Spinner http://www.spinner.com Spinner http://www.spinner.com/media/feedlogo.gif Spinner http://www.spinner.com en-us Copyright 2012 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this headlines and excerpts feed are available for limited commercial distribution. You may repost this feed to your site provided you link back to the original story, do not edit the material, and do not remove this copyright notice. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ Sima Bina and the Lian Ensemble Team to Bring New Life to Persian Traditions http://www.spinner.com/2011/06/07/sima-bina-lian-ensemble-tour/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/06/07/sima-bina-lian-ensemble-tour/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/06/07/sima-bina-lian-ensemble-tour/#comments Filed under: , , ,


Fars Media

A woman comes into a cozy courtyard behind a small West Los Angeles house, joining a few others sitting there, some smoking hand-rolled cigarettes, some drinking tea from glasses. Petite, demure, bespectacled, she says little more than a curt acknowledgment of an introduction to a new arrival, though a warm smile and sparkle to her eyes show that she's friendly and welcoming, just perhaps shy.

You'd never guess that this woman is one of the giants Persian classical and folk music. Sima Bina looms large over a challenging, male-dominated field for her intensive research into centuries of traditions spanning the dozens of regions and dozens more language dialects of what is now Iran, as much as for her affecting and entrancing voice, even if she's keeping it largely silent at the moment. ]]> Lian EnsemblelianensembleSima Binasimabina Steve Hochman 2011-06-07T15:30:00 00:00 Cuba's Carlos Varela and Jackson Browne Bond Over the 'Power of Music' http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/31/carlos-varela-jackson-browne-tour/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/31/carlos-varela-jackson-browne-tour/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/31/carlos-varela-jackson-browne-tour/#comments Filed under: , , , ,


Olivia Bendres

A couple of frontline singer-songwriters, an Oscar-winning actor and assorted other hangers-on, a Havana hotel room. Oh, and a bottle of rum.

That was the scene one mid-'90s evening when Jackson Browne met his Cuban counterpart, Carlos Varela, sparking a mutual-admiration society that has grown through the years, bringing about a North American concert tour this month by Varela, presented by and, most likely, featuring some guest appearances by Browne. ]]> Carlos VarelacarlosvarelaJackson Brownejacksonbrowne Steve Hochman 2011-05-31T15:00:00 00:00 Sanda Weigl's 'Gypsy in a Tree' Yields Romanian-Jazz-Cabaret Fruit http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/24/sanda-weigl-gypsy-in-a-tree/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/24/sanda-weigl-gypsy-in-a-tree/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/24/sanda-weigl-gypsy-in-a-tree/#comments Filed under: , , ,


Tiberiu Crisan

Sanda Weigl could be forgiven if she got a little disoriented during a recent performance at New York's 92Y Tribeca. After all, the singer was performing in front of four different groups during the evening: a young rock band called Manzana Carnal, a group of Romanian musicians, an ensemble of top Manhattan jazz/avant-garde innovators anchored by pianist Anthony Coleman and a combo of New York-based Japanese ex-pats led by percussionist Satoshi Takeishi.

But all Weigl experienced was exhilaration.

"All I need to tell you is it was a packed audience and people loved it," she tells Spinner. "You could feel it from the very vivid response, but also because they all stayed until the very end -- and the whole show was almost three hours long. It was the first time I sang almost 30 tunes the same evening, and to be honest I didn't feel tired or exhausted or anything." ]]> Anthony ColemanMaria TanaseSanda Weiglsandaweigl Steve Hochman 2011-05-24T14:00:00 00:00 Susana Baca Traces 'Afrodiaspora From Peru to New Orleans Through Song http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/17/susana-baca-afrodiaspora/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/17/susana-baca-afrodiaspora/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/17/susana-baca-afrodiaspora/#comments Filed under: , , , ,


Luaka Bop

Susana Baca has shed a remarkable amount of light on the music and culture of her Afro-Peruvian heritage. Over the course of 25 years and a dozen albums, she's not only brought out the music rooted in the oft-overlooked African presence along South America's Pacific coast, but brought attention to an entire "hidden" community -- the slaves brought by Spanish conquerors.

So she never expected to have some light shined on her own perspective while riding the streetcars of New Orleans. She was in the Crescent City the summer of 2005 on a fellowship at Tulane University doing a comparative study of Afro-Peruvian and African-American music and their respective cultural contexts. She'd arrived at the beginning of August, just in time for Satchmo Summerfest, the city's annual celebration of native son/jazz god Louis Armstrong's birthday -- he claimed to have been born on the 4th of July, but it was actually a month later. ]]> Susana Bacasusanabaca Steve Hochman 2011-05-17T14:00:00 00:00 Bhangra Brass Band Red Baraat Blends New Delhi and New York at Jazz Fest http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/10/red-baraat-sunny-jain-jazz-fest/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/10/red-baraat-sunny-jain-jazz-fest/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/10/red-baraat-sunny-jain-jazz-fest/#comments Filed under: , , ,


Amy Touchette

It was one of those only-at-Jazz-Fest phenomena. The annual New Orleans extravaganza was having arguably the biggest concentration of star power in its history, with nearly all of its 10 stages featuring headlining stars in one or the other genres spotlighted in the wide-ranging "heritage" berth of its title.

John Mellencamp was at the big stage on one end of the Louisiana Fairgrounds horse-race track while Tom Jones (yes, that Tom Jones) was doing a set loaded with gospel and blues at the other. In between, there was John Legend with the Roots, the Decemberists and even, gulp, Kenny G in the Jazz Tent (to the delight of smooth jazz fans and revulsion of many others). Each drew a big, enthusiastic crowd numbering in the thousands. ]]> JazzFestNew Orleans Jazz Heritage FestivalNewOrleansJazzAndHeritageFestivalNewOrleansJazzFestRed BaraatRedBaraatSunny Jain Steve Hochman 2011-05-10T14:30:00 00:00 Amjad Ali Khan Masters the 'Demanding' Beauty of the Sarod http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/03/amjad-ali-khan-Samaagam/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/03/amjad-ali-khan-Samaagam/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/05/03/amjad-ali-khan-Samaagam/#comments Filed under: , , ,


World Village

You might be struck by the opening of 'Samaagam,' a consistently striking and unique concerto for Indian sarod and western classical ensemble that teams composer-soloist Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with conductor/arranger David Murphy. The opening prelude, 'Ganesh Kalyan,' is an invocation to the beloved Hindu elephant god (notable as the remover of obstacles), beginning with a simple ascending three-note run from the tonic to the fifth to the octave.

Doesn't that sound like the opening of an ode to another South Asian deity, Richard Strauss' 'Also Sprach Zarathustra,' globally known for its dramatic usage by Stanley Kubrick at the start of '2001: A Space Odyssey'? ]]> Amjad Ali KhanamjadalikhanUstad Amjad Ali Khan Steve Hochman 2011-05-03T14:30:00 00:00 Paul Simon, Robert Plant, Dengue Fever + Ghazal -- Around the World in Five Days http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/26/robert-plant-band-of-joy-tour/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/26/robert-plant-band-of-joy-tour/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/26/robert-plant-band-of-joy-tour/#comments Filed under: , ,


Dengue Fever

It started with the Mastadong. "It" being a trip that went from California to Cambodia, from Soweto to New York, from Calcutta to Tehran, from Timbuktu to the Thames. All in five days. All without leaving Los Angeles.

Of course, it was a musical journey, not a travel adventure, but it covered a lot of ground last week with Dengue Fever, Paul Simon and Ghazal on consecutive nights and then, after a one-day break, Robert Plant -- each representing ambitious global perspectives, creative and often iconic approaches to culture-crossing and, crucially, voracious appetites for new sounds and experiences. ]]> Dengue FeverDengueFeverGhazalPaul SimonpaulsimonRobert Plantrobertplant Steve Hochman 2011-04-26T10:00:00 00:00 The Unthanks Dive Into Their Dark Folk Heritage and Cover King Crimson http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/19/the-unthanks-last/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/19/the-unthanks-last/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/19/the-unthanks-last/#comments Filed under: , , ,


The-Unthanks.com

Rachel Unthank laughs at darkness and desolation. Literally.

The singer, who alongside her sister Beck fronts inventive English folk band the Unthanks, chortles when Spinner says that the songs on their new album, 'Last,' are rather bleak.

