Music does that

[vaneramos]

Could anything improve on this?

Maybe only Sarah McLachlan, upstaging no one, but adding her angel soprano to the chorus of this song. Listen to Ladysmith Black Mambazo's 2006 album, Long Road to Freedom. This song has me in tears. Only the third time in nine months since Mom's passage. Music does that, all kinds of music, especially transcendent tenderness. The album also features Zap Mama, Melissa Etheridge and a few others.

Just now I am submerged in new, deeply affecting music:

• Born To The Breed, a new tribute album to the only female celebrity I ever had a teenage crush on, Judy Collins—with covers by Joan Baez, Dolly Parton, Leonard Cohen, Rufus Wainwright, Dar Williams and others. Nothing could be more delicious (thank you, wonderboynj).
  
• A preview of Medieval Baebes' 2009 album, Illumination. I haven't heard the whole thing yet, but at first impression it is higher energy than what I've heard before, bombastic even. Makes my hair stand on end. "Desert Rose" is reminiscent of orgiastic passages from Nicholas Lens' Fire Requiem. If you like the Baebes, you're in for a treat.
  
• After sixteen years, Buffy Sainte-Marie has released a new studio album Running For The Drum. I haven't laid my hands on it yet, but heard her live interview on CBC Radio's program, Q, this morning. She isn't any older, she's hotter. I love Madonna, she can go on and on and on, but it sounds vaguely desperate compared to the indefatigable Buffy.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Oh thank you for posting this clip. Nothing speaks to the universal soul the same as these voices. Always a joy. Paul Simon did the world a favour by introducing Lady Smith Black Mombaza. I could listen to them all day. ~ Susan, London,On
www.myfanwys-journal.blogspot.com

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Welcome, Susan, and thanks for your comment!

[rfmcdpei.livejournal.com]

Madonna of late has struck me as tired--I regret buying her most recent album.

The late Arthur Russell has some affecting ambient pop up on YouTube.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I'm listening to "This Is How We Walk On The Moon". Interesting. It's a bit lean for me. Sometimes I feel that way about ambient, other times I like it.

I like Madonna's latest album musically, though not as much as Ray of Light or Confessions. The one I regretted buying was Music; it left me cold.

[teddyb.livejournal.com]

Some fascinating picks there, Van. I can't wait to hear Buffy's new album. She is just so amazing. I saw a profile and mini-interview on the CBC National newscast a few nights ago. I wish I cold have heard the radio interview.

And I am looking forward to hearing the Judy Collins tribute. I love her music, and I'd be interested to hear others interpret songs she is so closely associated with.

I'll have to look for both CDs when I'm out shopping. Thanks for mentioning them.

And thanks for the link to that clip, too. I love Ladysmith Black Mambazo. They sing with so much power and sheer humanity. I don't think it is possible to listen to them and not be moved.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I was a reporter for a small town newspaper in 1990 when I attended a powwow at Saugeen Indian Reserve in Southhampton and heard this woman I didn't know singing songs I knew in a tiny community centre packed with a few hundred people. She was Buffy. I was swept to a higher plane by "Starwalker" and have been a fan ever since.