Sunday at Bob's #16 - Stay At Home

Welcome back for a new Sunday at Bob's! I hope it works with you, I must say I find this new rythm exciting and think the playlists it gives more interesting. So far. Today's Sunday is from home, but it tastes the same. Here it is!

This past weeks I came back to a discovery I had made a few months back with Alain Peters and his Maloya revival. I kind of left it there and contented myself with his beautiful songs, but there is so much more and this week you won't have one, but two songs from that timeless repertoire of music from the Réunion island. Maloya is with séga one of the two major musical genres of the Réunion, it is a genre of both music and dance. Its créole version comes down from its African ancestor, performed by slaves of the island. In the late 1950s, the French government, which localized  the Réunion (made the island a French department), bans the Maloya in an attempt to slow down cultural expressions which could enhance a desire of independance. The same faith was given to any type of communist music. After decades of clandestine concerts, Maloya came back under the spotlights in the 1970s with musicians like Danyél Waro. I propose to you today a song by the band Carrousel and one by Zanmari Barré that I find especially beautiful.

After that we have a brazilian interlude with the great Candeia from Rio, followed by a wonderful version of the classic California Dreamin' by José Feliciano. Comes then a song I am fascinated by as it can be found in pieces in a lot of other songs such as Careless Love, The Longest Train and more. I am talking about In the Pines, this time performed by The Louvin Brothers. In 1958, Claude Lévy-Strauss published a very interesting article called La structure des Mythes in which he defines what myths are and proposes a method to analyse them. He expresses the opinion that there is no true version of a myth that would be, for instance, the oldest one but rather its true form should be found in the ensemble of versions it proposes. The various versions of In the Pines and the fragments of it that can be found in other more remote songs made me think of that. At some point I think folk songs passed from a generation to another probably serve a purpose related with the one myths are.

Before we jump to the arabic part of today's playlist, we make a stop in London with the supergroup The Good, the Bad and the Queen composed of Damon Albarn, Tony Allen (who we will meet again), Simon Tong and Paul Simonon. Interesting album that I recommend if you don't already have it.

We take a turn and enjoy a song taken from an exciting album by flamenco guitarist Juan Martin which enlighten us on the links between flamenco and arabic music, Musica Alhambra. Fairuz takes over with a melancholic tune influenced by jazz that gave its name to today's playlist. Then comes another magic song from the Muscat Oud Festival of Oman. And we end with the wonderful Ghalia Benali with a song I cannot comment with words given the precision with which every note reaches its target.

That's it for this week, I hope you like it!

 Check out time is 10h30 no matter what.

Enjoy,

The receptionist. 

Playlist:

1. Carrousel - Oté Maloya
2. Zanmari Baré - Belbel an ler
3. Candeia - Cabocla Jurema
4. José Feliciano - California Dreamin’
5. The Louvin Brothers - In the Pines
6. The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Three Changes
7. Juan Martin - Evocacion - de Damasco a Cordoba
8. Fairuz - Khaleek Bel Bayet
9. Salim bin Ali al-Maqrashi - Samai Rast, Maqam Rast
10. Ghalia Benali - Ya Msafer