Welcome to 2014!
Swedish fiddler Ellika Frisell, Senegalese kora player Solo Cissokho and Mexican percussionist Rafael Sida Huizar got together to record NOW! (out on Swedish label Country & Eastern now.) The result is... a "lyrical, groovy and unique music for dancing, listening or both" (cdRoots). On Skänklåt från Bingsjö / Sahadougou / Kelefapolska / Kelefaba (I know, I know, it's four songs, not one), all three sing together.
The last song of the year is Mapu (Tierra), sung in Mapuche and Spanish by Noelia Pucci, a singer and composer from Neuquén Province, Argentina. A slightly different version of this song appears on her debute album, Noe Pucci.
...is All Along the Watchtower performed by Eliades Ochoa. This song appears on the new album From Another World: A Tribute to Bob Dylan, a collection of 13 Dylan's songs re-nterpreted by musicians from Algeria, Australia, Bhutan, Egypt, India, Iran, Hungary, Macedonia, Myanmar, Romania, Taiwan and, of course, Cuba.
Our 400th (!) song of the week is Apriétame asi by Dominican accordionist, singer and composer Lidia María Hernández López, better known as La India Canela.
From the liner notes to her 2008 album, Merengue Típico from the Dominican Republic:
The song that made La India famous in the early 1990s, this merengue is in the mambo-based style that was then just beginning to bring típico back into the public eye. Tho first mambo section starts at about 2:00; a second mambo enters after the next verse, and is filled in with bass and conga solos.
And what solos: short, inventive, fun solos. Electric bass may have replaced marimba in merengue típico bands, but — pay attention! — between 2:52 and 3:04, the bassist Alfonso González Perdomo is doing his fantastic imitation of marimba sound.
...is A trace of grace composed by Michel Godard and performed by Godard (serpent), Helena Rüegg (bandoneon) and Quique Sinesi (guitar, charango). This theme appears on the trio's album Días de felicidad (2012).
The Barcelonian band Calima was created in 2005 by Juanlu "El Canijo" Leprevost (a founding member of Ojos de Brujo). This week's song, Que me lleve, appears on Calima's brand new album, Lumbre.
...is Doundari by Africando, featuring Guinea's Sékouba Bambino (of Bembeya Jazz fame). The band's new album, Viva Africando, is out now.
Yes, Gipsy Kings are back! Their 25th Anniversary World Tour continues next year: January in the USA and February in Europe. This week's song is Samba Samba from their new album Savor Flamenco.
Hispania & Japan: Dialogues is a project by Jordi Savall that commemorates arrival of Francis Xavier to Japan in 1549. It features Hespèrion XXI, La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Japanese musicians Masako Hirao, Hiroyuki Koinuma, Ichiro Seki and Yukio Tanaka. This week's song is Senhora del Mundo performed by the late Montserrat Figueras García (soprano) accompanied by Ken Zuckerman (sarod) and Prahbu Edouart (tabla).
Què volen aquesta gent? (What do these people want?) was composed in 1968 by Mallorcan singer Maria del Mar Bonet to lyrics by Lluís Serrahima. The song, based on a real tragic event, was promptly banned by Franco regime and, perhaps in part thanks to that, became something of an anti-Franco anthem. This version was performed by Bonet and Companyia Elèctrica Dharma during Concert per la Llibertat on 29 June 2013.
