PRI's The World » Tom Schnabel

Analog Africa Re-Issues ‘Diablos del Ritmo’

Tom Schnabel — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:00:13 +0000

There’s a great new collection on the Analog Africa label, a collection of re-issues called “Diablos del Ritmo” (the “Devils of Rhythm.”)

“The Colombian Melting Pot 1960 to 1985″ is the subtitle of this CD.

It’s a sensational and eclectic collection.

The three tracks I want to highlight are:
“El Caterete” by Wganda Kenya
“Quiero Mi Gente” by Abelardo Carbono
“Sabrosón” by Roberto de la Barrerra y su Piano

DJ Tom Schnabel Pays Tribute to Two Late African Artists

Tom Schnabel — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:00:40 +0000

I want to tell you about two new albums by two late-African artists that came across my desk recently.

The first one is by the Malian musician Zani Diabaté and Les Heritiers. The CD is called “Tientalaw.”
This was the last recording Diabaté made, in fact he died just a couple of weeks after this recording.
“Tientalaw” contains all the great grooves that made Diabaté famous.

The other album focuses on a really important artist from Guinea. His name is Sory Kandia Kouyaté.
His two-CD set is “La Voix De La Révolution.”

Kouyaté died at the age of 44 in 1977.

Sory Kandia Kouyaté’s voice is everything and few other singers can match him.

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Angola’s Waldemar Bastos and Classics of My Soul

Tom Schnabel — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:00:41 +0000

Waldemar Bastos was born in Portuguese Angola in 1954.

He was forced into exile during the post-independence civil war, but despite all the hardships and tragedy in his life (a son was killed in a Lisbon club) Bastos embraces beauty and positivity in his music.

His new album “Classics of My Soul” is like one big affirmation of everything that’s beautiful in life.

Some of the songs were performed with The London Symphony Orchestra.

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Songs of Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake, Baroque Style

Tom Schnabel — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:00:29 +0000

Giovanna Pessi, a Swiss harpist, and Susanna Wallumrød, a Norwegian pop vocalist, have teamed up on the album If Grief Could Wait.

The album has some original songs by Wallumrød that are really quite beautiful.

There are also cover versions by Henry Purcell, Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake.

All the songs on If Grief Could Wait are recorded in a baroque style.

In addition to the harp and vocals, there’s the viola da gamba and nyckelharpe.

One of the Leonard Cohen songs is “Who By Fire”.

One of the magical things about this record is that Susanna Wallumrød is a Norwegian pop singer and she’s been put into this classical baroque context.

You get a whole other dimension and that’s one of the things that makes this album so interesting.

This is music that just keeps giving you more and more beauty every time you listen to it.

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Afro-Funk & Soul From the 1970s and Today

Tom Schnabel — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 12:00:23 +0000

I’m a big fan of African music.

And Friday’s pick brings us one reissue and one new band doing old-school style, African music.

The reissue is by the group BLO (Berkley Jones/guitar, Laolu Akintobi/drums and Mike Odumosu/bass).

They’re Nigerian musicians from the 1970s and disbanded in 1982.

Their reissue is called “Step Three”.

Another album that caught my attention is by a new group called KonKoma.

Although it’s a newly recorded album, it definitely has that 1970s Afro-soul sound.

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Caravan Palace: Electro-Swing from France

Tom Schnabel — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 12:00:06 +0000

I’m delighted with the second album from Caravan Palace.

They’re a gypsy jazz group from France and they’ve created one of the most fun sounds this year.

The name of the album is Panic and it’s a great summer album.

“Rock It for Me” is kind-of a rock and roll song, but done in a very French way.

This is just typical of the fun that’s on the album.

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Yeahwon Shin takes on Brazilian classics

Tom Schnabel — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:10:37 +0000

Music critics listen to a lot of CD’s and a lot of new artists. Ocassionally, one of those new artists makes a big impression. For our Global Hit today, Tom Schnabel of station KCRW tells us about one such case Korean singer Yeahwon Shin. Download MP3>