AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

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Honorio
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AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

Post by Honorio »

I was playing with this idea since the beginning of this game and I was planning to post it at the end of Round 1 (for not influencing anyone votes) but I simply can't hold it no more. I'm not pretending to post a list with the best musicians of the world, I simply wanted to highlight some musicians featured in OUR list of this wonderful AM Foreign World Cup Poll. Many thanks to Stephan for hosting the poll and to the ones that discovered me these musicians.


AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition Part 1: Impressive musicianship


One thing I noticed during the Foreign World Cup is the impressive musicianship of some of the nominated artists. Some of the most outstanding musicians are featured on this poll, and some of the most popular World Music artists are not singers but instrumentalists. Two are the possible reasons for this feature:
1. The idiomatic barrier make easier for a instrumentalist to reach to wider audiences (if we compare to a singer using a language that not many understand).
2. Some of this musicians play "ethnic" instruments not widely used outside their home countries (sitar, kora, shakuhachi, bandoneon) and this combination of excepcionality and mastery is what made them shine so much.

A very personal Top 10 and some honorable mentions will follow after two rules (with an exception to every rule):
Rule 1: I decided not to include singers-songwriters that are also outstanding players, that's why the list does not include Fela Kuti, Franco, Hukwe Zawose, Valerio Longoria, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole or Régis Gizavo despite their mastery with the sax, guitar, ilimba, accordion, ukulele or accordion respectively.
Rule 2: I decided not to include artists that are mainly known as composers or producers, that's why Antônio Carlos Jobim, Susumu Yokota, Jóhann Jóhansson, Goran Bregovic, Esquivel or Gustavo Santaolalla are not included despite their (occasionally notable) qualities as musicians.




01. Toumani Diabaté
Country: Mali
Instrument: Kora
Style: Mandé
A well deserved number 1 for the Malian master of kora. Coming from a family of griots (hereditary musician caste) of 71 generations, he expanded the language of kora by means of using it as a solo instrument (playing simultaneously bass, rhythm and solo) and fusing it with other music traditions collaborating with artist coming from flamenco (Ketama), jazz (Roswell Rudd) or blues (Taj Mahal), along with collaborations with other Malian big names like Ballake Sissoko or Ali Farka Touré. A truly fascinating body of work.
Two songs from Toumani appeared on the first round, the crystalline kora solo of Kaounding Cissoko (2008) and the uptempo Single (2006) with his Symmetric Orchestra. You also may find interesting to see a short documentary about the Mandé Variations or a live duet with Ali Farka Touré playing Debe (2005). I'm amazed to discover on those clips that such a flood of notes coming from Toumani's kora are achieved with only 4 fingers because the other 6 are used only to keep the kora in position.

Recommended album: his last solo album so far, "The Mandé Variations" (2008). Toumani said in this documentary about it that "it's not like other kora albums you've heard before, it's a new door that's been opened for the kora."




02. Paco de Lucía
Country: Spain
Instrument: Spanish Guitar
Style: Flamenco
The most adventurous flamenco guitar player, he revolutionized the style from the inside both with his albums accompanying the mythical cantaor Camarón de la Isla and with a solo career that took flamenco to international audiences gaving the flamenco guitar a protagonism rarely achieved before or after. He also opened flamenco to other styles like jazz or classical.
The song featured on this game is also his most popular, the rhumba Entre dos aguas (1973). Here's a link to the studio version because Paco never played that song twice the same way. But you could enjoy also his duet with Al Di Meola in Mediterranean Sundance/Río Ancho (1980).


Recommended album: with "Fuente y Caudal" (1973) Paco broke into mainstream, the album included a lot more than the famous "Entre dos aguas", listen for instance to the beautiful Fuente y Caudal that goes to show that music skill and delicateness can perfectly coexist.




03. Ástor Piazzolla
Country: Argentina
Instrument: Bandoneón
Style: Nuevo Tango
Born in Argentina from Italian parents, raised in NYC in the jazz age, back to Argentina to play classic tango in night clubs and then to Paris to study classical contemporary music. With all these influences and his virtuoso playing of bandoneón (the Argentinian accordion) he created the "nuevo tango" and, in Steve Huey words for allmusic, "took an earthy, sensual, even disreputable folk music and elevated it into a sophisticated form of high art".
We have in this game two of his songs, his immortal Libertango (1974) and the evocative Oblivion (1984).


Recommended album: my choice would be "Libertango" (1974) but "Tango: Zero Hour" (1986) is his most acclaimed album (even by Piazzolla himself). Both are great albums.




04. Ravi Shankar
Country: India
Instrument: Sitar
Style: Rāga
Famous for his relationship with The Beatles (and for his talented daughters), he was responsible for the international resonance of Indian rāgas and the sitar. He connected with the rock audiences of the Western world not only because of his talent but mainly because of the trance-inducing properties of his music that made it especially apt for the psychedelic generation.
The first round of the poll included Rāga Simhendra-Madhyamam (1956) and Improvisation on the Theme of 'Rokudan' (1978), both hypnotic.


Recommended album: maybe his first album "Music of India: Three Classical Rāgas" (1956) would be the one to choose and not only for its historical importance but mainly because it's impressive to see such mastery from the very beginning of his career.




