Around the World – Week beginning 25 June 2023
Last week
Hello St. Lucia!
KNC Radio on the beautiful Eastern Caribbean island St. Lucia begins carrying Around the World. Starting the day and the week, AtW will be heard on KNC Radio at 6:00 am local time (12:00 noon CET) every Monday. Greeting to Negilla Cenac and her team who run the station.
This Week
Music From: Canada, Cyprus, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Greece, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Macedonia, Mali, Mexico, Portugal, Reunion, Switzerland, UK, USA, and Vanuatu
Music by: Al Stewart, Antonis Antoniou & Nickodemus, Béla Fleck Zakir Hussain & Edgar Meyer, Bjonko, Carminho, Crimi, David Walters, Dimitris Mystakidis, Fatoumata Diawara, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Kuné, Mari Kalkun, Māsas Dimantas Sisters Katrīna Dimanta & Laima Dimanta, mishra & Deepa Nair Rasiya, Moonlight Benjamin, Phil Manzanera & Orchestra Popolare, Saodaj’, Suarasama, Timo Alakotila & Johanna Juhola Duo, Tio, Tokyo MinYo Club, Ukandanz, and Yalla Miku
Featured Album: Son Rompe Pera’s Chimborazo
Hear all the music and none of the talk on either Spotify below
or iTunes here (iTunes has more music – what was played)
| Artist | Song | Album/Single |
| Part 1 | ||
| David Walters | No One (Captain Planet Disco Edit) | Soul Tropical |
| mishra & Deepa Nair Rasiya | Devil’s Nine Questions | Devil’s Nine Questions – Single |
| Antonis Antoniou & Nickodemus | Yiorti (Nickodemus Remix) | Throisma Remixed – EP |
| Son Rompe Pera | Selva Negra | Chimborazo |
| Moonlight Benjamin | Haut là haut | Wayo |
| Suarasama | Untukmu Yang Berperang | Timeline |
| Timo Alakotila & Johanna Juhola Duo | Kolmiaskel | Amicum |
| Tokyo MinYo Club | Higashi Zishi | Tokyo MinYo Club – MinYo Songbook, Vol. 1 |
| Saodaj’ | Monmon Kolonel | Laz |
| Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad | Most Men | Love in Time |
| Son Rompe Pera | Chucha | Chimborazo |
| Ukandanz | Alègntayé | Kemekem (ከመከም) |
| Phil Manzanera & Orchestra Popolare | Mama La Rondinella | Viva la taranta: La musica salentina |
| Part 2 | ||
| Al Stewart | Year of the Cat | Year of the Cat (Remastered) |
| Carminho | Pedra solta | Portuguesa |
| Mari Kalkun | Munamäe Loomine (The Creation of Munamäg) | Stories of Stonia |
| Son Rompe Pera | El Tamal (feat. La Perla) | Chimborazo |
| Māsas Dimantas Sisters, Katrīna Dimanta & Laima Dimanta | Celies Jāņa diena | Celies Jāņa diena |
| Dimitris Mystakidis | Geraki | Morso |
| Kuné | Sarena | Universal Echoes |
| Tio | Mumbwe | Wantok Musik Vol. 3 |
| Fatoumata Diawara | Seguen | London Ko |
| Son Rompe Pera | La Muerte del Amor | Chimborazo |
| Crimi | Notti Ruffiana | Scuru Cauru |
| Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain & Edgar Meyer | Motion (feat. Rakesh Chaurasia) | As We Speak (feat. Rakesh Chaurasia) |
| Yalla Miku | Tapis Volant | Yalla Miku |
| Bjonko | At The Bazaar | Balkan Express |
Chucha – Son Rompe Pera
“Cumbia is the New Punk”, oh yes it is. I have a lot of friends who were, and many who still are punks. I recommend to them not another guitar based band, but a bunch of young Mexicans who play marimba and improvised percussion.
Let’s start, not with the band, but the music itself. The first thing to note is that Cumbia is not Kumbaya (or Cumbayá either).
While cumbia has its origins in Colombia going back at least as far as the early 1800s, there are many variations in different parts of South America. Regional adaptations of Colombian cumbia are found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela all have their flavours of Cumbia and further sub-divisions can be found throughout the continent.
Son Rompe Pera’s music is Mexican cumbia. And a modern version, at that.
Cumbia has elements from indigenous and black music traditions. Modern Mexican cumbia is traced back to the 1940s when Colombian singer Luis Carlos Meyer Castandet emigrated to Mexico and over the following decades as the music gained popularity the progressed and changed as it was influenced by rock, hip-hop, rap, disco, dance, and electronica.
Then came Son Rompe Pera with their “unique style of garage-marimba-punk-cumbia”. The three Gama brothers, Alan (marimba and voice), Alfredo de Jesús (marimba and voice), Jose Angel (Percussion and voice), began performing with their father as a local band. While not turning their backs completly on cumbia, they played in punk, rockabilly, and ska bands before retuirning to the magic of the marimba joined by Raul Albarran (bass and voice), and Ricardo Lopez (Drums) to create their own slightly anarchic version of Mexican cumbia.
Chimborazo is the highest mountain in Ecuador and the Andes north of Peru. Some argue the highest point on earth. It is the name the band has chosen for this their second album.
Son Rompe Pera headed to Colombia, the birthplace of cumbia, to record the album. A cumbia pilgrimage of sorts, the band found it essential to take a mirror to their knowledge of the genre to ensure that they were doing it justice. The experience, however, ended up being much more expansive than anyone had anticipated. ‘Chimborazo’ was recorded at Mambo Negro studio over 7 days in 2022, and produced by Colombian Producer Mario Galeano (Frente Cumbiero, Ondatrópica, Los Pirañas). Mambo Negro is as much of a home as it is a studio, fostering a community of musicians that wander freely through the space- many of whom ended up contributing to the record. [Bandcamp]
Chimborazo is the featured album this week and although Cumbia Algarrobera (video below) isn’t on this album, the video says more about the band than I can.
Son Rompe Pera | Cumbia Algarrobera
There’s more to be read all over the web, but here’s a starter from Womex.
SAODAJ’ – Monmon Kolonel [Official video]
It is six years (and 2.8 million views) since the Réunion musicians SAODAJ’ released Pokor Lèr, a song I have played many times on Around the World. The young, spikey, rooftop musicians have matured considerably since then. Compare the new Monmon Kolonel which I’ll be playing on the show this week with the title song from their first album. They released their new (and as far as I can see only second) album Laz a few weeks ago and I almost missed it. So, I’ll be playing catch-up on this. In the meantime …
SAODAJ’ – Pokor Lèr [Official Video “Sur les toits”]
Tio – Mumbwe
And talking about catching up, a video from July 2021 and an album released in 2020, the music of Tio Bang is new to me. Tio/Tio Bang/Tio Massing is from Vanuatu in Oceania (and just under 10,000 miles from where I sit right now).
Tio Massing is a singer/songwriter from Ambrym island in Vanuatu. Tio has performed in Ni-Vanuatu reggae and roots groups.
A talented multi-instrumentalist, Tio plays violin, ukulele, guitar, tam tam, djembe and bush bass. He is driven by his passion to mix traditional and contemporary beats and styles and share them with other musicians.
Now that Around the World is carried by two radio stations in New Zealand, I think I should be exploring the extraordinary music of the region.
And there’ll be a good old classic …