Youssou N'Dour in concert Over the last few weeks there have been a series of programmes on BBC 4 about Folk Music, the Blues and finally World Music.
Many have been intriguing and informative, others cobbled together from the archives. In other words, typical 4 fodder.....but essential viewing nevertheless.
The two folk programmes were very different. The first looked at the history of its development in Britain.
I say Britain but (another feature of Aunty Beeb) this really meant England. This showed the way it moved out of the clubs to become an integral part of the music scene.
Apart from the exclusion of most Celtic influences, the programme lacked an overall narrative, a shaping voice who could demonstrate the interaction with the States (especially Dylan) and the development of a distinctively English folk-rock sound with the likes of Fairport Convention (akin to American bands such as The Byrds and The Band).
The second programme consisted entirely of archive footage and was often a revelation.
It was astonishing to see Steeleye Span welcomed onto Crackerjack like a mainstream pop group.
Some acts were clearly only of their time. The insipid Donovan was given a lot more air time than he deserved, while Pentangle struck me as true pioneers of folk-jazz, which was later taken to another level by bands like Moving Hearts.
Sandy Denny was at her emotive best with 'Crazy Woman Blues', yet the Richard Thompson song would have put you off his music completely ; a very annoying choice for the one who has not only survived, but made many recent classic albums.
It ended with Billy Bragg rather then Robb Johnson or Chumbawamba (in their folk manifestation), plumping for safety over genuine political challenge.
The finest of English folk today is to be found in the Anti-capitalist Roadshow, while the Scottish and Welsh varieties have many excellent singer-songwriters, as does Ireland with Damien Dempsey.
So, their conclusion came over as rather dated.
The Blues programme was equally safe, though it did comprise a number of truly great performers , for example B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Champion Jack Dupree.
I always like the little facts that are captioned, including one explaining how Dupree was a boxer before musician, hence the name.
I was astonished to see The Kinks doing a stunning blues song and wished they'd carried that love of the Blues more into their later material.
The programme missed the likes of Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters. Surely footage of these must've been available?
Still, for someone not versed in the Blues, it was a reasonable starting-point.
It would be interesting to see a programme about the influence of the Blues on singer-songwriters ( a much neglected area) : especially Meic Stevens, John Martyn and Kevin Coyne, all three with unique voices and styles ( much like Richie Havens in America).
The first of the four World Music programmes looked at the way it was adopted by record companies and Western artists and transformed into a very popular genre.
I once found Welsh language punk band Anrhefn in the 'World Music' section of a Cardiff record store. Despite John Peel's advocacy, Welsh language rock was still regarded as somehow distant and foreign in our own country!
The programme's theme was about the hunt for 'the new Bob Marley', though bands did get a look-in as well, particularly Zimbabwe's Bhundu Boys.
There were obvious contrasts between the way the latter's music was destroyed and sanitized by a major record company and the experience of Senegal's Youssou N'Dour.
He was dropped by his record company and promptly went on to record the massive hit '7 Seconds' with Neneh Cherry.
She described the song in overtly political terms, as a call for resistance (rather like Marley's 'Get Up, Stand Up').
'7 Seconds' remains one of the very best songs bringing together African music and Western pop.
But the real joy of watching the programme was, for me, about rediscovering artists I had sadly forgotten.
The qawwali singing of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was - with Portuguese fado - the most transcendental experience.
It's no wonder Jeff Buckley called Nusrat 'his Elvis'.
I loved the anecdote about his concert at the Womad festival. He was supposed to perform for 45 minutes (about one and half songs in qawwli terms), but ended up singing for over 4 hours, with people joining the audience as he went on.
With lyrics based on the poetry of Muslim Sufism (that mystical, philosophical branch of Islam which Richard & Linda Thompson joined), listening is something of a spiritual experience, even for this die-hard atheist.
When it came to the next programme - an A-Z- of World Music - I couldn't help filling in the alarming gaps.
Where was reggae? Where was S.America's finest singer-songwriter Victor Jara (also an exponent of Chilean traditional music), who was murdered by the Junta there for his politics and his songs?
This A-Z was rather anodyne and only touched upon politics in an African context, showing the outstanding Tinariwen, who used to be both Toureg guerillas and members of a musical collective.
The documentary about Youssou N'Dour was far more satisfying than his quite recent concert which followed it.
While the concert showed him going through the motions, the documentary was fascinating.
N'Dour was portrayed as both a remarkable musician and man : someone devoted to his country as much as to his music.
Always drawing on its traditions, the rise of N'Dour - with a voice singularly combining his religion, nation and the influence of Western rock -
showed him as very much the man to replace Marley.
His collaboration with Peter Gabriel on 'Shaking The Tree' was utterly thrilling, as were his live performances with their vibrant dancing.
Yet N'Dour never became the superstar who left his land behind ( see Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey for our Welsh contrasts).
In fact, he actually stood for President in Senegal and - in a very frightening campaign - had to stop soldiers from firing on his supporters.
He is now Minister of Culture and trying to put into practice the manifesto his songs often expounded.
After Marley, he was certainly the most significant figure within that weird term 'World Music' : rightly a hero in his homeland.
SEARCHING
I'm searching
for music
in the undergrowth
the hedge-tangle
blues rai reggae qwwali fado
people from all over
the world
needing each other
yet struggling
to survive
(roots seeking water
leaves asking sky)
the creepers choke and suffocate
come in may guises
from raised guns to forms of paper
(searching for birds of various colours -
their plumage and dalliance
and songs
joining separating
across the air
wires can only approximate
the mating-calls
the warnings
the celebrations of sunlight.
