The Weekend Planet

Fragile Beauty is unmistakably Vietnamese, yet full of hybrid vigour... and delicacy. Happily, Huong Thanh made an incorrect assumption in 1977, when she and her parents moved from Vietnam to Paris. The then-17-year-old singer was in tears, thinking ‘my dream of performing on stages had turned to dust.’ In 2008 she’s renowned worldwide as a superb singer and very interesting recording artist. On her new CD are many fine musicians of highly diverse backgrounds - most crucially, its co-leader, producer and guitarist Nguyên Lê.

Discover more about the singer and the new CD here:

www.actmusic.com/product_info.php?products_id=217&show=2

and:
www.actmusic.com/artist_detail.php?bio=1&manufacturers_id=12

Nguyen Lê’s site is here:
www.nguyen-le.com

www.antoniosanchez.net/press.html

Playlist

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Details of each track are presented in the following order:
BROADCAST TIME
TRACK NUMBER AND TITLE
COMPOSER
PUBLISHING AND COPYRIGHT DETAILS
RECORDING COMPANY AND CD NUMBER
( distributor/ source details, in brackets like this, in lower-case)
ARTIST AND CD TITLE
Duration of track
Description of track, in lower-case.
Where relevant, further info links to information, gigs/events/related programs

’THE WEEKEND PLANET’ SAT 19. 4 08

2205
THEME:
(details below, as per the original CD.. This cut is also on these compilations Ketama - ’ Nuevos Medios Coleccion’ - Nuevos Medios NM 15 820
{ in Australia via MGM www.thegroovemerchants.com
worldwide, via: www.flamenco-world.com/noticias/nuevos.htm }
and ’ Jarabi - the best of Toumani Diabate’ (Hannibal 334352 )

CD CUT 1, ’ JARABI’
TRAD, ARR TOUMANI DIABATE
HAMILCAR MUSIC LTD
HANNIBAL HNCD 1323
( in Australia, some releases through Stomp Enquiries to: ben@stomp.com.au
worldwide: www.rykodisc.com )
KETAMA, TOUMANI DIABATE, DANNY THOMPSON - ’ SONGHAI’
THIRTY SECONDS (EXCERPT)
(retains a stately-Manding air, whilst also embracing flamenco elements. Toumani Diabate’ s kora, Danny Thompson’ s beautiful double bass and Ketama’ s flamenco guitars )

2207
CD CUT 3, ’FAITHFULNESS’
HUONGH THANH, MIEKO MIYAZAKI AND NGUYÊN LÊ.
PUB NOT SPEC
ACT MUSIC ACT 9451-2
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
worldwide: www.actmusic.com )
HUONGH THANH AND NGUYÊN LÊ - ’FRAGILE BEAUTY’
3: 35
(Vietnamese, spacious: Huong Thanh’s female voice, Nguyên Lê’s elec guitar and guitar-synth, and Mieko Miyazaki’s koto. The Japanese plucked, long-board zither is a cousin to the Vietnamese dàn tranh. Elsewhere on this CD koto and danh tranh can be heard, together. This song depicts a lonely bird, deep in the forest. ’The bird dreams lovingly of his cage’ )

SEGUE

2211
CD CUT 4 - ’MALI IWA’
NGUYÊN LÊ
PUB NOT SPEC
ACT 9444-2
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
worldwide: www.actmusic.com )
NGUYÊN LÊ DUOS - ’HOMESCAPE’
6: 25
(Rythmic, conspicuously ’world’-ly. Based on a New Guinean chant that celebrates the death of an enemy. Shades of Miles Davis in Paolo Fresu’s {post-Milesian} muted trumpet, with Nguyên Lê’s electric guitar... plus sampled/processed percussion, electronics and reverse-sampled Papuan voices )

SEGUE

2217
CD CUT 11, ’THE SWALLOW’S BRIDGE’
IN PART TRAD, ARR NGUYÊN LÊ, WITH NEW LYRICS BY NGUYÊN VAN-HONG
PUB NOT SPEC
ACT MUSIC ACT 9451-2
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
worldwide: www.actmusic.com )
HUONGH THANH AND NGUYÊN LÊ - ’FRAGILE BEAUTY’
6: 18
( Begins spare-dramatically, with koto alone.. Huong Thanh’s Vietnamese female voice soon enters, followed by Nguyên Lê’s various electric guitars/modified guitars, electronics, Paolo Fresu’s trumpets and processed-chorused trumpets and electronics, plus others’ bamboo balafon, hand-percussion, fretless elec bass and drums. Becomes a celebratory groover, with post-Miles-Davis-funk and other aspects. When translated from Vietnamese, the lyric - in part - says this:

