Remove Your Shoes: The Klezmatics and "Holy Ground"

Our random tune today is penned by a legendary American musical icon, and put to music by a klezmer band. Holy Ground is a song by The Klezmatics, written to match lyrics penned by Woody Guthrie but never set to music. Based in New York City and formed in 1986, The Klezmatics are a Grammy award winning group that mixes older Yiddish tunes with contemporary styles of music. They have also recorded songs in Aramaic and Bavarian. Holy Ground is from their album titled Wonder Wheel (2006).

Pigeons and Peace: Rachid Taha and "El H'mame"

Our random song for today is by Rachid Taha. El H'Mame is from Taha's 1998 album Diwan. Originally from Algeria but now based in France, Taha's music is 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 and DJ'd at night playing Arab music, rap, funk, salsa and other genres. He also soaked up raï, which was a music of political protest in Algeria during the 1980s. He co-founded a rock band 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 is known for playing the mandolute, which is essentially a fretted oud. He is described as an eclectic artist who is gregarious, quick with a smile, and who loves to party through the night. The song is about pigeons serving as a metaphor for peace.

Smiling Through the Funk: Garotas Suecas and "Eu Vou Sorrir pra Quem É Gente Boa"

Garotas Suecas, a band from São Paulo, Brazil and whose name means Swedish Girls in Portuguese, brings us the random tune for today called Eu Vou Sorrir pra Quem É Gente Boa (something on the order of I Smile for Good People). The band incorporates many styles of sound, including funk, rock and soul. They have released two studio albums and four EPs, and are known for the high production quality of their music videos, which have won awards in Brazil. They also did a multi-country tour of Europe and the US in 2012. You can find Eu Vou Sorrir pra Quem É Gente Boa, a slow funk song with Beatlesque undertones, on their 2014 album Feras Míticas.

And My Mama Cried: El Vez and "En el Barrio"

Happy Independence Day! And what better way to celebrate our multicultural country than with a song from a quintessentially American artist interpreted by a Mexican-American! Today's random song is by El Vez, also known as Robert Lopez. Lopez was part of the punk group The Zeros and later became El Vez, the Chicano Elvis. More than just an Elvis impersonator, El Vez also performs other major rock icons including David Bowie, Iggy Pop, John Lennon, and Bob Dylan, mixing them with his own Mexican-American musical traditions. He also is known for the satire and humor in his songs, which also often express his revolutionary views. This song, En el Barrio, can be found on his 2012 compilation album How Great Thou Art - The Greatest Hits of El Vez. This video is in Spanish - there is also an English language music video here:

I Dub Thee Balkan: La Cherga and "Rembetiko (Shazalakazoo Remix)"

La Cherga, a group of Yugoslavian ex-pats based in Graz, Austria bring's us the random tune for today called Rembetiko. The song is remixed by Shazalakazoo, a two member electronic act from Belgrade, Serbia. La Cherga is a live sound system that fuses traditional Balkan brass and accordion seamlessly with dub. Rembetiko (Shazalakazoo Remix) can be found on La Cherga's 2010 album Fake No More Remixes. It can also be found on the Balkan Club Night #2 compilation CD (2011).

I've Got the Power: Teddy Pendergrass and "The Power of One"

Teddy Pendergrass performs our random song for today from the soundtrack to The Power of One, a coming of age movie set in apartheid South Africa based on the novel by Bryce Courtenay. Teddy Pendergrass was a singer, songwriter and composer. After growing up in Philadelphia, where he lost his father to a murder as a young boy and where he became a minister at age 10, Pendergrass rose to fame in the early 70s as the lead singer for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. He went solo in 1977 and had multiple hits in both the disco and R&B category on his debut album. As his fame grew, especially among women, he pioneered the "women-only concerts" concept. He was informally titled The Black Elvis and his popularity briefly eclipsed Barry White and Marvin Gaye. A car accident in 1982 left him paralyzed from the chest down, but he made a triumphant and emotional return to music in 1985. He died in 2010 of respiratory failure after having complications from a surgery for colon cancer. You can find this song, The Power of One, on the soundtrack for the movie released in 1992.

It'll Be All Right: Playing for Change and "Don't Worry"

Today's song, Don't Worry, is by a special project called Playing for Change, which is a project to connect the world through music. Created by American producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson, the project records street musicians around the world playing one element of each of the songs they record. They then build, layer by layer, the song by melding the recorded parts, each with the individual interpretations of the musicians involved. They have since developed the Playing for Change touring band, and they have built the Playing for Change Foundation, which funds the construction of music and art schools around the world. In this video, you'll see the contributions of a variety of musicians recorded on the street in their respective countries including: Pierre Minetti (France), Junior Kissangwa Mbouta (The Congo), Dinesh Sunam (Nepal), Venkat (India), Clarence Bekker (the Netherlands), Tula (Israel), Washboard Chaz (New Orleans), Django Degen (Spain), Grandpa Elliot (New Orleans), Sinamuva (South Africa), Rajhesh Vaidhya (India), and Tenzin Jigme (India). Don't Worry can be found on Playing For Change's 2009 CD Songs Around the World.