Chetes

I discovered Chetes a few years ago, when he'd just relelased his first album and iTunes was promoting his music. I don't fully understand his songs since they're in Spanish but I often understand the title, so I often know what the song's about.

Chetes' interest in music was inspired by his father, who founded a band called Los Rockets. His musical career began when he formed a band called Zurdok with two other people. While he was in this band, they released three albums but the band eventually split up because the band members preferred different styles. Nevertheless, he formed a project band with his bandmate, Garza and Rodrigo Guardiola, called Vaquero, which just released songs in English. This led to Chetes attracting a wider audience because English is a more widely understood language. But a lot of the songs that he wrote while he was in the band, were not very well suited to the band because they were written in Spanish, so he sent samples of his music to a former drummer of the band Wilco and another band, called Uncle Tupelo. Uncle Tupelo and the former drummer were very impressed by his music, so they decided to be the producer's of his first solo album. He released his first album, Blanco Fácil, in 2006. The songs on this album were inspired by The Beatles and The Beach Boys, so that might very well explain why he received a Latin Grammy Nomination for writing the best rock song and a large promotion on iTunes Latino. He also collaborated with the singer Amaral to make a song for the movie Efectos Secundarios, so he's certainly enjoyed a very successful career.


There is an official video to the song I've featured but I prefer the original version of the song, so I've featured that instead.

If you'd like to listen to more samples of Chetes' music, here are the links to his mp3 albums on Amazon: Hipnosis, Blanco Fácil (It's cheaper to buy the CD of this album, if you live in America) and Efecto Dominó.

Mahala Rai Banda

I happened to discover Mahala Rai Banda, when I learnt through Twitter that their music was very popular on BBC Radio 3. So I decided to look them up on YouTube and sample their music and although I didn't like all of their compositions because they sometimes modernise traditional gypsy music a little too much for my liking, I like their other tracks because they make me think of people dancing and having fun.

Mahala Rai Banda is a band formed by gypsies from Romania. The band uses lots of different styles and genres in their music, so it's quite likely that you might like me find that you don't like all of their compositions/songs. Their music is known as Balkan beats since it's a mixture of traditional popular music and club-oriented music but that's not to say that every piece of music they produce sounds like club music.The band consists of a brass band and violin and accordion players, so their music is very loud and more recommendable to listen to if you're in a lively mood. If you ever decide to go to one of their concerts, you'll find that it turns into a wild party!

If you'd like to listen to more samples of their music on Amazon, here are the links: Mahala Rai Banda and Ghetto Blasters (the music on this album is more modern).

Rafael Cortés

I discovered Rafael Cortés today when I was looking at the new releases in world music on iTunes and it was quite a coincidence because I'd just given up trying to find a good spanish guitarist (with YouTube clips) who I could do a post on. I usually dislike flamenco music because I find that the music is too fast-paced but Rafael Cortés plays the guitar more slowly so that it's better to listen to.

He combines his modern style with classic flamenco and jazz and he likes to embody his emotions and feelings in his music. His style has been influenced by Paco de Lucia, who is one of the best guitarists in the world and who is often reckoned to be the best guitarist out of those, who play flamenco music, so this might very well be the reason why he is one of the most highly regarded flamenco artists today. He began is career at a very young age, when he debuted (at four years old) with his father accompanying him. I suppose this would explain why his guitar teacher decided that he could teach him nothing else by the time he was 14 years old!

If you'd like to listen to more samples of his music, here are the link to his mp3 albums on Amazon: Eclipse de Luna, Parando el Tiempo, Campo libre and Gitanos del agua.

Haig Yazdjian

I discovered Haig Yazdjian while I was researching Greek music because I thought it was about time that I included some Greek artists in this blog. I like his music because I like the way, in which he combines Eastern music with Eastern Mediterranean music.

Haig Yazdjian is an Armenian musician, who was bought up in Syria. His Syrian upbringing led to his fascination with Eastern music and so in due course he started playing the oud. He's very popular for his original style of combining diverse sorts of Eastern Mediterranean music with his Eastern style of music.

If you'd like to listen to more samples of his music on Amazon, click on this link: The Greek Folk Instruments: Outi,

Ali Akbar Moradi & Kayhan Kalhor

I discovered Ali Akbar Moradi & Kayhan Kalhor while I was researching Persian music. I like their music because it's like classical music, in the sense that it has no words, so it's very relaxing in that sense and the combination of instruments works well.

Kayhan Kalhor is a Kurdish kamancheh player and composer of classical Persian music from Iran. His musical talent is such that he was playing in the National Orchestra of Radio and Television of Iran, when he was 13 years old. He's studied Persian radif and European classical music, so I suppose that is why he has such a wide range of musical influences. He uses play several different instruments and combines a range of the influences in his compositions but he nevertheless specialises in Persian violin music. He also tends to embody Persian classical music structures in the rich folk modes and melodies of the Kurdish Iranian tradition.

Ali Akbar Moradi is a Kurdish tabur (Kurdish lute) player, who also comes from Iran.

If you'd like to listen to more samples of the music from this album on Amazon, here's the link: In The Mirror of The Sky

These are the links to Kayhan Kalhor's other albums and collaborations with other artists on Amazon: The Wind, Silent City, Voices of the Shades (Saamaan-e saayeh'haa) and Night Silence Desert.

These are the links to Ali Akbar Moradi's other albums and collaborations on Amazon:  Breez and wheat field, Kurdish Music from Iran (Musique kurde d'Iran ), Fire Of Passion, The Companion.

N. B. There are some mp3 albums which I could find on iTunes but not Amazon, so I recommend researching their music on iTunes aswell if you're interested.

Fiddler's Bid

Fiddler's Bid is another of the many bands I've discovered, while looking at the music of musicians, who play Irish music. I really like the way in which they play the fiddle because they always play in a cheerful and soothing manner.

Fiddlers' Bid are a band from the Shetland Isles, who play modernised versions of traditional Shetland fiddle tunes. Their compositions involve four fiddles, a piano, the bass and a guitar. They are very popular in the world of music, so they've played at many big folk festivals like the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

This is their Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/fiddlersbid

Here are the links to their mp3 albums on Amazon: Hamnataing, Naked & Bare, Da Farder Ben Da  Welcomer and All Dressed In Yellow.

Terakaft

I discovered Terakaft, while I was researching because their style is similar to that of Tinariwen's (a band featured in an earlier post) style. So I also like them because they combine traditional music of their country with the electric guitar.

 The music of Terakaft is similar to Tinariwen's music because it was founded by Kedou and Diawara, who were originally part of Tinariwen. Kedou and Diawara formed the band with the two young guitarists, Sanou and Rhissa. From what I can see they must have formed some time after 2005 because they performed their first concert and released their first album in 2007. The name, "terakaft", is a tamashek word, which means "caravan", so I suppose it means that they travel a lot like the members of Tinariwen.

If you'd like to listen to more samples of their music, here are some links to their mp3 albums on Amazon: Akh issudar, Aratan N Azawad (I'd say this was the best album), Bismilla, Live 2008 and Ishumar (Mali-Niger Touaregs) (This album features other artists). 

Loyko

I decided that it was time to post some music from Eastern Europe because I've not yet posted any music from there. I looked through quite a few albums before I could find an artist, whose songs were on You Tube but I found Loyko while I was looking at Russian gypsy music. I really like the way in which they combine the guitar and the violin.

The Russian gypsy trio was originally established as a duet by Sergey Erdenko and Igor Starostelsev in 1990. But many musicians, such as Oleg Ponomarev, Vadim Kulitzkiy, Leonsia Erdenko, and Alexey Bezlepkin, have played in the band. All of these musicians have influenced the development of their music but gypsy music is the most important part of their music. Tours and meetings with other musicians at festivals have also given encouraged them to include Celtic, traditional Romanian, traditional Hungarian and European classical music in their music. The band is currently formed by Sergey Erdenko, George Osmolovskiy and Michael Savichev. 

If you'd like to listen to more samples of their music on Amazon, here are the links to their albums:
Loyko In Russia (this is my favourite album), The cold wind and Two Angels.

