WEATHER REPORT (ABO#415)

WEATHER REPORT

DAYLIGHT AT SUNRISE

(1971-1986)

Weather Report was my first attempt to introduce myself into the world of Jazz and I was very lucky to start with their 1976 album Black Market whose eponymous title remains my favourite WR track.

At their beginnings, Weather Report really sounded like Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. Surprise when you know that Joe Zawinul (keyb) and Wayne Shorter (sax) learned a lot with the master. Until their 1973 Sweetnighter album, this filiation is quite an evidence.

Weather Report found their musical identity with their 1974 album Mysterious Traveller and much more with their 1975 Tale Spinnin'. To their fusion sound was added an african sound. That brought the band to another direction and, to me, the highest point of their carreer was Black Market. After that and especially after their excellent live album 8.30, everything became much more flat even if this african color kept featuring in the Weather Report sound. The 80s are not as good as the decade before but no one can argue that Weather Report's albums in the 80s were at least very good. Weather Report never becam an infamous Smooth Jazz band and that 's a good thing.

Here will you find every period of the band from the beginning to the end in a chronological order. No albums have been voluntarily forgotten but the golden years (1972-1978) is the best represented.

You may notice that another huge album like "I Sing The Body Electric" is under represented because 2 of its best (to me) tracks were chosen from other live albums like Live In Tokyo or Live & Unreleased.

Enjoy this compilation like I enjoy this band.

My Weather Report TOP3 :

1. Black Market (1976)

2. I Sing The Body Electric (1972)

3. Tale Spinning (1975)

My Weather Report TOP3 live albums :

1. Live & Unreleased (1973-1983/2002)

2. Live In Tokyo (1972)

3. 8.30 (1979)

wait if it's temporary unavailable

GEOFFREY ORYEMA (ABO #385)

GEOFFREY ORYEMA
SON OF THE WIND

Geoffrey Oryema (born April 16, 1953) is an internationally renowned Ugandan musician. In 1977, at the age of 24 and at the height of Idi Amin's power, Oryema was smuggled across the Ugandan border in the trunk of a car, after the death of his father, Erinayo Wilson Oryema, who was a cabinet minister, beginning a life in exile. Today his songs keep alive the languages of his youth - Swahili and Acholi and return to the lost country - the 'clear green land' of Uganda.
Oryema earned his international reputation following the release of his second album, Beat the Border. He has collaborated with, amongst others, Peter Gabriel. Gabriel's record label, Real World, helped with the first three of Oryema's albums, until his move to Sony International, a label established in France where Oryema resides since his exile. Besides his two native languagues mentioned earlier, he also sings in English and French.

My GEOFFREY ORYEMA List
1 - Exile (1990)
2 - Beat the Border (1994)
3 - Spirit (2000)
4 - Night to Night (1997)
5 - Words (2004)

RIYL:
Youssou N'Dour, Ismaël Lô, Ayub Ogada

MANO SOLO (ABO #328)

J'AURAIS VOULU... LE MEILLEUR DE
MANO SOLO

To say the news of the death of Mano Solo came as a shock certainly is an overstatement. All those who took interest in the man's music knew from the start about his condition. HIV-positive then ill with AIDS, this has been the life of Mano since the begining of his solo career and probably his founding battle and the basis on which he build his lyrical style. But, to sum Mano to his disease wouldn't be fair, the man had much more to offer than just pain and misery. His passion for life, his sensitivity, his ability to voice out the life of simple people were some of the artist's strong points.
His music displayed a clever mix of classic chanson (think Léo Ferré, Jacques Brel, etc.), world music (Tango, Latino, African, Gypsy) and alternative rock (he started his career as part of French alternative rock band The Chihuahuas) merging it all in something quite unique and tasty.
Son of left-wing cartoonist Cabu and ecological activist Isabelle Monin, Mano Solo was a free-minded man, a maverick in the French chanson scene who chose in 2006 to stray away from the big business and do his thing on his own thus returning to the values of his alternative rock debut.
For all these reasons and more, Mano will be dearly missed and probably never replaced. He died last Sunday, he was 46. R.I.P.
NOTE: This compilation is just a short introduction to Mano Solo's art. All his albums, except maybe 2004's Les Animals, are worth checking and can be ordered on Mano's website.

Mano Solo : Allo Paris
envoyé par MANO-SOLO. - Regardez la dernière sélection musicale.

