Jill Turner

BBC Radio 3 celebrated 10 years at WOMAD and as part of their celebrations have made public on their website the World Routes series for your exploration. And finally as I returned home trumpets were blasting out from Radio Four was a Guca special – all worthy of checking out via the usual BBC i-player.

Mim Sulieman invited you to Tungi part Two with films from her Zanzi experience plus guests Juldeh Camara and DJ Andy Healey for an evening of dance and music down at Penelopes on 15th September. This clashes with the Hut People playing the Rivelin Folk Club which comes three days after Baka Beyond hold their Rainforest Culture Camp in the New Forest down south. This is three days before the Soothsayers journey up North to play the Lift club in Glossop on the 18th September.

Then there’s Jim moray at the Boardwalk on the 22nd and Hassan Erraji, with a new album out next week, plays the Barnsley Diversity festival on 26th September. ( He’s also coming to Sheffield Firth Hall on 19th October). Read more at www.gondwanasound.co.uk/whats-on

King Sunny Ade - Synchro System/Aura

Ever wanted to go to a folk club and sing but were afraid to ask anyone for the words…vex not Jon Boden’s blog ” A Folk Song A Day ” is the answer and a damn fine way to find out a huge amount of info on traditional British folk music, custom and history. More at www.gondwanasound.co.uk/node/1202.

In another of our WOMAD reports we bring you images and words from Justin and Juldeh’s presentation of the Songlines Best Cross Cultural Collaboration Award from Peter Gabriel. More at www.gondwanasound.co.uk/node/1200.

The Rough Guide To The Music Of Afghanistan

Finally, our thoughts, meditations and prayers are with Mildred and her family as they face deportation by the UK border agency. Mildred sought refuge in Sheffield after fleeing Nigeria where she escaped huge personal dangers and threats to her life. You can read about her case and sign the petition here: www.gopetition.com/petition/38613.html. Mildred is a colleague on Sheffield Live producing the Igbo radio show and it never ceases to amaze me the stories people hold … we hope she can stay with us and that she and her family can continue to enjoy sanctuary.

Stay tuned….Sheffield Live 93.2FM and www.sheffieldlive.org from10th September we’ll be on Fridays at 9:00 am…BST…get the coffee going!!

Momentos (Galileo Music GMC038, 2010)

Dulce Pontes is one of Portugal’s most influential singers, who is extremely popular in neighboring Spain. Even though she includes fado in her repertory, she is not a fado singer. Dulce Ponte has renovated Portuguese folk music, introducing genres to international audiences that are lesser known the internationally popular fado.

On her latest album, Momentos, Dulce Pontes presents two CDs, which celebrate her 20 year career. CD I celebrates the music of Portugal in the form of fados, fadinhos, and other categories of Portuguese folk music. The selection includes studio recordings as well as live performances from some of Europe’s finest venues in Madrid, London, Milan, Athens and Barcelona.

CD II includes collaborations with legendary singers such as “Todos Somos Um” with Spain’s José Carreras; and “O Mar e tu” with Greece’s George Dalaras.

The boxed set includes a 28-page booklet with lyrics in Portuguese and translations to Spanish and English.

Momentos is an excellent introduction the music of one of Portugal’s iconic singers.

According to Freemuse, musicians and composers rights to freedom of expression are violated worldwide. Hundreds of musicians are imprisoned censored and persecuted because of their music or lyrics.

Music Freedom Day provides an opportunity to take a thorough look at the subject – in your own language, with your own perspective and in a manner that suits you. You can organize a concert or a seminar, produce a radio feature, show a film, write an article or just dedicate a song to Music Freedom Day.

In 2010 local organizers from Mumbai to New York presented innovative concerts. Radio broadcasters in several European countries produced special features on music censorship and in Poland, Jordan and Holland music censorship was discussed at seminars.

“Freemuse does not fund Music Freedom Day events but we are happy to advise and inspire you,” says the Freemuse press release. “If you wish to join Music Freedom Day 2011, drop us a note.”

Music Freedom Day started in 2007. On the Freemuse website you can find inspiration from earlier events. According to an enthusiastic witness one of the concerts in 2010 “will go down in the annals of rock history” and in Amman music censorship for the first time ever was discussed in public in Jordan.

Read more at www.freemuse.org/sw31514.asp

The Rounder Records Story

For forty years, Rounder Records has been on a singular mission, recording a glorious range of American roots music – bluegrass, New Orleans R&B, old time fiddling, singer-songwriter, blues, country, rockabilly, roots rock, Cajun and a few that cross enough boundaries to be genres of their own.

From the old time folk music of Ola Belle Reed to the Grammy sweeping triumph of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, it is fascinating to hear both the underlying consistencies and the ongoing evolution of the label’s vision.

The list of musicians includes many of the defining names in roots music. The discs are arranged by decade, and the package also includes extensive notes by Washington Post journalist Geoff Himes in a 100 page book.

The 1970s

1. Old Home Place / J. D. Crowe and the New South 2:47

2. Take Me Back to Happy Valley / The Bailey Brothers 2:40

3. Armadillo Breakdown / Country Cooking 2:13

4. High on a Mountain / Ola Belle Reed 2:35

5. Killing the Blues / Woodstock Mountains 3:53

6. Johnson’s Old Gray Mule / George Pegram 2:15

7. Cherry River Rag / Ed Haley 2:52

8. Sweet Lucy / Michael Hurley 4:03

9. Parlez-Nous A Boire / The Balfa Freres 3:42

10. Mrs. Scott Skinner/The Smith’s A Gallant Fireman/The Earl of Seafield’s Real / Joseph Cormier 3:39

11. Tom and Jerry / Mark O’Connor 2:14

12. Down Home Summertime Blues / Norman Blake 3:40

13. Memory of Your Smile / Boone Creek 2:32

14. Things in Life / Don Stover 3:05

15. Kitty Puss / Buddy Thomas 2:22

16. Who Broke the Lock? / Highwoods Stringband 2:51

17. Don’t Put Her Down You Helped Put Her There / Hazel and Alice 3:45

18. Jula Jekere / Alhaji Bai Konte 5:02

19. The Only Way / Tony Trischka 4:17

20. Fluxology / Jerry Douglas 3:07

21. La porte dans arriere / D. L. Menard and the Louisiana Aces 3:24

22. I Ain’t Broke But I’m Badly Bent / David Grisman 1:58

23. Sparkling Brown Eyes / Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys 3:05

24. Who Do You Love / George Thorogood and the Destroyers 4:19

The 1980s

1. Frosty / Clarence Gatemouth Brown 3:46

2. Watch Your Step / Ted Hawkins 2:13

3. New Kind of Neighborhood / Jonathan Richman 2:43

4. I Never Go Around Mirrors / Keith Whitley. 3:17

5. Cold on the Shoulder / Tony Rice. 2:34

6. Mama’s Hand / Hazel Dickens 4:30

7. A Freylekhe Nakht In Gan Eydn / Klezmer Conservatory Band 1:49

8. Babylon’s Big Dog / Culture 3:58

9. Ya Ya / Buckwheat Zydeco 3:35

10. Tipitina / Professor Longhair 4:22

11. Zydeco gris-gris / Beausoleil 3:39

12. Cowboy Jubilee / Riders in the Sky 1:42

13. Let the Whole World Talk / The Johnson Mountain Boys 2:42

14. Happy Wanderer / Brave Combo 2:30

15. Classified / James Booker 3:16

16. Got To Have You Be My Man / Rory Block 2:22

17. Electricity / Sleepy LaBeef 2:20

18. Everybody Wants A Piece of Me / Johnny Copeland 2:55

19. Whitewater / Bela Fleck 3:10

20. Once In A Very Blue Moon / Nanci Griffith 2:34

21. My Blue Ridge Cabin Home / Bluegrass Album Band 3:09

22. Howjadoo / John McCutcheon 2:41

23. Viva Seguin / Flaco Jimemez 2:18

24. Me and the Boys /NRBQ 3:25

The 1990s

1. Birches / Bill Morrissey 3:20

2. Baby Now That I’ve Found You / Alison Krauss 3:49

3. One Endless Night / Jimmie Dale Gilmore 3:46

4. Sing It / Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas, Tracy Nelson 4:18

5. Do Whatcha Wanna, Pt. 3 / ReBirth Brass Band 4:29

6. A Virus Called the Blues / Charles Brown 6:50

7. Only One Shoe / Carrie Newcomer 3:15

8. There Is Always One More Time / Johnny Adams 3:41

9. Something in the Rain / Tish Hinojosa 5:02

10. Bed by the Window / James King 4:57

11. Give Him Cornbread / Beau Jocque 4:55

12. Valse de Kaplan / D. L Menard, Eddie LeJeune, and Ken Smith 3:19

13. High Lonesome / Longview 4:04

14. In the Palm of Your Hand / Alison Krauss and the Cox Family 3:25

15. False Friend Blues / Ruth Brown with Clarence Gatemouth Brown 4:26

16. Carnival Time / Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias 2:42

17. Standing Here at the Cross Roads / Roomful of Blues 4:17

18. It’s Harder Now / Wilson Pickett 3:43

The 2000s

1. Don’t Wait Too Long / Madeleine Peyroux 3:10

2. Down to the Wire / Son Volt 4:19

3. More than A Name on A Wall / Dailey & Vincent 2:57

4. Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms / The Three Pickers: Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs 3:07

