The Weekend Planet

Take a well-informed, adventurous and uncommonly inventive trip to South America’s very high plains! Only the Tibetan plateau is bigger than the Altiplano. The CD Altiplano is definitely not yet another dose of ‘usual Andean music, treated the usual way.’ Its shifting cast has three co-leaders. Two are Argentineans: Jaime Torres (the world’s leading charango virtuoso) and percussionist Minino Garay. Malik Mezzadri - known as ‘Magic Malik’ - was born in Africa, raised in the Caribbean and resides in Paris. His flute is wonderfully unpredictable, as is the whole album.

A revealing interview with Magic Malik is here:
www.iht.com/articles/2003/09/10/zwer10_ed3_.php

You can see as well as hear Jaime Torres, here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSdjRGknK7g

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 31.5. 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 )

2206
CD CUT 8, ’ALTIPLANO’
TRAD
PUBLIC DOMAIN
ACCORDS CROISES AC125
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.accords-croises.com )
MAGIC MALIK, MININO GARAY, JAIME TORRES - ’ALTIPLANO’
5: 30
( recognisably Andean - and a much-loved, haunting slow-dance melody. Also recognisably an uncommonly interesting/adventurous/in-the-moment interpretation of it. Features very unusual, male wordless vocalising. Malik plays flute and vocalises, Minino is the percussionist and Jaime Torres plays the charango. Vanessa Garcia is the other percussionist.

LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT THE ACTUAL ALTIPLANO?

Start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altiplano

61 photos of this spectacular South American place are here:
www.phogle.com/en/browse/269.html )

SEGUE

2212
CD CUT 12, ’HIGH ON A MOUNTAIN’
OLA BELLE REED
ROUNDER
CROSS BORDER MEDIA BMCD 001
( this 1991 CD may or may not be available, still.
The band does still exist: www.fourmenandadog.com )
FOUR MEN AND A DOG - ’BARKING MAD’
4: 00
( a convincing, Irish version of an Appalachian song, whose female author lived 1916-2002. The lead singer here is Mick Daly. ’Four Men...’ is a consistently excellent band, which no longer includes Mick, but the fiddler, percussionist and accordionist here are all still on board. Arty McGlynn is the elec guitar-wielding guest.

LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT THE SONG’S APPALACHIAN AUTHOR?

Go to: http://home.comcast.net/~tompolis )

2219
CD CUT 13, ’QUITO’
MALIK MEZZADRI
PUB NOT SPEC
ACCORDS CROISES AC125
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.accords-croises.com )
MAGIC MALIK, MININO GARAY, JAIME TORRES - ’ALTIPLANO’
4: 57
( impressionistic, quite ’free’, with snatches of familiar Andean themes. The composer plays flute and vocalises through same; the piece is his response to arriving in Ecuador. Also features the co-leaders’ percussion and charango, respectively. Others play alto sax, elec piano, elec bass, drumkit )

SEGUE

2224
CD CUT 4, ’IF MOUNTAINS COULD SING’
TERJE RYPDAL
PUB NOT SPEC
ECM 1554
( in Australia through Fuse Music
www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: www.ecmrecords.com )
TERJE RYPDAL, ’IF MOUNTAINS COULD SING’
5: 13
(Spare, Nordic impression of mountains, created through sustained strings and Rypdal’s mostly-gently soaring electric guitar)

SEGUE

2229
CD CUT 10, ’ZUMBA QUE ZUMBA’
TRAD VENEZUELAN
PUBLIC DOMAIN
ACCORDS CROISES AC125
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.accords-croises.com )
MAGIC MALIK, MININO GARAY, JAIME TORRES - ’ALTIPLANO’
3: 31
( lively Venezuelan dance that becomes increasingly so, as it proceeds. Instead of the Venezuelan cuatro {uke-like}, this features Jamie Torres on charango. Malik plays flutes and sings through them too. Minino Garay plays percussion, with Gustavo Beytelmann on piano.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT (AND SEE) THE CHARANGO?

This is a good, well-linked place to make your acquaintance with what Bob Brozman calls ’the South American Super Ukulele’:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charango

Bob’s thoughts on the charango are here:
www.bobbrozman.com/charangos.html )

2235
CD CUT 10, ’HERE IN LA PAZ’
FELIX RODRIGUEZ/ RUBEN VALESQUEZ/ PETER KEELAN
NOT SPEC, PRESUMABLY AT LEAST IN PART APRA
PPP123
( www.panpeople.com.au
or via http://members.iinet.net.au/~pkeelan@iinet.net.au/PLK/menu.html ) (PETER KEELAN AND) THE PAN PEOPLE PROJECT - ’LIFE IS LIFE’
4: 21
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: overtly Andean. A lyrical shade of celebratory. Has a more ’modern’/’sophisticated’ arrangement than straight ’Andean band’ music. Various pan-flutes, whistles etc, charango, nylon-string guitar, bass and percussion. Peter aside, musos are Bolivian. The piece captures Peter’s response to his first week in Bolivia’s altitudinous capital )

