April 7-11
This Week's Music Around the World-Traditional and Contemporary Music-Lichtenstein
Hackbrett (4:04) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTcpWLS__xc) Lichtenstein is a country nestled between Austria and Switzerland in the Alps. The hackbrett is a hammered dulcimer popular in the Alps. Pop artist Joss Stone has this video featuring several hackbretts.
Music Festivals-Lichtenstein (2:58) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAQ1QtxDGwI) There are a number of popular music festivals in tiny Lichtenstein (pop 40 000). I tried to get some footage from the popular Openair Wavejam which is heavy metal and rock-but all the videos had very distorted sound (amateurs recording loud music!). Here is a clip from Volksblatt in Vaduz.
Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901) Voces8-Abendlied (3:08) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIOagJryMik) Rheinberger is a famous and treasured composer from Lichtenstein.
Al Walser-I Can't Live Without You (3:57) (found at https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12ryvj) Arguably the biggest pop star out of Lichtenstein-Al Walser was nominated for a grammy for this song and won a grammy for a children's album.
April 14-18
This Week's Music Around the World-Traditional and Contemporary Music-Barbados
Boots-The Mighty Gabby (6:50)(found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkj4ubw4wB4) The Mighty Gabby, born in 1948, is a Calypso and folk singer and a Cultural ambassador for Barbados. This is a protest song about sending soldiers to other countries to invade.
Spouge-Melody (6:00) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqBCcbR-_yA) Jackie Opal created sponge in the 1960's making a distinctly Barbadian style of music-mixing ska, calypso and a number of other genres of music.
Red Plastic Bag-Boat Ride (4:11) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzgUtV0p-6w) Stedson Ewart Wiltshire is known as Red Plastic Bag or RPB. He combines soca and reggae music and is a 10x Monarch winner. This concert is a famous yearly event in Barbados known as 'Crop Over'.
Rihanna-Please Don't Stop The Music (3:53) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd8jh9QYfEs&list=RDEMaFGiAZ4Nb5ktVatP3wi-Dw&index=8) I had to include this pop tune as Rihanna is definitely the biggest international star from Barbados. This particular song has come up in my program before-Rihanna unwittingly plagiarized a refrain here from the song Soul Makossa by Manu Dibango from Cameroon when she got permission from Michael Jackson thinking it was his (but he had plagiarized too).April 21-25
This Week's Music Around the World-Traditional and Contemporary Music-Bhutan
Dramnyen (1:35) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjmxpAKS7cs) This is the traditional lute of Bhutan and Tibet.
Folk Music (4:09) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbm37ZmxHKE) This is some traditional folk music. We see several dramyens, a flute, and the yangchen (hammered dulcimer of Bhutan)
Whangzey dance (9:245) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt7sViyw4p8) Zhey means dance. Zhey dances are performed only by men. This one is from the Wang region of the Thimphu Valley.
Khatshe-Tandin Wangchuk X Jigme Droelcarr (4:27) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdC6HEfsI3Y&list=PLMU-mO3F8uyWRefx4TwJm5zXLyjg9ctjY&index=88) An earlier form of popular music from the 1960's called risgar has fused with modern world pop music in Bhutan.
April 28-May 2
This Week's Music Around the World-Traditional and Contemporary Music-The Gambia
Foday Musa Suso-Ocean Wave (3:25)(edited from film found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CFj_ivPi7g) Suso is the most famous musician I found from The Gambia-and I found a live video. He is playing an instrument from The Gambia called a kora-which is a 21 string plucked instrument. He's playing here with famous American drummer Jack DeJohnette.
Traditional Dancing (0:41) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkyBX-9aceQ) There is a dance called mbalax in the Gambia and neighbouring Senegal and I think this looks like a rhythmic version of that dance.
Griot Song-Kalefa Ba (9:44) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6MY3v-WA94) The griot is a traditional praise song in the Gambia. It is often played with kora or balafon. This is a song about a man called Kelefa Sanneh from a part of the ancient Mande empire that is now Guinea Bissau who came to The Gambia to fight in a war and died in the mid 1800's. It is apparently one of the best know griots.
Sona Jabarteh-Gambia (6:09) (found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtmmlOQnTXM&list=RDQMNOZVaxduEv4&start_radio=1) Jabarteh is a well known Gambian musician-multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer.