Playlist: October 28, 2009

Playlist: October 28, 2009

7:00
Hossam Ramzy - (Gamaal Rawhany)
Emad Sayyah - Enchanting Arabia (Modern Bellydance Music from Lebanon, Vol.5)
Suhaila Salimpour & Susu Pampinin - Cymbal Tap, Aswan Drum Trance

7:22
Susu & the Cairo Cats - Cleopatra's Frenzy (Dancing Drums)
Raquy & the Cavemen - Cabaret Macabre (Mischief)
Tim Rayborn - Cask of Alban (Strange Flesh)
Knossos - Slow Descent, Tarak (Dark Light in the Wake of Silence)

8:01
Solace - Indigo Dragonfly, Miss Anime (Balance)
Bali: Gamelan & KecakGenggong Duet
Hedingarna - The Steed, Hour of the Beast, Toadeater (The Heathen's Fire)

8:34
Sway Machinery - Shalom Aleichem, Longa Shahnaz
Ubaka Hill - Dream Shift (Beyond the Wind)
Yoko Kanno - What Planet Is This?, Yo Pumpkin Head, Autumn in Ganymede (Cowboy Bebop Movie Soundtrack)

Playlist: October 21, 2009

Playlist: October 21, 2009

7:00
Orion Prophesy - Eastern Star (Waterbone)
Zarbang - Dream Star
Raquy & the Cavemen - Newbian (Mischief)
Divahn - Ya Ribon Alam, Cuando el Rey Nimrod

7:27
Natacha Atlas - I Put a Spell on You
Haifa Wehbe - Bhebbak Hob (Bade Eish)
Nawal al-Zoghbi - Shou Akhbarak
Susu & the Cairo Cats - The Cat's Meow (Dancing Drums)

7:45
Angels of Venice - Sins of Salome (Strange Flesh)
The Shroud - Black (Strange Flesh)
The Mother Fakirs - Twirling Toward Shambalah
Suleiman the Magnificent Soundtrack - Whirling Dervishes, the Goat Jumper
Turkish Nines (no artist information available)

8:17
Shajarian & Kalhor - Saz va Avaz, Desert Night (Night Silence Desert)
Zerrin Ozer - Beni Hor Gorme (Ve Boyle Bir Shey...)
Roman Chowdhury - You & Me

8:45
Yoko Kanno - See You Space Cowboy, Want it All Back (Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack No Disc; performed by Mai Yamane)
Bonnie Pink - It's Gonna Rain (Rurouni Kenshin Songs 2)

Upcoming U of Illinois performances of note

Virsky Ukranian National Dance Company - Wednesday, October 28
This looks like fun! I wonder if they'll do the Karabushka...
See the Krannert Center website for more information




Fareed Haque and the Flat Earth Ensemble - Friday, October 30
This is a free "afterglow" show, scheduled for the Krannert lobby at 9:30 pm or whenever the earlier pay-for-tix show ends. According to the announcement, he "fuses his classical, jazz, and global talents with the folk strains of the Flat Earth Ensemble for a planetary jam session."
See the Krannert Center website for more information

Playlist: October 13, 2009

Playlist: October 13, 2009

7:00
Hossam Ramzy - (Eternal Egypt)
Solace - Khatar (Ahsas)
Zachary J. Mechlem - Pharoahs March (Sameera)
Raquy & the Cavemen - The Mad Marionettist (Mischief)

7:20
Chris Gacsi - Raqs al-Saif/Dance of the Sword (One)
Raquy & the Cavemen - Cabaret Macabre (Mischief)
Bellydance Superstars - Dala'a Halween (Volume II)
Harry Saroyan - Kanoun, Addou Kalmayas (Saroyan Sings "Cairo")

7:45
Metkal Kenawi - Best of Seedi Nights
Tim Rayborn - Ganghara (Veils of Light)
Shajarian & Khalhor - Festive Occasion (Night Silence Desert)

8:05
Irfan Makhi - Maghrib (MC World Beats 1)
Eastern Awakening - Hills of Nepal (MC World Beats 2)
Navraj Gurung - Meets Together (Rhythmic Journey)

8:25
Cheb i Sabbah - Gazelle Memories (Shri Durga)
Karsh Kale - Light up the Love (Redesign)
MIDIval punditZ - Mercury
James Asher - The Astrologer's Seat (Tigers of the Raj)

Playlist: October 7, 2009

Playlist: October 7, 2009

7:00
Azam Ali (Portals of Grace)
Tim Rayborn - Non deve null ome, Seyahat (Rihla)
Suleyman the Magnificent Soundtrack - Hicaz Taksimi
Chiftitelli - Rast Chiftitelli
Turkish Percussion Group - Darbuka Solo (Harem)

