Taj Mahal

To celebrate Taj Mahal’s 70th Birthday on May 17, Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, has started a major catalog reissue project beginning with the release of the newly-curated The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973, a two-disc collection of previously unreleased studio and live performances, available Tuesday August 21.

A two-disc set chronicling the early stages of Taj Mahal’s solo career, The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973 features two CDs comprised entirely of unreleased finished material. The first disc debuts studio recordings from 1967-1973, while the second disc premieres a full-length live concert, recorded April 18, 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall in London (on a bill that included Santana).

The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973 is the first release in an ongoing catalog project which includes plans to release definitive editions of the artist’s entire Columbia Records catalog.

“Throughout my more than 40 years of recording, I have always been an outside-the-box composer/musician/performer and not always understood by the music industry, so it gives me a phenomenal amount of personal pleasure to have Sony/Legacy reissue my whole catalog of music! This is fabulous news for the legions of fans who have always been unfailingly loyal to me and this music we’ve shared for the duration of a wonderful and (thank you very much) still on-going career of touring and playing live for fans around the world!,” said Taj Mahal. “This excitement is amplified even more for everyone (me included) by the first-time release of an excellent live concert from Royal Albert Hall in London, England and an album of never before released studio musical gems! I’m thrilled that this music is finally coming to the light of day! So go for it babies! Listen and dance your (bleep) off to the music we love so much and glad there’s more where that came from! I made the music of my heart and y’all helped!!”

Born Henry St. Clair Fredericks, Jr. in Harlem, New York, on May 17, 1942, Taj Mahal has created an impressive body of work, a bedrock blues flavored with strains of West Indian, Caribbean and African music with elements of jazz, rock and reggae flowing effortlessly through the mix. A two-time Grammy winner, Taj Mahal opened the untapped potential of the Delta Blues, felt the connection to African soul and island rhythms, and became one of world music’s first proponents and champions.

The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973 Track Listing

CD 1 – Studio

1. Chainey Do
2. Sweet Mama Janisse (February 1970, Criteria Recording Studios)
3. Yan – Nah Mama – Loo
4. Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day
5. I Pity The Poor Immigrant
6. Jacob’s Ladder
7. Ain’t Gwine Whistle Dixie (Any Mo’)
8. Sweet Mama Janisse (January 1971 Bearsville Recording Studios, Woodstock, NY)
9. You Ain’t No Streetwalker, Honey But I Do Love The Way You Strut Your Stuff
10. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
11. Shady Grove
12. Butter

CD 2 – Royal Albert Hall

1. Runnin By The Riverside
2. John, Ain’t It Hard
3. Band Introduction
4. Sweet Mama Janisse
5. Big Fat
6. Diving Duck Blues
7. Checkin’ Up On My Baby
8. Oh Susanna
9. Bacon Fat
10. Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day

Cano Estremera

Puerto Rican salsa singer, Cano “El Cano” Estremera is scheduled to perform on Tuesday, June 26 at 7:00 pm in Soundview Park, The Bronx (New York).

Cano Estremera has had a successful career in the music industry, spanning almost thirty years. Starting out as solely a percussionist, Estremera is now dedicated to performing music of all genres.

Estremera recorded six albums with Bobby Valentin’s band before forming his own group in 1984. Nicknamed “El Cano,” a word which is commonly used in Puerto Rico to refer to people of light complexion, Estremera is arguably the most famous albino in the Caribbean country and has raised awareness on the condition through his music. With a reputation for being a fast and clever improviser through soneo (call-response improvisation), Estremera is also known as “Dueño del soneo,” or “Owner of Soneo.” His on-the-spot technique provides for a unique, engaging audience experience.

Chuck Brown in 2005 - Photo by Tom Pich

African-American musician Chuck Brown, a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) National Heritage Fellow Chuck Brown, who pioneered a musical genre popular in the Washington DC area called go-go, died May 16, 2012.

“On behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts, it is with great sadness that I acknowledge the passing of 2005 NEA National Heritage Fellow and musical innovator Chuck Brown,” said National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman. “The ‘Godfather of Go-Go,’ Brown is one of the few musicians to create a new genre of music. An incredible performer, fans in Washington, DC and around the country will miss his unique way of interacting with audiences, making them an integral part of the music and the beat.”

Chuck Brown pioneered go-go, a musical blend of Latin beats, African call-and-response chants, rhythm and blues, funk, and jazz that has been identified with the District of Columbia for more than 40 years.

Brown was born in North Carolina, but his parents moved to the District of Columbia when he was seven. He grew up listening to jazz and blues and took up playing the guitar. In the early 1960s, he began performing with a Latin-inflected pop band called Los Latinos.

Brown eventually broke away to pursue his own artistic path and formed a group called the Soul Searchers. In 1971, they recorded “We the People,” said by many to be the first recording with the distinctive go-go sound. Brown’s 1978 album Bustin’ Loose with the #1 hit single of the same name spread this regional music to a national audience. Today, this sound is heard in clubs and dance halls, as well as on the playgrounds and street corners, of the District of Columbia. In 2005, Chuck Brown received the NEA National Heritage Fellowship, the United State’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

In a 2010 interview with the NEA, Chuck Brown described how he created the genre of go-go: “I was trying to create a sound of my own but it ended up being a sound for the town and all the other bands jumping on it, you know? Everybody like that groove, you know? Break down and you caught a response to the people, you know? And that’s what it’s about and it just goes and goes. It got to the point we didn’t have to do no more ballads, didn’t have time to do no ballads, everybody wanted to stay on the floor. Once you come through that door, you’re gonna get on the floor.”

Niyaz - Sumud

Niyaz

Sumud (Six Degrees Records, 2012)

With collaborative efforts like the self-titled Niyaz and Nine Heavens under their belts – not to mention solo recordings like From Night to the Edge of Day, Mehraab and Looking Through Leaves – Azam Ali, Loga Ramin Torkian and Carmen Rizzo, the trio behind Niyaz, are back with a new recording called Sumud out on the Six Degrees label.

Meaning steadfastness in Arabic, Sumud is a collection of new and refashioned traditional songs from Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Palestine and the Kurdish peoples. Dipping into the poetry of Baba Taher, Ashik Dertli and Kul Nesimi wrapped around musical compositions by Ms. Ali, Mr. Torkian and the Palestinian and Jordanian composer Naser Musa, Sumud finds solace in the steadfastness of the music or as Ms. Ali marks the symbolic philosophy of the title, “every human being should inherit the right to live with dignity and freedom upon the land on which they are born.” In essence, the music of Sumud becomes the plaintive nature of the struggle and the solace.

Ms. Ali explains, “We have now traveled across the world, and those experiences have affected the journey that we are on and the direction we’ve taken on this album. We’ve performed in the Kurdish parts of Turkey during times of major conflicts, as well as other parts of the Middle East. Obviously that has affected this project. We wanted to focus on the ethnic and religious minority groups in these regions, because they have really struggled to maintain their identity. it started from us wanted to tell our story, and it has evolved into this humanitarian social message, embracing regions around Iran.”

There’s nothing light or flirty about Sumud, no this recording is ripe and meaty, deliciously dark and utterly haunting from the opening “Parishaan” to the closing “Arzusun,” a tune from the Malatya province of Turkey.

Steeped in layers of keyboards and electronica provided by Carmen Rizzo and laced with Mr. Torkian’s saz, kamaan, robab, djumbush, lafta and guitar viol and Ms. Ali’s vocals, santoor and percussion, Sumud slides across the senses like a warm, fragrant wind.

Ripe with thick Middle Eastern rhythms tracks like “Sosin” and “Rah-e-vafa” possess an irresistible pull to the listener, of course if you add Ms. Ali’s sultry vocals against a backdrop of dazzling electronic well it just doesn’t get any better than that.

Other gems include the lushly worked “Mazaar,” based on an Afghan folk song from the Dari region, the Turkish inspired “Dertli” with its layered vocals, “Mazooz” from Iran and “Rayat al Sumud,” written by Naser Musa.

Adding to the sound of Sumud are Habib Meftah Boushehri on percussion, flute and vocals; Ulas Ozdemir on saz and vocals; Naser Musa on oud and vocals and Omer Avci on percussion.

Sumud is gorgeously powerful and artfully commanding in both content and intent and there’s not many recordings out there these days that could say the same. Sumud is proof that steadfastness needn’t be spare but utterly sumptuous.

Parishaan (Free download)

Niyaz Tour dates:

Sat 5/19/12 L’Astral, Montreal, Canada
Thu 5/24/12 Festival Mawazine, Rabat, Morocco
Fri 7/20/12 Festival Paleo, Nyon, Switzerland
Sun 7/22/12 Drom (The East Village), New York, NY
Wed 7/25/12 Kennedy Plaza (Venue Subject To Change Pending On Weather), Atlantic City, NJ
Fri 7/27/12 Faerieworlds, Eugene, OR
Sat 8/4/12 Grand Performances (Free Concert), Los Angeles, CA
Sun 8/5/12 Yoshis, San Francisco, CA
Thu 8/9/12 TBA, Irvine, CA
Sat 8/11/12 KP Center, Seattle, WA

WOMAD at night

Organizers of renowned world music festival WOMAD would like to invite artists to take a chance in its WOMAD Band Competition. The winner will perform from 12:15-13:00 on the Charlie Gillet Stage on Saturday, July 28th of 2012 in front of up to 30,000 festival goers.

Submissions can be made onto the WOMAD Band Competition app found on the WOMAD Charlton Park Facebook page between Thursday 17th May and Thursday 7th June 2012. Entrants have the option to copy the embed code from their preferred video or audio. Embed code from Youtube, Vimeo and Soundcloud will work best.

Music fans will be able to vote between Thursday, June 7th until Wednesday, June 27th vote for their favorite act. The votes will decide the winner.

Rokia Traoré

Rokia Traoré will be making an anticipated return to London this summer with two major projects. In June, Traoré is set to present a specially-curated series of three shows based on aspects integral to Malian music and its traditions: Donguili – Donke – Damou (Sing – Dance – Dream). This is followed in July by her performance in the UK premiere of Desdemona, a staged concert co-written with Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison and directed by Peter Sellars, featuring an intimate, profound conversation between Shakespeare’s Desdemona and her African nurse Barbary.

Produced by the Barbican, Donguili – Donke – Damou (translated as Sing – Dance – Dream from the Malian language, Bambara) sees Traoré performing in three different venues, bringing her talent to the Barbican and beyond its walls to the beautiful, historic Wilton’s Music Hall and the creative hub of Village Underground.

Beginning the series on Monday 18 June, Damou (Dream) is an intimate acoustic evening of music and traditional Malian and Manding storytelling , featuring kora, ngoni and voice, in the atmospheric surroundings of Wilton ’s Music Hall.

For the second concert on Friday 22 June, in the Barbican Hall, Traoré is joined by a group of UK, European and emerging African artists. Donguili (Sing) centers on the collaboration between these musicians, featuring reinterpretations of existing songs and repertoire developed at the Music Institute Traoré founded in Bamako which works with emerging young musicians.

In the final show of the series, Donke (Dance), Rokia Traoré performs music from her forthcoming album, with award-winning Polly Harvey producer John Parrish at the helm. This celebration of “rock & Manding” , will feature Parrish on guitars, drummer Seb Rochford (Polar Bear) and bassist Nicolai Munch-Hansen plus some of the same musicians from the previous night in a club gig at Village Underground in Shoreditch on Saturday 23 June.

Explaining her inspiration, Rokia Traoré says: “As I have listened and appreciated the epic of the Mande, embroidered with beautiful melodies, I also felt the desire to learn and interpret it my way from the Manding epic of griots.”

Rokia Traoré returns to the Barbican Hall on Thursday 19 & Friday 20 July for the UK premiere of Desdemona . In response to Peter Sellars’ 2009 staging of Othello, Rokia Traoré and Toni Morrison (both women of African and African-American origin), collaborated to create a work inspired by an ‘invisible’ character from one of Shakespeare’s most racially charged plays: Desdemona’s African nurse Barbary. Moving beyond centuries of colonialism and racism, the two characters share stories, songs and hope for a different future, against a backdrop of African and Western musical textures. Traoré herself sings the role of Barbary and the part of Desdemona is played by actress Tina Benko who performed the role in the production in Paris, Berlin, New York and Berkeley.

Desdemona is part of The World Shakespeare Festival, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company for London 2012 Festival, the spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration running from 21 June until 9 September 2012 bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK.

Donguili – Donke – Damou (Sing – Dance – Dream)
18–23 June 2012, Tickets £15-25
Monday 18 June, 8pm, Wilton’s Music Hall: Damou (Dream)
Friday 22 June, 7:30pm, Barbican Hall : Donguili (Sing)
Saturday 23 June, 8.30pm, Village Underground, Shoreditch : Donke (Dance)
Part of London 2012 Festival

Desdemona
Thursday 19 & Friday 20 July 2012, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Tickets from £15
Part of the World Shakespeare Festival and part of London 2012 Festival

Barbican Box Office: 0845 120 7550
www.barbican.org.uk

Lassine Kouyate - Dugu Wolo

Lassine Kouyate

Dugu Wolo (Cowboy Angel Music CAM015, 2012)

American singer-songwriter and guitarist Adam Klein has adopted the artistic Malian name of Lassine Kouyate. His music crosses boundaries, with a mix of American roots music (blues, bluegrass) and traditional Mande music.

