Beijing. I bought a hilarious bike yesterday that’s about two sizes too small but too cool not to buy. It gets me to work in style plus manages fairly well on late-night voyages from downtown back up to the 4th ring where we’re relegated.

Nothing much to report yet music-wise unless you count the live C-pop at almost every cheesy bar in the city.. with the possible exception of a large and fun feathered hacky-sack and ballroom dancing Sunday night gathering at the lakes - more on that later. I’ve been working fairly long days and time-off has been spent playing the tourist a bit before I get jaded. Fun nights exploring different districts, necessary stops at cities Forbidden, good food, iffy weather.

Most importantly, my first impression of the people of Beijing is great: friendly, sharp, informal, sarcastic and funny. Olympic crackdown, perhaps, but the people more than anything make me already really like this city more than I expected. Plus the Beijing accent is great, even for someone who only speaks about four words of Mandarin.

Patience, patience.. I’ll come back to you with music soon. I’m here until mid-September, afterall, and the last month has been more than busy. A few contacts have been made and I’ve started to scope out the city. Language is a problem, but hopefully some local contacts will help me work that side out. If you happen to be reading this in Beijing and have some tips to share - music or otherwise - get in touch. The beer, as always, is on Benn loxo.

It’s finally Friday. Man, what a long week. More Lebanese, some Ugandan, a little Irish and more is in the pipeline. Now I’ll just find the time… in the meantime another brief Nigeria interlude:

Shortly before I first moved to Africa I picked-up a copy of Strut’s 2001 release, Nigeria 70. I was into West African music a bit before this, but that compilation really knocked me out. It made me excited to move nearby.

A few months later I would visit Nigeria for the first time. Thanks in large part to Nigeria 70 and the crate digging that it inspired my ability to talk about groups like Ofo & The Black Company and The Funkees opened many musical doors with the locals.

Those trips to Lagos and the music I picked-up there, all in a way inspired by Nigeria 70, formed the base of what would eventually become this web site and a long-lasting passion for West African contemporary music.

Lagos Jump is Strut’s latest Nigerian offiering. It’s out this month, available everywhere. With good liner notes by John Collins and a solid line-up of tracks, Lagos Jump is definitely worth checking out.

That Immortals track is especially killer.. makes me want to go surfing at Badagari beach. I’ll leave it for you to discover, especially since the K7/Strut guys asked that I post only the first track.

Sir Shina Peters - Yabis

Remember when we used to just sit back and listen to good Nigerian music?

And on an unrelated note, I’m going to spend about 60 days in China starting next month. Any tips on where to find/see/hear the good parts of Beijing’s music scene?

This Decca courtesy of the tireless Colombian, Fabian.

Heavy Brothers Construction - Jehova

Syria is a delicious country, so it’s no wonder that eating is the Syrian national pastime. Restaurants usually open at noon and stay open until 1 or 2 in the morning, peaking at around 11pm. All day your taste buds face a barrage of sweet tea mixed with apple or melon nargile smoke, honey-drizzled sweets, freshly-baked, cheese-filled pastries, cardamom-spiced coffee, freshly-pressed juices, spicy street foods, varieties of fine dips, and slow-cooked lamb.

Syrians get an especially dreamy look in their eyes when they speak of Aleppan food. As the name implies it comes from Syria’s second largest city, Aleppo. Among other techniques, Aleppans take the myriad of Syrian kebab types and cover them with lightly spiced sauces of pomegranate, dark cherry and more. There’s a certain finesse to all the Aleppan dishes, too. Eating Aleppan baba ganoush for the first time, for example, is a bit like having your first French knife-cut steak tatare after only having known American ground beef.

While variety of food isn’t a Syrian strong point, I imagine most Syrians would wonder why you would ever want to eat anything else? Spend a night eating at Damascus’ rather upscale restaurant Naranj or Aleppo’s wonderful Bait Sissi and you just might agree.

Syria is self-sufficient in food, meaning that it produces enough food domestically to feed its populace with little or no imports. Except for the occasional meddling of the Evil Empire of Nestle, ingredients are almost always fresh and local. Orange, pomegranates, dates, cherries, blackberries, strawberries, olives, honey, an incredible variety of spices, strangely appetizing salty and sweet goat cheeses… and lots of lamb. Amazing.

Equally delicious is the voice of Lena Chamamyan. This young Armenian-Syrian Damascene singer has been recently released her second album, Shamat.

Chamamyan blends traditional Syrian and Armenian music with oriental jazz. She works with a variety of talented musicians who back-up her beautiful voice.. one that has been rightly compared to Souad Massi.

Once again this album comes to us thanks to the efforts of Incognito/Majal. It’s great to see local labels like this do such a good job promoting local musicians. Quality production, great musical picks. Thanks.