05. Tito Puente
Country: USA
Instrument: Timbales
Style: Afro-Cuban Jazz
More than 5 decades on the top of Latin music and a prodigious mastery on timbal should be enough reasons to justify his inclusion into this Top 5. Born in New York City from Puerto Rican parents, he was a pioneer of Latin jazz and dance-oriented styles like mambo or cha-cha-chá that gave birth to the urban sound of salsa.
We have in this game his gorgeous Mambo gozón (1958), but you may want to listen also to the astonishing Tito on Timbales (1956) to truly appreciate his abilities as a player.


Recommended album: his best album could be "Dance Mania" (1958), including many hits as "Mambo gozón" or "El Cayuco". But it's a vocal album, if you want to listen his timbal playing you need to go to "Puente in Percussion" (1956), an all-percussion album with Puente accompanied by Mongo Santamaría, Patato and Willie Bobo.




06. Anouar Brahem
Country: Tunisia
Instrument: Oud
Style: Arabic Jazz
A musician that fuses naturally the Arabian and European traditions because of his background (he learned to play in Tunisia but most part of his career was in France). His playing is not as fast as other musicians on this list, he prefers to play in an subdued way, elegant and atmospheric.
In our game the song Vague / E la nave va (2006) made a great impression in AM voters. If you want another prove of his mastery go to Raf Raf (1991), this time only oud without any other instrumentation.


Recommended album: the album that Henrik discovered for us (thank you!), "Le voyage de Sahar" (2006), but his whole discography is consistent.




07. Mulatu Astatke
Country: Ethiopia
Instrument: Vibraphone, Organ
Style: Ethio-Jazz
Mulatu began practicing Afro-Latin but then created Ethio-Jazz combinating jazz, ethiopian traditional music and funk grooves. We must thank Jim Jarmush for discovering us this brilliant musicians in 2005 when he made an extensive use of Astatke music on the "Broken Flowers" soundtrack.
The songs nominated in our game were Yègellé Tezeta (1969) with Mulatu on organ and Yèkèrmo Sèw (1974) with Mulatu on vibraphone (but if you want to appreciate his mastery better go to this 2009 live version).


Recommended album: his best album may be "Yèkatit: Ethio-Jazz" (1974) but the previous "Mulatu From Ethiopia" (1972) is great too.




08. Gorō Yamaguchi
Country: Japan
Instrument: Shakuhachi
Style: Zen Music
The absolute master of shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute). He was a traditionalist, not an innovator like many of the musicians on this list but he was the one that took the possibilities of the instrument (and the style) to its limits. Quote from Wikipedia: "known for his musicality, phrasing, impeccable technique (and modesty) in solo and ensemble performances".
The song selected is Kokû-Reibo (1969) but you can also enjoy a live version of the flip side of the same album, Sôkaku-Reibo (1969). It's amazing to see how the performer achieves so much with so little (the shakuhachi is simply a wooden flute with only 5 holes), the variety of nuances here is impressive. Thnak you David M for introducing me to this artist (that by the way did not get to the second round).


Recommended album: his influential two-songs album "A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky" (1969) that introduced Zen music to Western audiences.


Image

09. Aleksandar Šišić
Country: Serbia
Instrument: Fiddle
Style: Balkan Gypsy
The Gypsy fiddle playing is astounding, one of the styles most technically demanding for a musician. We don't have Stéphane Grappelli on the tournament (father of Gyspy jazz along with Django Reinhardt) but we have two excellent fiddlers, Alexeji Dulkevich (Russia) and Aleksandar Šišić (Serbia/Yugoslavia). I've selected the Serbian player, to be sure of his mastery you only need to listen to his demonically fast soloing on the song selected on the game Chélipe. The only video of him playing live I found on the web is this one. Many thanks to nicolas for discovering us this artist.


Recommended album: his first album to my knowledge is "Kola" (1974), most of its songs can be heard on a You Tube playlist.




10. Maria Kalaniemi
Country: Finland
Instrument: Harmonikka
Style: Polkka
A great player deeply rooted in Finnish folk music but with briliant forays in other traditions (as part of Tango-Orkesteri Unto or the Accordion Tribe) and classical music (she works at the folk music department of the Sibelius Academy).
The song selected for the game (originally played with Aldargaz) is Sofias Flykt, you can find it also as a jam session with Morfis Bixur. Anyway I would like to recommend an impressive performance from her for the fabulous Finnish series Memory of Music, all of them available on You tube and highly recommended. Many thanks Stephan for discovering me this artist.


Recommended album: her second album with Aldargaz, "Ahma" (1999) showcases her versatility.



So, you can see, these great musicians (especially the ones in positions 1-6) share a characteristic: they had an intimate knowledge of a certain folk tradition (the knowledge coming from oral transmission, for growing up immersed on it ) but they opt for expand the horizons (both geographic and stylistic) of their intrsuments and styles. This attitude served to gain international recognition (getting to audiences originally alien to these traditions) sometimes at the expense of criticism on their home countries (this was not the case with Toumani Diabaté or Ravi Shankar but it was the case with Paco de Lucía or Ástor Piazzolla, both criticised for not preserving the purity of flamenco or tango respectively).


