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WPS1 Art Radio is the Internet station of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, a MoMA affiliate, featuring an MP3 stream of music, talk, and historical recordings and a free on-demand archive of over 1200 programs.
Each installment features an hour-long, non-stop mega-mix of what is known these days as World Music. Do not expect to find ethnographic field recordings, foreign pop music that apes mainstream American pop, Top-40 hits from Latin America or anywhere else. Instead, you will find hybrid forms that meld ethnic traditions with electronic sounds, or take inspiration from more than one ethnic tradition, or hold on to regional traditions, resisting the impulse to homogenize. If the lyrics are in a language you don't speak, do not worry about the meaning -- enjoy the sound of the words. The emphasis is on rhythm, an invitation to dance.
On this virtual tour guided by our world-music specialist Lorenzo Mans, we make stops for Flamenco in Andalusia, Gypsy Rumba in Barcelona and Perpignan, Fado in Portugal, drawing Celtic roots from Galicia and the unique Euskedi culture of the Basque country. Some of this music delves into the Muslim and Sephardic distant past, or borrows from former colonies. Proving that this is not a new trend, he includes "I'll Go to Santiago," a song written in the Cuban "Son" style by Federico Garcia Lorca, when he visited the island in the 1920s.
Playlist
01 Radio Tarifa: Black Hooves
02 Radio Tarifa: Pincushion Tango
03 Perlita De Huelva: My Pretty Baby Daughter
04 Peret: Wait a Minute
05 Dolores Vargas: Achilipu
06 Ojos De Brujo: Maria's Tango
07 Ojos De Brujo: Cheaters Are Losers
08 Amalia Rodrigues: The Black Ship
09 Katia Guerreiro: Vermillion Rose
10 Kepa Junkera: The Road to Berhueta
11 Peio Serbielle: New Girlfriend
12 Uxia: Sailor's Wife Lament
13 Uxia: Your Mama's A Witch
14 Barrio Chino: Saudade
15 Tekameli: Que Son Son
16 Lola Flores: Let the Tiger Eat Me
17 Ana Belen: I'll Go to Santiago
18 Radio Tarifa: Osu
19 Praying Voices
World music guide Lorenzo Mans is the only passport you need for this musical tour of former French colonies around the world. First stop, the Antilles islands like Martinique, where the beguine began. and on to Haiti, where we sample the troubadour tradition, their version of merengue and the modern beat called compass - all sung in Creole. A transatlantic jump brings us to Mali, where local blues musicians sprinkle their lyrics with French phrases and Monsieur Salif Keita performs a cover version of a classic chanson in his distinctive African accent, leading to Afro-Parisian rappers from the projects who take pride in their urban slang.
Playlist
01 Kali: Perfume of the Islands
02 Ti Coca: Haiti Cherie
03 Nemours Jean Baptiste: She Took My Money
04 Manno Charlemagne: Haiti's Not a Forest
05 Beethova Obas: Lina
06 Kali: Children of the Good Lord
07 Chris Combette: La Nati
08 Nemours Jean Baptiste: Pimp # 3
09 Boubacar Traore: Kari Kari Madison
10 Amadou & Mariam: Mon Amour Ma Cherie
11 Salif Keita: I'm Here to tell You
12 Emeline Michel: Moso Mama
13 Taxi Creole: Mandolin
14 Fabulous Troubadours: L'Accent
15 Jephte Guillaume: Where are the People?
Starting with a seamless blend of klezmer and Muslim vocals, Lorenzo Mans has the former front man of the Specials pay homage to Ravel, Bizet and company, while an Israeli scholar recreates the sound of Muslim Spain. Folk music from medieval Armenia follows, accompanied by the Master Singer of Iran. Not to be outdone, a young Mongolian diva enters the fray, along with avant musicians from New York who jam in Istanbul. An electric blues from a nomad tribe in the Sahara then finds its way into Sufi trip-hop and...did you think anyone could stop there?
Playlist
01 Orient House Ensemble: Dal'ouna on the Return
02 Terry Hall: The Hour of Two Lights
03 Sameer Makhoul: Al-Andalusi Verses
04 Shoghaken Ensemble= Dance of Tamir Agha
05 Hoseyn Qavami: Esfahani verses
06 Khongorzul: The River Herlen
07 Wax Poetic: Oriental Wind
08 Tinariwen: Chet Boghassa
09 Mercan Dede: the name Shah
10 Cheb Mami: Delali Mantzaoutchi
11 Shakila: Kokab
12 DJ Cheb i Sabbah: Kese Kese
Spinning for a motley crew at the Tower of Babel, world music connoisseur Lorenzo Mans has the Boys in the Hood learn "Nuyorican," while a tribal chant gets a techno splice job, Jamaican Dancehall MCs dub Serge Gainsbourg, a French Disco Diva goes to Ibiza for a total makeover, and Dominicans add sex chat to Reggae and call it "Reggaeton." (We just call it fabulous.)
