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Friday, November 30

Muiza Adnet, Harri Kakoulli, & CeU

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Muiza Adnet Sings Moacir Santos
“Moacir Santos, who passed away in 2006, was a very significant Brazilian composer and music teacher. Many of the top bossa nova practitioners were originally his students. He also worked as a saxophonist, arranger and conductor. This delightful set, one of Santos' final projects, has a dozen of his songs sung by the lovely Muiza Adnet, whose warm, flexible and versatile voice perfectly fit Santos' music. The instrumentation changes from song to song and Adnet shares the vocals with guests Ivan Lins, Milton Nascimento, her brother guitarist Mario Adnet and, on four occasions, Moacir Santos himself. From bossa novas and light pop to Brazilian jazz and ballads, Muiza Adnet Sings Moacir Santos is a well-planned and thoroughly enjoyable outing, a perfect tribute to the great Moacir Santos.” ~Scott Yanow
comments / tracks of interest:
1: about a dance popular in Northern Brazil. Moacir sings
5: samba rhythm
8: begins w/ hefty percussion, then quickly jazzes out
10: nice lyrics about April#12: vocals but not lyrics



Harri Kakoulli
Bliss Like Gold
Adorned by European and Arabic flavors, Harri produces world dance, trance, chill, lounge, and medium tempo music (a.k.a. dream music). This album also features Indian influences.
comments / tracks of interest:
#1: fluttering female vocals w/ echoing percussion and other Arabic instruments.
#2: upbeat rhythms w/ Indian samples#5: opera vocals



CeU
Remixed Up
Starbucks’ favorite world musician, CeU is back after some re-mixing. This album is compromised of 4 groovy tunes from her last release, funked out or dubbed up, sometimes with electronic influences.
comments / tracks of interest:
#3: es mi favorito#4: begins w/ crickets & frogs & water

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Saturday, November 17

Os Mutantes, Jake Shimabukuru, Youssou N'Dour

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Os Mutantes
Mutantes Live
The band’s three core musicians Arnaldo Baptista, his younger brother, Sergio, and Arnaldo's childhood sweetheart, Rita Lee Jones all came from an atypically wealthy region of Sao Paulo, Brazil. They formed Os Mutantes shortly after the ousting of President Joao Goulart in 1964 and played in the band Tropicalia with Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Tom Ze, Nara Leao, and Gal Costa. The electric guitar was seen as devilish by the military and it wasn’t long before they tried to silence Tropicalia and Os Mutantes and anything else seen as “pro-Communist.” In 1968 the government curtailed free speech and the next year, “Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso -- were arrested and imprisoned, and then ordered out of the country. Like these two men, the members of Os Mutantes were highly controversial, and not just among the military. According to Rita Lee, their performances were greeted by "a mix of surprise, indignation, excitement . . . and tomatoes!" I make the sonic comparison of their music to the Beatles.
comments / tracks of interest:
Disk 1:
#6: homage to Mr. Mendes and Mambo
#7: introduces musicians in beginning
#8: “Baby”
#11: wa wa guitar & other electronic influences
Disk 2:
#1: back-n-forth between sweet singing & full rock band sound
#9: feat. Devendra Banhart#10: English lyrics


Jake Shimabukuro (she-ma-BOO-koo-row)
My Life
I first saw Jake Shimabukuro and his ukulele (oo-koo-LAY-lay) shine at Lotus fest 2005 and felt struck by his spirited personality and zippy ukulele abilities. On My Life Jake has arranged his favorite songs he heard while growing up in Hawaii. Covers include ukulele arrangements of artists Sarah McLachlan, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and Cyndi Lauper.
comments / tracks of interest:
(all instrumentals moderately paced)
#1: “time after time”
#4: “somewhere…”
#6: “ice cream”


Youssou N’Dour
Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take)
N’Dour was born in Dakar in 1959 and is possibly the most famous singer alive. He is also a composer, band leader, and producer who, “absorbs the entire Senegalese musical spectrum in his work, often filtering this through the lense of genre-rock or pop music from outside of Senegalese culture.”
comments / tracks of interest:
#1: talking drum, swinging music
#4: guitar-kept rhythms
#11: cherry raps, English lyrics

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Saturday, November 10

instrumentals in international genre

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Tango No. 9
here live no fish

Review: “In 1998, Clubfoot Orchestra veteran Catharine Clune dreamt of a new project—exploration into the work of Astor Piazzolla. Nine years and three albums later, Tango No. 9 has evolved into a critically acclaimed ensemble performing at milongas, festivals, concert halls, and clubs across the Western U.S..” Tango No. 9 is quite eclectic and with loose instrumentation and sometimes wild sounds they are interesting and unlike any other tango music to which I have listened. All this while maintaining traditional tango sensualities.
comments / tracks of interest:
all tracks are instrumental with the exception of #8
slow tracks:
2, 4, 6, 10, 11, & 12
#5: unconventional tango
#7: vocal accompaniment
#9: invigorating like a crisp winter walk
#13: could be an Elvis Costello song


Choro Ensemble
Nosso Tempo

Review: Choro is a Brazilian genre whose polyrhythmic musical style originated in Rio De Janeiro in the 19th century. The poor/former slaves pieced together songs from polkas, waltzes, and mazurkas with their own musical styles, before bossa nova and samba were popular. The “lilting melodic sounds” of choro music are said to be collections of music to make people cry. “Not because of sadness, but because of happiness.” The Choro Ensemble, (based in N.Y.) performs both traditional and original music with flutes, clarinet, guitar, cavaquinho, and light percussion.
comments / tracks of interest: (all instrumental)
Fast tempo:
1, 10
Medium tempo:
2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12
Slow tempo:
5, 7, 9, 11

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Saturday, November 3

ahsdfiuaoit

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Putumayo Presents:

Brazilian Playground

Review: When I read that this mix was akin to a Brazilian playground, I was expecting driving rhythms and raw instrumentation…instead I heard a gentler samba side of the creatively rich and musically diverse culture, as if the intention was to calm the children. Inside, photos capture the color of carnival processions and you’ll even find a Brazilian music glossary.
comments / tracks of interest:
#2: begins w/ children’s choir. Song popular in N.E. Brazil
#3: samba w/ gentle vocals & soothing percussion
#5: hello, traditional music w/ electronic beats
#6: forro
*#7: an infectious forro song
#8: feel good rhythms
#9: samba
#12: Gilberto Gil song done acoustically



Alien Chatter
Invasion EP 1&2

Review: Alien Chatter, a L.A., California jam band who, “conveys a sophisticated blend of contemporary jazz piano, and Indian music laced with electronica. The duo consists of Satnam Ramgotra on tabla, percussion and Rodney Lee on acoustic piano, synths, and electronics. Alien Chatter is pioneering the Indo-Jazztronica movement.”
comments / tracks of interest:
you choose for yourself, this isn’t my “cup-o-tea” type of music so it all sounds the same to me.



Amir ElSaffar
Two Rivers
“Two Rivers invokes the Trigis and the Euphrates, whose floods were forces of creation and destruction in the world’s first cities.” ~ (Amir ElSaffar). Recalling the history of his homeland Iraq, his intention with this album is to convey the joy and pain held inside the heart of these memories. ElSaffar musically confronts, “the lawlessness of the land, the struggle for survival, division, and the illusion of otherness.” The sound is traditional at times, and jazzes out now and again.

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