And now quite a lot honorable mentions (in order of appearance in the game):
- Omar Khorshid, a great Egyptian electric guitar player that showed his superb playing on Raqsed El Fadaa (1974).
- Erkin Koray, another guitar hero this time from Turkey, listen to Ýnat (1974).
- Airto Moreira (Brazil): the exception to Rule 1, the only song of this selection that includes vocals from the musician. I made an exception with Airto because he is widely known as drummer and percussionist both solo or as part of bands like Return to Forever or Weather Report, listen to his Samba de Flora (1988).
- Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japan): and now the exception to rule 2 (see above), Ryuichi is not included in the main list because he's more renowed as a composer but I can't resist putting him on this section because he's more than an accomplished keyboard player too, listen to his piano version of his Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983).
- Orlando 'Cachaíto' López, the Cuban master of double bass, was included into the Top 10 but in the last minute I replaced him by Tito Puente. One of the big guys of the Buena Vista Social Club with a long career on Latin Jazz rediscovered in the 90s by Nick Gold and Ry Cooder, not releasing his debut album until 2001, including this wonderful Tumbanga.
- Ananda Shankar and Anoushka Shankar (India), respectively nephew and daughter of Ravi Shankar are both featured in our list and they are also great musicians, groovy Ananda with the electric sitar like in Streets of Calcutta (1975) and beautiful Anoushka opening sitar to other world music traditions like flamenco in Inside Me (2011).
- Alexeji Dulkevich (Russia) fiddle playing is as impressive (or even more) than Aleksandar Šišić, the gypsy fiddle player I selected (in fact I did not selected Alexeji because of the lack of information on Internet). The song appearing on the game is Moldova).
- Ferus Mustafov, also called King Ferus or Ferus the King, a Macedonian sax player whose speciality is čoček (a Balkan dance style), you can listen to Orient čoček.
- Abdullah Ibrahim, acclaimed South-African piano player with a career lasting six decades, fusing elegantly jazz and modern classical with his African roots, listen to The Mountain (1985).
- Richard Walley is an aboriginal Australian playing digeridoo, there is no You Tube video of the nominated song but you can listen on the following link to Kookaburra (1999).
- Ramón Montoya was an absolute pioneer on flamenco guitar, the first one who played guitar solo and not only accompanying the singer. His Soleá (1936) is enough to show his masterful playing. The only reason why he's not on the Top 10 is because Paco de Lucía is already on it.
- One final special mention to instrumental bands whose individual members did not get mentioned anywhere, bands like Japanese Koto Orchestra, SambaSunda or Gamelan Gong Kebjar.


Coming soon (if I find the time):
- Part 2: golden voices of the world (Nusrat, Camarón, Edith Piaf, Salif Keita, Khaled...)
- Part 3: pivotal names of world music (creators of a whole scene like Antônio Carlos Jobim, Goran Bregović, Franco, Johnny Pacheco...)
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Dan
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

Post by Dan »

Fantastic thread, Honorio! You have given us yet another extraordinary source of information to return to again and again. Thanks for the eloquent description about each artist and for explaining their contributions to world music so clearly. Thanks also for the links to the songs in our game (and for all the other wonderful video clips/links). Now I’m even more excited about the rest of the Foreign World Cup!
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Honorio
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

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Many thanks, Dan!
I checked again the links and there was one mistake, this is the correct link for Tito Puente's Mambo gozón (1958)
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

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What I really like about these picks is the individuality of the musicians. We're all used to Lennon/McCartney/Starr/Harrison, or great partnerships like Morrissey/Marr, but these are just ten individuals, some are from some of the largest countries in the world, it is no surprise that their voice sadly doesn't travel far to the West. I'd find it ever so weird growing up in a country which is slowly losing its identity as it gets swallowed up by American/British rock and roll, but it's great to know that these songs do remain around, even if they require a little more digging up.
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

Post by Gillingham »

This is great Honorio!
I know about half of the musicians you introduced here and I am looking forward to discover the music of the other musicians. Thanks!
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Honorio
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

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Many thanks, Dan, Zorg and Gillingham for your kind words. This encourages me to write the second and third parts (right now I'm more tempted to write the third part, the "pivotal names", but I will decide later).
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

Post by Stephan »

Awesome stuff Honorio. I haven't been doing too much in depth discussion of the songs or artists in the FWC myself, but I can always count on you and nicolas to provide (some of) the songs with background information.

I've found tons of new music from the FWC, and every Sunday evening/Monday morning finding the links to the songs is truly one of the highlights of my week. Granted, writing a thesis makes for pretty boring weeks, but I really love hosting the FWC. Thanks for this additional information!
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

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AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition Part 2: Pivotal names


Only a Top 5 this time, 5 artists that defined a whole music scene. Musicians that created a sound, that served as catalysts of a scene, as a substrate for others musicians to grow or as example for other musicians to follow.



