And so goodbye Mark Coles

[Globaltruth]

As JC pointed out elsewhere, Mark Coles has now stopped producing The Shed with edition number 271. Previous editions are available on Mixcloud and on his website.

The last edition was a bit maudlin, a bit indulgent - all fine with me, quite a sad moment.
The reasons he gave were a diminished interest in world music.
Surely not, as disproved by the lively and numerous exchanges on this very board.
What do you say JC?
Lat?

Anyone there....





In actual fact, Cerys Matthews on r6 seems to completely disprove that - her show is still gaining listeners, it's not exclusively WM, but she plays a lot of it.
Long may she continue.

[johncorrigan]

As JC pointed out elsewhere, Mark Coles has now stopped producing The Shed with edition number 271. Previous editions are available on Mixcloud and on his website.

The last edition was a bit maudlin, a bit indulgent - all fine with me, quite a sad moment.

Mark was always enthusiastic about his subject, GT. Always plenty music coming from South East Asia, an area often neglected on other shows - Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. I got the impression that he had fallen off the mailing list for lots of WM companies, and perhaps was feeling that he was stuck in his Shed not casting to very many people.

So Farewell Ditton Delta;
where express trains hurtle by,
unaware of slugs attacking radishes
and robin redbreast looking on,
as rain pitterpatters on the shed roof,
and the sounds of the world rush from within,
but in the end, Marky locks us out
for one last time.

I'll certainly miss his shedcasts.

[Lat-Literal]

As JC pointed out elsewhere, Mark Coles has now stopped producing The Shed with edition number 271. Previous editions are available on Mixcloud and on his website.

The last edition was a bit maudlin, a bit indulgent - all fine with me, quite a sad moment.
The reasons he gave were a diminished interest in world music.
Surely not, as disproved by the lively and numerous exchanges on this very board.
What do you say JC?
Lat?

Anyone there....





In actual fact, Cerys Matthews on r6 seems to completely disprove that - her show is still gaining listeners, it's not exclusively WM, but she plays a lot of it.
Long may she continue.

Sad news. He is a good presenter with a wide range of interests. He may have other avenues to explore.

I must admit that I didn't listen to "The Shed" as often as I might have done. The same is true of "Give The Drummer Some" which I dip into now and again.

In 2016, I find it increasingly difficult to assess (a) the state of radio - especially internet radio and (b) the condition of world/roots music and other music.

What I think there needs to be is some sort of internet radio times which brings together all of the international web stations of note - not the formulaic stuff which is often without any presenters - to help people to see what is around. That sort of gathering would mean less random searching and provide a sense of community of sorts.

One thing 6 Music are building with Cerys is a sense of a regular gathering but you don't get that often on mainstream radio and it's even less so on the net.

As for the music, more people need to be roaming to see what isn't signed up yet to record labels. It will get more difficult, though, because many of us have been on a journey and we know quite a lot so it takes more for something new - or a new mix of things - to really stand out.

[johncorrigan]

As for the music, more people need to be roaming to see what isn't signed up yet to record labels. It will get more difficult, though, because many of us have been on a journey and we know quite a lot so it takes more for something new - or a new mix of things - to really stand out.

True Lat...I suppose that's why the success of the Analogue Africa as people look backwards to find new 'old music'. But maybe that's just an age thing, keeping on looking for something that sounds so remarkable different from anything we've heard before. Or perhaps there's just so much out there that we don't get the time to just listen again and again to the things we like. Times gone by I'd get an LP and play it for days and days...you don't hear it for years and a track suddenly appears and you can't believe how familiar you are with the song. Heard an old Ten Years After track from Ssssh on the radio the other day...couldn't believe how familiar it was...doubt I've heard it in forty five years.

I was having a look through an old playlist I did for a while, chucking in songs I liked from Mark Coles shedcast...I started off with good intentions but then started getting my housekeeping out of order...as usual. Still, I found this...it was the first time I heard this Colombian CD was on the Shed...Diablos del Ritmo 60-85, and this amazing take on Fela's 'Shakara (oloje)' by Wganda Kenya, called 'Shakalaode' from '76 - no attempt to disguise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0NJafhwJ9I

[johncorrigan]

I was having a look through an old playlist I did for a while, chucking in songs I liked from Mark Coles shedcast...I started off with good intentions but then started getting my housekeeping out of order...as usual. Still, I found this...it was the first time I heard this Colombian CD was on the Shed...Diablos del Ritmo 60-85, and this amazing take on Fela's 'Shakara (oloje)' by Wganda Kenya, called 'Shakalaode' from '76 - no attempt to disguise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0NJafhwJ9I

Just a wee follow-up to this. Magically 'Diablos del Ritmo' turned up in the Yuletide stocking and I've been reading the rather informative sleevenotes. Samy Ben Redjeb, the founder of Analog Africa, writes about his arrival with a hundred or so African LPs and a couple of hundred singles in Barranquilla, Colombia in 2007. He was hoping to trade these for Colombian music from the 60s and 70s with collectors he had been in contact with. They get a wee record player together and he starts playing them some of the discs he has brought with him. The Colombians are totally blown away. His contact says, 'I have been listening to some of these songs since my childhood but I had no idea who the artists were. The Sound Systems on the Caribbean Coasts want exclusive, sole ownership to the music, and to make sure that nobody would be able to recognise it, the original covers were thrown away and the label stickers were drawn over. For example, this (Congolese) song, 'Ya Nini' by Orchestre Veve is known here as 'La Mencha' - that's the name it was given as we didn't know the original title.' Who'd've thought that would happen in Colombia, but it explains the Wganda Kenya version of Fela's 'Shakara' and the fact that there's no mention of Fela on the cover version. Chances are they didn't know who he was and worked out the lyrics by listening to Fela.

Redjeb was later threatened about bringing the records in to Colombia as his arrival was threatening the exclusivity and some of the Sound Systems were taking a rather harsh view of this.

[Lat-Literal]

True Lat...I suppose that's why the success of the Analogue Africa as people look backwards to find new 'old music'. But maybe that's just an age thing, keeping on looking for something that sounds so remarkable different from anything we've heard before. Or perhaps there's just so much out there that we don't get the time to just listen again and again to the things we like. Times gone by I'd get an LP and play it for days and days...you don't hear it for years and a track suddenly appears and you can't believe how familiar you are with the song. Heard an old Ten Years After track from Ssssh on the radio the other day...couldn't believe how familiar it was...doubt I've heard it in forty five years.

I was having a look through an old playlist I did for a while, chucking in songs I liked from Mark Coles shedcast...I started off with good intentions but then started getting my housekeeping out of order...as usual. Still, I found this...it was the first time I heard this Colombian CD was on the Shed...Diablos del Ritmo 60-85, and this amazing take on Fela's 'Shakara (oloje)' by Wganda Kenya, called 'Shakalaode' from '76 - no attempt to disguise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0NJafhwJ9I

Just a wee follow-up to this. Magically 'Diablos del Ritmo' turned up in the Yuletide stocking and I've been reading the rather informative sleevenotes. Samy Ben Redjeb, the founder of Analog Africa, writes about his arrival with a hundred or so African LPs and a couple of hundred singles in Barranquilla, Colombia in 2007. He was hoping to trade these for Colombian music from the 60s and 70s with collectors he had been in contact with. They get a wee record player together and he starts playing them some of the discs he has brought with him. The Colombians are totally blown away. His contact says, 'I have been listening to some of these songs since my childhood but I had no idea who the artists were. The Sound Systems on the Caribbean Coasts want exclusive, sole ownership to the music, and to make sure that nobody would be able to recognise it, the original covers were thrown away and the label stickers were drawn over. For example, this (Congolese) song, 'Ya Nini' by Orchestre Veve is known here as 'La Mencha' - that's the name it was given as we didn't know the original title.' Who'd've thought that would happen in Colombia, but it explains the Wganda Kenya version of Fela's 'Shakara' and the fact that there's no mention of Fela on the cover version. Chances are they didn't know who he was and worked out the lyrics by listening to Fela.

Redjeb was later threatened about bringing the records in to Colombia as his arrival was threatening the exclusivity and some of the Sound Systems were taking a rather harsh view of this.

An amazing track - and very interesting comments for which thank you.