The amazing fado singer Mariza
It's been a strange year for music with very few outstanding albums, yet the emergence of exciting talent from Merthyr Tudful has been astounding.
As well as Pretty Vicious, there's a plethora of talent : The Dole Age, Chapel Row, Local Enemy, Moon Birds and Plasterscene to name but a few.
A compilation album which includes our excellent singer-songwriters is essential and could be the focus of next year's Merthyr Rising Festival.
In terms of the year's best albums I'm not going to commit myself yet, especially as Dan Auerbach's band The Arcs latest cd is winging its way here as I speak.
It only recently occurred to me that the last three albums I've got have all been world music ones.
Like Cool Cymru, it often seems like world music has happened and then gone away.
Nothing could be further from the truth however.
Fair play to Jools Holland, when he does feature world sounds they are invariably interesting.
Song of the year was, without doubt, 'Mama Says' from the French/Cuban twins called 'Ibeyi', who sing in English and Yoruba. Spare and moody, it was a rare moment of sheer emotion amongst all the averagosity.
Thanks to Jools also for featuring the Congolese band Mbwongana Star whose album 'From Kinshasa' is a joy to listen and dance to ( if only with frantically tapping fingers and strange looks on public transport!).
They sound better live than on record, where the production can be a bit cluttered or overdone at times.
They're an ambitious band, who combine African instruments, chants, 'township' rhythms, hard rock and electronic effects in the main successfully.
The opening track 'From Kinshasa to the moon' sums them up : packed with fast-running beat and adventure.
Like Malian bands they can turn their hands to the blues, as on 'Coco Blues', but their distinctive style is one which combines African music with electronica.
Are the Super Furries big in Kinshasa? If they are, then that figures!
I first heard Ghazalaw on a programme about the WOMEX13 music festival in Cardiff Bay and, like Mbwongana Star, they are unique.
Think curried lentil cawl and you have the foodie equivalent!
Their eponymous album marries Welsh folk songs from Gwyneth Glyn and the Indian ghazal music of Tauseef Akhtar.
What could so easily be a stodgy attempt to create a spicy soup turns out instead to be a very tasty concoction.
The two traditions of love poetry and traditional folk song combine perfectly in conversation or harmony, or an exchange of musical gifts.
Familiar songs like 'Lusa Lan' and 'Moliannwn' are given a new dimension. The violin is the bridge between the two traditions, while Akhtar's fluid vocal complements Glyn's gentle voice.
The tabla is a pulsing river whose current runs throughout ; harp the light on its surface, ever-changing with tone.
This is music which explores fresh territory, every note a landmark, every song a different panorama.
'Mundo' is the latest album from one of Portugal's finest ever fado singers, Mariza.
To see her live is quite an experience.
With her short , white hair and flowing dress she has a remarkable presence.
Astonishingly, she even sang in St.David's Hall without a mic on several songs, her voice carrying high and low.
'Mundo' means 'world' and though there are many fado songs on the album, she show her versatility by singing ballads like 'Melhor de Mim' and even a relatively jaunty pop song 'Saudade Solta' ( someone is going to tell me it's about death!).
But it's the fado, like Blues itself, which transports you : a ridge between the valleys of sadness and thrill.
I'm still waiting for the Crown Inn in Merthyr to have a fado night, but till then I'll listen to magical Mariza.
FADO IN SETUBAL
Under tree's shade
in striking afternoon sun
propped against a wall -
in church square
with cup at feet
and bucket hat -
the blues of Setubal,
voice of the fado singer
catching us in its net -
we do not flounder
but sit so still
and listen as to a solitary
blackbird in the morning -
down crocheted overhangs
of shopping alleyways
the sound swims
searching for sea -
we follow willingly.
As well as Pretty Vicious, there's a plethora of talent : The Dole Age, Chapel Row, Local Enemy, Moon Birds and Plasterscene to name but a few.
A compilation album which includes our excellent singer-songwriters is essential and could be the focus of next year's Merthyr Rising Festival.
In terms of the year's best albums I'm not going to commit myself yet, especially as Dan Auerbach's band The Arcs latest cd is winging its way here as I speak.
It only recently occurred to me that the last three albums I've got have all been world music ones.
Like Cool Cymru, it often seems like world music has happened and then gone away.
Nothing could be further from the truth however.
Fair play to Jools Holland, when he does feature world sounds they are invariably interesting.
Song of the year was, without doubt, 'Mama Says' from the French/Cuban twins called 'Ibeyi', who sing in English and Yoruba. Spare and moody, it was a rare moment of sheer emotion amongst all the averagosity.
Thanks to Jools also for featuring the Congolese band Mbwongana Star whose album 'From Kinshasa' is a joy to listen and dance to ( if only with frantically tapping fingers and strange looks on public transport!).
They sound better live than on record, where the production can be a bit cluttered or overdone at times.
They're an ambitious band, who combine African instruments, chants, 'township' rhythms, hard rock and electronic effects in the main successfully.
The opening track 'From Kinshasa to the moon' sums them up : packed with fast-running beat and adventure.
Like Malian bands they can turn their hands to the blues, as on 'Coco Blues', but their distinctive style is one which combines African music with electronica.
Are the Super Furries big in Kinshasa? If they are, then that figures!
I first heard Ghazalaw on a programme about the WOMEX13 music festival in Cardiff Bay and, like Mbwongana Star, they are unique.
Think curried lentil cawl and you have the foodie equivalent!
Their eponymous album marries Welsh folk songs from Gwyneth Glyn and the Indian ghazal music of Tauseef Akhtar.
What could so easily be a stodgy attempt to create a spicy soup turns out instead to be a very tasty concoction.
The two traditions of love poetry and traditional folk song combine perfectly in conversation or harmony, or an exchange of musical gifts.
Familiar songs like 'Lusa Lan' and 'Moliannwn' are given a new dimension. The violin is the bridge between the two traditions, while Akhtar's fluid vocal complements Glyn's gentle voice.
The tabla is a pulsing river whose current runs throughout ; harp the light on its surface, ever-changing with tone.
This is music which explores fresh territory, every note a landmark, every song a different panorama.
'Mundo' is the latest album from one of Portugal's finest ever fado singers, Mariza.
To see her live is quite an experience.
With her short , white hair and flowing dress she has a remarkable presence.
Astonishingly, she even sang in St.David's Hall without a mic on several songs, her voice carrying high and low.
'Mundo' means 'world' and though there are many fado songs on the album, she show her versatility by singing ballads like 'Melhor de Mim' and even a relatively jaunty pop song 'Saudade Solta' ( someone is going to tell me it's about death!).
But it's the fado, like Blues itself, which transports you : a ridge between the valleys of sadness and thrill.
I'm still waiting for the Crown Inn in Merthyr to have a fado night, but till then I'll listen to magical Mariza.
FADO IN SETUBAL
Under tree's shade
in striking afternoon sun
propped against a wall -
in church square
with cup at feet
and bucket hat -
the blues of Setubal,
voice of the fado singer
catching us in its net -
we do not flounder
but sit so still
and listen as to a solitary
blackbird in the morning -
down crocheted overhangs
of shopping alleyways
the sound swims
searching for sea -
we follow willingly.
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