On Dugu Wolo, Adam Klein collaborates with Malian musicians. The vocals are the Bambara language and Malian musical instruments are used throughout the album.

The line-up includes Lassine Kouyate/Adam Klein on acoustic guitar, vocals; Souleymane Tounkara on guitar, jeliya on “Maliyo”; Abdoulaye ‘Kandiafa’ Kone on ngoni; Djeli Mory Tounkara on kora; Lassine Dembele on calabash; Drissa Diabate on tama; Abdoullaye Koussoube on jembe; Aiche Kouyate on vocals; Baba Simaga on karanyan; Bocar Sissoko on bass; Zoumana Tereta on njarka and Judith Gilbert on flute.

The CD version of Dugu Wolo comes in a digipak with CD and booklet. The booklet includes details about Adam’s musical experience in Mali, the instruments used and the meaning of the songs.

Dugu Wolo is a satisfying album that will be enjoyed by fans of Malian blues.

Bang Data - La Sopa

Bang Data – La Sopa (Rockolito Music, 2012)

Bayonics – Mission Statement (Bayonics, 2012)

Congo Sanchez – Vol. 1 (ESL Music, 2012)

Brownout – Oozy (Nat Geo Music, 2012)

These days you can have your Latin music seasoned any number of ways. Electronic beats embellish Afro-Cuban rhythms, funk and rock fortify Spanish-accented horns and guitars, dance moves range from sweat inducing to pre-chilled. These four current releases might not be as readily filed under “Latin” as, say, your average salsa album, but the Latin vibe is there whether directly so or not.

La Sopa (“The Soup”) is the full-length debut by Bay Area duo Bang Data, and the combination of vocalist Deuce Eclipse and instrumentalist/beat constructor Manuel Caipo makes for a fun and loose mash of organic and mechanized Latin beats, high and lo-fi production and patchwork tracks that mix singing and rapping. Not particularly groundbreaking, but consistently infectious and sure to keep dancers in motion. Plus there are guest contributions by the likes of Santana percussionist Karl Perrazzo and Afro-Peruvian vocalist Eva Ayllon that add class.

Bayonics - Mission Statement

Also from San Francisco, Bayonics is a 10-piece outfit that mixes Latin rhythms with funk, hip hop and a bit of jazz. They’re just as handy with downtempo subtleties as they are with full-on jams, and though the skills of the horn and rhythm sections often take a back seat to the vocals (again a balance of singing and rapping), the band chugs along with more than enough variety and energy to satisfy many a mind and body.

Taking a big jump east to Washington D.C., we find instrumentalist and producer Congo Sanchez, whose skills have enriched the sounds of such bands as the Funk Ark and Thievery Corporation. His own solo debut is only a 4-song EP, but it’s a mighty good sampler of what the man can do sonically. Afrobeat-style grooves, dubby effects, live percussion and understated melodies combine for a short but extraordinarily sweet musical ride. I seldom recommend recordings that aren’t full length, but Congo Sanchez’s Vol. 1 is an exceptionally good sampler by a man I want to hear more of. And cheers for his use of Fela Kuti’s spoken voice on “Democrazy.”

Brownout - Oozy

Austin-based Brownout, spinoff band of Grupo Fantasma, is back with their latest, Oozy. And ooze it does, with gobs of great analog Latin funk and not a drum machine in sight. A fair number of soul, psychedelic and R&B moments are part of this group’s appeal as well, and their lineup of sparring guitars, bass, drums, congas and horns (plus a few add-ons of organ, harp and violin) handles everything from the all-out dancefloor assault of “Andy Y Dando” to the moody, broody “I Won’t Lie” and the stinging Afro-gumbo of “Meter Beater.”

Guitars and horns build ever higher walls of spaced sound over the granite-solid rhythm section, occasional group vocals chime in to further fire things up, and the whole thing blazes with unfaltering power and casually superb playing. Get it.

JeConte & The Mali All-Stars

JeConte & The Mali All-Stars have released a music video titled “LeMonde pour la Paix” (The World for Peace ). The music and video were recorded as the West African nation of Mali is going through difficult times.

The World for Peace begins with Vieux Farka Touré requesting his ancestors to join together for peace in Mali. Khaira Arby of Timbuktu in northern Mali chants for peace in her Tuareg language of Tamashek, and Bassekou Kouyate plays the ngoni as JeConte & The Mali All-Stars call for peace.

“While recording and living in Bamako and performing throughout Mali, we as musicians felt now more than ever there needed to be an International movement for peace in Mali,” says singer, harmonica player and producer JeConte. “I had been speaking with Khaira Arby, Bassekou Kouyate, Vieux Farka Touré and Toumani Diabate about the situation, and they all agreed that music is something that brings people together and that Mali needs this now more than ever.”

“We have started a nonprofit called soulnow.org (Save Our Universal Language Now) that will focus on raising funds for Mali,” adds JeConte.

“LeMonde pour la Paix” is the first track to be released from JeConte & The Mali All-Stars’ upcoming album “Mali Blues for Peace,” to be released this Fall. The band is currently mixing and mastering the album and working on booking their US and Europe tour dates for fall 2012.

The Mali All-Stars will be playing at the Menil Festival in Paris on the 1st of June, and performing throughout Paris from May 31st to June 5th to gather support for their fall tour.

To learn more about the band and upcoming tour dates visit www.themaliblues.com.

The International Bluegrass Music Association announced its plans today to move its World of Bluegrass events to Raleigh, North Carolina for the next three years, 2013-2015.

World of Bluegrass Week includes the four-day IBMA Business Conference, the International Bluegrass Music Awards Show, and the three-day Bluegrass Fan Fest. The annual industry summit/bluegrass family reunion draws over 16,000 fans, artists, and music industry professionals from around the world for the week-long event, with an estimated 8,000-10,000 coming from outside the region.

World of Bluegrass provides opportunities for showcasing, professional development and networking at the largest concentrated week of powerful, live bluegrass music on the planet.

The following World of Bluegrass dates have been announced, with the option for a five- or seven-day event each year:

September 23 – 29, 2013
September 29 – October 5, 2014
September 28 – October 4, 2015.

World of Bluegrass 2013-2015 will be hosted at the Raleigh Convention Center, the Raleigh Amphitheater and Memorial Auditorium, with hotel blocks at the Raleigh Marriott City Center, the Sheraton Raleigh and six additional nearby hotels. “If we had designed a perfect venue for our events, it would look a lot like the facilities in Raleigh,” said IBMA Board of Directors chair Stan Zdonik. “Raleigh offers us a compact ‘campus’ that includes both indoor and outdoor stages, as well as a state-of-the-art convention center that incorporates a bright and open atmosphere. We’re getting substantial savings and value from Raleigh, both for individual World of Bluegrass attendees and for our organization as a whole. We’re overwhelmed already by the strong support from the City of Raleigh, the Raleigh Convention Center and Venues, the Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau, and PineCone (Piedmont Council of Traditional Music), along with an enthusiastic welcome from the local bluegrass music community. IBMA anticipates a successful event and partnership with Raleigh.”

