Modogo & Sam - Black Bazar

Black Bazar (Lusafrica 562982, 2012)

The idea of bringing Congolese rumba back to its roots isn’t a new one, but it’s one that all sentient beings ought to support. Revivalist artists like Kekele have proved that modern, Zaire-originated soukous, enjoyable though it can be when done properly, just doesn’t have the soul or spirit of the Congolese music that once was the norm.

Vocalists Modogo Abarambwa and Sam Tshintu, who for a decade or so were key members of Koffi Olomide’s highly successful Quartier Latin band before leaving to form their own group and then each going solo, have now re-teamed to do their bit for the real rumba. They’ve named their latest collaboration Black Bazar, after a novel by Alain Mabanckou in which rumba music plays a key role. And just as the novel was about Africans in France, Black Bazar the album is about rumba as a global music known beyond the borders it originated in. And make no mistake- Modogo, Sam and their guest artists aren’t out to make quaint old-timers music.

The feverish dance tempos of soukous aren’t entirely absent, though the use of real instruments and lack of synthesizers and drum machines inspire dancing without artifice. It’s the mesh of guitars (in the classic rhythm, solo and mi-solo structure) that marks this as the real thing, and the subtle shifts and jumps in tempo are flawlessly ridden by Modogo and Sam’s vocal tradeoffs and animateur excursions. Two tracks feature the piano of Cuba’s Pity Cabrera, and both are splendid examples of how rumba was locally colored when it first found its way to the West.

Not ones to hog the spotlight, Modogo and Sam bring in guest chanteurs Niuver (another Cuban) Souleymane Diamanka, Douleur Douala and CNN to further sweeten the proceedings and give the whole set an openness and warmth that the songs bespeak with the relaxed flow of Congolese rumba at its best. Highly recommended

Ismael Miranda - "El Niño Bonito" A Man & His Music

The 2-CD set includes 32 remastered tracks handpicked by Miranda and a booklet with rare photos and extensive liner notes written by journalist Ernesto Lechner.

Miranda responded enthusiastically to the challenge of revisiting his prolific discography, including his beginnings as a young sonero with the orchestra of Larry Harlow and the launching of a fruitful solo career that continues to this day.

The singer’s choices allow both casual aficionados and hardcore fans to examine Miranda’s work under an entirely new light. Classic salsa hits such as “Así Se Compone Un Son” and “Cipriano Armenteros” are complemented with lesser known tracks from excellent Miranda albums like Éxitos de los ’50 (1982), The Master (1983) and Una Nueva Visión (1985). The singer was deeply involved in the actual sequencing of the songs. The result is that both discs flow beautifully from beginning to end.

Ismael Miranda – A Man & His Music is available both as a digital download and a physical digipack with 2 CDs and a booklet.

The prestigious Man & His Music series has already paid tribute to some of the most formidable singers in salsa history: Celia Cruz, Héctor Lavoe, Rubén Blades and a few others.

Jake Shimabukuro

On the new album, Shimabukuro will infuse his music with the rock and roll technique that he is known for. Shimabukuro has defied the limitations of his 4-string, 2-octave instrument with his astonishing covers of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (10 million+ views on YouTube) and “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

It’s been a defining year for the ukulele virtuoso. He’s performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Rolling Stone Live, A Prairie Home Companion and CNN’s The Next List. On October 2nd, Shimabukuro will release his most ambitious record to date, titled ‘More Ukulele.’

Shimabukuro’s cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”:

Eddie Blazonczyk - Photo by William A. Crooks

Considered Chicago’s polka ambassador, Mr. Blazonczyk sent out the bright, happy strains of his beloved polka to thousands of fans throughout the Chicago area by way of the band the Versatones, over the airwaves of WCEV-AM and WPNA-AM on a radio shows he co-hosted with his wive Christine and through the independent Bel-Aire Records label.

Earning some 13 Grammy nominations, winning one in 1986 for Another Polka Celebration, Mr Blazonczyk was also a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow, a founding member of the International Polka Association and a member of the Broadcasters Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio. Ever the polka devotee, Mr. Blazonczyk was one of the driving forces behind the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences adding the polka to its list of categories, before the Academy removed the category in 2009.

Born July 12, 1941 to Polish immigrants, Mr. Blazonczyk grew up with music of the Pulaski Ballroom, a dance club his parents owned. He wasn’t long before he started his first band in high school called Eddie Bell & His Hillboppers. In 1957, Mr. Blazonczyk got his first taste of fame with his rock ‘n’ roll band Eddy Bell and the Bel-Aires and the hit single “The Masked man (Hi Yo Silver)” on Mercury Records and with that the group earned a spot on American Bandstand.

Mr. Blazonczyk would go on to form side groups and play with the likes of bluesman Eddy Clearwater to conjure up such hits like “The Great, Great Pumpkin” and “He’s a Square.” Sticking to “the Chicago sound” of a slower kind of polka, Mr. Blazonczyk kept the polka spare with plenty of opportunity for improvisation. While skilled on several instruments, he would play the electric bass with his group Versatones. Mr. Blazonczyk would go on to record such albums as My Father’s Shoes, Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones: Under the Influence, Good Ol’ Days with Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones, Let’s Celebrate with Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones and Polka Medley Album with Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones.