01. Antônio Carlos Jobim
Country: Brazil
Style: Bossa Nova

The only possible number one for this list could be Jobim. The creator of a whole new sound (he was also the first one to write about the terme "bossa nova" on the liner notes of João Gilberto first album) that proved to be one of the most successful non anglo-saxon styles. Everyone is capable to identify the style after a few notes (just like flamenco): this major seventh chords, this syncopated "clave pattern" rhythm, this sweet sadness permeating the melodies. Influenced by American cool-jazz (particularly the West Coast scene with Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker or Stan Getz), French impressionism (Claude Debussy) and Brazilian samba (Pixinguinha or Ary Barroso), bossa nova did not raised from the favelas like samba but from the "upscale beachside neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro" (according to wikipedia). Jobim came from a prominent family, his father was diplomat and writer and his grandfather was senator. He teamed with Vinícius de Moraes (poet and also diplomat) responsible of those poetic lyrics filled of saudade (yearning) but also of celebration of life and João Gilberto, responsible of the batida on guitar (the typical rhythm pulse of bossa nova) and the desafinado (off-key) singing-style. They were known in Brazil by the end of the decade of the 1950s as "the Holy Trinity." But they were not the only ones, composers like Carlos Lyra, guitar players like Luiz Bonfá or singers like Sylvia Telles or Elizete Cardoso were also capital part of the sound.
Not universally loved, it was initially not well received in Brazil for the purists, maybe because of the ubiquitous jazz influence, seen as a foreign adulteration of Brazilian music. And moreover many people despise the style considering it lightweight or labelling it as easy-listening. But it's not. Jobim himself didn't consider the style so refined: "In my opinion skills are very useful, but in the last instance skills are useless. Just the creation fulfils. True or not, I prefer a rough form with a meaning over a meaningless refined form."

Recommended albums (chronological):

1. ANTÔNIO CARLOS JOBIM & VINÍCIUS DE MORAES "Orfeu da Conceição" (1956), his very first album from a play, the A-side features an orchestral overture and a poem by Vinícius but B-side shows their first songs, more samba than bossa but with all the right elements already there.

2. STAN GETZ & JOÃO GILBERTO "Getz/Gilberto (featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim)" (1964), Jobim and Gilberto were already established artists in Brazil but this wonderful album opened the doors of the US (and then the world), ignited a worldwide bossa-nova craze and discovered the talent of Astrud Gilberto.

3. ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM "Wave" (1967), the lounge album, ideal for having a cocktail on your favourite Ipanema café while looking at the sensual garotas passing by. If there is a sophisticated bossa album is this one. Ah, and one of the best cover arts ever.

4. ELIS REGINA & TOM JOBIM "Elis & Tom" (1974), Tom Jobim was a composer and arranger during the 1950s, released some instrumental album under his name during the 1960s and began performing and even singing during the 1970s just like his long-time collaborator Vinícius de Moraes did some years before. Vinícius teamed with Maria Creuza or Maria Bethânia so Tom did it with the wonderful Elis Regina.

5. ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM "The Greatest Bossa Nova Composer" (2012), his best album, a compilation of the songs released from 1954 to 1961, the first original releases of his songs on the voices of João Gilberto, Sylvia Telles or Elizete Cardoso. I bought this FNAC-exclusive compilation two weeks ago and I didn't need any other music these last two weeks. Superb.

Jobim on AM Foreign World Cup Poll:
We had three songs by Jobim on the poll, none of them lasted till Round 4. His delicious easy-listening instrumental Captain Bacardi (1967) lost against Jorge Ben's "Taj Mahal" (no complain, Ben's song is awesome) and the beautiful and deep A felicidade (1970) sung by Vinícius de Moraes with Toquinho and Maria Creuza lost against Sergio Mendes' "Mais que nada" (another Ben-penned tune).
The most succesful Jobim song in our poll was Elis & Tom's Águas de Março (1974), with a prodigius chemistry between the artists, but finally lost again on Round 3 against a different Jorge Ben song, "Zumbi." No doubt, Jorge was the executioner of Tom Jobim on our poll.



Mmm, I think I'll wait post a new artist every few days, just to keep some interest.
Last edited by Honorio on Sun Feb 17, 2013 5:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Dan
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

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:text-goodpost:

The only album I've heard in that list of recommended albums is Getz/Gilberto (featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim), and it's one of my all-time favourites. It looks like the compilation listed at #5 is a good one to listen to next, although I'm keen to hear the Elis & Tom album considering how much I liked the chemistry between them in the song nominated for the Foreign World Cup.

Thanks Honorio.
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

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Dan wrote:I'm keen to hear the Elis & Tom album considering how much I liked the chemistry between them in the song nominated for the Foreign World Cup.
Many thanks, Dan. I'm sure you will like "Elis & Tom" but sadly the vocal contributions of Tom Jobim are too few (only "Águas de Março" and "Soneto de separação"), the songs on the rest of album are only (but wonderfully) sung by Elis Regina.




02. Goran Bregović
Country: Bosnia-Herzegovina
Style: Balkanica

Music for a devastated landscape. The terrible war that shook the former Yugoslavia during the 90s made many people turn their eyes to the Balkan region, and doing this some of us discovered a fascinating music world, a ragged and off-key but throbbing and enthusiastic sound. And Goran Bregović as the main figure of the style and the living proof of a possible peaceful ethnic synthesis. Born in Sarajevo, son of a catholic Croatian and an orthodox Bosnian, with Jewish background and married to a Muslim Bosnian. This mixture characterizes also the music of Bregović, a melting pot of Bulgarian voices, Macedonian rhythms, Gypsy players and electronic beats. He uses also elements of rock music (he was the leader of Bijelo Dugme, the most important Yugoslavian rock band, active from 1974 to 1985) and classical (he was classically trained as violin player and he uses for his soundtracks for Emir Kusturica a personalization of a symphonic orchestra, replacing the brass players by Gypsy musicians, the choir by Bulgarian traditional singers and the percussion players by rhythm boxes). His concept of fusion expanded also to a geographical notion, a kind of "panbalkanism" that led him to produce albums of musicians from Greece –Alkistis Protopsalti on "Paradechtika" (1991) or Giórgos Dalaras on "Thessaloniki: Giannena me dio papoutsia panina" (1997)–, Poland –Kayah on "Kayah i Bregović" (1999) and Kris Krawczyk on "Daj mi drugie źucie" (2001)–, Turkey –Sezen Aksu on "Düģün ve Cenaze" (1997)– or Israel (Ofra Haza sang on "Elo-Hi" for the soundtrack of "La reine Margot" on 1994). Moreover he approached another world music traditions like Irish traditional music on his album "Irish Songs" (1998) or African music (he recorded songs with Cesária Évora and Teófilo Chantré). He even recorded songs with American rock legends like Iggy Pop or Scott Walker.

