Expect the unexpected!

For all those who have asked this year's Roots and Shoots theme tune is:

Nick's Klez ..Tango Band.. Wind In The City 

This week there were some familiar a some not so familiar bands and musicians playing music as we took another journey around the globe. Paul Ubana Jones from New Zealand will be coming to our neck of the woods sometime soon. Watch ths space for details. Also The Tango Band, who play our theme tune also reresented Wales with a Tom Robinson song about street begging in the UK, an unpleasant reult of govenrment policies in the 1980s again on the increase under our present government.
And a new one from the Bootleg Swing Band as they prepare for a gig on the 31st May at the Kenn Centre, Kenford. Hope you'll be there. I will.

Tracks played were as follows:

Dança Mariquinha .. Luiz Gonzaga & Miguel Lima.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Razvivay, Dóbro .. Eva Quartet & Hector Zazou.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Aremu an me ‘Gapa’.. Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013) 
Si Tu Savais .. Bootleg Swing.. Demo 
Lady Day and John Coltrane.. Paul Ubana Jones.. At Al's
Pine Grove Blues..The Cajun Playboys.. Cajun Party!
Maiorais .. Bonga.. Maiorais
Can't Buy Me .. Femi Kuti.. Africa For Africa 
Dankou (feat. Zoumana Tereta) ..Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba.. Jama Ko
Le Guide de la Révolution (Simbad Remix) ..Bako Dagnon.. Le Guide de la Révolution
Begging .. Tango Band.. Last Tango In Powys 
What Comes Around (Goes Around) ..Dr. John.. Definitive Pop: Dr. John
Basta pastor ..Swing Gadjé.. La 13ème tribu
Adèle blanc sec / Derrière les carreaux ..La Chavannée.. Rage de danse
La nousille..Hamon Martin Quintet.. Les métamorphoses
Evershot Slammer ..The Destroyers.. Hole In the Universe
Fun Tashlikh..The Klezmatics.. Rhythm + Jews
Temptation ..Baba Zula.. Gecekondu  Deniz Dalgasiz Olmaz ..CENGIZ ÖZKAN.. The Rough Guide To Turkish Café
Vainajalan Tango .. Lepistö & Lehti.. Helsinki
Igreja De S. Estevao .. Alexandra Sousa.. Sabor A Fado  Senorita, Can You Tell?..Los Chiches..Fongo
Segunda..Caetano e Moreno Veloso..Recanto Gal
Bonnie Love..Devonbird..Hangman's Daughter

Roots and Shoots dates

Generally from now on, rootsandshoots will be on Mondays from 18:00 to 20:00 on all but the 4th Mondays of each month when Kat and Karen will present a new show, Shenanigans. Details of shows can be found on the Phonic FM website.

For this month only, Shenanigans went out on Monday 13 May. Martin Henning will present rootsandshoots today and Martin Hodge will present the show on Bank Holiday Monday 27 May.

Bank Holiday

Bank Holiday Monday and there wers plenty of sounds for you to listen to on the beach or in the garden while you enjoyed the sun.

These tracks were:

Who's Stepping Out .. Mezkala   Demo
Be That Man ..Goran Bregović Feat. Eugene Hütz.. Songlines CD #92 (June 2013) 
Lamm ar banniel - Polka ..Startijenn.. 'Kreiz da fas! 
Monophonie ..Pain d'Epices.. Équilibruiste 
Mar ..Agusto Cego..
Rosera de Abril ..Mendes Brothers.. The Gate of Return 1 
Kalabalak..Ahilea..Cafe Svetlana 
Obrenovac Boogie ..Kal..KAL 
Bakari ..Ahmed Dhaalu.. Raa 
Ragalé ..Akalé Wubé.. Akalé Wubé 
Ziva Zvaunoda..Alick Macheso and Orchestra Mberikwazvo.. Zvido Zvenyu Kunyanya 
Black Waterside ..The Angel Brothers and Satnam Singh.. From Punjab to Pit Top 
Inkling ..The Toids.. Unblocked Ears 
Liberación de Guelta..Aziza Brahim & Gulili Mankoo.. Mabruk 
Le Guide de la Révolution (Simbad Remix)..Bako Dagnon.. Le Guide de la Révolution 
Mali Roori ..Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba.. Jama Ko 
Catching Kina ..The Mamaku Project.. Karekare 
Four Year-old Horse..MONGOL BAND.. Mongolian Music 
4 Daughters..Pura Fé.. Rough Guide To Native America 
Andalus ..Ramzi Aburedwan.. Reflections Of Palestine 
Mi sogno..Rosapaeda.. Mater Heart Folk 
Romantica Amazonia..Los Chinches..Fongo
Moorlough Shore..Caroline Lavelle..Spirit
Both Sides Of The Tweed..Mary Black..Celtic Tides

Martin and Martin with Devonbird

The two Martins were together again for rootsandshoots on Monday 29 April. 

