Tag Archives: Music
Genghis’ Camp.
This didn’t feel like Central Asia. The road was smooth, the ride quiet, the old Mercedes van that did the honours as our marshrutka, or collective taxi, wasn’t packed to the gunwales. Our driver, a faded Denver Broncos hat planted on … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged Ala tau, Central Asia, Cholpon Ata, Ethno Park, Felt tent, Food, Gorge, Issyk Kul, Jailoo, Jew's Harp, Kyrchyn, Kyrchyn Jailoo, Kyrgyzstan, Lake, Lenin, Lenin statue, Mountains, Music, Nomad, Throat singing, Tien Shan, WNG, World Nomad Game, Yurt
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A good day to be in America.
Waking up at silly o’clock in a corporate hotel room (describable by the colour “beige”) on the 25thfloor of a Magnificent Mile high-rise in Chicago, I felt a genuine, good-spirited sense of excitement. It was a cocktail, I decided as … Continue reading
Posted in Americas, USA
Tagged Andersonville, Bronski Beat, Chicago, Coffee, CPD, Electric Six, Gay, Gay Pride, Great Lake, Hate, Homophobia, Inclusion, Lake, Lincoln Park, Music, Navy Pier, North Chicago, Parade, Pride, Religion, Skyline, Straight, Sun, Sweden, Urban
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Songs for the Road 7 – Now with even less sense!
The hot season is definitely upon us (at least, as much as it can be for London) and the poor algorithm that chooses the Your Mix selection on Youtube must be excused to be thinking that the heat has made me … Continue reading
Posted in Music review, Odd ones out
Tagged Acid Arab, Bomba éstereo, Cantaloupe island, Cem Yıldız, Cenotes, Cumbia, Dave Brubeck, El Búho, France, Herbie Hancock, La Haine, Latin America, Les Sages Poètes de la Rue, Lulacruza, Mexico, Minimal, Music, Music for the road, Music recommendations, Neşe Karaböcek, Norway, Rave, Shanghai, Smilla, Spanish, Stil, Take Five, Techno, Todd Terje, Turkey, Youtube
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Song(s) for the Road 6 – An African New Year’s Day
I’m not one for resolutions, for they don’t work, but I do have a couple of traditions for New Year’s Day. One, shared with a longtime friend, is to check what day is Easter on the calendar, and then to … Continue reading
Posted in Music review, Odd ones out, Random memories
Tagged Addis, Addis Ababa, Addis Abeba, Africa, African music, Afrique, Afrobeat, Algeria, Black Company, Bombino, Elwan, Ethio-Jazz, Ethiopia, Ethiopian, Farka Touré, Fatoumata Diawara, Fela Kuti, Femi Kuti, Foli, Funk, Guinée, Guinea, Imarhan, Jazz, KEXP, Lagos, London, Mali, Malinke, Mulatu Astatke, Music, music review, Musique de l'Afrique, New York, Nigeria, No Accommodation for Lagos, Ofo, Rokia Traore, Songhoy Blues, Tamikrest, Ténéré Tàqqàl, Teneré, Tinariwen, Tony Allen, Womad, Youtube
9 Comments
Song(s) for the Road 5 – Waylaid by the War on Drugs
It was meant to be a busy afternoon. I’ve spent the day delivering a course, the first time in my life being a trainer rather than a trainee (if only my mother could’ve seen me!) and I’ve returned to 60 … Continue reading
Posted in Music review, Odd ones out, Random memories
Tagged Music, Music for the road, music review, Odd ones out, The War on Drugs
2 Comments
Four years and two days.
I nearly missed, I must confess. Had it not been for the urge of seeing Shut Up and Play the Hits that, at regular intervals, comes to haunt me I’d have probably missed it altogether (and you’d have escaped this post, possibly). … Continue reading
Widening my cultural horizons – classical concert night
Have you ever read those jokes where books, historical events or theatre plays are synthetized in one or two sentences? You know, those where Homer’s Odyssey is condensed in something along the lines of “A man leaves home for twenty … Continue reading
Songs for the Road 4 – A slightly introspective Christmas
This year will be an odd Christmas, at least for me. In the last 12 months, in facts, my biological family has shrunk – through deaths and inheritance-caused greed – from 8 members to two, my brother and father. It … Continue reading
Posted in Music review, Reflections
Tagged African Blues, Ali Farka Touré, Apparat, Blues, djembe, Electronica, Ellen Allien, IBM, James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem, Movement, Music, music review, Orchestra of Bubbles, Remix, Songs for the road, Techno, Tennis, Turin
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Travelling through a country’s music – Mali
It all started with two groups and neither of them were Malian. Ofo The Black Company was the first and I discovered them in the Botswana special of Top Gear: James May was overtaking, in a old and battered beige … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, Music review, Reflections
Tagged Africa, African music, Ali Farka Touré, Amadou et Mariam, Blues, Boubacar Traore, Desert Blues, France, Mali, Music, Operation Serval, Rokia Traore, Samba Touré, Sidi Touré, Songhoy Blues, Tamikrest, Tinariwen, Toumast
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Scotland, Part 2. Reasons why you should visit Edinburgh before anywhere else in Britain.
Later this year, Scotswomen and men will be queuing up at polling stations to have their say about what’s probably the most important decision they’ll collectively make in their life time. Given the historic importance of such an event I … Continue reading
Posted in All things food, Overlooked locations, Scotland, UK
Tagged Edinburgh, Food, Music, Random memories, Scotland
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