My final earworm and another Cuban track. This is the title track from ¡Dundunbanza!, the first album Sierra Maestra recorded for World Circuit Records. It has been included on many compilation albums including fRoots #4 the free CD given away with fRoots magazine fR 139/140. Sierra Maestra, for long years renowned as one of Cuba’s [...]
Can earworms be slow and laid back? If so then this could easily be an earworm, Buena Vista Social Club’s Chan Chan. It is the opening track to the original Buena Vista Social Club album, the CD that relaunched the careers of innumerable aged Cuban musicians. Chan Chan is the signature song of Compay Segundo [...]
Lots of pictures and big writing for this week’s homework blogpost. I’ve been away for the weekend celebrating my sister’s 60 and nephew’s 28th birthdays, so a quick post is required. We have rock music for this week’s earworm! There is not much of it in my collection but I do have a Steely Dan [...]
Earworms! Yes – lets have a month of them! This week then, the much recorded Music for a Found Harmonium. This catchy piece was written by Simon Jeffes and released in 1984 on Broadcasting from Home, the fourth album by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. The story of the writing of this tune bears retelling (from [...]
I had no need for Martin Carthy two weeks ago; but you can’t keep a good man down, he’s forced himself onto Furious Music once again. The reason? Earworms. I’ll explain. Earworms were the subject of a segment of last week’s Material World programme on BBC Radio 4. The inestimable Quentin Cooper introduced the piece [...]
I’m late posting this week. Apologies for that. Family visitations and some heavy lifting in the garden (heavy pruning and heavy clearing away actually) meant that time and energy were in short supply. But better late than never, eh? And I’ve got all in a muddle about this week’s choice of music too. Earlier in [...]
Congratulations to Spain – champions of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (to give the tournament it’s full name). I started off by supporting Holland but after 10 minutes of watching Spain try to play football and Holland try to stop them by fair means or foul I switched my allegiances to Spain. I’ll give [...]
It’s finals weekend. Holland play Spain for the honour of being champions of the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa. We’ll be there – there being in the comfort of our own home, in front of the tv. My prediction for this is a win for Spain, and though I’m a neutral I’d quite like [...]
You can’t really have a sequence of South African music without a track from Ladysmith Black Mambazo, can you? I think not and so this week I’m posting Shosholoza, one of south Africa’s most recorded songs. Joe Mogotsi of the Manhattan Brothers claimed that his group was the very first to record the song. Other [...]
I arrived back from a great week in Dorset just in time to watch a dismal England World Cup performance. They lost 4-1 against Germany and thus booking their flights home instead of a place in the quarter finals. So now I’m off to drown my sorrows with a glass or two of South African [...]