’Joining their wings, the swallows build a bridge where the lovers meet.
May fate keep them together!’ )

2224
CD (DISC ONE) CUT 7, ’HELEN’S SONG’
GEORGE CABLES
PUB NOT SPEC
KIND OF BLUE RECORDS KOB 10024
( no Australian distributor.
Readily available online, worldwide.
www.kindofbluerecords.com )
GEORGE CABLES - ’YOU DON’T KNOW ME’
6: 06
( a sweet and happy, wordless love song for solo piano. Its dedicatee is George’s wife of many years )

SEGUE

2230
CD (DISC TWO) CUT 10, ’ANA MARIE’ (SAYS THE LISTING. I THINK IT SHOULD BE ’ANA MARIA ’)
WAYNE SHORTER
PUB NOT SPEC
KIND OF BLUE RECORDS KOB 10024
( no Australian distributor.
Readily available online, worldwide.
www.kindofbluerecords.com )
GEORGE CABLES - ’YOU DON’T KNOW ME’
5: 16
( Also a love song for its composer’s wife. At least in this version, more complex, intimate/multi-faceted than the cut-previous. Ana Maria Shorter was very much alive when Shorter composed the piece - and when it became famous. She died in a plane crash in 1996. Shorter did remarry - to a friend of hers )

2239
CD CUT 11, ’NIGHT DREAMER’
WAYNE SHORTER, ARR ANDREA KELLER
PUB NOT SPEC
ABC JAZZ ABC 476 6238
( in Australia through Universal. Available at ABC shops
& online: www.abcshop.com.au )
ANDREA KELLER - ’FOOTPRINTS: THE WAYNE SHORTER PROJECT’
2: 48
(AUSTRAL PERF: Andrea-only, but twice-over, interweaving her grand piano and her nord electronic keyboard.

LIKE TO KNOW WHEN/ WHERE ANDREA KELLER PLAYS?

Her gig details are always here:
www.andreakellerpiano.com/gigs.html )

SEGUE

2242
CD CUT 4, ’BACHIANAS BRASILEIRAS NO 5’
HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS
PUB NOT SPEC
VERVE 314 543 558-2
(Through Universal
www.vervemusicgroup.com/verve/default.asp )
WAYNE SHORTER - ALEGRIA’
5: 58
( Shorter’s tenor sax ( in middle, multiples of him ), Charles Curtis’ cello, Alex Acuna’s percussion, John Patitucci’s ac bass plus a cello ensemble. Elegant, ingenious and propulsive too. Bach is v much still here,’ but this has much more ’Afro-Brazilian’ than most versions)

2249
CD CUT 5, ’QUEEN OF SYDNEY’
PAUL MCCANDLESS
PUB NOT SPEC
ABC CLASSICS 476 6452
( in Australia through Universal. Available at ABC shops
and online: www.abcshop.com.au )
IMOGEN MANINS, TONY GOULD, DAVID JONES - ’UNDER THE TALL TREES’
8: 44
(AUSTRAL PERF AND ARR: Imogen’s cello { bowed and metronomic-plucked }, David’s percussion, Tony’s piano. Spacious-cyclic-repetitive.. with improvisatory parts. From the repertoire of the quartet Oregon {McCandless is Oregon’s reeds player} - a favourite of Imogen’s )

2258
CD CUT 1, ’WINGLESS FLIGHT’
NGUYÊN LÊ
ACT MUSIC ACT 9432-2
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
worldwide: www.actmusic.com )
NGUYÊN LÊ QUARTET - ’WALKING ON THE TIGER’S TAIL’
0: 30 ( excerpt )
(Cheerfully-perky-restless: - the leader’s elec guitar, pianist Art Lande, Paul McCandless on soprano sax , and drummer-percussionist Jamey Haddad )

----
11 PM NEWS
----

2305
CD CUT 7, ’ROWING THE SAMPAN’
TRAD VIETNAMESE, ARR NGUYÊN LÊ.
PUB NOT SPEC
ACT MUSIC ACT 9451-2
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
worldwide: www.actmusic.com )
HUONGH THANH AND NGUYÊN LÊ - ’FRAGILE BEAUTY’
3: 15
(Cheerful, new setting of a traditional work-song from central Vietnam. Features Nguyên Lê’s elec guitar Huong Thanh’s female voice - with male chorus voices and nimbly-insistent multi-percussion from Alex Tran )

