CG solo, 17 March, 11.15pm (online for 7 days)

[Charlie]

Playlist, Monday 17 March

Seq - Artist - Song Title - Album - Country - Label - Cat no

1 - Kobo Town - Corbeaux Following - Independence - Canada/Trinidad - Kobotown - KOBO 001

2 - Yael Naïm - Levater - Yael Naïm & David Donatien - Israel/France - Atlantic - 2564696038

3 - DJ Click feat Leontina Vaduva - Pana cand nu te - Flavour - France - No Fridge - CDNø9SP

4 - DeVotchKa - Head Honcho - A Mad and Faithful Telling - USA - Anti -

5 - Umalali feat Sofia Blanco - Yündüya Weyu - The Garifuna Women's Project - Belize - Cumbancha - CMB-CD-6

6 - Iva Nova - Dream of a Farmer - Chemodan - Russia - Hoba - GEO 011 CD

7 - Nortec Collective - El Fracaso - Mariachi: The Sound of Hysteria & Heartache - Mexico - Trikont - US-0365

8 - L'il Millett & His Creoles - Rich Woman - Theme Time Radio - USA - Ace - CDCH2 1202

9 - Batman Samini feat Amingo - Do Something - Black Stars: Ghana's Hiplife Generation - Ghana - Out Here - OH008

10 - Soha - C'est Bien Mieux Comme Ca - D'Ici et D'ailleurs - France - Virgin - 099950 318124

11 - DJ Dolores - Mutant Child (Run Run Run) - 1 Real - Brazil - Ziriguiboom - Zir31

12 - Ashkhabad - Yaman Ykbal - City of Love - Turkmenistan - Real World - CDRW14

13 - Yael Naïm - Paris - Yael Naïm & David Donatien - Israel/France - Atlantic - 2564696038

14 - 17 Hippies - Deine Tranen - Heimlich - Germany - Hipster - HIP 012 LTD

15 - Awadi - Sunugaal - Sunugaal - Senegal - Mr Bongo - MRBCD059

16 - Melingo - Pequeño paria - Maldito Tango - Argentina - Mañana - MM425009

17 - Nassim Maalouf - Ceremonie des Noces (Irak) - Son de Cloches - Improvisations Orientales - Lebanon - Club du Disques Arabe - AAA 116

18 - Karima Nayt - maksoum (Fathy Salama remix) - Karima Nayt - Algeria/Egypt/ France - deremusat - promo

19 - Devendra Banhart - SAMBA VEXILLOGRAPHICA - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon - USA - XL - XLCD 283

20 - Son of Dave - Nike Town - O3 - Canada - Kartel - KCDL013

[Charlie]

No reflection on Charlie, but I've just finished listening back to his latest programme and don't recall ever being left not liking anything at all. There was even quite a lot of what I might rashly term rubbish. Most unusual

David posted this in another thread, but I've moved it over here so I can contemplate it, and wonder where I'm going wrong.

It feels like there's lot of good music around, but I must be missing it if nothing touched David, a long term and highly valued listener.

[judith]

It feels like there's lot of good music around, but I must be missing it if nothing touched David, a long term and highly valued listener.

Yes, I was terribly surprised and confused when I read David's comment as I had enjoyed the show as much as I always do. (I've particularly enjoyed the past few shows being a collection gathered from parts, era's and genres unexpected and hitherto unknown to me.) I wondered if I had been totally mindless and had missed something, or if my tastes are fading into vapidity. So, I listened to the program again, and then again later. I had gotten the impression David was referring to music made after the 70's, but I may have misread his post on the subject as the comment about 'rubbish' rather threw me. I'm going to listen to the program again. Thus far it, like its predecessors, continues to unfold at each listening and, over here, still managed the amazing feat of attracing the attention of people with age differences of over sixty years. So, I'm still confused by the comment. Something I'm hearing or not hearing, I guess.

[Chris P]

I'm sort of non-plussed by Charlie (and Howard)'s faves at the monent. Devotchka sound great until the guy starts singing, and Son of Dave - give me my blues Cds or Tom Waits himself anyday.
(I hope I will retract this and end up being a devoted fan)

[David Flower]

Yes, I was terribly surprised and confused when I read David's comment as I had enjoyed the show as much as I always do.

I should point out that I usually 'listen back' while sat at computer trying to work. I'm not in a club enjoying the livelier stuff, and some styles can be irritating when you're trying to work

But I have listened back a second time , and actually wouldn't mind if I never heard most of the artists again. I do accept calling anything 'rubbish' is wantonly rash and unconsiered, and don't generally do this as artists have always worked hard, but....!
here's what I think:

