The Weekend Planet

Saï-Ko is the debut CD from a splendid, seemingly-unlikely trio. Its leader is a virtuoso of the long zither which is emblematic of Japan. Koto player Mieko Miyazaki is also a singer-songwriter and musical adventurer. Manuel Solans is a master of the western classical kind of violin. Trio Miyazaki’s other member is Bruno Maurice. He plays the Bayan - a huge, Russian species of accordion. The CD title refers to coloration (Saï) and rhythm or palpitation (Ko); its music ranges widely, with precision, daring and lyricism. Expect to be surprised, nicely.

Mieko Miyazaki site: www.geocities.jp/miyazaki_mieko/e_index.html

Trio Miyazaki site (click the union jack for English): www.triomiyazaki.com

Bruno Maurice site: http://appassionata.free.fr/pages/anglais/biography.htm

Playlist

HAVING TROUBLE READING OUR PLAY-LISTS?

READ THIS AND EVERYTHING BECOMES CLEAR (WE HOPE!)

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’ SUN 27.7 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 5, ’CARESS’
BRUNO MAURICE
PUB NOT SPEC
DAQUI 332034
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.daqui.fr )
TRIO MIYAZAKI - ’SAI-KO’
6: 08
( serene and intimate: ’a hymn of love, peace and quiet’ for its composer’s accordion {the big Russian kind - the ’bayan’ - which he makes ’breathe’ as well playing it conventionally}, the leader’s koto and Manuel Solans’ violin. A trio version of the second movement of a concerto for accordion and string orchestra. Its dedicated to Bruno Maurice’s late father.

YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW A DEAL MORE ABOUT THE KOTO?

A good place to start {with many links} is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koto_%28musical_instrument%29 )

SEGUE

2213
CD CUT 8, ’THE PAVILION OF CRYSTALLIZED ALLURE’
THE MUSIC IS COMPOSED BY HUONGH THANH, MIEKO MIYAZAKI AND NGUYÊN LÊ. THE TEXT COMES FROM VERSE 1033 OF ’KIM VAN KIEU’ WRITTEN IN EARLY 19TH CENTURY BY NGUYÊN DU
PRESUMABLY, THE TEXT IS PUBLIC DOMAIN. MUSIC PUB IS 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: 51
(Vietnamese. A yearning, spacious, dramatic, new setting of part of ’the Vietnamese national poem.’ Translated, some of its words say ’Distant mountains, the moon so close were her day and night companions’. 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 )

2221
CD CUT 10, ’NANZEN JI’
BRUCE COCKBURN
GOLDEN MOUNTAIN MUSIC INC (SOCAN)
TRUE NORTH TND 286
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
worldwide: www.truenorthrecords.com )
BRUCE COCKBURN (DELUXE EDITION) - FURTHER ADVENTURES OF’
4: 43
(from 1977, written in Japan and v overtly Japanese-influenced. Solo: his voice and ac guitar. His spare-poetic lyric is both Christian and - effectively - a suite of three haikus. A dog barks at the end. )

SEGUE

2226
CD CUT 6, ’SAI-KO’
MIEKO MIYAZAKI
PUB NOT SPEC
DAQUI 332034
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.daqui.fr )
TRIO MIYAZAKI - ’SAI-KO’
9: 27
( dramatic, with lots of extreme contrasts, virtuosity and improvisatory flair. The composer’s koto, Manuel Solans’ violin and Bruno Maurice’s accordion )

SEGUE

2235
CD CUT 10, ’WHITE LOTUS FLOWERING’
FIONA BURNETT AND DAVID JONES
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
ABC CLASSICS 476 6814
( in Australia through Universal.
Available at ABC shops and online: www.abcshop.com.au )
FIONA BURNETT AND DAVID JONES - ’SOUND INSPIRATIONS: MUSIC OF PURE INVENTION’
2: 52
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: meditative, but by no means static. Part of a largely-spontaneous, continuous, concert duet for Fiona’s soprano saxophone and David Jones’ drums/percussion)

SEGUE
( same disc, continuous )