We were very pleased to welcome the talented Devonbird for a live set.

 Listen 2 to recordings of Devonbird's set here. 

Devonbird are made up of Kathryn Bird (Vocals), Robert Weaton (Guitar & Vocals) and Sophie Colkin (Violin).

The songs they performed were as follows:
Hangman's Daughter
Purdy Jane
The Snows
Velvet

From their latest CD Hangman's Daughter we played:
The Brae
Oldways

Recordings played
Koby Israelite..Crayfish Hora (Suite Part 4)..Blues From Elsewhere
Alex Kumar..Rambling On My Mind..Phonic FM recording
Recordings from Padstow May Day Celebrations 2012
Billy Bragg..Verse for The Internationale..Recorded at Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Celebrations, 2009
Jackie Oates..The Posy Rhyme  /Bi Bi Og Blaka..Lullabies
Steve Mayone & Kristina Stykos The Cousins Project..Rescue Me..Beautiful Blood
June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Hugh Warren..The Lads In Their Hundreds..Quercus
Blanche Rowan & Mike Gulston..Northill May Song / Mwynen Mai .. The Dance Goes On
Marion Ludvig & Steve Ellis..Á Tout Moment..Á Tout Moment
Alexandra Sousa.. Tudo Isto E Fado..Sabor A Fado
Altan.. An Grianan/Horse With A Heart..Celtic Tides
Allen Toussaint.. St. James Infirmary..The Bright Mississippi
Djal.. Ave Cesaria ..Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit
Custodio Castelo..Danca El Tango.. empa Guitarra Portuguesa
Woodwose..Purgatory/Paradise..Dancing Stones
Phil Bird..Twister..Little Vessel For A Long Journey

Phil Bird & Anna Georgiou came to play.

5.4.13: Roots and Shoots with Martin Henning.
Phil Bird & Anna Georgiou collectively called 'Troubadour's Garden' came to play for us on Monday.
They are from Okehampton and apart from playing and singing beautiful songs run songwriting workshops,workshops in the visual arts and also a monthly Acoustic Music club at the Okement Centre in Okehampton.
They played the following songs live on air:
Giants Rise,
The witch of Lychfield Town
Ancient Shores
Salmon
Also I played a track from one of their CDs:
Little Vessel..Phil Bird + Jerry Carhill & Tim Harries.. Little Vessel for a  Long Journey
Cloudbusting .. Kate Bush.. The Whole Story 
Stick Stock .. Emily Portman.. Songlines CD #82 (March 2012) 
Sea Song .. Rachel Unthank & The Winterset.. The Bairns 
Fouet - Valse 3 T. ..Sous Le Pont.. Sous Le Pont 
Mazurka des grand-mères (mazurka créole)..La Machine.. Les Couleurs 
Tarantella Rouge & Noir ..Riccardo Tesi.. Banditaliana 
Barbed Wire Blues..Wilko Johnson.. The Best Of Wilko Johnson Volume 2 
Blue Drag..Allen Toussaint.. The Bright Mississippi
Sueña Como un Niño..Txarango.. Benvinguts al Llarg Viatge 
Guitarrada ..Alexandra Sousa.. Sabor A Fado 
Underdog ..Alex Bershadsky.. Junk 
Kamoukie ..Salif Keita.. M'Bemba 
Ndemdeli ..Somo Somo & Mose Fan Fan.. Hello Hello 

Got the Hang of it?

Today on rootsandshoots on Phonic FM we celebrated the Swiss instrument the Hang and an associated instrument, the Halo. 

 Listen to the show here. 

Matthew Calder joined Martin Hodge in the studio to play some music and give us some insights into these intriguing and beautiful instruments. Thanks a lot, Matt!

Left: Sculpture Music (Matthew Calder and John Shaw).

Below: Matt with Hang and Halo in the Phonic FM studio.


Matt gave us demonstrations of Halo and Hang playing. Accompanying himself on the Halo only, he sang Keep This Space. 

Matthew Calder and John Shaw (double bass) perform as Sculpture Music.

They have an EP out featuring their own songs: Minor Songs In Major Keys and it is well recommended.
From it we played the title track plus Small World.

See Sculpture Music on Youtube.

