The Weekend Planet

3ma is an unprecedented string trio. Their music makes pleasing sense the moment you hear their eponymous debut. The album title makes sense in French. Madagascar’s emblematic instrument is the valiha. Rajery is known as the ‘prince’ of that tube zither. From Mali, comes a master of a harp/lute hybrid - kora player Ballaké Sissoko. Morocco (Maroc) is home to Driss El Maloumi. He is a virtuoso of the oud - the fretless, Arabic lute. A festival in Morocco sparked the trio, which came together in Madagascar and made their album on another Indian Ocean island.

This project’s genesis is explained here:
www.rfimusique.com/musiqueen/articles/104/article_8087.asp

You can discover a deal more about Rajery here:
http://rfimusique.com/musique/siteen/biographie/biographie_7035.asp

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’ SUN 7.9. 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 )

2208
CD CUT 1, ’ANFASS’ ( BREATH )
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI
CONTRE-JOUR BELGIUM
CONTRE-JOUR CJ020
(no current Australian distributor
It is available from some major online suppliers
Worldwide: www.contrejour.com )
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI - ’3MA’
6: 05
( grand, spacious, formal-celebratory. An unusual, but eminently-compatible trio of pluckers of stringed instruments. From Madagascar, Rajery plays his island’s emblematic instrument. The valiha is a tube zither, in which the tube is usually bamboo. Mali’s Ballake Sissoko plays kora - the Manding harp-lute hybrid. The Moroccan lutenist Driss El Maloumi plays oud - the fretless ancestor of the European lute.

LIKE TO SEE WHAT THE VALIHA LOOKS LIKE?

Good pictures here, but be aware the text has a very particular point of view:
www.africainmusica.org/instruments/inglese/cordofoni/Valiha.htm

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE OUD?

This is a good, well-linked place to start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oud.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOU THE KORA?

This is a good place to start:
www.coraconnection.com/pages/WhatisKora.html )

SEGUE

2214
CD CUT 5, ’SORY’
DAMORY KOUYATE
EDITIONS MUSICALES LABEL BLEU
INDIGO LBLC 2581 HM 83
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution:
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.label-bleu.com )
SUPER RAIL BAND DE BAMAKO - ’KONGO SIGUI’
4: 27
(grand/celebratory song in praise of Mali’s hunters. All-acoustic, it features the composer’s powerful African male voice, female chorus-responses, superb acoustic guitar from Djelimady Tounkara and kora player Ballake Sissoko)

2222
CD CUT 5, ’RANIA’ ( DRISS’S DAUGHTER )
DRISS EL MALOUMI
CONTRE-JOUR BELGIUM
CONTRE-JOUR CJ020
(no current Australian distributor
It is available from some major online suppliers
Worldwide: www.contrejour.com )
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI - ’3MA’
4: 22
( oud, only.. although Driss does overdub - there is sometimes more than one fretless Arabic lute, here. Mesmeric, contemporary Moroccan in ’Arabic-classical’ territory )

SEGUE ( consecutive, same-disc )

2226
CD CUT 6, ’VÉRO’ ( RAJERY’S MOTHER )
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI
CONTRE-JOUR BELGIUM
CONTRE-JOUR CJ020
(no current Australian distributor
It is available from some major online suppliers
Worldwide: www.contrejour.com )
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI - ’3MA’
3: 52
( trio: oud, valiha and kora {for more info on the ensemble and its instruments see track-notes @ 2208 above}. This begins in a solemn frame of mind, then becomes jubilant )

SEGUE ( consecutive, same-disc )

2230
CD CUT 7, ’MAINTE’
TRADITIONAL MUSIC FROM SOUTHERN MADAGASCAR, ARR AND ADAPT BY RAJERY
CONTRE-JOUR BELGIUM
CONTRE-JOUR CJ020
(no current Australian distributor.
It is available from some major online suppliers
Worldwide: www.contrejour.com )
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI - ’3MA’
3: 31
(Valiha only. This Madagascan tube zither ’solo’ does also - eventually - involve overdubs . Interesting rhythmically, with nice use of damped strings )

