Part 1. We passed a landmark in Wednesday's post on the music of the noble nation of Paraguay. If my WIAA-approved spreadsheet is correct we have now featured over 7000 songs in the audio files that I include in posts. 7006 to be exact, at an average of roughly 400 a year.
I know 7000 isn't much of a landmark but I can't wait another eight or nine years to reach 10000, I may be completely gaga by then. So 7000 it is. Feel free to drop a number between 1 and 7006 into the comments section and if we get enough of them I'll collate them in a post.
Part 2. I went to see Rickie Lee Jones at the Barbican on Wednesday. This doesn't really qualify as news either as I have seen her umpteen times over the years.
Rickie Lee was in good form with a fine backing band providing a bit of shading to the songs using guitar, violin, piano and accordion (a special shout out to Petra Haden on violin and vocals, who has done interesting stuff in her own right).
The set was heavily weighted towards Rickie Lee's first two albums. While they are both great records personally I would like to have heard more from the rest of her extensive catalogue. The 'newest' song she played was "A Tree On Allenford" from 2003 and for me it was one of the highlights of the set.
There was some exciting news. Rickie Lee told us she currently working up new material with Brad Cook, the producer and session musician who has worked with the likes of Waxahatchee, Hiss Golden Messenger, Iron & Wine and many more. It has been ten years since Rickie Lee released an album of original songs so hopefully the new stuff will see the light of day before too long.
Rickie Lee has featured here on plenty of occasions, but if my WIAA-approved spreadsheet is correct these particular songs have not.
And we roll into Paraguay. Perhaps the most interesting fact I learned while doing what passes for research was that it is the only country in Latin America where the indigenous language is still more commonly spoken than the language of their colonisers - 90% of the population speak Guarani compared with 85% who speak Spanish. Good for them.
There is also a sizable German-speaking minority, most of them highly respectable and no relation to Nazi war criminals, the former dictator Stroessner or the failed Aryan settlement set up by Nietzche's sister in the 1880s.
We will make a couple of brief nods to Paraguay's cultural mix today. But compared to most other stops on the tour I've not been able to find out much information about many of the acts that we are featuring in the post, and there is also a bias towards more recent music as that comprises the bulk of what is on Bandcamp. So rather than attempting to construct my usual compelling narrative to accompany the music we are just going to whack through them alphabetically.
Which is why we are kicking off with some Paraguayan prog. The band is called Agharta, this track is on a demo recorded in 2015 and there has been no sign of them on social media since 2018. That's all I've got.
Next, El Brujo y Sus Cromaticos, a "tropical noise" band from Asuncion. This track is on a 2020 compilation from the Música Okápe label and they have two more on Spotify where you can join their 12 monthly listeners. I quite like their Arabian and jazz influenced take on cumbia music.
I have just spotted that the line-ups of both bands include a Marcelo Fonseca. Is he the same person or are they ten a penny in Paraguay? Who knows.
My favourite act of those we are featuring today is Jodi, two brothers of German descent who studied under Stockhausen and who made all sorts of weird and occasionally wonderful noises in the 1970s in a homemade studio in their parent's basement.
None of these recordings were released outside Paraguay and Argentina at the time, many of them were never released at all until 2016 when the Guerssen label started putting out a series of releases. This track comes from "Pops De Vanguardia", originally released in 1971, but all the albums are worth a listen.
As with El Brujo, you can thank the Música Okápe label for our next selection. Las Hijas De La Alquimia released an EP titled "Ánga Mestiza" (Mestizo Soul) in 2022 According to the sisters: "We chose the name because the soul is our primary source of inspiration when composing, and "mestiza" (mixed) because of our Guarani heritage—because we are from everywhere and part of the whole". So now you know.
Los 3 Sudamericanos were a sort of Paraguayan Peter, Paul & Mary who formed in 1959 and who enjoyed a lot of success internationally after relocating to Spain in the mid 1960s. This track comes from a 1969 EP released on the magnificently but misleadingly named Belter label.
From the Paraguayan PP&M we move to a sound that can perhaps best be described as Joe Meek does polka. Los Electrónicos Disonantes were apparently very popular domestically in the 1960s and 1970s. And why wouldn't they be? This track appears to be a medley of Guarani folk tunes and comes from their album "Un Domingo En Buenos Aires".
Bringing us much more up to date is Sandy Pylos. No, not the ancient seat of King Nestor that features in Homer's work but the Paraguayan artist of the same name (although I could tell you a good deal more about the ancient seat of King Nestor than I can about her). Her real name is Ana Belén, she is now based in Portland Oregon, and this was the lead single from her 2023 album "Notas de Voz".
We end, as all things must, with some MAR. This skanking little number is provided by Tempranos and appears on their self-titled album from 2014. All the blurb tells us is that they play rocksteady and reggae but you could probably work that out for yourself.
You were challenged to insert a reference to herbs or spices into a popular song title, and you have come up with a veritable potpourri of puns. Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry.