2311
CD CUT 3, ’KASHMIR REMEMBERED’
TONY GOULD
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
ABC CLASSICS 476 6452
( in Australia through Universal. Available at ABC shops
and online: www.abcshop.com.au )
IMOGEN MANINS, TONY GOULD, DAVID JONES - ’UNDER THE TALL TREES’
5: 12
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: Imogen’s cello, David’s percussion, Tony’s piano. The piece remembers Tony’s early 1980s south Asian experiences, when he and trumpeter Keith Hounslow {the duo ’McJad’} toured there )

SEGUE

2316
CD CUT 5, ’THE FIVE CALLS OF THE NIGHT’
TRAD VIETNAMESE, ARR NGUYÊN LÊ.
PUB NOT SPEC
ACT MUSIC ACT 9451-2
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
worldwide: www.actmusic.com )
HUONGH THANH AND NGUYÊN LÊ - ’FRAGILE BEAUTY’
4: 58
(haunting new version of a yearning-erotic, traditional Vietnamese song. Huong Thanh’s female voice, Nguyên Lê’s freless elec guitar and sampled sounds, Paolo Fresu’s trumpet, Alex Tran’s gongs and chimes )

SEGUE

2321
CD CUT 1, ’VIETNAM BLUES ’
J. B. LENOIR
PUB NOT SPEC
COLUMBIA/LEGACY 5125702000 (Through Sony )
Various - ’Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Soul of a Man’
4: 32
(J.B Lenoir {who died in a car crash in 1967} wrote and originally recorded this protest blues The 21st century cover is sung by Cassandra Wilson, with small acoustic band: ac guitar, mandolin/ banjo-mandolin hybrid, bass and brushes.

YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT J. LENOIR?

This is a good place to start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.B._Lenoir )

SEGUE

2326
CD CUT 10, ’GO CONG BLUES’
TRAD VIETNAMESE, ARR NGUYÊN LÊ, WITH ADDITIONAL LYRICS BY NGUYÊN VAN-HONG
PUB NOT SPEC
ACT MUSIC ACT 9451-2
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
worldwide: www.actmusic.com )
HUONGH THANH AND NGUYÊN LÊ - ’FRAGILE BEAUTY’
3: 55
( astonishing, new, duo version of a traditional South Vietnamese work-song. Huong Thanh’s female voice with Renaud Garcia-Fons’ bowed bass )

2331
CD CUT 7, ’ENTRE CONTINENTES’
RENAUD GARCIA-FONS
EDITION MAWI (GEMA)
ENJA ENJ-9477 9
(in Australia through Fuse Music
www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: www.enjarecords.com )
RENAUD GARCIA-FONS TRIO - ’ARCOLUZ’
12: 25
(’Live: begins with the leader’s spectacular, flamenco-esque, plucked double-bass, but this multi-hued bravura epic is mostly a showcase for his amazing bowing - with drummer-percussionist Negrito Trasante and flamenco guitarist Kiko Ruiz )

SEGUE

2343
CD CUT 9 `ON HEARING THE NIGHT DRUM, MISSING MY HUSBAND’
CAO VAN LAU, ARR DANG KIM HIEN
C MOVE RECORDS
MOVE RECORDS MD 3199
( CDs and info, worldwide: www.move.com.au )
DANG KIM HIEN AND LE TUAN HUNG - `ECHOES OF ANCESTRAL
VOICES-TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF VIETNAM’
4: 26
(AUSTRAL PERF AND ARR: Vietnamese - spare and haunting. Solo dan bau { Vietnamese monochord} with extravagantly bent notes: very ’vocal’. An early 20th South Vietnamese classical piece which expresses ’the painful experience of Vietnamese women separated from their loved ones’

LIKE TO SEE A DAN BAO {DAN BAU} BEING MADE, THEN PLAYED?

Go to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOSe6CCMlTg

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE INSTRUMENT?

This is a good place to start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%A0n_b%E1%BA%A7u )

2350
CD CUT 1, ’VIETNAM REFLECTIONS’
BILLY BANG
JANIJAM MUSIC
JUSTIN TIME JUST 212-2
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
worldwide: www.justin-time.com )
BILLY BANG - ’VIETNAM: REFLECTIONS’
8: 40 ( excerpt )
(post-Coltrane meets post-Vietnam. An Asian-tinged combination of jazz-modal-hypnotic and lyrical-impressionistic. Superb band with striking soloists: Henry Threadgill on flute, Bang’s violin, trumpeter Ted Daniel and pianist John Hicks.. They are supported beautifully by bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Michael Carvin)

Presenter

Doug Spencer

Producer

Doug Spencer