PG-13 lyrics. Via Kieran Healy.
PG-13 lyrics. Via Kieran Healy.
If you have never heard Chris Knox's "Not Given Lightly" -- one of the best modern love songs like, ever -- watch the video:Then watch this live performance (or skip to it if you already know the...
Love this song. Not sure about the video.
Some late Friday night blogging... Music tells us a lot about different places around the world and I love to collect it from my students and use it in the classroom. Worth noting that Ivory Coast has long had a great, socially aware, music scene. Zouglou started during the student protest movements in the 1990s (the protests initially began over the rolling electrical blackouts during the exam periods but spread to broader political demands). The music genre has gained widespread following in Europe especially with the popularity of Magic System. Soum Bill and Les Salopards may be a bit...
For those interested, Tinariwen was profiled in Steve Chandra Savale's six-part documentary on Music of Resistance that aired on AlJazeera English back in 2009. It provides a brief history of the Tuaregs and of the band:
Many of the "mercenaries" fighting on behalf of Gaddafi's regime in Libya are ethnic Tuaregs who fled conflicts in Mali and Niger in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1980, Gaddafi began encouraging the young Tuareg men -- illegally residing in Libya -- to join military service as "African regiments" within the Libyan military. The general reputation of the Tuareg are as fierce and brutal fighters and they appear to be the "foreign mercenaries" in many of the eyewitness reports of brutality in Libya.My first exposure to Tuareg peoples and their relationship with Gaddafi came several years ago when I...
After hearing that former Fugee and musical star Wyclef Jean is running to be the President of Haiti (despite not having lived there for decades and apparently not actually speaking French very well), I got to thinking – what other musical super stars could run as leaders to help fix the nations of the world? In what way could Lady Gaga help with nation-building projects? Could Paul McCartney advise the World Bank in any way (other than being able to possibly fund a small third world nation by himself for a year)? After a lot of sugar and housecleaning I have come up with the following list...
Congratulations to Claus Wischmann, Martin Baer, and the performers of the Kinshasa Symphony Orchestra for their work on the documentary of the “Kinshasa Symphony.” The film has been selected to premier at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival “Berlinale Special” on February 17th 2010, 21:45h (rerun February 18th, 18:00h, Cubix 8) This is a beautiful project about the only symphony orchestra in central Africa - the “Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste.” The film will be shown in cinemas all over Germany later this spring. I hope it migrates over here to the US soon. Here's a short clip...
Although we just got the CD yesterday, I'd been listening to Neko Case's new album (currently #2 in music on Amazon) pretty much non-stop via NPR for a bit. Quick and dirty: not as consistently good as Blacklisted, but an excellent album nonetheless.Noel Murray's review pretty much nails it, but Jon Pareles' review in the New York Times deserves a quotation:On the surface Ms. Case’s songs qualify as alt-country or Americana. The production often harks back to 1960s and ’70s rock, backing her concise melody lines with finger-picked acoustic guitars or twang and reverb. But surreal, unexpected...
'Nuff said