Recommended albums (chronological):

1. GORAN BREGOVIC "Les temps des gitans & Kuduz" (1990), a compilation of his first soundtracks, with two songs from Ademir Kenović's "Kuduz" (1989) including the beautiful "Tango" and the almost complete soundtrack of Emir Kusturica's "Dom za vešange (Time of the Gypsies)" (1988). Most of the tracks are atmospheric but the album includes his first attempts on Gypsy music ("Kustino Oro" and "Borino Oro") and the magnificent "Ederlezi," his signature song.

2. ALKISTIS PROTOPSALTI (Άλκηστις Πρωτοψάλτη) "Paradechtika (Παραδέχτηκα)" (1991), from all the collaborations and productions of Goran Bregović I've selected this one because it's the most different (the others are in fact translations of Bregović's songs to other languages) and because it showcases his ability of adaptation. Ah, and because of "S'agapo (Σ'αγαπω)."

3. GORAN BREGOVIC "Music Inspired and Taken from Underground" (1995), my favourite Bregović album (it's #79 on my all-time list), the Balkanica sound is here on full blossom with the first full participation of his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra. We have different sides of Balkan music: celebratory ("Cajesukarije čoček," "Ya Ya Ringe Ringe Raja"), ominous ("War") or romantic ("Ausencia"), with two absolute peaks now classics of his repertory, "Mesečina" and "Kalasnjikov."

4. GORAN BREGOVIĆ "Ederlezi" (1998), if you want to purchase an only album by Goran Bregović your choice should be "Ederlezi," a compilation that includes the best moments from "Time of the Gypsies" and "Underground" but also from other soundtracks, including the songs performed by Iggy Pop ("TV Screen"), Scott Walker ("Man from Reno") and especially Ofra Haza (sublime "Elo Hi").

5. GORAN BREGOVIC "Tales and Songs from Weddings and Funerals" (2002), his first non-soundtrack album with the Wedding and Funeral Orchestra, a band composed by 7 brass players (two trumpets, 1 sax, 3 trombones and 1 tuba) and 4 Bulgarian female singers plus his loyal Ogi Radivojevic on lead vocals and percussion and Goran himself on guitar and backing vocals. A great live act, I've seen them playing live when touring to promote this album and I had a great time.

Bregović on AM Foreign World Cup Poll:
The only one of these 5 pivotal names still alive on the Poll, with a song on Round of 32. We had a total of four songs related with Goran Bregović on the poll (all of them nominated by me, lol). Significantly these 4 songs were selected for 3 different geographical areas. The first one was Sezen Aksu and her Erkekler (1997) that participated on the North African part and lost in Round 1 against Cheb Mami's "Yo Yo." The Alkistis Protopsalti's song S'agapo (1991) participated on the Southern European part and lost on Round 1 against Goblin's "Suspiria," despite the amazing solo of santur that you can listen from 3'15" to 3'53", played by Aristides Moschos.
About songs by Bregović himself we had Cajesukarije čoček (1995) that also lost on Round 1 against the impressive throat singing of Huun-Huur-Tu and the great Mesečina (1995) that eliminated O-Zone, Yoselle Rosenblatt and Romica Puceanu and it's going to face Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares on the Eastern Europe big final on Round of 32. I wish Goran could win this Eastern European part. At least.

PS: many thanks to my brother Jesús. He introduced to me the music of Bregović when he recorded for me (and for our younger brother Miguel) a compilation of three CDs including some wonderful liner noted penned by himself. Most of the information that I offered to you in this post is extracted from these liner notes.
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

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03. Fela Kuti
Country: Nigeria
Style: Afrobeat

