How Do They Doueh That?

So my prediction that Azerbaijan would win Eurovision turned out to be accurate. The rest of the voting, however, was just as baffling as ever. How on earth could Italy finish second, and how could anybody except the Cypriots and Stereo Mike's mum vote for the Greeks?

On Friday night Mister F and I were at the Barbican for a concert that, in its way, was every bit as weird and wonderful as Eurovision. We were there to see Group Doueh, the "desert rock" combo from Western Sahara. The group is led by ace guitarist and tinidit player Salmou Bamaar, known as Doueh to his friends, and includes his wife Halima Jakani on lead vocals, son El Waar Bamaar on keyboards and three female backing vocalists/ percussionists.

They were generally very good. They had a tendency to start off each song rather ragged before gradually converging and latching on to a groove. When it worked it was great. However there were a couple of numbers where they never quite converged and it all sounded a bit messy. Their third number - no idea what it was called - was basically an unholy row from start to finish.

Visually the three backing singers were the highlight. There was a big one, a sultry one and a mad one with big specs. They took it in turns to wander around the stage and, to paraphrase British case law on vicarious liability, go on a frolic of their own (by which I mean, in the words of that even more learned authority K.C., they did a little dance and got down tonight). During the course of the evening the mad one with big specs got increasingly carried away with enthusiasm. She stole the show and stole my heart.

Despite its occasional shortcomings, I enjoyed the show enough to enjoy their latest album, "Zayna Jumma" (out now on Sublime Frequencies, folks!). It is a pretty fair reflection of the show, minus the frolicking dancers. It doesn't always work for me, but when it does it is pretty groovy. See for yourselves.

"Zayna Jumma" - Group Doueh

"Ishadlak Ya Khey" - Group Doueh

A quick mention of the support act, the Turkish psychedelic rock trio Hayvanlar Alemi. They were a bit lost on the big stage - having no stage show to speak of - and their music got a bit lost in the big concert hall. It is the sort of stuff that I imagine would sound great in a small sweaty club, but on this occasion they did not do a lot for me I'm afraid. With the notable exception of their freaked out version of this cheesy old standard.



 
 

Ladies' Night

I suppose strictly speaking this post should be titled "Ladies' Morning" but (i) I had originally intended to post it on Thursday evening but Blogger was down, and (ii) "Ladies' Morning" sounds rather silly. So "Ladies' Night" it is.

And the reason for that is we are bringing to your attention three new albums by female singers that are all worthy of your attention. The ladies in question are Madeline, ellen cherry and Lay Low. The albums are all country or folk tinged in varying degrees. And the last two come courtesy of the estimable ReviewShine.

The blurb that came with Madeline's album "Black Velvet" referred to her as an "Athens, GA sweetheart" and compared her to Karen Carpenter, Neko Case, Jefferson Airplane and The Carter Family. Having now listened to it a couple of times I can entirely understand why the check-shirted, bad-bearded hipster boys of Athens would be completely smitten with her - I'm half way there myself - and I can certainly see the Neko Case comparison, but the rest of it I don't get.

"Black Velvet" is a really good country/pop album, and it is out on 6 June on a label unpretentiously called This Will Be Our Summer. The track approved for blogging and download, "Hurry Up Pronto", is from the poppier end of the scale but overall it is a nice mix and I really like her voice. My personal favourite track has to be "Johnny Cash". How can anybody resist a song that starts "If Johnny Cash is up in Heaven then he's bored to death"?

"Hurry Up Pronto" - Madeline

elllen cherry (she appears to prefer the lower case) is a singer-songwriter based in Baltimore. I am not sure her new album, "(New) Years" - which came out last month on her own Wrong Size Shoes label - is a concept album as such, but it does have a sort of theme. Each song is inspired by a particular year or event, many of which are either linked to specific moments in the history of womenkind or ellen's own life. It is folk with a sprinkling of jazz and very well done. Not being a great one for the jazz I prefer the "straight" folkie numbers, like this one, the opening track on the album.   

"1864 A Civil War Bride" - ellen cherry

We return to capitals with Lay Low, the capital in question being Reykjavik. Lay Low is the pseudonym of one Lorisa Sigrunardottir, and her new album "Farewell Good Night's Sleep" is for the most part a straight up old style country album.  Think Patsy Cline and you are very much along the right lines. Mixed in between the Nashville Sound ballads are a few tracks that sound slightly more contemporary - well, 1970s at least - and today's selection is one of those. But, like the Madeline album, nothing jars because all of the songs are at different points in a natural spectrum. And, like Madeline, her voice is thoroughly charming. You can find the album on iTunes, Amazon and elsewhere.

"Last Time Around" - Lay Low

The combination of an Icelandic female singer and tonight being Eurovision night gives me the perfect excuse, as if one was needed, to wheel out my old favourite, Silvia Night. For the full story of Iceland's misguided attempt to introduce satire to the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest go to my post from May 2009. Here is our Silv in action, in audio and video.

"Congratulations" - Silvia Night



For what it is worth, based on the ones I have seen so far, my tip for tonight's contest is Azerbaijan. That should be the kiss of death for them. I thought it was a shame that they will not be joined in the final by Anastasia Vinnikova with her stirring tribute to her homeland, which lost out in Thursday's semi-final. Maybe if she had deployed the folk dancers featured in the video she would have had better luck.

Soumboulou!!!

I think I have mentioned before that over the last twelve months or so eMusic has acquired a real treaure trove of recordings by West and North African female vocalists. The likes of Mariem Hassan, Nahawa Doumbia and Adja Soumano have all been featured here as a result.

My latest new discovery is the exotically-named Soumboulou Siby. All I have been able to find out about her is that she is apparently from Senegal, and that she is responsible for this bewitching album:

"Ido Tixu N'Daga" is also now available for download from Amazon as well as eMusic, and very possibly elsewhere as well. Here are a couple of my favourite tracks:

"N'Djeneba" - Soumboulou Siby

"Fedde" - Soumboulou Siby

I have also been able to track down this rather hypnotic video clip of Soumboulou from 2008:

All you fans of "world music" (to use that dreadful phrase) will no doubt be eagerly looking forward to the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday. To finish off today, here is another woman of African descent who featured in the semi-final last night. Her name is Stella Mwangi and she was representing Norway. The song is nothing special but I was slightly surprised it didn't at least make it through to the final, considering some of the rubbish that did. But that is the joy of Eurovision.

Two Daves

Thanks to the cavalcade of wonders that is ReviewShine, I have got my hands on two fine new releases by a couple of stalwarts of the American roots music scene, David Bromberg and David Olney.

David Bromberg is the far famed guitarist and multi-instrumentalist who started off as sideman to the stars, moving on to release a series of excellent albums of his own in the 1970s and 1980s before giving it all up to make violins. 2007's Grammy-nominated "Try Me One More Time" album was his first album of new material for seventeen years. Fortunately he hasn't left it as long until the next one, and "Use Me" comes out on Appleseed Records on 12 July in the States (and presumably elsewhere too through the magic of the Internet).

The idea behind the album was to ring up a load of his mates and get them to contribute some songs and performances. I used to do that in my youth and the results were - to quote Recommended Records when they rejected our efforts - "a bedroom tape and should be kept in your bedroom".

It is a bit different when you are David Bromberg and your mates are people like Levon Helm, Dr John and Los Lobos. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable tour of the blues and other roots styles, which sounds like it was even more fun to play on than it is to listen to, and is well worth your time and money. Personal favourites include "Diggin' In The Deep Blue Sea" featuring Keb Mo, "Lookout Mountain Girl" with Vince Gill, and this one, which I am sure you will agree is very John Hiatt.

"Ride Out A Ways" - David Bromberg (with John Hiatt)

Along with Tom Russell and James McMurtry, David Olney is one of the greatest American story tellers working today. I had the great pleasure of seeing him play The Borderline in London about ten years ago when for some inexplicable reason there was no more than a dozen of us in the place (and that included the barstaff). Despite that he put on a great show and was gracious enough to let me buy him a beer afterwards.