Mr. Blazonczyk is survived by his wife, son Eddie Jr., son Tony, daughter Kathy and grandchildren Cayle, Anya and Anthony.

A funeral mass will be held on May 25, 2012.

Los Miticos Del Ritmo

Los Miticos Del Ritmo (Soundway, 2012)

Some of the best cumbiana and vallenato musicians from Cali were assembled by British producer Will ‘Quantic’ Holland’s to perform fiery instrumental ‘house party’ cumbias. The result is this new album titled Los Miticos Del Ritmo.

The cumbias in the album are mostly new pieces composed by Holland and some of the musicians who participated in the sessions, as well as covers of Queen’s ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, Michael Jackson’s ‘Don’t Stop’, The Abyssinians’ reggae classic ‘Satta Massagana’ and Gildardo Montoya’s ‘Fabiola’.

The tracks are loaded with potent Afro-Colombian percussion and feature clarinet, accordion and saxophone solos. Los Miticos Del Ritmo was meant to emulate the feel of tropical recordings made in Colombia and the Caribbean in the 1960s. The album is completely analog and features an original screen-printed front cover designed by the London based artist Lewis Heriz.

‘The idea of the record was to record something that sounded like a lost cumbia classic,’ said Will in a recent interview with Soundway ‘Like something dug out of a Barranquilla basement after decades of humidity and dust. In a modern climate of mashups and sampling, it seemed refreshing to record something with musicians doing covers and approaching new ideas for cumbia, rather than rehashing old tricks.’

The album was recorded exclusively on 4 track tape, using a process of overdubs and tape transfers to record multiple sessions at different times with different musicians.

Will ‘Quantic’ Holland is one of the UK’s best known producers. He moved to Cali (Colombia), where he runs a recording studio called Sonido del Valle. Los Miticos del Ritmo is a group of 7 studio musicians put together by ‘Quantic’. The lineup includes Will Holland on accordion, Wilfredo Peña on clarinet and saxophone, Ancer Barrios Rada ( grandson of the famed Colombian accordionist Francisco Pacho Rada ) on percussion, Jorge Luis Hoyos on percussion, Humberto Pernett on percussion, and Combo Barbaro’s Freddy Colorado on percussion and Fernando Silva on bass.

Los Miticos Del Ritmo is an impassioned Colombian cumbia dance album with a killer rhythm section.

Changüí Guantánamo

The event’s Honorary President, Elio Revé Duvergel –son of the king of Changüí-, told reporters that the event will serve to further strengthen the tradition of this musical genre, which was born in the eastern city of Río Guaso. The event is also aimed at teaching the new generations about the origins of changüí, as well as how to dance and play it.

This year’s festival is dedicated to several renowned Cuban cultural figures, among them the group Estrellas Campesinas, from Yateras; changüí dancer Bella Noble; bongo player Andrés Fisto Cobas, famed Tavera and the late musician Elio Revé Matos.

More than 40 regional orchestras will participate in the festival, including Changüí Guantánamo, Changüí Santiago and Nengón Kiribá, from Baracoa.

Also in the framework of the festival, the ‘Elito Revé y Su Charangón’ and ‘Los Van Van’ orchestras will offer concerts at the Pedro Agustín Pérez square on June 1st and 2nd.

Organized by the Dirección Provincial de Cultura (Provincial Cultural Office) and the Musicalia agency of Artex, the event’s program will also include bongo and maracas contests and a colloquium about the origins and evolution of changüí music.

Founded in 2006, the festival aims to promote the music from eastern Cuba, particularly Guantánamo –the birth place of rhythms like Changüí, Kiribá and Nengón.

The festival pays homage to percussionist and composer Elio Revé Matos, born in Guantánamo, who made Changüí internationally popular and also influenced the artistic career of prestigious Cuban musicians, including Ibrahim Ferrer, Juan Formell and César -Pupy- Pedroso.
Source: Cubarte. Translation: Lena B. Valverde (Cubarte)

Radio Jarocho - Café Café

Café Café (Chido Records, 2012)

Radio Jarocho is a group of young musicians of Mexican origin, that is based in the East Coast of the United Sates. Their mission is to preserve the rich son jarocho tradition of Mexico. The band’s latest album just came out and it’s titled Café Café.

Son jarocho was developed in Veracruz, Mexico. Radio Jarocho plays primarily original music inspired by the traditional music of southeastern Mexico.

Radio Jarocho includes Gabriel Guzmán on jarana, vocals; Julia del Palacio on vocals and dance (bailadora); Juan Carlos Marín on requinto, vocals; Emmanuel Huitzil on marimbol; and Carlos Cuestas on leona, vocals. Special guest, son jarocho legend Patricio Hidalgo appears on “Bemba y Tablao.”

Son jarocho is the traditional dance and music from southern Veracruz, Mexico. The genre has its roots in Spanish music and contains a mix of Afro-Caribbean and Mexican elements.

Café Café preserves the fine tradition of son jarocho thanks to a group of young talented musicians.