Kobo Town: Corbeaux Following - OK
Yael Naim & David Donatien: Levater - dullsville
DJ Click featuring Leontina Vaduva: Pana cand nu te lub - awful
DeVotchKa: Head Honcho - horrible
Umalali - The Garifuna Women's Project: Yunduya Weyu - actually I do have this album and like it. Slightly undecided about her voice though
Iva Nova: Dream of a Farmer - not my style
Nortec Collective: El Fracaso - didn't like, quite irritiating. But probably great in the right setting (see above).
Li'l Millett & His Creoles: Rich Woman - for me there are much better choices on this comp
Batman Samini featuring Amingo: Do Something - bereft of funk or groove
Soha: C'est Bien Mieux Comme Ca - didn't like. Contrived
DJ Dolores: Mutant Child (Run, Run, Run) - 'rubbish'!
Ashkhabad: Yaman Ykbal - OK, but not really my style
Yael Naim & David Donatien: Paris - dullsville
17 Hippies: Wann War Das? - too oomp pah pah, a reason I'm not ultimately sold on the group. I prefer other tracks
Awadi: Sunugaal - not fond of African rap - bereft of groove or funk
Melingo: Pequeno paria - interesting, but not that likeable. Rather like my reaction to most of Tom Waits' output
Nassim Maalouf: Ceremonie de Noces (Irak) - Son de Cloches - indifferent
Karima Nayt: Maksoum (Fathy Salama remix)- didn't like
Devendra Banhart: Samba Vexillographica - horrible
Son of Dave: Nike Town - good

these are just snap opinions, but tell me that even while working I can get hooked by a song even when in the background. None of the above got me at all really

But who cares? Roll on next week

[Gordon Neill]

It is great to have a regular full-strength dose of Charlie on the radio again. A shame that it's on so late and getting past my bed time. But, thanks to the listen again facility, I did get a chance to... well, listen again.

I thought it was a pretty good show. True, it doesn't have the same free-wheeling unexpectedness of the BBC London show, but presumably it needs tio be tailored to suit a Radio 3 audience.

There was some stuff that I didn't care much for. I'm doing my best to like the DeVotchKa album but, so far I'm failing. I think it's the guy's voice. It slightly reminds me, in an unpleasant way, of Talking Heads. But there was plenty to relish: Soha, DJ Dolores, the Garifuna Women's Project, 17 Hippies..... To me, there's a lot of really good music around at the moment. But everyone's taste is so personal.

[JJ]

I love Devotchka. I am doing a feature for Fly on them at the mo as they are coming to the UK in April. But I understand it is a slightly different sound than what might fit into 'world'. There is a whole genre, for lack of a better term, of this stuff coming out of the US (and has been for some time) which I am jsut discovering (rather late). Very exciting.

Some of it is a bit raunchy. But I had a rock/grunge/metal childhood so its a real turn on for me blending gyspy/klez/mid eastern with harder edged stuff - Estradasphere, Secret Chiefs 3, The Toids etc. the former I am also doing a feature on...

sorry. sightly off topic. Basically, I think its important for Charlie (et al) to play out not only organic stuff but what is coming from modern cosmopolitan situations which might not be as 'pretty' but alot of people will identify with it. Having said that most of this stuff I don't put on my podcast because I worry it will turn people off - its very particular. If I do include some it is the most tame tracks.

[Charlie]

email from Mickey Ferguson

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Subject: Portuguese music suggestion - Tucanas

Hello Mary Ann, Charlie, Lopa!

I want to thank all three of you, and the entire "World on 3" team, for the superlative playlists of world music that you send out each week. I couldn't make it through the week without your shows.

I also wanted to make a suggestion: Tucanas, the Portuguese group, recently released their first album, called MARIA CAFE. I first heard this group of female musicians a couple of years ago (or more?) when Mariza was the radio ping-pong guest on Charlie's Radio London show.

Although they have a myspace page ( http://www.myspace.com/tucanas ) this will most likely prove to be a very difficult CD for me to obtain, here in Texas. I figure if anyone can figure out how to get a copy, it'll be y'all. :)

Again, thanks so much!
Mickey Ferguson
Austin, Texas
USA

------------------------------
CG reply

I was very taken with them too, when Mariza introduced them, and have now sent a message via their Myspace profile to ask for their album

[Rod B.]

I think a good show is when it makes you want to buy at least two or three of the CDs, and the last show certainly passed that test with me. Melingo I've heard before but not this new CD - this track and others I've now heard since sound fantastic, an Argentinian rock singer tackling milongas and tangos in a style vaguely reminiscent of Tom Waits. I'll probably end up buying the DeVotchka CD too. I'm sure JJ is right about DeVotchka, they seem to be basically a US leftfield, alt-rock group in the tradition of Talking Heads and Calexico, and it is in that context that they're best appreciated, not through world music preconceptions around authenticity. Other tracks I enjoyed: 17 Hippies; Nortec Collective; Devendra Banhart.

[garth cartwright]

Find I'm agreeing with David - DJ Delores "rubbish" says it quite politely. While DeVotchKa's whole style is a synthesis of Talking Heads and A Hawk And A Hacksaw - they even take the mariachi bit off the 2nd Hawk album. I like some T Heads and some AHAAH but this band seem to simply borrow the most obvious elements of both and lose the excellent rhythm section of TH and the experimental flavour of AHAAH. I've listened to both those albums around half a dozen times so that's no cursory reaction. DJ Click - yep, as bad as Delores: why do u persist with this type of club fusion Charlie when u never go to clubs and aren't doing a dance show? Ditto Nortec - one of the worst tracks on the very uneven Maricahi comp'. Melingo: saw him in buenos a decade ago and he was impersonating Waits then and doesn't sound like he's changed. That's enough from me - I'll remain quite til the new Cammile is available.