2236
CD CUT 2, ’THE HOSTESSES DAUGHTER’( THIS SONG IS ALSO KNOWN AS ’I SOWED SOME SEEDS’ AND AS ’THE SEEDS OF LOVE’ )
SONG-PROPER IS TRAD, ARR BENJI KIRKPATRIK, PAUL SARTIN AND SAUL ROSE. IT INCORPORATES BENJI KIRKPATRICK’S ORIGINALTUNE ’WHERWELL COMMON’
SONG-PROPER:PUBLIC DOMAIN.
NEW TUNE: BENJI KIRKPATRICK PRS
NAVIGATOR RECORDS NAVIGATOR 5
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
worldwide: www.navigatorrecords.co.uk )
FAUSTUS (BENJI KIRKPATRIK, PAUL SARTIN AND SAUL ROSE ) - ’FAUSTUS’
3: 52
( Obviously-English folk-song of the ’He’s gone, she’s holding the baby’ school. Very good singing, gracefully-lively accompaniment. All sing. Paul plays fiddle, Saul the melodeon and Benji the acoustic guitar and bouzouki.

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT AND SEE THIS SONG’S LYRIC?

Go to:
www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/martin.carthy/songs/isowedsomeseeds.html )

SEGUE

2240
CD CUT 5, ’BOOMERANG’
BENJI KIRKPATRIK
BENJI KIRKPATRICK PRS
NAVIGATOR RECORDS NAVIGATOR 2
( In Australia, through The Planet Company/ MGM
email: info@theplanetcompany.com
website: www.theplanetcompany.com
worldwide: www.navigatorrecords.co.uk )
BENJI KIRKPATRIK - ’BOOMERANG’
3: 27
( hyper-rhythmic song, with oomph. Has a ’what goes around, comes around’/ ’do the right thing’/ ’be generous’ message. Features the leader’s obviously-English male voice, deft bouzouki and ac guitar, plus some decidedly ’post-Beatles’ male harmony vocals.

ABC RADIO NATIONAL BENJI KIRKPATRICK/FAUSTUS ALERT

We explore his new solo CD and the trio’s CD next Sunday, Sept 14
More details here: www.abc.net.au/rn/weekendplanet/comingup )

2245
CD CUT 2, ’TUNE NO 1 (...OF ONE OF THE FIRST DAYS OF THE REST OF MY LIFE )’
ZAC HURREN
CONTROL
JAZZHEAD HEAD071
( www.jazzhead.com )
ZAC HURREN TRIO - ’EXORDIUM’
6: 50
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: Relaxed but energetic and improvisatory modern jazz. It’s also focused and genial. Trio: Zac’s tenor saxophone, ac bassist Eugene Romanuik, drummer Felix Bloxsom. Superbly recorded, too.

ZAC HURREN TRIO GIG/ THOUGHT-PROVOKING EVENING ALERT ( Brisbane )

Friday 12 September @ 6:30pm. Free admission.
Turbine Platform, Brisbane Powerhouse
presented by map magazine and Brisbane Powerhouse
More Info 07 3358 8600 or brisbanepowerhouse.org

The first of the map café series of TED Talks { Technology Entertainment Design. If the concept is new to you, go to www.ted.com ).

This first evening features Al Gore’s The Climate Project, presented (in person) by environmental lawyer Chris McGrath, then several TED talk videos will lead into discussions on topics such as ’Who are we?’, ’What stirs us?’ and ’How do we create?’

Among the videos:
’Who are we?’ with Jill Bolte Taylor, a stroke victim who watched as her brain functions - motion, speech, self-awareness - shut down one by one.
’How do we create? ’with Yves Behar of Fuseproject, the company responsible for re-inventing the Bluetooth headset.. and many other things.
’What stirs us?’ with words from Nigerian author Chris Abani, who was imprisoned three times for his writing.

Plus ’live’ music from the Zac Hurren Trio.

Join the map café series by RSVP to alice@mapmagazine.com.au or at www.mapmagazine.com.au/facebook

AND
ZAC HURREN TRIO CONCERT/ JAZZ FESTIVAL ALERT ( Brisbane )

Friday October 31 @ Visy Theatre - river level of the Turbine Building, Brisbane Powerhouse.
n.b. Zac Hurren Trio concert is late-night, @ 11pm.

The Brisbane Jazz Festival runs Fri Oct 31 through Thurs November 6.
Full details here:
www.brisbanepowerhouse.org/events/view/brisbane-jazz-festival-2008 )

SEGUE

2252
CD CUT 2, ’WATER AND TIME’
MUSIC BY RAFAEL KARLEN. WORDS BY MEGAN WASHINGTON
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
PINNACLES MUSIC PM 0208
(available online from the label:
www.pinnaclesmusic.com )
WEST END COMPOSERS COLLECTIVE - ’DRIVING HAT’ ( MUSIC OF RAFAEL KARLEN )
5: 17
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: wryly intimate with good vocalist - Megan Washington - plus an elegantly-intriguing big band. Its tenor saxist is the music’s composer-arranger.

RAFAEL KARLEN/ WEST END COMPOSERS COLLECTIVE GIGS ALERT
( Brisbane )

Wednesday 10 Sept, @ 8 pm, The Press Club, Brunswick St
Admission is free.
The West End Composers collective perform a short set as part of the Big Sound music showcase.

Thursday 18 Sep, @ 8 pm, Jazzworx! The Music Institute
4 Exhibition St, Bowen Hills ( pay-for-tickets, full concert )
The West End Composers Collective: new music and their greatest hits

Rafael Karlen’s site (includes imminent gigs ) : http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=102827650

AND
LOTS MORE SHOWCASE GIGS, BESIDES, IN BRISBANE

On the nights of Wed 10 and Thurs 11 Sept, at various Brisbane venues Some music showcase gigs are ticketed, some are free.
Details/bookings here: www.qmusic.com.au/bigsound2008/index.cfm?action=dsp_showcases&contentID=319 )

2258
CD CUT 4, ’KATIE’S SONG’
ZAC HURREN
CONTROL
JAZZHEAD HEAD071
( www.jazzhead.com )
ZAC HURREN TRIO - ’EXORDIUM’
0: 30 (excerpt )
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: a wordless love-song for its composer/soprano saxophonist’s wife - Katie Noonan. Mobile, lyrical, sinuous jazz ballad/ dance for Zac’s soprano , ac bassist Eugene Romanuik and lovely brushwork from drummer Felix Bloxsom )

----
11 PM NEWS
----

2305
CD CUT 11, ’TAXI BROUSSE’
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI
CONTRE-JOUR BELGIUM
CONTRE-JOUR CJ020
(no current Australian distributor
It is available from some major online suppliers
Worldwide: www.contrejour.com )
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI - ’3MA’
1: 20
( jaunty-mobile little fanfare-song: oud, valiha and kora, plus a little wordless vocalising from their Moroccan, Madagascan and Malian players {for more info on the ensemble and its instruments see track-notes @ 2208 above}. ’Taxi Brousse’ means ’Bush Taxi’.

LIKE TO SEE A REAL AFRICAN ’TAXI BROUSSE’/ BUSH TAXI?

Go to:
www.flickr.com/photos/samdriscoll/113883335/

LIKE TO KNOW A WHOLE LOT MORE ABOUT AND SEE A WHOLE LOT MORE OF THE WORLD’S ’BUSH TAXIS’/ SHARE TAXIS?

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

2308
CD CUT 7, ’DREAMED LANSCAPE’
JACKSON HARRISON
TUHTAH PUBLISHING/ SUISA
HATOLOGY 647
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.hathut.com )
JACKSON HARRISON TRIO - ’LAND TIDES’
5: 44
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: its Australian composer’s piano, Dan Weiss’s sensitive and most unusual drums and Thomas Morgan’s ac bass. Is Harrison’s debut CD. Contemplative, but with tension and surprise, too.

