End of an awful year globally. However there were moments of happiness, babies born, new loving pets, and a tremendous amount of great new music recorded and released. This was really important as I am sure this has been the worst year for live music in modern history. The performing arts have been hit harder than every other economic sector by the pandemic, which is doubly tragic because making a livable income was precarious for most professional musicians even before the pandemic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/26/arts/unemployed-performer-theatre-arts.html
Which makes it more important than ever to support musicians and artists financially. Buy music you love! Pay money for streamed concerts! We will need music and arts more than ever moving forwards.
Here is my list of favourites for 2020, in no particular order:
• Duo Perse-Inca - Echoes de Montagnes - Analekta
• Siti Muharam - Siti of Unguja - On The Corner
• Samuil Feinberg/Marc-Andre Hamelin - Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-6 - Hyperion
• Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini - What's Next Vivaldi? - Alpha Classics
• Various - La Locura De Machuca - Analog Africa
• Groupe RTD - The Dancing Devils Of Djibouti - Ostinato Records
• Sun Ra Arkestra - Swirling - Strut
• Thelonious Monk - Palo Alto - Impulse!
• Keith Jarrett - Budapest - ECM
• Osvaldo Golijov/the Silkroad Ensemble - Falling Out of • Time - A Tone Poem in Voices - In A Circle Records
• Clara Iannotta/JACK Quartet - Earthing - Wergo
• Afel Bocoum - Lindé - World Circuit
• John Luther Adams/JACK Quartet - Lines made by walking - Cold Blue Music
• Didem Basar - Levantine Rhapsody - Analekta
• Zal Sissokho - Kora Flamenca - Analekta
• Auguste Dupont, Peter Benoit/Howard Shelley, Sinfonieorchester St gallen - Romantic Piano Concerto vol. 80 - Hyperion
• Shahriyar Jamshidi - My Sunset Land Rojava - independent
• Alhousseini Anivolla & Girum Mezmur - Afropentatonism - Piranha
• Ustad Saami - Pakistan is for the Peaceful - Gltterbeat
• Corigliano, Caravassilis, Siegel/Jakob Bangso, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Kaisa Roose - Guitar Concertos - Orchid Classics
• Anna Thorvaldsdottir - Rhizoma - Sono Luminus
• Tony Allen, Hugh Masekela - Rejoice - World Circuit
• Hailu Mergia - Yene Mircha - Awesome Tapes From Africa
• Ravi Shankar/London Symphony Orchestra - Sukanya - LSO Live
• Barmer Boys - Live in Berlin - Amarrass Records
• Lakha Khan - Live at Global - Amarrass Records
• Brooklyn Raga Massive - In D - Brooklyn Raga Massive
• Kamancello - Of Shadows - Independent
• Jacob Cooper/Mellissa Hughes, Kate Maroney, String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Eli Spindel - Afterimage
• Frank Horvat - A Little Dark Music 2 - I Am Who I Am
• Various - Music from Saharan WhatsApp vols. 1-11 - Sahel Sounds
• Esma's Band Next Generation "Gypsy Dance" ARC
• Oumou Sangare - Acoustic - No Format
• Tyshawn Sorey - Unfiltered - Pi Recordings
• John Luther Adams - the become trilogy - Cantaloupe Music
• Dino Saluzzi - Albores - ECM
I love all these albums!
