A QUICK UNIVERSAL STUDIOS & KENNEDY SPACE CENTER VISIT (RECALL: "FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION")

LONDON CALLING BY NIGHT (LESS THAN 24HRS)

 

KOKOROKO - XHAZ DHE AFROBEAT NGROHIN RRUGEN E KTHIMIT PER NE SHTEPI

Qytet i ri, shtepi e re, shkolle e re, pune e re; familje e shtuar me nje princeshe qe sikur vjen nga bota e cudirave.

Pas nje dite rraskapitese kur je i çorientuar nga shpejtesia marramendese e jetes, duke i mbijetuar ritmeve te punes, ushqimit demode dhe identitetit virtual, teper te shperqendruar per te degjuar trupin tuaj te etur per uje dhe pak drite, kthehesh ne shtepi permbi nje tas ngushellues me supe qe dikush qe ju do te ka pregatitur me durim. 

Nuk mund ta kalosh me nxitim, jo kesaj rradhe; ju e pini ate ngadale dhe me vendosje, duke deshmuar se si degjohet çdo perberes individual, por duke marr pjese ne dicka jetike diçka me te madhe se vetja. Ndjehesh i perkujdesur, i rigjalleruar por me nje lehtesi te plote.

Merre ate ndjenje, jepi nje tingull, dhe ky eshte Kokoroko.

Ansambli me baze ne UK ben muzike qe ndihet si kthimi i nje shpirti/soul ne shtepi. Eshte nje arritje e thelle, por e ngrohte, nje kujtese e prekshme se muzika ne formen e saj me primitive eshte ilaç. Me kenget e tyre xhaz, me rrenje nga Afrika Perendimore, eshte e veshtire te mos biesh ne nje gjendje te ngjashme me ekstazen. Çdo kenge melodioze eshte nje udhetim, duke i kushtuar respekt te thelle origjines se saj Afrobeat.

Ajo qe eshte me mbreselenese ne punen e tyre eshte aftesia e tyre per te integruar shijet, tregimet dhe individualitetet e tyre te ndryshme ne menyre kohezive. Te gjithe shkelqejne ne harmoni te persosur, duke u pershtatur se bashku ne menyre te persosur duke mos e holluar aspak shkelqimin e njeri-tjetrit.

Une, ne, ju falenderojme!

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. 

RIFF COHEN - WELL KNOWN FOR HER MUSICAL FUSION, BLENDING TOGETHER MODERN AND TRADITIONAL ELEMENTS TO MAKE UNIQUE AND FASCINATING SOUNDS

With familial roots in France and North Africa, she sings in French, Hebrew, and Arabic, putting her mother’s poetry to her music.

This mashing together of modernity and tradition, of different cultures and languages, is something Riff believes people in the region can’t help but understand. It’s something the various peoples in the region have in common. But she didn’t fully realize that until she performed in Turkey in 2015.

“When I went to Turkey the first time, it helped me understand Israel much better. There are so many common things. It’s nothing about Judaism…just the fact that we are in the Middle East.”

"I’m quite open-minded and it’s a good thing that Tel Aviv is very open when it comes to culture and music." - Riff Cohen

Demonstrating the great ability of music to transcend borders and politics, there were even fans from Iran who traveled to Turkey to attend Riff’s show.
And yet, nobody said a word about politics, she said. “Even the interviews were really respectful and very artistic. Nothing about politics.”

WHEN YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH THE JAPANESE FUNK POP VOICE AND A SPLENDID MIDDLE-EAST SOUND [SABABA 5 & YURIKA, 2020]

The record is a dazzling encounter of cultures, inspired by the funky and exotic melodies of Sababa 5 and the resplendent Japanese words of Yurika Hanashima.

IRA COHEN - TE SHOHESH PERMES KRAHEVE TE FLUTURES [FOTOGRAF]

 

'LOVE IS ALL' (2017) PERBEN MANIFESTON STILISTIK TE KRISTIAN MATSSON, NE ART - THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH

"Well I walk upon the river like it's easier than land
Evil's in my pocket and your will is in my hand
Oh, your will is in my hand
And I'll throw it in the current that I stand upon so still
Love is all, from what I've heard, but my heart's learned to kill
Oh, mine has learned to kill
..."

TUXEDOMOON - 'TOREADOR DEL AMOR' [PINK NARCISSUS, 2014]. TREASURE TROVE OF MUSIC WHICH WELCOMES DEEP LISTENING AND IS FASCINATING

"Tuxedomoon have never quite been recognised as a post-punk leading light, but that lack of commercial pressure left them free to grow and experiment as they please, to produce a treasure trove of music which welcomes deep listening and is fascinating even in its failures, unconstrained by any sensibility other than their own."