Playlist
01 Los Chicharrones: Bugaloo
02 Salif Keita: Musulu Remix
03 Lisa Danger: Lola Rasta Quay
04 Baby Rasta & El Gringo: Change Your Lyric
05 Frederic Galliano: Affo ReMix
06 Barrington Levy: Here I Come
07 Mylene Farmer: Opti Mystique Me
08 Tim Love Lee: Again Son Harder
09 Sister Brady: Javanaise Remake
10 Mala Fe & Glory: Doggie Style
11 Mauro Picotto: Like This Like That
12 Modem Quartet: Fantasia For Clarinet
13 Mylene Farmer: Dis Enchante
Lorenzo Mans moves beyond ethnic lineage with: Bhangra DJs who sample from secular and sacred sources...a kick-ass African salsa band...East Indians from the West Indies...Balkan Brass with Jamaican Dubstyle...a Sufi lament that becomes a catchy hook...symphonic Algerian Rai...the Pre-Colombian roots of Latin Pop...Punk-Ska from a Basque provocateur.
Playlist
01 Karnataka College: Vocal Exercise
02 Ustad Sultan Khan: Jaadu Magic Mix
03 Africando: Son Fo
04 Ustad Sultan Khan: Majhi Reh ReMix
05 Africando: Quel Scandal
06 Ustad Sultan Khan: Maula Bhangra Mix
07 Bobo Bhagwa Dean: Irene Win the Lottery
08 Bigga Bush: Turkish Roots
09 Mercan Dede: Shiki Shiki Baba
10 Ram Ragie Prabhu: Wedding Plan
11 Fela Ababsa: A Night in Algiers
12 Gaby Kerpel: Desire & Guilt
13 Fermin Muguruza: Hurricane Puzka
14 Toto La Momposina: Faroto Injun
World-music connoisseur Lorenzo Mans explains this ingenious compilation thus: It's about a minimalist composer who stops being compulsive, an aging punk rocker who visits his dying mother, a garage band without a drummer. It's about stretching an awkward moment, describing it from every possible angle until the pain subsides, or standing still like the humming bird, so you can taste the nectar.
As world music connoisseur Lorenzo Mans recalls, the tiny Republic of Tuva, in the Russian Federation, was one of the first to gain independence from the former Soviet Union, but it has been known for its wild horses and the peculiar vocal style known as throat-singing for eons. Tuva musicians have emigrated to the most unexpected places (Milan, Wyoming, Munich, etc.) where they have absorbed all kinds of musical influences: Native American chants, punk rock, avant electronica, etc. Sample them, unforgettably, here.
Alternating Bally Sagoo's version of Jamaican dub with club mixes that sample vintage Bollywood hits, Lorenzo Mans moves on to Frederic Galliano's Parisian dance floor mixes, featuring traditional singers from Mali. The session ends with less typical examples of the influence of Dub on the so-called developing world.
World-music connoisseur Lorenzo Mans relates that, in the early 18th century, a slave ship crashed in what is now Belize, on the North coast of South America. All the prisoners escaped and were welcomed by the native Arawak people. Out of this meeting of unexpected bedfellows, the language and culture known as Garifuna was born. This session features the few old men who might be the only traditional Garifuna musicians left.
Here WPS1 world music connoisseur Lorenzo Mans stretches the meaning of fusion to include felicitous collaborations between musicians from different traditions: a Flamenco singer with a Cuban jazz pianist; a Malian pop singer with a French country band; a Tunisian oud player who has discovered Electronica; nomads from Southern Sahara who channel the Grateful Dead.
The contents of this program reminds WPS1 world-music guide Lorenzo Mans of the time when the U.S. bought Louisiana from Napoleon at 4 cents an acre and an American general was heard to remark to Thomas Jefferson, "You have bought it for a song." Little did anyone foresee the musical treasure trove we would get for that song. The birthplace of jazz continues to be fertile soil for new musical genres that sometimes defy definition.
Samba, the first major musical export of Brazil, is now regarded as an outdated cliche by most Brazilians, but WPS1 world-music connoisseur Lorenzo Mans demonstrates that in the hands of first-rate artists, this rhythm remains as infectious as ever. Included in this session is a rural version of Cumbia known as Vallenato, performed here in all its unpolished glory by unheard-of musicians, who take us back to a happier time in Colombia, before it became the frontline for the War on Drugs.
Playlist
Vintage Samba:
01 Paulinho de Viola = "I'm in Trouble"
02 Beth Carvalho = "The Lonely Dance"
03 Martinho da Vila = "Heart of a Scoundrel"
04 Joanna = "Looking Slick"
05 Joao Bosco = "Bullet with Bullet"
06 Silvia Torres = "Catch the Spirit"
07 Nazare Pereira = "Moonlight"
08 Jorge Ben = "The Widow's Boyfriend"
09 Rosa Passos = "Showers of March"
10 Geraldo Azevedo = "Berekeke"
Vintage Cumbia:
11 Conjunto Tipico Vallenato = "Cumbia from San Pues"
12 Los Galleros = "Song for Soledad"
13 Andres Landero = "Indian Cumbia"
14 Los Corraleros de Majagual = "Peasant Cumbia"
15 Alberto Pacheco = "Cumbia from the Swamp"
16 Corraleja 71 = "Her Red Skirt"
17 Los Hispanos = "Atlantico"
18 Tamara = "Maria, the Red Hot Mamma"
19 Armando Hernandez = "La Zenaida"
20 Pedro Lanza & Los Pelayeros = "Cumbia from the Deep Country"
21 Los Gavilanes de la Costa = "The Sea Hawks"
Lorenzo Mans chooses music from cold climates to warm a lost heart. The title comes from Ernest Hemingway: "I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There are seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows."
