SONS OF KEMET ME "MY QUEEN IS ALBERTINA SISULU" (2018) - XHAZ AFRIKAN PA FRENA

"Your Queen Is A Reptile" (2018) eshte nje album qe, ndersa josh me tingujt e tij inteligjente, terheq vemendjen me nje gjuhe te plote dhe te artikuluar, nje kolone mbajtese, thelbesore per kedo qe kujdeset per natyren e vertete te muzikes bashkekohore, pa injoruar mesazhin historik dhe social qe percjell.

Behuni gati per ekstaze zanore te ngjyrosur me te zeze, ngritur lart nga nje saks i florinjte! 

ARAB STRAP ME "MY FIRST BIG WEEKEND" (THE WEEK NEVER STARTS ROUND HERE, 1996) - ALBUME MADHESHTORE BEJNE MIQESI

Arab Strap ishte nje dyshe skoceze e perbere nga kengetari Aidan Moffat dhe multi-instrumentalisti Malcolm Middleton. Te dy jane rritur ne Falkirk, e njohin njeri-tjetrin fale faktit qe frekuentojne te njejtat pub-e dhe vendosin te bashkepunojne. Keshtu, ne vitin 1995 linden Arab Straps.
I tyre eshte nje tingull i veçante, pothuajse unik. Malcolm Middleton kombinon tingujt tipike slowcore me ndezjet e elektronikes, ndersa Aidan Moffat tregon historite e tij (njefare spoken word). 'Po', thote ai, Mendoj se nuk ka fjale me te mire per te percaktuar menyren e te kenduarit te Moffat. Ne fakt Aidan nuk eshte nje kengetar i vertete, ai nuk ka ndjekur asnje shkolle muzike/kantautori (siç shprehet edhe Middleton).

Ai krijoi menyren e tij te te kenduarit, shume afer te folurit sesa te kenduarit vete. Zeri i tij eshte marka e vertete e grupit, se bashku me tekstin. Tekste qe nuk mund te jene me realiste, te drejtperdrejta, te paperpunuara, madje edhe pak te diskutueshme: marredheniet sentimentale, seksi, alkooli por edhe analiza e ndjenjav. 

Me sa duket historite qe tregon Moffat jane shpesh te verteta, kane ndodhur ne te vertete. Dhe ai i rrefen me nje ton qe eshte diku mes cinizmit dhe depresionit.

Por tani le te degjojme me mire per nje nga gjurmet me me fame tyren: "The first big weekend" (1996).

JOLLY MARE ME 'VIVO' (EPSILON, 2021) - I GJALLE KERCEJ NE HAPESIRE ME 'ITALIAN RETRO DISKO'

"Ne disko dhe funk, por edhe ne soul apo boogie, si femije kam gjetur instinktivisht cilesi, shpirt, vendosmeri, ndjenje dhe menjehershmeri. Disa nga ato gjera qe e bejne muziken te vertete, por kete e kuptova vetem kohe me vone.

Me kalimin e kohes, interesat kane ndryshuar, por mbaj mend qe degjimi nuk mjaftonte ne ate kohe, doja te nuhasja kopertinat e disqeve, me magjepsnin grafika, fotot, ngjyrat. Keshtu fillova te blija sa me shume, qofte edhe me sakrifice, dhe t'i luaja perreth, sahere kisha mundesi. Ishte nje kerkim personal jashte tendencave te periudhes, ndryshe nga sa ndodh sot dhe kjo gje me pelqeu sepse me bente te ndihesha i veçante. Kur shkoja ne dyqane apo tregje ne kerkim te muzikes, isha gjithmone me i riu. Klientet mesatare ishin roker-e te moshes adulte ose dj per nje kohe te gjate qe kishin shume anekdota per te treguar...". 

Jolly Mare (ne art Fabrizio Martina) 

ORANGE BLOSSOM - INFLUENCED BY ETHNIC AND TRADITIONAL MUSIC

FAIRUZ “THE SHALABIYA GIRL” (DIVA LIBANEZE)

The girl from Shalabiyah

Her eyes are almond-shaped

I love you from my heart

Oh, my heart, you are my eye

I love you from my heart

Oh, my heart, you are my eyes

Under the arches

My love is waiting

It wasn't easy for me to let you down, my love

You appear in the distance and my heart is wounded

And I reminisce about days past

Under the pomegranate tree

My love spoke to me

Sang me songs

Oh my eyes

And flirted with me

Sang me songs

Oh my eye

And flirted with me

ISRAELI-PERSIAN SINGER LIRAZ - "BIA BIA" (2020)

Israeli-Persian singer Liraz presents a one hour mix of 70’s Persian music through to psychedelic contemporary music, blended with stories of her heritage.

She brought together musicians from conflicting countries Iran and Israel to work on an album in secret and release it in the midst of a global pandemic.

Called “Zan” (2020) Persian for women, the album is a long-held dream for Charhi, fusing her Israeli roots and Iranian upbringing and paying tribute to the women of Iran. She’s set to perform Sunday in Schenectady on the Music Haven Stage in Central Park.

“These musicians are my brothers and sisters, but our countries are enemies. If they were caught, they would be jailed,” Charhi told Songlines Magazine.

Charhi was born in Israel, after her parents, who are Sephardic Jews of Iranian-Jewish descent, left Iran in 1970. That was years before the Iranian Revolution and during a time when Iran and Israel had close ties. In the ensuing years, the two countries entered into a proxy conflict.

However, growing up, Charhi felt like she was part of both cultures.

“I grew up in a very Iranian old-school home and through the second hand, I was very Israeli,” Charhi said. She spoke Farsi at home and Hebrew in school.

