Stories about Music from December, 2006
Russia: Oleg Gazmanov's “Born in the USSR”
La Russophobe posts “a multi-media presentation with some insights regarding pop music” – featuring Oleg Gazmanov's song “Made in the USSR”: “[…] The Ryuriks, the Romanovs, Lenin and Stalin/They are my country/Pushkin, Yesinin, Vystotsky, Gagarin/They are my country […]”
Cuba: Musical Cubans
“Cubans and music go back a long way”: Luis M. Garcia examines the Cuban connection to singing and dancing in light of an article from The Economist.
Trinidad & Tobago: Charles, Majarah & 6 Degrees
The Caribbean Beat blog posts two interesting entries: The first admires the music of young trumpeter Etienne Charles and the writing of Niala Majarah in what Beat calls “a major new Caribbean novel”; the second examines the Six Degrees of Separation theory in a Caribbean context.
Kazakhstan: Czech Musician
Leila writes about a Czech musician eager to learn about her roots in Kazakhstan.
Madagascar: Alafia
L'Odyssee de Tattum just discovered the band Alafia of which she writes (Fr): “With more than 300 concerts in tow, Alafia is a presence at numerous festivals … Alafia's sunny sound is partly inspired by malagasy rhythms such as Malesa and Salegy, but it is first and foremost a melting...
Kenya: musical link
Steve Ntwiga posts a Swahili track, Christina, by the Kenyan band, Maroon Commandos: “So, lets kick off the weekend with just a little more of this group since we already have something very cool going on. Today’s Maroon Commando’s track is Christina from the album Kusema na Kufanya.”
Macedonia: Esma vs Borat
A Macedonian Roma singer plans to sue Borat, reports Illyrian Gazette.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: London Sevdah Emotional Issues
London Sevdah performers need “mindset training“: “To put it into context, many people from Bosnia have suffered badly during the war (and the same goes for some of London Sevdah members) and some of the biggest suffering has come in the form of long term (subtle) mental damage. This means...
Cameroon: Afrikan Guitarstrophy
Scribbles from the Den reviews a new album, Afrikan Guitarstrophy, by US-based Cameroonian artist, Wanaku, “In this album, Wanaku shuns the “World Music” genre with its the over-reliance on technology and heavy (in)fusion of Western pop sounds. Instead, he unapologetically uses the acoustic guitar as the main conduit for what...
Argentina: Music: Los Alamos
Fernando Casale publishes the new video of the Argentine band Los Alamos [ES]. They'll be playing a free show this Thursday at Radio Set in Buenos Aires.
Trinidad & Tobago: Christmas Songs
To get into the spirit of the season, Guanaguanare has compiled a fun list of Trinidad and Tobago's Top 25 Christmas songs that will get your feet tapping.
Latin America, Turkey: Reggaeturkaton
Get this: “a Turkish percussionist who's a veteran of New York's salsa scene.” Don Ball Carbajal introduces Ayhan Sicimoglu and his fusion of Turkish-Latin rhythms.
Ukraine: Christmas/Folk Song's Metamorphosis
Ukraine List writes about a Ukrainian folk song that's been Anglicized and become a ubiquitous Christmas song in the West: “Carol of the Bells” aka “Shchedryk.”
China: music video
The opposite end of China has upload a music video of a song, “Gulzarangza”, via youtube to the blog: The video is a perfect re-creation of a dream I have… something involving a happy harem of dancing Uyghur beauties, more or less.
Trinidad & Tobago: Tempo Turns One
“A stabbing, several fist fights and a poorly organised programme” marred the Trinidad leg of MTV Tempo‘s first anniversary concert series, according to this post by guest writer Michael Mondezie at ttgapers.com.
Haiti: Local Artist Wins Global Music Contest
Says Haitian newsfeed Alterpresse (Fr): “Jean Belony Murat [a.k.a. Belo], haitian artist … won the reknown international music competition titled “Les Decouvertes RFI Musiques du Monde” [Radio France International's Finds in World Music] on November 30th in Douala, Cameroon. He was among the three finalists, inclusing Patrick Ruffino, a bassist...
