"Ya Habibi, Ya Ghaybine" by 3 Mustaphas 3

Started in 1982 at the Crazy Loquat Club in a Balkan town called Szegerely, the 3 Mustaphas 3 went "Forward in all directions" after being transported to Britain in refrigerators. My favorite albums were "Bam! Mustaphas Play Stereo" (1985) and "Shopping" (1987).

The Mustaphas brought a rock & roll attitude to world music before the explosion of the genre. There weren't many artists doing anything like this back in the late eighties.

The title is Arabic for "My Darling, My Sweetheart".



"Can we take it to the fridge? Let me take it to the fridge!"

"Yawlidi" by Souad Massi

If Chrissy Hynde was born in Algeria, I'm sure this is what the Pretenders would sound like. Souad plays acoustic guitar and often sings country music in Arabic. This is a good driving song

"Yawlidi" means "My Boy" and the song is from a mother singing to her son.



You must get up early, my boy
And go run off to school, my boy
To become learned and educated, my boy
And be better than all the other kids, my boy
And as you get older, my boy
May your mind remain strong, my boy
And may you understand the world, my boy
Until you have a strong personality, my boy
You must get up, get up, early my boy

May you be proud, my boy
And choose whom you talk to and who you don't, my boy
And anyone that upsets you, stay away from him, my boy
And anyone that upsets you, stay away from him, my boy
May you be able to wreak havoc, my boy
And when things get serious, battle
You must get up, get up, early my boy

 

"Riders on the Storm" by Señor Coconut

In high school I hung out with a guy named Gerald. When we met he was classified as a "burnout" while I was a "squid". Basically that meant that he liked rock & roll and I was new wave. Somehow we became friends on the bus and soon we were going to poetry readings and recording together as the "Liberated Corpses". Neither of us could play any instruments, but we made a few recordings of our rantings and improvisations.

I introduced him to the Dead Kennedys while he got me to listen to the Doors and Creedence. Thanks to Gerald  I listened to music I might otherwise have avoided. What a shame if I never knew anything by the Doors other than "Light My Fire".

Señor Coconut is actually Uwe Schmidt, the man of a thousand aliases. You may also know him for his electronic music as Atom Heart, or Atom™ and the invention of "acitón" (acid-reggaeton). I love his Latin flavored versions of Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and rock classics. Here he is taking on the Doors:

   

Holy Friday Lamentations by Fayrouz

To celebrate the Passion of Jesus Christ for Good Friday, I present the "Jewel of Lebanon", singer Fayrouz, praying the Lamentations at the tomb of Christ in Arabic.



In a tomb they laid Thee,
O my Christ and my Life.
The angelic hosts were overcome with awe
and glorified Thy condescending love.

Fayrouz Official Website

   

"Clocks" (Coldplay) by Rhythms del Mundo

21st century Britain gave us Coldplay. Cuba gave us the Latin Jazz sounds of Buena Vista Social Club. Mix them together and you have Rhythms del Mundo and a mambo version of a great pop song.

Though this is "our song", my wife and I decided to use Nat King Cole's "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup" for our wedding dance. Whenever we hear the opening piano we remember falling in love.



All of these albums feature fun versions of pop songs that sound great afro-cuban style.

  

"Mas Que Nada" by Sergio Mendes + Brasil 66

Did you know that "Bossa Nova" is Portugese for "New Wave"? You can't help but dance to this music unless your soul is completely dead.

The song was originally by Jorge Ben Jor, but it was this version that became a hit. American vocalist Lani Hall didn't speak Portugese, but she learned the song phonetically.



As for my take on the Black Eyed Peas version? I don't think it has the energy of the original and is musically thin, but it was nice to hear the song on the radio again.

"Ramo, Ramo Druže Moj" by U2? (NOT)

The Balkan Rhythm Band did this Serbian classic on an album I had back in the 80s. It's been covered many times and is a bit of a standard for Balkan bands. It's about the death of the singer's buddy named Ramo.

A guy named Apostol makes these mash-up videos with western pop stars "performing" Balkan hits. The footage is from U2 performing at the anointing of Barack Obama as Messiah of the World.

"Baruch Ha Shem" by Lamb

Previously I mentioned my love of world music and how my mom's favorite album in the 1970s contributed to it. Here is one of the songs from that album by Lamb, a Messianic Jewish Jesus Music band. I can't believe I found this live video of the song.



The album version was much better with drums and harpsichord and a nice psychedelic vibe to it.

"Dyambo" by Hugh Masekela

My love for world music began at an early age. I remember my dad listening to Astrud Gilberto and Perez Prado while mom's favorite record in the 70s featured Jewish style "Jesus Music" by a Messianic group called Lamb. As I got older I discovered world artists on my own. Balkan, African, and Arabic music found it's way into my collection.

Most people know Hugh Masekela for his 1968 hit "Grazin' in the Grass". This 1971 tune, subtitled "Weary Day is Over", is fun for rocking out. Makes me wish Vladimir's Universe had a horn section!