7:27
Raquy & the Cavemen - Sandansko (Jordan)
Natacha Atlas - Mish Fadilak
Deva Premal - Tumare Darshan (Essence)
Tarkan - Gul Dokturum Gollarina
Susu & the Cairo Cats - Nubian Magic (Dancing Drums)
Balkanika - Violet Saz

8:03
Metropolitan Klezmer - Der Yidisher Soldat in Die Trenches (Yiddish for Travelers)
Klezmer Juice - The Happy Nigun
David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness - Moscovitz

8:21
Oktoberfest in Germany

8:39
Mongolian Tuve music: The Orphan's Lament

A Passage From India

At the risk of giving the impression that all my news comes from World Music Central, their RSS feed generally gives a lot of information about artists and performances all over the world. I try to filter the music and news that fits in The Eastern Hemisphere's genres, but if you would like more news than what I post here, I'd strongly encourage you to subscribe to their feed. They truly have a prolific website!

About Kailash Kher and Kailasa:

Kher, the Delhi-born son of a Hindu priest, has a voice that’s been rightly compared to that of deceased qawwali icon Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Despite growing up in a musical household where his gifts were evident early on, his first stab at employment was in the import/export business. The bottom quickly dropped out of that venture, so Kher made his way to Mumbai to give music a go.

It wasn’t long before he found success as a playback and jingle singer, but he was clearly cut out for better things. Teaming with musician brothers Naresh and Paresh Kamath (providers of guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals as well as knowing a thing or two about composing, producing and arranging), Kher took his vocal chops well beyond the worlds of Bollywood and advertising to create music that borrows from a range of Indian traditional styles and tosses in a good many sounds and instruments found elsewhere.

From the almost Celtic whirl of the opening “Kaise Main Kahoon” and the reggae-accented beats of “Dilruba” and “Turiya Turiya” to the low-key starkness of “Teri Deewani” and the pop-with-substance bounce that propels “Tauba Tauba” and “Rang Rang Ma,” Kher and Kailasa (Kher’s versatile backing band helmed by the Kamath brothers) have put together a defining album of modern Indian music.

Yatra is truly the work of the “Nomadic Souls” its title bespeaks, traveling regions of Rajasthani folk, Sufi devotion, Hindu allegories and urban dance floors that add up to a set of consistently compelling and charming songs. Recommended.

Read the original article, plus links to CDs and downloads >>

Throat Singing, Tango, Radif, Candombe and Other Music and Dance Traditions celebrated by UNESCO

From World Music Central:

The Tango of Argentina and Uruguay, The Radif of Iran, the Mongolian art of Khoomei singing, and the traditional Ainu dance of Japan are among the 76 elements inscribed on 30 September on UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Last week I got a request for both Mongolian Khoomei and Ainu music...I'll have to see if I can track down a CD of Ainu. Listen for some Mongolian Tuve music this week after 8pm CST!

Read the full article >>

Corsican Cantu in paghjella Declared Intangible Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding

From World Music Central:

The UNESCO Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage, chaired by Awadh Ali Saleh Al Musabi (United Arab Emirates), identified The Cantu in paghjella of Corsica an intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding during its recent 2009 session in Abu Dhabi.

The paghjella is a male Corsican singing tradition. It combines three vocal registers that always enter the song in the same order: segonda, which begins, give the pitch and carries the main melody; bassu, which follows, accompanies and supports it, and finally terza, the highest placed, which enriches the song. Paghjella makes substantial use of echo and is sung a capella in a variety of languages including Corsican, Sardinian, Latin and Greek.

Read the rest of the article, plus links to recordings

Happy Chinese Moon Festival!

Usually around the end of September and the beginning of October is when the Chinese celebrate their annual Moon Festival, when farmers end their summer harvesting and people in general admire the mid-autumn harvest moon. (Wikipedia)

And, of course, this holiday is especially marked by eating traditional tasty moon cakes!



Each cake is an individual portion. They look small, but they're solid blocks of nuts and honey with a little bit of flour -- so one cake eats like a meal! Mmm, I could certainly go for a moon cake this year. I'll have to check the Asian grocery stores later today...yummmm!

This year, the moon festival falls on Saturday, Oct. 3.

Attend the Oct. 2 presentation about the Moon Festival by the University of Illinois Asian American Cultural Center. They're serving moon cakes!

Top Photo: Creative Commons licensed photo via Flickr by Dim Sum

Moon cake photo: Creative Commons licensed photo via Flickr by ioldmo