It has been 16 years. 16 years that Gil Scott-Heron, the legend who influenced a whole generation of hip-hop artists with his rather unique voice and proto-rap style, hasn't released a new album. And then I'm New Here hits the streets. And it hits them pretty hard.


It's not only the streets that it hits this hard but my ears too. I just dig the voice, the composition and the poetry! Actually, some of the tracks such as Me And The Devil, New York Is Killing Me or I'll Take Care of You make me speechless before this 59 years old man's art.

I got my copy of the album from eMusic.com. Some people criticize the short length of this very fine album, as if it was a scale against which quality can be measured. Unless they are led to believe that more is better, something that mind-tricking marketing has been pushing us to believe in order to rip us off yet another amount of bucks.

Either way, you can't listen to Gill Scott-Heron and stay neutral. Either you'd love it or you'd hate it. But let your ears be the judges, wouldn't you?

Gil Scott-Heron - Me & the Devil by Dubmission

If you are in Paris this spring, he is going to be on concert at the New Morning on May 10!

Tags: Hip-Hop, Soul, Spoken Word, Music, Legend

Hey, it's the week-end on this side of the planet. Right past midnight so it's technically Saturday and before hitting the bed, I thought I'd share with you yet another very nice band I found out about while reading the concerts section of Vibrations Magazine February issue a few days ago.

Take a collection of very good Soul/Funk bands who have the gist of a typically 70s sounding "Afro-Soul". Namely The Dap-Kings (yeah the guys who play with Sharon as in Sharon & The Dap-Kings), The Budos Band, and El Michels Affair. Get a musician from these bands here and there to make a beautiful cocktail and you get the Menahan Street Band who released an album in 2008 called Make The Road By Walking, a very fine piece of grooving soul.

When I received the CD yesterday, I carefully unwrapped it and put it in my CD player and hit the play button. Almost instantly, I was travelling back in time. And just by looking at the CD cover, you can tell to which epoch that might be. Right, to the 70s. While I was born in that decade, I have no recollection as a kid of what it means to be living in the 70s. But popular culture is plenty about that period. Make The Road By Walking sound like an OST of some awesome blacksploitation movie, one you'd want to watch over and over again. It's an amazing tour de force, hats off to Menahan Street Band for coming up with such record that can make you travel with leaving that comfy armchair of yours.

There is nothing to throw in this 10 tracks album (well there are 11 tracks but the last one doesn't appear on the official track list and it is only 9 seconds long so it can barely qualify as a track). I do have a preference though for Tired of Fighting and The Traitor.

Tags: Music, Soul, Seventies, Funk, Groove

During the last few years the Afrobeat musical genre, which was created back in 1960s by Fela Kuti and fellow drummer Tony Allen, has garnered quite a lot of attention and numerous bands have sprung up to take the flame of that really interesting genre that blends Jazz and Funk higher up. The SoulJazz Orchestra is certainly one of the most interesting bands out there nowadays.


In early 2008 I blogged about Insurrection, a very groovy song featured in the SoulJazz Orchestra. Back then, I dared to write:

I've never heard something as innovative in the Afrobeat landscape as Insurrection, save for Antibalas. It has a very Funky tone made of an elaborate intertwinement of African and Occidental Drums with warm Saxophones. The Musical genre created by Fela Kuti is alive and kicking!

That same year, the band released another album, Manifesto. I blogged about that one as well and my words were dithyrambic:

They have recently released a new album called Manifesto and I think it’s even better than Freedom Go No Die. This album is actually redefining Afrobeat in my humble opinion. The Afrobeat landscape has exploded in the last few years. Seun and Femi Kuti, sons of the late Fela, released amazing albums. While Seun kept the sound rather close to the original Afrobeat, Femi intertwined it with Jazz. But when it comes to innovation, musicality and an excellent sense of Funk, The SoulJazz Orchestra is the top dog.

A few days ago, I heard that they were releasing a new album, Rising Sun and I finally got it yesterday. Yesterday? Well, you may think that it isn't enough time to review an album. Mind you, I spent almost all evening and my morning commuting time listening to it. And guess what? OK, that ain't hard... I just dig it!

The SoulJazz Orchestra continues to surprise me as this album is more jazzier than the previous releases, more grounded and laid-back with the occasional explosiveness I've witnessed while listening to their previous releases sprinkled here and there.

While Agbara and Negus Negast are amazingly groovy, Lotus Flower and Serenity are very fine pieces of Jazz and dot not really sound like Afrobeat. They remind me of Build An Ark. The remaining songs are somewhere in between. This is a very welcome diversity.

All in all, Rising Sun is a very strong release, a release that has more soul in it and less just-groove-till-the-end-of-night attitude that makes you vibrate but only for a short period. Rising Sun is here to stay!

You can listen to song samples on the band's official website. You can also watch this official videoclip of Agbara:

I've also found Negus Negast on YouTube.

EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to mention that they are going to be in concert at Le Cabaret Sauvage in Paris on April 15, 2010 and I'm going to be there ;-)

Tags: Music, Afrobeat, Groove, Jazz, Funk

Isn't it a wonderful joy just to sit back and listen to some good piece of grooving Music? Well, thanks to Bibi Tanga and the Selenites, I've been doing that quite a lot this week-end.

After listening to their awesomely groovy Red Wine song on Radio Nova, I decided to buy the album, Dunya. I listened to it about 6-7 times now and I like it a lot. Know what? It makes my soul and body chant!

It's funky, groovy, swinging... The kind of Music that brings in pleasure with every breath you take (to all Police fans out there, no offense meant!) and make you feel great about Life, about the present. Just visit their MySpace page and listen to the few songs there. If you are into the groove, you'd like it.

Enjoy!

It's been quite some time that I haven't written anything about Music. Looking back at my blog archives, my last Music related post dates back to February 6, 2009 Wow, almost a year now... So I thought I can give you some news about what I am listening to currently or at least what I am planning to listen to (read: to be released Music).

At this exact moment, I am listening to the original soundtrack of Nanga Parbat, by Gustavo Santaolalla. I haven't seen the movie and I kind of stumbled upon this soundtrack on eMusic and after sampling it, I decided to download it and here I am listening to it and so far, I really like it.

On February 8, 2010, a few albums worth mentioning are expected to hit the shelves. Of course, there is Massive Attack's Heligoland which I sampled on iTunes and I really like what I heard. I like the atmosphere of their Music. I remember listening on and on to Protection and Mezzanine. That was years ago. Those who never heard Angel, Teardrop or Karmacoma (when Tricky was still a member of the band) have some real catchup to do ;-).

Sade is also coming back with Soldier of Love. I am totally in love with Sade's voice. It is so enthralling and soothing I just can't express how I feel when it reaches my ears. Her previous album, Lovers Rock is among my favorite ones. It was released 10 years ago. Yeah, that's quite a long time.

On the mystical side of things, I've discovered an interesting piece while reading one of the blog posts of my favorite Music magazine, Vibrations. It's about an artist called Gonjasufi. His Music is unlike anything I've heard before. At this time, I can't tell whether I like or not. His album, A Sufi and A Killer, should be released in early March 2010 by Warp Records. In the meantime, there are four songs available on the artist's page at Warp Records for free: Candylane, KowboyzandIndians, Ancestors, and Holidays.

Last but not least, I wanted to tell you about Hindi Zahra, a Moroccan artist with a marvelous voice. Her Jazzy/Folkish Music is very refreshing and pleasing to the ears. Watch her very Beautiful Tango videoclip, directed by Tony Gatlif and see her singing Imik Simik live:

In October 2006, I posted a blog entry about Christian Scott’s Rewind That album. Back then, I wrote:

No words come into mind to describe this masterpiece. Rewind That is the debut album from an amazing trumpeter with a great sense of Funk. Christian Scott has earned my admiration and my utter respect with this record which I keep listening to, over and over. As good as (and sometimes better than) records from Erik Truffaz, Roy Hargrove (through the RH Factor) and Christian McBride. I really would like to see more and more albums like this because it reunites three wonderful elements: Funk, Jazz and trumpet.


Then in 2007, Christian released Anthem, another masterpiece which caught me completely off guard. While Rewind That can be barely classified as Jazz since it incorporates a lot of Funk and Soul elements and, in this regard, can be compared to releases from Roy Hargrove’s The RH Factor sublime band, Anthem is more of a true Jazz. In a very laidback style, Christian expresses much anger and haunting images after his hometown has been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. All About Jazz has a nice review of the album that I recommend reading.

A few weeks ago, I was scouting around on the Internet looking for worthy concerts to attend in February/March. This is how I found out that Christian was to play at the New Morning, a mythical Jazz Music venue in Paris. So I went there on Tue Feb 24th with a couple of friends and I enjoyed my time there. I was expecting though a bit more punch from Christian Scott but he decided to leave quite a room for his acolytes. At one point, he said that he really likes playing with his band and listening to it during the sets. No doubt about that since he gave me the impression of attending the concert like I did and spending most the time listening to his buddies.



The line-up for the concert is different from the one that delivered the album. Kristopher Funn replaced Esperanza Spalding at the bass, the uncanny Jamire Williams took the drumming control tower, Milton Fletcher was at the piano. The only original band member was Matt Stevens, guitar.

While my photography skills are very average, I was able to take honorable pictures of the concert thanks to my friend betabug’s sound advice. The pictures were taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX150 with an ISO 400 to 800 sensitivity and no flash in program mode.

Earlier this year, I posted a blog entry about The Souljazz Orchestra, an excellent Afrobeat band from Canada (yes, these guys are from Canada and don't go wonder how they can produce such a warm sound because it would be really so cliché), and their really cool album Freedom Go No Die which featured Insurrection, an incredible song! Quoting myself:

I've never heard something as innovative in the Afrobeat landscape as Insurrection, save for Antibalas. It has a very Funky tone made of an elaborate intertwinement of African and Occidental Drums with warm Saxophones. The Musical genre created by Fela Kuti is alive and kicking! Freedom Go No Die features other excellent songs such as Mista President and The Blind Leading The Blind [...] And if you don't like the Music, maybe you can't resist the beauty of the cover art which I just find awesome!

They have recently released a new album called Manifesto and I think it’s even better than Freedom Go No Die. This album is actually redefining Afrobeat in my humble opinion. The Afrobeat landscape has exploded in the last few years. Seun and Femi Kuti, sons of the late Fela, released amazing albums. While Seun kept the sound rather close to the original Afrobeat, Femi intertwined it with Jazz. But when it comes to innovation, musicality and an excellent sense of Funk, The SoulJazz Orchestra is the top dog.

Should I select one song from all the excellent ones that are featured in Manifesto, it would be State Terrorrism with no hesitation due to its much rapid pace and funkier tone. Next would come Parasite, Kapital and People People. You can hear the latter now and then on Radio Nova, my favorite French radio.

Oh, and the album’s artwork is still awesome ;)

Watch a video footage of The SoulJazz Orchestra playing People People:


And here is one for Kapital (the sound is crappy though):


Meta-information:

• The Souljazz Orchestra official website
• Music samples
• The Souljazz Orchestra on MySpace (you can listen there to a full-length version of State Terrorrism)

A close friend sent me a link to a YouTube video. It’s a footage taken from a documentary called Playing For Change. I’ve never heard of it before. Actually it’s more than a documentary. It’s a movement that aims to bring Peace through Music. This is indeed a laudable goal and the video illustrates it very nicely. Street Music in all its beauty.



PEACE!

Il est des jours où une succession d’événements vous entrouvre les portes du Paradis. Ce soir, j’y suis au Paradis. Musical le Paradis, si je dois vraiment le qualifier. Ce n’est guère la première fois que j’y séjourne, fort heureusement ! Sinon, ma vie ne serait pas aussi riche qu’elle ne l’est aujourd’hui. J’y suis entré cette fois-ci de manière assez surprenante. Ne trépignez point d’impatience, prenez votre temps. Mettez une bonne musique reposante et relaxante. Prenez place, je m’en vais vous conter une belle histoire.

Belle. Oui c’est ainsi que cela a commencé. Equipé de mon fidèle lecteur de musique portatif, les yeux plongés dans un livre assez agréable à lire, je rentrais chez moi. J’étais dans ce train au nom mystérieux mais dont le mystère disparaît dès qu’on y met les pieds. Vous savez, le RER ! Ah les acronymes. Souvent ils cachent la misère et font tout de suite sérieux, pompeux, scientifique ! Je m’égare. Donc j’étais une personne parmi tant d’autres dans ce lieu fort convivial et chaleureux. A un moment, j’ai senti une présence et j’ai levé les yeux pour voir de qui il pouvait s’agir. C’était une jeune demoiselle. Belle. Non, pas vraiment belle. Elle avait certes du charme mais elle avait ce petit quelque chose qui attire l’attention et qui vous donne envie de sourire. Rayonnante, je dirais. Voilà, c’est bien le mot que je cherchais. Elle n’arborait pas cette figure maussade, si chère à bon nombre des personnes que je croisais quotidiennement dans ce train ou un autre. La voir ainsi, rayonnante, contente d’être là, simplement, me donna envie de sourire et je ne sais pas pour quelle raison, ces trois mots me vinrent à l’esprit : Belle de nuit. Un titre de l’album de The Walk of The Giant Turtle dont l’auteur n’est autre que cet immense joueur de trompette au son si typique, j’ai nommé Monsieur Erik Truffaz. Au moment où ces mots se sont matérialisés dans mon esprit, j’étais entrain d’écouter la musique d’Erin Bode, une chanteuse dotée d’une voix fort agréable. Ayant un grand respect pour la bonne musique, j’ai laissé cette chère Erin finir son morceau avant de faire la succession d’opérations nécessaires pour lancer Belle de nuit, un titre très agréable à écouter ceci dit en passant.

Erik accompagna mes pas ensuite jusqu’à mon domicile où j’ai retrouvé ma petite famille. J’ai du donc laisser Erik de côté. Peut-être pour le trajet demain matin pensais-je. Mais la vie vous réserve souvent des surprises. Le dernier numéro de Jazzman m’attendait sagement sur la table du séjour, m’invitant à l’ouvrir. Ce que je fis car en voyant une superbe photo en noir et blanc d’Art Blakey sur la couverture, la tentation fut trop grande pour y résister. C’est ainsi que je me suis retrouvé à lire la rubrique sur les disques du mois et quelle ne fut ma surprise d’apprendre que le sieur Truffaz avait non seulement sorti 3 albums en même temps mais qu’un des albums était un Choc Jazzman du mois ! Vite, de quoi s’agit-il ? Je me suis empressé de trouver la page qui décrivait ces 3 pépites et ce que j’y ai lu m’emplit d’une joie immense, dans l’expectative d’écouter l’oeuvre du plus éclectique parmi les trompettistes du Jazz. C’est ainsi que je me suis retrouvé à écrire ce billet, en écoutant le triptyque élaboré sous forme de voyage sonore où chaque album a sa propre identité, très différente des autres : Paris, Benares et Mexico.

Paris, où le groove immense d’un Sly Johnson (des Saïan Supa Crew, déjà entendu récemment dans le dernier album de Camille) côtoie cette magnifique trompette. Géniale « beatbox » humaine, Sly Johnson n’a rien à envier à un monstre du genre. Bobby Mc Ferrin bien sûr !

Benares, où l’on retrouve un son envoûtant et mystique avec des voix pénétrantes et de magnifiques tablas.

Mexico enfin où on ne croirait pas un instant que nous sommes dans l’univers d’un Truffaz si on n’avait pas vu son nom figurer sur la jaquette, tellement la signature sonore est proche de celle d’un Nils Petter Molvaer, notamment à travers son sublime album Khmer, un vrai ovni dans la constellation Jazz apparu il y a quelques années chez ECM.

S’il y a bien une chose que j’adore dans la Musique, c’est l’éclectisme et l’invitation à l’ouverture et au partage. Le triptyque d’Erik Truffaz représente tout à fait cela. Des albums avec des ambiances particulières, tellement différentes, et qui traduisent un vrai esprit d’ouverture chez cet artiste dont je suis les aventures musicales depuis le début de ce siècle et que j’ai eu la chance de voir deux fois en concert. Et c’est grâce à lui si j’éprouve un tel bonheur ce soir. La Musique a cet effet sur moi. Elle s’infiltre dans les interstices de mon âme et libère ces choses qu’on appelle émotions, vous savez bien ... je parle de ces choses qui font de nous des êtres humains. Et je dois avouer que j’ai de la chance de pouvoir écouter une telle musique. La dernière fois où j’ai mis les pieds au Paradis Musical, c’était grâce (encore une fois !) à ce cher Avishai Cohen. J’ai assisté à son concert du 16 octobre au Bataclan.

