Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
11 Feb 2026 2 Comments
in Video of the Week Tags: jacqueline faye, x factor, you're my world
11 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: abba, carson mckee, josh tuirner, jush turner guitar, mamma mia
“I dunno, it’s just kind of a good song” he says, sounding almost apologetic in the video description.
No, Josh. It’s a great song, as so many of Benny and Björn’s are. And a great song not only lends itself to diverse arrangements and interpretations–as Josh and Carson demonstrate with their superlative acoustic version–but can shine anew in a different light.
Well done, guys. You have talent and good taste.
04 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in Recommended Albums Tags: natalia lafourcade, un canto por mexico
Natalia Lafourcade: Un Canto por México, Vol. 1 (2020)
This album’s story begins with the September 2017 Puebla earthquake, which in addition to causing destruction in Puebla, Morelos and the greater Mexico City area, also did damage to the Son Jarocho Documentation Center, a cultural building in Veracruz.
Singer-songwriter Natalia Lafourcade organized a November 2019 fundraiser concert, a sold-out 3-hour affair dubbed Un canto por México (A Song for Mexico) to aid in the center’s reconstruction.
The concert and her experience with the local community and the Veracruz musical style of folk music known as Son jarocho inspired the release of two albums, of which this is the first.
Musical guests include Los Cojolites, Jorge Drexler, Los Autenticos Decadentes, Carlos Rivera, Leonel García, Panteon Rococó, Emmanuel Del Real of the band Café Tacvba and the youth mariachi of Tecalitlán.
The album includes updated versions of previously released Lafourcade songs, Mexican traditionals, and a couple newly-written originals.
Among the new songs is “Mi Religión”, which won the Latin Grammy for Best Regional Mexican Song. It’s addictive chorus:
Music, you
My religion
A lifetime isn’t enough
To give you my love
Music, you
My downfall
A lifetime isn’t enough
To give you my love
The song is just one example of Natalia’s superior knack for lyrical phrasing. The consonants fall like a percussion instrument playing a polyrhythm.
Interpolating as it does traditional Mexican folk rhythms into its musical fabric and celebrating with joyful exuberance the love of the music itself, it’s the kind of song that puts Natalia Lafourcade in rarified company as an ambassador of Mexican song.
Un Canto por México, Vol. 1 won 2 other Grammys in 2020, including Album of the Year. It cemented her status as an artist devoted to Mexico’s musical tradition, her love of which is on display again in another Lafourcade original, “Mi Tierra Veracruzana”:
See you again
See you again
My Veracruz land, I want to see you
See you again
See you again
My Veracruz land, I want to love you
The below video of “Tú Sí Sabes Quererme” from Un Canto por México, Vol. 2 best conveys the spirit of the project:
Listen to: “Mi Religión”
Listen to: “Nunca Es Suficiente”
Listen to: “Ya No Vivo Por Vivir”
Listen to: “Lo Que Construimos”
Don’t miss: “Mi Tierra Veracruzana”
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2026/01/06/video-of-the-week-natalia-lafourcade-npr-music-tiny-desk-concert/
03 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: juan luis guerra, palomita blanca
Juan Luis Guerra: “Palomita Blanca” (1998)
Beautiful melodies spill out of Dominican singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra with every release. The fact that he hasn’t appeared more frequently on this site isn’t indicative of a lack of great material to showcase; it’s more a problem of narrowing it down to which of his sublime bachata ballads or irresistible merengue dance numbers to feature.
Guerra’s 1998 Ni Es Lo Mismo, Ni Es Igual (Neither Is It the Same Nor Is it Equal) album ended a four-year hiatus from recording following his conversion to Christianity.
The record received nominations in four categories at the first annual Latin Grammy Awards and won Best Merengue Album.
“Palomita Blanca” (“White Dove”) was the album’s second single and one of many gorgeous ballads in Juan Luis Guerra’s ever-growing catalogue.
I will tell you: I am so happy
when I am close to you
that I do not get used to it,
if I do not hear the green of your voice,
you see nothing is the same
everything is cold if you are not here white dove,
carry my song on your wings.
CHORUS
Tell her that the nights haven’t been silent,
they talked about love and haven’t left,
tell her that I love her and that I miss her,
that I haven’t forgotten and
that I’ve suffered
I already know
my mistake,
but I understand that love
forgives everything and never ends, sweetheart,
you see nothing is the same
everything is in vain if you’re not here
White dove,
carry my song on your wings
Tell her that the nights haven’t been silent,
they talked about love and haven’t left,
tell her that I love her and that I miss her,
that I haven’t forgotten and
that I’ve suffered
And a seagull of light
Among the waves of the sea,
It gathers the blue that I did not know how to give you
And a dawn with kisses of yours
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/07/17/songs-you-may-have-missed-149/
30 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: carpenters, starving for perfection
27 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in Recommended Albums Tags: andy burrows, company
Andy Burrows: Company (2012)
After kicking around in bands most Americans haven’t heard of (like Razorlight, We Are Scientists, and I Am Arrows) British drummer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Andy Burrows offered up his second album as a solo artist, on which he played all instruments.
Company is a beautifully ruminative record but confounding in that none of its four singles charted.
Then again, none of the wonderful songs we include here were among the singles, which is equally confounding.
Nevertheless, guys like Andy Burrows actually get played on UK pop radio. He’d probably never get played on American pop radio.
Yes, we won the Revolutionary War–but at what cost?
Listen to: “Company”
Listen to: “Maybe You”
Listen to: “Stars”
Every Moment Has A Song 