"Well, yeah!" she says, giggling in her distinctively Northern burr. "I've grown up with it. We've all heard these stories and they don't scare us off really, been in our consciousness for such a long time. That's the great thing about traditional and folk songs -- they don't shy away from the dark and bleak. They explore aspects of life, love and life lost, hardships. Make for a good story." ]]> Rachel UnthankUnthanks Steve Hochman 2011-04-19T17:00:00 00:00 Femi Kuti Takes His Message to the Battlefield on 'Africa for Africa' http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/12/femi-kuti-africa-for-africa/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/12/femi-kuti-africa-for-africa/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/12/femi-kuti-africa-for-africa/#comments Filed under: , , ,


Femi KutiJulien Mignot

Having been a working musicians since his teens and standing today as full-fledged Afrobeat royalty, 48-year-old Femi Kuti has decided it's finally time to get to the point.

"There's always been a problem of mine of how to reach where I'm going," the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, speaking by somewhat audible phone from his home in Lagos, Nigeria, tells Spinner. "I have a problem of singing long songs, so I have been meditating and thinking, 'Why can't I just say things?' I was a listener, I would not be impressed to listen to a long song."

"If I was a doctor or accountant, some other profession, I would want to know, 'What is this guy talking about? Why do I have to listen so long? Why can't he hit the nail on the head?'" he continues. "That's what I did now. I wanted to hit the nail on the head. I'm going to talk about bad government, not talk a long story. 'OK, I get the message now. Not beating around the bush.' Now I would be impressed with that. That was the reason to do this album: Hit the nail on the head." ]]> Fela KutifelakutiFemi KutifemikutiSeun Kutiseunkuti Steve Hochman 2011-04-12T15:00:00 00:00 Azam Ali Crafts Grown-Up Middle-Eastern Lullabies on 'From the Night' http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/05/azam-ali-From-Night-to-the-Edge-of-Day/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/05/azam-ali-From-Night-to-the-Edge-of-Day/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/04/05/azam-ali-From-Night-to-the-Edge-of-Day/#comments Filed under: , , ,


Austin Young

Lullabies, as it turns out, are not for babies.

The song 'Noor (The Light in My Eyes),' which opens Azam Ali's new album 'From Night to the Edge of Day' (due out April 12 by Six Degrees Records) certainly doesn't sound like kids' stuff. Leading off a collection drawn largely from various cultures in Ali's native Iran and neighboring countries, the song's dark, modal tones and haunting/haunted atmosphere not exactly, well, lulling. ]]> Azam AliazamaliNiyaz Steve Hochman 2011-04-05T14:00:00 00:00 Jazz Fest to Honor Haiti's Musical and Tragic Relationship With New Orleans http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/30/jazz-fest-2011-haiti/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/30/jazz-fest-2011-haiti/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/30/jazz-fest-2011-haiti/#comments Filed under: , , ,


RAM HaitiDaniel Morel

When the bands RAM Haiti and Boukman Eksperyans played at the 1994 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as part of the spring event's spotlight on Haitian arts and cultures that year, the shared aspects of the two places were hard to miss for the visiting musicians. The generations-ago influx of Afro-Caribbean traditions via the slave trade and, in particular, diaspora following the Haitian slave rebellion linked the locales by history and culture: the Vodou ceremonies and drumming that became jazz in New Orleans' Congo Square, the carnival parades, the architecture, the food. Oh yes, the food.

"Hot spices, rice and beans, a lot of similarities," says RAM Haiti founder and leader Richard A. Morse.

"We have a lot in common," says Boukman co-founder Theodore "Lolo" Beaubrun. "The food, a lot of things. New Orleans is like a Caribbean city." ]]> Boukman EksperyansjazzfestNew Orleans Jazz and Heritage FestivalNew Orleans JazzFestNewOrleansJazzAndHeritageFestivalNewOrleansJazzFestQuint DavisRAM Haiti Steve Hochman 2011-03-30T13:00:00 00:00 Seun Kuti 'Rises' Out of Africa With Fury, With Help From Brian Eno http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/24/seun-kuti-from-africa-with-fury-rise/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/24/seun-kuti-from-africa-with-fury-rise/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/24/seun-kuti-from-africa-with-fury-rise/#comments Filed under: , ,


Gareth Cattermole, Getty Images

The beaches and cafes of Rio de Janeiro were lovely and inviting when Seun Kuti settled in there last year to record his new album. 'From Africa With Fury: Rise.' Well, he assumes that was the case -- members of his band, Egypt 80, told him so. He didn't experience any of that.

"I was in the studio the whole time," he tells Spinner, noting he spent 60 out of the 72 hours they were there recording. "But my band had a good time. They went out to town, went to the beach, Copacabana, having fun."

