Sunday, October 24, 2010

Wild Weekend Vol. 37




















It´s gonna be a Wild Weekend, issue 37. Where East meets West and the well known goes hand in hand with the obscure. What have we got in store for you this week? Some Britfolk, soul, and afro-reggae, a shot of dino-rock, an Indian ghazal, and a promising new Americana trio to boot. Have a wild one, y´all.

We´ll kick off with some shimmering soul featuring brother Ry and friends, who give the Maurice & Mac classic Why Don´t You Try Me a whole new coat of paint. From the mighty fine Borderline album (´80). Give it a try why don´t you. Time to go pentangling now. I was enjoying some beers with a friend of mine recently when he put an old Pentangle album on, and it amazed us all over again how fresh these British folkrockers still sound today. Bert Jansch and John Renbourn: a wiz guitar team if ever there was one. "Look around for someone lying in the sunshine, marking time, hear the sighs, close your eyes..." And in case you were wondering: that´s the underrated Jaqui McShee on vocals.

Ry Cooder - Why Don´t You Try Me MP3
Pentangle - Light Flight (Take Three Girls Theme) MP3

May we continue with a new band now? Thanks. Presenting Woodsy Pride, an Americana threesome all the way from Redhook, Brooklyn. Wasn´t that the birthplace of Joey, the famous mafioso Dylan wrote such a great but controversial song about? Cool. Anyway, they call their stuff ´southern gothic´ and I sure can live with that. Nice lap steel, too, which is always a good thing. Next we move all the way to India for a relaxed ghazal by a contemporary singer called Hariharan. If I´m not mistaken, the delicate Hasti Apni Habab Ki Si Hai was written by Mir Taqi Mir, the most famous Urdu poet of the eighteenth century. Yes, it´s that old. No idea what he´s on about though. Anyone?

Woodsy Pride - As Always A Good Thing MP3
Hariharan - Hasti Apni Habab Ki Si Hai MP3

On to Jamaica now, with one of the weirdest ventures in the Lee Perry catalogue: his collaboration with Seke Molenga & Kalo Kawongolo. These two singers from Zaire were brought to Kingston in the year when the two sevens clashed, by some malafide promotor who abandoned them almost right away. The duo didn´t speak the language and had no money, but did manage to locate Perry´s famous Black Ark studio somehow. Scratch then worked his magic and produced what was probably the first Afro-Jamaican crossover. Irie or what? And we´ll be off with a pastoral classic by Led Zep. This time Sir Percy´s in pursuit of a Californian beauty who´s never been born. "Meet you up there where the path runs straight and high..." Deal.

Seke Molenga & Kalo Kawongolo - African Roots MP3
Led Zeppelin - Going To California MP3

No comments: