Kaan Boşnak - Benimle Kayboldun

Kaan Boşnak - Deplasmanda Plasebo

Maryam Saleh - Nouh Al Hamam

Versions of Alf leila wa leila - modern and postmodern masterpieces

This album by french-lebanese composer and trumpet player Ibrahim Maalouf is extraordinary. It is irresistibly modern and manages to be steeped in Arab and jazz traditions. It could never have been produced at any other time than what it was (2015). Maalouf's fusion of those traditions is not strictly conceptual either, but is enabled by a type of trumpet, designed by his father, that has a fourth valve, enabling quarter tones. The album is extrapolations and interpretations of the album Alf leila wa leila (link below; title translates to One thousand and one nights) by the inimitable Oum Kalthoum, but it is its own creation. Umm Kulthum (there are many ways to spell it. I think this one is the English version and the previous is the French) herself is a towering and fascinating figure. She is perhaps the most well known Arabic-language singer ,and her importance in Arab and Egyptian cultures cannot be overstated. The energy between her and the crowd in her hour long or more live performances is simply a joy to watch, and the virtuosity and control she displays is not like anything I've ever experienced. She was at times criticized for being too closely linked to people in power, like the royal family and then later President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and broadcasts of her performances were often used by the state in various ways to buttress its power. Throughout her life she moved carefully between artistic, political, literary and religious spaces. Her work is a testament to the range and depth of emotion the human voice can express, as well as its power and virtuosity.

Marlon Williams- Can I Call You

Boy Harsher — Pain

Tumberos - Argentine prison drama and fantasy

This show is fucking BANANAS. From 2002, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. An upper middle class lawyer of Buenos Aires is locked up in one of Argentina's most violent prisons for the murder of a ballet dancer. The show traces his adaptation to and eventual embrace/absorption into the logic of his surroundings. Dark magic and fantasy, crime, and bourgeois fears frame its portrayal of exploding mass incarceration after the Argentinazo. Some of its major themes are gender, class, and sexual violence. It might be read as an extremely violent version of Bakhtin's Carnival (Maybe? Please feel free to dispute this below).


I can't find a version with English subtitles, or even Spanish subtitles for that matter. But if you are feeling brave and want to brush up on your Lunfardo, jump in! It does not disappoint.  

Shango - Shango Message

Shangó, the multivalent and multifaced manifestation of Africa's pain, strength and vengeance: Orixá, Biggest Badass, Gran Puta, and, in this case, electro pioneer. Afrika Bambaataa's crew proving that their embrace of Afro pasts, presents, and futures goes beyond the superficial.

I just got this record at Wax n' Facts record store in Atlanta. Don't be fooled by the empty hallway that is their website (or maybe be convinced of their authenticity by it!); this place is fire as fuck and has the goods. And they're not nearly as expensive as some of their bougier neighbors. Also got a Fishbone cover of Freddie's Dead by Curtis Mayfield, so what the fuck's up???

Ochestra Baobab - Utrus Horas 'Pirate's Choice: The Legendary 1982 Sessi...

Orchestra Baobab with some Senegalese afrocubano heat. Here is a 1982 live version from Senegalese TV with really low volume on the audio.

Selections from Funked Up East

Estonian soul jams from Velly Joonas. She is a poet, folk singer and writer, who has really great taste in glasses. The first track is a cover of I See Red -a total jam- by Anni-Frid Lyngstad, dowager princess and member of ABBA, recording as Frida on the album Something's Going On and produced by none other than Phil Collins. Velly Joonas' version, however, has lyrics written by the singer herself. The YouTube channel that posted the video, Funked Up East, has all kinds of cool and weird sounds from Estonia and Eastern Europe, like the following from a Soviet-era Russian group called Arsenal, reworking Ravel's 'Boléro'. The website God's Jukebox has a lengthier description as well as links to a profile of the group on Prog Archives.