But him?

"No, no, no. I was busy in the studio." ]]> Brian EnobrianenoFela KutifelakutiSeun Anikulapo KutiSeun Kutiseunkuti Steve Hochman 2011-03-24T13:00:00 00:00 Hawk and a Hacksaw Trace Northern New Mexico Sonic Roots to Eastern Europe http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/16/hawk-and-a-hacksaw/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/16/hawk-and-a-hacksaw/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/16/hawk-and-a-hacksaw/#comments Filed under: ,


Courtesy A Hawk and a Hacksaw

The Northern New Mexico town of Espanola is not generally viewed in a romantic light, for those who view it at all.

Set about 25 miles up the Rio Grande Valley from Santa Fe, right before you really hit the stretch of the Rocky Mountains that rise up through the rest of the continent, it's the gateway to a region with a colorful reputation -- the home and inspiration for artist Georgia O'Keefe; the setting for John Nichols' magic-realism classic 'The Milagro Beanfield War'; the site of the majestically mysterious and abandoned Chaco Canyon (capital of a large, ancient Anasazi civilization) as well as both active and archaeological pueblos throughout the area; the New Age/elite retreat Taos; even the Los Alamos National Laboratory (HQ of the Manhattan Project and much secretive research since).

But Espanola, itself, is a center of displacement and aimlessness, unemployment and disaffection, cruising and drugs.

Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost see something more engaging there, though. The couple, coming from Albuquerque a couple hours south, finds something vibrant about that community. Barnes singles out the low-riders who are so prominent.

"In New Mexico, Espanola has a bad reputation," he says. "The low-riders to me is a cultural phenomenon that is turned into high art. They're like mobile sculptures -- an identity, cultural identity. And I feel lucky to be around that stuff." ]]> A Hawk and a HacksawAHawkAndAHacksawhack and a hacksawhawkandahacksawNeutral Milk HotelNeutralMilkHotel Steve Hochman 2011-03-16T15:00:00 00:00 Vijay Iyer's 'Tirtha' Is Not Indian Jazz -- and Is Not NOT Indian Jazz http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/09/vijay-iyer-tirtha/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/09/vijay-iyer-tirtha/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/09/vijay-iyer-tirtha/#comments Filed under:


TirthaAlan Nahigian

Vijay Iyer is explaining about gamaka, one of the keystone elements of Indian music. These are not the notes or scales but the ornamentations - the slides and bends and melismatic embellishments that shape or connect the notes.

"It's the particular ornamentation on Carnatic music where you hear it and say, 'Oh, that's Indian,'" he says.

And he doesn't employ it. At all. He can't. ]]> Nitin MittaPrasannaTirthaVijay Iyer Steve Hochman 2011-03-09T11:30:00 00:00 Music Freedom Day to Celebrate Voices of -- and Under -- Oppression http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/01/music-freedom-day/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/01/music-freedom-day/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/01/music-freedom-day/#comments Filed under:


Lapiro De Mbanga -- Music Freedom DayJen Bell

Cairo's Tahrir Square has been the site of some remarkable events in recent weeks. Ole Reitov hopes there will be another on Thursday: a concert. Thursday is the fifth annual Music Freedom Day, associated with the Copenhagen-based artists' rights organization Freemuse, of which he's co-founder and program manager.

"The plan was to set up in Tahrir Square a Music Freedom Day concert," he says. "That could change from hour to hour as to whether they get the acts." ]]> FreemuseMusic Freedom DayOle Reitov Steve Hochman 2011-03-01T14:30:00 00:00 'Mistico Mediterraneo' Seduces With Corsican-Sardinian-Italian Folk-Jazz-Classical Magic http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/22/mistico-mediterraneo/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/22/mistico-mediterraneo/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/22/mistico-mediterraneo/#comments Filed under:


Mistico MediterraneoAndrea Boccalini

It's a Romeo and Juliet story. Only instead of being set in the bloody Montague and Capulet feud of 16th century Verona, it's the lingering rivalry between the Mediterranean islands of Italian Sardinia and French Corsica. And instead of moony teens reaching across the battle lines it's veteran musicians representing not just their respective homes, but seemingly at-odds genres and approaches to their art. Not to mention that this has anything but a tragic ending.

