Farsighted Fly Girl

I remember clearly the first time I heard about Prince. Every girl in my class was totally in love with this cute guy that sang in a breathy, sexy falsetto. But it wasn’t immediately clear that he would kick down so many barriers with his stiletto-clad feet and permanently tattoo his mark on music, when Prince arrived on the scene in 1978. His lush afro and bedroom eyes captured the imaginations of teen girls who helped make his first release, ‘Soft & Wet,” a minor R&B hit from his debut album, “ For You” . Filled with sexual references and coos and moans, it was a telling indicator of the musician’s future status as a sex symbol and provocateur but nothing more. The fact that the 19-year-old had produced, arranged and played every instrument on every song should have been a clue to his greatness but it was the end of the '70s. Music genres were strictly defined and its stars neatly boxed in. But things were shifting. Rock was embracing elements of new wave , funk was bl...

It doesn't get any better than listening to Gregory Isaacs' smooth vocals on a balmy Jamaican night. His voice glided over lyrics, caressing them gently, like a Caribbean breeze.  I first heard him live at a concert in Mandeville, Jamaica and I've been a fan ever since. Decked out in custom-made suits with a fedora tipped rakishly to the side, he earned the name of the Cool Ruler, King of Lover's Rock, which combines the melodies of roots reggae with dancehall riddims.  Producing 500 albums over his 40-year career, he won a loyal following not just because of his singing skills but because of the vulnerability he displayed. He battled drug addiction for most of his life, entering rehab, losing teeth, and facing arrest constantly but he always managed to come back, his voice still lovely. Gregory died at 59 yesterday, from lung cancer, refusing any operations. His presence will forever be missed but his music lives on. The video below is of one of my favorite son...

Febuary 6 marks what would be Bob Marley's 65th birthday. Bob is celebrated around the world for his music but I believe that he represents much more.  Freedom fighter and revolutionary are overused labels but Bob truly personified the terms. It disturbs me when Bob Marley is held up as a symbol for marijuana lovers, like that's all he represents. Bob Marley gave a voice to the poor and oppressed.  He documented the injustices, urged them to fight against the system. For this, he was persecuted and attacked. Because of stupid media portayals, many don't realize that Rastafarians throughout the Caribbean were regularly beaten and jailed until very recently.  The spotlight that Bob's music unveiled on the unjust Jamaican political system reaped scorn from the elite and adoration from people in developing countries, struggling for freedom all over the world. I 've visited Bob's hometown of Nine Mile, Jamaica, a tiny fishing village perched in the mountains of Jam...

Last week, half of my CD tower collapsed. It covers an entire wall and holds hundreds of my lovingly collected CDs. The CDs crashed to the floor. Some are cracked, some are scratched. To say that I'm sad about it is an understatement. I haven't been able to deal with it at all. I just look at the piles of music and turn away because I can't bear to go through them and see what I've lost. Today I realized that it was the left side of the case that collapsed. This means that all of my American music genres--blues, jazz, rock, soul and hip hop are in piles on the floor. My global music--Latin, reggae, soca, calypso, African, Celtic and everything in between, rests safely on shelves in the other half of the tower. I haven't figured out what this means but for now it means that I only have access to my global music. The feeling of loss and regret that hovers over me has created a hankering for the blues. I can't reach for B.B. or Buddy or John Lee but I can listen to...

This marks the 100th post for Farsighted Fly Girl and I can't think of a better way to celebrate than with a dose of funky South African sounds. Dance Mama by singer/songwriter/composer Christine Vaindirlis, stirs up the most infectious party music that I've heard in a while. Born in London, raised in Johannesburg and trained in Milan at La Scala, she also reflects on irresistible cultural jambalaya. Despite such a global experience, it's clear that her heart remains in South Africa. From the vibrant geometric designs of the CD jacket and disc, created to recall Zulu bead work and Ndebele house paintings, to the references to South African music icons Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim, South Africa is all over Dance Mama . The 10-track album bursts open with "Indaba" (home) a joyful, bouncing, display of township party music. Christine's well-honed funk chops inform "Call To Freedom" and her classical training shows up for "Figh...