Parisiens, si vous n’avez rien programmé, venez donc voir Benares en Live le 02 avril prochain au Café de la Danse et Paris (avec Sly Johnson) le 3 avril à La Maroquinerie. J’ai déjà réservé mes billets et si nous nous y croisons, faites-moi signe, nous irons savourer une boisson ensemble !

Et pour finir, je tiens à remercier la jeune demoiselle dans le train. Rayonnante inconnue, sans toi je n’aurais peut-être pas passer une si bonne soirée.

J’ai découvert la Musique de Thievery Corporation en 2001 grâce à un collègue de travail qui est depuis devenu un de mes meilleurs amis (nobz, tu te reconnaîtras). A l’époque, si mes souvenirs sont bons, j’étais encore réticent et dubitatif face à cet engouement pour l’Electro. C’était sans compter sur l’énorme musicalité (si si) de Thievery Corporation qui a réussi (avec The Herbalizer notamment) à briser mes réticences et me permettre d’élargir mes horizons en tant que passionné de musiques.


Ce groupe (ou plutôt duo) américain a une signature sonore unique facilement reconnaissable. Il suffit de lancer un de leurs titres pour tout de suite sentir ce groove un peu chaloupé qui constitue la base de leur oeuvre. Bien qu’on case souvent leur Musique dans la catégorie « Electro », elle est avant tout éclectique. Après l’excellent The Cosmic Game, ils viennent de frapper très fort avec Radio Retaliation, certainement un des meilleurs albums que j’ai écouté cette année.

Ce n’est pas tant l’innovation ou l’originalité qui me poussent à écrire des mots aussi forts à propos de cet album mais parce qu’il traduit parfaitement ce que j’attends de la Musique en tant qu’auditeur : une ouverture et du partage.

Ouverture d’abord parce qu’on retrouve du Reggae, du Dancehall, du Hip-Hop, de l’Afrobeat de la musique latine, de la Soul, de la musique hindoue et de la musique orientale dans cet album ! Le tout constituant un ensemble très homogène grâce à la signature sonore si unique et l’habillage Electro de Thievery Corporation.

Partage car ils ont invité des artistes de haut vol sur cet album : Seu Jorge, Anoushka Shankar, Femi Kuti, ou Sleepy Wonder. On pourrait craindre légitimement une « soupe » mondialisée et mondialisante mais c’est loin d’être le cas. Radio Retaliation est aussi un album politiquement engagé. Il n’y a qu’a écouter par exemple Vampires avec Femi Kuti, Radio Retaliation (la chanson) avec Sleepy Wonder, ou Forgotten People.



Quelques liens utiles :

• Site officiel du groupe
• Thievery Corporation sur Myspace
• Thievery Corporation sur last.fm

Andrew Velez has reviewed Gently Disturbed by Avishai Cohen Trio for All About Jazz (AAJ). You should definitely read this excellent review.

Quoting him:

[...] their sophisticated ways tantalize and require attentive, open ears.

I can’t say it any better. These guys truly have some incredible alchemy going on. I’ve already written about their New Morning concert a few weeks ago. And I keep listening to their album and every time I discover something new and gain deeper understanding of their Music. Quoting Andrew again:

Gently Disturbed is a blend of melody, groove, complexity and simplicity that is beyond definition.

Beyond definition!

Dans le cadre du festival parisien Quartier d’été, l’excellent groupe d’Afrobeat Antibalas effectue une série de 5 concerts dans des jardins de la capitale. Le premier a eu lieu hier au Parc de la Villette. Ce soir, ils seront au jardin Emile Gallé dans le 11ème et je compte y assister avec betabug, un bon ami swiss geek in athens tel qu’il se définit ;-) et en visite actuellement à Paris.



Antibalas est un de mes groupes Afrobeat préférés. Je les ai déjà vu se produire il y a quelques mois dans une salle à Massy (dans le 91) et j’avais passé un très bon moment. La musique est bien rythmée et votre corps peut se mettre à bouger de façon incontrôlable. Les cuivres sont bien présents et la batterie soutient joliment le tout.

Pour découvrir la Musique de cet excellent groupe, faites un tour sur leur site MySpace. Et voici quelques sympathiques titres sur Deezer :

• El Machete
• Musicaw Silt (Live)
• Pay Back Africa
• Pour terminer, vous pouvez consulter le programme complet du festival au format PDF.

I moved recently to a new location with my little family. While preparing the boxes, I was surprised to find a dusty box full of magnetic Music tapes in my basement. I was like a little kid opening a gift holding big promises. It contained all the magnetic tapes I brought with when I left Morocco to come to study in France. At that time, my Sony Discman I used to have for a few years was completely broken so I took only my Sony Walkman, a few CDs and as much tapes as I could pack.

Many of them have special memories associated with them. The Al Corley original tape was a gift from a cousin of mine. I craved Square Rooms. You are not dreaming ;-) ... My Musical taste is eclectic, I told ya! I also found a ZZ Top Eliminator original tape. This one was a gift from my brother. It is so beaten up that I didn’t dare putting it in my Technics tape player. Dirty Dog was one of my favorite songs in the nineties. I remember very clearly that the tape broke several times and I had to ‘fix’ it using nail polish :-p



But the tape that I cherish the most is my very first one! Yes, I still have it. It’s a Sony CHF 60 minutes tape my brother bought for me in 1986, when I was a mere 12yo boy. It was recorded using Dolby (woot!) and contains the Breakin’ movie’s awesome soundtrack. At that time, Breakdancing was all hype in Morocco. I used to practice with some friends all the rather basic figures: Turtle, Back Spin, etc. And of course, the movie that was on everyone’s mouth and that every kid on the block was trying to copy moves from was Breakin’! (released as Breakdance: The Movie in Morocco). It features a very affable trio of dancers -Kelly, Ozone and Turbo-. Turbo moves was particularly spectacular to my kid’s eyes. I have extremely sharp memories of Turbo’s Broom Dance:



And here is the first battle:



Of course, things have changed over time but not necessarily for the best (heck, where are the power moves?!?):



Supertramp got it right. It was the best of all times ;-)

La semaine dernière, je suis allé boire un verre avec des amis au Baroudeur, un bar bien sympathique dans le 11ème à Paris (il est situé plus exactement au 1, rue Faidherbe). L’ambiance y était chaleureuse. Les enceintes diffusaient de la bonne musique, plutôt Jazzy. A un moment, un morceau de bon Funk se lance. Ca ressemblait beaucoup à une chanson de Soulive d’il y a quelques temps mais il manquait certains ingrédients habituellement utilisés par ce groupe, un je-ne-sais-quoi de différent.

Renseignements pris auprès du serveur qui est allé voir sur l’écran de l’iPod servant ce délicieux mets auditif, le cuisinier se nommait The James Taylor Quartet. De retour au bercail, je me mets à la quête du cuisinier dans le cyberverse (ça fait tout de suite j’étale ma science non ?) et je tombe sur une page de Wikipedia qui m’apprend que c’est un groupe Anglais formé par le sieur James Taylor qui officie au Hammond. Un bon nombre de leurs disques (tous ?) sont disponibles chez eMusic. J’ai pratiquement tout pré-écouté avant de télécharger un album de 2001 intitulé Message From The Godfather dont les sonorités ressemblaient beaucoup à ce que nous avions pu écouter au Baroudeur. Mes oreilles sont en ce moment entrain de se délecter de ce Jazz Funk classieux et efficace.



Voici quelques autres liens pour explorer l’oeuvre musicale de ce groupe très sympathique :

• Site officiel
• Page MySpace

As a follow-up to my post on Avishai Cohen’s concert, I’d like to share with you on another awesome Jazz artist that also has this blending/generosity power in his Music. I am talking about Christophe Wallemme.

Like Avishai, he is a Jazz bassist/composer/arranger and has a very solid groove. Born in Paris in 1964, his 2006 record Namasté exemplifies the kind of Jazz that I particularly enjoy. That’s why I am planning on attending his October concert at the Sunside, another mythical Jazz venue.

The self-titled song Namasté is a groove summum. I will now step back and let your ears discover this song.

Christophe Wallemme - Namaste EPK


Useful links:

• Christophe Wallemme on Myspace
• Namasté video during a May 2008 concert

It's Saturday 1:26 AM on this side of the not-so-green-anymore planet. I have just came back home. I was at a Jazz concert in Paris. And it was so amazing that I wanted to share my feelings with you right away, before heading to that so-longed-for bed of mine.

Avishai Cohen is one of the most innovative and amazing Jazz bassist and composer/arranger I know of. I heard first of him about 2 years ago in one of my favorite Jazz magazines (Jazzman). They reviewed his 2006 record, Continuo, and gave it very good ratings. As soon as I ripped it on my iTunes library, it was an instant hit and I was literally hooked. Since then, an awesome live CD/DVD (As Is... Live At The Blue Note) and a 2008 record (Gently Disturbed) finished convinced me (as if it was needed) that this is the guy. This is the kind of Music that speaks to my inner self. It represented all what I liked about Music: blending and generosity. Good Music has this particular trait that makes your emotions flowing and put your brain's right hemisphere into high gear mode.

When I learned that he was coming to Paris for a concert at the New Morning, one of the mythical Jazz venues in France, I didn't think much before getting a ticket. A single one. Usually, I ask friends/relatives if they want to come along. But I felt that I needed to live that "snapshot" alone, a communion.

The big day arrived. Friday 18th of July. I had one hell of a week. Physically and emotionally straining. At the end of the day, I was very tired and I doubted that I had enough fuel to go the concert. I don't know how but my feet pushed me forward. Toward the New Morning scene, toward Avishai Cohen and his sidekicks, drummer Mark Guiliana and pianist Shai Maestro.



I arrived there around 7:45 PM. The concert was supposed to start at 9:00 PM. There was already a line. I waited. I was tired. Really tired. Two guys were in front of me in that long line. They started talking about Jazz, Music and other topics I have a sharp interest in. So I jumped in with both feet. I felt that they are made of the same fabrics I was made from. They were generous and have a keen interest in Music. It was a very enjoyable talk. I didn't feel much the long time we waited before entering inside the New Morning. They opened the doors at 9:00 PM. We got good seats and waited for another 30 minutes before the Jazz trio came on the scene.

The words end here. I was completely flabbergasted by these three guys. I took several direct "hits" in the ears, so many of them actually that I don't think I've been to a so emotionally intensive concert in my whole life. They didn't give any warning before taking me from Tired Station to Heavy Energy Street in the blink of an eye. The "hits" were so strong that tears of utter joy kept visiting my cheeks now and then. I was smiling all the time, enthralled by that jaw dropping event. All three musicians were exceptional. But If I should give a "awesome achievement" award it will be to the drummer with no hesitation at all. At three occasions during the two sets they played, he really unleashed his creativity and performed something I've never seen/heard before. He took all the audience with him in a very enjoyable trip. He kind of gave us his hand and told us "follow me in uncharted territory, you'll enjoy the ride. I guarantee it". And we did and we enjoyed behind all description.

After two hours of fantastic Music, I had troubles getting back on my feet and heading home. I kept saying "unbelievable" and I knew that many other people felt the same way. They had that telltale look on their face.

It took me about 1h30min to get back home and here I am writing you. I am still kind of knocked out emotionally speaking.

If you want to try some Music samples, please visit http://www.myspace.com/avishaicohenmusic. Select 11Wives, sit back ... have a good and pleasant trip.

Keep the Music flowing. Let the emotions out. Check for yourselves that we humans can make truly beautiful "things".

Truly yours,

Dee Dee Bridgewater is a cheerful, affable artist with a very interesting voice. During the years, I've sampled some of her songs (mainly Jazz) but I was not really hooked... until the release of Red Earth, her latest album that she recorded in Mali, Africa. She decided to go there seeking her African ancestry and I think she found it, at least musically speaking.

Mali is a an amazing and vibrant Music haven in West Africa. That's the country where some of my favorite African artists live such as the excellent Toumani Diabaté, Ballaké Cissoko, or Salif Keita to cite just a few. Mali is also the country where Ali Farka Touré was born and died.

Featuring Kora (my favorite Music instrument), Balafon and other traditional African Music instruments as well as a masterfully played Piano (by no less than Edsel Gomez who's Cubist Music was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007), Red Earth is a very interesting album that I particularly enjoyed listening to.



I was pleased to see it featured on NPR which streams a Dee Dee Bridgewater's concert performed in Washington D.C. Treat your ears to this excellent Music! I particularly recommend the second part (seek the Listen to Part 2 link).

[Jazz] Kalimba Suite by Bobby McFerrin
From the album Beyond Words.


Bobby McFerrin is one of my favorite artists. I highly regard his amazing voice and incredible musicality. He is a frequent guest of my iPod playlists and I often listen to his records when I need to relax, be it for sleep, for work or just for kicks. Circlesongs, released in 1997, is so far my favorite album. But I have a feeling that Beyond Words -released in 2002 and the subject of this post- might replace it.

Two weeks ago, I had a cursory glance at some online music news (which I have a hard time recollecting what kind of site it was) when I saw Bobby's name cited. So I decided to have a look at Amazon.fr and see if I can find an El Cheapo (as in price, not as in Music of course) record of the Man that I don't own. That's how I first heard about Beyond Words and also that one of the guests invited by Bobby McFerrin was Richard Bona, an amazing African bassist with a very nice voice of his own. As for the El Cheapo condition, I ordered it through Market Place (from Import CD Specialist if you care, they have top service and I ordered quite numerous times from them with no troubles so far).

When I got back from work today, the CD was waiting for me in the mailbox. After minding the kids, getting dinner and helping my dear half with housework, I ripped the CD, put on my headphones and hit the Play button. In a instant, I was travelling to Music land. I looped through the whole record once and on the second iteration, I realized how Kalimba Suite stands out. It's like being in a wonderful garden full of amazing flowers and when you go through the whole thing your preattentive processing kicks in and you realize that one particular flower stands out.

Kalimba Suite is truly exceptional. Mind you, it's a 2-in-1 song. Around 2 minutes of playing this 3:40 song, the tone changes and a synthetizer kicks in (which somehow reminded me of Tom Grant's 1990 record Edge Of The World) with a weird reverb effect. Surprising at first, it just flows nicely afterwards without really breaking the magic initiated by the first 2 minutes. And just to add to the joy I felt, the bassist is of course Mr. Bona!

Beyond Words is a very nice record that you can get with your eyes closed (and listen to with eyes closed as well to maximize the happiness).

I truly thank you Bobby for your excellent Music. Keep up the excellent job!

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
• Label: Blue Note
• Release year: 2002
• Related Artists: None, absolutely None!

Extra links:

• Bobby McFerrin's official website
• Listen to Kalimba Suite (full-length, not so bad quality) on Deezer
• An awesome improvisation featuring Bobby McFerrin and Richard Bona from your friendly YouTube

[Blues] Hold On by Eric Bibb
From the album Spirit I Am.


The first time I heard about Eric Bibb was back in 2003. I went to a FNAC store in downtown Paris and asked the guy at the Jazz/Blues section if he can advise artists similar to Keb' Mo'. I recall very clearly how bright his face went and he answered with a smile, handing Eric Bibb's Natural Light record. I bought it without any further question or comment and when I was back home, I put it in the CD player and I enjoyed it a lot. Since then, I am keeping a close eye on that artist. He has a great sense of Blues and uses elements of Folk and Soul as well.

Spirit I Am is his latest release. Published by DixieFrog Records in France, it is a double-album. The first is the "official" album (Get On Board) and the second (Field Recordings) is a France-only release. Field Recordings is a traditional Blues record. And my favorite song is Hold On, the fifth track of this album. Featuring Eric's warm and very soothing voice with an acoustic guitar, it instantly touched my soul. This is what I call a wonderful song. The other songs of Field Recordings and Get On Board are very good.

