Music

My favourite albums
of this week:

    Whether I like it or not I seem forever destined to search out new music. I have no idea where this lusting comes from, and still remain unsure whether it is a good thing. Sometimes it’s just a fad, as with disco, grunge, jazz and brit pop and although I will probably not be listening to Disco Tex and his Sex-o-lettes, Tad, John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra or Menswear anytime soon, there are others such as Chic, Mudhoney, Grant Green and Blur which I will always make time to enjoy.

    As I have begun to discover South America, the music has begun to play a more important role in my life. I can rarely now be found without Caetano Veloso, Eduardo Mateo, Mercedes Sosa or Os Novos Baianos far from my earholes. The ridiculous amount of great music in Brazil has blown me away, it’s something that’s glossed over slightly in England, with talk of the Tropicalia greats that emerged under military dictatorship but little else attention. This is only the start, I am currently discovering artists like Bola 7, Hermeto Pascoal and Joao Gilberto that really should be given so much more attention. Their playfulness with musical forms is something that consistently bowls me over. I think it is fair to say that the other countries in South America have less musical heritage, with many current bands drawing more from Western Rock than their own roots. That said, there is still amazing musical forms such as Candombe in Uruguay, Tango in Argentina, the original cumbia music from Peru and plenty more which I am yet to find.

    Music Articles

    I am the editor of Sounds and Colours, a magazine about South American music and culture. This is generally the outlet for many of my music-related articles. Please have a look over at that site to find some of the things I’ve been working on.

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