Jamaica has reggae, Trinidad has calypso, Cuba has son and St. Lucia has shak shak music. Folk music defines Caribbean culture and in St. Lucia, it's the shak shak rattle or shakare, fiddle, cuatro, banjo and drum that form the shak-shak band, which displays the essence of native Kweyol culture. Kweyol is the French-based Creole dialect spoken only in St. Lucia and nearby Dominica. The upbeat rhythms of shak shak music ring out from fish fries, small rural gatherings and many hotels. I met Lawrence James, the shak shak and harmonica player above, on the lovely Fond Du Estate. He has been playing since he was a child and like most folk musicians, is self-taught. James' shak shak is fashioned with tin cans and seeds, which float around to make the requisite scratchy sound. Recently, a revival of traditional Kweyol culture has encouraged young people to learn shak shak music and songs. In the video below, a small shak shak band composed of shak shak, banjo and drums play for a g...

In honor of my 60th blog post, I decided it was time to celebrate! For me, celebrations always include music and one of my favorite genres is addictive,hip-swinging Cuban music. The Cuban sound draws much of its foundation from complex West African rhythms, with Latin melodies layered on top. This creates a joyful and sophisticated blend of music that is instantly recognizable. I've never heard anybody represent the music as vitally as bandleader, producer and musician Juan de Marcos and the Afro Cuban All Stars. As the man behind the Buena Vista Social Club, he skillfully demonstrates the vast generational appeal of Cuban music. You get stylish jazz melodies, funky beats and hot, soulful singing all at once. The CD and DVD set, Absolutely Live, was re-issued to promote the group's 2009 Spring American tour, the first since 2002, when Cuban musicians were routinely denied work visas for U.S. tours. That's changed now as we look forward to a new era of U.S. and Cuban cultura...

So I've been hanging out in Spain lately. I spent the weekend watching Woody Allen's "Vicki Cristina Barcelona," eating tapas and listening to live flamenco music. There's something about the intensity of Spanish culture that yanks at me. Watching flamenco dancers twirl their skirts and stomp out rhythms at the local nightclub/restaurant Alahambra Palace (more on this in another post), wasn't enough. So I dug through my flamenco music collection. I love flamenco in all it's forms, traditional guitar, nuevo and fusion. The drama, romance and emotion of the music enthralls me. But I haven't found a single flamenco artist that enthralls me quite like Concha Buika. Born on Mallorca of parents from Equatorial Guinea, Buika grew up in a swirl of African, jazz and gitano (gypsy) sounds. Her third CD "Nina de Fuego" (Fire Girl) shows her literally unveiled on the cover, with tattoos of the names of her female family members, her muses, trailing down...

A colorful Barbados memory that will always stick with me is winding down craggy country roads with the lovely resort town of Bathsheba as a backdrop. Only my attention wasn't on Bathsheba and its milky waters splashing the shores. I was singing a clever calypso led by art historian and musician Trevor Marshall and trying to figure out the punch line. A good calypso tune bursts with double entendres but it's not always immediately apparent. Trevor introduced me to this famous hit by Dave Martins and The Tradewinds and I'll always associate it with Barbados, even though the group members also represent Guyana, Trinidad, Grenada and the Cayman Islands. It's quite wicked, which is how I like my calypso! HONEYMOONING COUPLE A honeymooning couple was in a bedroom/ packing up to go away/in the middle of June/ Well all of a sudden/ a big argument break out/listen to the bridegroom/ listen what he shout/ You get on top/ that's the way it must go/I am your ...

Happy New Year! It's a season of celebrations and in Barbados, that usually means the raucous sounds of a tuk band will be streaming through the streets. Tuk bands produce Bajan folk music that truly represents the offbeat mix of African and British culture. Since traditional African rhythms were outlawed during slavery, enslaved Africans learned the music of British military and maritime bands, along with classical waltzes. After emancipation, a sound that merged all of these rhythms surfaced. The band plays a kittle drum also known as a snare drum, which was originally made from animal skins, the bass drum, a penny whistle and a triangle. The Tuk band rhythm moves progressively from a slow waltz, to a fassy or march beat and explodes into a frenetic African rhythm. Typically, the performers are a trio of roaming minstrels accompanied by a stilt walker, a moco jumbie or masquerade figure called Shaggy Bear and a man dressed as a woman with big bosoms and behind called Mother Sally...

Three weeks ago, I woke up feeling very edgy and unhappy. All morning, a cloud seemed to cling to my spirit and I couldn't shake it. Then I saw the day's headlines. I understood. Miriam was gone. Miriam Zenzi Makeba died of a heart attack on November 10 after a concert performance outside of Naples, Italy. To her fans she was Mama Africa and the Empress of African Song, an icon of African political activism and the high-flying spirit of African music. To me, she was a comforting , lyrical presence throughout my life. Miriam Makeba started performing in the 50s but a lot of younger Americans were first introduced to her in the 80s, when she appeared on an episode of the Cosby Show. I had the good fortune of experiencing a live Miriam concert before the Cosby episode and that performance will stay with me for the rest of my life. Her voice was at once overwhelming with a range that swooped from the sky and back, as well as intimate and soothing, scatting and swirling with a rich ...

