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Souvenirs
Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru
Classical - Released February 23, 2024 | Mississippi Records
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Pitchfork: Best New Reissue -
Qobuz Album of the Week
Sparse and meditative yet wholly inventive and melodic, it's easy to see why so many folks became captivated with the solo piano home recordings of composer Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, who died in March 2023 at the age of 99. There's a new element to this latest collection of the celebrated Ethiopian nun, who the Portland-based label Mississippi Records helped to rescue from obscurity in the last decade: her delightful voice! So how is Emahoy's voice? It's not quite at the "real people" level or as idiosyncratic as when Glenn Gould sings along to the Bach compositions he plays. But she also isn't a trained opera singer or Joni Mitchell, so a few listens may be needed before its full charms are revealed. If you already love the plaintive vocals of Connie Converse and Molly Drake, or those bits where Monk sings along to his own playing, then you're good to go. The loping, harmonious music is actually quite complex and informed by Coptic, Western classical, and age-old Ethiopian traditional sounds. These low fidelity recordings from 1977-1985 were expertly cleaned up by Timothy Stollenwerk, but originally made on her own boombox. If you listen closely, you can hear birds singing outside the window, or her seat shift and creak a bit. From the first tune, the light and airy "Clouds Moving on the Sky," it's hard to not be transported to a flotational state; fittingly, cloud imagery suffuses the album. On "Clouds Moving on the Sky," she sings (in Amharic) "Crows of the sky, please tell me/ What is found above the clouds?" The delightfully-titled "Is it Sunny or Cloudy in the Land You Live" is a slow and assured waltz. It's remarkable, then, to discover that these beautiful works were created amidst political upheaval and turmoil. Though written and recorded while still living at her family's home in Addis Ababa, Emahoy sings of the heartache of leaving her beloved Ethiopia, a reflection on the 1974 revolution and ensuing terror, a presentiment of her later exile in Jerusalem. While Emahoy died before this material could be released, she loved the idea of it finally being heard, and it finally is, here in her centenary. © Mike McGonigal/Qobuz
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Motherland
Natalie Merchant
Pop - Released November 13, 2001 | Rhino - Elektra
Teaming up with T-Bone Burnett was a good, healthy move for Natalie Merchant. She had begun to sink into vaguely tuneless singer/songwriterisms with her second solo album, Ophelia, and the sag in artistic quality was notable -- which may have been why she bought time with a live album in 1999. Burnett helps restore some musical backbone to her music on Motherland, even if the record is hardly a gritty affair (apart from Merchant's voice, which seems to have deepened and grown tougher since the last time out). Still, there's some character within the sound -- atmospheric, blues post-folk-rock, music that breathes -- not nearly as precious as Tigerlily or any of the 10,000 Maniacs' records, for that matter, while retaining Merchant's signature sound. Upon first listen, none of the songs announce themselves, yet it all sticks together, and repeated plays reveal Motherland as a subtle grower that will satisfy her large cult.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
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Heaven Anthology
Two Steps From Hell
Film Soundtracks - Released June 27, 2017 | Two Steps from Hell
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Return To The Motherland (feat. Elsie Lovelock)
DAGames
Metal - Released March 11, 2023 | DAGames Records
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Motherland
Khatia Buniatishvili
Solo Piano - Released May 16, 2014 | Sony Classical
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As she has demonstrated in her critically acclaimed albums of the keyboard music of Liszt and Chopin, Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili is a stunning virtuoso with impressive skills and her dynamic playing compels listening. However, for her 2014 Sony album, Motherland, she finds subtle expressions in her favorite character pieces, and none of them could be considered showstoppers. Most of the selections reflect calm and intimate moods, typified by Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze, Tchaikovsky's Autumn Song, Debussy's Clair de lune, and Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte, while the liveliest pieces, which include Mendelssohn's Song Without Words in F sharp minor, György Ligeti's Musica Ricercata No. 7, Dvorák's Slavonic Dance in E minor, and Scarlatti's Sonata in E major, offer rather modest displays of technique. Instead of dazzling her listeners, Buniatishvili is putting forward her personal, private side in this understated program, and the key to her selections is the sense of yearning that these pieces evoke. The most passionate outpouring of emotion comes in her own arrangement of Vaguiorko ma, a Georgian folk song that surely must hold a special place in her emotional world. Because this is a gentle and poignant album, listeners may find it is best appreciated in a quiet space with few distractions.© TiVo
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Sketches of Ethiopia
Mulatu Astatke
Jazz - Released August 13, 2013 | Jazz Village
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Sélection FIP
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] thrilling cross-cultural collision of jazz, percussion-oriented African music and edgy, fusionesque, funk."
