and of course....

oh hell i'm in a melancholy mood. Here's the real deal, probably my favorite music video of all time.

kim jung mi

When trying to describe obscure artists to friends, especially when they hail from odd corners of the globe, you are almost inevitably boxed into the kind of comparison game that makes Erkin Koray the "Jimi Hendrix of Turkey" or Alemayehu Eshete the "James Brown of Ethiopia." Likewise is the fabulous Kim Jung Mi the "Francoise Hardy of Korea". But as this clip shows, she was quite a wide ranging singer. For some lite-pop sike type moves, a la Hardy, definitely check out her amazing "Now" record.

palm wine guitar

Sooliman Rogie, or S.E. Rogie was one of the best known "palm wine" guitarists, a genre that belonged to the West African coast and dated back to when Portuguese sailors brought guitars to the region through trade. It's a blend of traditional African rhythm and melody with a calypso feel, and it's every bit as intoxicating as the beverage that inspired the name. Some of you may have had the good fortune to hear Rogie's track on the outstanding "Lipa Kodi Ya City Council" lp but I had no idea he was somewhat of a national hero in Sierra Leone, the country of his birth. This is a later clip of Rogie, who put out a record not long before his death entitled "Dead Men Don't Smoke Marijuana". As Venom would say, "Indeed...Indeed."

first of may