This is the second instalment in this three-part series 'Female Drivers and Female Musicians'. To read the first post, click here
Kristin Hersh is probably every marketing person's nightmare. How do you sell someone who breaks so many boundaries? For starters, there's the voice. Good, but hard to decipher. Then, there're the lyrics. Powerful and passionate, yet intrinsic. After that comes the style. Pop? Folk? Rock? I believe it is good pop, good as in Sinead O' Connor good, The Cranberries good, George Michael good. She exudes good quality and that is why she is here. Yes, and the guy on the video is REM lead singer Michael Stipe, yes, and I know that this is a post that is trying to highlight the pluses of female drivers and musicians. But, I think that Michael can remain there in the background, as part of the furniture. He is not bothering Kristin. Magnetic.
The second track is by Pavel Urquiza, yes, he of Gema and Pavel. This song is performed by Yusa, a singer I saw a couple of times at the Cafe Cantante in Havana, Cuba, many years ago and who, I am so pleased to see, has met with success in Europe. Like Kristin, Yusa is hard to label. I have got her album 'Breathe' and it's a powerhouse of various styles and musical lingoes. Excellent.
Banned by the Brazilian dictatorship in the 70s, 'Calice' became an anthem for its creator, Chico Buarque and my favourite song of his extensive repertoire. There's a video on youtube where both Chico and Milton Nascimento are pretending to sing the song whilst not really saying the words. Maria Bethania 'lives' this song through and through and it's such a powerful sight to see her holding the mike whilst her throaty voice utters the words 'Afasta de mim ese calice, pai' (Put that goblet away from me, land). The goblet is full of blood. Heartfelt.
The last track this week comes courtesy of the Camerata Romeu which I used to follow around in Havana. No, I am not a stalker. I just think that they produce some of the most beautiful music you can ever come across. On this occasion they have Polly Ferman on piano and the Camerata Romeu is accompanying her. Readers and fellow bloggers will probably remember the song by Mercedes Sosa many years ago and I have that version, too, on CD. I love the delicacy of this cover version, though. Tender.
Copyrigth 2008
Showing posts with label Maria Bethania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maria Bethania. Show all posts
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Food, Music, Food, Music, Food, Music, Food, Music, Ad Infinitum...
Cat's Crumbs (Migas de Gato)This is a typical Afro-Cuban dish that is best served as a light snack or starter. I saw this recipe originally in a bookby Natalia Bolivar Arostegui.
Serves 10-12
Ingredients:
Bread (loaf or buns)
Olive oil
Garlic (a couple of cloves)
Water (or milk)
First, take the bread and pull the dough out. Break it all up into bite size pieces and roll them all up using middlefinger, forefinger and thumb. Dab them in water (milk can also be used) and leave them on the side. Slice the garlic in thin strips (choose a nice, plump bulb) and brown them for about five minutes on the hot olive oil. Add on the dough balls and bring the heat down. Stir them well so they don't stick to the frying pan. After about 5-7 minutes, take them out, drain the remaining oil (I like leaving it on, but you might be on a diet) and serve. If you used milk, you'll realise that they are more compact and crunchier. Hmmm, tasty.
Playlist
Because this is usually served as a starter or a light snack the music that goes with it (usually dinner party background music) is not very long. Recommended listening includes:
Copyright 2008
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
Autumn Songs (Lento)
1996. Springtime in Cuba. I know, a discrepancy with the title of this post, but springtime in my beloved country feels like autumn in my adopted homeland. Temperature-wise at least. The suffocating heat has not kicked in yet and on some mornings you're forced to don a jacket to shelter you from a light chilly breeze. On this particular Sunday, I was lying in bed when my then girlfriend, now wife, came in, sat down and put two earphones in my ears. The sound that came through from her Walkman immediately severed my ties with this mortal world and transported me to an ethereal one where the voice of this marvellous singer was my sole guide. To this day I still shake all over when I hear the bassline coming in, then the keyboard/piano and her voice aaaaghing its way in and then the first line: Lift my knees from the ground/I will put my feet down/I will dance all my prayers...
Yes, Rachelle Ferrell appeared out of nowhere to occupy a place of pride in my music collection. Once in the UK I found out that my wife had bought her album after she first heard it in Cuba and Prayer Dance became a favourite of both of us to the point where she did a choregraphy to the music of the song with her students from Jackson's Lane a few years ago. Although I tried very hard, I could not find it on youtube (please, let me know if you do), however I did find a very good version of the classic 'Autumn Leaves', and it's apparently her first stage performance, so it has also that autumn-like sepia-tinted mood. Enjoy.
I mentioned in my previous Autumn Songs post that to me the season had a smell. Well, it also has a voice. It's husky, throaty and hoarse. It's Janis Joplin singing 'Summertime' or Leonard Cohen intoning 'Everybody Knows'. And no one proves this any better than the Brazilian Maria Bethania. Now, as in Rachelle's case, I tried very hard to find one of my favourite tracks by her, but to no avail. It seems that nobody has, so far, uploaded 'As Cançôes Que Você Fez Pra Mim' and that's a pity since that song represents to me the feeling of autumn as the season to jettison your old skin and grow a new one, tougher and more resistant to winter. But the one I did find I DID like! And a lot. It turns out that last year my fellow countryman and blogger, Iván Darías Alfonso and his girlfriend, Elena, burnt a CD for me with loads of Brazilian and Portuguese songs for my birthday and it had this little jewel by Maria Bethania, called 'Jeito Estupido de te Amar'. I first came across this tune many years ago whilst still living in Havana and still in thrall of singers like Roberto Carlos, D'Javan, Gal Costa and Elis Regina. Maria had not crossed my radar yet until I heard this song plus the aforementioned 'As Cançôes...'. Her voice captivated me and it still fascinates me in equal measure. Enjoy.
January 1989 was a peculiar year for me for many reasons. I was seven months away from finishing college, had done my work experience in the countryside for the second year running successfully (more about that later) and all around me were the first signs of the terrible crisis that would befall my country a couple of years later. On a mild weekday afternoon and following a nice lunch, I was lying down on my bunk bed whilst music poured out of the speakers of the camp. By way of explanation to some of you readers and fellow bloggers, in Cuba, in the old days, we used to do work experience in the countryside from the age of 12. In secondary school students normally went to what we call 'Habana campo' (countryside Havana) whereas in college/high school, pupils went further west to Pinar del Río, another province. Music was ubiquitous and tapes used to be carefully selected by the DJ(s). On this particular day I was resting in bed and my mind was somehow in a stupor when there arose a voice that propped me up on my bed and made me get off it. To this day I have never forgotten my introduction to Bob Marley's 'Redemption Song' and that moment ranks as a musical watershed for me. I immediately went outside looking for the guy who normally played the cassettes handed down to him by everyone (including moi) at the camp. When I asked him who this singer was, he simply shrugged and replied that that specific song was just a filler track in a tape by this or that band. It was only ten months after approximately when I had began Uni that I found out who the singer was. I struck up a friendship with a guy in Uni who was heavily into Bob and he got me hooked to his music, not just the Legend recording but also the lesser known Marley. However, to me, this song encapsulates what Bob Marley wrote about for most of his career as a spokesman for the rights of the underdog. To this day his words 'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery/None but ourselves can free our minds' still reverberate in my temples and makes my body vibrate. I'm still trying, Bob, I know I've come a long way, but still have a long way to go.
Copyright 2007
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