A to Z

[Beef Oven!]

Is that right? The great Kenny Everett was always stronger in radio innovation than he was in terms of music knowledge and taste. Having said as much, he may just have had more knowledge about classical music than the rest but even then not a lot. From memory, his comments were made on one of his editions of the World's Worst Wireless Show in which, while there were some genuine shockers, there were good things too. If Frank Carson was "it's the way I tell 'em", Ken in those days was perhaps "it's the way I hear 'em".

http://www.chronoglide.com/wwwshome.html

Kenny, taste?

I hope not

[Lat-Literal]

Kenny, taste?

I hope not

Exactly!

Incidentally, love the way you are conveying to John that T Rex should be included.

I liked them lots but there is a clause in my contract enabling formal interventions if matters go awry.

[Lat-Literal]

here's my two bob's worth folks and I don’t mind being shot down...and some of the artists I can’t speak for...a shorter list

A - Albanian Clarinets or Analogue Africa – keeping them in there, Lat but tough competition
B - Bulgarians or Baku – Baku, I mean both are unique sounds but somehow Baku is uniquer
C - Cesaria Evora/Cape Verde or Cumbia – tending to the former – purely personal
D - Djembe or Desert Blues or Dust to Digital (hard one)
E - English Folk or Ethiopiques – I think it has to be Ethiopiques to get over the headache,Lat
F - Fela or Fado (sorry Lat - moved Fela – too much pressure on K – and has to be him, doesn’t it?)
G - Gillett or Gospel, - they’re both world in the extreme – quartets would tip the balance for me
H - Hardanger Fiddle or Highlife – I chose Hardanger because I feel we need to reflect Scandinavia in the list
I – Irish – Irish would take in so much from Peadar Ó Riada and Cór Chúíl Aodha to the MacPeake Family and Van and the Dubliners and Gloaming and Liam O’Flynn
J - Jean Jenkins or Juju/King Sunny Ade – like the idea of the former but the latter was a trailblazer and probably plump for that
K - Klezmer or Kora, This is tough but Kora is so influential... it’s hard to think of a more influential world instrument except maybe the Oud
L - Lee Scratch or Lo - Ismael and Cheikh or Lomax - I’m going Lomax to represent the collectors
M - Mediterranean Polyphony or Mahotella Queens – probably going for the former – just so unusual
N - New Orleans or Northumbrian Pipes – New Orleans covers a multitude of joys
O - Orchestras/Orkestars/Orkestrars or OK Jazz - Orchestras etc is a hard one to beat
P - (Violeta) Parra or Princes – I’ll go Parra and I’m light on South America and that probably weights Reggae
Q - Qawwali – no contest really (sorry) – I’ll take the quartets and stick them in Gospel
R - Reggae, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Rinken Band, (Frederic) Rzewski, Rajasthani Reggae/Gypsies, Real World Records, Rumba, Ruben Gonzalez – I’m sorry, I can’t decide except reggae or is that too obvious ( did I miss Rai somewhere?)
S - Salif Keita, or (Joseph) Spence Sitar/(Ravi) Shankar, Salsa, (Paul) Simon (see T)
T - Throat Singing or Township Jive, Tom Brosseau, Tizita, (June) Tabor, Taraf de Haidouks, Tinariwen, Tony Allen, Tunng, (Hugh) Tracey, Transglobal Underground, Toure(s),Some letters need a lot more thought, subsets even – Th, TA, TR, To, Tu, Ti etc – catch my drift
U – U Srinivas, there we go
V - Vinicio Capossela or Venezeula Youth Orchestra, (I like their Scottish connection)
W - Watersons, or Wolof or WOMAD – probably go for the Watersons to ease the headache but...
X - Xenakis, Xhosa, Xenia Belmas, Ximena Sariñana, Xue-Wei, Xuefei Yang, X Seamen's Institute, Xose Manuel Budino/Galician Pipes – I don’t know enough to decide and tend towards Xhosa through ignorance to be honest
Y - Youssou N'Dour – thought I’d make a decision
Z – Zimbabwe. ..and another decision

and we didn't get to accordions or harmoniums etc or papa wemba

Having given thought to the list in full, I think it makes huge amounts of sense.

There won't be many arguments from me.

It will be interesting to see the comments from our host GT and other contributors.

Thank you again JC - had it been me doing it, I would have got into a muddle!

While we wait, a few lovely links from some we all temporarily forgot:

Silvio Rodriguez - La Maza (Live) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwXkTmpaOlw
Mercedes Sosa - Gracias a La Vida - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyOJ-A5iv5I
Victor Jara - Te Recuerdo Amanda - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRmre8ggkcY

And with its Toots connection, a "good fun" reason for AW's inclusion in the long list:

Amy Winehouse - Monkey Man - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lEgNyJQ2is

[johncorrigan]

Wow, if that is "a day or two", I'd love to see what your week is like.