MANO SOLO, je suis venu vous voir
envoyé par sassako1. - Clip, interview et concert.

My MANO SOLO Top 3
1 - La Marmaille Nue (1993)
2 - Dehors (2000)
3 - Je Sais Pas Trop (1997)
3 - In the Garden (2007)

My MANO SOLO Bottom 3
1 - Les Animals (2004)
2 - Internationale Sha La La (1999)
3 - Frères Misère (1996)

RIYL:
Les Têtes Raides, Thomas Fersen, La Tordue

LISA GERRARD (ABO #316)

LISA GERRARD
TO THOSE WHO CARE

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Lisa Gerrard (born April 12, 1961) is an Australian musician, singer and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry.
Her career began in 1981 and she has been involved in a wide range of projects. Gerrard received a Golden Globe Award for the music score for film Gladiator, on which she collaborated with Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt. The movie also received an Academy Award nomination for best music score, but only Hans Zimmer was nominated. Both Gerrard and Badelt were deemed ineligible for the nomination. She also sings and is an instrumentalist for much of her work, most prolifically using the yangqin (a Chinese hammered dulcimer).
This baistophe, crafter by our collaborator Diod, displays both her solo works and collaborations for soundtracks and other projets. Enter the dream.

RIYL:
Dead Can Dance, Irfan, Loreena McKennit

SUSHEELA RAMAN (ABO#315)

SUSHEELA RAMAN

TRUST IN ME

(2001-2009)

When I first heard of Susheela Raman, this was on a 2001 compilation about new discovers in pop. At that time, I wasn't in a mainstream mood at all and, even if Susheela is not Mainstream at all, I felt it sounded like. But, to my big surprise, I really enjoyed this song, Trust In Me.

Until this year, I didn't hear of her and this ladies month made me immediately think of her. Don't know why.

Anyway, I then planned to listen to her whole discography, and dropped onto 4 extraordinary good albums. Susheela sings folk-pop songs with a very simple but clever construction. Her oriental origins can be heard on several of her songs and brings joyful colors to her melancolic pop. Her last album, 33 1/3, contains number of covers that are not unseless at all, for sure.

SUSHEELA RAMAN & GETACHEW MEKURIA - Love Trap (Live in Ethi
envoyé par bbpradi0. - Regardez la dernière sélection musicale.

VOYAGE (ABO#293)

VOYAGE

FEEL THE HEAT

(1977-1981)

Voyage was an european disco band that only made 4 albums from 1977 to 1981. Founded late in the disco movement that rapidly disappeared like many popular movements. The interest in that band is that they managed a fusion of disco music with world music. Of course, Voyage is not the best band in the world but some of their songs like Point Zero / Orient Express are two of the finest disco songs made since Jean-Marc Cerrone's Kongas songs.

It may be surprising to find a disco band in Baistophe, but as our new banner says "we love music" and Disco is music... and not necessarily bad music.

Watch Souvenirs - Voyage in Musique  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

My Voyage TOP :

1- Fly Away (1978)

2- Voyage (1977)

3- One Step Higher (1981)

4- Voyage 3 (1980)

RASHANIM (ABO #269)

RASHANIM
PROPHECIES

Rashanim is a trio of guitar, bass and drums/percussion combining the power of rock with the spontaneity of improvisation, deep Middle Eastern grooves, and mystical Jewish melodies. The 'Jewish power trio' is led by Jon Madof on guitar and includes Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (Yo-Yo Ma, Anthony Braxton) on bass and Mathias Künzli (Lauryn Hill, Moby) on drums and percussion. The band gets its name from the noisemakers used during the raucous Jewish holiday of Purim.
This compilation covers the 4 albums released on John Zorn's Tzadik either on the Rashanim name or on leader's John Madof (the first one, entitled Rashanim). Some of the compositions included are the work of John Zorn.
Lyrical and beautiful, Rashanim joyfully celebrates the Jewish experience with passion, lyricism, a profound sensitivity and a welcomed rockier edge making them one of the most exciting young bands exploring New Jewish Music.