There has always been a cinematic element to his music and with his new five track mini-album he goes the whole hog. The title - "David Olney Presents Film Noir" - gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect. As the great man himself puts it in the blurb I got sent  with it, “this record is kind of ‘50s/’60s detective music. There’s a certain darkness without being bleak.” Although I'm not entirely sure about the "not being bleak" bit of that. It is a tough call as which of the five tracks best evokes the hard-bitten world-weariness of Lew Archer and the like, but I have plumped for "Sunset On Sunset Boulevard".

"David Olney Presents Film Noir" comes out on 24 May on Dead Beet Records. You should get it. And to encourage you to dip into his extensive back catalogue as well, I have taken the liberty of adding an old favourite as well, in the form of "King of Soul" from 1989's "Deeper Well" album.

"Sunset On Sunset Boulevard" - David Olney

"King Of Soul" - David Olney

To finish things off, here is Dave O.



And here is Dave B with his Big Band.

Dancing At Different Speeds

Cover versions of Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance?", now available at 33, 45 and 78 rpm.

"Do You Want To Dance?" - Johnny Rivers

"Do Ya Wanna Dance?" - David Lindley & El Rayo-X

"Do You Wanna Dance?" - The Ramones

And there are plenty of others as well. Not all of them good.

The Kids Were Alright

To get you in the mood for the weekend, here is some highly groovy early 90s Afropop from South Africa. It is the Dalom Kids with a couple of tracks from their 1992 album "Sixolele".

For information on the Dalom Kids we return once again to our old friend Max Mojapelo's seminal tome, "Beyond Memory: Recording the History, Moments and Memories of South African Music". This is what Max has to say:

"In 1987 Petronella Rampou and Jacqueline Rotwana joined Dan Tshanda's Splash as backing vocalists. In 1989 Dan [whose nickname was Dalom] added Martha Nzima to the two girls to form a trio. Their debut album Mbalembele went double platinum, and Mathambo (1990) also did well. At that point the pressures of showbiz forced Martha to leave the group. Her replacement came in the person of Magdeline Zungu... In the middle of pre-election violence in 1992 they released a message of forgiveness in the form of their album Sixolele".

I wonder if they were also in part seeking forgiveness from Martha Nzima, who seems to be the Florence Ballard of South African pop. According to Max the revised line-up continued releasing albums every year up until 1997, and less frequently thereafter.

"Corrupt Land" - The Dalom Kids

"Vholangwana" - The Dalom Kids

Here are the girls in action. I don't know when this was shot, but they look a fair bit older than on the cover of "Sixolele", so I would guess it is some time this century.

Seventies Suomi Sounds

I am just back from a couple of days in Stockholm - hello Stockholm! - where I managed to fit in a visit to the local branch of the excellent Bengans record store. While there I picked up a few albums by assorted Swedish hairy types from the early 1970s. They have all been added to the ever-growing pile of things I really must get round to listening to and sharing with you one day.

To tide you over for now, let's nip over to Finland for some rock music of similar vintage. This is something I came across in RadioShopen in the old town. The Finnish owner stocks an extensive collection of Finnish albums, most of them at Finnish prices unfortunately. But in the bargain bin I found "Nykyaikaa", the 1972 album by Kirka.

Kirka (real name Kirill Babitzin) was evidently a bit of a legendary figure on the Finnish music scene, starting in the 1960s with The Islanders before beginning a long and successful solo career. He died at the age of 56 in 2007.

I bought the album because I was intrigued by Kirka's choice of cover versions, which include Finnish language versions of "Tupelo Honey" and "Maggie May" amongst others. They aren't that great on the whole. The original material, on the other hand, is really rather good. Most of it was written or co-written by one Frank Robson, a British singer with the Finnish band Blues Section (with whom Kirka had cut a couple of singles back when he was still Kirill), and about half of it is in English. Here are two prime cuts.

"Whirlwind Nightmare" - Kirka

"The Old Woman" - Kirka

As a special bonus hree is one of the better cover versions. I am sure the old farts among you will immediately recognise that distinctive guitar riff, brought to you on this occasion by Hasse Walli (also of Blues Section).

"Kanelipuun Alla" - Kirka

In 1984 Kirka had the dubious honour of representing Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest. Having had a listen I think I'll stick to his early albums.