Lena Chamamyan - Seher

Syria is a PR disaster thanks to some of the world’s worst foreign policy. Years of meddling and aggressive action has landed it a permanent spot on the rogue nation list. Among other things it has contributed to the continuing decline of its neighbour, Lebanon, through occupation and later with assassinations and sabotage. Syria has also embarked on numerous poorly organized and ultimately unsuccessful military campaigns against another neighbour, Israel. It hypocritically carries out a proxy war against Israel through Hezbollah, an organization that it would never allow to flourish as a political force within its own borders. Plus it has almost undeniably been involved in the international black market for uranium production with such bright lights as North Korea. The list goes on and on…

Domestically, however, it’s another story. Yes, it’s still a dictatorship with little room for organized dissent. But Syria is no Cuba: people can do as they please provided they don’t threaten the Ba’ath, and compared to the majority of its neighbours the country is a model for religious and ethnic tolerance. Don’t believe me? Think for a second about Jordan and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and then go talk to a Syrian Palestinian about their better life there. Head over to Lebanon and see the inter-community violence that doesn’t exist a few dozen kilometres down the road in Syria. Check-out women’s rights in Iran and Saudi Arabia and then see scarf-free girls chatting with friends, both men and women, at Damascus cafés.. in public.

Yes, Syria is quite poor and its incredible ability to make enemies and spend so much on the military isn’t helping that, but in general people are doing ok. It is probably the safest place I’ve ever visited and people are noticeably more relaxed, friendly and open than those I’ve met in surrounding countries. While everyone is talking about rising food and oil prices, they’re certainly not alone in that complaint.. and all in all pretty much everyone we met seemed largely content, if not disappointed that their country has such a bad rep. There is none of that feeling of tension or misery that I’ve encountered in so many other, supposedly democratic and non-rogue states.

I’m not defending despotism here, but I am trying to shatter the common belief amongst Westerners that Syria must be a horrible place to live. It’s not. In fact, if I was a student again and studying Arabic I’d happily spend a year there studying.. as many others do. It’s a favourite destination for Arab tourists and, increasingly, bus loads of Italians, Germans and French pensioner adventure-seekers.

When I left Damascus to visit Beirut for a few days I was reminded of the first time I visited Abidjan from Dakar. Abidjan, with its skyscrapers, nice roads and fancy boutiques stands in marked contrast to dusty, poor Dakar, especially the Dakar I first knew six years ago. But underneath all the glitz there was a horrible tension, pure racism in some cases, that spoilt Abidjan for me forever. I couldn’t live there.. and I feel the same about Beirut. For all its gleam and fun and, quite frankly, more sophisticated feel, I’d take Damascus over Beirut any day.

Anyway, I’ve said enough. Go see for yourself and let me know if you disagree. On to some Syrian music..

It was hard at first to find good contemporary Syrian music. As one guy in Hamaa put it, “I won’t tell you because I know you won’t like it.” He went on to say that Syrians are very emotional so the music they like tends to be overly romantic and.. cheesy. (He later told me that his favourite musician was Avril Lavigne.) Another guy in a market in Aleppo told me that his favourite Canadian musician was K.D. Lang because he liked the fact that she was “kind of butch, you know.” Most people inevitably spoke of Egyptian pop stars, plus the ubiquitous Celine Dion and Phil Collins.

Things changed when we arrived in Damascus. Record stores are much more prevalent there and concert posters on the walls of the old city imply the existence of a music scene, however small. There’s even a local distribution network called Majal, a division of Lebanon’s Incognito, that promotes local musicians and sells unpirated copies of their albums in stores around the city.

I left Syria just a few days before the latest round of Majal albums were to arrive at the record stores, but I still picked up a few that I hadn’t seen before. We’ll start with some music from a Majal sampler, The new oriental sounds from Syria. It was released by Incognito in 2007 to promote the “alternative Arabic music scene” in Syria.

The first track is by Hewar, a Syrian jazz project co-founded by the talented clarinetist, Kinan Azmeh. You can find it on his 2006 full-length, 9 Days of Solitude. Hewar, by the way, means “dialogue”.

Next a lovely Syrian classical track by Dima Orsho and Gaswan Zerikly. It reminds me a lot of Dawn Upshaw’s White Moon.

More tomorrow.. when we must also discuss the wonders of Syrian food.

Hewar - Wedding
Gaswan Zerikly - Ma Ihtiyali

I was in Beirut a couple weeks ago just before the last flare-up. How strange to have just returned from this beautiful city with its great restaurants, fun bars, nice coast and true-to-name “Paris of the Middle East” neighbourhoods, only to hear that Hezbollah guerrillas were now occupying buildings around the hotel we were staying in.

That’s what makes this city unique: in the midst of all this tension construction continues at a feverish pace, nightclubs keep bumping, bars keep serving great cocktails, and pensioner joggers with their iPods bounce down the corniche.

That said, Beirut isn’t all fun and drink. The tension while we were there was real: the tanks were everywhere, people were maybe more reserved than usual, and roadblocks/sit-ins had all but closed large parts of downtown plus many other parts of the city. The drive from Damascus still offers views of the unfinished bridge that was blown up during the last round of fighting with Israel, and pock-marked buildings stand ominously beside new Starbucks, Lina’s and Virgin Megastores.

But the Beirut nightlife is no myth. I have this lasting memory of a group of four beautiful girls in a BMW convertible, hands in the air, dancing in their seats as they drive towards Monot street. Many of the bars we went to are definitely up to Paris standards. And while the scene is seemingly smaller than I had imagined, there’s no denying that this is a fun city. A classy city. My nights out there definitely reminded me of Tel Aviv bar hops a couple years back.

So we’ll hear one track today from an album that’s getting old but I still enjoy. Soapkills are a Lebanese trip-hop group featuring the lovely voice of Yasmine Hamdan over Zeid Hamdan’s beats.

The track you’ll hear is off their last release from way back in 2002, Cheftak. They should hopefully have some new stuff coming out soon. Check-out their MySpace page if you want to hear/learn more.

We can thank Mary Louise Congo for her wonderful eye on this and many other photos on this site.

Soapkills - Cheftak

Tomorrow I’m off to Syria for a couple weeks. I can’t wait. That means no Benn loxo posts for a while, but I’ll try my best to come home with some good Syrian tunes to share.

Before I go, let’s dive into my small collection of Syrian music. Think of this as a pre-Syria post.. armchair before experience.

First we’ll hear some music by Syrian-born musician, Abed Azrié. It’s perhaps not fair to call his music “Syrian” since he’s lived in France for most of his life and openly prefers it over here. At the same time it’s a good place to start since the Syrian and other Arabian influences are very obvious in his music. Also, his tunes are put together in such a way that it’s pleasing to your average Western ear. You can grab plenty of his albums over at Calabash.

The pseudo-documentarians at Wikipedia claim that Jeff Buckley was a big fan, and that the two once had lunch together. Maybe if Buckley hadn’t died so tragically young he and Azrié could have collaborated on some music. Now that’d be interesting.

(Sidenote: I was lucky enough to see Jeff Buckley live in Toronto shortly before he died. Needless to say, it was an amazing show.)

Anyway, back to Syria, or rather another Syrian expat with strong ties to home. Zein al-Jundi’s album, Traditional Songs From Syria, is beautiful. Originally from Damascus, she got her break when the Syrian government asked her to perform at the re-opening of Syria’s famous Roman amphitheatre in Bosra.. where I’ll hopefully be in a few days.

In recent years she’s been living in Austin, Texas, studying architecture and interior design. I know Austin’s a cool city and all, but it’s still strange to imagine a female Syrian expat architect going home after a Masters class to jam on some traditional Arabic music.. in Texas.

Next we’ll bring it down a notch with some Syrian sufi chants.

Let’s end on a dancing note. Lastly we’ll hear a couple tracks off the great Rough Guide compilation, Bellydance Café, by the Salatin el Tarab Orchestra and the Jalal Joubi Ensemble.

See you in a couple weeks.

Abed Azrié - Eau et vent
Abed Azrié - Abou - Saadiyah
Zein al-Jundi - Hayyamatni
Zein al-Jundi - Ya Ein Mulayyetein
Muhammad Hakim, Abdullah Rihawi, Abdulrahman Halak, Ahmad Machal, Muhannad Alwan, Ahmad Moslemani, Bakri Basal, Abdulhadi Kasara, Omar Shaban Hosayn, Ibrahim Karman - Khummari

Salatin el Tarab Orchestra - Helm
Jalal Joubi Ensemble - Marmar Zamani

Buenos Aires is shrouded in smoke these days. It’s sort of appropriate for today’s post since we’re going to ROCK OUT.

Sorry, I just wanted to write that. But really, if we’re going to “hear” Buenos Aires it’s certainly not by chilling out to some Martha Argerich piano music. While stunningly beautiful, Argerich isn’t exactly playing what the Argentinian kids are into these days.

Argentina is, after all, a rock nacion. A rock nacional nation.

I’m not going to attempt anything comprehensive here. We’ll just listen to bits and pieces of Argentinian rock, or rather rock-ish music that I like from over the years.

Let’s start back in the 1980s. After his buddy Ian Curtis of Joy Division-fame died, this Italian guy named Luca Prodan decided to kick his heroin habit by moving to Argentina. After a while he got some musicians together and formed the group Sumo.

