Tom Waits - A Husky Bark Of An American Man

Born in the city of Pomona, California, Thomas Alan Waits has one of the most harsh voices of the American musical panorama. In fact, the critic Daniel Durchholz described his voice "like it was soaked in a vat of Bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car". Waits, who recorded the off voice of a Purina ad in 1981, invented his own musical genre, the 'Waitsian', influenced by the other genres he has used: Blues, Jazz, Cabaret, swing and others.

Lucinda (2006)

God´s away on business (2002)

Dhafer Youssef - The Jazzy Sufi Music

The warm sound of the Oud, a string instrument from the Arab region similar to the lute, is the main gift that Dhafer Youssef offers to this flux.  This musician, composer, singer and, of course, Oud player, was born in Tunisia, but has recorded and produced almost all his music in different European countries.  His music, inspired by the Sufi tradition, has a touch of contemporary genres like jazz (which makes it a little bit  irregular) or electronic music. This mix has led him to create melodies with a lot of musical elements from the West and the East equally, so Youssef can’t really be considered a folk musician.

Nafha

Youssef’s mastery of this instrument gives characteristic colors and shades to his songs, and a very pleasant effect of a well executed piece with a clean and atmospheric sound. Youssef, who started singing at the age of 5, sometimes includes vocal effects in his music. He also has a touching depth in his voice and uses it to sing passages with the ancient influence of Islamic chants.

Ysamy

Ukamau Y Ke - Rap With Andean Music

Wow, it’s been so long since our last post. But no, Sound Energy Flux is not dead. Something that has brought so much to our life can’t simply die. Here we go again.

Ukamau y ke has been one of my favorite bands lately. Their lyrics denounce social injustice and economic inequality in Bolivia. Their fusion of hip hop with Andean folk music has, likewise, a social reason behind it, namely, the highlighting of the Bolivian culture and heritage, which is slowly getting lost due to the dominance of foreign interests in the media.

América Latina (2007)

In an unfortunate event, Abraham Bojorquez, Ukamau y ke's founder, recently passed away being only 26 years old in a vehicular accident. Abraham headed the Wayna rap movement, which is, in my opinion, one of the most original things that has happened to Latin American hip hop, featuring rapping in Aymara, a native Bolivian language, dressing with traditional Bolivian clothes (as opposed to the American hip hop clothing) and, of course, mixing traditional folk melodies with rap.

Medios Mentirosos (2007)

Koenjihyakkei – A Progressive Sound From Japan

Rare, or maybe weird is how I would qualify the band that I post today. The musical complexity of the Zeuhl, a genre derived from progressive rock, is the seal of  Koenjihyakkei, a Japanese band led by the drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, who had played before in a popular Japanese duo called Ruins. The powerful sound of this band, which is frequently reminiscent of Japanese music, rock, or even symphonic music, makes me at times remember the eclectic and singular Frank Zappa’s style.

Avedumma

Their music, which occasionally sounds subtle in the voice of Aki Kubota (who sings in a nonsense language), unexpectedly evokes fierceness and majesty through strong rhythmic transitions, key changes and occasional jazzy progressions. The Avant-garde sound of this band may not have a pleasant effect to the more conservative tastes, but despite being  unusual for me, I think it has a really good and crafted style.

Ioss

Asa – The Rhythm Of Finnish Hip Hop

Foreign languages can be barriers sometimes. In the case of ASA, I can’t  understand the political message that, according to the reviews, he sings to the listeners.  But the reason why I post today about this Finnish hip hop MC, is that his music is very attractive to me. His singing in Finnish, although not intelligible for me, is very rhythmic.  His arrangements (which are a combination of rap and genres from other parts of the world) have a non conventional instrumentation, including brass sometimes. The following song is an example of this:

 

Persepolis

 

Alas Virtaa Ararat

Simphiwe Dana – The Political South African Diva

The vibrant voice of this South African woman makes me remember some soul and jazz divas. But the sound of Xshosa, the language she uses in her lyrics, and her unusual rhythmic patterns, are the best proof of her music's African essence. Regarded by some critics as the Miriam Makeba´s successor, Simphiwe Dana uses a poetic and political tone in some of her lyrics just like Makeba. The following verse, which belongs to the song Bantu Biko Street (a tribute to the killed anti-apartheid leader Stephen Biko), is an example of her talent:

“Bantu Biko Street is the only street paved with our hopes and dreams, a golden highway which exists first in our minds”

I really loved the following song when I discovered it. The rythmic changes (with continuous rhythmic variations) and the background female voices, which appear surprisingly in the beginning, had an unexpected effect on me. I wish it was longer, but I really like it anyway.

Ndiredi

Zandisile

Novalima – Afro-Peruvian Fusion

Recently Novalima released a new album with Cumbancha titled Coba Coba Remixed. I encourage you to go visit the last link in order to listen to the album or to purchase it. But if you want to know more about this Peruvian fusion band, we will tell you here the basics.

It all starts when four friends from Lima who travelled to different parts of the world, Peru, Spain, UK and China, and lived there for many years, returned to Peru to make a musical experiment previously unheard of in their country: Afro-Peruvian rhythms  are mixed with dub and other electronic music genres.

Machete

Cumbancha rightly describe their music as a search for the common ground between past and future, between tradition and innovation:

Their efforts have also helped bridge the divide between the Peruvian mainstream and the Afro-Peruvian community, a minority population that has struggled against discrimination and the threat of cultural dissolution for generations.

While their sound is futuristic and cutting-edge, the roots of Novalima's music stretch back hundreds of years to the times of slavery and Spanish colonial rule.

Libertá