Who Will Listen: Moya Brennan and "No One Talks"

Our random tune for today is sung by Moya Brennan. A native to Ireland, Brennan comes from a musical family (one of her sisters, Eithne, is better known as the singer Enya) and the family's band Clannad have been credited with creating the contemporary Celtic sound. Brennan is the eldest of the siblings, and started her own solo career in 1992. She is often classified as Celtic or New Age, though she feels uncomfortable with the New Age label as her music often has Christian themes. She has recorded 25 solo albums, her music has been featured in film, and she has collaborated with numerous other musicians in a variety of genres. She has also been very candid about her life - in her autobiography The Other Side of the Rainbow she recounts her upbringing in her family and her struggles with alcohol, drugs and an abortion which made her reevaluate her life and become a committed Christian. To help others with similar problems, she has given much to philanthropic endeavors and is a Goodwill Ambassador for the Christian Blind Mission. This song, No One Talks, can be found on her album Signature (2006) and on her 2011 live album Heart Strings.

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/Moya_Brennan

Profound Love: Charanga Cakewalk and "Amor Profundo"

Our song for today is performed by Charanga Cakewalk and is called Amor Profundo. Charanga Cakewalk is the brainchild of Michael Ramos. Ramos is a Latino Chicano Mexican who also describes himself as a citizen of the world. A once sideman and rocker who played with John Mellencamp, Paul Simon, Patty Griffin and others and was a sometime member of the BoDeans and The Rembrandts, he maintained a keen interest in the Latino music of his childhood. Ramos has made Charanga Cakewalk the leading proponent of a style called cumbia lounge. Within his musical landscapes, you might hear tejano, flamenco, merengue, salsa, garage rock, ska and reggaeton. Charanga Cakewalk has released three albums. Amor Profundo is from his 2006 album Chicano Zen.

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://www.americanmusicandsound.com/en/pages/artists/michaelRamos.html

A Melange: Väsen with Mike Marshall and Darol Anger and "Misch Masch"

Some American folk musicians mingle with Swedish folk musicians to create today's random tune, Misch Masch. Väsen is a Swedish folk music ensemble formed officially in 1990 for a music gathering in Norway. Väsen plays traditional instruments such as the nyckelharpa but it was adding a guitar that gave the band a unique sound. They play on this song with American mandolin player Mike Marshall, a leader in the New Acoustic Music movement that blends folk, bluegrass, jazz and world music. Also featured on the song is Marshall's longtime collaborator Darol Anger, an American violinist with an extensive background in jazz, folk and classical music. Misch Masch can be found on the 2007 album Mike Marshall & Darol Anger with Väsen.

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/V%C3%A4sen; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Marshall_(musician); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Acoustic_Music

Chill Dream: Harem and "Jhariyes Dream"

Today's chill random tune is called Jhariyes Dream and is by the band Harem. Harem is a Turkish percussion group that use traditional instruments such as dumbeks, bendirs, shakers, tef, and zils as well as world percussion instruments like djembes, bongos, and tablas. Many of their tunes are percussion only, and others are accompanied by instrumentation. However, there isn't much more information on them. You can find Jhariyes Dream on their album Harem III, released in 2002, as well as the compilation CD Turca Lounge, Vol. 1 (2007) which is where I found the track.

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://larkinthemorning.com/products/rce438

Buy Local: Baloji and L'Orchestre de la Katuba with Kuku and "Buy Africa"

Baloji, along with L'Orchestre de la Katuba and Kuku, brings us the random tune for today called Buy Africa off of the Red Hot + Fela album from 2013. Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Baloji is a Belgian rapper, MC and hip hop artist who got his start as a founder of the hip hop band Starflam in the early 1990s where he was known as MC Balo. The band's second album went platinum, but differences with the other members led Baloji to leave the group and quit music in 2004. However, after discovering a letter from his estranged Congolese mother, and after winning a poetry contest in Paris, he took up music again in 2006 and released an autobiographical solo debut album which included a response to his mother - the album went gold and won numerous awards. L'Orchestre de la Katuba appears to be an orchestra that he put together, and features Congolese guitarist Dizzy Mandkeku. Kuku is a Nigerian-American singer-songwriter living in Paris. Buy Africa was originally released by Fela Ransome Kuti and his Africa 70 in 1971, and is an exhortation to Africans to buy African-made goods rather than foreign goods. The album Red Hot + Fela is a tribute to Fela Kuti's musical work, the second such tribute by the Red Hot organization in a series of albums meant to raise money and awareness of global HIV/AIDS (Fela Kuti died of AIDS related complications in 1997).

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/Baloji_(rapper); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti;

Change of Heart: Modena City Ramblers and "Al Dievel / La Marcia del Diavolo"

Today's random tune is by Italian band Modena City Ramblers. Started as a hobby in 1991 by a group of friends that wanted to play Irish music together, the Modena City Ramblers (or MCR) is an Italian folk band heavily influenced by Celtic themes and is often classified as folk rock. A band with an open lineup, they have had several people leave and return sporadically. They are outspoken in their left wing politics, and their lyrics often speak out against the Mafia and fascism. They have released 14 albums and 5 EPs. This song, Al Dievel / La Marcia Del Diavolo is from their second album, 1996's La Grande Famiglia. The song in translation appears to be about an Italian "devil" commander who has a change of heart about spying for the Germans - and is either imprisoned or killed because of it.

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/Modena_City_Ramblers

When Life's a Circus: Tok Tok Tok and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite"

Feeling a little Beatle-y but not enough to listen to the Fab Four themselves? Try our random tune for today, which is a cover of Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite by German acoustic soul band Tok Tok Tok. Founded in 1998, the band wasa duo made up of Tokunbo Akinro (lyricist) and Morten Klein (composer and arranger), who found kindred spirits in each other. The band operated until 2013, when the duo decided to take a break to focus on solo projects. You can find this jazzy version of Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite on their 2010 album Revolution 69.

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/Tok_Tok_Tok