SEGUE

2239
CD CUT 8, ’DANCE AWAY IN TRIPLE WORLDS’
TRAD, ARR AND ELABORATED ON BY TENZING TSEWANG AND LLEW KIEK
PUB NOT SPEC. PRSUMABLY APRA/ CONTROL
MMTT 001
(available worldwide through Mara Music and from Tenzing’s site:
www.maramusic.com.au
www.tenzingtsewang.com
background info and gig details are also posted on those sites)
TENZING TSEWANG & LLEW KIEK - ’LOTUS HAND: TIBETAN GROOVES’
5: 07
(AUSTRAL PERF AND ARR: bouncy Tibetan song in ’world’ treatment. Tenzing sings and plays drumnyen (banjo-like, twangy Tibetan lute} whilst Llew provides the electronics and is the ripe electric guitar soloist. Chad Wackerman is the robust drumkit-drummer )

SEGUE

2244
CD CUT 11, ’TIBETAN DREAM’
PIERRE DØRGE
STEEPLECHASE MUSIC ( KODA )
STEEPLECHASE SCCD 31636
( in Australasia, through Australian Northern Europe Liaisons
www.henk.com.au
worldwide: www.steeplechase.dk )
PIERRE DØRGE AND NEW JUNGLE ORCHESTRA - ’JAZZ IS LIKE A BANANA’
5: 45
( mysterioso/ darkly meditative, with some eventual edginess. The usually guitar-toting leader plays a Tibetan conch trumpet. Eventually, the primary ’voice’ is the taragot {like a more nasal clarinet} , played by Morton Carlsen, with the other horns providing cross-drones and ’voices’. ’Tibetan monastery’ flavours. Arco bass, drums-percussion and synth orchestration too )

2252
CD CUT 3, ’FLOWING WATER FROM HIGH MOUNTAIN’
TRAD
PUBLIC DOMAIN
ARC MUSIC EUCD 1176
( in Australia through Tempo www.tempo-music.com
worldwide: www.arcmusic.co.uk )
CHENG YU - ÇLASSICAL CHINESE PIPA’
3: 18
(mimetic solo for pear-shaped, Chinese plucked lute - lots of twang and evident virtuosity )

2256
CD CUT 4,’SOTHO BLUE’
ABDULLAH IBRAHIM
KAZ MUSIC (UK) LTD
KAZ CD 7
( this may or may not be available, still )
ABDULLAH IBRAHIM AND EKAYA - ’THE MOUNTAIN’
3: 10 ( excerpt )
(has a solemn beauty, which becomes more celebratory as it develops - piano, saxes, trombone, ac bass and drums. Ricky Ford is the tenor sax soloist and Charles Davis the baritone sax soloist. Dick Griffin solos on trombone. The leader-composer is the pianist. I think it is Cecil McBee on bass, Ben Riley is the drummer and Carlos Ward plays alto sax. Lesotho - which this has in mind - is ’the roof of southern Africa’. It has the highest ’lowest point’ - 1,400 metres - of any independent country on earth.. Lesotho is the only such to lie entirely above 1 thousand metres altitude. Lesotho’s high point - Thabana Ntlenyana, @ 3, 482 m - is southern Africa’s highest peak, and the highest African peak, south of Kilimanjaro.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT LESOTHO/ SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE?

Go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesotho )

----
11 PM NEWS
----

2305
CD CUT 4, ’I’M A MOUNTAIN’
SARAH HARMER
PARE PUBLISHING (SOCAN/BMI)
ZOË RECORDS ZOË 1084
( in Australia through Shock www.shock.com.au
worldwide through Rounder: www.rounder.com )
SARAH HARMER - ’I’M A MOUNTAIN’
3: 08
(Up, ole-timey-cum-bluegrass-leaning accompaniment, with fiddle prominent. Sarah sings - with spark and a wry grin - her self-knowing/self-mocking, somewhat-surreal lyric. Set in a shopping mall, as a blizzard rages outside it)

2310
CD CUT 2, ’SÓLO LUZ
RAÚL CARNOTA ( BASED ON TRAD, INDIGENOUS SOUTH AMERICAN )
PUB NOT SPEC
ACCORDS CROISES AC125
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.accords-croises.com )
MAGIC MALIK, MININO GARAY, JAIME TORRES - ’ALTIPLANO’
3: 21
(recognisably ’Andes-referencing’, but opened-out - a setting of a 1970s vintage Argentinean song which in turn was based on a traditional ’Indian’{ie indigenous South American} song. Malik plays and sings through his flute, Minino provides the percussion, Jaime plays charango and Gustavo Beytelmann plays the piano )