JACKSON HARRISON GIG/ ’JAZZ NOW’ FESTIVAL ALERT ( Sydney )

Thursday Sept 11 @ 8.15pm, The Studio at The Sydney Opera House
Jackson Harrison Trio (with bassist Ben Waples and drummer James Waples)

The concert is a double-bill, with visiting American pianist Marilyn Crispell. She will play solo. On Sat Sept 13 she leads a trio at same venue.

Part of the ’Jazz Now’ Festival, Wed Sept 10 through Saturday Sept 13
8.15pm each night @ The Studio at The Sydney Opera House
Full festival details/ bookings are here:
www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/jazznow.aspx

There is further information here:
www.sima.org.au/programme )

SEGUE

2314
CD CUT 3, ’3MA’
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI
CONTRE-JOUR BELGIUM
CONTRE-JOUR CJ020
(no current Australian distributor
It is available from some major online suppliers
Worldwide: www.contrejour.com )
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI - ’3MA’
4: 57
( trio: oud, valiha and kora, with the instrument’s bodies percussively deployed as well as their strings plucked. For more info on the ensemble and its instruments see track-notes @ 2208 above )

SEGUE

2319
CD CUT 5 ’LAN BANBA’
BALLAKE SISSOKO
PUBL SPEC
INDIGO LABEL BLEU LBLC 2576 HM 83
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution:
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.label-bleu.com )
BALLAKE SISSOKO - ’DELI’
4: 37
( ensemble of West African lutes and harp-lutes and bala {aka ’balafon’, which really refers to the player rather than to the actual West African xylophone} supporting a powerful West African voice. Mama Draba { Ballake’s wife } is singing the praises of an 18th century monarch of the Segou Kingdom )

2327
CD CUT 5, ’BERCEUSE AMAZIGH’ ( BERBER/ AMAZIGH LULLABY)
TRAD NORTH AFRICAN. ARR NOT SPEC
PUBLIC DOMAIN
ALIA VOX AV 9826
( in Australia through Fuse Music
www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: www.alia-vox.com )
MONTSERRAT FIGUERAS - ’NINNA NANNA: CA. 1500-2002’ (LULLABIES)
2: 32
(refined version of a North African lullaby - a Berber/Amazigh one. ’Amazigh’ is the term increasingly preferred by the people who were called ’Berbers’ by the Romans. Ms Figueras sings, accompanied only by frame-drum and oud. The lutenist is Driss El Maloumi )

SEGUE

2330
CD CUT 4, ’KOUROUKANFOUGA’ (ELEVATION )
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI
CONTRE-JOUR BELGIUM
CONTRE-JOUR CJ020
(no current Australian distributor
It is available from some major online suppliers
Worldwide: www.contrejour.com )
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI - ’3MA’
5: 12
( Haunting slow-processional for a most unusual trio: oud, valiha and kora. For more on the ensemble/ its instruments see track-notes @ 2208 above )

SEGUE

2335
CD CUT 2, ’INTRODUCTION TO TEN YEARS’
COMPOSED AND ARRANGED BY RAFAEL KARLEN.
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
PINNACLES MUSIC PM 0208
(available online from the label:
www.pinnaclesmusic.com )
WEST END COMPOSERS COLLECTIVE - ’DRIVING HAT’ ( MUSIC OF RAFAEL KARLEN )
2: 16
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: spare-pregnant duet for James Sherlock’s elec guitar and Steve Newcomb’s piano. It leads directly into cut-following )

SEGUE ( same-disc, continuous )

2337
CD CUT 3, ’TEN YEARS’
COMPOSED AND ARRANGED BY RAFAEL KARLEN.
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
PINNACLES MUSIC PM 0208
(available online from the label:
www.pinnaclesmusic.com )
WEST END COMPOSERS COLLECTIVE - ’DRIVING HAT’ ( MUSIC OF RAFAEL KARLEN )
6: 34
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: initially subdued-impressionistic, then much more mobile: full ’big band’ resources artfully and subtly deployed - more ’orchestrally’ than ’big-band’-ishly. The composer plays tenor sax, Mark Spencer the alto sax, Graeme Norris on baritone sax, drummer Joe Marchisella, trombonist Mikael Strand, trumpeter Shannon Marshall. Guitar and piano as per preceding duet.

