To Haiti With Love: Racine, Kompa, Twoubadou, & Jazz

My heart, like yours, broke seeing the tragic images and trying to comprehend the magnitude of the loss and suffering of the Haitian Earthquake of 2010 (see links below for how to help). Aside from the troubled history that keeps being repeated in the media, there is a richness and strength of culture and spirit that resides in the heart of the first independent black nation in the Western Hemisphere (which inspired independence movements throughout Latin America). May that culture continue to bring Haiti resilience and hope during what will be a long healing and recovering time to come. My late father (himself born of the other poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Honduras) use to say, it is the meek who will inherit the earth “through the poem and a song…”

Image Source

Famed ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, who visited Haiti in 1937 to record folk music, had this to say about the island nation: “I have looked about enough to be sure this is the richest field I have ever worked in.” The following samples are a tiny fraction:

RACINE or RASIN is known as the folk music of Haiti. Here is master drummer Lenor “Azor” Fortuné of Haiti demonstrating racine music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf9-n13aeyk CULTURE

COMPA or KOMPA has been adopted and recognized as the national music of Haiti. Here is Haitian band, Plezîn Nap Pran performing a kompa song:

I was recently introduced to this podcast of KOMPA music via my wonderful twitter community and had to share it with you via the podcast blog: http://ethnomusic.podomatic.com/

Kompa Direk (No. 1)

World Passport

According to haitianmedia.com, TWOUBADOU is a romantic, slower take on Haitian Compas. “Twoubadou translates as troubadour and, as that designation implies, the style is more concerned with melody, lyrics, harmonies and acoustic instruments than some of its Caribbean competitors.” Here is a Haiti Twoubadou group singing a sweet song, “Je Vais”:

Finally, this is an amazing take on Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” by Haitian JAZZ quintet Mozayik:

Please donate to Haitian relief efforts:
~Visit www.hopeforhaitinow.org
~Text “Yele” to 501501, which will automatically donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund or “Haiti” to 501501 to donate $10, charged to your cell phone bill
~Text “HAITI” to 90999, to donate $10 to the American Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill
~Contact the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund a joint fundraising effort for Haiti earthquake relief led by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Links and Articles
Musician Wyclef Jean’s Yele Organization: http://yele.org
10 CD box set of folkloric music of Haiti recorded by Alan Lomax in 1937 released just weeks before the earthquake: http://thehaitibox.blogspot.com/
Music of Haiti via Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Haiti
Washington Post article about Haitian bands, Tabou Combo and Rafrechi playing an Earthquake benefit in DC
www.heritagekonpa.com
Wyclef Jean’s album which features folkloric Haitian music, Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101
www.haitianmedia.com

Goodbye Lhasa: this space had become too small

I was so sad to find out that singer/artist Lhasa de Sela passed away on January 1, 2010 at the young age of 37 after a two-year battle with breast cancer. I first fell in love with her when I heard her song, “De Cara A La Pared”. I listened to that song on repeat for months on end and to this day it remains one of my all time favorite songs. She had an unusual upbringing and life right out of a surreal novel. Raised on a traveling bus with her parents, singing in cafes at 13 years old; she was very much a troubadour in the purest sense of the word. She left unrealized a plan to record an album featuring the songs of Victor Jara and Violetta Para, singers of the Nueva Cancion movement. See her website for more about Lhasa’s life and projects.

I had the privilege of seeing her live ~ she had a way of telling stories before each song that created a sense of magical mysticism about life. One particular haunting explanation of a song, especially poignant after learning of her passing, was about when you’re a baby, you’re in this small space and you see a tiny light…as you grow and grow the space gets smaller but the light gets bigger and soon this space will be too small…as you are born, the world is so big, but as you grow and grow, soon this space will be small….

Here is my favorite Lhasa De Sela song, “De Cara A La Pared”:

Lhasa performing “Who by Fire” by Leonard Cohen:

“J’ arrive en ville”:

I know that Lhasa is in a new wide open space, because this world had become too small. My condolences to her partner, friends and family. She was an extraordinary woman. May she continue to inspire people through her beautiful music. This song “Deja La Vida Volar” (Leave This Life Flying) by Victor Jara is dedicated to you Lhasa:

Have a very rootsy Christmas!

Merry Christmas music lovers! I’ve been away for a while sorting out some life stuff but I wanted to do one last post for 2009. As my personal thank you for reading this blog and for passing along the music love, I’ve collected here a set of classic Christmas songs from the roots music world – some blues, jazz, bluegrass, funk, and Elvis! Please enjoy and have a safe and happy holiday season and see you in 2010!