With this new compilation,
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takes an imaginary trip to places formerly in turmoil but now enjoying relative peace. Places like Turkey, where an independent label can record local musicians and get them airplay. Or Uzbekistan, where a secular Muslim singer can have a long career and pass it to his daughter. Or Macedonia, where a corpulent diva can sing risque songs in cabarets. Or like Romania, where a multi-generational Gypsy caravan can defiantly call itself, "A Bunch of Crooks."
Playlist
01 Istambul Street Musicians
02 Continued
03 Birol Topaloglu (Istambul) - "Europa"
04 Bengi Trio (Ist.) - "Kasik Havasi"
05 Selim Sesler (Ist.) - "Ali Pasa"
06 Barbaros Erkose (Ist.) - "Kanat Kari"
07 Ulas Ozdemir (Ist.) - "Oldum"
08 Chengiz Ozkan (Ist.) - "Ferahi"
09 Alim Qasimov (Uzbekistan) - "Bagishlami"
10 Esma Redzepova (Macedonia) - "Abre Ramce"
11 Taraf de Haidouks (N.W. of Bucharest) - "The Bear Trainer's Circle Dance"
12 Taraf de Haidouks - "Tell Me, Old Man"
13 T.de H. - "Dumbala Dumba"
14 T. de H. - "Ballad of the Dictator"
15 T. de H. - Love in Clejani"
16 T. de H. - "Rustem"
17 Spanish Gypsies Clapping
Lorenzo Mans compiles rare recordings by Maria Teresa Vera, who held the title of Troubadour Laureate of Cuba for most of her life (1895-1965). The illegitimate, bi-racial daughter of a slave, raised by a wealthy, white, progressive family, she was already famous in her teens as a singer, songwriter, and guitar virtuoso. As a band-leader in the 1920's, she was the driving force behind the fusion of European and African roots that created Cuban pop music.
Lorenzo Mans chooses music from all the places he imagines Marco Polo would have stopped for a beer. Inspired by Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. Really.
Lorenzo Mans put this compilation together for a theater piece that he calls "a Bladerunner vision of a video arcade somewhere in Latin America, populated by cyber-punks, and played before and after the show and during its intermission." He chose what he calls 'hybrid' instrumentals that sample Latin American rhythms, but included cuts that sampled from other ethnic sources as well. "In my own experience, " he says, "this type of music dates back to the late 50s, when Prez Prado from Cuba and Esquivel from Mexico came to the US and went wild with the new possibilities of high-fidelity and studio wizardry." Tracks include music by GoTan Project, Cachaito, Radio Zumbido, Esquivel, Tipsy and Dus Oud.
Mixmaster Lorenzo Mans makes pure RAI. This music (pronounced "rye") was born when the secular musicians of Algeria were exposed to American rock-and-roll through bootleg cassettes. By the time Rai became the prevailing pop music of the Arab world, the political edge had softened and -- much to the dismay of fundamentalists -- was replaced by a flagrant hedonism. When Rai was adopted by the disaffected Arab youth in the housing projects on the north side of Paris, the lyrics became more confrontational and the musical influences grew to include hip-hop, reggae and salsa. Most important, it rediscovered traditional drumming from North Africa.
Suddenly, in the dead of winter, the temperature rose in New York and the love of Lorenzo Mans's life invited him over for dinner. Not wishing to go empty-handed, he put together a session of suitably sultry sounds to bring along, pulling tracks from every category of music on his shelves, almost without thinking. "My lover did not appreciate it," he reports, but he made copies for other friends -- us -- who did and we can tell you: it works, whatever the mood, and wherever you are in the world.
Playlist
01 James Bond Theme, Surf Chandlers (Japan)
02 Humanity: Gerald (UK) & Louise Rhodes (U.S.)
03 No Good at Love, June Tabor (UK)
04 Veronica, Virginia Rodrigues (Brazil)
05 Stormy Night, Virginia Rodrigues
06 Magic Chant #4, Federico Mompou (Catalonia)
07 Solitude, Dr. John (U.S.)
08 That Feel, Tom Waits (U.S.)
09 Ai Du, Ali Farka Touré (Mali) & Ry Cooder (U.S.)
10 Rafiki, Zap Mama (Belgium)
11 No More Affairs, Tindersticks (UK)
12 Ocean, Sheila Chandra (UK)
13 O Saathi Re, DJ Bally Sagoo (UK)
14 Bend Your Mind, Elysian Fields (NYC)
15 I Wanna Be Sedated, Carol Lipnik (NYC)
16 Wishing All These Things Were New, Merle Haggard (USA)
17 Parisian from Uptown, Cheb Mamí (Algeria)
18 Jamming in a Faux Style, Rhythm & Fire (Cuba)