2238
CD CUT 11, ’FULL MOON RISING’
FIONA BURNETT AND DAVID JONES
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
ABC CLASSICS 476 6814
( in Australia through Universal.
Available at ABC shops and online: www.abcshop.com.au )
FIONA BURNETT AND DAVID JONES - ’SOUND INSPIRATIONS: MUSIC OF PURE INVENTION’
5: 07
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: see description @ 2235)

SEGUE
( same disc, continuous )

2243
CD CUT 12, ’EPILOGUE - THE FINAL BREATH’
FIONA BURNETT AND DAVID JONES
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
ABC CLASSICS 476 6814
( in Australia through Universal.
Available at ABC shops and online: www.abcshop.com.au )
FIONA BURNETT AND DAVID JONES - ’SOUND INSPIRATIONS: MUSIC OF PURE INVENTION’
2: 46
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: see description @ 2235)

2248
CD CUT 1, ’BIG BEN’ (FOR BENNIE WALLACE)
ANDREW ROBSON
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
LAMPLIGHT RECORDS LLR00208
( available direct from www.lamplightrecords.com )
ANDREW ROBSON TRIO - ’RADIOLA’
6: 13
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: warm, robust-swaggering, perky and lyrical too. Andrew on alto sax, drummer Hamish Stuart and double bassist Steve Elphick. Unforced, spacious modern jazz with lots of nice shifts. Beautifully recorded by Ross Ahearn. This piece salutes a great, living tenor saxophonist.

LIKE TO KNOW WHEN AND WHERE ANDREW ROBSON PLAYS?

His many and varied performances are flagged under ’current gigs’ on the front page of his site, here:
www.andrewrobsontrio.com

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS TUNE’S DEDICATEE?

Have a look at the Bennie Wallace-centric playlist, here:
www.abc.net.au/rn/weekendplanet/stories/2007/2007696.htm

LIKE TO HEAR HIM?
Listen to the next piece which in this show! )

2255
CD CUT 2, ’LA ROSITA’
DUPONT-STUART, ARR BY ANTHONY WLSON
PUB NOT SPEC
ENJA ENJ-9506-2
(in Australia through Fuse Music
www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: www.enjarecords.com )
BENNIE WALLACE - ’DISORDER AT THE BORDER’ (THE MUSIC OF COLEMAN HAWKINS)
4: 00 (excerpt)
(Latin-tinged, romantically swaggering smoocher for a beautifully-arranged jazz nonet. Bennie’s tenor sax and Ray Anderson’s trombone star. ’Live’ in 2004 - the centenary of Hawkins’ birth)

----
11 PM NEWS
----

2305
CD CUT 9, ’A OU NI SOU’
STEVE SHEHAN AND ROKIA TRAORE
TÂMA AND SAFAR
TÂMA PRODUCTIONS/ UNIVERSAL MUSIC FRANCE
( not issued in Australia, as I type.
Is readily available via European-based suppliers, online.
Rokia’s site: www.rokiatraore.net )
ROKIA TRAORE - ’TCHMANTCHÉ’
3: 53
( Tenderly erotic: The Malian female singer’s singular, seemingly-gentle voice, accompanied solely by Steve Shehan’s tuned percussion. He’s playing the steel-drum-like ’hang’, I think.

ABC RADIO NATIONAL ROKIA TRAORE ALERT

Her beautiful/surprising new CD is our main attraction, Sunday-next: August 3

More details here: www.abc.net.au/rn/weekendplanet/comingup )

2312
CD CUT 8,’CANTELOWES’
TOUMANI DIABATE (BASED ON THE TRADITIONAL ’JARABI’)
WORLD CIRCUIT MUSIC
WORLD CIRCUIT WCD079
( in Australia, through Destra/ MRA: www.mraentertainment.com
worldwide: http://www.worldcircuit.co.uk )
TOUMANI DIABATE - ’THE MANDÉ VARIATIONS’
6: 56
(solo kora, which begins with a ’spaghetti western’ quote - of the theme from ’The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly’ - long, a fave film of Toumani’s. Essentially, this is an improvisation on ’jarabi’ (aka ’diaraby’) - the traditional Mandé piece on which is built this show’s theme, heard @ 2205 each time. The name refers to London street where Toumani was a guest in Lucy Duran’s house in the 1980s.

ABC RADIO NATIONAL TOUMANI DIABATE ALERT

On ’Into the Music’ Saturday 2 August, 5.05pm
repeated on Friday 8 August, 3.05pm

Toumani Diabate - Messenger of the Kora

Malian musician Toumani Diabate brought his Symmetric Orchestra to the 2008 WOMADelaide Festival and the Sydney Opera House. ’Symmetric’ is a dazzling synthesis of traditional instruments such as the bala , kora, ngoni and djembe, with electric guitars, drum kit and keyboards. Kora virtuoso Toumani Diabate is renowned for ground-breaking, absolutey solo recordings for his West African harp-lute and for his collaborations with Ali Farka Toure, Taj Mahal, Ketama, Bjork and many others.

Born into the caste of griots or musician-oral historians, Toumani Diabate proudly reveals his role and his ancient lineage to the fabled Mali - or Mande - Empire founded by the warrior Sunjata in the 13th century. Painting a vivid picture of the artist and his rich, complex cultural world is Eric Charry. The writer and musicologist is author of Mande Music - Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Madinka of Western Africa..

Interviews with Toumani Diabate: Robyn Ravlich and Lucky Oceans
Interview with Eric Charry: Robyn Ravlich
Sound engineer Timothy Nicastri
Producer Robyn Ravlich

YOU MISSED RADIO NATIONAL’S ’MUSIC DELI’ THIS WEEKEND?

Its audio lives on { as is true of this show } for four weeks after radio broadcast.
To hear Toumani in concert at Womadelaide 2008, simply demand the audio from the program website: www.abc.net.au/rn/musicdeli

’ Music Deli’ with Paul Petran airs each Friday from 8.05 pm to 9.00pm.
It’ s repeated on Sunday afternoons after the 4.00 pm news )

SEGUE

2319
CD CUT 8, ’HARO NO UMI’ ( ’SEA IN SPRINGTIME’, AKA ’SPRING SEA’)
MICHIO MIYAGI
PUB NOT SPEC
DAQUI 332034
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.daqui.fr )
TRIO MIYAZAKI - ’SAI-KO’
7: 17
(Duet for Mieko Miyazaki’s koto and Manuel Solans’ violin. Impressionistic, unmistakably Japanese, but also much-influenced by European music. This 1929 composition is one of the best-loved Japanese classical pieces.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSER (1890-1954)?
( also known as ’Miyagi Michio’)

For a lot, go to:
www.miyagikai.gr.jp/english/index.html

For an overview, go to:
www.answers.com/topic/michio-miyagi )

2329
CD CUT 10, ’MBASERA’
SATSUKI ODAMURA
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
ABC MUSIC/WARNER MUSIC 5101166972
( in Australia through Warner Music.
Available at ABC shops & online: www.abcshop.com.au )
VARIOUS - ’MUSIC DELI: CELEBRATION’
4: 08
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: Satsuki Odamura’s koto {plucked zither} in sweet duet with Sandy Evans’ soprano saxophone. The piece has both African and Asian allusions.

ABC RADIO NATIONAL ’MUSIC DELI’ ALERT
’Music Deli’ with Paul Petran airs Friday from 8.05 pm to 9.00pm, repeated on Sunday afternoon after the 4.00 pm news
Website {includes audio}: www.abc.net.au/rn/musicdeli )

SEGUE

2333
CD CUT 7, ’MIDARE GAMI’( CRAZY HAIR)
MUSIC BY MIEKO MIYAZAKI. THE LYRICS ARE ADAPTED FROM POEMS BY AKIKO YOSANO
PUB NOT SPEC
DAQUI 332034
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.daqui.fr )
TRIO MIYAZAKI - ’SAI-KO’
4: 29
( Bright-staccato, Japanese, exuberant and erotic. The leader is singer-songster as well as koto player, with Bruno Maurice’s accordion {the big Russian kind - the ’bayan’ } and Manuel Solans’ violin. This is based on erotic verses by Akiko Yosano { in Japan - where surname is first - she would be ’Yosano Akiko’. It was her pen-name, not her birth-name } who lived 1878-1942 and was a noted poet, feminist, pacifist and controversial social activist.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE REMARKABLE AKIKO YOSANO?

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

2342
CD CUT 3, ’HARU KAZE’ (SPRING BREEZE)
MIEKO MIYAZAKI
PUB NOT SPEC
DAQUI 332034
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.daqui.fr )
TRIO MIYAZAKI - ’SAI-KO’
4: 24
( Lyrical depiction of spring in Japan: the composer’s koto, Manuel Solans’ violin and Bruno Maurice’s accordion )

SEGUE

2346
CD CUT 1, ’SPEAKEASY’
JUDY BAILEY
APRA/CONTROL
SELF-ISSUED. NO CATALOGUE NUMBER
(enquiries to:
chrisworld@bigpond.com )
JUDY BAILEY - ’SPEAKEASY’
5: 35
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: up-and- at-em jazz w a sense of humour: involves both ’early jazz barrelhouse/ music for a silent movie with cops raiding the joint’ and modern, ’free-burning’ elements. Sandy Evans is the soprano sax soloist.

JUDY BAILEY AND OTHER PIANO-HEROES GIG ALERT (Sydney)

Piano Fundraiser concert.
Wed 30 July, 7.30 pm at ’The Sound Lounge’
Seymour Theatre Centre, corner City Rd and Cleveland St, Chippendale
Box office tel: 02 9351 7940
www.sima.org.au

With solo piano performances by Judy Bailey, Mike Nock, Mark Isaacs, Chris Abrahams, Matt McMahon and Rai Thisthethwayte
The Sydney Improvised Music Association Inc (SIMA) is excited to announce it has replaced its old piano with a superb new one. Help pay for it!

AND:
JUDY HAS A GONG!

As more formally announced last Monday at the 2008 Classical Music Awards...
Australian jazz pioneer, Judy Bailey, received the award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music. This prestigious award recognises her enormous contribution to Australian new music through her role as a mentor, composer and educator. A brilliant musician and musical director, Judy has played an instrumental role in the development of contemporary jazz in Australia and the fusion of the classical and jazz genres.

A founding teacher in jazz studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music - where she still teaches today - and Musical Director of the Sydney Youth Jazz Ensemble, Judy is a passionate and active member of the Australian new music community. Judy Bailey’s Jazz Connection is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the provision of high quality education and training in jazz for youth, ensuring that the craft of musical improvisation is alive and well in a whole new generation of musicians. Honouring their mentor, Jazz Connection performed two of Judy’s compositions to close the Awards ceremony, held at the Playhouse Theatre of the Sydney Opera House )

SEGUE

2352
CD CUT 4, ’HACHI GATSU’ ( AUGUST )
MIEKO MIYAZAKI
PUB NOT SPEC
DAQUI 332034
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.daqui.fr )
TRIO MIYAZAKI - ’SAI-KO’
5: 30
( Lyrical depiction of summer in Japan: the composer’s koto, Manuel Solans’ violin and Bruno Maurice’s accordion. You can almost feel the heat and humidity, smell the flowers and hear the crickets! )

2358
CD CUT 1, ’STEWARTS’ (AULD STEWART/YOUNG STEWART/ LAST WEEK’S EFFORTS)
MARTIN GREEN
REVEAL PUBLISHING LIMITED
COMPASS RECORDS 74479
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
Worldwide: www.compassrecords.com )
LAU - ’LAU LIVE’
0: 30 ( excerpt - the last part of the last tune)
(’Live’, with a recognisably Scots accent. The music has its feet in ’tradition’, but is conversationally-inclined, virtuosic and full of this threesome’s improvisatory, ’in-the-moment’ flair. Kris Drever’s ac guitar {he also sings wonderfully, elsewhere on the CD}, Aidan O’Rourke’s fiddle and Martin Green’s accordion.

LAU ABC RADIO NATIONAL ALERT

We explore this CD, next Saturday night, August 2nd
More details here: www.abc.net.au/rn/weekendplanet/comingup )

Presenter

Doug Spencer

Producer

Doug Spencer