The Doll Is Listening To - The Flames Of Hell

... her retro technology find of the vinyl kind.

The Old Man is hard at work washing the old 33s that I do find in Truro ... in the record shop in Pannier Market quite rightly called "Music Nostalgia".
I found some culture from Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing Schubert but, setting my feet thumping and my own voice howling along, perhaps even more joyful is the find of Swamp Music Vol 1 - Les Flemmes d'Enfer aka Flames of Hell. Being a collection of Cajun - Zydeco music from Louisiana released on a German label around 1989.
You can get a flavour with this video over on YouTube.

Bang those feet on the floor...

Listening To: "I Lie" by David Lang From Soundtrack of " La Grande Bellezze"

A friend recently gave me the soundtrack recording for "The Great Beauty" (see previous post) and this is just one of the items on the double CD. The Yiddish lyrics for "I Lie" are from a song written by Belorussian-born Jewish poet, Joseph Rolnick who died (1955) in the USA aged 76. The lyrics...perhaps the words of a girl waiting for her lover... were set to music by composer David Lang as a commission for all-women vocal ensemble Kitka, first performed in 2001.
"I lie down in bed alone.....

Sunday Morning

...Spending it chasing off the sparrowhawk who is patiently and outrageously waiting on a stake next to the bird feeder... queuing at the "canteen". Shoo... shoo ... shoo go I.

Spending it holding up the bean canes whilst The Old Man hammers more stakes into the ground and we tie it all together... against the forecasted gales.

Spending it up to me wrists in brioche dough... massaging in the butter .... gloop... yum.

Spending it listening to The Old Man's CD of  Ry Cooder & Corridos Famosos "Live in San Francisco".

Listening to.... Buika's "La Noche Más Larga" cd

Listening to Lhasa's "The Living Road"

Grey Doll Be Listening To...

...."Studio One Sounds" from Soul Jazz Records.
Followin' a visit to Falmouth and the ever lovely Jam Records ...  

Studio One Sound - Ras Michael And The Sons Of Negus — Good People

The Hum in Your Head

"What is this tune? Humm ... humm..huhum..." say The Old Man.
"You mean... Humm ... humm.. huhum.. hummmhumm?"
"Yes."
"I don't know."

"HUHum..humm..humm.humm...." sing we.
"Something French?.... Something Latino?"
"Could it be Carlos Gardel?" say I, "That record what M brought back from Buenos Aires?"
"I dunno." say Old Man
" Well put it on and we can find out." says me.

So, a morning of searching high and low do ensue with me getting increasingly grumpy at The Old Man's "intuitive" record filing system. It's my precious record.... brought all the way back from Argentina by friend who be performing at that time in theatre thing in Buenos Aires. Memories of a time when friends flew all over the place and I do not live the life of a pensioner in West Cornwall. I be getting very, very upset when The Old Man finally finds the Carlos Gardel album. We do put it on and I do hum along happily.

We have both of course forgot whatever tune it be that we be humming at breakfast time.

Listening to.....Carolina Chocolate Drops

Just out, their latest album "Leaving Eden"....

and brought back for me from Truro by The Old Man... as a treat... cos I's a fan.

Two Things I Love...

....the music of Lhasa de Sela and animation. Just found this video for a Lhasa track on You Tube.

Play and Enjoy.

Travels with my Film-Life: Tehran

So this is a bit more ... risky. Last night we were in Tehran, courtesy of the film: "No One Knows About Persian Cats" by Bahman Ghobadi. And we watch two young Iranian "Indie Rock" musicians try to gather band members and "documents" that will enable them to get to their gig in London.

We sample the underground music scene of Tehran in cellars, construction sites and rooftop hide-aways. We listen to heavy metal, rap, jazz and fusion traditional music. Real musicians playing for themselves, each other - and their secret audiences. As they dream of being somewhere where they can play openly; somewhere - as one character puts it- " ... on an island ... with stew for breakfast and stew for lunch... "

The pace heats up as the deadline approaches for the two young musicians to leave for their gig. Beautifully shot, stuffed full of music, and sweeping us into the drama we rush towards the dramatic ending. If you want to see the trailer - click here.

Now I'm glad to get my timid bones home.

In which Nursey and The Old Man listen to Fado

Now.... continuing with the musical theme.

The Doll's niece sent the Old Man a present. By way of "Thinking of you and get well" kind of thing. Niecy said she had picked it up in Lisbon. (Ooooh!) And it is a CD of Fado music.

She said she didn't know if we knew the music. But because of the Blessed Charlie Gillett, I knew I had heard some fado music. Charlie Gillett played Mariza pretty often. But I thought I'd listen to some more, as well as the CD, so I requested "fado radio" from Last.fm (see my Last.fm post)

Now, I like the fado. But I suppose I would call it a kind of mood music.

But then - (the Doll stops to think) - is all music - "mood" music? I mean, I know I pick what I listen to according to my mood. You follow me?

Anyway, nice little segue coming up. The first tune that turned up on Last.fm's Fado Radio was a number by Madredeus. And the group Madredeus was featured in a film I bought on DVD recently - which is "Lisbon Story" by Wim Wenders. And I watched the film and enjoyed it - being a bit of a Wenders fan.

So everything's gone quite Portuguese, really.