[Charlie]

I'll remain quite til the new Camille is available.

Whatever you think of it, I will agree, times two.

We'll agree to differ on DeVotchKa till I've seen them

CG

[Charlie]

DJ Dolores "rubbish" says it quite politely. DJ Click - yep, as bad as Dolores: why do u persist with this type of club fusion Charlie when u never go to clubs and aren't doing a dance show? Ditto Nortec - one of the worst tracks on the very uneven Mariachi comp'.

I recognise your point about a lot of club music not sounding good on the radio, and generally keep it to a minimum. But when I find a DJ who doesn't just switch on a rhythm track and let it run to the end, and who seems to respect the structure of songs and showcases a singer's qualities, I will gladly play the track in amongst the more authentic, organic tracks played by a bunch of musicians all in one go.

I don't have any strict rules about what categories of music can't be any good

Among the candidates for Club Global in the Awards of World Music

Shantel - haven't liked him in the past, but the new album is much better
Transglobal Underground - like the guys as people, but have always found their rhythms to be too ponderous and relentless. I'd love to hear them make an acoustic album.
Oojami - liked the early stuff, but they've become too conventional recently
Balkan Beat Box - patchy - liked a couple of tracks
DJ /Rupture - at his best, very good
DJ Dolores - surprised you don't like him at all, Garth, because some of his tracks do sound organic to me. I'd played two different on Radio 3 tracks before, so had a go with a third, which may not have done him justice
DJ Click - a new discovery to me, and he may be the best of the lot.

If we go back in time, we would both have liked quite a few tracks that were basically done the same way as these, with voices and instruments being dropped in over programmed rhythm tracks - some of them were discussed in a thread started by Christian some months ago - 'Nutbush City Limits' by Ike & Tina Turner, 'Why Can't We Live Together' by Timmy Thomas, 'Be Thankful for What You've Got' by William DeVaughn' 'Rock Your Baby' by George McCrea, just about everything by The Chi-Lites, whose writer Eugene Record played all the instruments and sang all the parts. The group then went out on the road and sang the harmonies behind his falsetto lead.

By the way, none of this is intended to deflect your point that that this particular show was not up to scratch. If both you and David Flower feel that way, it must have been below the mark I've set myself.

[Ian A.]

There's a lot of music being promoted in the 'world' box at the moment which seems very forced to me (fusion bands, studio creations by DJs, remixers and non-musicians), or predictable (global hip-hop, people dancing on the balkan bandwagon). All the stuff I've read as a result of this Africa Express thing (interviews with name rock bands deciding they're going to incorporate African elements - why does this make me think of 1968 when every chancer outfit from Jethro Tull up or down decided they'd be a blues band?) makes me think it's going to get worse before it gets better.

I think we're in a period with a greater than usual amount of music that has gone adrift and which will sound very dated very quickly.

Luckily there's lots more out there. Most of what I'm listening to for pleasure these days is more organic and feels timeless. I never understood the fuss about Nick Drake (personal taste) but Joe Boyd's comment did resonate when he said that one of the reasons Drake continues to get discovered and adopted by later generations as their own is that he made music out of time, not desperately trying to connect to the stylistic fashions of the era in which he recorded.

I can't see that happening with DJ Dolores, to be honest . . .

I can with a lot of the young artists I heard last night doing guest spots at the launch gig for the Young Coppers' CD. One of the most magical evenings I've enjoyed in a long time. But again, that's personal taste.

[David Flower]

All the stuff I've read as a result of this Africa Express thing (interviews with name rock bands deciding they're going to incorporate African elements - why does this make me think of 1968 when every chancer outfit from Jethro Tull up or down decided they'd be a blues band?) makes me think it's going to get worse before it gets better..

I think that's being a bit harsh on what I understand to be the one of the points of Africa Express. If part of Damon Albarn's intention is to open up the ears of a bunch of young UK pop/indie musicians to African music - and jamming must be one of the best ways for this to happen - then all power to him. And besides, Franz Ferdinand jamming with Baaba Maal might also get Maal making some better music himself! (personal taste) It can work both ways. As we know African musicians often list British or American bands as their heroes, Pink Floyd for Salif Keita etc

[Ian A.]

African musicians often list British or American bands as their heroes, Pink Floyd for Salif Keita etc

Exactly. And what good did that do, may I ask, other than provide employment for dodgy French rock guitarists in leather trousers? I'd put those particular Salif albums very high on the list of "sound horribly dated." Works both ways, and makes my point about forced fusions not standing the test of time entirely.

The more I think about it, my throwaway line about 1968 seems quite pertinent . . .. I think I'd better add a ©™ before it gets recycled!