5. Man With The Blues / Willie Nelson 2:19

6. Rebel Rouser/ Jimmy Sturr 1:54

7. Versatile Heart / Linda Thompson 3:24

8. In the Middle Of It All / Irma Thomas 4:45

9. Please Read the Letter / Robert Plant and Alison Krauss 5:53

10. Through the Window Of A Train / Blue Highway 3:08

11. Resist / Rush 4:26

12. Small Swift Birds / Cowboy Junkies 3:39

13. Basement Apt. / Sarah Harmer 4:07

14. I Have a Need for Solitude / Mary Chapin Carpenter 3:42

15. Lonesome Wind Blues / Rhonda Vincent 3:02

16. Me and John and Paul / The Grascals. 3:13

17. The Crow / Steve Martin 3:23

18. Robert Plant/ The Only Sound That Matters 3:44

19. Trashcan / Delta Spirit 3:37

20. Fibber Island / They Might Be Giants 2:10

21. Back To Me / Kathleen Edwards 3:31

Buy The Rounder Records Story

Balkan Grooves (Eastblok Music EBM 016CD2010)

In recent years, Berlin has become the gateway to the music of the Balkans and other parts of Eastern Europe. On the CD Balkan Grooves, the Eastblok label has collected some of the finest musicians and remixers involved in the hybridization of Balkan music.

Lower production costs allowed electronic musicians and Balkan DJs to interact and record with traditional musicians from the Balkans. A lot of music out there is never released officially although some of it occasionally makes it to vinyl for specialists and collectors. Balkan Grooves introduces the listener to some of the most exiting fusions, where brass bands meet drum’n'bass, and traditional Gypsy folk meets electronic ambience. The album includes four exclusive pieces.

The cutting edge artists featured include Vienna’s dunkelbunt, Stefano Miele (aka Riva Starr) from Italy, Bosnian-Danish project Fagget Fairys, Berliner Valentino Valente, Dobranotch from St. Petersburg (Russia) and DJ Click from Paris (France) who exchange files between East and West, Watcha Clan (France) remixed by Shazalakazoo (Serbia), Kiril (Macedonia) with rocker Hi-Fi, Leni Kravac from Ljubljana (Slovenia), and Kottarashky of Sofia (Bulgaria).

Balkan Grooves is a powerful collection by the trend makers in the new Balkan music scene.

Buy the album:

• In North America: Balkan Grooves
• In Europe: Balkan Grooves

Nikolay Kolev

Featured are violinist Nariman Asanov, a leading exponent of the musical tradition of the Crimean Tatars, who is joined by Patrick Farrell on accordion; Beth Bahia Cohen, a Turkish yayli tanbur (bowed long-necked lute) player who has performed with masters of bowed instruments from the Balkans and the Middle East; Ahmet Erdogdular, Turkish tanbur (plucked long-necked lute) player and singer who is one of the most important musicians of the new generation in Turkish classical music; Nikolay Kolev, a virtuoso gadulka (pear-shaped fiddle) player hailing from the village of Karavelovo in the Rose Valley of Bulgaria; Julian Kytasty, one of the world’s premier bandura (Ukrainian lute-harp) players; and the extraordinary Christos Tiktapanidis, one of the few musicians in the US who plays the Pontic Greek lyra.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grace Rainey Rogers Aud., 5th Ave at 82nd St, NYC
Co-presented with the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Information: WMI: (212) 545-7536, http://www.worldmusicinstitute.org
CTMD: (212) 571-1555, http://www.ctmd.org

The Fremont LoveFest encompasses an eclectic range of music showcasing many genres. You can expect to hear sounds of world music, acoustic trance, psychedelic rock, reggae, soul, and even conscious hip-hop.

Headlining the festival is Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. Karl’s saxophone skills have been heard most prominently behind Lenny Kravitz albums Let Love Rule, Mama Said and Are You Gonna Go My Way? He’s also known as the co-creator, saxophonist, flutist, and singer for The Greyboy Allstars, and for working with dozens of jazz and funk greats.

