Happiness from different countries.
My aunt has been kind to me recently, and as thanks for this kindness I decided to make her an international mix tape. The guidelines I set down for myself were these: that the music had to be happy and each song had to come from a different country. I didn't think she'd tolerate anything too harsh, and I didn't want to give her anything sad or rough. Where to begin? I once played her a song from Naxos World's Electric Highlife: Sessions from the Bokoor Studios album and she enjoyed it, so the proper place to start, I thought, was in Ghana.
1. Obia Ba Nnye (Naughty Child) - George Adu.
"Everybody has a naughty child," reads the translation. "But why is it only my own they talk about?" 'Obia Ba Nnye' jangles and jumps. After five minutes and forty-three seconds I decided to stay in Africa but move on to something less restless.
2. Bul Ma Miin - Orchestra Baobab.
'Bul Ma Miin' is sung by a praise singer - a Senegalese griot - who rotates the rhythm in a steady circular groove until it's been drilled firmly into your head. He has a wonderful voice, strong yet with a silvery shiver along the edges. The song is energetic without being noisy. The next one, however -
3. O Reino Encantado de Amor - Jorge Ben
- is Brazilian party music accentuated by sharp blasts from the kind of whistles people watching soccer matches use to express their excitement. I decided that the next song was going to be South African. She comes from South Africa and most of the non-English music she's listened to up until now has come from SA. Miriam Makeba's 'Pata Pata' would have been my choice if she hadn't already been familiar with it. I chose pennywhistle jive instead.
4. Meva - Spokes Mashiyane
And then calypso with some mild innuendo in the lyrics, to keep the mood chirpy.
5. Don't Touch Me Tomato - George Symonette
I know my mother doesn't like shrill noises and I suspect that my aunt might not like them either, but surely the sweetly dated charm and energy of 1950s Bollywood would make up for the piercing voice of Geeta Dutt? The chorus of this song has a killer catchiness.
6. Meera Naam Chin Chin Chu - Geeta Dutt
This was the end of my easy songs - the first happy ones I'd been able to think of, and the simplest ones to choose. Of course she'd like Spokes Mashiyane. Of course she'd think Jorge Ben was danceable. Now I had to start searching around. I picked Tam 'Echo' Tam's 'Le Ruissseau,' a vocal piece that moves with a kind of prinking hop, like a sparrow.
7. Le Ruisseau - Tam 'Echo' Tam
I wanted Dutt and Tam 'Echo' Tam to bridge the gap between the African, Brazilian songs and music with a more European sound. Next came Scotland's modern folk group Capercaillie.
8. Hebredian Hale-Bopp - Capercaillie
Now a minor calamity. The right singer to follow Capercaillie was Talitha McKenzie who sings 'Ibhi A Da' by herself alone; the rhythm is similar to 'Hebredian Hale- Bopp' but the effect is different. You're left impressed by the way she uses her voice. The problem was that she also comes from Scotland, which meant that I would have to break the 'each song had to come from a different country' commandment.
After some thought, I broke it.
9. Ibhi A Da - Talitha McKenzie
In a reckless mood I went to Finland. JPP (surely one of music's most unevocative names: they sound like a building society) arranges traditional fiddle music into something rapid and exciting.
10. Antin Mikko - JPP
And then, Bulgarians! No mix is complete without Bulgarians. This probably sounds ludicrous to anyone who hasn't heard Bulgarians (or, who has heard them and couldn't identify the nationality of the singers) but trust me, listen to Bulgarians! I went to the trusty old Mystere Des Voix Bulgare album and chose what I thought was the happiest song. It isn't 'happy' in the strictest sense of the word - thrilling, rather - but I'd be shirking my responsibility as a compiler if I didn't get some Bulgarians in there.
11. Svatba - The Bulgarian Radio Women's Choir
By now I was running out of steam. My sense of thematic unity left me. Like a drowning woman I clutched at David Fanshawe's field recordings of Tahitians.
12. Himene Tarava Tamarii Pirae - multitudes of people at the Tahiti Festival of Life.
We were in the islands. We would stay there with George Telek from Papua New Guinea. He sings about a banana.