The 80s weren’t exactly a hot cultural time for Argentina thanks to its military dictatorship, but Sumo managed to gain a large fan base and release a bunch of albums. Their music is heavy on the reggae and ska.. no surprise since Prodan was coming from 1980s London and Manchester.

Next we’ll hear something from a band you probably already know: Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. They rose to fame in Buenos Aires in the mid-80s and hit their peak around the mid-90s with the release of Matador, which you’ll hear today. You can see the video here.

Up next is music by Argentina’s hardest to pronounce rock band, Bersuit Vergarabat. These guys are big-time in the Spanish-speaking world, having cleaned-up numerous times at MTV América Latina Awards and VMAs. The album that today’s track is from, Hijos del Culo, went double-platinum. Great cover.

Now we go rocking into the now with some “garange punk” from Los Peyotes. These guys definitely have a great look, and I find myself charmed by their music. ..much in the same way I love The Monks. You can see some of their videos on YouTube.

I see that Los Peyotes are playing with the New York Dolls in Buenos Aires today, April 18th. That’d be fun.. bit of a long flight for me, though. If you go, tell us how it is!

Next you’ll hear something a little different: some country/folk rock by Los Alamos. I don’t know much about these guys except that I read about them on Argentinian “indie rock” web sites. I like their sound.

Same goes for Rosario Bléfari. She’s a Buenos Aires musician who appears to be really into jumping around in bathing suits.. I guess I like that in a woman. Her music is great, too. Today’s track comes off her 2004 release, Estaciones.

Before we leave Argentina it’s only fair that I slip in one, just one, contemporary tango track. I know, I know. Rock fans probably would hate the mix, but I’m over it, and La Chicana’s track is appropriately named Dolor Wolof.

Hasta la próxima.

Sumo - Kaya
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - Matador
Bersuit Vergarabat - El gordo motoneta
Los Peyotes - Cry Baby
Los Alamos - Cola de cascabel
Rosario Bléfari - Cartas
La Chicana - Dolor wolof

Wait.. just.. one.. more.. or maybe two. These two covers are too funny to skip:

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - Strawberry Fields Forever
Los Peyotes - Fuego

It’s the middle of the week and our ears and minds are tired; it’s time for some music that’s a little more delicate than usual.

The first time I visited Buenos Aires I randomly met a group of people at some hostel who were big into the Argentinian contemporary dance scene. Not exactly your average hostel crowd. I tagged along with them for a night on the town in my one change of clothes, during which we saw a beautiful dance performance followed by a classic Buenos Aires pub crawl. It was a wonderfully unpretentious approach to “high culture”.. the kind of evenings I aspire to.

Anyway, I was/am researching a post on Argentinian pop when I remembered this night and tried to recall the name of the dance production. This led to sites about Buenos Aires’ classical music scene where eventually I learnt that Martha Argerich, one of the greatest modern-day pianists, was born in Buenos Aires. She got her musical start there, studying and performing her first concerts before leaving for Europe at the age of 14.

Argerich: perfect for today’s post. We’ll put aside tango and rock nacional for a second and have a close listen to a truly gifted pianist while thinking of one of my favourite cities in the world, Buenos Aires.

I saw Martha Argerich perform in Paris last year at the Salle Pleyel. She seemed indifferent to the crowd (what I’ve since learned is her trademark) and appeared to be coming down with a head cold, but the music was beautiful. She’s famous for hating to play solo and occasionally cancels her own concerts at the last minute. This night, however, she showed up, wowed the crowd, and even played on her own for a bit.

For those of you who don’t know Martha Argerich don’t worry since she goes to great lengths not to be known. Though she’s a tireless promoter of young classical musicians, Argerich herself rarely does interviews and plays few (public) concerts. When she does perform it’s rarely alone since she says that she gets “lonely” on stage. Regardless of these idiosyncrasies you’ll often hear her name mentioned in the same breath as the likes of ‘Vladimir Horowitz’ and other great modern pianists.

The piece we’ll hear today is a 1980 composition by Alexandre Rabinovitch, performed by himself and Argerich, recorded at the Radiostudio Bern on November 24, 1993. It’s quite different from the regular batch of Chopin, Bach and Prokofiev usually associated with Martha Argerich, but it’s beautiful.. I love it.. and it’s probably more suited to this site than most of her recordings. Amazingly, you can now buy it at Emusic.

Scholars with a good ear will hear that “the emphatic assertion of the motif in D major from Brahms’s lied, Es liebt sich so lieblich in Lenze, is counterbalanced by the insistent sadness of the Serenade in D minor by Schubert.”

The rest of us will just hear a beautiful, flowing work for two pianos.

Now.. if Rob would only start his classical music audioblog, then we’d all be set.

Martha Argerich & Alexandre Rabinovitch - Liebliches Lied

I’ve been to Istanbul a couple times now. I love it.

I was there a few weeks ago working on the Asian bank at Samanyolu TV, one of the stations in the Gülen media empire. It made for an interesting contrast since I’d spend most of the day at a moderate Islamic television station on the, generally speaking, more conservative Asian shore of Istanbul, then at night I’d return home to the bars, restaurants and nightlife in Beyoğlu, Taksim.

Indeed, the clichés you read about in guidebook intros are spot-on: the city is wedged between Europe and Asia/Middle East, between secularism and Islam, and between older traditions and contemporary Western culture. The politics, geography and even the hip-hop all reflect this.

A lot of Turkish hip-hop musicians are actually based in Germany where the movement got its start. With over two million Turks in Germany, it’s no surprise that the music started there as an outlet for disenfranchised Turkish youth struggling to fit-in to German society.

It’d be hard to be a rapper in Turkey itself. You couldn’t be too fuck-the-man since that might land you in jail for “insulting Turkishness” under the infamous penal code 301, and generally speaking Turkey is quite a polite society with courts that aren’t too tolerant of defamation.

Regardless of its Turko-German roots, Turkish hip-hop at home or abroad remains very Turkish and many rappers are increasingly now based in Turkey. Almost all major Turkish MCs in Germany or Turkey rap in Turkish rather than German or English, and since it’s early days Turkish DJs have mixed traditional Turkish instruments, melodies and rhythms with 808 beats and that American hip-hop sound. You’ll hear some examples of that today: traditional instruments like the bağlama, kemençe and davul are often playing in the background.

We should start our tour with the Germany-based Turkish hip-hop supergroup, Cartel. They are generally credited with starting the Turkish hip-hop movement in the mid-1990s after the release of their self-titled debut on Polygram. Not only did they rap in Turkish and use Turkish melodies in their mixes, but their music was very popular in both Germany and Turkey.

After almost killing each other in a fight in 1996 the members of Cartel went their separate ways and several of them were jailed. This plus some controversial lyrics got their debut album banned in Turkey. It wasn’t re-released until 2004. As a result, hip-hop in Turkey in the late 90s went underground for a while.. but the flame had been lit.

A few years later two rappers, Ceza and Dr. Fuchs, started a rap group called Nefret. The group was immediately popular and Ceza would soon become Turkey’s most famous rapper, and arguably one of its most influential Turkish musicians in any genre.

When Ceza released his album Rapstar in 2004 hip-hop was firmly established on the Turkish musical scene. Even the hugely popular Turkish pop star, Tarkan, suggested that he’d start incorporating some hip-hop into his music. Check-out some of Ceza’s videos on YouTube, including his most popular release to date, Holocaust.

Following Ceza’s success several new rappers came to the forefront, among them Sagopa Kajmer. He’s probably one of the best/most popular Turkish rappers around these days. Listen carefully to the second track by Kajmer that I’ll post today; the references are golden. You can see his videos on YouTube. Check-out how many views he’s getting and it’ll give you an idea of his popularity. (I might even have to add him as a friend on Facebook..)

Next, for those who still might associate Istanbul with veiled women we’ll hear some tracks by two female MCs, Sultana and Kolera. Kolera has worked closely with Sagopa Kajmer over the years. She has plenty of videos on YouTube and a MySpace page if you want to learn more. Sultana has some videos on YouTube, too.

Lastly some music by Fuat Ergin. I include this because he raps in Turkish but was born in Germany and has lived there most of his life… and yet still feels a very strong connection to Turkey. Fuat Ergin and many others like him reflect the strong ties that remain between the Turkish diaspora and Turkey, even a generation after their emigration. Video here.

Cartel - Cartel
Ceza - Araturka Fasli
Ceza - Yerli Plaka
Sagopa Kajmer - Al 1′de Burdan Yak
Sagopa Kajmer - Kirik Cocuk (Mickolodium mix)
Sultana - Com Kaymak
Kolera - Bugun mutlu olmayacak gibiyim
Fuat - Her Ayin Elemani

I spent some time last month in Copenhagen, Denmark, working at the new DR Byen complex (Danmarks Radio City, above).

Sure, the project is over-budget and riddled with controversy. But if you ask me, DR Byen is beautiful. The symphony hall, still under construction, is by Jean Nouvel and contains several concert halls, the largest of which seats 1,600 people. The large hall is suspended in air on three columns and features, among many other niceties, a hydraulic roof that raises or lowers to adjust the room’s acoustics to the music being played inside. Time will tell whether the acoustics measure up but I’m all for trying new things.. and man, that organ by J. L. van den Heuvel Orgelbouw is going to be amazing.