| A lot of great new releases appeared late this fall that I have not had time to program yet, including two from one of my favourite American composers, John Luther Adams. We will start with the first piece in what would become his "Become Trilogy". "Become River" was written shortly before "Become Ocean", both in 2013. This is supposed to be the "smaller" of the three works, it is much shorter with a smaller orchestra, and it starts quite high and soft, but the sound grows until it becomes immense, a massive river roaring to the sea. It is not a pictorial description though, more metaphysical, music that sounds like it comes from the deepest parts of the Earth. Magnificent! |
| Become River John Luther Adams/Seattle Symphony, Ludovic Morlot - The Become Trilogy - Cantaloupe Music 
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| 85 year old master Dino Saluzzi recorded this album in 2019, for solo bandoneon, an instrument he has played for almost eight decades. This new album is the latest of many for ECM since he recorded "Kultrum" in 1982. It is a deeply intimate album, full of nostalgia and memories of a long life lived in music, achingly beautiful. The first composition was written and recorded in October 2019 as a tribute to his friend and contemporary (also born in 1935) Georgian composer Giya Kancheli who died that month. |
| Adios Maestro Kancheli Dino Saluzzi - Albores - ECM
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| Ausencias Dino Saluzzi - Albores - ECM
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| Maruchaan Duo Perse-Inca - Echos des Montagnes - Analekta 
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| Le Mongui King Somalie - La Locura De Machuca - Analog Africa |
| Suuban Groupe RTD - The Dancing Devils of Djibouti - Ostinato Records |
| Fadjamou Oumou Sangare - Acoustic - No Format |
| Yene Mircha Hailu Mergia - Yene Mircha - Awesome Tapes From Africa |
| Jabulani (Rejoice, Here Comes Tony) Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela - Rejoice - World Circuit |
| We continue with the latest EP release from Sahel Sounds' Music From Saharan WhatsApp, volume 11 featuring the group Oyiwane, a popular local group from Agadez, Niger. The whole series is on my 2020 favourites list. The recording quality is more rustic, but the immediacy of this music, most often recorded in a single take, in a musician's home, and then made available for listening only a week or two connects us to these local traditions from the other side of the world almost in real time. Tuareg guitar music is always welcome! The music is only available as a pay what you can on Bandcamp for one month, then it is gone forever! (Or they can be heard on-demand on my past shows!) So don't miss it:
https://oyiwane.bandcamp.com/album/music-from-saharan-whatsapp-11 |
| Telilit Oyiwane - Music from Saharan WhatsApp 11 - Sahel Sounds
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| Tifinagh Oyiwane - Music from Saharan WhatsApp 11 - Sahel Sounds
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| Diversitie Oyiwane - Music from Saharan WhatsApp 11 - Sahel Sounds
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| Fatima Oyiwane - Music from Saharan WhatsApp 11 - Sahel Sounds
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| The Barmer Boys were one of the very few groups to have toured during the pandemic. They had a summer tour in a handful of cities in Northern Europe, playing to very small, socially distanced and lucky audiences. |
| Challa Challa Barmer Boys - Live in Berlin - Amarrass Records |
| Kamenche player Shahriyar Jamshidi released this solo album as well as the 3rd Kamancello album. I really miss seeing them live! |
| Pomegranate Seeds Shahriyar Jamshidi - My Sunset-Land Rojava - Independent
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| Continuing the legacy of the great Roma singer Esma Redzepova, the group Esma's Band Next Generation is comprised of her adopted children and music students including her protogé, singer Eleonora Mustafovska. |
| Romano Ilo Esma's Band Next Generation - Gypsy Dance - ARC |
| Don't Blame Me Thelonious Monk - Palo Alto - Impulse! |
| Door of the Cosmos/Say Sun Ra Arkestra - Swirling - Strut
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| Ravi Shankar's final work which he was working feverishly on during his final year already 90 years old, was completed by his daughter Anoushka and his longtime collaborator David Murphy. An opera in two acts mixing Indian instruments and singing and European orchestra and opera singing. The opera is an amazing, joyful, work. You can hear the full opera on my program from early March, my last program in-studio before the pandemic closure.
https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/105/47374.html |
| Sukanya Part 2:XV. New Life Ravi Shankar/Njabulo Madlala, Michel De Souza, Susanna Hurrell, Keel Watson, Eleanor Minney, Alok Kumar, M Balachandar, Rajkumar Misra, Parimal Sadaphal, Ashwani Shankar, Pirashanna Thevarajah, BBC Singers, London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Murphy - Sukanya - LPO |
| The final word for 2020 is this beautiful work of peace and hope from Ottawa composer Frank Horvat. Hoping for a much better year to come for everyone and a return of live music! |
| Life For Mars Frank Horvat - A Little Dark Music 2 - I Am Who I Am
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Thank you David. Peace.
2:11 PM, December 31st, 2020