This is very, very good and will need some thought before sensible comment. However, a couple of things for now. One, I like the idea of a selection to which theoretically other ones can be attached. So, for example, your L for Lomax would in Joe Boyd podcast terms open the door to thoughts about Jenkins, Tracey etc too without the need to use E for ethnomusicologists. Your P for Parra is interesting because I tried to be thorough in all that I did but uncharacteristically I went for shorthand there in simply writing "Violeta". By rights at least three of them would have been mentioned. Actually, I think of her and then I think of Jara and also Inti-Illimini but oddly none of us thought about those at the time.

I tried not to think too much about it...as soon as I did I got all muxed ip. Your comment really brings A and D into mind - I could go Dust to Digital and The Albanians or Analogue Africa and Desert Blues. S & T require more consideration. I worry there's not enough women in there and my lack of knowledge means a serious dearth in far eastern. But it's just a list, innit!

[Lat-Literal]

I tried not to think too much about it...as soon as I did I got all muxed ip. Your comment really brings A and D into mind - I could go Dust to Digital and The Albanians or Analogue Africa and Desert Blues. S & T require more consideration. I worry there's not enough women in there and my lack of knowledge means a serious dearth in far eastern. But it's just a list, innit!

Well, I have it in my mind that GT can easily decide on "D" but I'm open to the unexpected. Can you put forward a case for Analogue Africa? What are we especially talking about here? I suppose I could shift on that point but I am minded of our good relations with Tirana. Rightly or wrongly, I think of women when I think of the hardanger and there are a fair few women in Ireland and even Ethiopia. But I will give further thought to "names". I reckon that Cesaria Evora is spot on and elides neatly alphabetically with Cape Verde.

Of course, you could have had Cambodians!

The Cambodian Space Project - Mondulkiri - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq2uv4SKmLU

[Pianorak]

Mercedes Sosa - Gracias a La Vida - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyOJ-A5iv5I

Kicking myself. How could I forget, the above and Alfonsina y el mar being part of my daily diet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrr5YzcbPd4

Btw. Although Zarah L is another favourite not sure she belongs to World Music. I suggested her with tongue-in-cheek. Sorry.

[Globaltruth]

Oh Lat re your comment about thinking of women when you thought of hardanger fiddles.
Well, we'll ignore the reverse sexism there and instead, on behalf of Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh will wish you all the luck you get from going round something clockwise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhmikpUuNO8

Yes, if there is only one D then it's Dust to Digital for me.

[johncorrigan]

Yes, if there is only one D then it's Dust to Digital for me.

Inclined to agree, Global, if for nothing else, 'Goodbye Babylon'...and there have been others.
I keep coming back to Paul Simon for S because it covers so many bases - Ladysmith, township jive, Hugh Masekela, Boyoyo Boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgA3gSiVwas , Indestructible Beat of Soweto perhaps etc, as well as Central and South America - but my heart says Joseph Spence.

For T, I'm going Tuvan Throat Singing just to get the desert involved, but where's the Tourés?

[Lat-Literal]

Oh Lat re your comment about thinking of women when you thought of hardanger fiddles.
Well, we'll ignore the reverse sexism there and instead, on behalf of will wish you all the luck you get from going round something clockwise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhmikpUuNO8

Yes, if there is only one D then it's Dust to Digital for me.

I was speaking purely in a Scandinavian context, GT, but didn't say so and therefore understand the confusion. The link to Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh was very enjoyable. What with Cesaria Evora being the selection for "C", he will be just great in the category "I for Irish - especially Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh". There was I thinking you would say "D" for Desert Blues but you didn't and Dust To Digital is a terribly good choice. We can, I believe, say that Dust to Digital has been agreed. Do you have any additional thoughts about JC's A-Z?

Kicking myself. How could I forget, the above and Alfonsina y el mar being part of my daily diet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrr5YzcbPd4

Btw. Although Zarah L is another favourite not sure she belongs to World Music. I suggested her with tongue-in-cheek. Sorry.

[Lat-Literal]

Inclined to agree, Global, if for nothing else, 'Goodbye Babylon'...and there have been others.
I keep coming back to Paul Simon for S because it covers so many bases - Ladysmith, township jive, Hugh Masekela, Boyoyo Boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgA3gSiVwas , Indestructible Beat of Soweto perhaps etc, as well as Central and South America - but my heart says Joseph Spence.

For T, I'm going Tuvan Throat Singing just to get the desert involved, but where's the Tourés?

Interesting.

I am noting S and T but sort of sidestepping them until we have some others in place. There was a committee meeting here about "A" this morning involving people from Eastern Europe. They asked me to place several Albanian links on "Talking About Music" to support their bid. We will now just have to wait to hear what Analogue Africa brings to the table.

