Belgium - Brussels

 So we arrive in the capital of Belgium, Brussels or Bruxelles or Brussel, the bilingual capital of Europe.  Like most capital cities it is a big melting pot of cultures, which is reflected in the local music scene, so we'll be hearing music styles from all over the world here.

We start with my favourite band here, Jaune Toujours.  Their style has been described as mestiza, a blend of salsa, Latin, ska, Balkan and punk.  The term they use for their style is Europeana, as opposed to Americana.  They sing in French, Flemish and English.  This song called La Bruxellois is from their 2009 album Kolektiv:

Here's another nice ska number from their 2018 album Europeana called Save Le Monde.  It's a beautiful day to save the world... :)

The Ångströmers is a cluster of sound artists and musicians around the Brussels record label Ångström.  In their latest collaboration they have teamed up with Haitian 6-piece band Chouk Bwa where Afro-Caribbean Voodoo polyrhythms meet bass-weight dub electronics.  An explosive mix, mostly recorded in Brussels, their album Vodou Alé came out in May.  This is the title track from the album:

Brussels other claim to fame is that with some 40 Gnawa musicians living in the city it takes the claim as Gnawa capital of Europe.  Jola is a project to bring most of them together to record an album, which was released in March as Jola - Hidden Gnawa Music in Brussels, which is available on Bandcamp.  In Moroccon dialect 'Jola' means tour is the term for an essential step in a musician's initiation to the tagnawit (the way of the Gnawa).  The launch concert for the album got cancelled, because of the Covid pandemic, but instead they recorded some of the musicians in their homes.  On the album the sound is of course a lot fuller with the musicians playing together rather than solo with plenty percussion:

Five-piece hybrid jazz combo Black Flower piloted by saxophonist and flutist Nathan Daems mixes Ethio-jazz and oriental sounds with afrobeat and dub.  In 2016 they spent 2 days in a studio mixing a largely improvised album called Ghost Radio, which was initially released as a limited run on vinyl.  It sold out fast and they have recently re-released the vinyl as well as a digital download version.  Here's a track from that album called Ray:

Also inspired by Ethio-jazz is 6-piece combo Azmari, who were created in 2015 fusing it with psychgroove, funk and dub.  Azmari, meaning one who praises in Amharic, is the term for an Ethiopian singer/musician equivalent to a European bard or a West African griot.  They only appear to have one EP so far called Ekera released in 2019. Here's the hypnotic opening track to the EP called Dolmuş:

Finally, Refugees for Refugees and is an ensemble of 10 accomplished musicians, displaced by wars and political instability, who got stranded in Brussels and formed a band under the guidance of Belgian Tristan Driessens.  The musicians hail from Syria, Tibet, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Their music is all about breaking boundaries and represents all their respective cultures along the historic southern Silk Road.  It's a beautiful and varied collection of songs and well worth supporting.  Their second album, released in 2019, is called Amina and here is the title track from it:

I hope you enjoyed our international tour of Brussels.  As usual you follow my virtual journey on my Tripline map.

France - Paris Part III

 Paris is of course a very cosmopolitan city like London with many international influences in its music.  Zoufris Maracas were formed around 2007 by friends Vincent Sanchez and Vincent Allard.  The name Zoufris refers to the name given to Algerian workers arriving in France during the 1950's, but their influences combine chanson inspired by Jacques Brel with sounds from African Rumba, Mexican Cumbia and Gipsy Manouche.  Their latest 2020 release is Bleu de lune and this track is taken from it called Sa Majesté la mer:

Due to France's colonial past there is a strong North African diaspora living in Paris, who bring their musical influences with them.  Gnawa music is a body of religious songs and rhythms mostly centred around Morocco.  Multi-national and inter-generational outfit Gnawa Youmala add fiddle and banjo to the traditional instrumentation of gimbri (bass lute) and qaraqab (metal castagnets) to give the genre a lighter, uplifting touch with hues of Berber and Arabic sounds.  This is from their recently released debut album Dounya called Mandiga:

Also playing Gnawa merged with other Maghreb influences such as chaâbi, rai, alaoui and kabyle as well as salsa, reggae, jazz and funk are northern Paris band Orchestre National de Barbès, who were founded in 1995 by some Algerian and Moroccan musicians.  This is the title track from their 2010 album Rendez-vous Barbès:

Paris born clarinettist Yom believes klezmer is all about being a dance music and veers away from the traditional by blending it with some electronic dancefloor sounds.  This tune is called Swimming in the Styx from his latest album You Will Never Die recorded in 2018 with the Wonder Rabbis:

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Etienne de la Sayette is a true musical world traveller who fuses many world music styles.  Notably he championed Ethio-Jazz with his band Akalé Wubé and Korean music with Baeshi Bang.  His recent solo album Kobugi, comprises of his own musical doodles whilst having nothing much to do between concert tours and suddenly realising he had enough material to release an album.  Apart from Ethiopian and Korean influences, there are hints of Mali and Zimbabwe as well as rap.  Hard to put into just one box.  In a recent interview he was asked how he envisioned his future as a musician.  He answered: I might just have a glass of Sancerre after this interview.  A man after my own heart.  Here's a song from the album called Loulou:

Finally we listen to some electro swing from electronic band Caravan Palace, who list their influences as Django Reinhardt, Vitalic and Lionel Hampton.  This is a track which features on the 2011 album The Rough Guide to Paris Lounge called Jolie Coquine:

That's it from Paris, next we are heading back into the French countryside.  As usual you can follow my virtual trip on my tripline map.

France - Pas de Loire to Île de France

 

Angers Castle

We continue our journey of northern France and travel up the Loire valley to Angers, where world music band Lo'Jo is based.  They were formed in 1982 around singer/keyboardist Denis Péan and violin and kora player Richard Bourreau, blending French folk with strong gypsy and North African influences.  This a song from their 2017 album Fonetiq Flowers called Café des Immortels:

'Tropical Jazz' band Electric Vocuhila are from Tours in the Centre-Val de Loire region.  They blend Jazz with several African urban music styles such as Sébène from the Congo, Ethio-Jazz, Zimbabwean Sungura and Tsapiky from Madagascar.  Their tunes possess a unique hypnotic, danceable groove.  This is the title track from their recently released album Palaces:

From just south of Tours, in Chambray-Les-Tours, hails singer/songwriter Isabelle Geoffroy, better known as Zaz, who combines traditional chanson with jazz influences.  This is one of her early hits called Je Veux from her self-titled 2010 debut album:

As we get drawn into the whirlpool that is Paris we first stop in the north-western suburb of Jouy-le-Moutier in the region of Île de France, where we meet the family outfit Les Ogres de Barback.  They consist of 4 siblings of the Burguière family, brothers Fred and Sam and twin sisters Alice and Mathilde, all of them multi-instrumentalists.  They've been playing French chansons with various other world music influences since 1994.  On their latest album, Amours Grises & Colères Rouges, released in 2019, guest artists include Benin band Eyo'Nlé and Israeli singer Lior Shoov.  This is one of their more traditional style songs from that album called P'tit Coeur:

Singer/songwriter and mandolin player Féloche grew up in Clichy on the outskirts of Paris.  His musical CV includes a stint in a Ukrainian punk band before setting out on his solo career, playing a variety of styles.  In 2013 he released the album Silbo.  The title song is partly sung in the ancient whistling language of the island of Gomera, part of the Canary Islands, called Silbo in tribute to his step father, who was a political refugee from there.  It made him something of a hero on Gomera for encouraging a revival of the language, which was used widely during the 1940's and 50's to evade Franco's police.

And to finish off here's a song from his latest album released in February, Féloche and the Mandolin Orchestra.  The Song is called Chiq Planète:

That's it for today, next we'll explore the music of Paris.  As usual you can follow my virtual journey on my Tripline map.