When I buy an album, I rip it (if it's a soft/hard shell CD) or convert it (if it's an eMusic MP3 album) into AAC using iTunes. And I usually listen to it using my Sennheiser PX200 headphones. When I received Spirit I Am, I got Omar Sosa's Afreecanos as well and a CD Sampler from Vibrations. I started by ripping Afreecanos first, then Spirit I Am and I finished with the CD Sampler. When I started listening to Hold On, my eyes fell on the Cover Flow part of iTunes' display. I took the following screenshot, which speaks for itself and for my emotions:



Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
• Label: DixieFrog Records
• Release year: 2008
• Related Artists: Keb' Mo'

Extra links:

• Eric Bibb's Official Website
• I Heard The Angels Singing (YouTube Video Of A Live Performance of Eric Bibb)

[Afrobeat] Insurrection by The Souljazz Orchestra
From the album Freedom Go No Die.


I discovered this band a few weeks earlier thanks to Radio Nova, a radio I listen to quite often. And I had quite a hard time finding the album in France. As a last resort, I got it from iTunes Store.

I've never heard something as innovative in the Afrobeat landscape as Insurrection, save for Antibalas. It has a very Funky tone made of an elaborate intertwinement of African and Occidental Drums with warm Saxophones. The Musical genre created by Fela Kuti is alive and kicking! Freedom Go No Die features other excellent songs such as Mista President and The Blind Leading The Blind. While these songs are very solid and serious Afrobeat, they didn't sound as new and challenging wrt to the Afrobeat sound I am used to hear elsewhere as Insurrection. My buying advice? get a look at the rating, you don't need me to tell you that you can get this one without further thinking. And if you don't like the Music, maybe you can't resist the beauty of the cover art which I just find awesome!

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
• Label: Do Right!
• Release year: 2006
• Related Artists: Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, Antibalas, The Souljazz Orchestra, Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators, Kokolo, Akoya, Fela Kuti, Tony Allen, Budos Band, Nomo

Extra links:

• The Souljazz Orchestra Official Website
• Insurrection 57 seconds sample (MP3)
• Live "mini" footage on YouTube
• Insurrection (full-length) on YouTube

[Afrobeat] Musicawa Silt by The Daktaris
From the album Soul Explosion.

Musicawa Silt is an excellent Afrobeat/Funk piece. I stumbled upon this 1998 album by chance while browsing pretty much at random eMusic's collection. At first, I didn't believe what I heard. This is exactly the kind of Music I am currently looking for and enjoying. It sounds a lot like Fela Kuti's material with a more Funky tone to it. As always, I often listen to this kind of superb Music with closed eyes (not when I cross the streets of course) because it has that mysterious power to transport me into the comfy realms of my imagination. The Daktaris give me just the right mix of Afrobeat alchemy to lead me to believe I am back to the seventies, a time period I didn't know for real ( I was born in 1974) and the only "solid" references I have about it is from the movies I watched, mainly blaxploitation. Transcendental Music is excellent Music. And that's it. Wanna do your ears a favor? Get Musicawa Silt. Oh and you know what? Get Soul Explosion and travel back in time for about 40 mins. For a time machine, it's quite a bargain.

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
• Label: Desco Records
• Release year: 1998
• Related Artists: Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, Antibalas, The Souljazz Orchestra, Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators, Kokolo, Akoya, Fela Kuti, Tony Allen, Budos Band

Extra links:

• The Daktaris at Myspace
• Full-length song (FREE) from tighttunes.com

[Jazz] Dawn by Build An Ark
From the album Dawn.

What an amazing Jazz song Dawn is! A delicious recipe where Jazz is the main element, mixing it with amazing tribal sounds that take their roots in Africa thanks to a great musical sensitiveness. With about thirty musicians, Build An Ark is more of a project than your usual Jazz band. Loaded with just the right dose of spirituality and mysticism, this new album embodies peace messages all over. Almost all the songs are top-notch but Dawn really stands out with this subtle intertwinement of Jazz and African percussions. Too bad the album is so short.

Note to the eMusic subscribers out there: Peace With Every Step, Build An Ark's previous album, is available for download. I'm currently listening to it and so far I enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Dawn.

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
• Label: Kindred Spirits
• Release year: 2007
• Related Artists: Herbie Hancock, Avishai Cohen, Bob James

Extra links:

• Build An Ark at myspace
• Listen to the song from the Vibrations website (requires Flash, scroll the page a bit and click on the "Play" button)

[Reggae] Fire Go Come by Corey Harris
From the album Zion Crossroads.

Fire Go Come is a wonderful Roots Reggae tune. I've known Corey Harris as a very interesting Bluesman and I was very pleased when I listened to Zion Crossroads, a pure Reggae record respecting all the "standards" of this genre. There are many very good Roots Reggae songs such as Sweatshop, Afrique (Chez Moi), Cleanliness and Plantation Town (which has a very interesting Bluesy tone). Corey Harris ventures also in the grounds of Dancehall (You Never Know, Heathen Rage) with great success. But Fire Go Come has just the right mix of politically engaged lyrics, riddim, and outstanding vocals that carry on the emotion you can feel through the lyrics. There is also a brilliant guitar riff thrown in the middle. Fire Go Come Real Soon! It sure is 'mon!

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
• Label: Telarc
• Release year: 2007
• Related Artists: Tiken Jah Fakoly, Bob Marley, Winston McAnuff, Sylford Walker

Extra links:

• Corey Harris at myspace

[Hip-Hop] Say Something by Talib Kweli (Explicit Lyrics)
From the album Eardrum.

If you have been following my Music posts for sometime, you know that I have eclectic musical tastes. And I listen quite often to Hip-Hop Music. Thanks (again!) to my brother Aziz, I became a fan of this genre back in the late 80s when Aziz come home (he was already in the U.S. at that time) for a visit and brought with him a truckload of CDs (a rarity then in Morocco) and tapes. Run DMC, KRS-One, and Eazy E were among my favorite. I enjoy a handful of Gangsta style records such as 50 cent's Guess Who's Back?, Snoop Doggy Dogg's Doggystyle, and Public Enemy albums (which I don't really define as Gangsta). But there's nothing better IMHO than old-school Hip-Hop. And Say Something is one of the best old-school Hip-Hop songs I've listened to lately. Talib Kweli has a very nice voice and a awesome flow. And the rhythm is simply incredible. It pushes the adrenaline quite high and make you want to start dancing without ever feeling it. This is exactly what happened to me the first time I listened to it. It was about 6 days ago. I was getting dinner with my elder daughter and all of a sudden, I jumped out of my chair and started dancing. It brought back memories long forgotten of the time I used to practice Break-dancing with some neighbours down the street in Casablanca. Cheerful, my daughter also got out of her chair and starting mimicking my rather bad dance moves ;-)

Anyways, if you like old-school Hip-Hop and solid artistic skills, Talib Kweli iz da man!

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
• Label: Blacksmith Records
• Release year: 2007
• Related Artists: Common, MF Doom, Hi-Tek

Extra links :

• Music sample @youtube
• Talib Kweli's Official Website
• Say Something Lyrics

If you are a Jazz fan and you've never heard of Steve Coleman, you deserve some serious spanking. This awesome saxophonist has produced many excellent (and some very obscure and abstract) albums. And you know what? Most of his albums (even out of print and rare ones) are available for free on the artist's website in MP3 format (no DRM, no hidden trick). But maybe not for long. As you can read on the website:

However I am looking for a place to host the dowloading of these files as my server is closing down soon!! This is a small server and keeps shutting down because of the amounts of downloads.

So hurry up if you want to get some.

By the way, I have just received his latest work, Invisible Paths: First Scattering. It's a solo sax album! I may review that one later on. Until then, you may want to grab my favorite ones for free from the website: Sine Die, Drop Kick, and Rhythm People (The Resurrection Of Creative Black Civilization).

[Rock] Sharpening Bone, Piers Faccini
From the album Tearing Sky.

I have a bit weird story with this artist. In 2004, I heard a song from his then-new album Leave No Trace while on the road in Corsica. I wasn't enthralled. I thought to myself "mmmmm .... ok, it is quite nice but why the Music magazines and radios have such a high opinion of this guy?" I decided to buy the album nonetheless and add it to my collection. Truth is, I almost didn't listen to it (as it happens sometimes when I buy many CDs in one shot). Fast forward to 2006. Piers released a new album which was lauded by my favorite Music magazine, Vibrations. Their sampler even included If I, a song from Tearing Sky. I thought it was better than what I had already heard from Piers. Not that I heard that much anyways. I decided once again to get the album and I listened to it once. Fast forward to 2007 and this week-end. I picked up a CD randomly to listen to it in my car. It was Tearing Sky. It is so good that I listened to it non-stop all the week-end. Even this morning while commuting. I consider it as one of the top albums I will always keep handy. There are many excellent songs. The selection was extremely hard but I think Sharpening Bone is a bit better than the remaining songs. It has an eery feeling to it and the "Indian" (as in "redneck") chanting featured at the end is amazing. It should be noted that Ben Harper is featured in the opening song (he is doing the background vocals) and his Innocent Criminals (Juan Nelson, Leon Mobley & co.) back Piers with their very solid play. And Piers' voice is excellent. Sorry Piers for almost missing your excellent Music.

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
  
• Label: Label Bleu
  
• Release Year: 2006
  
• Related Artists: Ben Harper, Jack Johnson
  

Extra links :

• Piers' Official Website
  

While my first unit of the Koss PortaPro headphones, which about in 1998, lasted a few years the two replacement units I got afterwards didn't "survive" for long (I take extra care of my Music gear). Was it because of the incredible success of this model (at least in France) and the money-hungry company that understood very well the law of supply and demand and decided to raise the price quite significantly (I bought my first unit for about 45 EUR and now they are around 70...) while diminishing the costs with a negative impact on quality? This might be mere speculation but see, my last unit fell apart yesterday. One of the phones doesn't want to stick anymore to the head support. And that support's resizing plastic elements broke. So I thought it was time to look for something else for a change.

I still use my Shure E3C when commuting or before going to sleep. But I needed something similar to the Koss PortaPro when I work so that I can hear people around me. But I didn't want to spend much time comparing models so I decided to ask my friends around and Jethro, a fellow DocIslander and a Music lover to whom I am grateful for making me discover some very interesting Music, told me about the Sennheiser PX200. He bought a unit when he got his iPod Nano about 10 months ago and he was very well satisfied with them, save for feeling a discomfort after wearing them for an extended time.

Being a closed model, I feared they were heavy and won't let ambient sounds in. But I decided to follow Jethro's advice anyways and I bought a unit for 57 EUR yesterday. When I got back home, I opened the package and took the PX200 out of their quite interesting carrying case that looks like it was created for carrying glasses (the PX200 fold almost like them). It was time to test them. So I launched iTunes, plugged the unit to my laptop and created a playlist with many genres of Music. The songs I chose were some of the ones I know most and to which I listened to many times. That way, I believe I could fish any distorsion or unusual sound rendering. Well, the PX200 performed very well. They sound a lot like the PortaPro and are very light and comfortable. The noise blocking is pretty nice and if you don't listen to Music too loudly, you can hear some of the ambient sounds around. They also look pretty solid. Let's hope they don't break apart soon.

I am so far happy even if the people around me might no be that happy when they realize I've changed headphones and that they need to shout to make themselves heard. Thank you Jethro for the great advice.

[World] Toumast, Tinariwen
From the album Aman Iman (Water is Life).

WOW. WOW. WOW!!!!! I rarely felt in so great a communion with Music but Toumast touched the inner core of my being. It feels like someone gave me a strange shot with some special fluid that makes me go in a trance. I am very sensitive to that kind of Music. Maybe it is due (again) to my brother making me listen to Gnawa Music when I was a kid back in Morocco, a genre that Tinariwen's Music takes to higher grounds. The sound quality is awesome and the handclaps participate to that trance feeling. I've listened to Aman Iman almost 20 times (according to my iTunes's Play Count numbers) and I can't quit. All the songs are excellent but Toumast has something into it that makes it different from the others. If you want to travel to the Sahel without ever leaving your seat (I am totally crazy about this characteristic of great Music) and take part in a Tuareg mystical party, go get this album right away.

I think Tinariwen has reached some sort of incredible alchemy that wasn't there in their previous albums. And I really thank them for that. If it wasn't for a family event that was scheduled so ahead in time, I would have bought a ticket for their Bataclan concert on April 7th.

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
  
• Label: Universal Music
  
• Release year: 2007
  
• Related Artists: Desert Rebel, Ali Farka Touré, Vieux Farka Touré, Hamid Kasri, Tartit, Toumast
  

Extra links :

• Streaming version of Toumast
  
• Tinariwen's Official Website
  
• Streaming versions of four of the album's songs (require Real Player or Windows Media Player)
  

[Jazz] Byzance, Nguyên Lê Duos (Nguyên Lê and Dhafer Youssef)
From the album Homescape.

Byzance is in my opinion the best song of 2006. Featuring two of my favorite artists, Guitar player Nguyên Lê and Oud player Dhafer Youssef, it has something very special that I can't define clearly in words, that "transcends" Music and gives me a ruch of amazing and very enjoyable emotions with its oriental, almost hypnotic, tone. The intertwinement of Oud and Guitar with oriental percussions is just perfect. The same goes for the excellent sound engineering, made in a home studio by Nguyên Lê. Dhafer Youssef's voice adds a very welcome touch to the song's core fabric. This is great Art. Thank you guys for this amazing piece of Music. I've listened to it about 30 times already and I am absolutely not tired of it.

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
  
• Label: ACT
  
• Release year: 2006
  
• Related Artists: Wolfgang Haffner, Anouar Brahem, Erik Truffaz (particularly in his latest album, Saloua, which features Soufi singer Mounir Troudi)
  

Extra links :

• 30 seconds MP3 sample from abstractlogix.com
  
• Nguyên Lê's Official Website
  
• Dhafer Youssef's Official Website
  
• CD info from ACT
  
• allaboutjazz.com CD Review
  

[Funk] Qu'est-ce Qu'on En Fait ?, Sinclair
From the album Morphologique



The French prince of Funk is back at it! Since I included one of his songs in Wonderful Songs Aug'05, he has released a new album, Morphologique (French for Morphological), a few months ago. I really like his Music and this album is on a par with his talent. Qu'est Ce Qu'on En Fait ? is the most Funky song of the lot and Sinclair is very good in this register. He has an incredible sense of Groove and rhythm. And I also enjoy his voice. The album also features nice Pop songs.

Please give it a try.

Meta information:

• Rating: 4/5
  
• Label: Editions xtrasoul (self-produced)
  
• Release year: 2006
  
• Related Artists: -M-, Ben Ricour
  

Extra links :

• Artist's Website (contains sample music. Click on "L'album")
  

[Jazz] Look The Lobis, Romano, Sclavis, Texier, Le Querrec
From the album African Flashback.


African Flashback is one of my favorite Jazz albums. Featuring Aldo Romano on drums, Louis Sclavis on clarinet, and Henri Texier on bass, it is the third and last album of this amazing European Jazz trio. The idea behind this trio was initiated in 1990 by Guy Le Querrec, a renowned French photographer. who went touring Central Africa for three weeks. They had been so enthralled by this experience that they decided to make Carnet de Routes in 1995. Featuring original compositions from each artist and about 50 photos of the trips, this first album met incredible success. In 1998, the four friends decided to go back to Africa. This time, they visited South and East Africa. As a result, a second album, Suite Africaine, was made. It also met great success. And I really love those two albums.



Later on, Le Querrec was asked to choose from the thousands of unreleased pictures he brought back from Africa and to give his selection to the musicians who would imagine stories behind these pictures that they will tell the listeners in Music. Released in 2005, African Flashback is the result of this work and it is simply superb! There's no other word to describe this jewel. The CD comes with an impressive booklet containing Le Querrec's selected pictures. It was very had to select one of the songs as I really love all of them (except Surreal Politik that isn't to my taste at all). After listening over and over to this masterpiece, I decided to give my preference to Look The Lobis for the incredible Bass play donned by Henri Texier and the very distinct Rock tone of the song.

I am very grateful to these musicians and all the other artists that create such amazing Art. I can't imagine how we could live without Music.