Fight music. The music of Fela Kuti cannot be separated from his political activism, one thing is intrinsically tied to the other. He politically supported pan-Africanism (he chose to sing in Pidgin English instead his native Nigerian for expanding his message across other African countries), human rights, socialism and communalism (he founded a commune called Kalakuta Republic) and he fought dictatorships, especially the military dictatorship of Nigeria. The most striking confrontation came after the success of the album "Zombie" (1976), with its title song that mocked about the zombie behaviour of Nigerian soldiers. According to Wikipedia: "The album was a smash hit and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta Republic, during which one thousand soldiers attacked the commune. Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother was thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. The Kalakuta Republic was burned, and Fela's studio, instruments, and master tapes were destroyed. Fela claimed that he would have been killed had it not been for the intervention of a commanding officer as he was being beaten. Fela's response to the attack was to deliver his mother's coffin to the Dodan Barracks in Lagos, General Olusegun Obasanjo's residence, and to write two songs, "Coffin for Head of State" and "Unknown Soldier," referencing the official inquiry that claimed the commune had been destroyed by an unknown soldier."
But let's talk about music. And what music! Afrobeat was an evolution of Highlife style (born in Ghana and influenced by Afro-Cuban and jazz). Fela's first band, Koola Lobitos, was mainly a highlife and jazz band (then he played mainly trumpet influenced by Hugh Masekela) but they incorporated funk influences after a trip to US in 1969, you can hear particularly the James Brown influence on "Lady Frustration" from the 1969 Los Angeles sessions. When Fela and his band, then renamed Africa '70, returned to Nigeria developed fully the style. Their songs were long, usually from 10 to 15 minutes but occasionally they could last from 30 or even 45 minutes. Usually the songs began with an "endless groove," taken by the drums (courtesy of fabulous Tony Allen), percussion (mainly shekere) and funky guitars and bass that played a short riff repeated throughout the song. Then the horns played the melodic themes, including long sax solos (Fela switched from trumpet to sax and organ during the 70s). After a long instrumental intro (usually 5 minutes long or more) the vocals began with a typical structure of call-and-response with female backing vocalists and his trademark combative lyrics. Fela's style was very influential and many African musicians followed him, especially Tony Allen (his drummer for more than twenty years), Kola Ogunkoya or Sonny Okosun and on recent years Femi Kuti or Seun Kuti (sons of Fela), Kokolo or Antibalas.

Recommended albums (chronological):

1. FELA RANSOME-KUTI and THE AFRICA '70 with GINGER BAKER "Live!" (1971), I suppose I should put here "Roforofo Fight" (Kuti's first masterpiece) but I got a soft spot for this one. Fela's band sounded here in full force, with all the characteristic trends of their afrobeat sound already in place, extended soloing and loose jam-session ambiance over a tight and infectious groove but this time more jazz-rock than posterior efforts. Ginger Baker tried here to integrate and not get too much protagonism (except for the CD bonus track that it's an extended dual drum solo of him and Tony Allen that showcases the mastery of both).

2. FELA RANSOME KUTI & AFRICA 70 "Expensive Shit" (1975), the title comes from an odd story ("Nigerian authorities placed marijuana in his possession, he promptly ate the dope, after which authorities arrested him and waited for him to defecate so they could test the dung for drugs" according to Afro-beat historian Chris May). The funny title track is great but the real jewel is the B-side, "Water No Get Enemy."

3. FELA & AFRICA 70 "Zombie" (1976), a mythical album if there's one, it caused the destruction of his studio and commune and the murder of his mother but musically speaking it's an awesome album, exemplifying Fela's sound at its very best, with excellent sax, trumpet and organ solos, unstoppable groove taken by guitar, drums and percussion, call and response vocals and political message. Fall in! Fall Out! Fall Down!

4. FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI "Black-President" (1981), Fela Kuti at his most political, changing his surname to Anikulapo (alleging that Ransome was a "slave name"). A compilation from the early 80s after Fela's introduction to Western audiences thanks to the influence of his music in albums like Talking Heads' "Remain in Light." Two songs originally recorded in 1977 but unreleased due to a government ban, "Sorrow, Tears and Blood" and "Colonial Mentality" and another one recorded in 1979, "I.T.T. (Internationally Thief Thief)," a pun and a rant on the multinational company and on Nigerian politicians.

5. FELA RANSOME KUTI & NIGERIA 70 "Koola Lobitos 1964-1968 / The '69 Los Angeles Sessions" (2001), the prehistoric period of Kuti, a compilation of two albums, "Fela Ransome Kuti and His Koola Lobitos" (originally released in 1965) sung in Nigerian and played according to highlife style ("a fiery hybrid of Latin jazz, rhythm and blues, even calypso" according to Allmusic) and "Fela Fela Fela," originally released in 1969 and recorded in Los Angeles in a quick session before the US immigration services kicked them out. The political influences of the Black Panthers and the music influences of funk added to the African background to create right there the Afrobeat sound.

Kuti on AM Foreign World Cup Poll:
Only a song by Fela on the game, nominated by Stephan, the great Roforofo Fight (1972) that lost in Round 1 against Tuareg desert blues band Tinariwen that got serious chances to win the African part of the game. Not a brilliant result for Fela Kuti on our poll but we all now that "Zombie" could have won the Poll if it would have been eligible. It featured very well on our 70s poll (even before we included that Henrik/nicolas rule for foreign acts) and it won easily (and deservedly) the Moderately Acclaimed Game #3.
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

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SInce the excessive amount of school work I've been doing lately has been driving me crazy, I decided to give myself a break this morning, Honorio, and read through this amazing thread you've created--and what a great way to spend the time! Your vivid descriptions of these artists and their music are a must-read for music lovers everywhere. I knew the basic story of what happened to Fela Kuti and his mother after the recording of "Zombie," but never read an account that was so heartbreakingly detailed as yours. The story of his response to being framed with marijuana is one I'd never heard, and will never forget. You even briefly mentioned one of my all-time favorite international artists, the late Ofra Haza from Israel, who collaborated with Goran Bregovic. When I first graduated from high school in 1989, I worked at a music store, and we used to play one of Ofra's albums all the time, since it was about the only album in the store that every one of the employees seemed to like. Thanks for the outstanding thread, and giving me a much needed (and enjoyable) break from school!
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Honorio
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

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Many thanks, JamieW, I'm glad you like the thread. If you like Ofra Haza you must listen the wonderful Elo Hi (Canto Nero) composed and produced by Goran Bregović.



