posted on behalf of CG
Seq - Artist - Song Title - Album - Country - Label - Cat no - Website
1 - DuOud - Missy Nouackshott (feat Malouma) - Ping Kong - Tunisia/Algeria/Mauritania - World Village - 657 036 1160-2 - http://tinyurl.com/yc49ohv
2 - Smadj - Toi et Moi (feat Minino Garay, Erik Truffaz, Talvin Singh) - Selin - Tunisia - MVS - 3 760148 282 2894 - http://tinyurl.com/yct9nf9
3 - Yoon Jeong Heo - Recitation of Pleasure in Zen, Part 4 - Geomungo Solo - South Korea - C&C/EMI - CNLR 0626-2 - http://tinyurl.com/y8wkccd
4 - Seasick Steve - The Banjo Song - Man from Another Time - USA - Atlantic - 505186 5615828 - http://tinyurl.com/nsvpy6
5 - Lord Cobra - Colón Colón - Panama 3 - Panama - Soundway - SNDWCD018 - http://tinyurl.com/yzsxsf2
6 - Titi Robin feat Maria Robin - Amantito - Ces Vagues que L'Amour Soulève - France - Naïve - WN 145080 - http://tinyurl.com/32cj57
7 - Ibrahim Maalouf - Trumpet & Saz Improvisation - Diachronism - France - IM - IBM2 - http://tinyurl.com/ybtjzvl
Listen again via http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p005yh7n from 11.30pm 30 January for 7 days
Born in Tunis, Smadj (pronounced Smudge) is an oud player who has based most of his career as a professional musician in Paris, where he teamed up with another oud player, the Algerian, Mehdi Habbab, as half of the duo, DuOud. Until now, the pair’s albums have not quite delivered the promise that seems inherent within them. Their latest, Ping Kong, may be their best yet, particularly on the two tracks featuring Mauritanian singer Malouma, another artist who has yet to deliver her full potential on an album under her own name.



With no apologies necessary, I return to the Geomungo player encountered on last year’s trip to South Korea, and enjoy a private joke by following her up with Banjo Song; by Seasick Steve, wondering if anybody will guess the nationality of the second musician. Seasick Steve is an anomaly among artists of recent years in having sold 200,000 copies of each of two consecutive albums, one on an independent label, the other on a major, at a time when everybody is grumbling about a catastrophic decline in sales of physical CDs. While being an ardent supporter of Steve, I have not felt that either album was an adequate reflection of the musician (unintentionally, this seems to be a theme of this week’s programme). On the new one, Man from Another Time, at least three tracks are exceptionally good and I’m worried that my enthusiastic support might be the kiss of death that breaks Steve’s run of hits.


When I was obliged recently through ill health to abandon my regular show on BBC Radio’s World on 3, I was particularly disappointed to have to cancel a planned game of Radio Ping Pong with Miles Cleret, whose SoundWay label was my ‘record label of the year 2009.’ In addition to releasing his own compilations from Anglophone West Africa, Miles has also packaged a series of collections of music from Panama collated by Roberto Gyemant, of which the latest, Volume 3, feels like the best of the bunch. It really is a case of let the roulette wheel spin, and play the track fate chooses.
In amongst the new discoveries, a return to a long-standing favourite, ‘Amantito’ by Titi Robin featuring his daughter Maria.

Having been listening again to the album The Living Road by the recently deceased and much-lamented Lhasa, I’ve been treasuring the contributions of guest trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, who has an album of his own newly released in France. ‘Trumpet & Saz Improvisation’ feels more like a description than a title, but that’s what he calls it and that’s what it is.

Incidentally, this is the last of the programmes recorded towards the end of last year before I became too ill to carry on. I understand that the World Service will be recycling some of my previous programmes until I am fit enough to pick up the reins and carry on. I’m intrigued to see and hear what they choose to repeat.
CG
Listen again via http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p005yh7n from 30 January 11.30pm for 7 days
World Service page link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005yh7n#broadcasts