CHILL

BBC RADIO 2

FOR THOSE WHO DON'T LIKE BBC RADIO 1 ;)

Believe it or not, Radio 2 is the #1 station in the UK and oriented towards a more adult audience.These are from the A-List playlist.

At #1

At #2

At #3

At #4

At #5

Yup, Still Summer

Many of you may be familiar with the Buster Poindexter version of this song.  It is considered Soca Music which is an offshoot of Calypso.  This version by Arrow is the original:

Bebel Gilberto: Summer Samba

A Bossa classic performed by two classics Elis Regina and Tom Jobim: Águas de Março

Lest you get confused about the waters of March remember that Brazil is in the southern hemisphere and Summer runs from December to March thus the song is about the rains at the end of summer.

It's still Summer

Fredrick Delius: A Song of Summer

Alexander Glazunov: Summer

Felix Mendelssohn: 

Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream 

Guy Clark

Guy Clark, Grammy winning Texas Country and Folk artist died this past Tuesday at the age of 74.  Clark had released 23 albums on his own and had his music performed by such artists as Johnny Cash, Vince Gill, Ricky Scaggs, John Denver, Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson, and Kenny Chesney.

Cheap Trick

Referred to as the Japanese Beatles, none of Cheap Trick's first three albums made the top 40 in the US, they all went gold in Japan.  Cheap Trick at Budokan came out when I was in Junior High.  Hadn't given them much thought over the years until the other night the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert at Barclay's Center in NY was on.  Guess who just got inducted.

Götterdämmerung

A Shining City on a Hill

Max Brückner

Music for a Contested Convention...

What would you pick as the theme music for the 2016 Republican National Convention?  Here are a few to get you started.

Friday Sessions

Given yesterday's post, these seemed fitting.

Somehow I don't think we'll be listening to songs about self-driving cars twenty years hence.

Cease and Desist Friday

At least according to my sources candidates have been sent cease and desist orders by musicians for playing their music in this election cycle, here are the songs and the stories behind them.

Hillary Clinton sent a cease and desist order by Tobi Vail of Bikini Kill for using the song Rebel Girl. Hillary Clinton... Rebel Girl, uh yeah, right.

But Trump seems to be the king of cease and desist orders:  To Donald Trump "Adele has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning,"

Along with Skyfall, the theme from the James Bond movie

Add in Steven Tyler's of Aerosmith's objection to Trump's use of Dream On:

And his use of:

Quote: "Neil Young, a Canadian citizen, is a supporter of Bernie Sanders for President of the United States of America".  Neil Young then offered Bernie Sanders use of the song which he readily picked up.

Not to be left out, Marco Rubio was sent a cease and desist order from Axwell for his use of Something New.

Covers

The Bobby Fuller Four classic (1966) revised and updated by The Clash in 1977.

Jake Holmes' played Dazed and Confused opening for The Yardbirds in 1967, which is where Jimmy Page heard it and put it on the Led Zeppelin debut album in 1969.

Tom Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster recorded House of the Rising Sun in 1933, you're probably more familiar with this version from 1964:

What are your favorite covers?

Music to Trick or Treat By

But when all is said and done...

Just a little ole band from Texas

ZZ TOP

My First Rock Concert

The first rock concert I ever attended was at the old Philadelphia Spectrum way back in... I think November 1980,  I seem to recall it was cold and raining when it let out which kind of rules out August '79 in my mind.  The band was KANSAS!

Quart bottles of Miller in brown paper bags, an old Chevy Nova, and we discovered that if you drove twice the electronically posted speed limit on the streets of Philadelphia you still would hit all the lights green.

What was your first concert?

il Papa II

Inno e Marcia Pontificale

(Papal Anthem)

Here are some of the other selections that will be played in association with the pontiffs visit.  Feel free to comment on the music or on anything the pope has said or done that you wish to comment on.

¡Albricias mortales! que viene la aurora

( by the Mexican composer Manuel de Sumaya)

Exsultate , Jubilate

(Mozart)

And I've heard the following will be performed by Sister Sledge and Aretha Franklin at the Festival of Families in Philadelphia

Me, I have to say I prefer the Exsultate Jubilate.

Musical Friday

I heard this on Sirius back around the 4th of July, it's typical fare for the 4th of July but a slightly less common (original) choral version of the 1812 Overture.  Enjoy.

Echos de Guantanamera

A Riff on a Riff on a Riff...

The post on Cuban music awhile back got me feeling nostalgic. I have a collection of around 200 CDs from all over Latin America, but I am far from an expert on the subject. Still, I thought I'd share one of my favorite versions of one of my favorite songs, Guantanamera.

As a bonus, I've included a famous song from Argentinian Luis Aguilé, composed in the same style as Guantanamera.

Guillermo Portabales - Guantanamera
There are about ten bajillion versions of this song, but I particularly love this one.  Instead of faithfully following the words of José Fernández, who wrote Guantanamera in the 1920's, Guillermo Portabales does his own lyrical riff, giving a nod to the nation of Colombia where he lived for many years. 

But that's OK,  Fernández based the song on a few quatrains of "Los Versos Sencillos" de Jose Marti and added a chorus about a campesino girl from Guantanamo he was in love with, hence the song title, Guantanamera.

Fernández composed Guantanamera as a traditional Cuban campesino guajira, which is a rustic style of Spanish-influenced music that, along with Son and drum rhythms from parts of Africa, forms the roots of subsequent Cuban music.

Guillermo Portabales, whose style is often described as languid and melancholy, was a soulful master of the guajira, and he is still beloved by millions of aficionados who enjoy his music.

Anyway, the tune to Guantanamera is a common one musicians will riff off of and have fun improvising.  The Mexican standard, La Bamba gets played around with in much the same way. Portabales was skilled guitarrista, and he is the one doing the complex guitar work in this song.







Luis Aguilé - Cuando Sali de Cuba
Argentinian Luis Aguilé's iconic song, Cuando Sali de Cuba (Translated:  When I left Cuba, I Left my Heart buried There) became the de facto anthem of Cuban exiles.  If you listen closely, you can hear echoes of Guantanamera.

Cubanita en Colorado wrote a touching dedication on Aguilé's death back in 2009.  She includes an English translation of the song and a video of Aguilé singing it back when he was a young man.

¡Que Desfruten el domingo!

Cuba

Forget the Good Old Days

Prepare yourself for your eventual
Cuban Vacation...
This Ain't Ricky Ricardo

Now, This had me rolling...

In 1999 Cuban Minister of Culture declared Rap to be "an authentic expression of Cuban Culture".  In 2002 the Cuban government formed the Agencia Cubana de Rap, or the Cuban Rap Agency. Enjoy your government approved music...

For those whose tastes tend toward the more cerebral, the Instituto Superior de Arte has more to offer...

So, what do you think, are you ready for your Cuban Vacation?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Saturday Sessions

Music to contemplate Obama's

Speech by.

Sorry to you old school fans out there, 

I decided to toss in a few covers.