Charles Brown ~ “Merry Christmas Baby:”

Música Boriqua & Nuyorican love

Recently I saw the PBS special “Latin Music USA!” which was a great series on the origins and influences of the diverse styles of Latin Music in the United States. The episodes covering New York City got me reminiscing about my time living there in the mid 1990s. When I moved there in my early 20s for graduate school, it was an overwhelmingly awesome culture shock for this California girl. To be dropped into Washington Heights (Quisqueya Heights if you know) was an mind bending experience. I started a sonic journey into the music of Nueva York ~ fueled by a desire to learn more about my own Latin heritage as well as love of culture and of my Caribbean brothers and sisters.

I love to dance and hit up everywhere from Copacabana and Latin Quarters to the down home clubs in the Boogie Down Bronx and Brooklyn. I saw some amazing bands play live including El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico and Marc Anthony. He hadn’t yet hit the mainstream audiences, but was selling out clubs performing salsa music. Anyhow, I can’t even begin to do justice to the enormity of the music which has come out of New York; all I can do is try to capture a slice of the New York I experienced, the one that lives in my memory.

“Calle Luna Calle Sol” is a Willie Colon song with Hector Lavoe on vocals from the mid 70s. This style of salsa dura chronicled street life and social problems found in the inner cities. The lyrics include the following lines: “mete la mano en el bolsillo; saca y abre tu cuchillo y ten cuidao. Pónganme oido en este barrio; muchos guapos lo han matao.” Translated they say “listen to me, in this barrio many have been killed; so take out your knife and be careful.”

Mysteries & Legends: Django Reinhardt, Tommy Johnson, Robert Johnson & the unidentified photo

Recently someone I know who works for a great program for up and coming musician kids, Grammy Camp, sent me an old photograph of a guitar player. It originated from the now defunct Museum of Rock Art in Hollywood. He wanted to know if I could identify the musician either just by knowing him or at least identify the guitar he was playing. I hadn’t a clue so I sent it out to some knowledgeable music folks on my twitter page and got a bevy on answers from some great people (by the way check them out on my twitter list called “music peeps“). Here’s the photograph:

La poesía, nueva canción, y trovadores

I’ve been absent from my blog for the past few weeks as I said my final goodbye to my paternal grandmother as she made her transition. As I feel the grief, it also brings back the poignant loss of my father several years ago. I have been reflecting on the treasures they passed on in the form of musical and poetic passion. In their native country of Honduras, my family was very poor but rich in spirit, curiosity, intelligence and passion. A love of literature, poetry, and music was the fuel that fed their inspiration and ambition to create a life beyond the cruel and crushing poverty they endured before they came to the United States.

Honduras circa 1960 ~ photos by S.M. Barnett

As I was born and raised here in the US, as was my mom (with roots in New Mexico and Mexico), I cannot even comprehend the profundity of their Honduran experience (Honduras literally translates to “depths”), but through the poetry and music they loved, I catch a glimpse of what it means.

I often heard recited the works of Pablo Neruda, Rubén Darío, Juan Ramon Molina, Walt Whitman, and countless other poets both Latin and American. Grandma loved romantic music and would continuously play Julio Iglesias and Luis Miguel. She had a passion for tango and would often dance very dramatically at our family Christmas parties in Los Angeles. While my father loved anything from Nina Simone to the romantic boleros/ballads of Latin America, he was a revolutionary in his soul. He loved the Nueva Canción singer Mercedes Sosa, who passed on just a few weeks ago, as well as songs of the Cuban revolution and Spanish Civil War.

I’ll first start with a favorite poem of both my grandmother and my father. She recited the first few stanzas less than week before her death. This is “A Roosevelt” by Nicaraguan Poet Rubén Darío, recited by Jorge Cafrune. The English translation is “To Roosevelt”:

Troubadour Lipbone Redding & throat singing

My friend was invited to a backyard campfire this evening and I decided to tag along since they were hosting a blues singer. As we approached the house I heard a lazy swinging trumpet and a gravelly melodic voice floating through the fence and I immediately knew I was going to be hearing something good. When we went into our lovely hosts’ backyard, it was a magical setting – a fire pit, an intimate group of really cool people sitting around the fire, a guy with his guitar, and some kids playing along.

