Just had a wonderful afternoon discovering more about an area in Mexico that has fascinated me for a long time since I read an article in National Geographic. For most people Mariachi will be the music that is synonymous with Mexico. Yet this wonderful country is rich in different types of indigenous music that goes back for at least 4000 years. Singer Eugenia León explores this wonderful heritage in a 3 part series. Here is one of the episodes.
Martin’s musical mystery tour – We are out in San Diego and so this month’s selection is from another Spanish speaking country – Mexico. One of the radio stations I always look for when travelling in the car in southern California is the Mexican music stations. This music just makes me smile – pure fun. The mariachi orchestra is composed of at least two violins, two trumpets, a Spanish guitar, and two other types of guitars – the vilhuela and guitarron. Here is an amazing Mexican folk ensemble the Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, who have been together in various formats since 1897 – must be some sort of record!
An amazing initiative – the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra in Cateura, Paraguay, directed by Favio Chavez. An orchestra that plays instruments created out of literal trash, made lovingly for them by their community.
Martin’s musical mystery tour – I am out visiting family in Spain – so this month’s blog comes from the land of flamenco.
It’s that time of the year when Christmas songs hit the airwaves. Read More
Martin’s musical mystery tour – Just come back from Sweden so this months music videos comes from that beautiful land. They have some unique traditional instruments like the nyckelharpa and wonderful traditions like yoiking (a style of singing).
I love this song sung by Sofia Jannok a singer-songwriter from Sweden who has taken the tradition of yoiking (Sami singing) and made it her own on this pop song.
Martin’s musical mystery tour – On my travels I get to hear incredible diverse music. So here is a monthly blog of some of the sounds and stories that have inspired me – a selection of various genres and styles from around the world . Last month’s selection was current popular Hawaiian island music – this month we look at some of the more traditional sounds.
Wanted you to check out this wonderful new album from a good friend Cindy Ruakere in New Zealand – well worth a listen too.
You can buy the album here and listen to a track below
The Cry – Bones
Just received an album from Edgar Unterkirchner, a musician friend in Austria – He has teamed up with Hubert Dohr to create a wonderful instrumental project combining låtmandola (Swedish mandola) with sax and clarinet (Edgar Unterkirchner). You can purchase the project @ D’Ohr records.
The New Waltz
