Radio Minorias: circles

martes, 28 de enero de 2025

Win Mertens enero 28, 2025

Wim Mertens - Maximizing The Audience - Grabaciones Accidentales - 1988

Es posible que Wim Mertens constituya por sí sólo, más allá de denominaciones, un pequeño fenómeno. Tras muchos años de carrera, discos de variada temática y conciertos con diversidad de acompañamientos, consigue sobreponerse a cualquier crisis de la industria gracias a un talento desbordante, y continúa arrastrando en sus conciertos a un público fiel, que parece aumentar día tras día. Quizás gran parte de ellos desconozcan que una de sus obras más emblemáticas, "Maximizing the audience", proviene de un encargo para componer la música de una obra de teatro escrita por el artista, dramaturgo y coreógrafo belga Jan Fabre titulada "The power of theatrical madness", obra polémica de vanguardia europea que, a pesar de su negativa recepción popular, fue considerada como atrevida, inquietante y desgarradora por parte de la crítica; seguro que la música de Mertens, para bien o para mal, no pasó desapercibida.

Bass Clarinet, Clarinet [Eb], Soprano Saxophone – Dirk Descheemaeker

Cello – Monique Laperre

Composed By, Arranged By, Producer – Wim Mertens

French Horn – André Van Driessche

Percussion – Marc Bonne

Piano – Hans François

Piano, Voice – Wim Mertens

Viola – Kris Van Severen

Violin – Geoffrey Maingart

Voice – Ine Van Den Bergh, Minne Pauwels, Valerie Koolemans-Beijnen

1 Circles 18:28

2 Lir 18:18

3 Maximizing The Audience 11:43

4 The Fosse 4:34

5 Whisper Me 19:02

radiominorias.com 0

jueves, 5 de octubre de 2023

sacrilege octubre 05, 2023

Alpha Blondy - Apartheid Is Nazism - 1985 - Costa de Marfil

While it might be sacrilege in reggae circles to say that any artist could challenge Bob Marley's mastery of the genre, Alpha Blondy fires a dead-on shot literally heard around the world with Apartheid Is Nazism. Furthermore, this work proves that great reggae does not have to come from Jamaica. "Afriki" opens the album with a nod to Jamaica, but while the music is classic, offbeat reggae, there is a strong African feel here, especially in the backing vocals. On every track, the carefully arranged and smartly played music of Blondy's band, the Solar System, tickles the ears with muscular polyrhythms and a variety of stealthily intoxicating percussion. Maneuvering skillfully on top of all of this is Blondy's uniquely plaintive voice. Blondy, like many reggae stars before him, tackles political issues with a dagger wit and thundering basslines. The title track, one of only two songs sung predominantly in English, pleads for America to "break the neck of this apartheid." Like the patois in which Blondy makes his incantations, his religious message is more mixed than the standard reggae paeans to Jah Rastafari. With tracks like "Come Back Jesus" and "Jah Houphouet" on the same album, it's clear that Blondy is attempting to strike a universal theme in the same way Marley did. While Blondy's career can't measure up to Marley when taken as a whole, Apartheid Is Nazism can stand up to most Marley releases.

Artist Credit
Michel Abishira Drums
Patrick Artero Horn
Alpha Blondy Composer, Primary Artist, Vocals
Anne-Marie Constant Vocals (Background)
Nyaha Yodan Emmanuel Horn
Georges Kouakou Keyboards
Yao Mao Guitar
Paula Moore Vocals (Background)
Julie Mourillon Guitar (Rhythm)
Christian Polloni Guitar
Kamassa Seth Bass