Lipbone Redding is a musician based in New York City, who has played on the streets and subway platforms, originally from North Carolina I believe, but sounds like he is straight out of New Orleans. I wondered where the trumpet was hiding, but I soon was mesmerized by his slow swinging folk-jazz-blues and his amazing voice. I especially drawn in by his lyrics; true troubadour-style storytelling about street life, love and loss, and social issues of the day. Then I heard the sounds that gave me goosebumps, first throat singing (see below for more on that) and then the sounds of the trumpet coming from this man’s voice! I haven’t seen that kind of vocal styling in a long time and it simply blew me away. His MySpace site includes a pretty cool very short documentary about his journey so be sure to check that out at http://www.myspace.com/lipboneredding. This guy is a true musical talent – pure musical poetry.

Here he is in NYC doing a song about an “Old Flame”. The voice trumpet is at about four minutes in:

Like I mentioned, Lipbone also threw in some throat singing, which was pretty remarkable. Throat singing is one of the oldest forms of music and can be found in some variety in traditional cultures all over the world but is most commonly associated with Mongolia, Tibet, and the Tuvan people of Siberia. Smithsonian Folkways has an amazing description of different types of throat singing here: http://www.folkways.si.edu/explore_folkways/throat_singing.aspx.

Can’t get enough of Texas…part 2 (blues)

I’m back to finish my love letter to Texas by recognizing the Lone Star State’s contribution to the blues. I love the blues and you know that if you read my post on slide guitar. Some of the blues legends to emerge from deep in the heart of Texas: Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Leadbelly, Lightin’ Hopkins, T-Bone Walker, Big Mama Thorton, Albert Collins, Freddie King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny and Edgar Winter, ZZ Top, Janis Joplin, Doyle Bramhall II, and Los Lonely Boys, among others. Let’s take a look at some of these folks.

As I read about the lives and deaths of some of the early blues musicians, it really pained me to hear about the intense suffering many endured. Blues music was born as a way to express and communicate the everyday life of poor African-Americans living in the South at the end of the 19th century. A folk tradition born from the creative soul of a people who suffered the unimaginable, the blues gave voice to the voiceless. While most good blues really touches that part of our soul that knows deeply what it means to hurt, there is a sound in those early songs that is truly haunting in its ability to convey the human condition at its most vulnerable.

Can’t get enough of Texas…part 1

Oh Texas how I miss you so – the easy breezy drawl of your people, the down-home food, and the Blues done right. I’ve got so much to say about Texas and its music – they got it going on down on the third coast. This posting will mainly deal with the illustrious city of Austin, but the entirety of Texas is just overflowing with music history, scenes and styles. Dallas gave us Erykah Badu, San Antonio and South Texas gave us Tejano, and then there’s Texas Swing out of West Texas. This post will mainly sample a spattering of the Austin scene including Jazz, Fusion, Americana, and Blues. In a few days, I will post Part 2 of my ode to Texas that will focus on the blues history of Texas – ’cause rootnotemusic LOVES THE BLUES!

Tree at ACL Festival 2006. Photo by Melanie Martinez.

If you read my very first post, then you know my sister plays bass guitar with The Tiny Tin Hearts, an Austin folk-pop symphonic band getting a lot of attention. They recently had their album release party at The Parish. Check out Last Flight of the Martyr Aviator via Waterloo Records or I-Tunes. Steven Collins and Deadman played with TTTH that night. I really like their vibe and sound – they keep it rootsy! I immediately thought of The Band when I heard them, and I’m not the only one, but with their accordion and sprinklings of Spanglish, they could only be from Texas! Here’s Deadman at the Parish:

Bakersfield & Bhangra

Bakersfield….

I spent some quality time with some of my family in Bakersfield this past weekend. Because my one cousin has always been an encyclopedia of hip hop, I always associated his town with that thumping bass and a love of all things urban. But that was only half the picture – I really didn’t know how deep the country roots ran in the city off of Highway 99. We were in town celebrating the life of beloved Aunt Nina, so after her memorial we went to one of her favorite spots, The Junction, a serious country music karaoke bar on Buck Owens Highway. I’m a karaoke freak, so I decided to do one of my favorite country songs, Cold Cold Heart by Hank Williams. I had some trepidation seeing the hard core cowboys hanging at the bar, but I did my best to do Hank proud. It’s a great song really.

After that I called it a night, but my brother and cousins went clubbing around town, played some pool, and even hit up a club with a rockabilly vibe. Rockabilly scenes have been around Cali for a while, most notably, cowpunk with Los Lobos or X or punk rockabilly with bands like The Cramps or the whole swing thing (Cherry Poppin’ Daddies), but in Bakersfield, is a real connection leading back to the whole “Bakersfield Sound?”