04. Johnny Pacheco
Country: Dominican Republic
Style: Salsa

Salsa. Qué rica salsa. The sound of the Latin community of New York, born on the late 60s mainly derived from Cuban styles like son, guaracha, mambo or bolero adding elements from other styles like Puerto Rican bomba, Dominican merengue, Colombian cumbia and North American Latin jazz. New York pioneers of Afro-Cuban music like Machito or Tito Puente despised initially the term "salsa" (Spanish for "sauce", alluding to spiciness), even Tito stated "the only salsa I know is sold in a bottle called ketchup, I play Cuban music." But even if the Cuban influence on salsa music was massive, it was a sound designed to be, in Willie Colón words, "the harmonic sum of all Latin culture that meets in New York," a kind of Pan-Latin American sound that could unite all the Spanish-speaking community.
Or so was the dream of Johnny Pacheco. Born in Dominican Republic, he moved with his family to New York when he was 11. He played flute and percussion and fronted his own band, Pacheco y su Charanga, that released their first album in 1960. In 1963 Johnny met the lawyer Jerry Masucci and both founded the label Fania. The nose for business of Masucci and the musical instinct of Pacheco were enough to start a revolution on Latin music that lasted for decades and still defines this music today. The first release of Fania Records was aptly titled "Cañonazo" ("Cannon Shot") and featured Pacheco and his new band Nuevo Tumbao, significantly changing the Charanga to Conjunto style (replacing the strings by trumpets). Johnny Pacheco acted as the music director of the label but during the early years in fact he was (just like Motown) the head of different producers and band leaders, being the most important Ray Barretto, Willie Colón and Larry Harlow. Pacheco released also a lot of albums under his own name, most of them with his compadre Pete 'El Conde' Rodríguez on vocals. His discography on Rate Your Music is incomplete, you can find a more complete discography in Herencia Latina but only in Spanish.
But the highest point on the history of the label was the success of the Fania All-Stars, a supergroup with Johnny Pacheco as musical director including in its first incarnation piano, bass, cuatro (Puerto Rican guitar), three percussion players, three trumpets, three trombones and seven different singers. Posterior line-ups included a wide range of members, from classic Cuban divas like Celia Cruz to emerging talents like Rubén Blades. A mythical 1971 concert by the Fania All-Stars on the Cheetah club rendered two live albums and a movie that ignited the salsa craze all over the world. Short time after Fania All-Stars were playing in front of audiences of 60,000 (Yankee Stadium in 1973) or 80,000 people (Kinshasa, Zaire, Africa in 1974). Pacheco's dream was fulfilled.

Recommended albums (chronological):

1. PACHECO "His Flute and Latin Jam" (1965), probably the most experimental album of Pacheco, an album made of descargas (Latin jam sessions, jazz improvisations and frantic Latin percussions) that showcases his flute playing. The fourth Pacheco album for Fania and the ninth overall (the first five were released by Alegre Records).

2. WILLIE COLÓN "Cosa nuestra" (1969), Fania used different producers under the music supervision of Johnny Pacheco, especially Willie Colón, Ray Barretto and Larry Harlow. On this first masterpiece of the label Pacheco is credited as "recording director" but the main merits on this album rely on the inventive arrangements of Willie Colón and on the luminous voice of Héctor Lavoe. "Juana Pena," "Te conozco," "Ausencia," mmm.

3. PACHECO Y EL CONDE "Los compadres" (1971), Pete 'el Conde' was a long time friend and collaborator of Johnny Pacheco from the days of the Nuevo Tumbao. They recorded eleven albums together from "Cañonazo" (1964) to "Celebración" (1989). Their most renowned album together is "Los compadres," with its deliciously vintage cover and the introduction on salsa style of the tres (Cuban guitar).

4. FANIA ALL STARS "Our Latin Thing (Nuestra Cosa)" (1972), if you want to listen an only album of salsa music it should be this one. Both a compilation of the two volumes of "Live at the Cheetah" and the soundtrack of the movie "Our Latin Thing (Nuestra Cosa)" (you can see the full movie in YouTube on this link), this was what started the salsa craze all over the world. Just like Ray Barretto said to Symphony Sid in the beginning of the movie (go to 6'35"): "the thing I really hope it happens is that this message and feeling of unity and love that we have here and our Latin music and culture goes out all over the world."

5. CELIA CRUZ & JOHNNY PACHECO "Celia & Johnny" (1974), the success of Fania gave to Pacheco the opportunity to both hommage and lend a hand to some of his heroes. Eddie Palmieri or Tito Puente were featured as guests on Fania All-Stars, but he especially helped Celia Cruz. Celia was during the 1950s the singer of Cuban band La Sonora Matancera, probably the most important influence on Pacheco's music. This album (the first of four together) took Celia's music to younger generations that crowned her as the "Queen of Salsa."

