Short reviews of History is Embarassing by Karen Chase; Mythology of Stone by Bardford Graves; Vegan Soups and Stews for All Seasons by Nava Atlas; London fomr the Air by Jeffrey Milstein; and Dear Sister by Michelle Horton
On Sunday, October 22nd, NTS, the global music platform and radio station, will be hosting a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the iconic label Folkways Records, a collaboration with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Broadcasting all day, from 7am - 7pm EDT / 11am - 11pm BST, we’re inviting friends and admirers of the label onto the airwaves to share some of their favorite recordings from the label’s seven-decade history, as well as speaking to figures who were key in making Folkways the cultural institution it is today.
Verna Gillis , an American producer, convinces her husband Roswell Rudd , one of the greatest jazz trombonists to go to Mali. Once in the Malian capital, Gillis brings together the jazzman and the Malian griot Toumani Diabaté for a month. Roswell has the griot and his cronies play the Thelonious Monk while Toumani in turn teaches him traditional Mandingo themes . As the days go by, an ethnomusical record will be born from this collaboration. Despite the difficulties, the documentary appears as a fusional encounter where the mixing of sounds and cultures generates a quality record. Bamako is a Miracle is meant to be a story of a musical adventure full of emotions, the showcase of two cultures coming together.