Sunday 27 May 2012

Mahmoud Fadl

I'm sorry for not returning to blogging at an earlier date than expected. As usual my free time has been scarce and at one point I'd lost my list of all the music, that I'd intended to share with you all. I chose Mahmoud Fadl because I thought it was time to branch out from just representing the Middle East with oud players. I like the way in which he combines the sound of drums with the captive sound of Arabic music.

Mahmoud Fadl comes from a Nubian Family, who adopted the Griot culture of the "Battikol" people. They were originally based along the River Nile, in a region that was between northern Sudan and southern Egypt. His family were forced to depart from that region when a decision was made to build a hydroelectric power dam there. Nevertheless, although he departed from the place that gave rise to his culture, he still adopted the culture and he embodies this by playing Nubian percussion.




Sunday 13 May 2012

Vilde Katshke

I'm trying once again to make up for the blog neglect from the past few weeks, so I thought I'd do another post today and another post later on in the week. I found Vilde Katshke after searching through all the videos that a klezmer fan had uploaded to YouTube. I really like the way in which the music starts off slowly and then becomes fast paced. The way in which the pace works and the seemingly Dutch feel of their music makes their klezmer music seem different from that of other klezmer bands.

Vilde Katshke are a trio from the Netherlands. Gottfried van Eck started the band in 1998 in order to be fuse his passion for klezmer music with his passion for ancient Jewish stories. Because of this passion for ancient Jewish stories, they will combine their music with storytelling in concerts.







Friday 11 May 2012

Jesse Cook

I'm sorry that I've once again taken an unexpected break from updating this blog but revision for the end of year exams is proving to be a nightmare now that I now have no lectures or seminars, and therefore have no timetable with which to organise myself. I thought Jesse Cook was a good artist to feature because his music is very good at helping me to settle down to revision even though he often pours his emotions into his guitar music, in such a way that he makes his guitar music very captivating.

Jesse Cook comes from Toronto in Canada but he spent many years of his childhood travelling between France and Spain. His music is a fusion of world music, Latin music and funky jazz music. His inspiration stems from his parents' recordings of Manitas de Plata (a gypsy guitarist from the Carmague region of Southern France), the sound of which he tried to imitate as a toddler. His fascination for gypsy music increased when he went to visit his father in Arles, where one could often hear the flamenco-rhumba music being played in the "gipsy barrio". No doubt this fascination was one of the factors that encouraged him to study classical and jazz guitar at music school. His fame increased after he performed at the Catalina Jazz Festival in 1995.