They must be feeling nostalgic in the office as an email was recently sent round asking about our best-loved ‘retro’ albums.

If I wasn’t having to listen to new music all the time, I would spend a lot more time listening to favourite music from the past. I think for most people ‘retro’ isn’t retro but simply music that people like and is often connected with particular friends or times.

Orchestra Baobab’s Pirates Choice (recorded in 1982 I think) is a favourite of mine. Is that retro? Not like listening to the Stones’ Undercover. Pirates’ Choice  is just good music, full of character, great to listen to late in the evening. Perhaps the term ‘retro’ just works for Western popular music which is so fashion conscious. Is Beethoven retro? No. But maybe Karajan’s Beethoven is.

I just saw the veteran Turkish singer Zülfü Livaneli in New York and recognising half a dozen songs in his sold-out set, I went back to a favourite album from the early 1980s. I played it a lot and Turkish friends even helped me learn some Turkish from it. It featured Livaneli and Greek singer Maria Farantouri singing his songs together – a political statement at that time. The LP was simply called, in French, Maria Farantouri & Zülfü Livaneli Ensemble. They did two big concerts in Istanbul and then Athens, followed by a 30 date concert around Greece. The album was recorded in Athens in 1981 and became a big hit in Greece, Turkey and beyond. The LP I bought (priced £6.25 in the early 80s which was probably quite expensive) was produced in Germany.

In New York on Jan 20 when Livaneli sang a lot of these songs the largely Turkish audience knew every word. He would just start and the audience would take up the words. And it felt great to be part of it. My £6.25 was never so well spent. Listening again the music is glorious. ‘Retro’, I don’t think so.

Here are some of the favourites of other Songlines Team members:

Editor Jo Frost
My favourite ‘retro’ album from last year was Kosher Nostra, Jewish Gangsters Greatest Hits (Essay Recordings). Not only was it probably one of the more intriguing album titles of the year, but its tracklisting of classic Jewish hits from the 1920s to 60s is a wonderful nostalgia trip back to a time when Jewish culture was leading the way in the popular music scene in the US. And where else are you going to hear Welsh singer Tom Jones sing ‘My Yiddishe Mamme’?

Assistant Editor Sophie Marie Atkinson
Black and & White, Recorded in the Field, by Art Rosenbaum. This was an album that I just randomly picked out of the thousands that line the walls of our office, and I instantly fell in love with it. Art Rosenbaum is musician, folklorist and retired professor of art who spent many years seeking out and recording traditional music in the Deep South, and this double CD is extracted from his enormous collection. The musicians are nearly all unknown, playing for their own enjoyment and to entertain family and friends in living rooms, on back porches or under shady sweetgum trees. This is, for me, more like a visit to the musicians’ homes than an album.

Art Director Ben Serbutt
I’d have to go with Baby How Can it Be: Songs Of Love, Lust & Contempt From The 1920s & 30s for the great subtitle and lyrics. They make you realise that human emotions and relationship challenges haven’t really changed that much in nearly a century, which is reassuring!

Subscription Manager Alex Petropoulos
I’m a huge fan of East African jazz bands, so my pick would be Tanzania’s Western Jazz Band and their album Songs of Happiness, Poison & Ululation (Sterns). A kicking collection of dance club music from the 70s – really gets me grooving.

Intern Louise Ungless
Hmmm, I can’t think of an album – can it be a song? If so, then it’d have to be ‘Armee Guineenne’ by Bembeya Jazz National. I’m a fan of the West African dance band era and this is my most favourite track. I love the guitar from Sekou Diabate (‘Diamond Fingers’), the percussion and the vibrant horns. The song is a typical example of President Sekou Toure’s Cultural Authenticity program after Guinea’s independence, where Cuban music was mixed with local traditional instruments and melodies. This one’s based on ‘Douga’- used to encourage warriors.

What are your favourite ‘retro’ albums?

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This podcast includes highlights from the March 2012 issue of  Songlines (#82) opening with music by Youssou N’Dour (Nonesuch). Songlines editor-in-chief, Simon Broughton, plays an excerpt by Bob Davenport, a bonus track chosen by Mike Harding as part of his playlist this issue. There is also music from the bonus second CD this issue – Brazil New Series. 

Features include: Nigel Williamson on Music & Social Change, Doug DeLoach on Carolina Chocolate Drops and Alex Robinson on the late Cesaria Evora. Nathaniel Handy brings you the latest news with the Official UK World Music Album Chart and more. The podcast ends with music from Area 52, the forthcoming album by Rodrigo y Gabriela & C.U.B.A. (Rubyworks).

The next Songlines podcast, featuring highlights from the April/May issue (#83), will be available from 16th March 2012.

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Tags: bob davenport, brazil, carolina chocolate drops, cesaria evora, mike harding, music and social change, Rodrigo y Gabriela.

Well it’s been almost 48 hours since I returned from Glasgow and the epic festival that is Celtic Connections, and although my head is still swimming and my body is suffering from too may late nights in the festival club, I thought it was time to share with you some of the highlights.