In any case, the coming together of Corsican vocal group A Filetta and Sardinian trumpet and flugelhorn virtuoso Paolo Fresu - plus Italian bandoneon player Daniele di Bonaventura - in 2006 was, per A Filetta leader Jean-Claude Acquaviva, magical: "It was love at first sight and we have never been far apart since then."

Musically speaking, of course. ]]> A FilettaDaniele di BonaventuraMistico MediteranneoPaolo Fresu Steve Hochman 2011-02-22T14:30:00 00:00 Sussan Deyhim 'City of Leaves' Album Bridges Tehran to Tarzana http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/15/sussan-deyhim-city-of-leaves/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/15/sussan-deyhim-city-of-leaves/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/15/sussan-deyhim-city-of-leaves/#comments Filed under:


Sussan DeyhinVirgo Paraiso

Sussan Deyhim's bracing new album, 'City of Leaves,' is an amalgamation of all the vibrant phases of her life: her upbringing and musical training in an Iran that shifted from wide cultural embrace to closed and repressive. More than 27 years in the challenging art laboratory that is Manhattan. And recently from a vantage in the hills overlooking Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.

Don't laugh at the latter. Deyhim was skeptical when she and her partner, composer-musician-producer Richard Horowitz, moved there a few years ago. But she feels quite differently now. ]]> Richard HorowitzSussan Deyhim Steve Hochman 2011-02-15T18:00:00 00:00 Pakistani Surf Rock? A New Archives Compilation Catches That Surprising Wave http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/08/pakistani-surf-rock/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/08/pakistani-surf-rock/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/08/pakistani-surf-rock/#comments Filed under:


The Fore Thoughts Pakistani Surf RockRadiodiffusion

Surf's up, Islamabad! Hang 10, Lahore! Catch a wave, Karachi!

Uh.... What?

From the mid-'60s to the mid-'70s, the sounds of surf music proliferated around Pakistan. Twanged, tremeloed guitars and cheesy organs pumped out instrumentals suitable for Rincon or Trestles.

Only thing is, such bands as the Panthers, the Fore Thoughts and the Blue Birds were playing Urdu folk tunes. And in 1977, the military-led Islamic revolution dealt the scene a total wipeout.
]]> RadiodiffusionSublime Frequencies Steve Hochman 2011-02-08T14:30:00 00:00 Sway Machinery and Khaira Arby Bridge West Africa and West Side of Manhattan http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/01/sway-machinery-khaira-arby/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/01/sway-machinery-khaira-arby/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/01/sway-machinery-khaira-arby/#comments Filed under:


Sway Machinery and Khaira ArbyTatiana McCabe

Jeremiah Lockwood had to keep reminding himself where he was one night last fall. He and his bandmates in the group the Sway Machinery were mingling with Malian singer Khaira Arby and her band. Arby was playing with young kids on the floor, music and dancing was breaking out spontaneously - and a big meal was being prepared in the kitchen.

A few months earlier, he'd been in pretty much the same scene with most of the same people, but in Timbuktu, where it all made sense. Sway Machinery had gone there to record with Arby and other local musicians, invited after having collaborated before onstage at the annual Festival in the Desert in Mali. But this was at his parent's house in Manhattan. The kids weren't Arby's grandchildren. They were Lockwood's sons, aged 2 and 4. And the food wasn't exotic to him but to the Malians. ]]> jdub recordsJeremiah LockwoodKhaira ArbySuper 11Sway Machinery Steve Hochman 2011-02-01T14:30:00 00:00 Kodo at 30: Still Beating the Big Drum for Japanese Culture -- Even Sans Big Drum http://www.spinner.com/2011/01/25/kodo-drummers-japan/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/01/25/kodo-drummers-japan/ http://www.spinner.com/2011/01/25/kodo-drummers-japan/#comments Filed under:


KodoBuntaro Tanaka

It's the world music answer to the 'Phantom of the Opera' chandelier. The Ringling Bros. elephants.

The o-daiko - a giant drum weighing in at nearly 900 pounds - is what everyone comes for at a Kodo performance, as inevitable as it is thunderous. No matter what else the Japanese music and dance troupe might do in a show, as dazzling as it often is, you could imagine fans going away disappointed if the o-daiko was a no-show.

But do the Kodo performers ever just, you know, play music sometimes? Forget the drum. Even forget the choreographed, costumed spectacle that is as much a part of the whole thing as the big banger. Just. Play. Music. ]]> Kodo Steve Hochman 2011-01-25T14:30:00 00:00