“NFAK” is short for Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a Pakistani who teamed with Eddie Vedder on the soundtrack to “Dead Man Walkng” in a most memorable tune of great emotional impact to me. Maybe it is my advanced age, lol, but I am puzzled why I find all these fabulous musicians who are now passed. There are times when I feel plain dumb. This guy is quite the revelation to me. His vocal abilities are so absolutely unique, I have yet to see anything or anyone who startled me quite as much with their incredible vocal range, their play with sound itself and their obvious joy of performance. You can say there are people whose voices are instruments – Bob Dylan does that nowadays – but this guy takes the cake.
I’m posting 2 musical vids – take your time – of his collaborations with some of the more exotic rock and roll artists. Peter Gabriel has been a favorite of mine for long years. His innovations have set high standards for the progress of rock music to a level which borders on Jazz, yet still maintains a gritty and muscular feel to it. Make no mistake, both these videos are of rock and roll music. They – in other words – rock.
Which makes NFAK’s involvement that much more interesting………..we’ll go with the more approachable one first, a very cool live performance also featuring Louisville’s own favorite daughter Joan Osborne, Tony Rich, Gloria Estefan and Natalie Merchant, then take off into the more bizarre, second, also a live performance.
I hope you like these tunes. It’s times like these when I love having a good old irresponsible blog. I can show off my musical tastes as if I was doing the work!!! Yeah, shameless, I realize. But – hey – I do happen to know what I like. I hope you do as well.
This is from one of her very first albums, back in about 1962. I had a leg up on some of my friends back then, having very a smart brother and sister who were in college at the time and privy to the newest fashions, so I got first dibs on the developing Folk Craze, right off the get go. I’ll never forget one of my buddies coming over and us putting Bob Dylan’s first music on the box. “Man, he can’t sing for nuthin’!” Imagine young boys thinking that! But there was much to like with this fine-tuned young woman, as we can see.
Joan Baez set a standard for me at that time. Her voice seemed as pure as the driven snow. Since then, a few ladies have met the standard, but not many. See what you think about this very early tune, her adaptation of a gospel song from the 1800’s.
I’m recirculating this one. I have added an extra treat below, complete with the live and red hot Salvador Dali.
I absolutely adore this guy. To me, he is the greatest guitarist who ever lived. Born in a Gypsy Gitano caravan in southern France, Manitas de Plata became famous for his guitar work at a young age. Upon hearing him play in 1964, Pablo Picasso is said to have exclaimed “that man is of greater worth than I am!” and proceeded to draw on the guitar. An American manager obtained a booking for him to play a concert in Carnegie Hall in New York in December 1965.
In New York, Manitas de Plata, who was illiterate, represented Europe at the yearly gala of the United Nations.
He still tours and he is one of the fathers of the Gipsy Kings, a fabulous group of musicians enjoyed the world over. This is a bit long, but it does not take long to get a feel for his tremendous gift. Enjoy!
(rolls eyes) Here goes Steve with the weird music again……………
It’s about sound. Sound is a sense.
I always loved this guy’s music! Joe Zawinul died at 76 – two years ago now. The live performance included here was done in 2007, I believe, with members who are somewhat different to me. I know most of the guys, just not all. The bassist, Linley Marthe is my version of maybe the ‘best ever’.
Anyway, Zawinul was experimental and a virtuoso. Here he plays with sound like few others. Innovative, different, somewhat jazzy, give it some time and let it grow on you while you listen. The best players in the world played with Joe Zawinul. Please give a listen. You might like it.
I’m going to slip this weirdness into my Landscaping Blog, simply because I can, I guess. Like everyone else in the wide wide world, I like sharing. This has as much relation to landscaping as the Man in The Moon, but…………… I have always thought comedy and those who make it deserve a special place in our lives.
This blogger has decided to take yet more advantage of pure selfishness and display not only his wanton lust for the comic geniuses who have walked the stage and screen, but to date myself as well. Cursed with an excellent memory, I can remember watching such persons as Sid Ceasar, Steve Allen and this guy – Ernie Kovacs – as they first began appearing on television. Yes, we’re talking the mid 50’s, before color TV, even. I remember making an absolute ass out of myself amid my family, laughing pretty much out of control at Don Knotts and Louie Nye on the Steve Allen Show – or Imogene Coca and Howie Morris on Sid Ceasar. But this guy – Kovacs – honestly sent me like no other.
I watched the recent Kennedy Center Honors Show with my Mother where they featured Mel Brooks, among others. He wrote for Sid Ceasar back in the day and, especially with the interviews of the famous “2,000 Year Old Man”, it shows.
It made me investigate the older realms of TV comedy, back when everything was new. You can see the experimental attitude even in this clip. The guys on the set laugh, lol. Live TV was a trip. Sometimes, the regulars at places like Steve Allen or Ceasar wouldn’t be able to finish their lines becasue they couldn’t control their giggles – wonderfully unprofessional and just about a riot.
Anyway, next to Robin Williams, Richard Pryor and Jonathon Winters, Kovacs always represented the height of comedy to me. Subtle, incomplete, almost Lenny Bruce-like in his ability to change skin, here he gives us the famous fop – Percy Dovetails – live from his fabulous Poetry Palace. He’s a Laureate!!!!
OK. How many readers know of this artist? I’m thinking not many, which is almost too bad.
Me likey Laurie.
Besides, this is my blog. I’m issuing orders in here. No gardening today. Take a few and relax with this odd bird.
