a musical selection for troubled individuals

From the Gagarin’s Point of View by e.s.t (Esbjörn Svensson Trio) from Somewhere Else Before (1999, Columbia) album

track #3

Esbjörn Svensson, piano, keyboards, percussion

Dan Berglund, bass, percussion

Hendrix - Electric Church Red House 

from TTG studios in 1968

___

Jimi Hendrix- guitars, vocals

Noel Redding- bass

Mitch Mitchell- drums

Alfred Şinitke | Nagasaki, Kederler Şehri

a very beautiful Persian vocal song. 

rainy days.coffee.and her voice. 

Tonight’s #latenightjam is “Danse Kalinda Ba Doom” by New Orleans’ own Dr. John (Mac Rebennack), who was honored today by being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This track appeared on his Voodoo themed concept album Gris-Gris, which was produced by NOLA composer great Harold Battiste. And while it doesn’t contain Dr. John’s signature raspy voice and drawl (example here), it’s my favorite track on one of my favorite records. Enjoy.

Artist: Amina Alaoui Track: Fado Al-Mu’tamid Album: Arco Iris 

Moroccan singer, composer, poet and scholar of distinction, Amina Alaoui was originally schooled in the Moroccan Gharnati tradition, which remains a central reference in her work. She also studied European classical music from childhood onwards. While based in Paris in the mid-1980s she explored medieval chant with Henri Agnel and Persian song with Djallal Akhbari, interested, as ever, in the points of contact between the traditions.

Alaoui has been the recipient of many awards including the Algerian Prix d’Interprétation du festival de Musique Arabo-andalouse d’Oran, Morocco’s Prix d’Excellence au Festrival Ghanati d’Oijda, and the Cairo Opera’s Prix d’Honneur du Festival de Musique Classique Arabe. She is also a laureate of the Villa Medicis Hors les Murs where her musicological research into the confluence of musical streams led ultimately to the work that has become Arco Iris. 

When Alaoui sings there is “no need to discuss the origins of fado, flamenco or Al Andalusi” for the music itself explores the common crucible of the styles, and Amina’s delivery makes the interconnections impossible to miss. Yes as she also points out, “you must first have assimilated your own roots, in order to absorb the culture of the other…” Historical awareness, study and discernment are essential but more is needed: “I am an artist of the present. I abstain from simply copying the styles of the past.”