04/03/06- Albert Nijmolen/Sara Tavares - Playlist/Bulletin

[Con Murphy]

Seq - Artist - Song Title - Album - Country - Label

1 - Janis Ian - Crocodile Song - Folk is the New Black - USA - Rude Girl Records

2 - Monica Akihary - Hitam Manis - Lagu Lagu - Netherlands - Boiakih

3 - Sara Tavares - Balancê - Live in session - Portugal -

4 - Mohammed Wardi - Al Nas Al Giyagfa (Beautiful People) - Live in Addis Ababa 1994 - Sudan - Rags Music

5 - Saban Bajramovic - Pena - A Gypsy Legend - Bosnia-Herzegovina - World Connection

6 - Nynke Laverman - Vida Triste - Sielesâlt - Netherlands - Fama

7 - Blue Asia - Dao Ruang Dao Roi - Hotel Bangkok - Japan/Malaysia/ Thailand - King

8 - Waldemar Bastos - Viva Angola - Play Up - Angola - World Connection

9 - Gotan Project - Arrabal - Lunatico - Argentina - XL

10 - Sara Tavares - Bom Feeling - Live in session - Portugal -

11 - Railand - C'est pas ma faute - C'est pas ma faute - Morocco/Netherlands - Absinthe (Increase BV)

12 - Reem Kelani - A Baker's Dozen - Sprinting Gazelle - Palestine - Fuse Records

13 - Mariza with José Mercé - Hay Una Musica Del Pueblo - Transparente (special edition Spain) - Portugal - World Connection/EMI Portugal

14 - Sara Tavares - One Love - Live in session - Portugal/Cape Verde -

15 - Sophie Solomon - Holy Devil - Poison Sweet Madeira - UK - Decca

16 - Nuru Kane - Goree - Sigil - Senegal - Riverboat Records/World Music Network

17 - Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra - Boulevard de l'Independence - Boulevard de l'Independence - Mali - World Circuit

18 - Sophie Solomon - Poison Sweet Madeira - Poison Sweet Madeira - UK - Decca

19 - Maurice El Medioni - Oran Oran - Descarga Oriental - Algeria/USA - Piranha

[Charlie]

Tall and droll, Albert Nijmolen (pronounced ‘Naymolen’) is paradoxically a towering presence who remains more or less invisible. Unlike producers Nick Gold, Joe Boyd and Ben Mandelson, Albert doesn’t actually sit in the studio to produce the albums released on his World Connection label, and his name is not as prominent as theirs. But I am sure Mariza would be the first to acknowledge the important post-production role that Albert has played in providing the backdrop for her glittering career.

World Connection is also a touring agency, and Albert is as familiar with live music promoters around the world as he is with journalists and radio DJs. In October 2001, he orchestrated a few five-minute one-to-one encounters between Mariza and a handful of media people at the WOMEX trade fair in Rotterdam, where she immediately made an indelible impression on me. Beguiled by Mariza’s unique look, elegant poise and humble manner, I subsequently heard her debut album with more appreciative ears.

So now Albert introduces another singer from Portugal with a new album on World Connection, Sara Tavares with Balancê. Sara was born in Lisbon to parents from Cape Verde, and made two previous albums, the first as leader of a gospel group, a second under her own name for BMG. Sara (whose last name is pronounced ‘Tavaresh’) also sang the Portuguese entry in the Eurovision contest in 1994. */**

In London to play at Momos on Monday 6th, Sara had brought not only her own guitar but three musicians to accompany her. We didn’t have space for the drums or an amp for the bass, so Ricardo and the two Ferndandos made do with a second acoustic guitar and improvised percussion, while adding harmony vocals that made the room shimmer. An effortless singer with a smile in her voice and an abundance of melodies, Sara has an effervescent charm that will take her far.

Threading our way between three live songs from Sara and her group, Albert and I played radio ping pong. Back in the early days of world music in the early 1980s, Holland seemed to be well ahead of the UK in its range of record shops, live music venues, and press and radio exposure. Since then, it has seemed to recede, but tonight Albert introduced a couple of adventurous world music projects based in the Netherlands.

‘Vida Triste’ is from Nynke Laverman’s album of fado songs translated into Friesian, the language of North Netherlands. If the concept sounds odd, the result is mesmerising. ‘C'est pas ma faute’, title track of the 1996 album by a group of North Africans called Railand, matched the power of anything we have heard from Paris. Before the ping pong started, I played a song by another Dutch singer, Monica Akihary, whose new album Lagu Lagu features jazz-inflected rearrangements of lyrics from the Moluccan Islands in Indonesia, where her family comes from.

* Footnote 1: This has opened up a new topic in the forum of our website – female world music artists who have appeared in Eurovision. I was aware of two famous singers who meet the brief, and already a third contender has been nominated - see above

** Footnote 2: I didn’t realise until tonight that the 80s disco group Tavares were first generation American children of Cape Verdean parents, based in Boston, Massachusetts, which has the largest population of Cape Verdeans outside the islands.

[Nikki Atkinson]

Charlie wrote [quote="

** Footnote 2: I didn’t realise until tonight that the 80s disco group Tavares were first generation American children of Cape Verdean parents, based in Boston, Massachusetts, which has the largest population of Cape Verdeans outside the islands.[/quote]

On a loosely related topic (American Cape Verdeans) , I am sure I read somewhere that Horace Silver, the jazz piano player was of Cape Verdean descent. He has had an impact in the pop arena, ("Song For My Father") - which sounds suspiciously like the intro of Ricky, Don't Lose That Number by Steely Dan, the Steely Dan song coming some time later. Please forgive my ramblin' (into jazz terrority).

[joel]

On a loosely related topic (American Cape Verdeans) , I am sure I read somewhere that Horace Silver, the jazz piano player was of Cape Verdean descent.

He is very much so, although sadly not active any more as a result of Parkinson's disease (I think). One of his albums is Cape Verdean Blues.