Also, how are we going to include Scotland which we must do?

[Lat-Literal]

I reckon the following could now be seen as agreed? There are more but I'm being very tentative. Do you think we should be open to further ideas in this brief discussion? You have mentioned accordions. I'd like to add the phrase "Celtic Connections" and possibly the word "Senegal" but would that over-complicate matters? Or we could go for bagpipes for B??

A
B
C
D - Dust To Digital
E
F
G - Gospel
H
I
J
K - Kora
L
M - Mediterranean Polyphony
N - New Orleans
O - Orchestras
P
Q - Qawwali
R - Reggae
S
T
U - U Srinivas
V
W - The Watersons
X
Y
Z - Zimbabwe

Actually, I have a suggestion here. Could we have Polyphony as P, Musicologists as M and Latin America as L? That would enable the Parras and Lomax to be included in a different way and enable the Bulgarians to be with the Mediterraneans in the Polyphony. If you don't like this idea, that is fine - but it would take us to the halfway mark in less than a day!!

[johncorrigan]

I reckon the following could now be seen as agreed? There are more but I'm being very tentative. Do you think we should be open to further ideas in this brief discussion? You have mentioned accordions. I'd like to add the phrase "Celtic Connections" and possibly the word "Senegal" but would that over-complicate matters? Or we could go for bagpipes for B??

Actually, I have a suggestion here. Could we have Polyphony as P, Musicologists as M and Latin America as L? That would enable the Parras and Lomax to be included in a different way and enable the Bulgarians to be with the Mediterraneans in the Polyphony. If you don't like this idea, that is fine - but it would take us to the halfway mark in less than a day!!

It's OK Lat, Scotland is represented in every section.

I'm not happy about M for Musicologists - I think Mediterranean Polyphony feels somehow specialist and should be in, and I think Latin America is just too broad. I mean maybe Irish is broad but in theory it's one island (if you discount Craggy!) Senegal gets in via the kora at the very least and certainly under Orchestra, Orcestra, Orkestra (why did Bambi Blair just spring to mind?), and I'd still go for Lomax in L. P could be Polwart and Wales gets in via Catryn Finch's excellent combination with the kora of Seckou Keita last year. But we drop V Parra then, unless she gets in under V - possible?
C is for Cesaria in my opinion and if Dust to digital is there, Analogue A can make way for the clarinets. Should we give Ban Ki-moon a call?

[Lat-Literal]

It's OK Lat, Scotland is represented in every section.

I'm not happy about M for Musicologists - I think Mediterranean Polyphony feels somehow specialist and should be in, and I think Latin America is just too broad. I mean maybe Irish is broad but in theory it's one island (if you discount Craggy!) Senegal gets in via the kora at the very least and certainly under Orchestra, Orcestra, Orkestra (why did Bambi Blair just spring to mind?), and I'd still go for Lomax in L. P could be Polwart and Wales gets in via Catryn Finch's excellent combination with the kora of Seckou Keita last year. But we drop V Parra then, unless she gets in under V - possible?
C is for Cesaria in my opinion and if Dust to digital is there, Analogue A can make way for the clarinets. Should we give Ban Ki-moon a call?

OK, so that ensures hardanger fiddle and Ireland are in as we are not having Celtic Connections which in turn keeps Cesaria Evora there. Lomax is agreed and we will continue with Mediterranean Polyphony in full. I have added in the Albanians and also Youssou N'Dour. Let's as you suggest go for Baku rather than Bulgarians and Fela Kuti rather than Fado. As we are having Lomax, I agree that it should be Juju/King Sunny Ade rather than Jean Jenkins. That leaves just five letters for further thought/discussion. Hope this is reasonable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG0QKaaLTCE

A - Albanian Clarinets
B - Baku
C - Cesaria Evora/Cape Verde
D - Dust To Digital
E - Ethopiques
F - Fela Kuti
G - Gospel
H - Hardanger Fiddle
I - Ireland
J - Juju/King Sunny Ade
K - Kora
L - Lomax, Alan
M - Mediterranean Polyphony
N - New Orleans
O - Orchestras
P
Q - Qawwali
R - Reggae
S
T
U - U Srinivas
V
W - The Watersons
X
Y - Youssou N'Dour
Z - Zimbabwe

[Lat-Literal]

Not that I want to string this out at all but we could have had either of these for A:

Arto Tuncboyaciyan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOAHLlpbNRE

Atahualpa Yupanqui - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt4bkUj7pH8

[johncorrigan]

Not that I want to string this out at all but we could have had either of these for A:


Atahualpa Yupanqui - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt4bkUj7pH8

Bloomin' 'eck, we forgot Atahualpa - sorry it's the Clarinets or Youssou'll have to make way. Thanks for the reminder Lat - that's a must, at least I think so!