November 24, 2010

Summertime (slight reprise)

Summertime, and the living was easy, does anyone remember, now that it is getting cold here... Well Boško does... and Kokolo too...  Yes we got to meet in Croatia one day :) ... why don't you all come along ?
 

music: Boško Petrović Trio - Summertime

Boško Petrović: Croatian jazz musician (vibraphone player), composer, arranger and producer, leader of several jazz bands including 'Zagrebački Jazz Kvartet', 'Zagrebački Jazz Kvintet', 'B.P. Convention', 'B.P. Convention Big Band', 'B.P. Club All Stars' and still active 'Boško Petrović Trio'. Boško is one of the most important jazz composers in Croatia.
  


November 18, 2010

Anura Jayasingha & the Balladeers-Welcome to Sri Lanka


a calypsonian (ceylonian )from Sri Lanka? my god what else? the cd has an adventurous life itself,as it was forgotten with a bunch of others ,with 2-3 more from Sri-Lanka among them in a friend's house some years ago 
and was repatriated beyond hope last week.as for this music is more close to (a laid back )Madagascar than Trinidad
to my ears...
**************
Music fans will remember him as part of the La Ceylonians singing those lilting calypso tunes with his trademark straw hat and guitar. Many years have passed since those memorable tunes and times but Anura Pathmasiri Jayasingha’s musical journey continued, taking him across the world carrying his brand of music to people.


He has met world renowned singers of the calibre of Harry Belafonte and Lionel Ritchie and his Sinhala songs done with his own group The Balladeers were aired on French radio and television in 1990.
He is philosophical as he looks back: the path to this successful release was not one of roses but he adds that, “It was worth all the trouble I had to go through, because today I am recognized in many countries for my music.”
Anura has presented radio programmes about the beauty of Sri Lanka to a French audience through stations such as the Tropic FM, Radio Asia and Radio France.He is now working on a new instrumental to tell the world that the war has ended in Sri Lanka and that people should visit this land of peace.
Having studied at the Royal Primary and Thurstan College Colombo, Anura with the little music training that he had gained from being a part of the school choir, joined the “La Ceylonians” in 1967. “I would not be here today if it was not for my master Noel Ranasinghe who gave me a place in his band, and Lylie Godridge who trained my voice,” he says with gratitude.
“The Balladeers” was formed shortly after Anura left the “La Ceylonians” in 1986. His close friend Stanley Welgampola named this band and wrote the lyrics for most of his songs. The original members of “The Balladeers” were Rohan Silva who played the mandolin, harmonica, pedal steel, and guitar and also sang together with Nilantha Ariyaratne who played bass guitars and vocals. The late Asoka Ratnapala was among those who played the guitar and did the vocals for the first album of “The Balladeers”-‘Welcome to Sri Lanka’.
‘Welcome to Sri Lanka’ was released in 1990, with 13 original compositions of the Balladeers.
Anura is currently creating a new style in music around the flamenco, the music of the gypsies in Spain and has even got down a flamenco guitar. “I am not a flamenco guitarist and I have never learnt it under a professional but I love this music because I have many friends who play it and I’ve decided to create a new style using Sri Lanka as my inspiration.” !!!!!!






for yummy yummy  recipes of Sri Lanka try these 2 links(and tell us what happened):









:)

November 17, 2010

The Mirror of the Sky



KE KATHA KAYRE
Lalan, ca. 1775-1891

Who is it that talks to me but does not let me see him?
He moves close to my hands but away from my reach in spite of my lifetime's search.
I explore the sky and the earth searching for him,
circling round my error of not knowing myself.
Who am I and who is he?

He is both, Rama and Rahim,
he is earth, water, air and fire.
Fools cannot lead you to Him in your search for Him.
If you are unable to reach what is close to your hands, what can you find in Delhi and Lahore?
Siraj Shah says, O Lalan,
the more I see the more I am confused.
 