“I speak for the entire Greater Raleigh hospitality community in saying that we are ecstatic to host IBMA’s annual conference beginning in 2013,” said Denny Edwards, president and CEO of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We look forward to showcasing our area’s musical and cultural heritage to the thousands of fans, musicians and industry leaders coming to North Carolina’s Capital City.”

The leadership of IBMA is looking forward to working with a local organizing committee in Raleigh to plan World of Bluegrass and a city-wide celebration, with showcase and performance opportunities for dozens of bands in the Raleigh Convention Center, the headquarter hotels, local schools, and up and down the streets in local music clubs and cafes.

“North Carolina has a rich bluegrass music history,” IBMA Interim Executive Director Nancy Cardwell noted. “A number of our Bluegrass Hall of Fame members hail from the Tar Heel State, including Earl Scruggs himself; legendary guitar stylist Doc Watson; Red Smiley of Reno & Smiley; Carlton Haney, who produced the first multi-day bluegrass festival; Curly Seckler; Carl Story and George Shuffler. Pre-bluegrass pioneers Wade Mainer and Charlie Poole are from North Carolina, and the Monroe Brothers (Charlie and Bill) made their first recordings in Charlotte, North Carolina. The tradition continues today with a number of talented artists based in the Carolinas—including our reigning Entertainers of the Year with Steve Martin, The Steep Canyon Rangers.”

While the World of Bluegrass will move to Raleigh, IBMA’s office will remain in Nashville. “IBMA hosted our World of Bluegrass events in Owensboro and Louisville, Kentucky before moving to Nashville in 2005,” said Cardwell. “We have a good home in Nashville, and we intend to stay actively involved throughout the year in local efforts to keep a high profile for bluegrass music in Music City, including quarterly ‘Bluebird in the Bluegrass’ songwriter rounds at The Bluebird Café, a ‘September is Worldwide Bluegrass Music Month’ downtown concert organized by the Foundation for Bluegrass Music, teacher workshops in collaboration with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and other events produced by local members.”

IBMA’s 2012 dates for World of Bluegrass are Sept. 24-30, in Nashville, Tennessee.

IBMA is the international trade association for bluegrass music, with members in 50 states and 30 countries, whose goal is to work together for the future of bluegrass music.

Call 615-256-3222 or visit www.worldofbluegrass.org for event updates throughout the summer. For reservations at Nashville’s Renaissance Hotel and surrounding properties during World of Bluegrass 2012, call 877-259-4716 or (615) 259-4700.

Los Pinguos

Argentine band Los Pinguos is scheduled to perform on May 18 at The Lensic, Santa Fe’s Performing Arts Center. A world music band, Los Pinguos is extensively touring the U.S. and Canada to promote its eighth album, “1111,” which officially hit the streets April 18th.

The new collection of songs captures the band’s dynamic genre-bending musical range, showcasing a stunning ability to integrate traditional Latin rhythms into thoroughly modern compositions.

Longtime listeners will recognize the band’s trademark infectious sound. The addition of a string quartet on four songs, lends a distinctive cinematic feel to those tracks, and the album as a whole. Many songs on “1111” have been road-tested over the last two to three years. In concert, the band reproduces their sound with precision, yet they retain that elusive raw energy live audiences have come to expect from Los Pinguos.

Hailing from cosmopolitan Buenos Aries, Argentina, Los Pinguos united in 1999, immediately winning over fans with their passionate live shows in clubs, bars and private parties throughout the capital. Making a leap of faith, the band journeyed to Los Angeles in 2001, intent on taking their career to the next level.

Consistent performances for excited audiences at clubs like The Latin Lounge, The Knitting Factory, Key Club and others culminated in impressive gigs at Santa Mónica’s 3rd Street Promenade. These shows convinced the band of their ability to reach a wide and diverse audience. Spotted by a talent scout on the promenade, Los Pinguos soon found themselves winning the Grand Prize on the show “The Next Big Star” and were finally exposed to a national audience.

Since then, the band has recorded five albums and have played with such acts as Ozomatli, Taj Mahal, The Skatalites, The Neville Brothers, Pablo Montero, Paul Anka, Plácido Domingo, Yerba Buena, Charly Garcia and famed Argentinean rockers Bersuit Vergarabat. The band has been touring throughout the U.S. since their arrival in 2001 and in the recent years they have also played Mexico in 2008, Canada in 2008 & 2010, and Switzerland in 2008.

Ticket Info: Purchase Tickets Online. All Ages: $15 – $35 Student Nights tickets are available.

The Lensic is located at 211 West San Francisco Street, in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico.

JeConte & The Mali All-Stars

JeConte & The Mali All-Stars have released a music video titled “LeMonde pour la Paix” (The World for Peace ). The music and video were recorded as the West African nation of Mali is going through difficult times.

The World for Peace begins with Vieux Farka Touré requesting his ancestors to join together for peace in Mali. Khaira Arby of Timbuktu in northern Mali chants for peace in her Tuareg language of Tamashek, and Bassekou Kouyate plays the ngoni as JeConte & The Mali All-Stars call for peace.

“While recording and living in Bamako and performing throughout Mali, we as musicians felt now more than ever there needed to be an International movement for peace in Mali,” says singer, harmonica player and producer JeConte. “I had been speaking with Khaira Arby, Bassekou Kouyate, Vieux Farka Touré and Toumani Diabate about the situation, and they all agreed that music is something that brings people together and that Mali needs this now more than ever.”

“We have started a nonprofit called soulnow.org (Save Our Universal Language Now) that will focus on raising funds for Mali,” adds JeConte.

“LeMonde pour la Paix” is the first track to be released from JeConte & The Mali All-Stars’ upcoming album “Mali Blues for Peace,” to be released this Fall. The band is currently mixing and mastering the album and working on booking their US and Europe tour dates for fall 2012.

The Mali All-Stars will be playing at the Menil Festival in Paris on the 1st of June, and performing throughout Paris from May 31st to June 5th to gather support for their fall tour.

To learn more about the band and upcoming tour dates visit www.themaliblues.com.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Mustt Mustt

Iconic world music label Real World Records announced a new initiative called Real World Gold. The project focuses on reissues of essential recordings that have been unavailable for a number of years. The series will deliver the reissued albums in batches of ten. The first installment of the series, scheduled for release in Europe on May 21st, ranges from recordings by crucial Real World artists (musicians like the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Afro Celt Sound System, Sheila Chandra and the Blind Boys of Alabama) to those of lesser celebrated partnerships, such as Lama Gyurme and Jean-Philippe Rykiel.