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
  
• Label: Label Bleu
  
• Release year: 2005
  

Extra links :

• Look The Lobis sample (30 seconds in Real Audio)
  

Back in the nineties, I used the Koss PortaPro headphones my brother Aziz brought back with him from the U.S. when he visited the family in Morocco (that was in the summer of 1991 brother?), I started to be more stringent about the quality of headphones and earphones in general. At that time, as a student all what I was able to get was some open Sony headphones. While they didn't sound great in comparison to the Koss Porta Pro, they were better than the crap vendors keep bundling with their portable audio systems. The Sony headphones served me well during many years and I even brought them with me to France in 1997. With some of the money I earned in my student job, I got a closed Sennheiser model. While they sounded pretty good, they were pretty heavy to wear and I usually used them before going to sleep or when I was studying at the library.

Things started to get interesting when I got my first real job. I bought the Koss PortaPro and I was very satisfied with them for quite a few years. But as you nurture your mind with reading and mental exercing, you also nurture your ears with great Music. Mine became a bit discomforted with the bass-boosting Porta Pro. Moreover, since they were an open model, they weren't good at isolating external noise that prevented me from listening to Music in good conditions while commuting. The Paris metro and RER are extremely noisy. And inconsciously, I was raising the volume to compensate for the noise. I was damaging my ears. It was time to look for something else. Closed models are great but they aren't good for commuting. And I had troubles with earphones. The models I have tried wouldn't fit my ears correctly. And then Aziz told me about how nice the Sony Fontopia MDR-EX51LP earphones were. I decided to try them and indeed, they were nice. Moreover, their soft silicon earbuds fit perfectly in my ears. That was in 2001.

Last year, when I went to the U.S. visiting Aziz and Mom, I read about the Shure E3C earphones on C|Net. They are quite pricey but I decided to get them anyway. They produce an awesome and crystal-clear sound. I am totally hooked. I use them for commuting and while at home before going to sleep with the foams which isolate superbly well from the external noise. At work, I use the PortaPro to be able to hear when people call me. Since then, Laurent (a coworker and friend of mine) bought a unit too and he feels the same about their quality. Mitch and Régis, two other coworkers and friends got the Shure E2C model and they told me that the noise isolating capability of these earphones also changed their life and gave them a new perspective of their musical experience as listeners. The E2C are less expensive than the E3C but I can't tell you which one to get. You will have to let your ears decide ;-)

[World] Tunga, Mamadou Diabaté
From the album Tunga. Available from eMusic



Tunga is the reason why I decided to post something about the Kora yesterday. Mamadou Diabaté plays this complex instrument masterfully. No doubt about that. I feel like crying out of joy when hearing this heavenly piece of Music. Truth is sometimes I do cry to let lose the emotions that are created by the beauty of Music. There are bad songs, average songs, good songs and songs that are so good that sometimes I have a hard time believing that a human just like you and me is capable of creating. Mamadou is one of those. And Tunga makes my eyes full of tears. To appreciate this kind (or any other) of Music, you need to be in a quiet environment or work around the ambient noise that besieges us with a very good, sound isolating, headphones. And then you are ready for a wonderful travel into the land of pure, great emotions.

When I first began to listen to songs featuring the Kora, I believed that in many songs there were two Kora players. But it was a mistake. With its 21+ strings, the Kora is capable of creating a wide range of sounds that give you the impression that there are two instruments being played. In fact, the player uses his right hand for accompaniment. I discovered that about 10 months ago when I bought Boulevard De l'Indépendance by Toumani Diabaté which featured a video sequence in which Toumani gives some hints about how wonderful the Kora is. Then I saw the guy playing live at Cabaret Sauvage and I was taken aback by the sounds that can be produced by a single Kora.

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
  
• Label: Alula Records
  
• Release year: 2000
  
• Related Artists: Ablaye Cissoko, Toumani Diabaté, Ballaké Sissoko, Kaouding Cissoko
  

Extra links :

• Artist Information
  

If you'd ask about my favorite musical instrument (as a listener), I will tell you with no hesitation at all: Kora. The Kora is an african instrument that can be likened to a harp and a lute combination. It produces a beautiful, heavenly sound that reaches very deep into my soul.



It is one of the most complex instruments of Africa. Played in the westernmost part of Africa in Senegal, Sierra Leone, Mali, Gambia, Guinea and Burkina Faso, it is crafted of half of a gourd calabash with the addition of a hardwood post that runs through it. 21 to 25 strings are attached to the post. A cowhide covers the open side of the half calabash and then it is left to dry in the Sun to hold the handposts in place. Crafting a Kora is very hard. It also takes a lot of practice to play right.

There are some amazing Kora players out there, among which I can cite : Ablaye Cissoko, Toumani Diabaté (considered to be the King of Kora), Kaouding Cissoko (may he rest in peace), Ballake Sissoko, and Mamadou Diabaté. I invite you to listen to some of their records and hear for yourself this amazing instrument. Some suggestions:

• Boulevard De L'indépendance, Toumani Diabate (you can listen to a few excerpts on World Circuit website)
  
• In The Heart Of The Moon, Ali Farka Touré with Toumani Diabaté (you can listen to a few excerpts on World Circuit website)
  
• Le Griot Rouge, Ablaye Cissoko (go to http://www.caplaser.fr/ma%2Dcase/fr/arti.html and click on "écouter un extrait..." under the artist's picture)
  
• Kora Revolution, Kaouding Cissoko (available from eMusic)
  
• Tomora, Ballaké Sissoko
  
• Tunga, Mamadou Diabaté (available from eMusic)
  
• New Ancient Strings, Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko
  

[Jazz] Caught Up, Christian Scott
From the album Rewind That. Available from eMusic



No words come into mind to describe this masterpiece. Rewind That is the debut album from an amazing trumpeter with a great sense of Funk. Christian Scott has earned my admiration and my utter respect with this record which I keep listening to, over and over. As good as (and sometimes better than) records from Erik Truffaz, Roy Hargrove (through the RH Factor) and Christian McBride. I really would like to see more and more albums like this because it reunites three wonderful elements: Funk, Jazz and trumpet.

Rewind That contains many excellent songs but Caught up deserves the top position not only because it demonstrates Christian's amazing ability for playing his instrument but also because of its musicality. Moreover, it contains a small part where the musicians make a reprise of the legendary song Don't Call Me Nigger Whitey, originally by Sly & The Family Stone (featured on the Stand! album. Gene Harris made an amazing reprise in a excellent Funk tone). I wonder why none of my favorite "dead tree" magazines (Vibrations, Jazzman, and Jazz Magazine) didn't pick this one up or talked about it.

Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Treat your ears to this amazing Music and they will be grateful to your eyes for reading this post *grin*.

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
  
• Label: Concord Records
  
• Release year: 2006
  
• Related Artists: RH Factor, Erik Truffaz, Christian McBride
  

Extra links :

• Artist's Website (contains sample music)
  
• allaboutjazz.com CD Review
  

[Jazz] Blue Alert, Madeleine Peyroux
From the album Half The Perfect World.



After the release of Careless Love, her previous (and second) album, Madeleine Peyroux has become a World-renowned Jazz artist. While some songs of Careless Love are truly amazing, I don't consider it a top album. But Half The Perfect World definitely is! Madeleine Peyroux seems to have found some kind of amazing equilibrium between her wonderful voice and the musical arrangements, creating a rare musical alchemy that is characteristic of masterpieces. No less. This alchemy that reaches deep inside the soul of the listener using Madeleine's voice as a soothing element comes to a peak with Blue Alert. It starts simply with a guitar and that incredible voice and then other instruments enter the game and fit perfectly in.

If you haven't bought the album yet, you definitely should!

More links :

• Artist's Website
  
• Fan site
  

I was very sad to learn that the RH Factor concert I was supposed to go to with some close friends has been cancelled. It was supposed to take place on October 19th at La Cigale in Paris. Now it's time to go ask for a refund for the tickets I bought... *sigh*

About one week ago, I was taking a short break from work with some colleagues of mine when one of them started watching a YouTube video of Stanley Jordan. This was my first exposure to this artist and his Music.

I liked the video so much and particularly his guitar playing technique that the next thing I did was to look up his page on Wikipedia. I soon discovered that he invented that technique which is, as Wikipedia puts it, an advanced version of tapping:

The guitarist produces a note using only one finger by quickly tapping (or "hammering") his finger down behind the appropriate fret. The force of impact causes the string to vibrate enough to immediately sound the note. The note's volume can be controlled by varying the force of impact: tapping with greater force produces a louder note.

Here is another great video where Stanley plays two guitars at the same time!

[Smooth Jazz] Tell It Like It Is, Wayman Tisdale
From the album Way Up!. Available from eMusic



After Hang Time, his awesome previous album, the ex-NBA basketball player turned Jazz bass guitarist has put the bar higher with Way Up!, an excellent Smooth Jazz album. I really like his style and just by listening to his music, I can feel a great joy from his part in doing his craft, a joy that he communicates very nicely to his listeners. While Hang Time featured some excellent songs such as Ready To Hang (reviewed in Wonderful Songs Nov'05), I consider Way Up! more level in quality and musicality. Tell It Like It Is is my favorite song (with the Get Down On It awesome reprise just behind it). It features an incredibly funky and groovy bass play assisted with a synthetizer than adds a very nice 90's touch to the song. If you like Smooth Jazz with a funky style, do not hesitate and get both albums which are available from eMusic.

Edited to add (20061019): Album review from allaboutjazz.com.

[Afrobeat] Roforofo Fight, Fela Kuti
From the album Music Is The Weapon Of The Future. Available from eMusic



After I posted Essential Albums: Afrobeat, my friend Betabug checked the albums featured in that post and told me about Music Is The Weapon Of The Future, a 3 songs record from Fela Kuti, the emperor of Afrobeat. It's as essential an album as the other ones I wrote about. Roforofo Fight is a brilliant, 15 minutes long song where Fela Kuti and Tony Allen, the co-creator of Afrobeat and Fela's drummer are at their best. What I like most about Afrobeat is the amazing intertwinement between the drums/percussions and the saxophone.

[Funk] Balek, Marc Moulin
From the album Placebo Years 1971-1974.



Balek is an awesome Funk hit by Marc Moulin, a Belgian pianist. His initial Jazz training shows up through the usage of typical Jazz instruments. The beat is excellent and synthetizers are used very intelligently as a plate to serve the main meat without being overwhelming. It reminds me a lot of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters work. Save for Stomp, the other songs of the album are more Jazzish and if you are into Jazz and Funk, get this nice and well-balanced album without thought.

Since I've been blog-slacking for way too much time and not releasing Wonderful Songs, some die-hard fans begun to shout out loud and keep asking me for music reviews. So the slacker-genious in me decided to kill Wonderful Songs and convert it to Song Review. No, no! Hang on! Let me elaborate a bit.

Song Review is simply a way to post song reviews one by one, as time and motivation permits, instead of having to review ten of them per month and post them in one shot. Three benefits to this approach:

1. For the poster (that's me): Reviewing one song at a time and posting about it is far more flexible than working on a full Wonderful Songs release each month.
   
2. For the reader (that's you): The title of the post begins with the Music genre so you can skip reading right away if you don't like Jazz, World etc.
   
3. For the reader (that's you): Reading a few sentences for a song review is easier to do (at least in one shot) than reading about ten songs.

Now that you are truly convinced that there are great benefits to Song Review (dear reader, if you are not convinced please pretend that you are), let's start right away with a Jazz Song Review!

[Jazz] Tricky Dick, Ben Allison
From the album Cowboy Justice. Available from eMusic



The album's cover is not a symbol of good taste but believe me when I say that this is one of the major Jazz records of 2006. Ben Allison shows how wonderful he is as a double bassist in this typical Jazz ensemble. He is also a very good composer. Tricky Dick is considered by the artist to be the flagship song of his band. I agree from a musical standpoint. While Cowboy Justice features very nice songs, Tricky Dick is excellent (with Emergency being the second best). There is also a heavy political background to this song. Tricky Dick was the nickname of American President Nixon and it is has been reused for Dick Cheney, the current vice-president of the U.S.A.

Here are a few shots taken during the Ben Harper Concert I've been to in June. Enjoy.

Roy Hargrove is a wonderful trumpeter who has recently released two albums (at the same time) with Verve Records: Nothing Serious with a quintet and Distractions with his excellent Funk/Jazz/Soul formation, The RH Factor.

I've started listening to Roy Hargrove when The RH Factor released their previous full-fedged record, Hard Groove. I was literally taken aback by the excellency of that record and the wonderful trumpet of Roy. Since then, I bought Strength, their EP released after Hard Groove and I was looking forward for a new album. In the meantime, I chewed on patiently on Moments To Moments, a more classical Jazz album from Roy and Habana, an album for which he won a Grammy in 1998 with his Afro-Cuban band Crisol.

When I learned that Distractions was to be released in June 2006, I quickly pre-ordered it and I was very excited when I wrapped the package because I knew deep inside that this album is going to be good. And it is. No, that's incorrect. It's excellent.

A few weeks later, while reading my Jazzman issue, I learned that The RH Factor are going to show up during The Paris Jazz Festival that takes place every year during the summer at Parc Floral, a wonderful park in the suburbs of Paris. It's an ideal place for picnicking while listening to great music. There are usually 4 concerts per week-end, 2 on each day. You only pay the entry to the park, which costs 4 EUR, and there you go for a great time.

So on July 1st, I went there to picnic with family and friends and see The RH Factor . The first concert, performed by NoJazz, started at 3:00PM and it was good. For the record, It wasn't the first time I came to Parc Floral this year. I've been there two weeks ago to see Vinicius Cantuaria, one my favorite Jazz artists and Julia Sarr with Patrice Larose, an excellent World duo. What struck me at first is that the human queue to get to the seats in front of the scene was immense. But it wasn't too much of a problem. I waited and went towards the scene almost at the end of the NoJazz concert. As expected, there was no empty seat but I could stand at the back with many other people and still have a quiet good view of the scene.


After a moment, which seemed very long because I was standing my back to the hot Sun that was burning my head and shoulders at 32c, Roy entered the scene with the other RH Factor members. And instantly, I forgot all about that heatball that was trying very hard to dehydrate me. It was one hell of a concert! Roy showed his alien skills at the trumpet and he often let room to the other band members to show their excellent abilities as well, especially the sax player who was incredible!

All in all, it was a very good afternoon. I took some pictures that you may want to check out as well as a very short QuickTime movie of the first minute or so of Kansas City Funk, the opening song played by The RH Factor.

For more information about Roy Hargrove and The RH Factor, please check out the Verve website and Wikipedia. For more information about Paris Jazz Festival, Check out this year's website (Bad design warning: They won't get an award for web design).

EDITED TO ADD (2006.08.17) : the song you hear in the QuickTime movie isn't Kansas City Funk but Rich Man's Welfare. Oops!

I'm in Heaven since yesterday. I've been to the BEST concert of my whole life. After the excellent Marcus Miller concert two days ago, the extremely prolific, multi-genre "surfer" Ben Harper has made one hell of a performance I will never ever forget.

The event took place at L'Olympia, my favorite Paris scene by far. I arrived there with Mitch, a DocIsland fellow and a very close friend of mine, about half an hour before the beginning of the concert. A little bit later, wy wife and a couple of intimate friends joined us. It was very important to me to share this event with very close and special people. And believe it or not, these are the same people I've been with to Ben Harper's 2003 concert in Bercy, a huge Paris scene. That previous concert of an artist that I've learned to love and respect since 1997 and his hit song Jah Work was my best one. And now it's my second best.

A little bit after we took our seats, After a quite boring opening, we were left to wait for Ben Harper. I must admit that I was quite worried that this gig might be bad since Both Sides Of The Gun, Ben's latest album, isn't very good in comparison to his excellent previous records such as Diamonds On The Inside, Welcome To The Cruel World and Burn To Shine, my favorite Ben's studio album to date. However, given his 2003 performance in Bercy and the cheerful tone of Mitch, I let go of my worries and I was right about doing so.

40 minutes later Ben Harper and his Innocent Criminals supplemented with a very good guitar player entered the scene and started with a sublime Live version of Oppression. Instantly, they went into perfect communion with the public. And for more that 150 minutes, Ben Harper took us to Heaven playing Folk, Funk, Pop, Rock, and Reggae songs. Everything was top of the notch. Best among the best were the Live versions of Black Rain, Jah Work (with a perfectly fitting reprise of Bob Marley's Exodus right in the middle), Like a King, I'll Rise and Woman In You. These last three songs made me cry warm tears and feel gooseflesh. On a few songs Ben called in a wonderful strings section that added an appreciable touch. And the accordion used on When She Believes took this song to unknown heights. On a couple of songs (including I'll Rise), Ben sang without a microphone. I told you! It was a communion.