13. Waitpela Gras - Telek
The Record button came up with a snapping sound before the song had finished. We had reached the end of Side One. I was relieved because it meant that I could re-use 'Waitpela Gras' at the start of Side Two, and if anyone asked me about it I would explain that it would have been frustrating to leave my audience with an incomplete song in their heads. I don't enjoy Telek. I wish I did. I've listened to Serious Tam several times, willing myself to latch onto the music, but so far it leaves me indifferent. One of the problems with making a mix for someone else is that I have to leave out songs I like in favour of songs I think they will prefer. The 'different countries' commandment plays a part in this as well. Without that I could have just taped a chunk of Jorge Ben and a chunk of Bollywood and some Highlife and rested content in the knowlege that I had a happy tape on my hands. My job would have been easier.
1. Waitpela Gras - Telek
How do you know if a song is happy? Thomas Mapfumo's spiralling repeated rhythms (like those in 'Bul Ma Miin') are lively but there's a seriousness to him. Femi Kuti is also serious. Both singers concern themselves with the politics of their countries, Zimbabwe and Nigeria respectively, but that on its own doesn't explain the low, intent note that underlines their songs.
2. Shumba - Thomas Mapfumo
I left Kuti out because people who speak English can understand his lyrics and I didn't think a call to black awareness would leave my aunt ecstatic. ("I see the problem since slave trade end. Blackman never regain consciousness. We get the wrong people for government. Who force us to think with colonial sense. Na wrong information scatter your head." Etc. She probably wouldn't appreciate the sex one either. "The girl fine I mean she so fine O. Her body kai na wahala. Her yansh just makes me wonder. [me too, what's a yansh?] Her breasts be like dunlope maria. Beng Beng Beng ... She said love me Femi don't stop. Beng Beng Beng.")
Hooray for the Afro-Celts: they make long songs. I have a whole seven minutes to figure out what is going to come next.
3. Whirl-y-reel - Afro Celt Sound System
By now we're all over the place. From drumming electronically combined with Celtic reels we jump to an acoustic flamenco -
4. Venta Zoraida - Enrique Morente
- and then to England for some folk fiddling. I hope this doesn't come off sounding like a repetition of the Finns.
5. Trip - Eliza Carthy and the Kings of Calicutt.
Mali. I didn't want to overload the mix with African music but so much of the World Music that gets released is African that it's difficult not to. Boubacar Traore doesn't get as much attention as his fellow Malians Ali Farka Toure and Salif Keita but this song, in which most of the lyrics consist of his nickname being repeated with a vivacity that reminds me of those hip hop tracks in which the singer spends three minutes reminding you that, "I'm X, women love me, men respect me, my name is X, X, X, remember me, I'm X, yo," is too bouncy to ignore.
6. Kar Kar Madison - Boubacar Traore
I turn to Rachid Taha's Algerian Rai. It's been a while since I listened to Made in Medina and I'm not sure if there's any happiness on there. Punkish shouting is what I remember. I want cheer, not anger, otherwise 'Foqt Foqt' would have been in the mix in an instant. At least she won't understand his lyrics. "I'm confused and dismayed," says part of the translation. "I know nobody. I feel disoriented." "Dismayed' is such a neat almost antiquated word that I'm charmed to see it coupled with Taha's modern energy. That doesn't make the music any happier.
I listen to more of the album and rediscover 'Hey Anta.'
7. Hey Anta - Rachid Taha
"The alaoui mode (Bedouin rhythm) underlines the desire to initiate oneself to the rapid steps of a dromedary," explains the sleeve notes. She'll laugh when I tell her about the dromedary reference.
The next song annoys me by only being twenty-six seconds long, but it's one of those pieces that make people prick up their ears and say, "Good grief what was that? Is that a human being?" and I want to get it on there.
8. Konnokol Al Dente - Sheila Chandra
So far we've had nothing from Cuba, which is strange when you consider the number of Cuban albums available. Cuba, along with West Africa, is a place that gets phrases like, "musical powerhouse" attached to it. Some Cuban music then. Let me make up for using Compay Segundo as a reviewer by sending one of his songs out into the world.
