas ‘Pájaro Campana (The Bell Bird)’ on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Plus Steve Martin’s playlist:
* Steve Martin & Earl Scruggs ‘Daddy Played the Banjo’ on Rounder
* Tony Ellis ‘Paint Creek’ on County Records
* Loudon Wainwright III ‘High, Wide and Handsome’ on 2nd Story Sound Records
* Béla Fleck and Bassekou Kouyaté ‘Throw Down Your Heart’ on Rounder
* The Bothy Band ‘The Maid of Coolmore’ on Mulligan Records
March 3 marks Music Freedom Day with concert and album release
Posted on March 2nd, 2010 in World Music by Songlines.
The freedom to make music – to sing it, play it, record it and distribute it – is something most people take for granted.
On March 3, Freemuse – the global organisation committed to freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide – is celebrating Music Freedom Day with a concert in Stockholm’s Concert Hall. The event will include the presentation of the Freemuse Award – won last year by outspoken Ivorian reggae star Tiken Jah Fakoly – and the launch of Listen to the Banned, an album of music by artists from around the world who are censored in their homeland.
Freemuse has documented cases of music censorship in over 100 countries, and the album, released on the Norwegian Grappa label, features just a few of those voices and is compiled by Pakistani-Norwegian singer, composer and human rights activist Deeyah.
Listen to the Banned features Chiwoniso Maraire, who continues the Zimbabwean mbira traditions of her father Dumisani, and whose latest album Rebel Woman topped the World Music Charts Europe. She has been outspoken in her condemnation of police brutality in her homeland. Ferhat Tunç is a Kurdish singer from the far east of Turkey who has been arrested and imprisoned for his criticism of Turkish government policy towards the Kurdish minority. The album also includes Freemuse Award winner Tiken Jah Fakoly, Afghanistan’s Farhad Darya, Aziza Brahim from Western Sahara – a region claimed by Morocco and occupied by its military, and Kurash Sultan, from the restive far western Chinese province of Xinjiang where the Uighur people face repression and discrimination.
Tha album opens with a track from Iranian singer Mahsa Vardat, for whom the restrictions are more subtle and result from the simple fact of her being a woman. In Iran, a woman is not allowed to sing in public to an audience including men unless accompanied by a male singer. Her few international concerts to mixed audiences are a rare opportunity for her to experience complete freedom as a singer.