Listen to samples and buy MP3s:

Buy CD from cdbaby.com/cd/radiojarocho2

Mounira Mitchala - Chili Houritki

Chili Houritki (Lusafrica 562662, 2011)

Chad, a landlocked Saharan nation plagued by drought, political tensions and ethnic divisiveness, is hardly the most well represented African country as far as music goes. Mounira Mitchala has overcome that fact, as well as some personal obstacles, to become as indomitable a voice for Chad as Oumou Sangare has been for Mail. Like Sangare, Mitchala sings in a plainspoken manner about her own country’s problems and those of the whole African continent. And while Chili Houritki was recorded partly in Paris under the most modern of conditions, traditional rhythms and acoustic instruments are the backbone of the songs, which sway to the accompaniment of mainly unplugged guitars and percussion.

Reflective of the land from which she hails, Mitchala’s vocal style has both Arabic intonations and Sahel spunk. It’s a combination that gives her songs of government corruption, women’s rights, unity and African splendor a ring of truth that the subtly tribal rhythms and bright melodies uphold whether the feel is pop-catchy (“Independance”) or more solemn (“Saboura,” “Nadira,” the latter condemning the barbaric practice of female circumcision). Though her upbringing included exposure to rap, electronica and the like, Mitchala’s decision to lean in a roots direction was a darn good one, given not just the scarcity of available traditional Chadian music in general but the more specific need for a voice unafraid to address what’s gone wrong in her home country. Even in the face of those wrongs, hope for better times is heard in the chant-like “Al Salam Alena” and “Hirate,” a song about Chad’s agricultural resources.

Being largely unfamiliar with the music scene in Chad, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this CD. But there’s a warmth and spark to it that are instantly likable even before the deeper intent of the songs becomes clear. Chili Houritki is a dandy of an album from one of Africa’s freshest singers.

Listen to samples and buy MP3s:

CD:

Taj Mahal

A two-disc set chronicling the early stages of Taj Mahal’s solo career, The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973 features two CDs comprised entirely of unreleased finished material. The first disc debuts studio recordings from 1967-1973, while the second disc premieres a full-length live concert, recorded April 18, 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall in London (on a bill that included Santana).

The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973 is the first release in an ongoing catalog project which includes plans to release definitive editions of the artist’s entire Columbia Records catalog.

“Throughout my more than 40 years of recording, I have always been an outside-the-box composer/musician/performer and not always understood by the music industry, so it gives me a phenomenal amount of personal pleasure to have Sony/Legacy reissue my whole catalog of music! This is fabulous news for the legions of fans who have always been unfailingly loyal to me and this music we’ve shared for the duration of a wonderful and (thank you very much) still on-going career of touring and playing live for fans around the world!,” said Taj Mahal. “This excitement is amplified even more for everyone (me included) by the first-time release of an excellent live concert from Royal Albert Hall in London, England and an album of never before released studio musical gems! I’m thrilled that this music is finally coming to the light of day! So go for it babies! Listen and dance your (bleep) off to the music we love so much and glad there’s more where that came from! I made the music of my heart and y’all helped!!”

Born Henry St. Clair Fredericks, Jr. in Harlem, New York, on May 17, 1942, Taj Mahal has created an impressive body of work, a bedrock blues flavored with strains of West Indian, Caribbean and African music with elements of jazz, rock and reggae flowing effortlessly through the mix. A two-time Grammy winner, Taj Mahal opened the untapped potential of the Delta Blues, felt the connection to African soul and island rhythms, and became one of world music’s first proponents and champions.

The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973 Track Listing

CD 1 – Studio

1. Chainey Do
2. Sweet Mama Janisse (February 1970, Criteria Recording Studios)
3. Yan – Nah Mama – Loo
4. Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day
5. I Pity The Poor Immigrant
6. Jacob’s Ladder
7. Ain’t Gwine Whistle Dixie (Any Mo’)
8. Sweet Mama Janisse (January 1971 Bearsville Recording Studios, Woodstock, NY)
9. You Ain’t No Streetwalker, Honey But I Do Love The Way You Strut Your Stuff
10. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
11. Shady Grove
12. Butter

CD 2 – Royal Albert Hall

1. Runnin By The Riverside
2. John, Ain’t It Hard
3. Band Introduction
4. Sweet Mama Janisse
5. Big Fat
6. Diving Duck Blues
7. Checkin’ Up On My Baby
8. Oh Susanna
9. Bacon Fat
10. Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day

Cano Estremera

Cano Estremera has had a successful career in the music industry, spanning almost thirty years. Starting out as solely a percussionist, Estremera is now dedicated to performing music of all genres.

Estremera recorded six albums with Bobby Valentin’s band before forming his own group in 1984. Nicknamed “El Cano,” a word which is commonly used in Puerto Rico to refer to people of light complexion, Estremera is arguably the most famous albino in the Caribbean country and has raised awareness on the condition through his music. With a reputation for being a fast and clever improviser through soneo (call-response improvisation), Estremera is also known as “Dueño del soneo,” or “Owner of Soneo.” His on-the-spot technique provides for a unique, engaging audience experience.