The "hit" song Better Way ended the concert beautifully. I hate the studio version save for a couple dozen seconds where Ben plays an incredible lap steel solo. But the Live version is completely different. I really start to think that Both Sides of The Gun has some serious production/arrangement flaws because the songs played Live during the concert has nothing to do with their flat-sounding studio counterparts.

All in all, it was a memorable gig and certainly the best concert I've been to so far. That's why I bought tickets for Ben's October 2006 concert in Bercy first thing this morning.

Thank you so much Ben Harper! You are truly one hell of an artist.

I've been to a Marcus Miller concert tonight with Mitch and Jethro, two fellow DocIsland members. The concert took place in Le Bataclan, a pretty nice Paris scene.

Marcus Miller is one of the most amazing Bass players in the World. He has contributed to more than 500 albums while releasing about half a dozen under his own name! He is also a very capable composer/producer. Actually, I started noticing him and looking for his musical "fingerprint" after listening to Tutu, an album he composed for Miles Davis.

The concert was awesome. Marcus Miller showed up with an excellent set composed of a sax player, a drummer, a keyboardist, a trumpeter and an harmonica player. The band played 2 hours in a row Jazz and Funk songs including reprises of songs from Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis. From time to time, I looked sideways and saw my friends wearing an expression of utter pleasure or amazement. And needless to say, I am sure I had the same. I've heard the slap technique of Marcus on his studio records and it is flabbergasting, But seeing it live is just crazy. All I can say is WOW!

The only thing I feel sad for is that group of stupid people with a heavy South French accent that made every effort possible to make their presence felt. These people have no respect whatsoever for Music. They were shouting non sense and at one point they started comparing Marcus to Zinedine Zidane. Don't look for a relationship. There isn't. It was difficult to forget their existence and focus solely on the events taking place before my eyes.

Last but not least, if you want to know more about this incredible artist, check out his website. It is very well documented and easy to navigate through.

Afrobeat is a musical genre created in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1968 by the incredible multi-instrumentalist Fela Kuti and his bandmate Tony Allen, an awesome drummer.

Afrobeat is a wonderful mix of Yoruba, Funk, Jazz and African percussions. It is appealing to the fans of all four above-mentioned genres. The lyrics featured in Afrobeat songs are often political message carriers.

The story of this genre didn't stop with the death of Fela Kuti, also known as the Black President, in 1997. Tony Allen keeps producing great songs and Fela's sons, Femi and Seun are very good (though the latter still needs to produce an album).

The following are, in my humble opinion, must-have Afrobeat records:

Fela Ransome-Kuti and Africa 70 with Ginger Baker Live, Fela Kuti
Available from eMusic.


New Tones, Nomo
Available from eMusic.


Shoki Shoki, Femi Kuti


Lagos No Shaking, Tony Allen


No Accommodation For Lagos - No Discrimination, Tony Allen
Available from eMusic.


Music Is The Weapon Of The Future, Fela Kuti
Available from eMusic.


The Best Of The Black President, Fela Kuti


Jealousy - Progress, Tony Allen
Available from eMusic.

During the eighties, I became a big fan of Break Dance and the Music associated with it. I even practiced some myself with my classmates and neighbours at that time. And you can imagine how I feel now when I see Break Dancers and the level they reached today. It's simply amazing and it you happen to be in Paris and would like to see some of it, go to UGC Ciné-Cité Les Halles around 8-9 PM.

"Great" you might think ... "but what's the relationship with Herbie Hancock?". The answer is very simple: Rockit, the song Herbie released in 1983 and its video clip. I have sharp memories of watching the video on Moroccan T.V. as a youngster with my brother Aziz. And this is how I was introduced to Break Dance. Later on, I watched movies such as Breakin'.

Herbie Hancock is one of the most important Jazz pianists of the last forty or so years who earned many awards. He was part of Miles Davis "second great quintet". Even if he is kind of "avant-garde" and a huge experimentalist, his music is accessible. What I'd like most about him is the way he uses elements of other musical genres into the very fabric of his Jazz grounds which allows him to produce incredible stuff. His sense of groove is also immense. Just check his records during the 70's era such as Sextant or Head Hunters. Be it Funk, Acid Jazz, plain Jazz, Electro or even Pop, Herbie's signature is unmistakable.

If you haven't checked his work yet, it's high time to do so and if you love many music genres as I do, you'll keep seeing Herbie's songs popping here and there.

While I consider all the albums I've listened to so far (I own around ten not counting his work with Miles Davis) to be great, I advise you to check out the following albums first:

• Takin' Off
  
• Future 2 Future
  
• Sextant
  
• Head Hunters
  
• Future Shock (which contains Rockit)
  

For more information about Herbie Hancock, check out his Wikipedia entry and his website. And for the Rockit video clip, check this Youtube.com page.

Some of the regular readers of this blog asked me what's happening to my monthly Wonderful Songs posts. My bad. I had a lot of work in the past weeks and I hadn't taken the time to publish the three past issues of Wonderful Songs. Hopefully, this will be fixed shortly.

Please be patient.

I'm currently sampling albums that I expected to receive earlier. For some mysterious reasons, one of the stores I order from screwed up and delivered them to me a full week after the expected shipping date. I will be done soonish and will publish the April'06 edition of Wonderful Songs by the end of the week.

On a side note, I asked on the Feb'06 edition what's the name of the artist who sings on King Kora's Mini Amba. Roger Greipl, the saxophone player of the band, told me that the singer is Lamin Jobarteh, the Kora player. Thank you Roger for the information! King Kora will be giving a concert at the Satellit Café (link in French) in Paris on April 27th.

Bob Marley is a very special artist for me. I was introduced to his music approximately two decades ago when I was still a kid by my dear brother Aziz. I still have vivid memories of how Aziz and I used to listen to Bob's tapes on the Sharp player we had in our room. I kind of enjoyed the music but I was not totally in love with it. Remember, I was a kid.

Fast-forward to 1991. Aziz who left for the U.S. in 1985 came back to Morocco during the summer and he brought with him many of his CDs and of course, he had many Marley albums. As a gift he brought me a Sony portable CD player (my first one!). I ended up listening to these albums in an almost infinite loop, broken now and then with Michael Franks's Blue Pacific and Skin Dive.

Survival, Kaya, Uprising and so many others. I was totally hooked. Addicted would be a better word since his music totally took residence in my heart and my soul. His words are so wonderful! Looking at my CD shelf I can count 17 albums of Bob Marley plus the Songs of Freedom CD set.

Last year, I was reading a Vibrations issue when I stumbled upon a review of Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley's latest album. Damian is the youngest son of Bob. I knew of course that Bob had many children. And while I heard of Ziggy and Julian, I had never heard of Damian.

The review made by Vibrations convinced me that this was an album that I should listen to as soon as possible so I ordered it a few minutes after I was done reading my magazine. I received Welcome to Jamrock two days later and indeed it is a very very good album. Damian is very good at deejaying and while his voice sounds at times a lot like Bob's, he has his own musical world even if it is heavily based on Reggae. I loved the album so much that I featured one of the songs in Wonderful Songs, Jan'06.

Yesterday, I was at Damian's concert at Paris' Elysées Montmartre. The concert was excellent and Damian was impressive. I wasn't at the Lyceum back in 1975 to see his father (hey! I was three months old) but I think Damian has nothing to be ashamed of. During more than 90 minutes, he successfully entertained the public as far as I could see. I had been so enthralled that I didn't feel the minutes fly by even if I was standing all the time (there's no chairs at Elysées Montmartre).

By the end of the concert, Damian sang some Bob songs such as Africa Unite, Zimbabwe, Could You Be Loved, War and So Much Trouble In The World. The public knew the lyrics by heart and Damian often called to us to sing along. During these magical moments, he really created the illusion that it was not him who was singing but his father. He is truly the heir of one of the most influential artists of all times.

So I would like to thank Bob and Damian Marley for making such great music that makes me feel so good. And of course I would like to thank Aziz for all the things he has done, consciously or not, for my musical education.

To finish this post, I would like you to read and think carefully about the following part of War's lyrics:

Until the philosophy which hold one race superior
And another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned -
Everywhere is war -
Me say war.

That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man’s skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes -
Me say war.

That until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all,
Without regard to race -
Dis a war.

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained -
Now everywhere is war - war.

Ali Farka Touré, 67 years old, died yesterday.

I spent last evening enjoying Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley's music at a concert he gave at Elysées Montmartre (more on this later). When I came back at home, I read some news before going to sleep. That's how I learned of the death of one of Africa's best musicians.

These are very sad news. Ali Farka Touré, who was also known as "Monsieur le Maire" (Mister Mayor, since he was the Mayor of Niafunké, Mali), produced great records. The Source, Talking Timbuktu (with Ry Cooder) and In The Heart Of The Moon (with the Kora genius Toumani Diabaté) are my favorite.

Ali, you will always stay in our minds and our hearts. Thank you so much for sharing with us this great music of yours. You will be missed.

Sincerly.

Welcome to the eighth edition of Wonderful Songs, my monthly blog entry outlining ten exceptional songs I listened to during the past month.

If you have read the previous editions of Wonderful Songs, you know how paramount sharing is for me. It's all about broadening one's horizons. You know also by now that I listen to different kinds of Music. If you hear someone states that she listens to Rock or Jazz only, ask her what other styles she knows about or tried. I do listen to many genres because I do care when people share with me something they consider important or enjoyable. And I don't say "No! If it's not Reggae then forget it".

I listen to what they have to say and I try. Sometimes, I don't like the songs. artists or albums they suggest. But I keep a reference to those somewhere because taste and state-of-mind are an evolving beast. So even some of the genres I suggest are not in your auditory dough, try them please.

And as always, I'd like to hear from you. If you have suggestions, comments, and such I'm all ears. You can either send me an email (saad dot docisland dot org) or use the blog commenting system.

This edition introduces a small enhancement since moving my blog to the new dedicated server. The pictures are now clickable and they will take you to a website where you can listen to music samples whenever possible. I mainly link to eMusic.com, Amazon.com or its siblings, or the artist/label's website.

Offer
For those interested in getting an eMusic subscribtion, you can try it for free for 14 days and you'll get 50 free downloads. If you allow me to invite you to eMusic and after you fully subscribe (that is after the 14 days of trial), I will get 50 free downloads myself that I will share with you: first you'll get half of the free downloads I get. I will download 25 songs of my liking and download 25 songs of yours which I will make you available for download and delete from my hard drive. Second, it will allow me to sample more music that might end up in the future editions of Wonderful Songs. Send me an email if you are interested. Remember that eMusic songs are 100% DRM free!

[Folk] Emily, Stephen Fretwell
From the album Magpie.

Stephen Fretwell has a Dylanesque style of Music. His melancholic voice is very nice and it stands out on Emily, a relaxing song where an acoustic guitar is the only instrument used. The lyrics are also quite good. As a whole, the album is well worth buying if you like relaxing, folkish music that has a slightly melancholic tone.

[Smooth Jazz] St. Lucia, Keith Robinson
From the album Peaceful Flight.

Two months ago, I was randomly searching through a stack of used CDs at Jussieu Music's Jazz shop when I fell on Peaceful Flight. I've never heard of Keith Robinson before that day and unless the search keywords I used are bad, there is very few data of interest about him and his music online. I wonder why this artist has drawn so little an attention with such a good album. While I bought the album for no particular reason besides its cover, I don't regret it a single moment. The guitar play on St. Lucia is very cool and the addition of background voices is a nice touch.

[World] Tapha Niang, Toumani Diabaté's Symmetrical Orchestra
From the album Boulevard De l'Indépendance. To be released on March 26th 2006

No picture available

Toumani Diabaté is one of the best Kora players in the World. I really love his mastership of this amazing 21-string African instrument. After Toumani's excellent partnership with Ali Farka Touré on the awesome In The Heart Of The Moon album not so long ago, he will surely treat us to excellent African Music on his soon-to-be-released album Boulevard De l'Indépendance where he invited many Western African musicians from Guinea, Senegal and Mali (his home country). To prepare us for this, he released Tapha Niang. Believe me, you will get a shock after hearing this 7 minutes song. I can't wait to get the album. eMusic subscribers might want to hear some of his previous work. Just search for "Toumani Diabate" on the website. My favorite album so far is New Ancient Strings with fellow Kora master, Ballaké Cissoko. The other albums are OK but nothing as good as Tapha Niang.

[Electronica] "Coumbite" Mesi Bon Dyé, David Walters
From the album Awa.

I've never heard something that sounds like Awa. It is a very good but strange album that can't really be classified in the Electronica genre. David Walters is a former French athlete who turned musician because of an injury. He has a nice voice and he sings in Creole and English. I don't listen much to Electronica because I often find this kind of music aggressive and unequally balanced. However, Walters distills just the right dose of computer-generated loops and mix them with great art to Folk and percussions to create enjoyable sounds. "Coumbite" Mesi Bon Dyé illustrates this process best. I listened to it a lot during the last month.

[Jazz] I Believe I'll Dust My Broom, Pyeng Threadgill
From the album Sweet Home: The Music Of Robert Johnson. Available from eMusic

Pyeng Threadgill, the daughter of the multi-talented artist Henry Threadgill, does an excellent job when revisiting Robert Johnson. The task at hand is far from being easy but Pyeng handles it quite well. I Believe I'll Dust My Broom is a well-balanced song that makes Pyeng's voice shine.

[Hip-Hop] Fly That Know (feat. MF Doom), Talib Kweli
From the album Right About Now (The Official Sucka Free Mix CD). Available from eMusic

Talib Kweli is a very good Hip-Hop artist and I like his slighty Old Schoolish style. His voice and flow are among the best in today's Hip-Hop generation. Fly That Know features MF Doom, another talented artist (featured last month on Wonderful Songs for his work with Danger Mouse). His voice balances nicely Talib's. The songs also features an excellent rhythm,

[Folk] Talk Of The Town, Jack Johnson and Friends
From the album Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies from the film Curious George.

Unless you are living in a cave, you certainly heard of Jack Johnson, one of the best living artists I know of. His sweet voice and relaxing guitar play makes his songs an excellent way to relax all-day long. I have all of his records and I consider them all excellent. Launch Talk Of The Town and close your eyes. You are instantly transported to some imaginary beach full of coconut trees. The weather is sweet and the green sea is calm. You are walking on the white sand barefooted. You feel its mild heat and it warms your heart. You go under a coconut tree and get some shading from the sun. You lay down. Sweet dreams.

[Reggae] Mama, Bantu feat. Ayuba
From the album Fuji Satisfaction. Available from eMusic

Bantu and fellow Ayuba give us here an nice Reggae variation composed of Roots, Ragga (mild), and tropical rhythms. The percussions are great. Definitely a resfreshing song.

[World] Land's End, Baka Beyond
From the album Journey Beyond. Available from eMusic

Land's End is a pleasing song that blends Celtic and African styles with a bit of New Age in a spacey setup. Baka Beyond consists of musicians from Europe and Africa.

[Electronica] Night, Midival Punditz
From the album Midival Punditz. Available from eMusic

Night has nothing to do with the ugly patchwork practiced by the London's Indian Electronica scene. It is an enjoyable and song which features a sweet female voice and good beats. Midival Punditz are a bit heavy on the synth side. But except for this minor grip, it's nice. However, some of the other songs of the album are subpar. So I don't recommend it unless you have money to spare.

Welcome to the seventh edition of Wonderful Songs, my monthly blog entry outlining ten exceptional songs I listened to during the past month.

Few people asked me how much time I devote to listening to Music on average each day. Truth is, I don't know and I've never "calculated" averages for this kind of activity. Sorry to say this but giving the question a second thought, it seems pretty stupid in my point of view. Let me explain that a bit.

In my (maybe twisted) mind, Music is a very important thing and it's high on my priority list. It helps me focus, rest, motivate, produce and feel good. It may not be vital for living (as in breathing air every day) but it is vital for living (as in enjoying every day). So whenever and wherever I can, I listen to Music : during my daily job (I am a Computer Security consultant for the record) if I have no meetings or other tasks that require strong human interaction, during my daily commute (at the moment, it's 1h10min each way), when I take a shower, before going to sleep, while reading on the sofa during the week-end, ...