© TiVo
Avijatrik (The Wanderlust Of Apu)
Bickram Ghosh
Film Soundtracks - Released November 6, 2021 | Warner Music India
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Dmitri Shostakovich: Song of the Forests, Ten Poems & The Sun Shines over Our Motherland
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released June 1, 2012 | Praga Digitals
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5 de Diapason
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This Land Is Your Land (for "Motherland")
Milck
Pop - Released December 13, 2019 | Atlantic Records
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Motherland Journey
Blue Lab Beats
Soul/Funk/R&B - Released February 25, 2002 | Blue Note Records
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As Blue Lab Beats, NK-OK (Namali Kwaten) and MR DM (David Mrakpor) are up in space fighting sounds and rhythms! After several EPs and two albums already, this London duo is climbing the heights of groove from all sides. It’s got a bit of old groove (Herbie Hancock and Roy Ayers for jazz-fusion, A Tribe Called Quest and J Dilla for hip-hop), an ultra-urban sound which is sometimes reminiscent of 90’s English acid jazz, Afro-beat fury (The title Motherland Journey even contains a sample of Fela Kuti's voice on Everything Scatter) and electronic influences. A 360° approach that can occasionally feel baffling but maintains an ultra-solid rhythmic axis. NK-OK and MR DM have also invited some big names to the party (Ghanaian Afro-beat star Ghetto Boy, the new strong voices of neo-soul and London R&B like Ego Ella May, Pip Millet and Tiana Major9...) and also slip in a few instrumentals which highlight their genius. In 2020, Blue Lab Beats revisited vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson’s Montara on their Blue Note compilation Re:imagined, and the result was mind-blowing. Here, they prove they’re able to combine jazz-fusion, soul, hip-hop, electro, Caribbean and Afro-beat music with real class. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz
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Smoke 'n' Mirrors
Lee Ritenour
Jazz - Released August 22, 2006 | Peak Records
Featuring a bevy of world music guests, guitarist Lee Ritenour's Smoke 'N' Mirrors is a stylish, joyous, and laid-back multicultural affair. Among the guests are Brazilian vocalist and keyboardist Daniel Jobim, South African vocalist Zamajobe and guitarist Erik Pilani Paliani, West African bassist Richard Bona, as well as such well-known contemporary jazz icons as pianist Dave Grusin, bassist John Patitucci, percussionist Sheila E., and others. Judiciously, Ritenour has made room for a wide musical palette including funky jams, melodic soul vocal tracks, inspired rhythmic passages, and of course straight-ahead jazz improvisation. While this is an impeccably crafted effort in the tradition of past Ritenour albums, it never comes off as anything less than organically heartfelt.© Matt Collar /TiVo
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South Of I-10
Sonny Landreth
Pop/Rock - Released January 10, 1995 | Volcano
Sonny Landreth's screaming slide guitar plows right into you and carries you along on its feral journey. This CD opens going for your guts and never quits, though at times its touch is more caressing than careening, as in "Cajun Waltz." This CD got a lot of airplay yet never got tiresome, the true test of good music. A wide variety of slide guitar styles, backed by an extremely tight rhythm section and various other New Orleans musicians adds to the pleasure of the album. This music combines the best of zydeco, New Orleans R&B, Cajun, and rock & roll into one mood-elevating experience. Listen to "Mojo Boogie" next to "C'est Chaud," then go on to "Shootin' for the Moon"; there is no letdown, but there is great variety. A must-buy.© Bob Gottlieb /TiVo
Wonder: Introducing Natalie Merchant
Natalie Merchant
Pop - Released November 3, 2017 | Nonesuch
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Mulatu Steps Ahead
Mulatu Astatke
Jazz - Released March 29, 2010 | Strut
