NovaMenco are five brothers who began their recording career after moving to San Diego in 1995. They created a fusion of flamenco guitar styles of Europe and North America, riding the so-called New Flamenco wave that crested in the 1990’s with acts like the Gipsy Kings and Ottmar Liebert.
Unfortunately, I’ve come across no video of NovaMenco performing this particular tune.
I did, however, find videos of numerous cover versions, including this one by a man named Leon Eduardo:
There’s a reason collectors will pay steep prices for reissues of now-obscure British folk from the late ’60’s and early ’70’s. And there’s a reason specialty labels strive to keep it in print.
Seldom does contemporary pop offer a whiff of this rustic, pastoral style of music of bygone days. There haven’t been enough Belle & Sebastians to scratch this particular itch.
But if the frantic pace, economic uncertainty and political chaos of the 21st century have you seeking respite in the sound of simpler times and greener, quieter places, then this trio of John Stannard, Lyndon Green and Ann Steuart may offer the antidote you need.
Evoking early Strawbs, Heron, The Sallyangie, or Donovan, circa 1967–and continuing in some form well into the current century like most of those acts–Tudor Lodge sing songs that evoke idyllic summer scenes from other centuries.
While the American folkies were protesting war, their English counterparts simply escaped into the past.
Tudor Lodge welcomes you, road-weary guest. And this blog offers many other ancient winding paths to explore:
If you don’t know how to pronounce the name of French-born Spanish musician Manu Chao, you can just call him by his birth name, José Manuel Tomás Arturo Chao Ortega, which is nearly as long as the list of languages he sings in–French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, and Greek.
His multicultural musical mix swings between party, politics and protest. But even when the song is sad, the music celebrates.
Translation:
They Call Me Street
They call me street/stepping on the concrete/the rebellious and so lost girl
they call me street/street of the night/street of the day
they call me street/I’m going so tiredly/I’m going so vacantly/like a little machine for the grand city
they call me street/I get into your car/they call me street/I should be happy
tired street, empty street/of so much love
I’m going to the street below/I’m going to the street above/I wont back down/not even for life
they call me street/and that is my pride/I know one day I’ll arrive/I know one day my luck will come
one day it’ll look for me/at the exit a good man/giving his life without paying/my heart isn’t for rent
they call me street(2x)
suffering street/depressed street/from so much love
they call me street/most quiet street/they call me street without a future/they call me street without an exit/they call me street/most quiet street
for the women of life/rise below/sink above/like a little machine for the grand city
they call me street (2x)
suffered street/depressed street/from so much love
they call me street/most quiet street/they always call me/no matter what the hour
they call me beautiful/always at the wrong time/they call me bitch/and princess
they call me street/it’s my nobility/they call me street/suffered street, lost street/of so much love
On his sprawling, 20-track double album Highway Prayers Billy Strings stretches the boundaries of traditional music in appealing fashion, mixing fast-picked bluegrass workouts with more laid-back fare such as the reflective “Gild the Lily”.
From the second solo album by the singer and founding member of the B-52’s.
Happily Kate hasn’t moved far from the party vibe that characterizes her former band. At times on her solo releases she evokes the girl pop sound of Tracey Ullman.
We’ve elsewhere discussed the “really cool band” that was producer Patrick Leonard’s art project after the boredom of making half a billion dollars for Warner Brothers producing Madonna albums.
While I’m not here to diss Madonna (not today anyway–we’ve done plenty of that elsewhere) I can appreciate Leonard’s desire to flex other muscles.
And flex he does.
Tasty licks abound on the Toy Matinee album and on “Turn it On Salvador” in particular.
And the song contains enough melodic, chordal and compositional twists and turns to keep it interesting on repeated (or in my case, incessant) listens.
Every Moment Has A Song 