Songs You May Have Missed #695

04 Jun 2021 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

Trio Mandili: “Enguro” (2017)

When three sweet-voiced, videogenic friends from the country of Georgia uploaded a music video of their performance of a Georgian folk song and it garnered over five million views, Trio Mandili was born.

Tatuli Mgeladze, Tako Tsiklauri, and Mariam Kurasbediani–who bear such likeness to one another you’d swear they were sisters–upload new videos regularly.

Most feature the rustic countryside of their homeland as well as the girls’ three-part polyphony, accompanied by a traditional Georgian stringed instrument called a panduri.

It’s beautiful stuff–both for the eyes and ears.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2025/05/24/video-of-the-week-trio-mandili-galoba-the-prayer/

See also: Video of the Week: Trio Mandili–Kakhuri | Every Moment Has A Song (edcyphers.com)

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2024/06/30/video-of-the-week-trio-mandili-kikile/

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2025/05/18/video-of-the-week-trio-mandili-chemi-iknebi-you-will-be-mine/

The Beatles in India: ‘With their long hair and jokes, they blew our minds!’

04 Jun 2021 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

 Photograph: All rights reserved/Paul Saltzman

(via The Guardian) by Andrew Male

In 1968, Paul Saltzman was a lost soul. The son of a Canadian TV weatherman, he was working as a sound engineer for the National Film Board of Canada in India when he received a “Dear John” letter from the woman he thought was going to be his wife. “I was devastated,” he says. “Then someone on the crew said: ‘Have you tried meditation for the heartbreak?’”

Saltzman went to see the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – the founder of transcendental meditation – speak at New Delhi University. Emboldened by promises of “inner rejuvenation”, Saltzman then travelled to the International Academy of Meditation in Rishikesh. It was closed, due to the arrival of the Beatles.

As explained by Paul McCartney in the Beatles book Anthology, the exhausted group, still coming to terms with the suicide of their manager Brian Epstein in August 1967, had arrived in Rishikesh with wives and girlfriends to “find the answer” through the teachings of the Maharishi, whom Paul, George and John had first encountered at a lecture at the London Hilton. “There was a feeling of: ‘It’s great to be famous [and] rich,” said McCartney, “but what it’s all for?’”

Read more: The Beatles in India: ‘With their long hair and jokes, they blew our minds!’ | The Beatles | The Guardian

80 Artists Pick Their Favorite Bob Dylan Song For Bob Dylan’s 80th Birthday

31 May 2021 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

(via Stereogum) by Ryan Leas

In the almost 60 years since Bob Dylan released his debut album, countless words have been spilled on his singular legacy. There are books and movies and over half a century’s worth of music journalism trying to dissect the mystery and pin down the multitudes. College courses unpack his lyrics. A Presidential Medal Of Freedom and a Nobel Prize and who knows how many other honors mark Dylan’s towering, seismic presence as not just a musician but a cultural and literary icon of the American Century. All of which is to say: You and I both know about Bob Dylan, and there’s little I could say to celebrate his 80th birthday that hasn’t been said many times before.

Instead, we chose to celebrate the occasion by surveying a vast array of musicians on their favorite Bob Dylan song. (Technically, there are picks from 86 musicians here, but we didn’t want to wait another six years to publish this. Consider it a bonus.) Below, you’ll find singer-songwriters working in a tradition most obviously indebted to Dylan, but you’ll also find young country stars and ascendent art-rockers and jazz boundary-pushers. You’ll find David Byrne writing an essay about one of Dylan’s most recent songs, and you’ll find David Crosby remembering the first time he saw Dylan play in the Village, and a whole lot more. All spoke to Dylan’s incomparable influence, the way he kicked open some kind of door or another no matter what form an artist works in. We were excited and stunned by all the thoughtful responses we received for this project, and we think you will be too. Happy birthday Bob Dylan!

Read more: Best Bob Dylan Songs According To 80 Musicians (stereogum.com)

Recommended Albums #82

20 May 2021 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Recommended Albums Tags: ,

Full Moon: Full Moon (1972)

This semi-legendary 1972 album featured Paul Butterfield Blues Band alumni in an early example of the Jazz-Rock fusion that would find greater visibility later in the decade as bands like Weather Report and the Crusaders would release their most successful albums and Steely Dan would create session star-studded records like Katy Lied and Aja.

Full Moon was an album that never garnered mainstream exposure but was influential among musicians, who shared it among themselves.

The musicianship is excellent, the feel is loose, the solos are tasty, and the styles vary from song to song. The rocking opening track “The Heavy Scuffle’s On” evokes Rare Earth, while “To Know”, which follows it, is a gorgeous Tower of Power-like R&B ballad. And so on, each track leaning a bit more toward jazz, or gospel or Miles Davis fusion.

This is one of those albums that hit the cutout bins unjustly. Now is your second chance (or more likely your first) to check out this obscure gem.

Listen to: “The Heavy Scuffle’s On”

Don’t Miss: “To Know”

Listen to: “Take This Winter Out of My Mind”

Listen to: “Midnight Pass”

On a Lighter Note…

18 May 2021 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in On a Lighter Note

Songs You May Have Missed #694

17 May 2021 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

Struts: “Mary Go Round” (2014)

The aptly-named Struts came out of the gate in 2014 with the cocksure swagger of a band who seemed to know world domination was just around the next Slade-evoking hook.

Two consistently enjoyable albums later the band has proven that while not everybody wants the Struts, their anthemic, glammy throwback rock has a place in the charts and hearts of 21st century rock fans.

“Mary Go Round”, from their debut, makes effective use of key modulation to raise the emotional ante in this affecting breakup tune.

See also: Songs You May Have Missed #591 | Every Moment Has A Song (edcyphers.com)

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