Unfortunately the anonymous commentator who suggested "Cumin Feel The Noize" never got in touch to submit that as an official entry, so you can't vote for it. But there are plenty more ace aromatic puns to choose from. Will it be a herb or a spice that carries off the crown? Will the chive, dill, mace and bay leaf votes get split letting other contenders surge past? That's all down to you lot.
Voting is open to all readers not just those who entered. Let me know your top five in order of preference. I'll award 7 points for every first choice, 5 for second and then 3, 2 and 1 for the rest.
You can either submit your votes in the comments section below or by email to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk if you would rather preserve the sanctity of the ballot.
The deadline is next Sunday (31 May). We will announce the results a week today.
Here are the contenders, listed alphabetically by artist.
Stand Down Marjoram - The Beat
Chive Talking - The Bee Gees
Turmeric! Turmeric! Turmeric! (To Everything There Is A Seasoning) - The Byrds
Bay Leaf Christina - Chicory Tip
What A Fool Bay Leaves - The Doobie Brothers
Sexy Chives - Dr Hook
Oregano Flow – Enya
The Bitterest Dill (I Ever Had To Swallow) - The Jam
Love Dill Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
Saffron And On - Longpigs
Parsley Dutchie - Musical Youth
Don't Kala Namak in Anger - Oasis
Rose Of Cinnamon – Poco
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Mace – Roberta Flack
Thyme Is On My Side - The Rolling Stones
It Mustard Been Love - Roxette
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mace Elf Agin) - Sly & the Family Stone
William It Was Really Nutmeg - The Smiths
If you want to sing along with the missing hit mentioned above now's your chance.
Me and Swiss Adam (of Bagging Area fame) have been having a friendly competition to see who can come up with the most Japanese psych bands. At the start of the month he posted a track by The Boredoms; this is my delayed response.
Kuunatic are an all-female trio from Tokyo who describe their sound as "tribal dreamy tale music". The blurb from Glitterbeat, the label which has released both their albums, expands on this, calling it: "a mix of psychedelic garage and prog rock, ritual drumming, chanting female vocals, lush keyboard textures and Japanese folk instruments".
I saw them live in London in 2022. It was quite an experience. Dressed in white robes they hopped about doing all of the above but turned up to 11.
Kuunatic's two albums to date are "Gates Of Kluna" (2021) and "Wheels Of Odom" (2025). You can find both albums and other bits and pieces on their Bandcamp page. Here is a track from each.
I've recently returned from a trip to Tanzania - a couple of days work followed by a week's holiday. I had a great time. It is a beautiful country and the locals are very friendly. I would love to go back and see more of it if I get the chance.
In the time I had available I limited myself to Fumba in Zanzibar - with a side trip to Stone Town - and Arusha on the mainland, with a side trip to the Ngorongoro crater and conservation area. The crater, formed when a volcano imploded a couple of million years ago, is one of the most stunning places it has ever been my privilege to visit. In the unlikely event you are interested you can find photos of the views and wildlife along with my other holiday snaps on Flickr.
The only disappointing bit of the trip was the inability to track down any live or recorded music, but I did visit a couple of music-related sites in Stone Town. The first was the Freddie Mercury Museum, housed in one of his childhood homes.
The other was the Dhow Countries Music Academy, located up a rickety staircase in an alley near Jaws Corner and dedicated to music education and preserving Zanzibar's musical traditions. One such tradition is the genre known as taarab, and the Academy had a display devoted to the pioneering taarab singer Siti Binti Saad.
Siti was born in about 1880 in Fumba, not far from where I was staying, and became the pre-eminent taarab performer of her time (arguably of all time). In 1928 she became the first East African artist to be recorded for those new-fangled phonographs and she went on to record over 250 songs before her death in 1950.
I don't know that Arusha can claim anyone quite that iconic but Arusha Jazz, formed there by the Kiyonga brothers in 1970, went on to bestride the East African music scene like a colossus for the best part of 20 years after changing their name to Simba Wanyika.
Interesting fact: tying your mother down during religious festivals was a longstanding tradition among the Zoroastrian community in Zanzibar of which the Bulsara family were part. Hence this song.
After a short break we return with the sixth instalment of Pun Fun. The theme is inspired by my recent visit to Zanzibar, referred to as the Spice Islands back in the days when it was a major trading hub and the world's leading producer of cloves. It is:
HERBS AND SPICES
You know the rules by now - one entry only, all entries to be sent to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk by Sunday 24 May. Voting opens next Monday.
If you need some inspiration this list of herbs and spices might help. And if that doesn't do the trick, here is another Herb and several Spices.
Things are going to be fairly quiet around for the next couple of weeks. On Sunday I am off on my travels - a few days' work followed by a few days' holiday.
Given the alleged nature of my work it would not be appropriate for me to reveal where I'm going. There is no point for looking for clues about my itinerary in the songs selected for this post, you won't find any. They are as random as one of Charity Chic's Saturday Shuffles.
And before you ask, yes it is that Mike Harding. Coming soon, Richard Digance sings hits from the golden age of Khmer Soul.
Links stay up for a month or so. If you are an artist or copyright holder and want me to remove the link, or if you want to get in touch for any other reason, e-mail me on leggies27@hotmail.co.uk.
