Category: 2015-2019

“Sonnet 18” (2016) – Paul Kelly * Written by William Shakespeare (words) and Paul Kelly (music) * Produced by Paul Kelly * 10″ LP: Seven Sonnets and a Song * Label: Gawd Aggie

It’s unexpected but not inconceivable for the Australian workhorse Paul Kelly to step forward with a Shakespeare collection (with a bonus track by Sir Philip Sidney). In the 2012 documentary Stories About Me, Kelly points out, after all, that anything that he (or any other songwriter) is apt to express has already been touched upon in the folios. Still, his intrinsic plainspokenness and the Bard’s floridity don’t suggest an immediate merger.

The memorable one is his treatment of Number 18, arguably Shakespeare’s most famous sonnet (“Shall I Compare Thee…”), and it’s also the only one with Kelly as sole producer. By putting it in a minor key, he brings sorrowful shades out of the words that aren’t immediately apparent. There’s an eerie 1973 film called The Pyx, which opens with Karen Black singing verses from the Song of Solomon. If you’ve ever heard that, Kelly’s “Sonnet 18” will summon it. 

“Adounia Idagh” (2018) – Bombino * Written by Abdallah Ag Oumbadougou * LP: Deran * Label: Partisan Records

The newcomer to the Nigerian Tuareg vocalist/guitarist Bombino (real name Omara Moctar) may approach with skepticism, seeing that his most recent album cover presents him in the visual language of “saint.” But the addictive nature of his music (sung in the Tamasheq language), his guitar command, and his people-power role in Tuareg culture should see the newcomer through. Originally from Niger, he has relocated throughout his life to Algeria, Libya, and Burkina Faso, due to unrest among the nomadic Tuaregs and the significant reality of the Niger government’s attempt to ban guitars. Things settled down by 2010, when he returned to Niger, played triumphant shows, and recorded steadily to build on high-profile acknowledgment, such as a 2008 recording date with three Rolling Stones (Watts, Wood, and Jagger) on saxophonist Tim Ries’s Stones World. His nickname, incidentally, comes from bambino, that most musical-sounding of Italian words. Although Bombino recorded his 2018 Deran (well wishes) album in the king of Morocco’s studio HIBA in Casablanca, its best moments make you feel like you’re nowhere indoors, maybe at the top of a mountain which is the title translation for this track, written by pioneering Tuareg guitarist Abdallah Ag Oumbadougou.

The Tuupa label in Finland specializes in music of the Sámi people way up north. One of their 2018 releases, the self-titled debut by Suõmmkar, is a real treasure in that it contains new music from members of the Skolt Sámi ethnic group, one of the smallest with only 400 speakers of the actual language among the 1250 who identify themselves as such. Also worth celebrating is its preservation of the leu’dd vocal style, which differs from the more familiar Sámi yoiks by weaving narratives about people as opposed to conjuring chants about nature. The group’s two vocalists are Anna Lumisalmi and Hanna-Maaria Kiprianoff, whose Skolt background and expertise give this release such a welcome presence. The song title for the track featured here translates to “What Are You Youngsters Running For,” but the rest of the lyrical content, for now, will need to be fodder for your imagination.

Ari Barokas ‎- “Gavurlar” (2018) * LP: Lafıma Gücenme * Label: Garaj Müzik

Ari Barokas has been the longtime bassist for Turkish rock heroes Duman (smoke). They rose up from Istanbul in the early ’90s, having taken cues from the grunge scene that vocalist Kaan Tangöze had observed up close in Seattle. Their reliable espousal of open-mindedness has complemented, and perhaps propelled, their ongoing popularity but kept them in the throes of controversy. Song lyrics sympathize with protesters, condemn police brutality, and take liberties with holy Islamic writ, ensuring calls for boycotts from religious conservatives. Barokas’s album, like the music of the band he plays for, contains rootsy, acoustic music that is too undeniably Anatolian and irresistible to Duman’s primary listeners to get him too deep into cultural hot water. It’s called Lafıma Gücenme (no offense), and the jump-out track “Gavurlar” (infidels) wonders about the “weird state” he calls home but has nonetheless given him the tools to make the music he does.

This 2018 compilation, having no relation to Elmer Fudd, is subtitled Guitar and Folk Styles from Botswana, and that’s indeed what it delivers without a single fluffy creature getting hurt. The YouTube uploads of an expat named Johannes Vollebregt, who marveled at Botswanan guitarists’ four-stringed approach (one bass and three trebles) and the over-the-neck placement of the left hand — not to mention the hypnotic music the players generate — can be credited for getting the project started. “Fong Kong (Chinese Goods),” with its rock and roll chord changes, is a song by Solly Sebotso, who is an active but underappreciated (even in Botswana) singer songwriter who sings this track about imported goods mostly in the Tswanan language (and who contributes a total of three songs to the collection).

Ani Cordero is a New New York City-based singer-songwriter, but her roots go directly to Puerto Rico. Her song “Voy Caminando,” like all of her music, draws inspiration from the socially-aware nueva canción tradition, but its “I go walking, keep on walking” refrain resonates with a recharged sense of defiance in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

With Julius Caesarin Anatomia (Julius Caesar’s Anatomy), Joose Keskitalo is now eight albums deep in his resolutely Finnish (language and mentality) songwriting career. The title of this highlight with the Kalo (Finnish Roma) vibe translates to “we need to get out of here,” but you listen and wish he’ll stick around in whatever language he wants. Joose’s brother Alex handles the vocals, and the lead instrument is a bandoneon, the type of accordion favored in the tango music so many Finns adore.