music of the world a

i subscribe to several music magazines
one of my favourites is songlines
comes out every 2 months
and is full of great stories
of music and musicians all over the world
it comes with a free cd sampler
containing a bunch of superb tracks
old and new from out there in the world
it goes straight into my computer's jukebox
containing every sampler compilation cd i can get my hands on
this i have decided is the best way to find new music
listen while i work
rate the tracks
make comments
and quite often as a result
buy cd's that end up on the iriver
in the july/august 2006 edition of songlines
was a very informative article
on the a-z of world music
i read and re-read the article
thought i knew a bit about world music
that is certainly the case
only a bit compared to what is out there
which of course makes perfect sense
thinking of the numbers involved
i wanted to keep the article for future reference
so what better than to blog it
the a styles
copied herein verbatim
hope they don't mind at songlines

adi-talam (south india)

south indian rhythms are not for the arithmetically challenged
their sheer mental agility, once you follow it, thrills as much as the playing techniques
just try drumming fives and sevens while speaking syllables in the basic adi talam cycle of eight
solos are more important than in the north, centred on a vast repertoire of short compositions
the double ended mridangam is the principle drum
spectacularly supported by the big clay pot, ghatam
and the tambourine-like kanjira

songlines recommends - vikku by t h vinayakram - recorded live at the royal festival hall 2002
esne notes - wikipedia tells us he is famous - grammy awards, jazz collaborations, etc

afro-beat (nigeria)

nowhere in african music can the cross-pollination with black american rhythms be heard more thrillingly than in the sound of fela kuti
after briefly moving to the u s in 1969, he returned to lagos in the early 70's to create afro-beat
a mighty simmering stew of african rhythms, call-and-response vocals, brooding horns, jazz flavours
and a funk outrageous enough to make james brown blush

songlines recommends - the best of by fela kuti 2004
esne notes - a fave dvd is fela kuti in concert, saw son femi at womadelaide 2007 - captivating

axe (brazil)

a rhythm which when pronounced in portuguese (ashay) is left free of any heavy metal overtones is the party music of the bahian people
it sounds like samba but played whilst on speed and red bull
it's a relentlessly pounding, energised dance beat, driven by drums and frantic syncopation
and best heard in a heavy sweat and thick crowd at carnaval in salvador
for a hint of what axe is all about, invite lots and lots of friends around, down a few caipirinhas
play some axe extra loud, and let all your hips and inhibitions go

songlines recommends - ao viva by ivete sangalo 2006
esne notes - caipirinha - brazilian lime cocktail -

2 teaspoons superfine sugar
1 lime cut into small wedges
2 to 2 and a half oz of cachaca liquer
in a glass gently mash lime wedges
add sugar and muddle until dissolved into lime juice
pour cachaca
stir
drink
...repeat