On Music Mondays, GBH’s All Things Considered drops the needle for our ‘Turntable’ series and checks in with a GBH music aficionado to hear what’s on their playlist.
This week, as The World marks its 30th anniversary, host Marco Werman joined GBH’s All Things Considered host Arun Rath to revisit music from around the globe that left a lasting impression on him over the years. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation.
Arun Rath: What’s on your list?
Marco Werman: Well, I have to say at the start that music was really designed as an important part of our coverage on the show, just hearing what sounds are happening in other parts of the planet. It’s been a trademark of the show since day one, just because there’s so much interesting music out there, and we just wanted to know who was making it and why, and the answers are always fascinating. Plus it makes us tap our toes and feel good. I’ve got four songs for you that kind of run on a parallel track in a way with the way the show has evolved over 30 years. Interestingly, three of them come from Nick Gold’s World Circuit record label, also world-focused. The show went on air on Jan. 1, 1996, and one of the first features that became super popular with listeners was the Geo Quiz. When you heard this music, you knew it was time to play the game.
This is Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté with a track called “Jarabi” on an album — a great album called Talkin’ Timbuktu. It became a theme to the Geo Quiz, but listeners only heard a few seconds of it. To hear the full eight minutes or so is to immerse yourself in a flowing antecedent to the blues, flowing like the Niger River that Ali Farka Touré used to live on. The album itself came out in 1994. This was a meeting of two great guitarists: Ry Cooder, a rock and country bluesman who’s with the Rolling Stones, and the legendary Ali Farka Touré from Mali. Hence the title, Talking Timbuktu, because that ancient city is just down the road from the late Ali Farka Tourés home. Jarabi, the title, is sung in the Bambara language of West Africa. I’ve heard two interpretations. One interpretation is that it’s about the importance of hard work. The other is that it’s a song of love, from the viewpoint of a poor man to a woman from a wealthy family, whose father objects to their marriage because of his poverty.
Rath: That is awesome. And Marco, I got to say, I just like I hear that music and I do associate it with The World right away.
Werman: Good, it worked.
Rath: What do you have next?
Werman: So, a year after the show went on air, another release from a World Circuit, another project helmed by producer Nick Gold. Of course, this is the Buena Vista Social Club, which came out in 1997, bringing together old-time Cuban musicians, many forgotten inside and outside of Cuba. And Nick Gold and Ry Cooder, again, went to Havana to record them, and the rest is history. This is a very recognizable song, Chan Chan, and for you, a horn man, let’s cue it up to the killer trumpet solo from Juan Mirabal, followed by a verse on guitar from Eliades Ochoa.
Rath: Still gives me the chills, Marco. And yeah, you know me, that hits the spot for me. And also, it takes you back to that time, when we’ve been starving for real Cuban jazz, and so that just hit like fire.
Werman: Yeah, it was an amazing release, and followed up by a lot of the old-timers having their own solo moments in the sun, so it was really cool. Wonderful stuff.
Rath: What’s third on your list?
Werman: So one of the standout legends of the Buena Vista Social Club was the bass player Orlando López, AKA Cachaíto, meaning Little Cachao. Big Cachao was his uncle, Israel Cachao Lopez, a massive bandleader also a bass player. He basically invented Mambo dance music. Orlando, the nephew, was born in 1933 and became globally known through the Buena Vista Social Club. And then like a lot of the musicians in the project, as I mentioned, he got the second life and new gigs including this really cool solo album he released on World Circuit. And this is kind of a whole new modern take on the retro afro Cuban vibe This song is “Mis Dos Pequeñas” — my two little ones. Arun, what’s really cool about Cachao’s album is who joined him on it — a cross-section of new and old Cuban musicians and beyond. You’ve also got a Jamaican keyboard player, Bigga Morrison on the Hammond organ and Cuban guitarist Manuel Galbán, who started his career with a duet band in Havana in the 1950s, and here he goes wild on the slide guitar.
Rath: I’ve not heard a slide guitar quite like that before. I’m not going to react to anything more than to say that that is just superb, because I want to make sure we have time for one more song. What’s the last on your list?
Werman: So continuing the evolution of this music from Cuba and our own show, there was a younger member of Buena Vista Social Club who also appeared on Cachaito’s solo album that would be percussionist and conga player Ánga Díaz, sadly like Cachao he also passed away way too soon at the age of 45, but he has two daughters, twin daughters, and again this is where our show the world tracks this whole Buena Visa Social Club project. A new generation of musicians that came out of the ancestors in this project. It’s kind of like honestly, producers on our show today. Those who were not born when 9-11 happened. We have a new generation of musicians that are carrying on this Cuban tradition, but marrying it to their own global experience. This is music made by the twin daughters of percussionist Anga Diaz. They are Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz. They live in Paris. Their stage name is Ibeyi, and this beautiful track, A River, is from their 2014 album. As you’ll hear, the Cuban thread has evolved.
By the way, Arun, check out the video for River on YouTube, and let me know if you can figure out how they made it. The sisters somehow managed to hold their breath underwater in between the verses of the song for really long periods of time. Or do they?
Rath: I’m gonna check that out, but I love that. I guess, hopefully, it means I’m not getting too old because I really dig that. That’s awesome.
Werman: Yeah, they’re still making music.