Find more information on Sculpture Music's website where you will see details of their gigs. Gigs include the Exeter Respect Festival in June. 

We also heard Hang and drum player Manu Delago and friends with Medina II from his latest album Bigger Than Home. 

Later in the show I played a track by Alizbar & Christian Amin Varkonyi who, respectively, played Celtic Harp and Hang.

Other recordings played:

Orchestre De Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou..Karateka..Orchestre De Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou Vol. 3: The Skeletal Essences Of Voodoo Funk
Queen Biz..Wallou..Teranga Senegal!
Airleke..Wanchef..Weapon Of Choice
Los Clinches..Gracias..Fongo
Phillip Henry..Lagan Love / Banish Misfortune..Live In The Living Room
Jackie Oates..Junk..Lullabies
17 Hippies..Deine Tränen
Alizbar & Christian Amin Varkonyi..Melting Snowflakes On Her Hand

In the second half of the show, I spoke on a phone line to Cate Ferris and The Little Unsaid aka John Elliott about their music and their gigs including Exeter Bike Shed Theatre on Friday 12 April.

Follow pic link to see Cate Ferris and The Little Unsaid in Halifax

Website links here:    Cate Ferris    The Little Unsaid

Songs played by The Little Unsaid were There Go All Our Wide-eyed Days and Midnight On An Island, the latter out as a single and to be included on his forthcoming album.

From Cate Ferris we heard Leave A Light On and Condensation.
both from her new EP Get Set GO.

I plugged this event - happening on Saturday 13 April at Exeter Phoenix for Phonic FM:

Appearing are the following artists (songs played on the show listed)...

Alex Kumar..All My Love's In Vain
The Swamp Gods..Monotoid..Space Junk
Jay Tamkin..You've Got The Heart / You've Changed

No April Fools here!

1st April. rootsandshoots with me Martin Henning.
Here I was all alone in the Phoenix and I could think of doing nothing better than to present rootsandshoots.

Tracks played were:
Sibashaya Woza ..KonKoma.. KonKoma
Kaounding Cissoko ..Derek Gripper.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Soloho Mahavelo ..Sambiasy & Samba.. World Routes - [Disc 1]
Bayaty ..Ashkhabad.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Samanta Cocek..Boban Marković.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Hayati Inta Reprise (Hayatak Ana) ..Natacha Atlas.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Ciganka Medley ..Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar.. Bucovina Mixtape Vol. 1
Alisero ..Ferhat Tunç.. Listen to the Banned
Bugu Jazz ..Burhan Ocal & The Trakya All Stars.. Buddha Bar IX
Lambada de Oceanía, África y América (eran un mismo continente) ..Pirana.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Dilis Saari/Shushtari ..Eldar Shoshitashvili.. World Routes - [Disc 1]
Jogi ..Talvin Singh.. Together
Homi Di Fora ..Michel.. World Routes [Disc 1]
Maria La Portuguesa ..Alexandra Sousa.. Sabor A Fado
Mazurka Pour Eliza ..Sous Le Pont.. Sous Le Pont
Liviou Lou ..Wig A Wag.. Sarah Ha Safar
Bal Limousine À Lucas ..Ciac Boum.. Vert
Sing Ivy ..Jim Causley Unknown Album (14/03/2007 10:01:31)
St. James Infirmary ..Allen Toussaint.. The Bright Mississippi 
Darling Cory..Appoloosas..Appoloosas
Shiny House..Swamp Gods..Demo
Dancing In The Rain..Jay Tamkin..Jay Tamkin

13 April...Jay Tamkin, The Swamp Gods, Alex Kumar...Exeter Phoenix

 Listen to the promo for this event here 

The Appaloosas come to play

 Listen again to an abridged version of the show featuring live music by The Appaloosas here. 

Hi all.
On Monday 18th March on Roots and Shoots a band called The Appaloosas came to the studio to play some live music and talk about their recently recorded eponimous album and this and that.
The band are a trio made up of Eliza (vocals + guitar) and Peter Acty (banjo) together with Stephen Potter (fiddle). The music they play is from the Appalachian tradition in the USA. Eliza's voice was so evocative of the tradition and the guitar, fiddle and banjo kind of transported me to the Appalachian mountains. Wonderful music, beautifully performed.
In the studio as well was Martin Hodge, who very kindly came in to balance the microphones, and Cecil to take photos & video. as well as Eliza's brother who also took photos and videos. Hoping to be able to put some up on this blog some time soon.