“There are some wonderful albums in the catalog that still haven’t gone out as far in the world as we’d like them to,” says Real World Records founder Peter Gabriel. “I think there’s a different generation being exposed to world music now. We hope this will be an opportunity for the older listener to check out this music – rediscover old gems – and maybe first time discoveries for the younger folk!”

First set of releases:

Afro Celt Sound System – ‘Volume 1: Sound Magic‘ (CDRWG61)
Afro Celt Sound System – ‘Volume 2: Release‘ (CDRWG76)
The Blind Boys Of Alabama – ‘Higher Ground‘ (CDRWG107)
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – ‘Mustt Mustt‘ (CDRWG15)
Sheila Chandra – ‘Moonsung: A Real World Retrospective‘ (CDRWG77)
Papa Wemba – ‘Emotion‘ (CDRWG52)
Geoffrey Oryema – ‘Exile’ (CDRWG14)
Lama Gyurme & Jean-Philippe Rykiel – ‘Rain Of Blessings: Vajra Chants‘ (CDRWG85)
The Drummers of Burundi – ‘Live at Real World‘ (RWMGI)
The Imagined Village – ‘The Imagined Village‘ (CDRWG147)

Frigg

Nordic summers are tantalizingly short and the winters interminably long and icy, so the climate is generally conducive to indoor pursuits such as music study. Which might partially account for Finland’s extraordinary capacity to produce virtuoso violinists and accordionists.

The municipality of Kaustinen in Ostrobothnia, the hub of Finnish-Ugric culture, and Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, located some 500 km to the south, are the major centers of stringed instrument and box playing excellence and music education in far-flung northern Europe. And so it is no surprise to discover that Finland’s fearless young fiddle-driven champions of folk, Frigg, and the country’s daredevil solo accordion king, Kimmo Pohjonen, who both toured Australia in March during the festival season, are among those institutions’ brightest graduates.

Led by acts like Värttinä, Lepistö & Lehti, JPP and Maria Kalaniemi, Finnish folk music has undergone something of a roots revival in recent decades. Frigg is the latest flag bearer.

Formed in 2001, the band centers on three members of the Järvelä family, which has been synonymous with four generations of fiddle players in Kaustinen, in the country’s pristine central west region, where there is also a village of the same name. Brother and sister Esko and Alina Järvelä are in Frigg’s fabulous front line, along with Tero Hyväluoma and Tommi Asplund. Their nephew Antti Järvelä is also a fiddler — in fact, he’s regarded as one of the finest in Finland — but largely forsakes his violin to play upright bass in the band. “Someone has to play it,” he says drolly.

While their frontline of fiddlers provide the melodious and rhythmic wall of sound that defines Frigg, the band’s music is boosted by the presence of several multi-instrumentalists. Petri Prauda and Tuomas Logrén cover the sonic area between violins and bass. Prauda, from southern Finland, plays mandolin, cittern and Estonian bagpipes, the last-named an unusual addition offering a wide range of sound from lower register drone to banshee wail. Logrén, from Karelia near Finland’s eastern border with Russia, plays guitar and also dobro, which weaves effectively among the four and sometimes five fiddles. He was a member of Värttinä, Finland’s best-known band, in his teens.

Your correspondent was fortunate enough to catch Frigg in concert during their early days, at the 2003 Kaustinen Folk Festival. They were brilliant then, but even more dynamic when I saw them again at last year’s Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo. During the intervening years, the band has wowed audiences around Europe, Asia and North America, where they even got to perform on the USA’s long-running national country music radio show A Prairie Home Companion.

There’s an element of hoedown in Frigg’s beautifully crafted, inventively orchestrated and executed instrumentals, a la the great American composer Aaron Copland. While Celtic and Scandinavian influences also pervade their music, the central strand is based on traditional Finnish folk dance melodies and rhythms.

The band, which is named after the Scandinavian goddess of fertility, collectively refers to its hybrid style as “nordgrass”. Antti Järvelä describes this prosaically as: “Nordic flavored, original, happy and energetic roots music that has the drive of an unstoppable train.” Enlarging on that, he adds: “The most important thing for us is to connect with the energy and the pulse because our music is meant for dancing. We grew up in an environment where there was dancing. That’s why we work very hard, so the audience can connect with the energy and the grooves. When there’s a hall full of people dancing to a good band, there’s something really magical in the air and in the energy.”

Frigg - Photo by Angel Romero

Frigg actually started as a co-operation between two musical families, the Järveläs and the Larsens from Norway. At first it was just an educational exchange, the youngsters of the families being cross-taught by the patriarchs of the two clans. “Over the years, we learned more how to communicate with the Norwegians — mostly we learned more English — and then in 2000 we decided to try something together,” relates Antti J. “I had an idea to try some new music I had written and also as a project Alina, Esko and me had been asked to do, to make some locally collected music from Southern Ostrobothnia live again. Musically, we hoped first of all just to get to play and have fun making our own music and get people to hear and enjoy it.” They do that spectacularly well, although these days the Norwegian factor is somewhat diminished.

Frigg’s flamboyance and flair flies in the face of the widely held notion that Finnish folk music is predominantly melancholic and played in minor keys. “If you look at our country’s tunes from before World War II, seventy percent are in a major key,” says Antti J pointing out the fallacy. “Frigg plays happy music,” he emphasizes again.

All the band’s members have performed in orchestras and studied classical and folk music composition at the aforementioned Sibelius Academy, an enlightened state institution that encourages invention beyond conventional limits. Advanced musical training shows in the band’s intricate arrangements of a combination of traditional and original instrumentals on their fifth album, Grannen, which they’ll be showcasing on their maiden Australian tour.

Several members of Frigg have enjoyed past associations with compatriot Kimmo Pohjonen, who were also on the bill at this year’s WOMADelaide. “He’s an interesting musical character,” offers Antti Järvelä, adding, “every time he does something, it’s very unusual and interesting.” Pohjonen is equally complimentary about Frigg: “They are brilliant — one of the best bands in Finland.”

Kimmo, as he’s widely known, is something of a one-man-band, an exceptional musician and showman whose gigs are a mixture of musical brilliance, élan and razzle-dazzle. He has, however, collaborated with the likes of America’s revered Kronos Quartet and he is a member of the band KTU, along with former members of UK jazz-rockers King Crimson.

Pohjonen has been dubbed “the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion”, a tag he is not especially fond of, although he was happy enough to participate in a Hendrix tribute at Patti Smith’s Meltdown festival in London a few years ago. He recalls: “Yes, that was great fun. I performed with drummer Sami Kuoppamäki. We did ‘Burning of the Midnight Lamp’ and the live instrumental improvisation piece called ‘Drivin’ South’, but we changed the name to ‘Drivin’ North’ because we envisioned we were driving north to Lapland and because Pohjonen means ‘north’. We had a great response.”

Kimmo Pohjonen

Like Hendrix, Kimmo is a virtuosic loose cannon who has taken his chosen instrument into new territory. “I try to compose and create outside of any recognized styles or possible influences,” he confirms. “That is not always easy because we are all subject to outside influences whether we acknowledge them or not.”

Pohjonen plays a custom made accordion based on his own specs, with electronics added, also to his own specification, which allows him to push the sound to extremes. His swashbuckling, freewheeling musical exploration ranges from Zappa-esque technical epics to folk, classical and rock-based pieces. “I have a MIDI system built into my accordion,” he explains. “Also an effects rack with control pedals at my feet and more odds and ends. I can sample and loop my playing and voice and then reproduce them back through my instrument or through my electronic gear.” He stresses that all the sounds he makes originate from his accordion and voice, except for what he calls “Earth Machine Music pieces”, which also feature farm machines and animals.

In Kimmo’s hands, the instrument can sound like a pipe organ or a full orchestra, with a little electronic assistance adding an octave of diaphragm-shuddering bass. “The fun part is that I’m still discovering new sounds from the accordion, thanks to these electronics,” he says.

Family tradition dictated that Pohjonen took up accordion as a kid, even though the instrument was considered somewhat uncool at the time. Like Frigg, he was weaned on Finnish folk dances and classical music. Then he got into Tex-Mex and Cajun players like Flaco Jimenez and Queen Ida, before discovering the Argentinean bandoneon maestro Astor Piazzolla. “I even went to Buenos Aires to learn how to play his tango nuevo,” Kimmo reveals. “It took me many years before I realized there is accordion life beyond classical and folk music. Due to a series of events and experiences, I found my own voice in the instrument, my own way of playing that was unrelated to everything I previously did with accordion. Fortunately, accordion is now respected much more than 10 or 20 years ago. I am happy to see so many players take it up and try to create new things. Maybe now accordion is considered cool!”

One of Pohjonen’s greatest inspirations has been the Tanzanian musician Hukwe Zawose. “I saw a concert of his in Helsinki and was totally knocked out. I went to Tanzania to study with him, learning thumb piano and more. He was one of the great musicians of all time, I think, and his music, his friendship and his character affected me greatly.”

Another major influence was Heikki Laitinen, former director of the Sibelius Academy’s Folk Music Department. “He helped to open my mind to new ways of thinking about music, composing, improvisation, performance, voice and attitude,” says Kimmo. “For a long time I thought I could not sing, but Heikki overturned all that and showed me how I could find my own voice. I use it in my music as another instrument; the larynx and lungs, like the reeds and bellows of accordion. I use effects also on my voice to enhance and make it sound new and different, like I do with accordion. I try to use my whole body in my performances, even beyond voice. It is a very physical experience and voice is one important part of the overall expression.”

On his only previous visit to Australia in 2009, Kimmo Pohjonen toured the Outback as part of the Queensland Music Festival. “We did three performances in different locations. One was on a farm, another in a vineyard and the other was at a camel racetrack. The farm and vineyard shows were especially fun because the settings were more intimate. It was a great joy to collaborate with the local farmers and their machines. Audiences seemed to really enjoy it because it was something they had never seen before — it was a big surprise for them. The last show was at a club in Brisbane. We surprised the audience with one Earth Machine Music piece featuring a live chainsaw.”

• The above interview first appeared in Rhythms, Australia’s only dedicated roots music magazine, for which the author is World/Folk correspondent.

Everyone Orchestra - Brooklyn Sessions

Everyone Orchestra – Brooklyn Sessions (Harmonized Records HAR-040, 2012)

Alon Yavnai & The NDR Bigband – Shir Ahava (NDR, 2012)

The difference between an orchestra and a big band? I don’t know. But one thing’s for sure- when there are multiple players involved in a musical endeavor, everyone had better be on the same page.

Such is certainly the case with Everyone Orchestra, which developed out of open mic nights organized by drummer/conductor Matt Butler and now gives us Brooklyn Sessions, a “collection of songs created from two days of conducted improvisation” (as Butler notes on the back cover).

If this is truly music made up as things went along, then I have a newfound respect for spontaneity. The track “Explore Space” pretty much describes what EO does on each of the 8 selections here: they come up with a sound or riff to build upon, find a groove and then decorate it accordingly with solo passages, traded leads, singing, scatting, alternated sections of sparseness and layering and a seeming sixth sense of when to play and when to lay out. You can call this experimental music, jazz or any number of things, but it always comes across fully formed, not just a jumble of unresolved ideas.

A lineup of drums, guitars, bass, trumpet, keyboards, “vintage toys,” sax, percussion, vocals and mandolin (often the melodic wild card) glides joyfully through bouncing numbers like “Funk Explosion,” the tightly wound asides of “Pensive” and “Bass Blanket,” an invitation to “Take Off Your Clothes” and bluesy closer “Talk to Me,” each an expertly eclectic slice of impromptu music made for the serious fun of it. Impressive.

Alon Yavnai and the NDR Bigband - Shir Ahava

Israeli pianist Alon Yavnai and the NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) Bigband give us Shir Ahava, the title of which means “A Love Poem.” Accordingly, the album is a lovingly constructed set of compositions straddling the line between jazz and world music.

The 17-piece band is heavy on the horns, which prominently compliment Yavnai’s inspired piano turns. But most of the lengthy tracks are more suites than songs, veering off into territory like the Balkan asides on “Travel Notes” and Arabic sizzle of “Bitter Roots.”

At times almost classical in its sophistication, at other times whimsical and at all times rich with melodic colors and inspirations, the music on Shir Ahava is stunningly poetic without a word spoken.

Ozomatli

The New York Pops with Ozomatli are set to perform on Tuesday, June 12 at 8:00 pm in Central Park, Manhattan (New York).

The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States, and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Led by Music Director Steven Reineke, the orchestra performs an annual subscription series and birthday gala at Carnegie Hall.

The New York Pops was founded by Skitch Henderson in 1983 with a mission to create greater public awareness and appreciation of America’s rich musical heritage. The New York Pops’ extensive education programs allow thousands of public schoolchildren to participate in concert and music-making experiences throughout the five boroughs of New York City.

Ozomatli celebrates the multitude of cultures in Los Angeles with their music – a notorious urban-Latino-and-beyond collision of salsa, dancehall, cumbia, samba and funk, merengue, comparsa, East Los Angeles R&B, hip-hop, Jamaican ragga and Indian raga.

For 15 years, they have entertained audiences around the world with their unique sound of horns, percussion, strings and vocals while promoting a positive message of peace. The seven multi-racial members of Ozomatli are committed to addressing social issues of local, national, and international importance through fun, yet inspirational entertainment.

This year, world music conference WOMEX is launching a call for papers for the WOMEX 2012 Guide essay. If you have an interesting idea for an essay, WOMEX wants to hear from you.

High-quality papers (in English) covering all areas are welcome – in particular those that relate to one of the following major areas: the ongoing world & jazz focus at WOMEX, or insights into the musical traditions, history and state of the industry of the new Southeastern European host region.

Successful papers will be published in October in the prestigious WOMEX Guide – a vital source of information used all year round by the international world music industry, which is also available online as a PDF document.

If your paper is published, you will be given a free registration to WOMEX 2012 in Thessaloniki from Wednesday, 17 to Sunday, 21 October 2012. You will also receive special promotional treatment through all WOMEX’s online communication channels, including newsletter, homepage news and social media mentions.

The WOMEX Guide essay will be 2000-2200 words in length. To apply, send a 500-word synopsis of your essay in English to media@womex.com, plus links to other articles you may have written. Please include ‘Guide essay’ in the subject line. Deadline: Friday, May 22nd, 2012.

http://www.womex.com

Jun-Lin Yeoh

The new Artistic Director for the famed Rainforest World Music Festival in Malaysian Borneo is Jun-Lin Yeoh. Jun Lin comes from a classical music background. Those who are familiar with the early stages of the Rainforest World Music Festival will remember Jun-Lin. She was the festival’s Artistic Director for 7 years, from 2001-2007. She also set up and ran the shows for the Penang World Music Festival, Genting International Jazz Festival and the Miri International Jazz Festival (now called Borneo Jazz).

Jun Lin works as a consultant in the performing arts field in the Southeast Asian region. In addition to her re-appointment as Artistic and Production Director for the Rainforest World Music Festival 2012, she is also the Artist Director for Borneo Jazz 2012.

World Music Central’s Angel Romero interviewed Jun-Lin to discuss this year’s program.

You are the new Rainforest World Music Festival artistic director. What’s your vision for the festival?

Theoretically, I’m the new old Rainforest World Music Festival artistic director! I was with the Rainforest World Music Festival when it was started and formed and became the first Artistic Director for it (the first 3 years, it was a committee decision on bands selected) from 4th to 10th edition.

After that, Antares was the Artistic Director…and then Randy…and then this year, I came back again.

I would want to keep the festival very focused on its theme on “world” music. It has to appeal to the purists who prefer the traditional roots music, as well as to the ones that like a more contemporary fusion. You will see from the program that I swing from completely left to completely right. But in every band, the ethnic identity is powerful and dominant, and I like it like that.

So, flexible but definite borders! And quality, quality, quality.

And the festival has two halves that make a whole – the workshops as well as the main stage shows. I try to make the workshops a mix of interactive as well as informative as well as entertaining.

How has the festival evolved?

Artistically, the festival will reflect the personality of the artistic director. It can’t be helped!

Size wise – of course it’s grown tremendously. You should have seen our first year! Less than 300 in the audience, and that was also counting volunteers!

But that’s how all festivals start. And then we grow it. And because a lot of us built it from the ground, we had to deal with every aspect of it from the shows down to how to sort out the shuttles to how to tie wristbands securely. From hindsight, all that “growing pains” just made us stronger.

We have gone from 1 stage, to 1 big stage and 1 filler stage, and then to 2 main stages alternating with each other.

There are also now inroads into more “fringe” events – the Talent Search, the pre-festival Opening show, the preview shows in Kuala Lumpur, the Craft Bazaar.

Every year, the festival presents top international musicians. How was the selection process this year?

Same way I usually do it. I draw out a first list which is usually about 80 – 100 bands. Then I whittle it down to about 40. Then I write to the bands to find out current costs and availability. Then the list comes down to about 30. And then it’s trying to think out the best balance of acts for the year.

A lot of factors to think about – to get as contrasting cultures as possible, to try and cover as many continents as possible, the bands must have enough individual “exotic” instruments so I can structure the workshops, the budget, the airfares, the size of the band, the appeal to a wide spectrum in the audience….etc. etc. etc.

What can festivalgoers expect from the Rainforest World Music Festival in 2012?

Entertainment, stimulation, something unknown, something familiar…

A very well-known BBC presenter John Walters once said “It is not for us just to give the people what they think they want. We are going to give them what they don’t know they want.”

Oreka TX, one of the artists scheduled to perform at the 2012 edition of the Rainforest World Music Festival

On stage – Celtic music, African, music from the Indian Ocean, Brazil, Mongolia, Basque music from Spain, gypsy dance music from France, oud masters from Palestine, a colorful Asian melting pot band, East European ethno-rock, and of course lots of colorful Malaysian and Sarawak bands.

In addition to concerts, the musicians participating in the festival also take part in workshops open to the public during the day at Sarawak Cultural Village. What is the importance of the workshops?

They are informal, more intimate as one sees the individual musicians as opposed to the “unit” when they go on stage as a band. Sometimes informative, sometimes interactive, sometimes educational, always entertaining.

What’s most enjoyable about organizing the artistic side of the Rainforest World Music Festival?

Traveling the world looking for bands!

Starting with a blank piece of paper and agonizing about how to build yet another program….

And seeing it gel together…

And then putting the shows on stage and (hopefully) when it’s over, be able to think “Yes!” and then the agony of the blank paper starts all over again

If I were to visit Sarawak for the first time, which places would you recommend that I visit?

Mulu Caves!!!!

Aside from festivals, are there any other opportunities to watch live performances by local traditional and contemporary folk music artists?

A lot of smaller community performances who (in my opinion) sometimes don’t publicize it enough. I sometimes learn of it after the fact.

But in the bigger cities, theaters and auditoriums are now putting on more “world” music bands as a main show.

Logistics and costs play a big part in decision and policy making, I would think.

Are there any shops or locations where one can purchase traditional musical instruments or recordings by local artists?

Too few. In Kuching, try going down the Main Bazaar.

Websites:

Festival site: rwmf.net

For travel and accommodation: sarawaktourism.com

Mulu Caves: mulucaves.org

Tab Benoit - Photo by Jerry Moran

Bluesman Tab Benoit is the big winner of the 33rd Blues Music Awards. Benoit took three awards: Contemporary Male Artist and B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, and his album Medicine won Contemporary Blues Album. The Blues Music Awards were held Thursday May 10, 2012 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee.

