ninme

So, I spent the morning listening to Chorus (Dance Music), and bobbing around to good old fashioned Hindi music. But now I’ve moved north, and I’m listening to Yat-Kha - Dalai Beldiri, which is in the “Tuva/Central Asia” category. It’s really cool!

The “Album Mini Review”:

If Huun-Huur Tu are the supergroup of Tuvan throat singing (Oh, sure! Tuvan throat singing! Of course!), Yat-Kha are their indie rock little brothers. They keep the loping rhythms, the sense of space and strangeness, and the rutted throat singing of their native music, and they add electric guitar and electronic effects. This is not folk music selling out — it’s folk music staying true to its experimental heart. - Sarah B.

So there you go. Indie-rock-rutted-throat-singing-Tuvan-folk-music. Who woulda thunk. It’s kind of um.. Tibetan, sort of. They’re from southern Siberia.

And of course, a natural transition, you’ll all have to admit, Algerian Raï music! Namely, Khaled - Sahra. Aicha is the best song ever. It’s just one of my absolute favourites. I discovered it on a Starbucks compilation years ago. The rest of the cd was crap, but Aicha was just amazing.

And then, if I have time, Youssou N’Dour - Egypt, which I haven’t heard, but I think I’ve heard him once or twice.

Update:

French rap is so much cooler than American rap.

Update II:

I forgot an album in between Sahra and Egypte. It’s Cheb Mami - Dellali. Another Raï artist, but who lives in France, now. Heavier baseline. I like it. Wow, he’s got a cool webpage. Oh this is interesting:

Quelques semaines auparavant (a rai festival in Bobigny), j’avais rencontré mon manager Michel Lévy qui m’a fait enregistre un album, le premier disque de raï produit en France.

Then he went on, of course to do the backup for Sting’s Desert Rose.

(No I’m not going to translate that. It’s an impossibly slow news day, and it amuses me to be contrary.)

Update III: