Many thanks to Hot Casa Records, who introduced the music of Roger Damawuzan, the ‘James Brown of Lomé‘, to the world. You can definitely see where he gets his inspiration from!
Music
[Music] Scott Walker – The Seventh Seal
How many people do you know who could seamlessly pull off an Ingmar Bergman reference in a song? Scott Walker does so admirably.
[Music] Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells (Live at Montreux 1981)
Tubular Bells, performed by Mike Oldfield and his band, is a masterpiece of progressive rock. Here is it in a live context.
[Music] Rodriguez – Sugar Man
Sixto Rodriguez’s story is a pretty incredible one. A Mexican-American folk singer from Detroit who didn’t sell too many albums, but did manage to have a good tour of Australia, and then fell into obscurity, or so he thought. He ended up outselling Elvis Presley in South Africa, and fans from there hunted him down. The movie Searching For Sugar Man documents his rise, fall, and rise back to popularity.
[Music] Can – Geheim (Half Past One) [Peel Sessions]
[Music] Emilio de Gogorza – Chanson de la Touraine (1919)
Emilio de Gogorza was a Spanish-American baritone who was at his peak during the early part of the 20th Century. Here he is performing a song from Panurge by Jules Massenet.
[Music] Duško Gojković & Sarajevo Big Band – Mujo Kuje (Doboy)
Duško Gojković made his name in the former Yugoslavia. He collaborates here with the Sarajevo Big Band out of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
[Music] War – Slippin’ Into Darkness
My friend Owen made the pick of the night. War’s classic is a meaty, visceral tune which, if memory serves me right, would influence Bob Marley in making Get Up, Stand Up.
[Music] Pelageya – Ptashechka (Live)
I’m quite new to the work of Russian pop singer Pelageya. From Novosibirsk, Siberia, this songbird comes from a classical music background, having once been invited by legendary Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich to perform in France along with other luminaries, including Ravi Shankar and B. B. King.
Though I find the live version wonderfully sparse, I’m including the studio version for the sake of comparison below:
[Music] İlhan Erşahin – Aşk
A wonderful fusion of world music and jazz from a young Turkish-Swedish composer, İlhan Erşahin.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 