DR Byen’s main building is actually four buildings by four architects, stuck to each other around a glass atrium. Each building is distinct. I got the feeling while walking around inside that I was in an episode of the Jetsons. Actually, a better comparison would be Royskopp’s video for Remind Me. Smiling Danes who have just arrived by silent, driverless, above-ground metros, people-moved around by escalators in their stylishly Danish clothes, unwittingly cooled by groundwater, warmed by solar panels, their TVs pumped satellite feeds from amazing Australian dual satellite antennas on the roof that automatically tilt and rotate to find the best signal.

The city itself is great, too. Yeah, it’s wildly expensive to eat out, but life is good. Great shops around the Latin Quarter, cool bars around Istedgade in Vesterbro, nice parks…

And the bikes, oh the bikes, they’re a truly beautiful thing. Beautiful people riding beautiful bikes on beautifully wide bike lanes. Man, these bike lanes are so big that some of them even have turn lanes. Bertrand Delanoë may have done wonders for biking in Paris, but after seeing Copenhagen we still have a long, long way to go. The guy I was working with said that around 35% of all Copenhagen residents take their bike to work every day. Think about that for a second. That’s an enormous percentage.

While looking across the water at the Turning Torso in Malmö, Sweden, through the giant wind turbines that rise mysteriously out of the water and across the cross-country bridge, I found myself thinking that it may be a cliché, but yes, Scandinavia is a glimpse into an idyllic future.

So today - you guessed it - we’ll be hearing some Danish music.

First up, Under Byen. I first heard these guys over at Aurgasm a while back. Their 2006 release, Samme stof som stof, is particularly good. You’ll hear one track off that album and another from 2002’s Det er mig der holder træerne sammen.

Next, a track off Anders Trentemøller’s interesting 2006 release, The Last Resort.

The fourth is by Efterklang from their 2007 release, Parades. You can see the video for Mirador here.

Last but not least, a strange but lovely track by Jomi Massage. I also caught her first on Aurgasm.. a constant source of great music.

See you next week.

Under Byen - Batteri Generator
Under Byen - Tindrer
Trentemøller - Take Me Into Your Skin
Efterklang - Mirador
Jomi Massage - Mission

During one of my recent trips to London my old friend James and I went to see Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar. I had always wanted to go to the Bucovina Club nights in Frankfurt but never made it over, so I’d finally catch-up with Shantel at a London venue conveniently near work, Koko.

If you’ve been to one of Shantel’s shows or a Bucovina night you’ll know that they’re a lot of fun. What’s not to like about a German DJ playing live then spinning tunes of heavy brassed Balkan dance music? The venue was great, too, and the crowd was dancing like mad.

The next night James and I found ourselves at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club in East London. As it happens, while sipping beers in a hall that reminded me of childhood Ukrainian weddings, the DJs filled our ears all night with gypsy brass attacks… my week in London was taking a definite turn for the Balkans.

My Paris has been heading that way lately, too. Zaklina had us doing strong Balkan shots at a Serbian dance party in a bar near my apartment not so long ago; Louise and I stumbled into a gypsy jazz party a few weeks ago; Alex reminded us all of the wonders of the cymbalom a couple months ago…

As my friend Emmanuel pointed out the other night this certainly isn’t the first time that big brass, cymbaloms and other things musically Balkan have invaded the clubs and mixtapes of Western Europe. A few years ago Taraf de Haïdouks were all the rage in France, and many others have come and gone since

But this time, personally, I’m more into it. I find myself listening to Boban Markovic and Fanfare Ciocărlia often now, and not just for a little horn fix.

It was the success of people and groups like Markovic and the various Fanfares from Serbia, Romania, Albania and elsewhere that Shantel built on to bring his Bucovina to the masses. So today we’ll start with some Shantel, move to his influences, then finish up with a couple favourites to round off the post.

You can see the video of Shantel’s big hit here. The second Shantel track I’ll post is an older mix from 2003 featuring the Boban Markovic Orchestrar.

We’ll hear two tracks from Boban Markovic: the first from his 2003 collaborative release with his 15-year-old son, Marko; the second from his 2005 release, The Promise. (I had a chance to see Boban Markovic in Paris the other night but I had already bought tickets to see Alela Diane. Alela was amazing, though, so no worries. Next time.)

Next some music by the wonderful Romanian group, Fanfare Ciocărlia. Romanian.. I’ve always had a thing for that language. I’ve got to visit the country someday soon. The first track is off their latest album, 2007’s Queens and Kings, and the second is from their first wide-release, Radio Pascani from back in that glorious year, 1998.