Incantation

I discovered Incantation while I was researching Latin music. I was trying to find Latin music that I hadn't heard time and time again, and eventually I discovered Incantation and I really liked the way in which they combined the guitar with the pan pipes.

Incantation plays traditional tribal music and South American music. It was formed in 1981, when a group of musicians, who were playing different types of music for the Ballet Rambert (now known as the Rambert Dance Company), volunteered to play for the ballet, Ghost Dances (also a name of one of their albums), about political oppression in South America. While they were rehearsing for the ballet, they were taught how to play authentic tribal/South American instruments and because the show was so successful they were given a recording contract. They chose to call themselves Incantation because their music is based on that of the Incas.

If you'd like to listen to more samples of Incatation's music, here are the links to their albums on Amazon:

Panpipes of the Andes, Panpipes From The Andes, Sergeant Early/Ghost Dance (this also has Celtic music on it), Dance of the Flames, On Gentle Rocks, Virgins of the Sun and The Meeting.

Hamza Namira

Hamza Namira is another artist I discovered when I was looking at the world music section on Amazon's mp3 store. I liked his music because I love the arabic music in the background but when I began to discover more of his music and find out what it was about, I also liked the fact that his songs were very political.

Hamza Namira is an Egyptian artist, who started playing music when he was 17. He became the member of a band called, Love and Peace, in 1999 and his life and his music were very much influenced by Nabil Albaklie (the band's founder) while he was part of that band. He then went on to found a band with four other people called, Nomaira, in 2001 which became very popular and famous for singing songs about social issues and humanity but this band ended up folding after 3 of the members migrated. Hamza Namira is well known for discussing the social issues in Egypt and common problems and singing of the hope for change in his songs. I have to admit that I disagree with one of his songs, Insan, because he sings of the existence of Allah in these songs and I'm an agnostic veering towards atheism.

Nevertheless the song I've featured is about the 2010 protests in Egypt and the hope of positive changes for Egpyt, which I thought was quite appropriate given that there are still many protests going on in hope of changing the way that things are.

If you'd like to listen to more samples of Hamza Namira's music, here are links to his mp3 albums on Amazon:
Insan & Dream With Me - Ehlam Ma'aya

Kala Ramnath

I decided to look at the World Music section of Amazon's mp3 store for inspiration for today's blog post and that's how I discovered Kala Ramnath. Ramnath has composed many different types of music in her career but I tend to prefer her compositions that involve her playing the violin in a fast-paced manner.

Kala Ramnath is a violinist from Chennai, India, who tends to play northern Indian classical music. Her family is very musical and she's related to the violin legends, T. N. Krishnan and N. Rajam, so successful music careers run in the family. When she plays the violin, she employs an intricate fingering and bowing technique. Her particular technique of playing the violin is very original because she plays it is a way that makes its music seem more like vocal music and so her violin is known as the "singing violin" (this led to her calling one of her albums, Singing Violin). She has participated in projects involving musicians, who specialise in jazz, African music, flamenco, and Western classical music. She is also part of at least three fusion bands: Global Conversation (which performs jazz influenced by raga and raga inflicted with jazz), Yashila and Four Elements.

If you'd like to listen to more of her music, here are the links to her mp3 albums on Amazon:

Kala, Nectar, Ragamala, Kala Ramnath, Ekta - Unity, Touching Air, Samaya, Tribute To Tansen - Raga Miyan Ki Todi

Sidi Touré

Sidi Touré is another artist I've discovered as a result of iTunes recommendations. I like his music because he plays the guitar in a very relaxing manner.


Sidi Touré is a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Mali. He takes after Ali Farka Touré (who was featured in one of my previous posts) with respect to his style because he plays the songhai blues in an original droning fashion. His music embodies many traditions, including songhai and takamba, and he often sings about untraditional topics. He has had many unsuccessful attempts at trying to continue his musical career because a band that he was part of split and although the song featured is from his second album, he originally didn't enjoy enough success with his first album to make another album. Hopefully he will have more success with this album!

If you'd like to listen to more of his music from this album (Sahel Folk), here's the link to it on Amazon: Sahel Folk

This is the link to his first album on Amazon: Hoga