I feel that I should preface this blog by saying that I could fill a magazine with what I saw at Celtic. The wealth of talent on is simply astounding (2,100 musicians, 300 events, 20 venues over 18 days. Seriously) and the sheer quality of each and every act is just as impressive. I can say, hand on heart, that I didn’t witness a dud set. But perhaps I was just lucky (or make impeccable choices…).

My ‘gig’ based highlights included the Cecil Sharp Project, whose album I have adored since it landed here in the office. But this was my first experience of seeing them live and hearing the explanations – sometime hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking – behind each song really did bring them to life. Leonard Podolak was as crazy as I could have ever wished, donning a leather jacket and sunglasses and clucking his way around the stage during ‘Veggie in a Holler’ and although they all sounded wonderful, I was very much taken aback by the beauty of Jackie Oates’ voice. The image of the eight of them morris dancing at the end will stay with me a long, long time (round of applause for the brave Scot of the group, Patsy Reid).

CW Stoneking

Thursday night took me to the basement of Oran Mor – a converted church in the West End of Glasgow – to see CW Stoneking, who was supported by new alt country Canadian band, New Country Rehab. CW himself describes his music as “calypsonian blues, hokum and jungle music,” which says as much about his eclectic style as it does his unique stage persona. The crowd adored the slightly odd, straight-faced, Australian banjo player and joined in with gusto during the finale, ‘Lion Talkin’ Blues’.

I Draw Slow

Friday was a more sedate but equally as haunting experience at the city’s Mitchell Library where the beautiful – and heavily pregnant – Julie Fowlis was playing. During this special performance, Julie and her band performed her Bals 2011 commission, Heisgeir. The unique musical work consists of a documentary on the stunning Heisgeir (an island group west of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides) and was shown while Julie and her band played Gaelic songs from behind the screen.

Saturday saw the Sweetback Sisters rock the Arches with their country, Western swing and honky-tonk tunes [see a full review in You Should Have Been There section in the next issue of the mag, #83]. It was actually during their sound check (where I was hanging about waiting for an interview – keep your eyes peeled for this next week) that I discovered I Draw Slow, whose Irish fused Americana music I have been listening to ever since.

And then, before I knew it, it was Sunday. Which brought two more awesome musical discoveries. The first was a gorgeous lunch-time set by Laura Beth Salter, co-founder of all-female sextet The Shee, who was taking part in a New Voices session. Salter played a bluegrass-tinged set on the mandolin and sang, for the first time, her self-penned songs (accompanied by The Cecil Sharp Project’s Patsy Reid and a handful of other musicians).

Laura-Beth Salter

And then that evening, right about the time I thought I was drained of all energy, I found myself back at Oran Mor to see a band who have been on my radar for a while – Manran.

These six young Scottish lads are doing for Scottish trad music what Mumford did for English folk by reinvigorating it and re-introducing it a younger audience –blending rock guitar and drums with fiddles, flutes, Irish and Scottish bagpipes (bagpipes!) and often Gaelic lyrics.

Manran

But to imply that Celtic Connections is just about these larger venue gigs is under-selling it massively and missing on some of the spectacular (and late night) aspects of the festival. But I have made the decision that this merits a blog of its own… Stay tuned as there’s more to come.

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Tags: cecil sharp project, cw stone king, Julie fowlis, laura-Beth salter, man ran, the shee.

The March 2012 issue of Songlines – on sale February 3 – features a free covermount CD packed full of the best new sounds from around the world, plus 5 tracks selected by BBC radio presenter Mike Harding.

The issue also features the second free CD Brazil: New Series.

The Top of the World CD includes tracks from the late great experimentalist Martyn Bennett ; gravel-voiced Argentinian tanguero Melingo; Quebecois big band La Bottine Souriante; Yiddish klezmer from the Other Europeans; Basque accordionist Kepa Junkera; and Iranian kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor’s new collaborative project, 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:

* La Bottine Souriante ‘Mon Père’ on Borealis Records
* Melingo ‘El Día Que Te Fuiste’ on World Village
* The Other Europeans ‘Lautar Clarinet Suite #1’ on Ethnomusic Records
* Martyn Bennett ‘Swallowtail’ on Cuillin Records
* Mauricio Maestro feat Nana Vasconcelos ‘Canto do Pajé’ on Far Out Recordings
* Kepa Junkera & Melonious Quartet ‘Bok Espok’ on Hiri Records
* Kayhan Kalhor & Ali Bahrami Fard ‘I Will Not Stand Alone’ on World Village
* Spiro ‘Yellow Noise’ on Real World Records
* Vijana Jazz Band ‘Salima Utakujajuta’ on Sterns Music
* Kartik Seshadri ‘Raga Vasant Pancham’ on Soundings Records

Plus Mike Harding’s playlist:

* Billy Bennington ‘The Flowers of Edinburgh’ on Veteran
* Emily Portman ‘Stick Stock’ on Furrow Records
* Oddfellows ‘The Seven Rejoices of Mary’ on Limefield Records
* Dolores Keane ‘May Morning Dew’ on Round Tower Music
* Dick Gaughan ‘Erin-Go-Bragh’ on Topic Records

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Tags: kayhan kalhor, kepa junkera, la bottine souriante, martyn bennett, melingo, mike harding, mike harding playlist, other europeans, songlines new issue.