As I mentioned above a few weeks ago my friend Alex re-introduced us to the wonders of the cymbalom, a string instrument akin to an inside-out piano that’s very popular in Romanian traditional music. Today we’ll hear what’s easily my favourite track off Alex’s mix by the Romanian super-group, Clejani Express. It’s from their 2007 release, A Devla. I’ve caught myself singing this while riding my bike to work on a number of occasions.. you can imagine the strange looks this gets me from the Parisian passers-by, baguette and small dog in tow.

Last we’ll hear a tune that caught my ear by a Croatian band, now based in France, Darko Rundek & Cargo Orkestar.

We owe much of this music to the fine Germans at Piranha Records. If you’re into this stuff check-out their amazing catalogue of Balkan music. A lot of the Piranha albums are available for download at Calabash and Emusic.

Shantel - Disko Partizani
Shantel feat. Boban Markovic Orkestar - Disko (Friends of Boban mix)
Boban Markovic - Balkan Fest
Boban Markovic Orkestar - Voz
Fanfare Ciocărlia - Duj Duj
Fanfare Ciocărlia - Hora cu Strigaturii
Clejani Express - Foaie Verde
Darko Rundek & Cargo Orkestar - Ista Slika

I was going to post about something else today, but last night we were invited by some friends in Paris for some mean, home-made Indian food. After dinner we all settled into a trashy Hindi movie, Gangaa Jamunaa Saraswathi, starring everyone’s favourite megastar, Amitabh Bachchan… as you do.

The first time I (deliberately) saw Bachchan on the silver screen was in Toronto in 2002 at the Ontario Place IMAX theatre. There he was, in mega-widescreen, making out with ladies in front of the pyramids or shedding a single tear, with a four hour-long sonic backdrop of orgiastic, string-infused music.

The movie was called Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and it would eventually become one of the most popular titles ever in the history of Indian cinema.. in that horrible yet occasionally amazing way that mega-Hollywood films like Titanic are tops over here.

I made friends at intermission who filled me in on the subtler details of over-the-top Bollywood contemporary film. The crowd was really into it, and the man they were all there to see was Amitabh Bachchan.

This guy is so popular that when in 1983 he fell into a coma after being injured on the set of the film “Coolie” all of India went into mourning. Apparently millions of people from all faiths and backgrounds prayed, plus thousands gave blood and kept a candlelit vigil outside his hospital. An article I read in Time Magazine claims that “one fan ran 800 km backwards across India in jubilation”.

Needless to say, he recovered. While the movie I saw last night signalled his temporary downfall in the late 80s he would rise again during the 90s to regain the title of India’s favourite movie star. And why not? Anyone who can talk to cobras, wrestle crocodiles, get the ladies and still do a mean dance is ace in my books.

Now my Indian music collection is sub-par, but I do have a few favourite tracks related to Bollywood that I could share with you today.

First of all, don’t miss the final scene from the movie I saw last night, Gangaa Jamunaa Saraswathi. Watch until the end when he shows up with the croc. Classic.

Next, one of my favourite 70s Bollywood tracks is “My Heart Is Beating” by Preeti Sagar from the 1975 movie, Julie. The video is fantastic.

In 2005 The Kronos Quartet released a beautiful album of music from R.D. Burman’s Bollywood music called You’ve Stolen My Heart. My favourite remake is from the 1971 movie, Caravan. You can see the original scene/song here. (And in case you’re wondering, yes, Bachchan was in several of R.D. Burman’s films in the mid-1970s.)

For the sake of completion I’ll include a track from the Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham soundtrack. It’s cheesy, sure, but see the movie and you might understand why it’s also amazing.

Last but not least we’ll throw a little Madlib into the mix. He’s my favourite hiphop producer, and even he is into Bollywood. His 2007 release, Beat Konducta Vol. 3 & 4: In India, uses Bollywood clips as the basis for all the mixes. Some great video here.

Feels good to be back.

Preeti Sagar - My Heart Is Beating
Kronos Quartet - Piya tu ab to aaja
Bole Chudiyan
Madlib - Masala

Alright, before we get re-started let me lay down some ground rules:

I’ll only post
- music from countries I’ve been to or will soon visit, OR
- music directly related to experiences in my life

I don’t want to stray too far here, but if I stick to the above two rules we’ll keep things in line. I’ll also be able to use my own photos and travel anecdotes this way.. which makes the posting way easier.

The second rule is there because if I stumble into a great Tunisian dance party in Paris there’s no reason, as far as I’m concerned, that I can’t write about it.

And with that, we’re off…

ps- if you, as in you, the reader, have been somewhere with great music then please get in touch and we’ll put together a guest post.

A few of you have noticed that I’ve been away for quite a while. Thanks for the e-mails and comments urging me back.. it won’t be long now.