She’s still performing, actually. It turns out she was in Tel Aviv this past Summer, touring with Lou Reed. Laurie Anderson was the Underground’s Underground Queen during the 80’s and 90’s. Sometimes obscure, always challenging, she was a performance artist in New York City, operating very much in the background of popular music – a place she essentially stayed for, well, pretty much ever. But she has attracted a wide range of co-performers, from William Burroughs to David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Brian Eno.
I always saw a love of music and beauty in her work, intermixed with challenging modern images. She is lyrical as she can be, melodic to the max, with just a few bumps along the road. Unconventional, gorgeous to look at as a young artist with no cares and extremely talented, Laurie Anderson will delight and make you think at the same time.
When music all seems to be boxed up in prepared ways, it’s refreshing to see naked talent, playing around on the edges of propriety and convention. We need people like Laurie Anderson, whether we like it – or know it – or not. Here’s “Gravity’s Angel”:
The Zimmers – per se – are an English band who do some really good covers of tunes. But as a social phenomenon, they are something else entirely. Uncharacteristically, I have included a number of videos here, but I think you’ll get a sense of why as they unfold. This stuff is very well-done.
The “My Generation” video was an instant hit on the viral network. I post it here because they remind us of what fun is. I like that they are so enthusiastic about their “shot at the big time” – like they care. This is joy in action, in my opinion, complete with a one finger salute the 101 year old fellow seems so enamored of. The irony of such a selfish generational-exclusive tune is mighty thick here – hilarious stuff, you have to agree.
The second embedded Youtube video features a 96 year old stud who was once an iron-worker in downtown New York City singing with a gal made famous on another video or two by the Zimmers, included below. What the Zimmers have done was to rouse up an old folk’s home in beautiful downtown London and make them sing songs to a rock accompaniment. The fun they have is now somewhat legendary. There have been over a million views of this particular video and far more at the “My Generation” and the zany “Firestarter” video I have included, which covers an electrified Trance Band, including wild make up and punked-out seniors. These guys really rock – and I am speaking of the oldsters!
What’s amazing is that I am actually pulling off – knock on wood – quitting smoking. My Mom will be the Happiest Girl on the Planet, along with my other friends who could never reconcile my physical output and a habit so grotesque. Day 7 beckons ths morning with a sunny disposition and only the usual few thousand demons, waiting for me to slip up. In a way, I am most certainly rejoicing but I have had such a muted personal reponse to this all based on past failures. This is fairly tough.
With that borne in mind and this desk and computer one of the primary spots for my cigarette Jones, I have decided to spend a bit less time computing. The positive side of it is that I can supply some music easily enough and enjoy doing it. I’ll need to get normal soon I guess.
This is Mahalia Jackson, friends. I was of course surprised to learn how few modern people know of Mahalia – I have a now-19 year old daughter and I hang with some pretty young folks in general. They are not really sure who she is. I hope this helps. Mahalia Jackson is the reason Gospel Music even exists. I am positive the genre was made for her alone – the single most dominating singer of her generation.
Like Pearl Baily, Nina Simone, Dinah Washington and even Billie Holliday, Mahalia Jackson represents another era entirely of the stunningly-gifted Black Female Musician in an era where there sheer ability alone was their only path to any notoriety whatsoever. Well, as you can see, Mahalia brings alot to the table in this regard.
This clip effectively ends around the 4 and a half minute mark, but I think they included all the rest just to illustrate how Mahalia Jackson could electrify a crowd. You will agree this usually-disciplined European crowd is the definition of “electrified”. But there’s no music after that, just the wonderful grand lady of song – an irreplaceable musical personality – doing some of her trademark appeal to Peace and Love, God bless her. This, my friends, is SOUL.
One of the true benefits of having your own blog is that you can pretty much do whatever the heck you want. Notice, I don’t rant on politics or even the sports I follow as a fan and participant. But I love sharing music. On a strictly personal basis, sure, it shows something about me, but that is also a part of the blogging game. Why not? A little soul never hurt anybody. There’s enough real work I have done in here to merit a change of pace. Rocks and roses are great. Sometimes. But music is always great – all the time.
I love this guy. I have always been a big Staples Singer fan – great blues/gospel music of a very American sort. But Pops brings something extra to the game, in my opinion. I am even going to place 2 videos in here – something new for me. I realize it;s asking a lot for someone to have to wade through a couple of videos, so maybe you can return and catch the second one sometime. The first is from a cute movie: “True Stories”, by David Byrne featuring an all star cast and some hilarious vignettes of American Midwestern life, featuring weird stories from US tabloids. In this video, Pops has been called in to help a poor heart-broken lady who refuses to leave her bed until her beau shows up to rescue her. He applies some voodoo to the problem. The second one is just Pops, solo. The German Subtitles are cool, too.
Just a quick break from all the irrigation and blooming talk for a look at someone I always felt deserved a wider audience.
Joe Zawinul won Best Keyboardist in the Jazz magazine “Down Beat”, 30 times. A young prodigy who came to the US to learn music at the Berklee School of Music, he was told he was already so good he needed to “Go out and play for a living.”. He soon joined Cannonball Adderly, then wrote for Miles Davis and then formed the groundbreaking band Weather Report, with Wayne Shorter.
Joe liked melody and he liked his music up beat. He was a serious experimenter with electronics as this clip shows. But what he loved best was a red hot band he could play with. Famous for a world beat sort of lyrical weirdness – just try to figure any of the languages sung here – even the voices are instruments, including the lady in this song who began with Zap Mama. He always played with the best in the business and they enjoyed working with this hero of mine.
This song is insanely upbeat. The youtube synch here is bad but I really don’t care. The music wins this race – and it does cook. Enjoy, Joe Zawinul, a giant in music. Here’s what a 75 year old bopster does.