PS.
OK, OK. For those who wish to have more news of the Old Man. He has been punctured by the travelling phlebotomist. (That is to say - had a "home call" blood test.) And the GP came to call as well. So we's both relieved that he is on someone's books locally after being sent home from a hospital in another county. He's still very tired. The house still looks like a secondhand furniture store. And people are very kind.

Edit: Try clicking the words Lisbon Story above - to see a clip of the film which includes Madredeus sing Fado. And continuing the Portuguese theme - aint it great that the painter Paula Rego has been made a Dame.

World Music: Astor Piazzolla

So with this Last.fm listening.... (see previous post)

The other night I put Astor Piazzolla's name in the box.

Piazzolla was known for his new approach to Tango: orchestral, dramatic, narrative.

Years ago - in the mid-1980s - The Old Man and I saw Astor Piazzolla,and his Quinteto Tango Nuevo, play at the Almeida Theatre in Islington.




It was the first time that I'd seen this music being played. And the bandoneon in particular. That's the accordion sound in tango. The bandoneon looks like a square, Uber-concertina. It pulls out forever. So much so, that the player stands with his foot on a stool or box and lays the instrument out across his knee as he pulls and bends it.

Bang! Bang! Percussion, piano chords, violin bow strikes, double bass slaps. Bang! Bang! And the bandoneon being pulled out in Tango time.

It was a wonderful concert. And my good fortune to see and hear Piazzolla play.

If you prefer a gentler, more old-timey feel - try the singing of Carlos Gardel.

Musical listening: Last.fm

I found Last.fm through "Blogging for Dummies" by Susannah Gardner. I know I should be way cooler than this. And find out about it some other more "street-cred" way. But hey - what can I say?
The Doll has a Bus pass, already.

So I visited and signed up. And started listening while I puttered around the Internet.

And "scrobbling" Last.fm is proving a good way to find more world music for me to listen to. Or other kinds of music for that matter. (Yeah- don't ask - "Scrobbling" is what they call it. And you download a "Scrobbler" especially for the task.)

So I log in and start with someone's music that I know and like and they fire up a "Radio Station" based on that artist and similar artists. The "Radio" keeps on playing tracks until you click it stopped. (You can skip stuff you're not liking.)

Or sometimes I put in a type of music - say: Blues, or even Electrotango, - and the principle's the same.

But I have to say that this didn't work with "Doo-Wop". They only listed a handful of artists and by my reckoning - these were NOT Doo-Wop. I mean.... come on.... Dusty Springfield? Doo-Wop? You guys don't know Doo-Wop is what I think.

Perhaps it's supposed to work by listeners tagging their tracks with music labels? If it does, I'd better revisit, pull up some Doo-Wop groups by name and tag them as such.

Dusty Springfield indeed.

EDIT: OK trying again and getting a better result for Doo-wop - but still a bit strange around the edges. "Mash-up" is "Doo-wop" now?
Say what?

World Music Heroes No. 2: Ry Cooder

Thinking and talking about World Music Hero No 1: Charlie Gillett (see first post); and discussing these things with The Old Man. He, rightly, reminded me of the huge importance of Ry Cooder in what is now known as World Music.

Now Ry Cooder himself was first brought to my ears and attention by John Peel; and possibly by writings in "Rolling Stone". (My reading matter of choice during the late 1960s and early 1970s.) And as such I thought of him as some kind of guitar hero - which he is - and a great musician in his own right. (Including film music with the score of "Paris, Texas" directed by Wim Wenders.)

But he also worked and continues to work with musicians from other music cultures big time, long time. Not just by recording and performing with them; V.M Bhatt, Ali Farka Toure - but by the straightforward recording and promoting of the artists themselves. The aforementioned Hawaiian artist Gaby Pahinui was recorded by Ry Cooder in 1975. And then there are those Cuban "all time star hits", the Buena Vista Social Club.

Back at the old homestead, I have to admit that The Old Man shows good taste in the content of his record collection. Though I personally found the "hand bells" album a bridge too far. I find plenty, plenty Ry Cooder on his music shelves, including: "Chicken Skin Music", "Meeting by the River", "Paris Texas", "Chavez Ravine", "My name is Buddy", and "I, Flathead".

Listen up people. Pay due respect. Investigate and enjoy.

Charlie Gillett

So this is my first post.

And I am bereft.
I've lost my music man with the death of Charlie Gillett last week.

I bought and read his books, "Sound of the City" and "Making Tracks", in the early 1970s. Then I changed my postgraduate bibliography topic from Art History to the Literature of Rock & Blues.

I was listening to his show on Radio London, "Honky Tonk", every week. On Saturdays, the Old Man and I (more of him later) - would visit Hot Wax records in Kentish Town and spend our money on 1950s-60s Doo-Wop and Acapella recordings. The Old Man would jump around to Gabby Pahinui's Hawaiian songs. I jumped around to Cajun. We both jumped around to Doo-Wop.

Everything was brought to us by Charlie Gillett. Right up to his last broadcasts of World Music on Radio 3 and World Service. We listened to these and searched out recordings from Mali, Congo, Argentine, Ethiopia and Lebanon.

Over the years Charlie Gillett opened up so much music. He laid it out, talked about it, and shared it around. John Peel has gone. Now Charlie Gillett has gone.

I am bereft.