The Black Earth Boys are Justin Adams, Juldeh Camara and Ben Mandelson. The band is an aggregate of two others- with Adams as the link between. Justin and Juldeh -- now touring internationally under the name "JuJu" have recorded two CDs, "Soul Science" and "Tell No Lies."  Camara, who is from the Gambia, is a singer, instrument maker, and master of the ritti, a single stringed, violin-like instrument. Adams is well known for his long association with singer Robert Plant. His great strength is groove; no flashy mile-a-minute riffs, simply a guitar style that FEELS just right, and is an excellent partnering with Camara's flights of improvisation.

Ben Mandelson is not just a fine musician, he is a real life hero of world music. Back when I was first listening to recordings of what would eventually be called "world music" it was Ben's productions I often found myself checking out. Here we see him comfortably supplying tasty fills, textural motifs and rhythmic drive on mandolin. Adams, Mandelson and Lu Edmonds (unavailable for this performance) have their own ensemble "Les Triaboliques," a project that has them gleefully galloping through all the musical influences they have gathered in their past and present lives.

This performance, from Lincoln Center's Out of Doors series took place in Damrosch Park. The repertoire was primarily a melding of American folk and blues with Camara bringing the West African flavor. His ritti at times sounded like a fiddle, and eerily, at times like a harmonica. It was a surprisingly cohesive sound, reminding us once again of the debt that our music owes to African culture. While Adams' gritty voice sang a simpler, countrified interpretation of this Carter Family standby "Sow 'Em on the Mountain," Camara's vocal takes a soaring, melismatic approach. Great stuff.

For more of Michal's original music videos click here.

CD release parties abound here in New York, and my favorites are those for the self-released artist's efforts. Pistolera's latest CD, "El Desierto y la Ciudad" has been garnering praise from the press, and they are a busy and industrious band. I first encountered Pistolera years ago, through their righteous video "Cazador" about the contradictions in our immigration policies and attitudes, and so was intrigued to see and hear their latest sounds. The party was at the East Village club Drom; throw into the pot the most excellent local band Nation Beat as an opener, and I was definitely going to attend!

Pistolera's leader and main composer Sandra Velasquez has created a melange culled from her musical memories growing up in San Diego and her singer-songwriter sensibilities. So although the lyrics are in Spanish, and there is an accordion in there, these are not corridos, and the accordion is not diatonic, nor is it playing conjunto riffs. It's very much it's own animal, and I like that it does not fit easily into categories.

Velasquez's' lyrics are full of positive energy; they speak of empowerment and life spirit. Such a song is "Vieja" presented here as they performed it at Drom (apologies for the room's boomy sound). It's a cumbia, (the propulsive Colombian beat that is wildly popular in Mexico) and it is simply about living life to the fullest. Here is the translation:

One day I will be an old woman. I will have few years to live.
My skin will have more wrinkles. My hair will have more gray.
But I will be able to say that I lived.
One day I will be an old woman. There will be few years left for me to live.
My children will have grown. The house will be empty.
But I will be able to say that I lived.
Look how time passes. Look at everything you've done.
I have a long list of things I still want to do.
I want to take advantage and enjoy all of life until the very end.

The high octane evening featured Sandra Velasquez on vocals and guitar, Maria Elena on accordion, Sean Dixon (sitting in for Inca B. Satz) on bass, Sebastian Guerrero on drums, and the formidable Mark Tewarson on lead guitar.

The song "Vieja" is from their previous CD,"En Este Camino" which can be purchased or listened to here.

For their latest CD, "El Desierto y la Ciudad" click here.

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I caught this performance at New York's "Dizzy's Coca Cola" a posh club connected with Lincoln Center that overlooks Columbus Circle.

Although Claudia Acuña is a full fledged jazz singer, her repertoire still reflects her Chilean origins, and she presented several jazz settings of songs from its folk heritage.

"El Cigaritto" is by the iconic songwriter Victor Hara, whose work is almost synonymous with the protest songs of the  Nuevo Cancion movement that arose in Chile in the 1970's. He was publicly tortured and executed by the Pinochet regime, and must remain one of Chile's great political martyrs. But we must not let his terrible end overshadow the fact that he was also a great songwriter. "El Cigaritto" does not make any overt political statement. It is instead a gentle song with a lovely melody and a poetic lyric sung from the vantage point of a field worker on a tobacco plantation.

Claudia and her band have created a setting that not only preserves the spirit of the song, but enhances the melody with nuanced chord progressions and a different meter. It's a sensitive, loving interpretation. She has stated that Jara's work is very close to her heart, and she recorded three of his songs on her first CD.

You can go here to compare this rendition with Jara's.

The Hip Hop Hoodios are a unique band who layer Latin and American Jewish cultures over rap. We've broadcast their videos "Ochos Kandelikas" and "Gorito Cosmico" and thoroughly enjoyed the band's cheesy, smart (and smartass) attitude.  I really like their latest video "Times Square," but it simply won't fit into the definition of "world music" with a shoehorn. And you KNOW I'm a moderate when it comes to that category. But still, the subject is close to my heart, so I'm presenting it here anyway. 

I went to high school in Manhattan, on 46th Street and 6th Avenue, and so I have watched the gentrification of Times Square with a combination of nostalgia and unease.  I don't know if it makes sense to mourn the passing of an area that was admittedly dangerous and seedy. It's easy to say the place has "lost its edge" and is now totally "Disneyfied." Yet, for some reason, I do feel that there is something that has been lost...and what about the ongoing re/de-construction on the Bowery (lower 3rd Avenue) where a new generation of young professionals will soon be living in renovated flophouses? On the bright side, maybe they can exorcise the sad karma of a million ruined lives. But what has happened to those souls who used to inhabit both of these urban areas; the impoverished, the hopeless and the addicted. Where do they go now? Is our trend towards gentrification simply putting a bandaid over a larger social wound?

Keeping a band together in NYC is TOUGH.  I know because I've done it -- or tried to do it -- myself. So I have to hand it to Scott Kettner for sheer tenacity, regarding his pet project "Nation Beat." You may remember Scott as one of my very first interviews for this blog, about his Forro Brass Band. He made me promise back then to blog something about Nation Beat, so I started collecting and shooting footage, and letting the story develop.

Scott does raise an interesting issue, regarding "world music." In the fledgling days of the term, it was assumed that Cajun, Zydeco, Tex-Mex, Bluegrass, etc. were all part of world music. (Just check out the landmark "Rough Guide to World Music" published in 1994.) Since then, the term has expanded to include all kinds of hybrids. So in my opinion it's a kind of daft political correctness to exclude the Country Music influences in the Nation Beat repertoire...after all they aren't getting up there and doing an all-Country set; it's American Country filtered through Brazilian Country.  And anyway, our Country Music derives from our Scots-Irish heritage, does it not?  Or does that not qualify as world music to some folks any more?