The band played the following songs live:
Come All You Virginian Girls
Undone Sorrow (a song originally sung by Ola Belle Reed)
Water Bound ( a song by Dirk Powell)
Gospel Plough ( a traditional song recorded by Bob Dylan and Chas McCoy amongst others)

From their Album;
Little Darling Pal Of Mine
I wanted to play more from the CD but our studio CD player wasn't having any of it. There will be more tracks played on future shows once I get the CD on my computer.

Other music played was as follows:

Jean Pierre..Marcus Miller.. Marcus
Move Along Train..Levon Helm ..Electric Dirt
Ginhava..Mercan Dede.. Breath
Springtime On Parmir Mountains ..The Guo Brothers.. Yuan
Mj..Le Gop..Le Gop!
Barco Negro ..Alexandra Sousa.. Sabor A Fado
Railroad Bill ..Lonnie Donegan.. 100 Classics (1952-1959)
Manhattan..Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble.. Songs of the Metropolis
Cabane (Scottish)..Corinne Renaud, Catherine Grimault, Eric Thézé & Gérard Gordon..Brume
Diga Figa..Brotto Lopez.. Le Bal
The Singing Kettle ..Emma Sweeney.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Wallou ..Queen Biz.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Climbing Up a Mountain ..Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Araber Tanz..Kevara ..Demo
Bulgarian Boogie..Koby Israelite..Blues From Elsewhere

4.3.13

Hi all.

On a trip to Madiera, recently, I went to a Fado bar in Funchal called Sabo Fado. We went in, sat down and ordered a glass of wine. In a corner of the bar were 2 guitarists, one playing the Portuguese 12 string Guitar the other a regular 6 string.

The first played the fado tunes and the other played rhythm. This went on for a couple of numbers and we all began to relax into the very laid back atmosphere. The third tune started and then, much to our surprise, all of a sudden the woman serving the drinks stopped wiping a table top and holding a bunch of dirty glasses started to sing in classic Fado style.

Then after that the other 2 women at the bar joined in. Twas brilliant. All this carried on for the rest of the evening 'til chucking out time at 2am. They were all [part of the same family the two men guitarists were father and son, the women the mother, the sister and the wife of the younger Portuguese Guitarist, who had won a competition and was considered the beat Portuguease Guitarist in Madiera.

Wonderful. I can recommend a visit to that particular hostelry, if you're ever in Fuchal - the old town centre near the port and cable car station. They had a CD for sale, which I bought of course and I played a track on the show. I'll be playing more from that in coming shows. Hope you like it.

Here's a list of tunes/songs played on Monday 4th March's show:

Mali ..John Patitucci.. Remembrance
Glass: Glassworks - Closing ..Philip Glass Ensemble... The Essential Philip Glass
Tudo Isto E Fado..Alexandra Sousa Sabor.. A Fado  
Hard Times Blues..Lonnie Donegan.. 100 Classics (1952-1959)
Jim Crow Blues ..Leadbelly.. All Time Greatest Masters 
Nirvana..El Cosmo Group.. Buddha Grooves, Vol. 2 - 44
Sinaly (feat. Kasse Mady Diabate)..Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba.. Jama Ko
El goud'dem..Les boukakes.. Makach mouch'kil
Katica..Brina.. Slečena Koža
On The Back Seat Of My Car ..Goran Bregovic.. Alkohol (Bonus Track Version)  
La ville dort. . . (Pilé menu)..Hamon Martin Quintet.. Du silence et du temps
Slamboree..Don Byas.. Don Byas Selected Hits, Vol. 4
Sunken Bells ..Emily Portman.. Hatchling
Mumbai Highway ..Ducie.. Mancunia
Agua rara .. Bonga.. Best of Bonga
Andros ..Mousaka.. Ca S'Bouffe Pas, Ca S'Danse   Cinco Piezas - Romantico..Edoardo Catemario.. Complete Works With Guitar
Otro Puente Alsina..Otros Aires.. The Tango Club Night, Vol. 2
Ginhava..Mercan Dede.. Breath
Ohm Suhaa ..Andrea Guzzaletti, Lao Kouyate & Sainkho Namtchylak.. Who Stole The Sky? 
Miami Meculele..Caetano & Moreno Veloso.. Recant Gal
Mambo Ska..Ska Cubano..Mambo Ska
Desert Ska..Skatalites..Walk With Me
Roller Taster..Roller Trio..Roller Trio 

Martin Hodge is presenting the show on Monday 11th March. 'm back on the18th with,all being well, local musician Steve Potter and his band playing live.
All the best and keeep listening (sorry Bruce!) to Roots and Shoots on Phonic FM. 106.8fm in Exeter and www.phonic.fm worldwide.
Martin Henning