Pacheco on AM Foreign World Cup Poll:
Only a song credited to Johnny Pacheco on the game, his excellent song with Celia Cruz Químbara (1974) that showcases the African influences on Cuban music. The song was nominated by me and lost in Round 2 against "Exuma, the Obeah Man." This song appeared on the Caribbean part of the game due to the nationalities of the performers (Cuba and Dominican Republic).
But there were another two songs on the game related to Pacheco because there were released by Fania Records (however none of them featured Pacheco as a producer): Orchestra Harlow's Cari Caridad (1972), part of the album "Hommy", Larry Harlow's Latin opera inspired in The Who's "Tommy" (nominated by Mindrocker it lost on First Round against The Garifuna's Women Project) and, of course, Willie Colón & Rubén Blades' Pedro Navaja (1978), part of the most acclaimed Fania album, "Siembra," that still got chances of winning the North American part of the game.
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup Poll special edition

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05. Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本龍一)
Country: Japan
Style: Electronica

I know that this was supposed to be about world music and Japanese traditional music is only one (and not the most important) of the many ingredients that take part on Sakamoto's music. But I cannot think of a better way to represent the Japanese music of today that Sakamoto's, with his balance of futurism and tradition, of technology and minimalism, of electronica and classical, of Western and Eastern. Ryuichi Sakamoto received training on classical music (he considered Debussy his "hero" and stated that "Asian music heavily influenced Debussy, and Debussy heavily influenced me, so the music goes around the world and comes full circle") but also in electronics and ethnic music. According to Wikipedia he was interested in "Japanese (especially Okinawan), Indian and African music traditions."
But his first steps were as part of a synth-pop band with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi called Yellow Magic Orchestra, pioneers of techno and electronic pop that had a lasting influence and not only in Japanese scene. Simultaneously with his activity with the band he began a solo career (he even released his first solo album, "Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto," in 1978 before the first album of YMO). On this career, especially after the disbanding of YMO in 1983, Sakamoto developed a sound almost equidistant to four divergent music corners: electronica, classical, Japanese music and pop. In fact it's almost impossible to find a better example of music eclecticism than Ryuichi Sakamoto. His omnivorous taste included also approaches to ambient music, opera, movie soundtracks or bossa-nova and collaborations with electronic artists (Alva Noto, Fennesz) or pop stars (David Byrne or most notably David Sylvian).

Recommended albums (chronological):

1. YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA "Solid State Survivor" (1979), the second album by YMO is a pioneer album of synth-pop, following the path opened by Kraftwerk with sparkling results. Two compositions from every member of the band plus a surprising cover of The Beatles. Ryuichi wrote (and sang through a vocoder) the two best ones, "Technopolis" and "Behind the Mask" (later covered by Michael Jackson).

2. RYUICHI SAKAMOTO "B-2 Unit" (1980), in Peter Buckley's words, Sakamoto at his most "edgiest," an avantgarde album with collaboration of Andy Partridge (XTC) that included the groundbreaking song "Riot in Lagos" that was considered by The Guardian in 2011 as one of the 50 key events in the history of dance music as the first song of electro music.

3. RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, DAVID BYRNE and CONG SU "The Last Emperor" (1987), Ryuichi Sakamoto's movie scores received a lot of acclaim, especially the one he did for Nagisa Oshima's "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" (1983), in which he even starred sharing the leading role with David Bowie. And of course his soundtrack to Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" (1987) for which he won an Academy Award. One of his most straightforward approaches to both conventional movie soundtrack and Asian traditional music.

4. RYUICHI SAKAMOTO "1996" (1996), classical music (especially French impressionism) has always been a major influence for Ryuichi. In this album he re-recorded many of his soundtrack and non-soundtrack pieces in a classical trio format, with only his piano, a violin and a cello. Amazing beauty. I liked a comment from a Rateyourmusic user: "I link it to the loneliness of a busy city."

5. ALVA NOTO + RYUICHI SAKAMOTO "Vrionn" (2002), Ryuichi Sakamoto has so many faces that trying to highlight it all selecting only 5 albums is an impossible task. We've seen his classical (1996), traditional (The Last Emperor), avantgarde (B-2 Unit) and pop (Solid State Survivor) faces, but I could have chose "Ongaku Kuzan" (1984, released in UK in 1986 as "Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia") that sums all of his faces in one album or "Smoochy" (1995) that shows his frivolous side vindicating himself as one of the main influences of the then blossoming "Shibuya-kei" movement. But I've chosen to close this selection with a sample of Sakamoto's latest interest: ambient music. And his work with German musician alva noto was one of his first major steps on this field.

Sakamoto on AM Foreign World Cup Poll:
Apart of an oddity related with Sakamoto, 愛の嵐 (1981), a parody song by Snakeman Show (a Japanese comedy band that collaborated with Yellow Magic Orchestra in their 1980 mini-album "X∞Multiplies"), the two songs by Sakamoto that we had in the game are probably his two best songs. The groundbreaking Riot in Lagos (1980) was nominated by antonius and lost in Round 2 against "Kurumaya-san." But his most acclaimed song (and deservedly so) is Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983). The original instrumental version is outstanding but the vocal version with David Sylvian (Forbidden Colours) is (arguably) even better and the (solo piano version) is excellent too (all three versions were released in 1983). It was nominated by Miguel and lost in Round 2 against "Yumeji's Theme." It's noticeable that the two songs that eliminated Sakamoto were the protagonists of the Japanese big final.
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