Next week, I'll be traveling to Barbados. People may associate a handful of things with Barbados--Rhianna, flying fish or even a British sensibility. But for me, Barbados represents my favorite soca band, Krosfyah. Soca music is the manic, hip-swaying, offspring of calypso. It's most associated with Carnival time and Crop Over in Barbados but for true soca warriors, all the time is soca time. Soca never quite broke in the U.S., most Americans prefer the more languid melodies of roots reggae. Soca requires energy and rhythm. It's party music with a non-stop, staccato beat and Krosfyah works it like no one else can. I wrote a biography for Krosfyah at Allmusic here But to sum up Krofyah, I'd say that they stir up joyful, sexy, sounds made for fast-paced moves and all night partying. Founder and lead singer Edwin Yearwood wraps his silky, cajoling voice around a tune and pulls you in sweetly. Krosfyah displays a lot more soul and well-crafted songs than most soca groups, w...

As I bustled past street vendors selling coconut candy bars and the sleek, shiny-haired, hotties that fill Rio streets, I realized that I missed something. I couldn't put my finger on what exactly. When I neared the the orgy of beauty called Copacabana Beach, observing the languid motions of skimpily-clad cariocas strolling in the sand, it hit me. There was supposed to be a samba soundtrack to all of these scenes! How can you have a true Brazilian experience without samba as the backdrop? I needed to hear some live Brazilian rhythms! It happened to be a Sunday when I made my proclamation and my guide Da'vid didn't look too confident about it. It seems that most musicians take Sundays off in Rio. There I was, in the party capitol of the universe and it stops on Sunday? It didn't make much sense to me so we headed to the famous bohemian district of Lapa. Overflowing with street hustlers and artists of all stripes, Lapa does not close down. Built in the 18th century and m...

Blending fierce African flavor with sophisticated French flair, Les Nubians personify global style. Crooning their signature mix of soaring harmonies, jazz melodies and African beats, the sister duo appeared at Chicago's African Festival of the Arts over Labor Day weekend. I covered the sizzling show and was struck by just how well they reflect the connections between Africa and the Western world. Slinking out in curve-skimming halter dresses inlaid with African print fabric at the top and embellished with beads and cowrie shells, Celia rocked a curly 'fro and Helene an afro puff. They sang in French and shimmied their hips in traditional African dance. They rapped in English and announced the African concept for audience participation: "You can't shake it with your brain. You shake it with your yaunch. That means your ass. The original Africanology is very simple. If you don't dance, we don't dance!" Les Nubians connected it all together when t...

If you've heard of Brazil, you've heard of samba. Most people have glimpsed photos or scenes from Brazilian Carnaval, with sexy revelers festooned with a feather or two, writhing to samba rhythms. But what exactly, is samba? I always thought it was a music genre but I discovered that it's music, dance, and so much more, at Santo Amaro's House of Samba. Stepping into the terraced building that also holds a studio and performance space, before you can even get to the samba exhibits, the altars of seven saints loom. Like all African art forms, samba does not separate the spiritual from the mundane. The heavy percussion of samba beats derive from candomble music used for sacred ceremonies. Statues of Saints Lazarus, Joan, Barbara, Bonfim, Anthony, Roue, and the Portuguese twin Saints(! ) Cosme and Daniel, line the first wall of the Samba House. The corresponding colors for the candomble orishas or deities, adorn the background of each altar. The beads representing the or...

The name Santo Amaro da Purificacao sounds like the title of a poem or novel and in a lot of ways, this quaint rural town on the Northern coast of Brazil reflects the very essence of poetry. Starting from the sun-baked streets and ice cream-colored buildings, this place screams with charm. The cobblestone roads are narrow and seem to be overflowing with people, animals and products for sale. The marketplace, which features an array of tropical fruits and vegetables as well as homemade hootch, is famous for its Bembe do Mercado Festival, which is the only candomble ceremony that takes place in an open setting. The sunflower yellow courthouse, with its cannons still aimed at intruders, is a national monument that commemorates Brazil's independence from Portugal in 1822. Perhaps Santo Amaro's ultimate claim to fame rests plainly in the middle of town. That's where you'll find the childhood home of the poet of Salvador, Brazilian musical icon Caetano Veloso . Caetano's ...