RIYL:
John Zorn, Karate, Yoshie Fruchter

VÄRTTINÄ (ABO#267)

VÄRTTINÄ

MIE TAHON TANSSIA

(1987-2006)

Värttinä is a Finnishfolk music band which was started as a project by Sari and Mari Kaasinen back in 1983 in the village of Rääkkylä, in Karelia, the southeastern region of Finland. Many transformations have taken place in the band since then. Värttinä shot into fame with the release of their 1990 album Oi Dai.
As of 2009, the band consists of three lead female vocalists supported by three acoustic musicians. The vocalists sing in the Karelian languageof Finnish Karelia. Värttinä collaborated with A. R. Rahman, a famous composer from India, in composing the music for The Lord of the Rings,which played in Toronto in 2006 and opened in London in May 2007.
In August 2005, Värttinä recorded their tenth studio album called Miero at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki. It was released on January 25, 2006 in Finland, and January 30, 2006 worldwide.

My Värttinä TOP3
1. Miero (2006)
2. Kokko (1996)
3. Iki (2003)

ALAMAAILMAN VASARAT (ABO #220)

ALAMAAILMAN VASARAT
SYVÄSATAMAAN IKSUVASARAT

Fourth opus of Baistophe's Progressive Music Month, it may be argued that Alamaailman Vasarat are not really progressive which could lead to a long and sterile discussion as to what progressive music is. I think they are but you have every right to disagree with me...
Anyway, The avant-garde Finnish band Alamaailman Vasarat, which translates to "the Hammers of the Underworld" in English, create music influenced by Klezmer and other forms of European folk music and play it with the ferocity of a punk or metal act and the theatrical dimension of progressive rock. Abandoning major keys for the most part and guitars all together, the group performs on such instruments as a pump organ, saxophone, and distorted cello. Although the basic rhythms the band uses are conventional polka and bossa nova, by speeding them up and adding primal drumming, their intense music has been known to even inspire stage diving.
The attempt, for this compilation, was to try building something that would ressemble an actual album hence the unchronological tracklist, the short edits at the end of some tracks and the sound adjustments that had to be made so to create an harmonious whole. The title would translate something like "Deep Sea Hammers" (sorry if I mistreated the Finnish language, I had to use google translator) and the selection aims to be an imaginary soundtrack, it's up to you to create your "mental movie" but, just for information, mine consists in a journey in marine life with hammerhead sharks as the main character. I sincerely hope you'll like the work and the band and that it'll make you want to check more of their unique sound on either of their four albums (and to avoid at all coast their collaboration with Finnish folk singer Tuomari Nurmio which is just not good).
Enjoy and don't be shy, give me your opinion.

My ALAMAAILMAN VASARAT List
1 - Käärmelautakunta (2003)
2 - Vasaraasia (2000)
3 - Mahaan (2007)
4 - Huuko Kolkko (2009)
5 - Kinaporin Kalifaatti [with Tuomari Nurmio] (2005)

LOREENA McKENNITT (ABO#167)

LOREENA McKENNITT
SONG(E)S
(1985-2008)

This high priestess of celtic music is much more known for her name than for her work and is so often compared with low-quality artists like Enya or other New Age people. Although she belongs in that New Age movement, Loreena's music isn't as poor as her so-called neighbours. Because she travels through different worlds, from non-homeland ireland (she's canadian!) to arabic landscapes in her later job, she brings this easy-listening music to a higher point.
One of the major celtic singers and one of the marvellous voices ever heard, McKennitt knows what she sings and sings what she likes, even if it has to last more than 8 minutes, which is, for (too) many people, a problem... rubbish !

My LOREENA McKENNITT TOP :
1. The Mask And The Mirror (1994)
2. The Visit (1991)
3. To Drive The Cold Winter Away (1987)
4. The Book Of Secrets (1997)
5. Songs For Winter Gardens / A Midsummer Night's Dream (1995/2008)
6. Elemental (1985)
7. An Ancient Muse (2006)
8. Parallel Dreams (1989)

AROUND THE WORLD (VAC #019)

AROUND THE WORLD...

...IN 38 SONGS

What better way to travel than music?
To celebrate one year of blogging at BAISTOPHE, we offer you this experience...
Here, you'll find music from the 5 continents in all their flavours and diversities.
We hope you'll enjoy the ride and that it will make you want to listen to more music from all over the world!

Goran Bregovic - Kalasnjikov

Los Lobos - Flor De Huevo

NB: the front image with tracklist included in the links has an error, it's been replaced in this post. Click on the image and copy the new one.

The password for the second link (CD2) is MOODSWINGS.