Musicians of colour - what a mealy-mouthed term, although I sort of get that you want it to include more than just black! But, despite that, how about these albums by non-white great artists -
TWO SEVENS CLASH by Culture THE HOT FIVES AND SEVENS RECORDINGS by Louis Armstrong MARCUS GARVEY by Burning Spear SHAHEN-SHAH by the incomparable Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan OULIDA ELHOUDA by the amazing Egyptian singer, Om Kalsoum (reputedly Bob Dylan's favourite female singer)
Don't know the last two but will check them out
The 23 minute song OULIDA ELHOUDA can be heard on Spotify on the album Songs of Praise and Joy. The album from which it comes is a rarity only available in France, I believe, which is why I changed my choice to a Best Of collection.
Love Witch. Got stuck in a YouTube hole a while back and discovered a few 70s Zambian "zamrock" groups. Amanaz are good too, their album Africa worth hearing
Love Witch. Got stuck in a YouTube hole a while back and discovered a few 70s Zambian "zamrock" groups. Amanaz are good too, their album Africa worth hearing
Anyone into World Music? I did a mooc on it with the Aussie OU. Love gamelan and zydeco, though I can't remember any artists names. Katjak - Monkey Chant makes fantastic listening too.
Check out Tareq al Nasser / Rum. Jordanian musician/band but difficult to get any CDs.
However, available on download.
Again, thanks for the tip. I found some clips on YouTube. It's much more accessible to my western ears than old Oum Kalthoum though I do love her mysterious, almost disturbing, qualities without any clue what she's singing about - God and love, I'm guessing.
Musicians of colour - what a mealy-mouthed term, although I sort of get that you want it to include more than just black! But, despite that, how about these albums by non-white great artists -
TWO SEVENS CLASH by Culture THE HOT FIVES AND SEVENS RECORDINGS by Louis Armstrong MARCUS GARVEY by Burning Spear SHAHEN-SHAH by the incomparable Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan OULIDA ELHOUDA by the amazing Egyptian singer, Om Kalsoum (reputedly Bob Dylan's favourite female singer)
Anyone into World Music? I did a mooc on it with the Aussie OU. Love gamelan and zydeco, though I can't remember any artists names. Katjak - Monkey Chant makes fantastic listening too.
I listen to a bit of world music. Went to a show at the Barbican, Femi Kuti was headlining. I saw quite frankly the whitest dancing you'll ever see from the audience. Pure comedy
I hate the term "world music" but I know what you mean when you say it, so I suppose it's a useful shorthand term for popular/folk/classical music from places where they don't sing in English or adopt western musical forms.
On that basis, I find the whole desert blues type stuff (Ali Farka Toure eralier on, and the Touareg blues like Tinariwen now) really hypnotic, and likewise Qawwali singers from Pakistan like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. (And if we're talking about samples - he's been sampled loads)
One favourite in our house is the Creole Choir of Cuba, who sing bluesy roots songs in a choral style in French creole. One of the few jazz styles I can say I have no trouble relating to is the New Orleans brass band style, and I've seen the Hot 8 Brass Band a couple of times - you can find their version of Ghost Town on Youtube easily, I really like it, still got the defiance of the original but brings a bit of joy along with it.
Musicians of colour - what a mealy-mouthed term, although I sort of get that you want it to include more than just black! But, despite that, how about these albums by non-white great artists -
TWO SEVENS CLASH by Culture THE HOT FIVES AND SEVENS RECORDINGS by Louis Armstrong MARCUS GARVEY by Burning Spear SHAHEN-SHAH by the incomparable Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan BEST OF OM KALTHOUM by the amazing Egyptian singer (reputedly Bob Dylan's favourite female singer)
Well, "people of colour" is the standard term that non-white people use to refer to themselves as a collective. There's no universal term - ethnic minority/minority ethnic/non-white etc all being fairly problematic - and I went with the relatively consensus term.
I hate the term "world music" but I know what you mean when you say it, so I suppose it's a useful shorthand term for popular/folk/classical music from places where they don't sing in English or adopt western musical form.
Agree. I also feel uncomfortable with the implication that there is 'music' (Anglo) where artists and bands are known for their character message and individualism, and then there is that miscellaneous anthropological branch where every artist is a postcard of a region or country. If that is the case then loving Mozart makes me a fan of Austrian music...
Tracy Chapman - Crossroads Nas - Illmatic Biggie - Ready 2 Die Kanye West - The College Dropout Common - Be Lupe Fiasco - The Cool Blu - Below the Heavens
The Christmas song thread reminded me of this, so reposted from there.
My favourite music to play on Christmas Day is the Holmes Brothers' Jubilation. Saw them years ago, sadly mostly passed on now. It starts with a song called "Jesus is Alright" and goes through a lot of blues/gospel/country versions of religious songs, like Amazing Grace and Will the Circle be Unbroken. I'm not remotely religious, but I like this a lot. Should add it onto the Favourite albums by Musicians of Colour.
