Starla Records

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The DT6 "Don't Doubt Me"

I’m a vinyl junkie and I came across this new, vinyl only record label on the blog ‘flea market funk’. I dug what I read and heard, so I sent an e-mail to Starla Records and requested an interview with someone from the label. Craig Reece, the label manager wrote back and I had a great chat with him. He was kind enough to record his end of the conversation and ftp’d the file to me. Thanks Craig! And to everyone reading this, please support your local record store and independent record labels!

How Wars End Series

My colleague Jeb Sharp has a series airing on The World this week. It’s called “How Wars End.” Kudo to Jeb for a job well done. She’s been working on the series all year! http://www.theworld.org/how_wars_end

Chiwoniso and Sergio Mendes

Here are two self-narrated pieces that aired recently on PRI’s The World.

In the first piece we hear from Zimbabwean singer Chiwoniso.  My colleague Marco Werman actually spoke with her. I took the 45 minute raw file and turned it into a 5 1/2 minute Global Hit. The only voice you hear is Chiwoniso and the music is from her new CD Rebel Woman.  http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/21093

This past summer Sergio Mendes dropped by WGBH for an appearance on the program Jazz with Eric in the Evening. This is a evening show hosted by Eric Jackson. The World’s host Lisa Mullins asked if I could take the material (with Eric’s permission of course!!) and turn it into a self-narrated Global Hit? “Why not,” I said.  Here’s the result: http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/21202

Even though those two interviews were done without any imput from me, believe it or not they were fairly easy to work on. I spent two days going through the raw material, then another day cutting it down even more, and then another mixing in the music.

Dan Zanes – Nueva York!

One song left on the cutting room floor from this Lisa Mullins/Dan Zanes interview is the tune Pollito Chicken. It’s the fourth track on Dan Zanes new CD “Nueva York!” I don’t know why, but I find the word ‘chicken’ funny . It’s also funny in Spanish ‘pollo.’ I wanted Lisa to ask Dan Zanes if he thought the word was funny too. Zanes is well-known as a children’s entertainer and is a talented musician with a love for language. The short answer was — YES! Kids of all ages love this tune and Zanes said it’s a fun song to sing. But alas, I left this little exchange out of the edited interview. Beyond the fact that it’s a fun song/word, the Q&A didn’t really go anywhere. So,  I left it out. You can listen to the edited version here: http://www.theworld.org/taxonomy_by_date/2/20080916

Angelique Kidjo: What’s on her i-pod?

Kidjo with Marco Werman

Benin singer Anelique Kidjo is no stranger to our program.  The World’s Marco Werman has caught up with Kidjo many times before. So, to make the interview a bit different we simply wanted ask her, “What on your i-pod?” We got four very different answers. 

You can WATCH and/or HEAR the edited interview here: http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/20571

Indian musician U Shrinivas

Today’s Global Hit feature is a profile on master Indian mandolin player U Shrinivas. The first thing that caught my attention in his bio is how the mandolin was often viewed by musicians in India. You see, for decades the it’s been regulated to popular Indian music, ie: Bollywood soundtracks and the like. So when U Shrinivas picked up the instrument and started playing ragas and classical music, some traditionalists frowned upon his idea. But, Shrinivas’ talent AND age were in his favor. Afterall, he was only six when he first picked up the mandolin and by 11 was sharing the same bill with Miles Davis!

 What’s funny about this latter fact is that, according to music producer Yusuf Ghandi, U Shrinivas was supposed to be the opening act and Miles Davis was to follow. But apparently, Davis always liked to play early and leave after his set. He didn’t want to wait  for the opening act to finish, so he could play his set. So really Miles Davis was the opening act at his own concerts! I only wish Davis was still around so I could ask him if he remembers this 12 year old master of the mandolin hanging around back stage!

http://theworld.org/taxonomy_by_date/2/20080820

Singapore – Unofficial Anthem

Apologies for not blogging in a while.  My time passes!!

Anyway the second piece in on our ongoing series of Unofficial anthems aired on Monday. This piece comes to us from freelance reporter Michael Switow. He’s based in Singapore and pitched the story. Thanks Michael for your contribution!

You can listen to his report by clicking here: http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/20050

UNOFFICIAL National Anthem Series

Today, we’re kicking off an occasional series on Unofficial National Anthems. You know, songs like God Bless America or Stars and Stripes. We’re familiar with these tunes and some people may think they’re the US National Anthem, but they’re not. So, the goal of this series is to explore songs like these. In the future we’ll look at songs like Cuba’s Guantanamera and South Africa’s Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika (which was the unoffical anthem during apartheid and has since become the national anthem!). Today we’re airing a piece from Spain by The World’s Gerry Hadden. He looks at three unofficial anthems. The reason for three is that it changes depending where you are in Spain and what your political stripe is. As the series continues we’ll find that many countries have more than one, but we’ll try and focus on one or two and leave the others up for debate. Feel free to make suggestions!

Gerry’s piece: http://theworld.org/taxonomy_by_date/2/20080704

WOMEX 08: The World Music Expo

I registered today for WOMEX — the World Music Expo. It’s a professional trade fair and music festival featuring artists from around the globe. This will be my second trip to WOMEX and once again it will be held in Seville, Spain. The dates are Oct 29 to Nov 2.

I went last year and came back with nine stories - ALL of them aired on The World. The last piece was on the Finnish harmonica quartet Svang. You can read my blog entry by scrolling down.  

See you in Seville.  I’ll be blogging, so stay tuned!

Hip-hop musician Wang Xiaolei

Chinese hip-hop artist Wang Xiaolei (Wahng Shau-lay — shau rhymes with cow) is featured in a documentary airing tonight on the PBS program Frontline.  The doc is called “Young & Restless in China.”

Frontline is produced at WGBH — just across the street from The World studios.  In fact a couple of World reporters (Marco Werman and Clark Boyd) occasionally work on the joint program Frontline/World. 

Frontline offered us Wang Xiaolei as well as a producer/director to talk about ”Young & Restless in China.”  We could have done it this way, but we thought it best to ask our own reporter for a profile. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad is based in Beijing.  I think this ended up being a win-win situation for all involved.  We were able to promote the Frontline doc AND air our own piece direct from Beijing. 

What’s most interesting is how much Wang Xiaolei has changed. When Frontline first started filming, Wang was a teenager. Now he’s in his twenties. As a teen Wang rapped about alienation and discrimination in China. When Mary Kay met him last week he told her that he’s not angry anymore.  

Frontline: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/youngchina/

Mary Kay’s Profile: http://www.theworld.org/taxonomy_by_date/2/20080617