I’ve been traveling a lot over the past couple months to England, Austria, Turkey, Denmark, Canada and soon Syria, Ireland, China and who knows where else. Needless to say, all that plus a busy schedule whenever I’ve been back in Paris has kept me off the blog.

With all the travels lately I’ve been thinking of changing Benn loxo a bit. I’d like to hear your thoughts: would you still read/listen to Benn loxo if it expanded beyond Africa?

I’ll be in China for two months this summer, for example. What about a series on contemporary Chinese music as I see it live in Beijing? Or recordings straight from the souks of Syria? …or even electro-pop from Copenhagen and Turkish hip-hop. You see where I’m going here?

African music would still feature on the site, sure, but Benn loxo would no longer be exclusively African.

I leave it with you: good idea?

See you soon. I’ll throw something together tonight.

Cheers
Matt

Wow, now that’s an amazing photo. Serge is definitely in margaritaville.

I’m going to devote the last post in this Mauritius series to Serge Lebrasse. Once again this music comes from the collection of Benn loxo listener, DR. Thanks again, DR, for all the music.

Serge Lebrasse brings us, in DR’s words, “standard hotel entertainment sega, made charming by the passage of the years and an extremely competent band.” He also has an amazing collection of colourful shirts.. just Google Images the guy if you don’t believe me.

I positively love the first track you’ll hear today, Maurice Mo Pays. The second is more of that “standard sega” sound, albeit in an old school way that gives it a nice feel. Makes me want to blend-up a daiquiri. Maybe I will…

The last track, Cyclone Carol, is based on real events - Carol was the worst weather ever to hit the island.

ps- Before we sign-off Mauritius Week #2 I’d like to give a shout-out to Caroline, without whom DR never would have traveled to Mauritius. We can thank her by extension for much of the great music we’ve heard this week!

Serge Lebrasse - Maurice Mo Pays
Serge Lebrasse - Madame Euzene
Serge Lebrasse - Cyclone Carol

How would you characterize this music? Rootsy sega? “Traditional Mauritian”? Who knows.. but whatever, I like the rhythm.

Two tracks today with a similar beat. We’ll call it roots sega until someone educates me.

The title of the first by Ras Mayul, Ras Carosin and Zotsa translates into “the heritage of our ancestors”. Say no more.

The second by Cassombo. This is one of these tracks that I could see easily folded into a hiphop track by Madlib, or maybe a wide-angle opening shot in a movie set in a stereotypical tropical African locale…

I have to admit that I’m only half into Mauritius tonight because I just received a copy of Analog Africa’s African Scream Contest in the mail. I can’t wait to give it a listen. All Benn loxo fans with even the faintest interest in African popular music should get over to Analog Africa and buy a copy when it’s released in March.

Ras Mayul, Ras Carosin ek Zotsa - Leritaz nu Ancet
Cassambo - Mo zeneration dan sega

Today we’ll hear some more reggae-ragga urban island music from Mauritius, courtesy of DR.

Jean Clario Cateaux, a.k.a. Blakkayo, is now a member of the Otentikk Street Brothers who I featured a couple posts ago.

Today’s tracks come from another cassette submitted by Benn loxo reader, DR: Blakkayo’s 2000 release, Tcheck To Life.

I love the description of Blakkayo given on OSB’s MySpace page: “In everyday life a rather calm appearance, with the first notes of the first riddim on stage Blakkayo transforms into a beast.”

As for the music, well, I wouldn’t characterize it as “beastly”, but I have to say that I find it pretty catchy. Seriously, next time you’re making breakfast on a Sunday morning, play today’s two tracks. They’ll make your girlfriend dance - I promise.

You can see Blakkayo live with Monaster over at YouTube.

Blakkayo - Man dir mwa
Blakkayo - To Bam Bam

Benn loxo reader, DR, came through huge with a collection of cassettes that he picked up in Mauritius a few years ago.

The first music we’ll hear from his collection is by another leading Mauritian rap group, MonAster.

Today’s second track, Bikini, is more your standard tropical hiphop outing, while the first, Pour Toi, has them rapping over a sega-esque beat. Nice stuff.

Also, in DR’s own words,

“here’s a slightly surreal YouTube video of them rapping about telecommunications over a ‘zoukous’ soundtrack, with footage of some ladies in very short skirts…”

Amazing. But personally I prefer their Japanese samarai work. Plenty more vidoes over here, too.

DR warned me that some of the tracks are a little heavy on tape hiss since they were dubbed without “Dolby”. Man, if there’s one reason to keep collecting African music it’s gotta be that I get to keep using terms like Dolby A, B and C. Ah, the mixtape memories…

MonAster - Pour Toi
MonAster - Bikini