The St. Patrick’s Day Global-a-Go-Go
Alright, let's get this bit of stereotypical song stylings out of the way right now. Yes, this week's World Music Show (3/17) falls on St. Patrick's Day. But does this mean you can expect two hours of nothing but Irish music? Not that anything is wrong with that mode of thought. However, since the show aires at the ten o'clock nighttime hour, I figure that by now, you'd have your fill of all things Irish.
So we will celebrate the holiday with a good chunk of Irish music right from the get-go. But then the sounds will morph into a global dance party. Who can you expect to hear in this first chunk of Irish music? I'll start the show off with a traditional tune sung by Sinead O'Connor. Now, say what you will about the trajectory of her career or of her outspokeness on various subjects. But there's no disputing the strength and beauty of her voice. We'll hear her sing the song "Her Mantle So Green," which tells the story of a young soldier returning from war in disguise to test his lover's fidelity.
And, I'll follow O'Connor with a couple of new tracks off The Chieftains new CD "Voice of Ages," which was produced by the great T-Bone Burnett (man, he gets around!). This CD is a celebration of their 50th year of recording--how amazing is that? And, as on past CD's, they work with an amazing array of musicians. The songs we'll hear feature The Decemberists and the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
And to cap the chunk of St. Patrick's Day celebratory music, I'll close the set with a beautiful cover of the U2/Dylan song "Love Rescue Me," performed by the Omagh Community Youth Choir, who are from Northern Ireland. The Choir, which was established in 1998 after a tragic bombing terrorized the town, was created as a way to heal and unite the Catholic and Protestant people. They were living in isolation from each other. The parents and the children themselves overcame their differences and now live in harmony through music.
We'll transition from that celebration into a full scale global dance party, which I guess would mean we can change gears from Irish Step Dancing ala "Riverdance," into whatever style of dance floats your boat. To get the party started, we'll hear from Africando and Amadou Balake, who are Cuban-trained musicians from Mali. Then from the Czech Republic and Hungary, we'll hear some Balkan Beats from !DelaDap followed by a Gypsy Klezmer jam done by the Amsterdam Klezmer Band, who are from the Netherlands. And, if you want to slow it down a bit, we'll transition into some Bossa Nova music by Lenine, who plays a song that was in the film "Woman on Top." And, I'll throw in a curve ball Bossa Nova tune from the German duo known as 2raumwohnung (2-Room Apartment).
Throughout the two-hour show, you're doing to hear some great styles of dance music. From Boogaloo, to Salsa, to Cha Cha Cha to World Swing music to the Cajun Two-Step, it's going to be some high energy fun. We'll even hear some frentic French-Caribbean dance music from Martinique by the band Wapa Sakitanou. And, we'll hear some Arabeesque electronic beat music (for those who like to spin in circles) by the DJ who goes by this name: Aisha Kandisha's Jarring Effects.
A special chunk of music, that will be featured in hour two of the show, will be in the genre of Ska music--a fun music to dance to, if I do say so from personal experience. I'll play a couple of tracks from both The English Beat and from The Specials, so be sure to get your pointy shoes on.
So, from Irish music to Ska, it's going to be a fun global-a-go-go--not a bad way to spend a Saturday night. The World Music Show aires Saturday nights at 10:00 p.m. on WCVE Public Radio. If you're in the mood, you can follow my tranmissions via Twitter. Just look me up @wcveworldmusic.
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