Jackson C. Frank - The most unlucky musician of all time

Everything changed for the American folk singer Jackson Frank after a furnace exploded near his Elementary School, when he was 11 years old. Fifteen of his fellow students died, and he was hospitalized for seven months.

This event left a deep mark in Jackson’s life. His lack of self-confidence and depression increased steadily after a series of events following the recording of his first album, which was simply titled Jackson C. Frank.

The death of his first son caused his depressive tendencies to increase to the point of being committed to an institution. From this moment on, his life went down hills, having to live on the streets for many years, until one of old friends found him and helped him find a decent place to live.

I Want to Be Alone (Dialogue) (1965)

Soon after this, Jackson was shot in the left eye by an stranger, blinding him, at the age of 55. One year later, Frank died of cardiac arrest and pneumonia.

Milk And Honey (1965)

By the way, the title of this post was taken from a Reddit post, where I knew about this singer. So thanks for that!

Inga & Anush – Musical Armenian Sisters

Sisters Inga and Anush Arshakyans studied music for several years before joining forces to create the phenomenal modern folk band named after themselves, Inga & Anush.

Anush, born in 1980, studied piano and vocals. Inga, born 2 years later (the same year than me :)) studied violin and also jazz vocals.

Tamzara (2004)

Jan Jan (2009)

Cankisou - Intercultural Czech Music

The huge presence of the singer Karel Herman (literally a huge presence) and his powerful voice, gifted with a big tessitura is one of the first things that I listened from this band. But when instruments from Asian countries and a rock sound started, I realized that this Czech group was very atypical.

Cankisou, an experiment formed by seven musicians interested in world music, is a successful fusion band, which has played Mongolian and Pakistani sounds with heavy arrengements.

Anay yo (2005)

Zuha (2008)

Urban Symphony - Classical Pop Girl Band

Urban Symphony hasn’t released its first album yet, but it has already some recognition after their successful participation in Eurovision Song Contest 2009, where its song Rändajad gained the 6th place.

The band has four members. Sandra Nurmsalu, 20 years old, sings and plays the violin.  Johanna Mängel, who has dedicated 12 of her 18 years studying cello. Mari Möldre, who is just 16 years old, has already played cello in numerous places in the world. Mann Helstein plays the viola, having been part of several European orchestras during her 21 years.

Päikese Poole (2009)

Rändajad (2009)

Transglobal Underground – Ethnic Melodies From East And West

The sounds of ethnic-electronic music is the essence of the collective Transglobal Underground, one of the first bands to mix folk music (Arab, Indian and African rhythms)  with electronic music. Formed in 1990 in London, this band has featured Johnny Kalsi,  Heitham Al Sayed, who are British musicians with Asian and African origins, and Natacha Atlas, the famous Egyptian-Belgian singer who started her career with them. This band won in 2008 a BBC world music award in the Club Global category.

Delta Disco  (1998)

 

Army of forgotten souls (1993)

The Orange Sky - Heavy Metal + Reggae

The Orange Sky is a band from Trinidad And Tobago that plays a fusion of heavy metal and reggae. It has toured with many first class metal bands such as Metallica, Yngwie Malmsteen, White Lion and others. Their live shows are recognized for being very good. “Our live show is sex for us,” says Nigel, the band’s guitarist. “That’s where we make our real connection. The recording is one thing, and we respect that, but the real connection is the live show. We love to play and we love to connect in that way.”.

Yesterday & Tomorrows (2009)

Is There Anybody There (Scorpions Cover) (2009)

The Bambir - Avant-Garde Armenian Folk Music

After listening to Armenian music for hours, I have finally decided to make this post about The Bambir. This band has a remarkable sound that mixes Armenian folk music (which is very nice on its own) with progressive rock. The more I listen to this band, the more I like it.  This band is unfortunately not very well known outside of Armenia, I was unable to find their music outside of youtube.

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