Many have been intriguing and informative, others cobbled together from the archives. In other words, typical 4 fodder.....but essential viewing nevertheless.
The two folk programmes were very different. The first looked at the history of its development in Britain.
I say Britain but (another feature of Aunty Beeb) this really meant England. This showed the way it moved out of the clubs to become an integral part of the music scene.
Apart from the exclusion of most Celtic influences, the programme lacked an overall narrative, a shaping voice who could demonstrate the interaction with the States (especially Dylan) and the development of a distinctively English folk-rock sound with the likes of Fairport Convention (akin to American bands such as The Byrds and The Band).
The second programme consisted entirely of archive footage and was often a revelation.
It was astonishing to see Steeleye Span welcomed onto Crackerjack like a mainstream pop group.
Some acts were clearly only of their time. The insipid Donovan was given a lot more air time than he deserved, while Pentangle struck me as true pioneers of folk-jazz, which was later taken to another level by bands like Moving Hearts.
Sandy Denny was at her emotive best with 'Crazy Woman Blues', yet the Richard Thompson song would have put you off his music completely ; a very annoying choice for the one who has not only survived, but made many recent classic albums.
It ended with Billy Bragg rather then Robb Johnson or Chumbawamba (in their folk manifestation), plumping for safety over genuine political challenge.
The finest of English folk today is to be found in the Anti-capitalist Roadshow, while the Scottish and Welsh varieties have many excellent singer-songwriters, as does Ireland with Damien Dempsey.
So, their conclusion came over as rather dated.
The Blues programme was equally safe, though it did comprise a number of truly great performers , for example B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Champion Jack Dupree.
I always like the little facts that are captioned, including one explaining how Dupree was a boxer before musician, hence the name.
I was astonished to see The Kinks doing a stunning blues song and wished they'd carried that love of the Blues more into their later material.
The programme missed the likes of Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters. Surely footage of these must've been available?
Still, for someone not versed in the Blues, it was a reasonable starting-point.
It would be interesting to see a programme about the influence of the Blues on singer-songwriters ( a much neglected area) : especially Meic Stevens, John Martyn and Kevin Coyne, all three with unique voices and styles ( much like Richie Havens in America).
The first of the four World Music programmes looked at the way it was adopted by record companies and Western artists and transformed into a very popular genre.
I once found Welsh language punk band Anrhefn in the 'World Music' section of a Cardiff record store. Despite John Peel's advocacy, Welsh language rock was still regarded as somehow distant and foreign in our own country!
The programme's theme was about the hunt for 'the new Bob Marley', though bands did get a look-in as well, particularly Zimbabwe's Bhundu Boys.
There were obvious contrasts between the way the latter's music was destroyed and sanitized by a major record company and the experience of Senegal's Youssou N'Dour.
He was dropped by his record company and promptly went on to record the massive hit '7 Seconds' with Neneh Cherry.
She described the song in overtly political terms, as a call for resistance (rather like Marley's 'Get Up, Stand Up').
'7 Seconds' remains one of the very best songs bringing together African music and Western pop.
But the real joy of watching the programme was, for me, about rediscovering artists I had sadly forgotten.
The qawwali singing of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was - with Portuguese fado - the most transcendental experience.
It's no wonder Jeff Buckley called Nusrat 'his Elvis'.
I loved the anecdote about his concert at the Womad festival. He was supposed to perform for 45 minutes (about one and half songs in qawwli terms), but ended up singing for over 4 hours, with people joining the audience as he went on.
With lyrics based on the poetry of Muslim Sufism (that mystical, philosophical branch of Islam which Richard & Linda Thompson joined), listening is something of a spiritual experience, even for this die-hard atheist.
When it came to the next programme - an A-Z- of World Music - I couldn't help filling in the alarming gaps.
Where was reggae? Where was S.America's finest singer-songwriter Victor Jara (also an exponent of Chilean traditional music), who was murdered by the Junta there for his politics and his songs?
This A-Z was rather anodyne and only touched upon politics in an African context, showing the outstanding Tinariwen, who used to be both Toureg guerillas and members of a musical collective.
The documentary about Youssou N'Dour was far more satisfying than his quite recent concert which followed it.
While the concert showed him going through the motions, the documentary was fascinating.
N'Dour was portrayed as both a remarkable musician and man : someone devoted to his country as much as to his music.
Always drawing on its traditions, the rise of N'Dour - with a voice singularly combining his religion, nation and the influence of Western rock -
showed him as very much the man to replace Marley.
His collaboration with Peter Gabriel on 'Shaking The Tree' was utterly thrilling, as were his live performances with their vibrant dancing.
Yet N'Dour never became the superstar who left his land behind ( see Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey for our Welsh contrasts).
In fact, he actually stood for President in Senegal and - in a very frightening campaign - had to stop soldiers from firing on his supporters.
He is now Minister of Culture and trying to put into practice the manifesto his songs often expounded.
After Marley, he was certainly the most significant figure within that weird term 'World Music' : rightly a hero in his homeland.
SEARCHING
I'm searching
for music
in the undergrowth
the hedge-tangle
blues rai reggae qwwali fado
people from all over
the world
needing each other
yet struggling
to survive
(roots seeking water
leaves asking sky)
the creepers choke and suffocate
come in may guises
from raised guns to forms of paper
(searching for birds of various colours -
their plumage and dalliance
and songs
joining separating
across the air
wires can only approximate
the mating-calls
the warnings
the celebrations of sunlight.
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