Music has many dimensions: spiritual, political, sexual, social, ... and it carries a wonderful number of feelings. Except the stupid, sour, soup some TV and radio channels serve repetitively each day, Music is an art and as such, I don't think you could nor should "calculate" it in any way. It must be enjoyed for what it is: a construct that will allow each one of us to live subjective experiences.

What if we go back to our Wonderful Songs for this month and hopefully share some excellent subjective experiences together? Sit back, relax and enjoy!

[New Age] The Ballade Of Puppets: In A New World, Gods Will Descend, Kenji Kawai
From the O.S.T. of Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence.

Ghost in The Shell 2: Innocence is one of the best Japanese Animation movies I've seen last year and the O.S.T. made by Kenji Kawai is excellent. The Ballade Of Puppets: In A New World, Gods Will Descend is a travel to to some unknown, mystical, beautiful place. I love this kind of song that build up little by little to carry you to an imaginary alternate World, comfy and troubling at the same time. Grandiose! Simply a masterpiece.

[Folk] Hate, Cat Power
From the album The Greatest. Available from eMusic

Cat Power, a.k.a. Chan Marshall, treats us once more to great Music with The Greatest, her latest album to date that was released just two days ago at the time of this writing. In this short period, I enjoyed it so much that I've listened to it at least 4 times. Hate is by (not so) far my favorite song. It's a very simple song in its construction using a guitar to accompany Chan's beautiful and melancholic voice which has a spacey and distant feel to it. There's always that enjoyable frailty and sadness in Cat's voice that I liked so much in Your Are Free, one of her previous albums. My optimal setting for listening to it is in a dark or almost dark room with no surrounding noise (if there's too much of it, think noise-isolating headphones).

[World] Mini Amba, King Kora
From the album Bundung. Available from eMusic

King Kora is a Swiss/ Cuban/ African band that uses Kora (one of my favorite instruments if you didn't read previous issues of Wonderful Songs) as a backbone for its songs and blend it in a very beautiful fashion with more traditional instruments such as horns (is there Mbalax also or my ears are crippled?). They invite some very good African artists on this record. Mini Amba stands out among the other very good songs of this record for two reasons. First is the voice of the singer (sorry, I don't know his name and if you do please tell me!). Second is the hip-hopish section in the middle of the song, sung in French. That's what I call a true, beautiful fusion. Bundung largely deserves to belong to the top list of "World" albums.

[Latin] Amortiguador, Andrea Echeverri
From the album Andrea Echeverri. Available from eMusic

Amortiguador is the opening song of this pleasant and refreshing album. Amortiguador, which means shock absorber in Spanish (thanks Xavier!), absorbs the stress and weariness you may feel at the end of the day. Close your eyes, relax and let Andrea take you to her beautiful Music garden... can you feel and smell the fresh (and not-so-short) lawn underneath you?

[Hip-Hop] Sofa King, Danger Doom
From the album The Mouse And The Mask. Available from eMusic

Wow! This is an amazing piece of Hip-Hop made by DJ Danger Mouse and MF Doom which took the combined name Danger Doom to make this record. Sofa King has a great, oldish, beat that I enjoy a lot! I cannot say much about the album since I got this song with the Epitaph Hip Hop Sampler album, which contains other great gems.

[Pop] Be With You, Chumbawamba
From the album You Are Free. Available from eMusic

A pair of latinish-sounding guitars and a sweet female voice make Be With You an enjoyable song. It carries a sense of happiness and restfulness. It's like if the artists wanted us to know that they are at rest while making their music and want us to feel that way.

[Jazz] Chant, Robert Glasper
From the album Canvas.

Robert Glasper is an impressive pianist that I've never heard of before buying Canvas, his debut album with Blue Note (yes, Blue Note!!!). It's a nice record that I bought without any prior knowledge of what kind of Jazz I might find on it. Chant is an excellent melodic piece of more than 8 minutes on which Bilal, a Soul singer, hums behind the piano with his nice voice. Bilal's voice is heavily processed at times to make sound like a guitar and the result is enjoyable.

[Soul] Distant Lover, Marvin Gaye
From the album Live At Montreux 1980. Available from eMusic

I keep listening to Marvin Gaye years after years, after years, after years. I highly regard this artist's work, which I consider as a pillar of Soul Music. His heavenly voice can't be described. It reaches my soul and heart in the most profound way. The sound of this Live record is amazing, given its age and has nothing to do with the very very bad Greatest Hits Live record. There's too much great songs to select from but since I got to select one, I chose Distant Lover which Marvin took to higher grounds during that venue. It is so beautiful that it brings tears (of joy) to my eyes every time I hear it. No word can describe this magical Music. Thank you so much Marvin!

[Funk] Addictive Love, Maceo Parker feat. Candy Dulfer
From the album Life On Planet Groove.

A very groovy song where two of my favorite saxophonists make their instruments literally speak to and influence each other. Candy Dulfer brings a very nice Smooth Jazz tone to Maceo Parker's funky sound. And the album is my favorite from Maceo.

[Metal] Denial, Sevendust
From the album Best Of (Chapter One: 1997-2004). Available from eMusic

I discovered this band (and album) by chance when browsing eMusic. They remind me a lot of Creed, which released the excellent Human Clay a few years ago. This "Best Of" is of unequal quality and the sound is bad at times. However, I love how Denial starts and gets into full gear. If you like Creed, you would definitely want to get this song.

Welcome to the sixth edition of Wonderful Songs, my monthly blog entry outlining ten exceptional songs I listened to during the past month.

During the last few years, I've became increasingly aware that people are growing fearful of their fellow humans and the World(tm) that we, humans, shaped to our liking.

We are capable of many things but currently, we seem to focus (solely?) on the bad things that others (not us) make/do to us. We've all learned -to some extent- that we should never speak to strangers. But what really defines a stranger? Someone different from oneself? How do you quantify the amount of difference above which a person fits in the stranger category? Is difference so bad a thing that we should go to great extent to avoid it, sometimes at any cost?

If we should retain a single thing from the Evolution Theory, it has to be that diversity is the key to survival (and sometimes to happiness whatever that means, but that's not in the original theory). It is time for us to stop fearing and start opening up to integrate and absorb diversity. Just look at History in every direction and you'll get the idea, whether it is History of Art, Science, or whatever. Our short-term memory is failing us pretty badly. And it makes us, with the help of some groups that pretend to help us in our quest for happiness, very bad at assessing risks and thus endlessly revolving around our own selves, fearing all externalities.

Yes, we are capable of very very bad things and that's what the media is about. Good news are not news because bad ones are much more rare. Instead of filling your heart with fear, use your mind to free it up so that you can fill it with other good feelings. Need an incentive? Nice you stopped by, because I have one for you: Music.

I've carefully selected this month's songs to make you relax while feeling the beauty that your fellow humans can create. Exceptionally, I won't comment the songs and I will let the music speaks for itself through the voice, the instruments and the lyrics when applicable. So sit back, relax, enjoy the music, dismiss your fears and Happy New Year!

[Folk] Breakdown, Jack Johnson
From the album In Between Dreams.


[World] Kanawa, Habib Koité & Bamada
From the album Baro.


[Reggae] Vampire, Sinéad O'Connor
From the album Throw Down Your Arms.


[Vocal] Fire, Lizz Wright
From the album Salt.


[Jazz] Soul Shadows, Niels Landgren & Joe Sample
From the album Creole Call.


[Reggae] Money Barrier (Skully version), Leroy Brown
From the album Color Barrier.


[Folk] It's The Nighttime, Josh Rouse
From the album Nashville. Available from eMusic


[Pop] He Lays In The Reins, Iron And Wine / Calexico
From the album In The Reins. Available from eMusic


[Jazz] Pena De Mim, Vinicius Cantuaria
From the album Silva. Available from eMusic


[Reggae] There For You, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley
From the album Welcome To Jamrock.

Welcome to the fifth edition of Wonderful Songs, my monthly blog entry outlining ten exceptional songs I listened to during the past month. Well, it's nine this month. The tenth was suggested by a very good friend.

Music, and more generally any other art form, is largely a matter of taste. Given this fact, some may wonder why I bother broadcasting my tastes to other people. The answer is pretty simple, at least if my experience counts. It's about broadening horizons. As any other part of our body, our ears evolve year after year and during this process, they may accept more musical genres than what you submitted to them at first.

My love of music started pretty early when I was a young boy. And I used to enjoy listening to the tapes of my bigger brother, Aziz. Aziz shared with me his tastes and I discovered great artists such as Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Peter Tosh and Stevie Wonder. Sadly, Aziz left home to follow his own path in life very early (from my boyish point of view) and during a few years, I had to shape up my tastes without exterior help and I discovered mainstream, commercial music. But sharing and interacting with other people broadened my musical horizons. I am for example grateful to my dear friend Jethro (his real name is Jerome Magnin if anyone cares) for enticing me into some wonderful musical fields. And more recently, Laurent Marechal, a coworker that I greatly appreciate, made me discover Rock music again.

The main reason that drives me each month into writing Wonderful Songs is about sharing. Trying to give back some of what other people gave me. Here we go then for a little sharing experience. And needless to say, if you have any great ideas about Wonderful Songs or you want to suggest an entry, just send me an email (saad _at_ docisland _dot_ org).

[Reggae] Fanga Den (featuring Tiken Jah Fakoly), Manjul
From the album Faso Kanou.

Reggae opens once more Wonderful Songs with an extremely good Dub. Manjul is a french artist who spends most of his time in Africa. Fanga Den incorporates very nice sounding african traditional instruments and it is backed by the nice voice of Tiken Jah Fakoly, a wonderful Reggae artist that I love. It is a rather untypical Dub song because of the presence of a singer. Usually, Dub contains only parts of the lyrics of an existing song. While Fanga Den is my favorite song, the album contains songs ranging from good to excellent.

[World] Silw, Thione Seck
From the album Orientissime.

After hearing Silw, the opening song of Orientissime, the only thing I could think of is: Thank you Thione Seck. One of Senegal's greatest singers, he is also an awesome composer. Orientissime is a masterpiece that bridges Western Africa and India through Egypt. Many expertly-played instruments from all these countries are used in a heavenly fashion to help Thione's voice (and his guest singers on some tracks) open some unsuspected, magical paths that will fill your heart with very positive feelings. Thione is a muslim from the Mouride brotherhood, an Islamic Sufi order and I think that his religious beliefs percolate through his music in an extremely positive way. Incredible beauty. There is no other word to describe Orientissime. It is so good that I really had a hard time selecting a single one for Wonderful Songs. So I can't really say that Silw is my favorite song. It is just one of many excellent ones.

[Folk] Emma Stanton, Tété
From the album A La Faveur De L'Automne.

Another great French artist who delivers here an excellent Folk album with good lyrics (if you happen to understand French) and a very nice voice. Tété is an excellent songwriter and gifted with a nice voice that integrates well with his guitar play.I love Emma Stanton's rather fast pace for a Folk song and its joyful rhythm.

[Smooth Jazz] Spanish Girl, The Rippingtons
From the album Wild Card. Available from eMusic

In my opinion, this is the best album of The Rippingtons, a well-known Smooth Jazz band that has helped define this genre along with other great artists such as Fourplay, Lee Ritenour, and Bob James. Spanish Girl has an excellent Latino tempo and I love how well the guitars are played on it, and also how they blend with the percussions. It'll cheer any Smooth Jazz lover in no time! The album contains other great songs such as Gypsy Eyes, Paradise, and King of Hearts. I discovered it through Smoothjazz.com, an excellent Smooth Jazz online radio.

[Rock] The Enchanter (Live version), Robert Plant And The Strange Sensation
From the album Mighty Rearranger (2 CDs version).

If you like Led Zeppelin, you must definitely hurry up and buy this awesome record. It's so good that I feel I am short on words to give you an accurate description of it. I am going to try anyway. Robert Plant is as strong as ever and his wonderful voice is just better than... ever. And he successfully created a sensational masterpiece with his great band, The Strange Sensation. The lead singer of Led Zeppelin, the greatest Rock band of the World, successfully accomplish his endeavor to fusion his excellent Rock with wonderful North-African (Moroccan and Egyptian) music. The result is a bewitching music that will take you to unsuspected lands of creation. The 2nd CD of the 2 CDs version of Mighty Rearranger (look for a dominating blue color on the cover, which distinguish it from the 1 CD version) is a Live session performed at Radio France in Paris and it contains a few Led Zeppelin reprises such as the excellent Whole Lotta Love. The Enchanter is the most bewitching song of all. During almost 8 minutes, Robert Plant And The Strange Sensation beautifully stimulate our senses . At times, you'd actually think you are in Egypt surrounded by Derbouka players. Enough talk. Go get it.

[Folk] Werewolf, Cat Power
From the album You Are Free. Available from eMusic

The melancholic tone of Cat Power's voice is very beautiful and the use of an acoustic guitar and violins brings a nice touch to this relaxing song. By using a minimal set of instruments, Cat Power makes her voice stands out and hits us straight with much frailty and sadness. And the lyrics are really good. They should give you a fair view of the artist's songwriting skills. You are Free contains other nice gems and is a safe buy.

[Jazz] Folly, Kora Jazz Trio
From the album Part Two.

Wonderful instruments played by top West African musicians and a beautiful voice blend with each other to create this Jazz masterpiece. This is one of the most beautiful songs I've listened to during this year. It starts with awesome Calabash played by Prince, the same incredible musician from Salif Keita's band during his Massy concert (link points to blog entry in French). After a few seconds, the Kora of Djeli Moussa Diawara joins in. Kora, previously featured in the third edition of Wonderful Songs, is an incredible 21 string harp-lute that produces heavenly sounds. According to many references, it is a very difficult instrument to play. That's not a problem for mister Diawara, a highly-regarded Kora player. Soon after, Abdoulaye Diabaté joins the party with his excellent jazzy Piano. To complete the picture, Moussa Cissoko adds percussions and his beautiful voice. There is no word to describe how beautiful this music is. Folly is my favorite song of this excellent album because of how it is constructed and also of the way Kora and Piano talk to each other. And if this album is called Part Two, that's because there is a "Part One" simply called... Kora Jazz Trio. I will definitely buy this previous album as well. Who knows? Maybe these excellent musicians will appear back in Wonderful Songs.

[World] When You Come Back, Vusi Mahlasela
From the album African Troubadours: Best Of African Singer-Songwriters. Available from eMusic

When You Come Back has a very joyful tone that reminds me a lot of Johnny Cleg & Savuka. The singer has a very sweet and mild voice that makes my interior Sun shine even in the gray sky of Paris. The album is worth getting as a whole since it contains many different African styles, instruments and artists.(Warning to eMusic subscribers: there seems to be a glitch in the 4th song. Could you please send me an email to tell me if you have the same problem so we can ask eMusic to fix it?)

[Alternative] Drunk On Dark Sublime, Elysian Fields
From the album Dreams That Breathe Your Name. Available from eMusic

This is quite the contrary of the previous song. It fits perfectly the gray sky of Paris (Elysian Fields means Champs Elysees in French in case you didn't notice). I love the singer's sweet voice and its melancholic tone alongside the general gloomy, darkish tempo of the album in general and the use of Indian instruments (Sithar and Tablas). Drunk On Dark Sublime isn't a masterpiece but it is a very pleasant song. And Wonderful Songs is just about that: musical pleasure!

[Folk] Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Bob Dylan
From the album The Essential BOB DYLAN.
Entry suggested by Jerome Leonard

Here is why Jerome suggested this song:
Many artists (good ...and not so good) have performed this song. The interpretation of Gun's and Roses is really great. I discovered the original version of Bob Dylan recently. This song sounds really different from many other versions I have already heared. It highlights many emotions and feelings as others songs on this compilation. A simply great artist.

Depuis mi-novembre, le temps s'est sérieusement dégradé sur Paris. Il fait actuellement un froid de canard et bien que nous soyons gratifié de temps à autre d'un magnifique soleil, le ciel reste typiquement parisien. En d'autres termes ... typiquement gris. Il fait -2°c à l'heure ou j'écris ces quelques lignes.