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Mulatu Astatke already has a legendary status as the father of Ethio Jazz. But he hasn't been content to rest on his laurels. Instead he's forged ahead. This album proves very different from his work with the Heliocentrics (some of whom do feature here), or with the Either/Orchestra -- it's an album of what is essentially a meandering, laid-back groove that looks at music from two angles -- the Western and the Ethiopian. The former gets to stretch out on cuts like the opener, the reflective "Radcliffe," and "The Way to Nice." Ethiopia raises its head on "I Faram Gami I Faram," which some luscious Addis Ababa singing, a reworking of the style that made Astatke's name, and actually of one of his old compositions. But it can also be heard in the flute on "Ethio Blues," or the ways Astatke's vibraphone resembles a balafon in "Green Africa." "Assosa" is a true trip into rural Ethiopia, based on traditional music, while "Mulatu's Mood" crosses the continent to put another of the man's older pieces in a highlife framework and highlight the connections between styles. What's interesting is how much of a backseat Astatke is happy to take, rarely venturing out front for a solo (and even then they're brief, more like punctuations), but always powering things along as part of the rhythm section. The exception is on "Boogaloo," at heart Western enough until Astatke takes it to Ethiopia over the groove, and then an Ethiopian fiddle holds it in strange, beautiful territory. A beautiful album that adds to Astatke's stature. © Chris Nickson /TiVo
Mulatu Astatke already has a legendary status as the father of Ethio Jazz. But he hasn't been content to rest on his laurels. Instead he's forged ahead. This album proves very different from his work with the Heliocentrics (some of whom do feature here), or with the Either/Orchestra -- it's an album of what is essentially a meandering, laid-back groove that looks at music from two angles -- the Western and the Ethiopian. The former gets to stretch out on cuts like the opener, the reflective "Radcliffe," and "The Way to Nice." Ethiopia raises its head on "I Faram Gami I Faram," which some luscious Addis Ababa singing, a reworking of the style that made Astatke's name, and actually of one of his old compositions. But it can also be heard in the flute on "Ethio Blues," or the ways Astatke's vibraphone resembles a balafon in "Green Africa." "Assosa" is a true trip into rural Ethiopia, based on traditional music, while "Mulatu's Mood" crosses the continent to put another of the man's older pieces in a highlife framework and highlight the connections between styles. What's interesting is how much of a backseat Astatke is happy to take, rarely venturing out front for a solo (and even then they're brief, more like punctuations), but always powering things along as part of the rhythm section. The exception is on "Boogaloo," at heart Western enough until Astatke takes it to Ethiopia over the groove, and then an Ethiopian fiddle holds it in strange, beautiful territory. A beautiful album that adds to Astatke's stature. © Chris Nickson /TiVo
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Bowery Songs (Live)
Joan Baez
Folk/Americana - Released September 6, 2005 | Proper Records
Bowery Songs is a collection of live tracks taken from Joan Baez's performance at the Bowery Ballroom in New York on November 6, 2004. While it is not an entire performance, there is more than enough to satisfy fans. Baez and her band take on material old -- "It's All Over Now Baby Blue," "Farewell Angelina," "Joe Hill," "Deportee," etc. -- and some fine performances from her last studio outing, Dark Chords on a Big Guitar -- including "Christmas in Washington" and "Rexroth's Daughter." But the big news for fans is that there are four unrecorded songs that have been part of Baez's standard stage repertoire and are often requested by fans. The album's bookend pieces are an a cappella read of "Finlandia" and a fine reading of Steve Earle's "Jerusalem." She also does an amazing version of Bob Dylan's "Seven Curses" here, as well as "Dink's Song." This is a deeply satisfying recording, and Baez is at her very best as an interpretive singer. The read of Earle's "Christmas in Washington" is a case in point. Baez brings a much deeper sense of history and social justice struggle to the tune than Earle does, and she brings it to bear in every line. One can hear her heartbreak as she cracks the song open, bringing the tattered banners of labor unions to the listeners' eyes, and as she invokes the ghosts of Emma Goldman, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Woody Guthrie, among others, to the fore, one can feel the sense of hurt, betrayal, and failed promise, but also the trace of rigorous perseverance that the original does not hold. The only song that isn't here but should be is Ryan Adams' "In My Time of Need," which was such a standout on Dark Chords on a Big Guitar. But this is a minor quibble, as Bowery Songs is Baez's edgiest and most darkly seductive live album to date.© Thom Jurek /TiVo
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Motherland?2K14
Igor Osypov
Contemporary Jazz - Released February 23, 2024 | Whirlwind Recordings
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