“It’s such an honor to win the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award,” Benoit says. “They gave this award to B.B. so many times, it’s named after him. I had a friend who once met B.B. and asked him, ‘Who should I listen to when I first get into the blues?’ B.B. King could have named almost anyone, but instead he said, ‘Tab Benoit.’ That’s why the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award means so much to me.”

Medicine was released April 26, 2011, on Telarc. The 11-track album features seven Benoit originals co-written with ace songwriter Anders Osborne. “Anders and I have been friends for years, and we have a very comfortable relationship,” says Benoit, a singer-songwriter and guitarist with a repertoire that ranges from swamp-pop classics to gritty blues and rootsy jams. “Songwriting needs to feel natural. It needs to flow easily. When he and I went out on the bayou, we came back with seven songs! Anders also played most of the rhythm parts on the album. He does a good job of not stepping on what I’m doing and making it fit the song.”

The album was recorded at Louisiana’s legendary Dockside Studio (B.B. King, Dr. John, Keb’ Mo’, Taj Mahal, Buckwheat Zydeco), located on a 12 acre estate in the heart of Cajun country on the banks of the Vermilion Bayou, and engineered by David Z (Prince, Jonny Lang, Buddy Guy, Gov’t Mule). The award-winning music producer/engineer worked with Benoit on three earlier releases (Fever for the Bayou, Power of the Pontchartrain and Night Train to Nashville). “When David’s in the booth, I don’t have to worry,” says Benoit. “He’s always comfortable with the way I work. We have a lot of fun and like to joke around.”

Medicine highlights the work of keyboardist Ivan Neville, drummer Brady Blade and bassist Corey Duplechin. Fiddler/singer Michael Doucet of BeauSoleil makes a special appearance on three tracks.

“‘Medicine’ captures what this album is all about,” he says. “Let music be the medicine. Like John Lee Hooker once said, ‘Blues is the healer.’”

Benoit is a determined conservation advocate. Benoit is a driving force behind Voice of the Wetlands, an organization working to save Louisiana’s wetlands. In 2010, he received the Governor’s Award for Conservationist of the Year from the Louisiana Wildlife Federation. Benoit also starred in the iMax motion picture Hurricane on the Bayou, a documentary of Hurricane Katrina’s effects and a call to restore the wetlands.

In 2007, Benoit won the dual awards of B.B. King Entertainer of the Year and Best Contemporary Male Performer at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis (formerly the W.C. Handy Awards). In 2006, he received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album for Brother to the Blues, a collaboration with Louisiana’s LeRoux. LeRoux joined Benoit on Power of the Pontchartrain in 2007 and the live Night Train to Nashville in 2008.

Legacy: The Best of Tab Benoit, a 14-song compilation of recordings from Benoit’s years, so far, on the Telarc label, was released April 3, 2012.

For more information and a complete list of 2012 BMA winners: www.blues.org

Brownout

Latin funk band Brownout recently released Oozy, one of the most exciting Latin music albums in recent weeks. Brownout’s bass player Greg Gonzalez reveals details about this impassioned band.

Brownout has been called the alter ego of Grupo Fantasma. How did the band come about?

Brownout formed out of Grupo Fantasma originally and was an attempt to play funk music that had always appealed to us. Previous to Grupo Fantasma we honed our skills playing funk jams at college parties and such, vamping on funk grooves and developing our sound. Over time we’ve recorded three albums and toured on our own and as a result our sound has developed to become its own entity with different personnel and its own unique musical identity apart from Grupo Fantasma.

How would you differentiate the sounds of Brownout and Grupo Fantasma?

Brownout originally was an instrumental band and we played a funkier more uptempo style of music with more improvisation. The blend of uptempo percussion heavy funk and musical improvisation appealed to bboys as well as pure music enthusiasts. Over time we’ve developed that sound with less emphasis on Latin music and more emphasis on funk, psychedelia and a gang vocal style we affectionately refer to as “brocals”. We’ve expanded our musical palette to include slow jams, Afro-Latin segues and cinematic funk soundtracks.

How do the musicians balance their participation in two bands?

It’s a big band and we all play in a lot of bands in addition to these two. Austin (Texas) features a lively music community and we’ve been fortunate to work with many talented artists. Sometimes there’s some juggling involved and it definitely requires flexibility and the ability to wear a lot of different hats, sometimes simultaneously.

Why do you think there is a renewed interest in Latin funk music?

I think the internet has allowed people to access music that previously they wouldn’t have been aware of. This access has given people the freedom to browse and discover music based upon the recommendations of friends and tastemakers rather than the corporate interests of mass media outlets. Now people can experience a huge volume and variety of music with immediacy. The public’s listening patterns and musical palettes are becoming more refined.

Where is Brownout more popular?

Wherever people appreciate good music. Our albums have been well received nationally and internationally we’ve gotten positive responses from fans as far away as Japan and Poland. We haven’t toured very much but we intend to do more in the future.

Brownout is known for its psychedelic sound effects. Are you emulating these sounds with modern instruments or are you also using vintage equipment?

We’re not dogmatically attached to any one technique. We’ve used everything from vintage gear to computer emulations and programming. If it sounds good it’s valid.

Who can you cite as your main musical influences?

War, James brown, The Meters, Juan Pablo Torres, Beastie Boys, The Black Birds, the JBs, Funkadelic, Mongo Santamaria, Prince, the list goes on…

How does the composition process work?

Brownout - Oozy

Adrian Quesada, Francisco “Beto” Martinez and myself (Greg Gonzalez) wrote all of the songs on our latest album “Oozy“. The bands trombonist Mark “Speedy” Gonzalez did all of the arrangements and contributed some excellent horn parts.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Life. Family. The music of our influences, inspirations and peers. Having bills to pay.

How’s the Latin music scene in Austin now?

There’s a lot of great new bands and a great Latin music festival called Pachanga. It’s definitely changed with many long tenured local clubs closing down or relocating all over town. It remains to be seen how this fragmenting of the entertainment district will affect the Latin music scene.

If you could gather any musicians or musical groups to collaborate with whom would that be?

There’s so many great artists we’d love to collaborate with. We have very diverse tastes and influences.

What was the first big lesson you learned about the music business?

You gotta diversify your bonds to survive in the music business.

Do you have any tours planned?

We just finished a West Coast tour and are planning a return out there this summer. We’re also going to be backing up the GZA in Brooklyn and at Bonaroo. Hopefully we’ll get up to the East Coast this year as well.

Are you working on new projects?

We all work on a lot of different projects individually and in other configurations or with other bands. In spite of this busy schedule, we intend to hit the studio again to try and start recording some material for our next release. Hopefully at some point well get to make another video and last, but definitely not least, we’ll be backing up the legendary GZA of Wutang clan at Bonaroo this summer!