SEGUE

2313
CD CUT 8, ’UP ON THE DIVIDE’
MARTHA SCANLAN
MIGHTY UNDER DOG MUSIC/ SONY ATV SONGS LLC DBA TREE PUBLISHING CO (ASCAP)
SUGAR HILL SUG-CD-1085
( in Australia through Shock. www.shock.com.au
worldwide: www.sugarhillrecords.com )
MARTHA SCANLAN - ’THE WEST WAS BURNING’
5: 30
( Presumably, a visit to a lonely mountain graveyard inspired this song. It vividly depicts several generations’ worth of hard lives. Martha’s voice and effectively-simple ac guitar, with Michael Juan Nunez on dobro )

SEGUE

2319
CD CUT 3, ’LA ARENOSA’
LEGUIZAMON AND CASTILLE, ARR MININO GARAY
PUB NOT SPEC
ACCORDS CROISES AC125
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.accords-croises.com )
MAGIC MALIK, MININO GARAY, JAIME TORRES - ’ALTIPLANO’
5: 56
( Much-bent version of a cueca-based song - a song once sung by Mercedes Sosa. The cueca is Chile’s official national dance; during the Pinochet years it was danced as a protest by the mothers of the ’disappeared’. Here it is initially turned into an almost jazz-funk groove, w Denis Guivarch’s alto sax and the arranger’s percussion prominent. Later, the cueca becomes overt and Jaime’s charango and Malik’s flute (and Juan Martin Medina’s flute, too, I think} step forward. The flutes are vocalised-through as well as played. The cueca is very much a ’rooster-and-hen’, courtship/display, flamboyant dance.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE CUECA?

Start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cueca )

2328
CD CUT 1, ’MOUNTAIN STREAM’
JIM FRANKLIN/SATSUKI ODAMURA
PUB NOT SPEC. CD IS P 1997 CELESTIAL HARMONIES
CELESTIAL HARMONIES 3160-2
(In Australia, through MGM / Planet Imports
email: planet@thegroovemerchants.com
website: www.thegroovemerchants.com
worldwide: www.harmonies.com )
HONOKA (JAMES ASHLEY FRANKLIN AND SATSUKI ODAMURA) -
’WATER SPIRITS’
16: 48
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: spare, improvisatory, ’Japanese’..duet
for Jim’s shakuhachi {end-blown bamboo flute} and Satsuki’s koto {plucked zither})

SEGUE

2345
CD CUT 1, ’LA HUMILDE’
CACHIL0 DÍAZ
PUB NOT SPEC
ACCORDS CROISES AC125
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.accords-croises.com )
MAGIC MALIK, MININO GARAY, JAIME TORRES - ’ALTIPLANO’
3: 22
( a quirky, syncopated Andean prance-dance, made even more quirky in this treatment. Jaime’s charango with Minino’s and Vanessa Garcia’s percussion, plus pianist Federico Siciliano. No flute/no Malik on this cut. The dance form it employs is the chacarera.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE CHACARERA?

Start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chacarera )

2349
CD CUT 11, ’ALTA PAZ’
QUIQUE SINESI
PUB NOT SPEC
EPSA MUSIC 17117
(The label’s Spanish-language website is at: http://www.epsa-ep.com.ar/music/default.htm
Quique Sinesi’s site: www.quiquesinesi.com )
QUIQUE SINESI, MARCELO MOGUILEVSKY - ’SOLTANDO AMARRAS’ {’FREE FROM BOUNDS’)
6: 01
(Definite echoes of the Andes - beautiful, haunting slow-dance for Marcelo’s clarinet and Quique’s piccolo nylon-string guitar {charango-like} that gets wilder/more searing in its latter part. Based on a huayno - an Andean dance.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE HUAYNO?

Start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huayno )

2355
CD CUT 12, ’NOSTALGIAS TUCUMANAS’’
ATAHUALPA YUPANQUI
PUB NOT SPEC
ACCORDS CROISES AC125
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.accords-croises.com )
MAGIC MALIK, MININO GARAY, JAIME TORRES - ’ALTIPLANO’
2: 50 (excerpt)
( nostalgic song for the northern Argentinean province and city of Tucuman - home to Jaime Torres. He sings and plays the charango, with Minino’s and Maxime Zampieri’s percussion, plus pianist Federico Siciliano. No flute/no Malik on this cut. This employs the dance form known as ’zamba’, which derives from the zamacuueca.

LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT/SEE THE ACTUAL TUCUMAN?

For the province, go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucum%C3%A1n_Province

For its capital city, go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucum%C3%A1n )

Presenter

Doug Spencer

Producer

Doug Spencer