The updated lineup also includes diverse acts such as Flowmotion, Air 2 A Bird (Gabriel Teodros & Amos Miller), and Luc & the Lovingtons alongside the funky brass of Tubaluba and the didgeridoo-tinted ambiance of Christopher of the Wolves.

Music from around the world is heavily featured, from Toussaint, Eduardo Mendonca-Show Brazil, and Raquy and the Cavemen, to local favorites Clinton Fearon and the Boogey Brown Band.

This unique festival boasts not only a diverse lineup, but a message of unity and environmentalism. LoveFest brings music together with organizations such as General BioDiesel, ROAR of Washington, TerraPass and the Clean Water Foundation in a statement of unity, environmental stewardship and social responsibility.

The event organizers, Manifest World, are taking steps to ensure their event is carbon neutral. Some of these steps: a bike valet, free water after the purchase of a $1 compostable cup, the beer garden features all sustainable organic beer from the Fremont Brewing Company, and all food related waste will be compostable. Not only is Manifest World working with TerraPass to balance out their overall carbon footprint, they are ensuring that everyone who attends the event will be balanced out as well.

The overall mission of the Fremont LoveFest is to foster an environment where music and art actively engage people to move towards a healthier state of conscious living. While the music will be amazing, this isn’t just about throwing a great party – it’s also encouraging community, creative and positive expression, and highlighting the sustainability of natural resources.

Saturday, September 11th

Fremont LoveFest
Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe
Flowmotion
Luc & the Lovingtons
Air 2 A Bird
Clinton Fearon and the Boogey Brown Band
Toussaint
Project Lionheart
+ many more!

Entrance at Solsticio’s Doorstep:
1100 N Northlake Way
Seattle, 98103
(Right under the Fremont Bridge, along the canal)
11am – 11pm
$21.15 adv. through Brown Paper Tickets
Tickets: http://bit.ly/9L1DHn or 1-800-838-3006
Age Limit: All Ages, Beer Garden w/ ID
http://www.fremontlovefest.com

In the past 9 years a crisis has been devastating India’s farm lands – 200,000 farmers have committed suicide after their crops failed due to drought, overuse of pesticides and predatory lenders. The proceeds of this concert, produced by Yeh Hai Life and the Toronto Environment Alliance will benefit AID India, a huge volunteer based group that works on the ground with these farmers’ families.

Recordings available: Kandisa, Black Friday (soundtrack),

Concert information:

Date/Time: September 11, 2010 at 8:00 PM
Location: MacMillan Theatre, University of Toronto, Faculty of Music (north), Edward Johnson Building
80 Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C5
For More information: 877-945-7177
Tickets available at www.yehhailife.com

Bob Marley and the Golden Age of Reggae

Through portraits, performance and personal shots, photographer Kim Gottlieb-Walker charts the rise of reggae with an unparalleled insight into the genre’s most iconic artists. Captured in Jamaica in the mid 1970s, never before collected and most never before published, this collection of powerful and pivotal pictures features Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Heptones, Inner Circle and Jacob Miller, Jimmy Cliff, Jr Murvin, Toots and The Maytals, George Harrison, Burning Spear and Third World.

Featuring a foreword from Hollywood filmmaker and former Rolling Stone journalist Cameron Crowe, this deluxe hardback collection also includes commentary from Island Records’ Jeff Walker, and founding editor of The Beat magazine, Roger Steffens.

Kim Gottlieb-Walker’s varied career has encompassed music, politics, major motion pictures and television shows. Working for Island Records in the mid-seventies, she covered reggae performers all over Jamaica, and her High TimesHalloween, The Fog, Christine and Escape From New York and worked at Paramount Pictures as the production photographer for Cheers and Family Ties. For over two decades, she has served as an elected representative on the National Executive Board of IATSE O(International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada) Local 600, the International Cinematographers’ Guild.

Buy Bob Marley And The Golden Age of Reggae

Aslak Oppebøen (Music Information Centre Norway)

What is the purpose of Music Information Centre Norway?

Our primary goal is to promote Norwegian music of all genres and styles, domestically as well as internationally. Through a number of promotional initiatives and information projects we try to raise greater awareness of Norwegian music among music industry execs, cultural organization representatives, musicians, media reps – and of course the general public at home and abroad.

What kind of initiatives does Music Information Centre Norway have to promote Norwegian music?

MIC Norway has been a staunch supporter of the Norwegian music scene for more than 30 years. During those three decades we have provided tour support for bands and performers, promoted and distributed scores worldwide, launched a selection of highly popular web-sites, been a key player on Norway’s cultural-political stage and held a position as a much-appreciated partner for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ missions around the globe.

Your organization has several different web sites, could you explain the difference between the various sites?

We have a domestically oriented web site called ballade.no. It is one of Norway’s most important music news and debate sites. Then we have the mic.no site that focuses on our services and activities. And finally, listento.no (Listen to Norway) which is one of the web’s few sites in English solely dedicated to news updates and interviews with artists and players on the Norwegian music scene.

Music Information Centre Norway publishes a magazine called Listen to Norway. Could you tell us more about it?

First of all, we label all our export activities under this headline, both on net and print. In the 90′s Listen to Norway (LTN) used to be a “normal” music magazine dedicated to the Norwegian music scene and distributed worldwide. By year 2000 the distribution costs almost killed us and we decided to go on net only. Since then we have only made targeted issues on print. For instance, we produced a tailored magazine for this year’s Førde Festival presenting some of the Norwegian artists that played on the festival. We have also made similar issues on Womex in Copenhagen and Showcase Scotland in Glasgow. Both text and design are produced in-house.

What kind of support and tools do you provide to Norwegian folk music artists?

Perhaps the most important being our travel and tour support programme. This is a much needed financial backing for Norwegian bands and performers hitting the road abroad. We have recently created a very user friendly web-portal called stikk.no to handle all applications – resulting in a hassle-free and un-bureaucratic user experience with reduced management costs as an additional bonus.

If anyone visited Oslo, what record stores would you recommend to purchase Norwegian folk music? And which music venues would you recommend for folk and world music?

Sadly there are no really good record stores left in the city that specializes in folk and world music. The best online selection however you will find on MICs own web shop mic.musiconline.no.

If you visit Oslo, I would strongly recommend “Riksscenen” a great new folk venue that opens on September 9. This date also marks the opening of “Folkelarm 2010″, Norway’s biggest folk-music convention and industry-gathering.

And don’t miss the book “A poor man’s connoisseur guide to happy living in one of the most expensive cities in the world”. You will not survive without it.

Where were you born?

Born in Oslo, home of painter Edvard Munch.

What type of music have you been listening to recently?

Besides my recent interest in folk and world music, I am a real jazz fan. Just now I am listening to Herbie Hancock’s Imagine album – a true mixture of pop, jazz and world music. After the concert at the Førde Festival with Norwegian fiddler Annbjørg Lien, I also listen a lot to her recent album “Come Home” – brilliant music!

Where do you live now?

I live in Oslo in a small house with a garden and riding my bicycle to work every day. Perfect during summer, but not that perfect in -20°C and snow. Winter is not really my favorite season.

What do you like to do during your free time?

Besides family activities I play guitar in a big band. I think it is important, sitting in the office all day, to play music and experience firsthand what music is all about: communication. Music first, then papers and emails.

What country would you like to visit?

Indonesia – in addition to being a big fan of Asian food, I find the gamelan music of Bali extremely interesting and I would like to study it closer – hopefully in the not so very distant future.

Which is your favorite city?

First, I must say that Oslo has got one of the best live scenes in Europe so it is a great place to live for a music fan. But my favorite city is definitely London.

What was the first big lesson you learned about the music business?

That within all genres of music, regardless of its level of quality, there will be popular (as in commercially successful) and less popular (as in less commercially successful, but still artistically rewarding) stuff.

Related articles: 

• Destination: Forde Folk Music Festival 2010 – Arrival to Bergen
• Destination: Forde Folk Music Festival 2010 – The Fjords
• Destination: Forde Folk Music Festival 2010 – The Realm of the Falling Waters
• Forde Folk Music Festival 2010 – The Opening Concert
• Førde Folk Music Festival 2010 – July 9th Highlights
• Førde Folk Music Festival, Parade and Gala on July 10th


Impressions of Førde Folk Music Festival 2010, Human Dimensions and Labor of
Love

• Interview with Fiddle Maestra Annbjørg Lien
• Frigg’s Fiddle Wizardry at Førde Folk Music Festival 2010
• World Music Profiles: Hilde Bjørkum, Director of the Førde Folk Music Festival
• Interview with Mauritanian Griot Malouma (performer at Forde)
• Norway’s Førde Folk Festival Celebrates Musicians Who Refuse to Be Silenced