Wild Ride: Gaelic Storm and "Death Ride to Durango"

Our random song, Death Ride to Durango, is brought to you by Gaelic Storm. Gaelic Storm is an American Irish band formed in 1997 in Santa Monica, California. They play traditional Irish and Scottish music, as well as original music in the Celtic and Celtic rock genres. Gaelic Storm got a huge break in 1997 when they were cast as the steerage band in the blockbuster movie Titanic. They have burnished their resume by touring aggressively and adding new instrumentation to their ensemble, such as Uileann, Highland and Deger (electronic) bagpipes. Death Ride to Durango can be found on their 2008 album What's the Rumpus?

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_Storm

Reminds Me of Oranges: Rachid Taha and "Valencia"

The late, great Algerian artist Rachid Taha brings us today's random tune. This song, Valencia, first appeared on his 1995 CD Olé, Olé and then on his 1997 CD Carte Blanche. Based in France, Taha's music was influenced by rock, punk, electronica and Algerian raï and has been described as "sonically adventurous." He first became exposed to music through his Algerian culture, but moved to France as a child where in his teens he worked menial jobs during the day but DJ'd at night playing Arab music, rap, funk, salsa and other music. He also soaked up raï, which was a music of political protest in Algeria during the 1980s. He co-founded a rock band, called Carte Secours, in 1981 and became lead vocalist. Later in the 80s he went solo, and in 1989 he recorded with producer Don Was playing Arabic style beats, but didn't achieve much success with American audiences. In 1998 he recorded his breakthrough album Diwan, which were remakes of songs from Algerian and Arab traditions. He was known for playing the mandolute, essentially a fretted oud. He is described as an eclectic artist who was gregarious, quick with a smile, and who loved to party through the night. He also claimed he was the inspiration for The Clash's Rock the Casbah. Taha passed away at the age of 59 from a heart attack in September of 2018.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachid_Taha

Turning the Guys' Heads: Kirsty MacColl and "Celestine"

Celestine, our random tune for today, is performed by Kirsty MacColl, an English singer-songwriter who recorded many pop hits in the 1990s and made notable appearances on other hits. Married to producer Steve Lillywhite, MacColl sang backup vocals on the recordings of many of the artists that he produced. She died in 2000 in a tragic accident in Cozumel, Mexico. While diving in an area restricted for swimming only, she was hit by a speedboat that had strayed into the area - she died saving her son who was in the boat's path. To give you an idea of the esteem she is held in, Billy Bragg always includes extra verses she wrote in covering his song A New England, a memorial bench has been placed in her honor at the southern entrance to Soho Square in London, and she is always heard on her guest vocal in The Pogues' Fairytale of New York, which has been voted as the fan favorite Christmas song on the VH1 video channel. Celestine can be found on her 2000 album Tropical Brainstorm, and is about the singer's comparison of herself to a beautiful and sexually promiscuous woman.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsty_MacColl

Sleepy Time: Anoushka Shankar and "Lola's Lullaby"

Anoushka Shankar, the daughter of Ravi Shankar, and the half sister of performer Norah Jones, brings us today's random tune. Anoushka Shankar is a famed sitar player in her own right. She began training to play sitar under her father at age seven, and by age ten she was accompanying him on tanpura in his performances. She gave her first public performance on sitar at 13, accompanied by tabla player Zakir Hussain. At fifteen, she assisted in the production of Ravi Shankar's landmark Chants of India, and producer George Harrison put her in charge of notation and conducting the accompanying musicians. She signed her first record deal at 16, and released her first album, Anoushka, in 1998. After her second album, she took time off from recording to concentrate on building a career outside of her father's ensemble. In 2007, she collaborated with Karsh Kale on an album mixing classical Indian sitar with electronica. Since then, she has had a prolific and very creative period as an artist and performer. This song, Lola's Lullaby, can be found on her 2012 album Traveller.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoushka_Shankar, http://www.anoushkashankar.com/

To be Treasured and Nurtured: Mystic Journey and "Delicate Rainbow Flower"

Santa Fe, New Mexico ensemble Mystic Journey performs today's random tune, called Delicate Rainbow Flower. Founded by flautist Suzanne Teng, Gilbert Levy on percussion and strings, Dann Torres on guitar, oud and electric sitar, and Jon Ossman on bass and dilruba, Mystic Journey creates an ethereal sound, described by Billboard as "sensual and serene" that has been heard at large music festivals, formal concert halls and intimate settings. The pharmaceutical company Genentech distributed a CD compilation of their pieces to over 50,000 patients to aid in their recovery. You can find Delicate Rainbow Flower on their 2017 album Kingdom of Mountains.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://mysticjourney.net

Waiting for the Boy: Capercaillie and "M'Ionam"

Capercaillie brings the random tune for today. A Scottish band founded in the Argyll region of Scotland in the early 1980s, Capercaillie is known for mixing traditional Gaelic tunes with modern recording techniques and instrumentation. Capercaillie started as a purely traditional band, but in the 1990s they began mix funk bass lines, synthesizers and electric guitars into their repertoire of traditional tunes. Lately they have been reverting back to more traditional instrumentation while retaining a light fusion feel to their music. In 1992, they recorded the first Scottish-Gaelic song to crack the UK Top 40. They have released eleven studio albums, four of which have made the UK Albums chart, and one live album. They also have two compilation albums and have performed on two soundtracks. This song, M'Ionam, can be found on their 1997 CD Beautiful Wasteland. The song seems to be about, to me, a mother who is waiting for her son to return to her with gifts from his sailings to the Indies.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capercaillie_(band)

Love is a Roasted Parrot: Puerto Plata and "La Cotorrita de Rosa"

Happy New Year's! Let's start the new year off right with a random tune from Puerto Plata. The stage name of Dominican musician José Cobles, Puerto Plata's music and singing is reminiscent of guitar music heard in the Dominican Republic in the 1930s and 40s, before it was stigmatized by dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, who preferred accordion-heavy merengue tipico. By the 1960s, after Trujillo's assassination, Dominican guitar music began to develop into bachata. Plata does not play bachata, however, but a music closer in style to contemporary Cuba, even though it is inspired in the Dominican past. In addition, Plata's band features some of the Dominican Republic's finest musicians, such as guitar legends Edilio Paredes and Frank Mendez. This song, La Cotorrita de Rosa, can be found on Plata's first internationally distributed solo CD, Mujer de Cabaret, released in 2007. The song's title translates to "Rosa's Little Parrot," and the lyrics, in which Rosa cries for her parrot which has been roasted and eaten by three men, is also a metaphor for the burning love of the narrator for a paramour.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Plata_(musician)