Mais un autre soleil a brillé de mille feux et a réchauffé mon coeur et mon âme ainsi que ceux des autres privilégiés qui ont assisté au concert de Salif Keita à l'Opéra de Massy le 22 novembre dernier. Ce soleil, c'est celui de la musique africaine ou, plus correctement, d'une de ses branches maliennes. La voix de Salif, très riche en émotions et pouvant atteindre des hauteurs dont je ne suspectais même pas l'existence, m'a fait pleurer de joie. Littéralement. Cette richesse qui nous vient d'Afrique montre à quel point ce continent est fertile en musique et en bien d'autres choses.

Appuyé par 8 excellents musiciens et 1 danseur, Salif a fait preuve d'une étonnante fraîcheur. Vu l'âge de ce vénérable artiste, on se demande s'il n'a pas été faire un tour chez les marabouts pour avoir une telle énergie dans la voix et pouvoir sauter comme un cabri sur scène.

L'Opéra de Massy est une salle moderne dont les sièges sont très confortables et on s'y laisse facilement couler voire dormir. Malheureusement, ce n'était pas dans le programme que nous a concocté Salif. A peine entré sur scène, il nous demande de nous lever car, je le cite, "la musique africaine ça se danse". Un doute me submerge. Est-ce qu'on parle bien de M'Bemba, son dernier album ? Certes, c'est une belle oeuvre mais que je ne trouve pas particulièrement dansante (voir à ce sujet mes commentaires dans Wonderful Songs, Nov'05). Je me lève quand même. Et à mon grand étonnement, Salif réussit à transformer la plupart des chansons de M'Bemba en de formidables machines à danser. Le son m'a submergé et mon corps s'est mis à bouger, des fois sans que j'en sois totalement conscient, et un bref coup d'oeil autour de moi me confirmait dans mon sentiment que j'étais normal.

La dimension Live donne une toute autre texture musicale à M'Bemba. De plus la générosité et le sens du partage dont a fait preuve Salif, en invitant par exemple des spectateurs à le rejoindre sur scène à deux reprises pour danser, se sont transmis tout naturellement au public et a permis de véhiculer d'intenses émotions. Désormais, j'écoute M'Bemba avec une autre oreille et pour vous dire la vérité, j'ai fait fausse route concernant cet album. Je l'avais d'abord écouté en pensant à Moffou, le précédent chef d'oeuvre de Salif, et je l'avais trouvé moins bon car je pensais à un Moffou bis. Et ce fût là l'erreur. M'Bemba est bel et bien un album avec sa propre signature qui nous dévoile d'autres horizons et nous invite à écouter la richesse de la musique africaine.

Les musiciens étaient très très bons voire excellents : deux choristes à la voix mélodieuse bougeant leur corps en harmonie avec la musique, deux guitaristes dont un nous a gratifié d'une excellente imitation de George Benson, un batteur, un bassiste, un joueur de simbi et deux percussionistes. Le joueur de simbi fût exceptionnel. Il nous a gratifié d'un jeu bluffant et spectaculaire. Et un des percussionistes est multi-talent : djembé, calebasse, .... et c'est lui qui a clôt cette extraordinaire fête de musique africaine en faisant danser au djembé les deux choristes et une danseuse du public qui dansait divinement bien et qui conclut par un grand écart ... tout en continuant à danser.

Nous avons aussi eu droit à un Salif seul, sans musiciens, accompagnant sa voix d'une guitare sèche. Une voix d'or débordante d'émotions et qui a un grain très particulier, rappelant l'Afrique et sa magie.

Merci, Milles Mercis Ô Grand Salif.

Edité pour ajouter :

• Le percussioniste dont je parle un peu plus haut s'appelle Mamadou Koné, dit "Prince". J'ai reconnu sa signature sur l'album Kora Jazz Trio - Part Two (à ne pas confondre avec le premier opus de 2003), un excellent album de Jazz avec des instruments africains en plus du piano. J'ai acheté cet album par pur hasard hier soir et je viens de commencer à l'écouter. Le jeu de la calebasse ouvrant la deuxième chanson, Folly, me parût familier. Comme quoi, le hasard fait bien les choses ... des fois.
• Salif passe le 15 décembre 2005 au Zénith à Paris. Pour ses autres dates de concert, veuillez consulter son site officiel.

Playlistmag.com published an article about Pandora, a music service created by the Music Genome Project. It is is a personalized online radio service. It allows you to submit a song or an artist name and it creates a stream of music of other similar songs according to many musical criteria. That way, you may discover artists you've never heard of before. You can create as many streams (or personalized radio stations) as you want. To use the service, you only need a browser and a Flash player. The streams use a bitrate of 128Kbps, which is fine by me.

Pandora is subscription-based (36 USD per year) and you can try it out for free for 10 hours. And according to the online FAQ, they have 300.000 songs from 10.000 artists so far in all genres save for Classical and World (Too bad for a World music lover such as me).

After reading the article, I decided to try this service out and I was surprised of how good it is! To test it, I created two online radio stations.

For the first radio station I decided to play the "wild-guessing" card and let Pandora find similar music to Nada Surf, a Pop/Rock band I discovered lately. I barely know Nada Surf and I cannot think of similar bands on top of my head. The only thing I really know is that I love Nada Surf's latest album, the only one I have. Would Pandora find similar music and make me discover other great bands?

After listening to approx. 10 songs, I skipped only one of the tracks. Pandora offers the possibility to skip music and by clicking on the song icon, you can say that you "don't like it" and it'll skip automatically. This is excellent "accuracy" and I discovered a few bands I've never heard of in the process.

For the second radio station I chose Dave Koz, one of the best Smooth Jazz saxophonists I know. His latest album, Saxophonic, was featured in the Oct'05 edition of Wonderful Songs. I love Smooth Jazz and I know several artists in this genre. I decided again to listen to 10 songs. The first one was Honey-Dipped by Dave Koz himself, featured in Saxophonic. While listening to this song, I though of Gerald Albright, another great saxophonist and very much to my surprise, Pandora "thought" of the same thing as the second track was from this artist! And the next 8 tracks were similarly good. Again, I discovered other artists I didn't know.



During these tests, I discovered a minor quirk of the service. While you can pause the stream and listen to it later, you can't go back to where you left it if you start playing another stream in the meantime. But as I said, this is a minor issue.

When you click on the track icon a menu opens up that will let you buy the album from iTunes Music Store or Amazon. You can also create a new station from one of the tracks. And you can also email your stream to a friend so she can share the music with you.

If you are on the lookout for some great music and artists that you've never heard of, then Pandora is definitely worth the 36 USD/year. It is just too bad they don't have World Music but hopefully, they will add songs from this genre soonish.

Welcome to the fourth edition of Wonderful Songs, my monthly blog entry outlining ten exceptional songs I listened to during the past month.

Folk music seems to have regained tremendous support and a whole new generation of extremely talented artists are blossoming in these areas. Cripple Crow, Devendra Banhart's latest album, is an excellent Folk record and I really had a hard time picking a single song from it for Wonderful Songs. I also included an entry from The Rolling Stones's A Bigger Bang, an extremely good Rock album. I just keep wondering what fuels these guys. I greatly respect their artistic work and achievements.

This month, we also have Electronica, World, Jazz, Soul and Reggae entries.

I made a small enhancement to improve readability for eMusic subscribers: Look for the Available from eMusic link right next to the album name. Clicking on this link will lead you to the eMusic web page of the specified album. The album images are still clickable and link to Amazon (.com or .fr in general depending on the album's availability on this or that site). And before you ask, I have no interest whatsoever in linking to Amazon save for the practical side. The blogging software I use has a special Amazon tool that allow me to retrieve the album covers in a snap.

[Reggae] Natty Supper, The Chantells
From the album Children of Jah (1977-1979). Available from eMusic

Let's start right away with a very nice Reggae song and a tragic story. The Chantells is a Jamaican Reggae Band of the second half of the '70s. Children of Jah is a collection of the major songs they made from 1977 to 1979 and Natty Supper is my favorite one. It has the typical dub of most Reggae songs of this era and the singer's voice reminds a lot of The Gladiators, a huge Reggae band that will certainly make one or several entries in upcoming editions of Wonderful Songs. So far so good, but what's so tragic? Well the band disbanded in 1979 when the members were accused of herb smuggling and some of them even went to jail. But the story doesn't end until Sam Bramwell, the lead singer who made some solo recordings afterwards was shot to death by the cops after committing armed robery. So much for Jah's message.

[World] What Silence Said, Susheela Raman
From the album Music For Crocodiles

What a voice! What an excellent blending of cultures and influences! Susheela Raman is a wonderful artist that I've been following rather closely since Salt Rain, her debut and highly regarded album. Love Trap, her second album was, sadly, not as good as the previous one. In fact, save for one or two songs, I didn't like at all and I was dubious whether to buy Music For Crocodiles, her latest album, or not. After listening to it a single time, I no longer doubted. This album is excellent. I so much like it that I went to her Paris concert at La Maroquinerie. There were very strong feelings carried by her wonderful voice. What Silence Said, the opening song, is very nice. I particularly enjoy the mixture of Susheela's voice with Tablas and Violins. Keep up the excellent Susheela, and please, no more Love Traps. And as my dear friend Mitch puts it, "we are all Crocodiles"!

[Electronica] Lilian, Depeche Mode
From the album Playing The Angel

I started listening to Depeche Mode's music 20 years ago, in 1985. Many Martin Gore's compositions, when blended with Dave Gahan's voice, reach something deep inside of me; something I cannot define even though most of their music has no warmth in it and leave a taste of steel. The 80s sound of Playing The Angel, one of their best albums so far, is extremely good. The band members are not friends anymore. According to Les Inrockuptibles, a French culture magazine, they barely speak to each other. But this bad situation doesn't seem to affect their musical skills. Just listen to Playing The Angel and its many gems to see the power of the Depeche Mode machine! Lillian is my favorite song so far. Gahan's voice seems electronically modified in a pleasant fashion and it strides accross the lyrics with a beautiful tone full of complaints.

[Soul] The High Road, Bettye Lavette
From the album I've Got My Own Hell To Raise. Available from eMusic

Bettye Lavette's career is full of missed opportunities but it stops here and now with the release of the excellent I've Got My Own Hell to Raise. Bettye's voice is awesome. Doubt not, she is a Great Singer. Want a proof? Listen to The High Road. It's a very nice Southern Soul song or, should I say, standard. Very moving.

[Smooth Jazz] Ready To Hang, Wayman Tisdale
From the album Hang Time

Wayman Tisdale is a former Basketball player turned Smooth Jazz bass musician. His previous albums are OK but Hang Time is excellent. His bass is powerful and gives a very nice funky touch to the Smooth Jazz songs. Ready To Hang is the opening song and it carries the same feeling as the album's cover: Wayman enjoys making music a lot! I had a hard time getting the album. It was not available on the major music stores in France (FNAC, Amazon.fr) and my used records favorite shop, Jussieu Music, didn't have it as well. Neither did iTunes Music Store France. So I ended up ordering it from the US and the package was lost in transit. So they sent me a second one that arrived more than one month ago after the initial order. Sometimes, even if you are ready to hang, you just can't do it ;-)

[Folk] Santa Maria Da Feira, Devendra Banhart
From the album Cripple Crow. Available from eMusic

Devendra Banhart has been gifted with an incredible voice that may stamp your ears forever. I can't define it. You gotta hear it. And either you will love it or hate it. There's no middleground. Since I listened to it barely one year ago, I've become a huge fan of Devendra's music but my wife hates it. While his previous albums are your typical Folk albums with the single guitar-voice duo, Devendra Banhart invited many more instruments (and friends) on Cripple Crow. He also sings a few songs in Spanish, one of which is Santa Maria Da Feira. This song is very smooth and relaxing and I love its "minimalistic" approach.

[Electronica] Aftermath, Tahiti 80
From the album A Piece Of Sunshine. Available from eMusic

A Piece of Sunshine is the fourth record released by the French band Tahiti 80 for Minty Fresh. If you like light and refreshing Electronica sound, consider getting the album. In my opinion, it's their best album so far. Aftermath is one of the most refreshing of the lot and Xavier Boyer's voice is relaxing and enjoyable.

[Rock] It Won't Take Long, The Rolling Stones
From the album A Bigger Bang

After eight years and the excellent Bridges to Babylon, The Rolling Stones released two months A Bigger Bang. The Rolling Stones are often dubbed the World's Greatest Rock'n'Roll band and they deserve it. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood treat us to great music. Save for Ron Wood (58), all the members are past their sixties and they have been on the scene since 1961! Yes, that's 44 years. Almost half a century and they still have what it takes to preserve their name and majesty. They have extraordinary energy. Before listening to the music, you can tell that just from the album's title. Pure Rock, Blues and Ballads... A Bigger Bang in all regards. It Won't Take Long shows how well these guys play together and how they master their art. After an awesome guitar opening from Mr. Richards, Mick Jagger enters the song scene with backing from Charlie Watts' awesome drums play and Ron Wood answering to Richards. When I listen to this masterpiece, only one word comes to mind: RESPECT.

[Fusion Jazz] Farandole (L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2), Bob James
From the album Two. Available from eMusic

I discovered Bob James, a Jazz keyboardist, through Fourplay. Fourplay is one of my favorite Smooth Jazz bands. Besides Bob James, the members are Nathan East, Harvey Mason and Larry Carlton who replaced Lee Ritenour in 1997. I saw them in live in Tokyo, Japan, back in 1998 and as far as I can tell, it was an awesome concert. But until recently, I hadn't listened to James' early records which, by the way, are very good if you happen to love Fusion Jazz with a very 70s touch. Farandole (L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2), released in 1975, is James' take on L'arlésienne from 19th century French Composer Georges Bizet (who is also behind the Carmen Opera). It has a very smooth and nice tone. It reminds of many different things ranging from Space Opera Japanese Anime Cobra to Starsky & Hutch.

[World] Dery, Salif Keita
From the album M'Bemba

Three years after the release of Moffou, one of the best Afro-pop records I've ever listened to (Yamore still gives me the chills), Salif Keita is back at it again. While not as good as Moffou in my opinion, M'Bemba is still worth buying. Dery is a very smooth song featuring very nice sounding African instruments.

Welcome to the third edition of Wonderful Songs, my monthly blog entry outlining ten exceptional songs I listened to during the past month.

In this issue, I'd like to share with you some outstanding musical experiences. September was really an exceptional month for me on many aspects, including music. I have listened to flabbergasting Reggae, exceptional Smooth Jazz and some safe bet values. Of course, I've included entries for all these gems and more: Instrumental African music, Raï, Kirtans...

As a side note, whenever a song is available to download from eMusic, an online music service (subscription based, 50 free MP3s trial), I say so. eMusic is one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) online music services. And their songs are DRM free! No wonder they have no Major in their catalogue but they have many many independent labels and many many excellent songs. I have a subscription at eMusic. But besides this, I have no relationship with them, commercial or otherwise. My only interest is in their DRM free stance, If you want to know more about DRM, see Electronic Frontier Foundation's A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music and Cory Doctorow's Digital Rights Management.

[World] Senegal-Mauritanie, Kaouding Cissoko
From the album Kora Revolution

Kaouding Cissoko was one of the greatest Kora players in the World (Kora is a harp-lute like instrument used extensively in Western Africa. Follow the link to Wikipedia for more information). While he contributed to numerous albums, Kora Revolution is his unique "solo" album. Overall, this album is very good for instrumental African music lovers. Senegal-Mauritanie is my favorite song on this album as it makes Kora stands out among the other instruments like no other song I've ever heard. It also carries a somehow melancholic note that I love.

[World] Radhe Shyam, Krishna Das
From the album Live On Earth

Krishna Das is an American singer performing kirtans which are Hindu devotional songs. Kirtans often consist of a few sentences repeated over and over. It might seem boring but it is far from that. Krishna Das has a very nice voice and the instruments used in Radhe Shyam are excellent. It brings a sense of internal harmony and I enjoy listening to it to relax. Live On Earth is, as you might have infered from the title, a live recording (2 CDs). The album is good but the songs are uneven in quality (CD 1 is better than CD 2 in my opinion). It is available to download from eMusic.

[Smooth Jazz] All I See Is You, Dave Koz
From the album Saxophonic

This is one of the best Smooth Jazz albums I've listened to over the last decade. Dave Koz is a great saxophonist and he shows it through the different kinds of songs included in Saxophonic. All I See Is You is my favorite because of its excellent, energy-filled, and very funky rhythm. Thank you Dave for this wonderful album. Believe it or not, it's soooo good that I listened almost exclusively to it in an infinite loop fashion during the last week.