There's a looseness and familiarity between them on the tracks and you've got the whole mix of soul, gospel, blues, R&B (the original sort), country. It reminds me just how many superb musicians there are particularly in the States working away under the radar and never getting serious recognition.
Listened to Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You" on the way to work this morning. A masterpiece.
Were you familiar with 'the incident' during the making of this album?
Noooo do tell
The album was to be recorded at Rick Hall's Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, under the joint tutelage of Hall and Atlantic's Jerry Wexler, whose idea it was to bring Franklin there, it being her first Atlantic album. In the end it was only the title track that was recorded at Fame.
It all started to wrong when the trumpeter in the horn section, a white guy, turned out to be a drunken redkneck who was saying inappropriate things to Franklin in front of her husband, Ted White; some eyewitnesses have suggested the guy even groped her. Whatever, White was furious and said the trumpeter had to be sacked. Then Franklin and White stormed off back to their hotel with that one song in the can.
Meanwhile, Rick Hall could see the session slipping away from him and started in on the vodka, after which he thought it would be a good idea to go and clear the air with Franklin and White. Wexler told him not to go, to just let everyone cool down, but Hall went over there anyway and the next thing you know, the drunken Hall and White had gotten into a fight and were trying to throw each other off the hotel balcony.
It ended up with Franklin and White flying home vowing never to return, the session in ruins, Wexler screaming at Hall that he's finished, then Franklin going AWOL for three weeks. Jerry Wexler ended up finishing the album at Atlantic in New York, and even lured Rick Hall's rhythm section to finish it, under the ruse that they were doing an album with King Curtis.
Comments
King of the Delta Blues - Robert Johnson
Thanks for the tip - I find Middle Eastern music difficult but hypnotic.
Witch - Lazy Bones
Again, thanks for the tip. I found some clips on YouTube. It's much more accessible to my western ears than old Oum Kalthoum though I do love her mysterious, almost disturbing, qualities without any clue what she's singing about - God and love, I'm guessing.
On that basis, I find the whole desert blues type stuff (Ali Farka Toure eralier on, and the Touareg blues like Tinariwen now) really hypnotic, and likewise Qawwali singers from Pakistan like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. (And if we're talking about samples - he's been sampled loads)
One favourite in our house is the Creole Choir of Cuba, who sing bluesy roots songs in a choral style in French creole. One of the few jazz styles I can say I have no trouble relating to is the New Orleans brass band style, and I've seen the Hot 8 Brass Band a couple of times - you can find their version of Ghost Town on Youtube easily, I really like it, still got the defiance of the original but brings a bit of joy along with it.
I also feel uncomfortable with the implication that there is 'music' (Anglo) where artists and bands are known for their character message and individualism, and then there is that miscellaneous anthropological branch where every artist is a postcard of a region or country.
If that is the case then loving Mozart makes me a fan of Austrian music...
Nas - Illmatic
Biggie - Ready 2 Die
Kanye West - The College Dropout
Common - Be
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
Blu - Below the Heavens
My favourite music to play on Christmas Day is the Holmes Brothers' Jubilation. Saw them years ago, sadly mostly passed on now. It starts with a song called "Jesus is Alright" and goes through a lot of blues/gospel/country versions of religious songs, like Amazing Grace and Will the Circle be Unbroken.
I'm not remotely religious, but I like this a lot. Should add it onto the Favourite albums by Musicians of Colour.
There's a looseness and familiarity between them on the tracks and you've got the whole mix of soul, gospel, blues, R&B (the original sort), country. It reminds me just how many superb musicians there are particularly in the States working away under the radar and never getting serious recognition.
It all started to wrong when the trumpeter in the horn section, a white guy, turned out to be a drunken redkneck who was saying inappropriate things to Franklin in front of her husband, Ted White; some eyewitnesses have suggested the guy even groped her. Whatever, White was furious and said the trumpeter had to be sacked. Then Franklin and White stormed off back to their hotel with that one song in the can.
Meanwhile, Rick Hall could see the session slipping away from him and started in on the vodka, after which he thought it would be a good idea to go and clear the air with Franklin and White. Wexler told him not to go, to just let everyone cool down, but Hall went over there anyway and the next thing you know, the drunken Hall and White had gotten into a fight and were trying to throw each other off the hotel balcony.
It ended up with Franklin and White flying home vowing never to return, the session in ruins, Wexler screaming at Hall that he's finished, then Franklin going AWOL for three weeks. Jerry Wexler ended up finishing the album at Atlantic in New York, and even lured Rick Hall's rhythm section to finish it, under the ruse that they were doing an album with King Curtis.