RAFAEL KARLEN/ WEST END COMPOSERS COLLECTIVE GIGS ALERT
( Brisbane )

Wednesday 10 Sept, @ 8 pm, The Press Club, Brunswick St
Admission is free.
The West End Composers collective perform a short set as part of the Big Sound music showcase.

Thursday 18 Sep, @ 8 pm, Jazzworx! The Music Institute
4 Exhibition St, Bowen Hills ( pay-for-tickets, full concert )
The West End Composers Collective: new music and their greatest hits

Rafael Karlen’s site (includes imminent gigs ) : http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=102827650

AND
LOTS MORE SHOWCASE GIGS, BESIDES, IN BRISBANE

On the nights of Wed 10 and Thurs 11 Sept, at various Brisbane venues Some music showcase gigs are ticketed, some are free.
Details/bookings here: www.qmusic.com.au/bigsound2008/index.cfm?action=dsp_showcases&contentID=319 )

2346
CD CUT 12, ’BOUM TCHAK’
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI
CONTRE-JOUR BELGIUM
CONTRE-JOUR CJ020
(no current Australian distributor
It is available from some major online suppliers
Worldwide: www.contrejour.com )
RAJERY, BALLAKE SISSOKO AND DRISS EL MALOUMI - ’3MA’
4: 10
(’Live’ in Yemen, and very playful. The Madagascan/Malian/Moroccan trio members play valiha, kora and oud, but the emphasis here is on Indian-inspired vocal interplay, with mouth-percussion and strange vocal sounds )

SEGUE

2350
CD CUT 8, ’YAMFA’ ( FORGIVE )
TOUMANI DIABATE (DEVELOPED FROM A TRAD SONG)
RYKOMUSIC LTD
HANNIBAL HNCD 1428
( I suspect that this now lacks an Australian distributor
worldwide: www.rykodisc.com )
TOUMANI DIABATE WITH BALLAKE SISSOKO - ’NEW ANCIENT STRINGS’
5: 07
(two koras {21-stringed, West African harp-lutes}, au naturel. A gracious instrumental duo elaboration on a song by Toumani’s mother - a song based on ’Alla L’aa Ke’, which is a kora ’standard’. Toumani and Ballake have known - and lived literally next door to - each other for most of their lives )

2356
CD CUTS 1 AND 2 (EXCERPT) ’TRAIN RIDE’
JOHN MORAN
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
RECORDING NOT YET COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE
(provided by artist and broadcast with his permission.
Is likely to become commercially available.
Artist’s site: www.myspace.com/thejohnmorancorperation )
JOHN MORAN - ’TRAIN RIDE ’
2: 40 (excerpt )
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: collage of train and train-like sounds and of electronic and other musical elements.

JOHN MORAN CORPERATION PERFORMANCE ALERT (NSW)

Saturday September 13, from 7. 45pm
at the Zig Zag Railway’s , Clarence Station, in the Blue Mountains.
This piece will be presented in full as ’’ not so much a music gig as an armchair theatre performance’. It will begin with drinks on the platform and then move inside in a historic 1930s hospital locomotive carriage.

More information and audio samplers of Trainride and Titanic at myspace.com/thejohnmorancorperation

further contact: kandjmoran@bigpond.com
Bookings via 02 4787 8833, 0416 221 770 )

Presenter

Doug Spencer

Producer

Doug Spencer