[Smooth Jazz] Anytime, Anywhere, Chuck Loeb
From the album When I'm with you

This is another excellent Smooth Jazz album. Chuck Loeb is a multifaceted man: Guitarist, Composer, Arranger, Producer, Recording Artist... And if you need a proof for that, just listen to When I'm With You, a self-produced album published by Shanachie. It contains many hits such as Tropical, the second song of the album and Anytime, Anywhere, which has a super spacey feel to it.


[Hip-Hop] Be A Gentleman, 50 Cent
From the album Guess Who's Back

If you like Hip-Hop music, I'm sure you'll enjoy 50's Guess Who's Back. IMHO, this is his best album, even better than Get Rich Or Die Tryin. Simply because it's rougher on the edges (read: true to the Hip-Hop spirit) and less full of stunts-for-the-mainstream. Be A Gentleman is just one of the many very good songs that this album contains. Should have called this monthly entry Wonderful Albums heh. Be warned though, explicit lyrics are all over the album. It is available to download from eMusic.

[Reggae] King Without a Crown, Matisyahu
From the album Live at Stubb's

When I first listened to this song, I never imagined the man behind it. Though I got hints through the lyrics that the guy was more on the Bible side than on the Jah/Rastafarai one, I never thought he was a ... Hasidic Jew. And you have probably never heard about Hasidic Reggae. As astounding or crazy as it may sound, well ... it's true. Moreover, this is one of the best Reggae songs I've ever heard in my whole life (for the record, I am a huge Reggae fan). Here is a link to a video of the live performance (requires Flash MX, alternate formats here). If you are a serious Reggae fan, you want to get this album as soon as possible. It is A.W.E.S.O.M.E. It is available on eMusic.

[World] Simplicity, Karma Sutra
From the album Prana

Karma Sutra is the name of a musical project undertaken by Preston Kilk with East Indian vocalist Mona Jethmalani. Prana
is an excellent mixture of two worlds: traditional Indian vocals and occidental song structures. While the album encompasses many styles and genres, Simplicity is where Mona's voice stands out and blends perfectly with the "electro" body of the song. The other songs are very cool too. Consider getting the album from eMusic.

[World] Ana Mazel, Cheb Mami
From the album Prince of Rai

Cheb Mami is one of the best Raï singers in the World. His voice is wonderful. As I pointed out on a previous blog entry, Prince of Rai is one of his early recordings. It's not that I dislike his recent work but it sounds kind of too Westernish to my ears. Ana Mazel is a very famous song that most people from Maghreb of my generation know. When I was in Morocco, it used to be played during weddings and parties. I rediscovered it last month (I left Morocco in '97) so that's why I'm including it. The album is available on eMusic.

[Folk] America, Tracy Chapman
From the album Where you live

This is my favorite song in Tracy Chapman's latest album. It has a very nice folk beat and Tracy's voice is always as great as it was on her widely acclaimed self-titled album with unforgettable songs such as Talking About Revolution and Fast Car. This song carries strong feelings with it and you can feel it in the integration of Tracy's voice with the instruments.

[Rock] Kashmir, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant
From the album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded

After listening to the symphonic version of Kashmir performed by the London Symphonic Orchestra, which I included in Wonderful Songs Sept'05, I decided to relisten to my albums of Led Zep'. As surprisingly as it may sound, I realized I didn't own No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded. I recall listening to it back in '94-'95. At this time I was still living in Morocco and the Moroccan TV had a special feature with Page and Plant since they invited musicians from Marrakesh for this live performance. And what performance it was! On this version of Kashmir, they don't only have a symphonic orchestra playing but also an egyptian one. In a bit more than 12 minutes, Page and Plant treat us to very good Rock music full of oriental instruments.

Raï is a very popular kind of folk music from Algeria and nearby countries (Morocco and Tunisia). In case you didn't know or didn't think about clicking on the link at the beginning of this entry, Raï means opinion in Arabic.

Raï has the right mix of eastern and western instruments to please westerners. While singing is mainly performed in Maghribi Arabic, there is also some songs that contain more or less French.

To get you started with Raï music or if you are already listening to it and want to listen to some fine records, I highly recommend the following albums:

Prince of Rai, Cheb Mami

Cheb Mami is an excellent singer. He has a very beautiful voice. But that's not all. He has also a very capable band that backs him very nicely. Prince of Rai is one of his early recordings. This is a 6 songs album (about 32 minutes total play time). Some of these songs are very rich in oriental instruments and used to be played during weddings (at least in Morocco which I originate from). If you are an eMusic member, you can get this album from there. The sound is not of high quality (my guess is that it was recorded on tape first then converted to a CD later on but what do I know about music recording?).

Rai Love, Cheb Hasni

Cheb Hasni, who was shot to death in 1994, was a very popular Raï singer and his recordings are still big sellers. His voice was not as great as Mami's but for those who understand Maghribi Arabic, his lyrics are outstanding. He used to sing about women, alcohol and divorce and some said that he was killed because of that (do I really need to tell you what happened in Algeria during the 90's?). Rai Love, one of his masterpieces is available from eMusic too. Note that electronic keyboards are heavily used.

Khaled, Khaled

Khaled's Khaled (ugh) was met with big success in Europe when it was released. It was innovative in its use of western rhythms. I think this is the album that allowed Khaled to make the crossover and start being a hot seller in France and other European countries. I don't like his recent albums because of their too westernish sounds (it hasn't the right mix of east vs. west) and Khaled's voice is not as great as it was.

1, 2, 3 Soleils, Taha, Khaled & Faudel

This a live album (double CD) containing lots of Raï gems. At first, I didn't understand why Rachid Taha took part in this trio with Khaled and Faudel. While Khaled and Faudel have (or used to have) a great voice, Rachid Taha is more of a true rocker to me (did you know that he is apparently the only Arabic singing rocker in the World?). His raucous voice doesn't marry well with the other two voices and Cheb Mami would have been a better choice. Only after listening to this record a few times that I understand that Taha brings just the right dose of Rock to this Live, though he is somewhat out of note in a few songs such as the legendary Abdel Kader (the opening song on the second CD). Otherwise, the album contains lots of classic and very good Raï songs.

I'd like to thank Sascha Welter who gave me the idea of this blog post, in an attempt to make me unslack. That was a good unslacking idea Sascha ;-)... Or was it more slacking?

Welcome to the second edition of Wonderful Songs, my monthly blog entry outlining ten exceptional songs I listened to during the past month.

This month I would like to stress how both the human voice _and_ the instrument are essential for making wonderful music. For the human voice part, we have entries from two of my favorite scat singers: Al Jarreau and Bobby Mcferrin and also from a trio of very good african singers. For the instrument part, we have guitar, piano, trumpet and saxophone. Wait no longer to treat your ears to some great music.

[Vocal] Circlesong 5, Bobby Mcferrin
From the album Circlesongs

You surely remember "Don't worry, be happy!" from Bobby Mcferrin. Circlesong 5 is very different. It doesn't contain a single music instrument save for the human voice. It's an amazing work. The entire album is amazing if you happen to like scat singing. The music is smooth and relaxing.

[Jazz] Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive, Al Jarreau
From the album Accentuate The Positive

Accentuate The Positive is the latest album of Al Jarreau, a wonderful Jazz singer who masters the art of scat singing. Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive shows just how he is good at his craft. His voice gets along perfectly with the other instruments in use and it brings a rare sense of harmony.

[Reggae] Turning World, Eric Bibb
From the album A Ship Called Love

Eric Bibb is a Bluesman and A Ship Called Love is his latest work. This contains many gems but what makes Turning World stand out of the lot is its unmistakable Reggae rhythm and sweet lyrics. I was very well surprised when I heard it. I was used to the Blues from that guy, and I just though to myself "Hey! This ain't Blues, this is Reggae and a very good one".

[Jazz] Romeo And Juliet, Stefano di Battista
From the album 'Round about Roma

A masterpiece that tries, and succeed, in capturing the romance of the capital of Italy, Roma, where the artist was born. This alto and soprano sax player is backed by the Symphonic Orchestra of Radio France. Very elegant music that avoids nicely the trap of being too much sentimental.

[Pop] Tapis Volant 1, -M-
From the album Labo M

-M- shows up for the second time in Wonderful Songs. Tapis Volant 1 is an instrumental song like the other songs on the album and it shows -M-'s proficiency in the guitar. Very nice piece.

[Rock] Planet of Women, ZZ Top
From the album Afterburner

I first discovered ZZ Top when I was 15 years old through my brother Aziz and their Eliminator album. I still enjoy listening to them quite a lot. While I consider Eliminator to be their best album ever, Afterburner is made in the same kitchen. Planet of women has a very nice rhythm if you happen to like these bearded Rock lords: nice guitars, drums and everything to make your car trip on Route 66 a pleasant ride.

[World] Where I Came From, Gerald Toto, Lokua Kanza & Richard Bona
From the album Toto Bona Lokua

Dim light. Smells and noises of the African Savanna. Joy and happiness around the village. Relaxing moment. These are some of the few thoughts that come to my mind when I listen to this song. The human voice plays here, again, a central role with these three exceptional singers who make the experience transcendental.

[Smooth Jazz] Indian Summer, Chris Botti
From the album A Thousand Kisses Deep

Chris Botti is a stylist trumpeter who has a very warm and smooth tone. Indian Summer, the first song on album, has a pleasant spacey/dance sound. Moreover, due to Chris Botti's roots in Jazz (as opposed to Smooth or Soft Jazz), it is not too much on the soft side. The trumpet shows that the Jazz part is still present and strong.

[Smooth Jazz] September Second, Michel Petrucciani
From the album Les années Blue Note 1986-1994

Michel Petrucciani, a french artist who died in 1999, fought Osteogenesis Imperfecta by becoming a powerful Jazz pianist. September Second shows how good he was at playing this instrument, from a Smooth Jazz perspective. Of special notice are the drums who back the piano very nicely.

[Classical] Kashmir, London Philharmonic Orchestra & Scholes
From the album Kashmir: The Symphonic Led Zeppelin

Two weeks ago, one of my coworkers who has a huge music collection, brought this CD with him at the office. As a fan of Led Zeppelin, I was wondering how such a weird wedding would play out. I was stunned by this music. While preserving the original spirit of Led Zep' (OK, Robert Plant not singing so it's not as original as you can think of), they bring a nice classical touch to it. Kashmir is one my favorite Led Zep' songs. And I think that this reprise is almost as good as the original one (yes, yes, Robert Plant not singing but if you put aside this fact...).

Welcome to the first edition of Wonderful Songs, my monthly blog entry outlining ten exceptional songs I listened to during the past month.

This month we have two entries from Daby Toure, a new fabulous World Music artist and one of these songs is free for you to download from the artist's page! There are also two French music entries in the Pop/Rock and category.

[Smooth Jazz] People Make the World Go Round, Richard Elliot
From the album Metro Blue

This is one really nice piece of Smooth Jazz...If you happen to like saxophone. This is far from being the first album from Richard Elliot. It is currently on the top charts of U.S. Smooth Jazz radios, among which http://www.smoothjazz.com/, an excellent streaming online radio. While I do prefer Richard's Ricochet over Metro Blue, it is still a nice buy with such a good song opening it.

[Reggae] The World, Sizzla
From the album Bobo Ashanti

Released a few years ago, Bobo Ashanti is a really nice album if you like reggae and ragga. Some of the songs have harsh words, well at least if you understand Jammies, the english slang of Jamaica. The World stands out in that it has a rootish feeling to it and the lyrics are not too bad. I was disappointed by other albums from this dreadlock Rasta fighting for the roots and culture legacy of Jamaica but Bobo Ashanti has nice gems.

[French] Si C'est Bon Comme Ca 98, Sinclair
From the album Comme Je Suis 1992-2004

Sinclair is truly the prince of french Funk. AFAIK, he has a faithful, but small-sized fan base. And I really wonder why since he has every ingredient necessary to be as popular as -M- (see below). I've been to one of his concert 2 or 3 years ago and I really enjoyed it much. While many of his songs could make it into Wonderful Songs, I chose this one because it has, in my opinion, everything that you need to hear from Sinclair: very nice voice, very good rhythm, and funk à la James Brown.

[French] Mon ego, -M-
From the album Live au Spectrum

According to all accounts, -M- is one of the best French musicians of his time. With a weird but nice, monstruous guitar playing and very good lyrics, he is a huge scene monster. While his studio albums range from good to very good, his Live performances are nothing short of flabbergasting ! I was lucky enough to go to his Paris-Bercy concert this year and it's my second best after Ben Harper's. If you love rock music and amazing guitar stunts along with some very curious and enjoyable sounding instruments, get his live albums and if you can affford it, go to the concert. Mon ego will give you a pretty good idea of what I am talking about.

[World] Iris, Daby Toure
From the album Diam

This album is a gem of World Music. Daby Toure, a Mauritanian artist, gives us here his first solo album after he quit touring with the Toure Toure band. While all the songs are very very good, some of them really just stand out...like Iris, a song which lyrics are written in a completely imaginary language. Go out, get this album and put your best headphones to listen to it while relaxing in your bed. Let Daby take you on a wonderful musical trip.

[World] Kia a So, Daby Toure
Free Song
http://realworldrecords.com/dabytoure/

Second entry from Daby Toure in this edition of Wonderful Songs, Kia a So is on par with the songs on the album save for the fact that it is a free download from Daby Toure's official website (see link above). Upon registration you can download it from the Audio/Video link on the navbar. And guess what? There are more free songs and videos on the website! Thanks, Daby!

[Smooth Jazz] Ooh la La, Jeff Lorber
From the album Flipside

This is one of this year's smash hits in the Smooth Jazz category. Jeff Lorber, a keyboard player that mixes R&B with Jazz improvisations along with bebop is a master in his craft. I own a few of his records and I enjoy them a lot. Ooh la La surprised me. I didn't expect something so good.

[New Age] Beams, Agatsuma
From the album Beams

Take a very old Japanese instrument, called Shamisen. Put it in the hands of a prodigy, a true genious who masters it. Add to this electro and you have Beams, the song. The album is very good in that it has it for all tastes: those who like electro, traditional Japanese music, groove ...etc. And the Shamisen as played by Agatsuma produces an extremely interesting sound. Here again, you better have some nice music gear to hear all the subtleties of this instrument.

[Spiritual] Diaphanes, Dhafer Youssef
From the album Digital Prophecy

Dhafer Youssef, a Tunisian Oud artist living in Europe, has created a mystical masterpiece. If you are into so-called "Zen" relaxing music, Diaphanes is definitely for you. It is instrumental only with electro sounds backing Oud but no overwhelming it.

[World] Adarghal (The Blind in Spirit), Abdelli
From the album New Moon

Last but not least, let me introduce you to Abdelli, an Algerian artist from the Kabylie region. He has released two albums of which New Moon is the first. Abdelli sings exclusively in his region's dialect. While I don't understand it, this song moves something deep into me. Maybe because he is using Arabic music instruments such as Derbouka? Anyways, he has a nice voice and the multiplicity of instruments goes nicely with it.

This month, I am inaugurating a new kind of regular entry to my blog called Wonderful Songs.

I love music and I listen to different kinds of it as much as I can afford each day. For a lot of people, my guess is that is difficult to find good music among all that c*** forced into our ears by the mainstream media. I am amazed at how many "trashable" songs are marketed and broadcasted every day as opposed to quality-made ones.

The basic idea behind Wonderful Songs is to share with you some of the best music I came across lately on a monthly basis. As a monthly publication, I will write about ten of the best songs I listened to during the previous month and the artists behind them.

Most if not all of these songs are available on major online Music Stores such as iTunes Music Store. If you are running Windows or Mac OS X, I'd advise installing iTunes so you can listen to 30 seconds of each song before buying it from your favorite online Music Store or the CD from Amazon and the likes.

Of course, music is a matter of taste. So I will try to choose songs from as many different kinds as possible. This way, I stand a good chance at having you listen to at least one of them.

While I listen to many kinds of music, expect to see mainly the following in Wonderful Songs :

• World Music (African, Asian, French mainly)
• Smooth Jazz
• Soul, R'N'B
• Rock
• Vocal
• Reggae
• Folk

Stay tuned! Wonderful Songs, Aug'05, the very first edition is just about to be published.