Song and instrumental accompaniment on the swaraj (also a lute, like the dotara, but with five sympathic strings), by Torap Ali Shah, a Sufi Baul from Jessore, East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and with ghunghur and kathkartal (wooden clappers). It was recorded in 1971 in Calcutta when Torap Ali Shah came to India as a refugee during the Bangladesh war with Pakistan.
  
source:
  
recorded, translated and written down by Deben Bhattacharya
  
*

November 7, 2010

Merceditas Valdés

Mercedita Valdés was born on October 4, 1928 in the Havana neighborhood of Cayo Hueso, where she assimilated from childhood, Yoruba chants and prayers, rumba and works of representative composers Creole, among others, Ernesto Lecuona, Rodrigo Prats, Arsenio Rodriguez and Eliseo Grenet, Emilio...more

...She will always be an ethnographic document that survives in the African chants and prayers embedded in national culture.









>Cantos Afrocubanos




















Canciones Cubanas De Cuna





















Ay Que Bueno!






















If you want te hear you will have to say it is thegoodone :))

November 1, 2010

Delfino Guevara-Indian Music from Mexico

I don't  have a lot to say about the record above ,its exactly what you would expect to hear from a record with the same tittle from the Playa sound label ,fans proceed and  instead let's have the opportunity to  take a short trip into Mayan history and kitchen (these two always go hand in hand ) :

The cuisine of the Yucatan Peninsula is different from that of the rest of Mexico.  They share tortillas and boiled beans, and the general plan of tamales and the like, and the Spanish heritage is more or less the same, but all these took different local forms quite early.  Yucatecans refer to the rest of the country simply as "Mexico," as if it were a foreign nation.
Until Porfirio Diaz forced the railroad lines through to Merida, Yucatan's principal trade ties were not with "Mexico" but with Cuba.  Contact was through Campeche and (later) Progreso, by sea.  Mexico had to be reached by sea also--sailing to Veracruz.  It is not surprising that Yucatan is a museum of Cuban influences, especially in the cuisine.  Afro-Cuban influences are shared.  So are achiote, and a preference for black beans.  Noteworthy is the use of bitter orange juice where other parts of continental Latin America would use lime juice and where Peninsular Spain would usually use vinegar.  Bitter orange is a different species from sweet orange (Citrus aurantium instead of C. sinensis), and has to be grown specially.  It came with the Spanish to Cuba, very early, and became important there.  Use spread to Haiti, where it is used in vodun  as well as ordinary cooking .  Its use, especially as a thinner for achiote, is a distinctly Cuban trait.
.........
 From ancient times, the Maya made full use of tomatoes and chiles; surely k'utbi p'ak and k'utbi ik are not new.  Given the conservatism of rural ways in Yucatan, we can safely assume that the simpler recipes below, such as ts'anchak and ts'ik, date back to ancient Maya days.  For one thing, they have Maya names.  Recipes with Spanish names are likely to be newer. Most recipes have undergone "mestizoization" (yes, that is a real word) in Yucatan.  In the peninsula, the Maya became a so-called "caste," rather than an isolated minority.  Poor rural workers, and even poor urban workers, spoke Maya.  Rich people spoke Spanish.  Many Maya had appreciable Spanish ancestry; conversely, many "mestizos" have no discernible Spanish ancestry. The Maya assimilated many foreigners; I know Maya who have backgrounds ranging from African and Korean to Chinese, Lebanese, and Scandinavian. 


 A characteristic of Yucatan is the profusion of spice pastes, mostly based on chiles and achiote, known asrecados.  This is one of those Caribbean features; similar pastes occur in Cuba and other islands.  This is a local pronunciation of the Spanish word recaudo, "collection."  The Maya word for these and any spice mix is just xak', "mix."  Recados can be bought readymade in Yucatan, but elsewhere they must be made at home...


tenths of recipes and a good reading 


http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/mayan/mayarecipes.html

also a basic presentation is here

http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmaya.html


Delfino & the flutes