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I am a big fan of the kind of gypsy punk which shows its face in ‘world music’ circles from time to time. Not sure what I mean? I’m talking a kind of spectrum of music which includes Manu Chao, Les Negresses Vertes, Gogol Bordello, and others.
I find that there is a certain amount of passion, creativity, wildness in this music which goes beyond what we tend to hear in much of our music - especially in the God botherin’ circles in which I sometimes move.
My love for this kind of music takes in my love for punk, especially the Clash, who remain my all time favourite group, and who dabbled in different styles long before it was cool. It is notable that artists like Manu Chao and Rashid Taha cite the Clash as a big influence, formative even.
Strummer of course guested with the Pogues for quite a while, and his latter work, which included Tymon Dogg on fiddle, certainly stepped over genre boundaries with a large stride.
I also love some of the old country artists, Johnny Cash (who everyone loves now apparently), Willie Nelson, and others - who sing/sang songs of pain and love with the gusto of the outlaw, and the loneliness of the travelling cowboy.
And in terms of spiritual music, almost the only music which ever seemed to hold a huge amount of integrity to me was music which was rooted in either reggae or negro spirituals. I never really dug the whole thing of spiritual music dressed up as commercial pop - what’s that all about? I thought you couldnt serve God and mammon?
That’s not to say that there isnt any good stuff around, I like the chill out stuff that’s knocking around, which ties in to the meditative thang - it’s more the sing-a-longa stuff I have trouble with. But I always have, so I’m a bit biased.
Anyway - to get on to the subject in hand… I came across the band called The Psalters yesterday, and man I love them.
Imagine a combination of gypsy punk, negro spirituals, crazy world music, religious chants… oh I tell you what dont bother, listen to this as an example…
and then listen to this…
now you’re getting the picture!
So the story gets better - these guys are nomadic, they live a truly radical life, that seems worthy of their music, and if you want a CD, you write to them, they send you one, and then you give them a donation if you like it, or want to support them! Excellent!
They say about themselves:
“we are the cry of the exodus.
there is no home for us here.
we are a nomadic tribe of psalters,
walking in the footsteps of ancients past
to the far corners of the present,
united as one voice against the
oppression within and without.
one more echo in the eternal song of our
First Love, our Hope, our Pillar of Fire.”
This is the cry of the exile, the leper, the howl of hurt and the shout of war… and it rings true.
Want to learn more about the Psalters? Visit their site, or their myspace, from which you can download the tracks - quite right too!
The Rainin in Paradize single from Manu Chao is getting a lot of play on 6music - and so it should, it’s a great track. I know Manu is a controversial figure - shouting about the system and living off it so they say - I can’t deny that he makes brilliant music though.
You can see the track on this video - it’s belting. Apologies to those who dont like youtube videos on blogs, or who havent got lots of bandwidth… I’m posting it anyhow.
And here’s the lyric:
Welcome to paradise (2x)
Today it's raining (4x) (Welcome to paradise)
Today It's raining (Welcome to paradise) (4x)
In Zaire, Was no good place to be
Free world go crazy, it’s an atrocity
In Congo, Still no good place to be
They killed Mibali, it’s a calamity
Go Maasai go Maasai be mellow, Go Maasai go Maasai be sharp (2x)
In Monrovia, this no good place to be
Weapon go crazy, it’s an atrocity
In Palestina, too much hypocricy
This world go crazy, it’s no fatality
Go Maasai go Maasai be mellow, Go Maasai go Maasai be sharp (2x)
Today it’s raining (4x), in paradise
Today it’s raining (4x)
In Baghdad, it’s no democracy
That’s just because, it’s a US Country
In Fallujah, too much calamity
This world go crazy, it’s no fatality
Go Maasai go Maasai be mellow, Go Maasai go Maasai be sharp (2x)
Today it’s raining (4x)
In Jerusalem, in Monrovia, Guinea-Bissau, today it’s raining (3x)
Welcome to paradise, Come to the fairy lies
Welcome to paradise
Today it’s raining (4x) fade out
I’d like to say a few words, well lots of words actually, but I’ll try and say them one at a time. There are many many things I’d like to write about, so I’ll begin by telling you about a subject very close to my heart…
Music
despite my mp3 players preference of Jack Johnson, I do have somewhat wider tastes - in fact I have very broad tastes. I tend to listen to what’s sometimes described as World Music, although I read recently that the term ‘World Music’ is patronising… so we should call the same stuff - ‘global beat’… hmmm.