9. Oui Parle Francais - Compay Segundo
By now the CD cases are stacked so high on my floor that the pile slithers over and spreads itself out like a dying accordion. I wonder what should come next. Everything east of India has been woefully ignored so far. I ponder a compilation of South-East Asian music. Should I take a punt on the Malaysian 'Ya Allah Saidi,' with its rhythms that uncoil as languidly as smoke and then come down with a crash? I worry that she'll find the music atonal and annoying. I decide not to risk it. (I, who admire record labels when they show trust in peoples' adaptibility. Am I turning into something I'd hate if it wasn't me?)
I go outback to the Burunga Sports and Culture Festival.
10. Savai Lume - Drum Drum
Now I really have run out of songs. I turn the tape over and find out where we are on Side One. We're at the end of 'Obia Ba Nnye.' That means there are almost six minutes still to fill before the end of Side Two. I try a CD from a Perth-based Irish folk band called Fling. The layout of the cover is so awkward that when I bought it I didn't know if it was a band called Fling making an album called Sweet Life or a band named Sweet Life making an album named Fling. I like the combination of Irish jig and didjeridu they use on 'The Hag at the Churn,' but none of the songs are the right length.
Finally I choose a sweet piece of modern Bollywood because it comes from The Rough Guide to Bollywood, which she gave me for my birthday. It's good to show that presents are appreciated. The earlier Bollywood song was taken from the Vintage Bollywood disc of The Beginner's Guide to Bollywood.
10. Kehna Hi Kya - Chitra
I listen to the result. The first half of Side One flows better than the rest, which is what I had expected. The other songs sound pasted together but common emotion keeps it from falling apart. The Tahitians and Bulgarians make a natural pairing which is something I did not expect. Both songs give you a chorus of sharp-edged voices. I'm sorry there's no South-East Asia in there, no Japan, no Vietnam and no Russia. Would she like Thai pop songs if I gave her the chance? I'll have to find out some other time.
The final listing:
Obia Ba Nnye (Naughty Child) - George Adu
from: Electric Highlife: Recordings from the Bokoor Studios
Bul Ma Miin - Orchestra Baobab
from: Specialist in all styles
O Reino Encantado de Amor - Jorge Ben
from: Brazilian hits and Funky Classics
Meva - Spokes Mashiyane
from: The Rough Guide to the music of South Africa
Don't Touch Me Tomato - George Symonette
from: Putumayo presents Calypso
Meera Naam Chin Chin Chu - Geeta Dutt
from: The Beginner's Guide to Bollywood
Le Ruisseau - Tam 'Echo' Tam
from: Chanting Globe
Hebredian Hale-Bopp - Capercaillie
from: Beautiful Wasteland
Ibhi A Da - Talitha McKenzie
from: Mouth Music
Antin Mikko - JPP
from: Nordic Roots 2
Svatba - The Bulgarian Radio Women's Choir
from: Le Mystere des Voix Bulgare
Himene Tarava Tamarii Pirae - multitudes of people at the Tahiti Festival of Life.
from: Chanting Globe
Waitpela Gras - Telek
from: Serious Tam
Shumba - Thomas Mapfumo
from: Shumba
Whirl-y-reel - Afro Celt Sound System
from: Volume 1: Sound Magic
Venta Zoraida - Enrique Morente
from: The Rough Guide to Flamenco
Trip - Eliza Carthy and the Kings of Calicutt
from: The Rough Guide to English Roots Music
Kar Kar Madison - Boubacar Traore
from: Mali to Memphis
Hey Anta - Rachid Taha
from: Made in Medina
Konnokol Al Dente - Sheila Chandra
from: Roots and Wings
Oui Parle Francais - Compay Segundo
from: Las Flores de la Vida
Savai Lume - Drum Drum
from: Culture: Music from Black Australia
Kehna Hi Kya - Chitra
from: The Rough Guide to Bollywood.
