Been There: DJ Cary with Falik and "Dance of the Aisles"

DJ Cary with Falik bring us the random tune for today. DJ Cary is the performing name of Cary Norsworthy, who tends to specialize in electronica music and especially on downtempo and chillout. Her mixes have been released on Magnatune, where she's also edited many popular compilations. Here she remixes a song called Dance of the Aisles recorded by Falik, a world alternative rock band from California which is mainly African American Irish bouzouki player Charlie Pecot. You can find Dance of the Aisles on DJ Cary's 2005 remix compilation Eastern Grooves.

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: http://magnatune.com/artists/cary/; http://songvault.fm/artists/falik.htm

Ethiopia's Jazz Master Flash: Hailu Mergia and "Lala Belu"

Today's upbeat song is by Ethiopian jazz musician Hailu Mergia. An accordionist who also plays keyboards, Mergia takes traditional Ethiopian songs and creates modern, funkier versions of them. During the 1970s, he was the keyboardist for The Walias Band, an Ethiopian western-influenced jazz and funk band. He and the band tended to create instrumentals as a way around Ethiopia's strict censorship laws at the time. During this time, he and The Walias Band recorded a seminal album of Ethiopian jazz instrumentals called Tche Belew. On a tour of the United States with the band in 1983, Mergia and other band musicians decided to stay in the US and he enrolled at Howard University. In 1985, while reacquainting himself with the accordion, he laid down 11 improvisational tracks on accordion, electric piano and synthesizer in a studio at Howard. The album was released in Ethiopia under the title Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument and was a hit, but wasn't released in the United States until 2013. He currently drives a cab in Washington, DC where he practices keyboard between customers. This song, Lala Belu, is from his new 2018 release of the same name.

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/Walias_Band; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hailu_Mergia_%26_His_Classical_Instrument

Especially When the Eyes are Smiling: Gaelic Storm and "Kiss Me, I'm Irish"

Today's song is by Gaelic Storm, 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. This song, Kiss Me, I'm Irish, can be found on their 2006 album Bring Your Wellies.

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

The Rain is Coming: Regina Carter and "Kothbiro"

Today's random tune is by Detroit-born jazz violinist Regina Carter, who reinterprets an African song called Kothbiro that was composed and sung by Kenyan musician and nyatiti lyre player Ayub Ogada in 1993. Regina Carter began studying the violin along with piano when she was four years old. In high school she took master classes with Itzhak Perlman and Yehudi Menuhin and eventually studied classical music at the New England Conservatory of Music. However, she switched to jazz during her classical studies and finished out her education at Oakland University in Michigan. After graduation, she did a stint teaching music in the Detroit Public Schools, but needing a break and a new direction, she moved to Germany for two years. When she came back in the late 1980s, she joined the all-female quintet Straight Ahead, which did pop and jazz and earned kudos from Branford Marsalis. She went solo in 1991 and has released ten solo albums since 1995, and has played on another seventeen albums in collaboration with a wide variety of musicians such as Kenny Barron, Anthony Davis, Cassandra Wilson, Joe Jackson and Eddie Palmieri. Kothbiro can be found on her 2010 album Reverse Thread. She records the song as an instrumental - the original has lyrics and is about the coming of rain.

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/Regina_Carter

Flamenco from Málaga: Inti-Illimani and "Malagueña"

Our random tune for the day is by Inti-Illimani. Formed in 1967 by university students, Inti-Illimani gained popularity in Chile due to their song Venceremos (We Shall Overcome) which became the anthem of the populist movement. This led to their exile - Allende's government was overthrown while they were on tour in Europe and, fearing for their safety, they stayed in exile in Italy until 1988, leading them to joke that their exile was the longest tour for any band ever. While in exile, they began to combine their Latin musical heritage with elements of European baroque and popular music, and by doing so helped create some of the first "world" music. Their music was banned in Chile, though distributed underground, and in 1988 they were allowed to return to their country. They participated actively in the campaign that ousted Pinochet from power in a democratic election, and continue their political activism to this day. However, in 2001 the band split over musical and political differences, and there are now two bands. The first retained the name of Inti-Illimani, and the second became Inti-Histórico. This song, Malagueña, is on Inti-Illimani's 2002 album Lugares Comunes.

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/Inti-Illimani

Sweet Corn: Robert Mirabal and "Corn Dance"

Our random song today is by Robert Mirabal, a New Mexican Native American musician. A flute player and maker from Taos Pueblo, he is a leading proponent of world music. He performs around the world with a mix of flute playing, tribal rock, dance and storytelling. He has been twice named Native American Artist of the Year, and was featured in a Grammy Award winning album, Sacred Ground: A Tribute to Mother Earth in 2006. This song, Corn Dance, is featured on his Warrior-Magician CD from 1996.

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: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mirabal

Strength and Power from Music: Rita Ericksen and "Villemann og Magnhild"

Our random tune for today is a collaboration between Scandinavia and Celtic Ireland. The song is called Villemann og Magnhild, and it is performed by Norwegian singer Rita Eriksen who began her career with her brother, guitarist and singer Frank Eriksen, as a roots/folk/country/blues group called Eriksen. However, she has had her own solo career as well. She went on a 10 year hiatus from recording, but came roaring back in 2008 and again in 2014. Millemann og Magnhild can be found on her 1996 album Tideland, jointly recorded with singer Dolores Keane, a founding member of the Irish group De Danaan. It can also be heard on the various artists compilation Putumayo Presents: Dublin to Dakar - A Celtic Odyssey (1999). The song is a mediaeval Norwegian tune about a wild man who played a harp to release a woman from the arms of a troll.

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/Rita_Eriksen