Her family has been rooted in music for generations. Her grandmother was a singer, though because she was a woman, she was prevented from performing and having the career she hoped for.
Chahri’s aunt Rita Yahan-Farouz, known simply as Rita, is a popular contemporary Israeli singer.

BACHAR MAR-KHALIFÉ, LYNN ADIB - "CHAFFEH CHAFFEH" (2015)

Me ka interesuar perhere marredhenja babe-bir dhe Bachar Mar-Khalifé eshte nje pasqyre e paster dhe plot vlera (i biri I Marcel Khalifé). I lindur ne Bejrut, ne Libanin e shkaterruar nga lufta dhe transferohet ne France ne moshen 6-vjeçare, Bachar Mar-Kalifé u rrit me muziken e babait te tij, Marcel, lojtarit legjendar te oud-it, dhe ishte e natyrshme te zgjidhte te behej muzikant.

Pasi studioi piano dhe perkusion ne Konservatorin e Boulogne, publikoi albumin e tij debutues "Oil Slick" ne 2010, i cili u realizua nga vellai i tij Rami Khalifè (pianist) tashme me Aufgang, Aymeric Westrich (bateri, sintetizatore) dhe Alexander Angelov (bass, zerat e dyte), dhe me vone ndoqi babane e tij ne turne per disa vite.

Paralelisht, muzikanti franko-libanez ishte ne gjendje te punonte perkrah dirigjentit te famshem Lorin Maazel, me Orchester National de France dhe Ansemble Intercontemporain, dy nga institucionet me te rendesishme boterore ne kontekstin klasik.

CRIMI ("MANO D'ORO", 2021) - WITH LOVE FROM SICILY

Crimi, a new project led by Sofiane Saidi saxophone player Julien Lesuisse, announce themselves to the world with their debut single ​Mano d’Oro.
An​ old Sicilian song that focuses on the cold, lonely experiences of those who travel to Northern Europe looking for work is transformed into a raw, Algerian raï with a New Orleans-funk inspired groove.

Crimi is something of a personal story for Julien, someone whose heart is set firmly between the warmer climes of two shores of the Mediterranean. He grew up in Lyon with a Sicilian grandmother who hummed songs from days gone by. This is how Julien Lesuisse found what he likes to call his “​Sicilian soul”​.

His musical career has been spent exploring both the songs of the Southern Italian countryside, with La Squadra Zeus, and Algerian raï with Sofiane Saidi & Mazalda. While playing with Sofiane Saidi he often traveled and found inspiration in Oran, a port town in Northwest Alegria known as the birthplace of rai folk music.

Mano d’Oro is the first taste of an album called ​Luci e Guai that will be released on French label Airfono on 2nd April.

JOHAN PAPACONSTANTINO ('TATA') – THE GREEK WHO FOOLS YOU WITH HIS UNIQUE ELECTRONIC MUSIC (IN FRENCH)

How do you say when one singer and his/her music ‘sucks’ all around feelings and attention and brings altogether in one flat circle all focus and physical density? Ye, that’s what happens when this track is played – greek metaphysics philosophy.

Je te tire mon chapeau. 

Self-taught and multidisciplinary, Johan Papaconstantino is a global artist, sharing his feelings and drawing his inspiration from music and painting.

His music combines electronic influences with his Greek roots and oriental music background from his youth. A must to listen to and hopefully dance!

GET TO KNOW 'SEVDAH' - MOSTAR SEVDAH REUNION ("MOJ DILBERE")

The word 'sevdah' comes from the Arabic word sawda, meaning “black gall.” Ancient Arabic and Greek doctors thought that emotion was governed by four humors; black gall was the one responsible for melancholy moods. Sawda became sevda in Turkish and took on the meaning of a painful sort of love. The Bosnians added an “h,” and so sewda became sewdah.

Called the blues of Bosnia, sevdalinkas are often compared to American gospel and Portuguese fado. In Ottoman times, the songs were accompanied by the Turkish saz, a long-necked, lute-like instrument. Beginning with the Austrian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, the accordion became popular and prevailed during the 20th century.

Traditionally, sevdalinkas were an informal affair.
Family and friends would gather and someone would play an instrument—a clarinet, a guitar, an accordion—as they sang the old songs, eliciting merak (pleasure) for the soul. Sevdalinkas were not just songs about frustrated love; they were also songs about everyday life.

MBESHTETUNI NEN TINGUJT E FILMIT "MBI RRUGEN E QUMESHTIT" (OST, 2016)

Ka nje skene te filmi ‘On the Milky Road’ (2016) i maestros Kusturica E. qe eshte per tu permendur neper renditje skenografidhe mes kinematografeve; behet fjale per protagonistet te cilet fillojne e ndjejne dicka e kerkohen me sy brenda te nje barake me ne sfond nje muzike te Silvana Armenulic (kengetare e njohur nga Bosnja).

Dhe ja, muzika qe mua me mbeti ne mendje eshte kjo qe vijon, nje dedikim i dashurise se pamundur, ndoshta pikerisht ajo ideale, nuk mendoni?

What use is this life to me without you darling,

when I have no desire for another love?

I dream of you, I dream almost every night,

only you are in my heart.

AMIRA MEDUNJANIN: “SINGING IS A MISSION THAT I EMBRACED WITH ALL MY HEART”

Born and raised in Sarajevo, Amira Medunjanin is the “great lady”, despite her young age, of Bosnian sevdah, a musical idiom thematically related to fado, morna and rebetiko. 

Self-taught, possessing a “warm” voice likened by some to that of Billie Holiday, she approaches sevdah with a “fresh” look and often a jazzy mood.