Anyway, one of the stops of our trip around South East Asia was an overnight in Singapore, where I am sorry to say I wasnt able to go to ANY of the WOMAD concerts that were on. I only just missed a gig by Scots band Shooglenifty who I have only heard a little, but are probably a great live band. They remind me a bit of the , who I saw years ago, and enjoyed immensley.
Shooglenifty dont have any pipes though….
So I have been listening to a fair bit of Jack on my travels, I think I have all the albums apart from the one with lullabies and stuff on, not lovin the lullabies Jack.
I’d be hard pushed to choose a favourite Jack album, I really like all of them, and I hear a lot of political comment in may of the songs which I find uplifting. Talking of that, my dad played me Norah Jones’ latest album, which I hadnt bothered with previously, I liked her first release, and found the second a bit too country gal, this one seems to have a really cool jazz vibe to it, puts me in mind of New Orleans somehow, as does her criticism of the American regime…
“God save the President, the evil fascist resident, he sure is a moron, potential h-bomb” (mine not hers, just playing the pistols riff through my head).
Listen to a couple of tracks at Norah’s website, look under the media section, and click on the record player for a list of tracks. Less well known is Norah’s half sister, Anoushka Shankhar, daughter of Ravi of course, who is an excellent musician in her own right, she plays some beautiful Sitar, some mp3 samples are available on her site… I would reccomend a listen to some of the Rise remixes for an easily accessible sitar vibe.
If you like your sitar hardcore, check this video out.
shame she’s so pug ugly of course… sure it really holds her back in the music industry.
Before we came home I had the pleasure of winessing an Andy Hunter gig, last time I saw Andy DJ he was in an outfir called Hydro, many moons ago. In a magazine review at the time, I rated Hydro’s Aborigination as one of the albums of the year. I since lost my copy, and have been reduced to downloading tracks from iTunes.
Anyway, Andy was of course excellent, he cuts an unlikely figure in some ways, he’s tall for a start, and all the musicians and personalities I’ve met (their name is legion, for they are many) have been right little squirts, the smallest was Victoria Beckham, who was still Posh Spice back then. She’s no bigger than your thumb!
Back to the point, Hunter’s gig was excellent, even if I was a bit of a cardigan clubbing grandad in comparison to the rest of the crowd, I managed to have a brief chart with him before the gig, and he tells me the new album is finished, so thats something to look forward to.
Want to hear some of his tunes? Visit his site.
I didnt buy any decent music while abroad, but I did hear some very nice bossa nova music published by the Putumayo label, a very fine label indeed.
On that note, which is a good one, I’m off to get my hair cut, I dont have far to go, just to the dining room. Those hair clippings make good compost!
all details here, if you can go, then I reccomend it!
dont forget the celebration!!
It starts this weekend - and they tell me it wont be raining! For those interested in names, I can tell you that Godfrey Birtill will be there on Sunday night, but I can also tell you that whatever day you go - it will be a riot.
I skived off work for half an hour last night, and another half an hour tonight - to watch the dvd of Lets Rock Again, which charts the way the late great Joe Strummer plugged that fantastic album Global A Go-go, which by the way you’ve got to listen to if you havent heard it.
The film cuts footage of Joe and the Mescaleros, with coverage of Joe chatting with people, it reminded me of the staged chats he has in the movie Rude Boy - this time its for real though.
I’ve admired Joe since I was a young teenager, he had something about him - the Clash were a group which was greater than the sum of its parts - but each of the individuals were wonderful too, and in my book Joe was particularly brilliant.
Joe Strummer, aka John Mellor 1952 - 2002
To see him in this film, I got a real impression again of what a genuine, amazingly humble, yet real ballsy guy he was.
You see him taking his cap in his hand, going to little radio stations to plug his album, talking about how he just wants to make the album break even, there’s a heartbreaking scene as he tried to talk his way into one radio station which goes something like this:
“Hi, it’s Joe Strummer, can I come in?
…. (someone speaks on the other end of the phone)
“My name is Joe Strummer, I’m a singer, could I come in to talk about the show we’re doing in town tonight?
….
“Well, I used to be in the Clash, so I guess its rock music…”
With each step he seemed to become smaller, eventually having to play the Clash card, which he was so obviously desperate not to. Its as if he’s saying, ‘please just recognise me for who I am now, not what band I used to be in!’
Another scene shows him writing out flyers to hand out to pedestrians in an American city. He then goes out to the street, and we see people ignoring him, refusing the flyers, and failing to recognise who he is… what a humiliating experience for one of the greatest rock and roll writers and performers of all time.
The film did nothing but strengthen my admiration for Joe, and its particularly poignant to note that he died later in the same year the film was shot, 2002.
Joe was a prophet, and a psalmist, a spiritual and spirited man, a tragic figure, a heroic figure, a fan of world music, flawed, a runner, an icon, and perhaps above all a very human man.
What lessons do we take away from this film? 1) To recognise that those you think are strong and succesful are often struggling to keep their heads above water too.
2) To persist, if even Joe Strummer, rock legend, has to work his backside off to promote a great album, then how much more do we have to put effort into raising awareness of what we do.
3) That Joe Strummer was the man people said he was - and its nothing short of a tragedy that he’s not here now.
Joe died the year before my other main musical hero, Johnny Cash, gutted - both of them were in their musical prime.
oh just so good!
to continue in offering some tracks made by Christians of other cultures, here’s an Dari/Afghan track which is part of a whole CD’s worth of music, to be found at watandar.com.
This one is called ‘You are my advocate Oh Jesus’ in English, or something incomprehensible in Afghan. Check it out.
For the second of my selection of world music offerings, here’s a bit of Reggaeton by the Puerto Rican artist Valette “El Patriarca”, from the album Mi Calle on Rejoice Music.
This track is called Si Perezco, which means ‘If I die’.
Just been putting some nicer links in on the music section, and noticed this interview with Ben Okafor, who just happens to be one of the best musicians around at the moment.
As the interview points out, he isnt just a musician, but a talented and passionate man in many areas of life. It is in Cross Rhythms of course, which means it is a nicey nicey interview, because thats what they do. But I think that anyone who hasnt checked Ben’s work out, should have a read.
He has quite a tale to tell, and I cant think of anything I dont like about him. He’s a good guy. And a genius. Now I’m being nicey nicey too… must be catching.
in the first of my offerings to those interested in listening into music created by Christians of other cultures - here’s a little number recorded by the people at 3rd street music. It’s an Ethiopian song, and has a gently uplifting feel to it.
a very good place to visit today is Calabash Music’s Tune Your World site.
Not only do you get some excellent free downloads, and lots of interesting news about world music, including two k’naan tracks for free and nothing… (hip hip hoorah) but they also have a good idea! Well thats a start aint it.
The tune your world thing is quite intriguing, I’ve pasted below their description of the concept.
” Do you believe we can change in the world through music?
At Calabash Music we’ve just launched a new campaign that we’re calling‘Tune Your World’ as a creative approach to economic development in Africa.
In the United States our foreign-aid programs do not support our belief that we are a nation known for its good works around the world. The public believes we spend a great deal more money helping other countries than we actually do. Polls suggest that most Americans think the federal government spends about 10 to 15 percent of its budget on foreign aid.
The truth is that we spend less than 1 percent, the lowest of any industrialized nation.
All of sub-Saharan Africa receives just over $1 billion in economic aid. If everyone in the United States gave up one movie a year we could double our current aid to Africa.
We have an even better idea. Tune Your World.
If every American would buy 10 downloads by African Artists — We would DOUBLE the amount of money the US is currently sending to Africa. This is what we mean by ‘Tune Your World’
Where does the money go?
At least 50% (in some cases 100%) of your purchase will go to African Artists, or an African relief NGO and stay in Africa. With this money, musicians will be able to buy new instruments, recording or performing equipment, complete their education, or put a new roof on their house.
Together we can create a thriving music economy in places where the music industry has never worked very well.
How can you make this change happen?
1. Buy 10 songs by African Artists.
2. Forward this URL www.tuneyourworld.com to your friends and family.
It’s that simple.”
So this has put me in mind of a little project which I might undertake, to link you… gentle reader… to some of the sites which host some excellent music by Christians of other cultures. I understand that the excellent George Luke does a radio show called World Beat on UCB which covers this sort of thing, and that will doubtless be worth a listen - its on at a difficult time of the week for me to listen to sadly.
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