Around the World and Back Again

The source of my selections today is as roundabout as the artiste's travels.

My niece in Trieste, Italy sent me a couple of MP3s of an artist she likes called Lhasa de Sela and thought I may like it enough for my blog. I listened to the songs first and was intrigued enough by the beautiful smoky voice to want to find out more about the artist. While the music is interesting, but not exactly what I would regularly listen to, the story of Lhasa is fascinating.

According to the brief Wikipedia entry, Lhasa is " of Mexican and Jewish -Lebanese-American descent. born in NY, grew up in US and Mexico, started singing at a Greek restaurant, moved to Montreal, released an album, then moved to France. Phew! Of course, she sings in English, French, and Spanish.

You can find Lhasa's discography on Amazon here. Both these songs are from her debut album La Llorona which is available on Amazon here. Make sure you check out her web site too.

1. Lhasa de Sela - De Cara A La Pared (4 MB; 128 kbps MP3)
2. Lhasa de Sela - El Desierto (3.66 MB; 128kbps MP3)

French In My Flesh!

Hopefully that morbid title will get you intrigued enough to try this band. When I was in France earlier this year, my brother recommended this band when I asked him a sample of local rock music. I listened to it in the car a couple of times and decided to go buy the CDs of this band myself. The band is an (apparently popular) French rock band called KYO. I was able to pick up a reasonably inexpensive set of two of their CDs at a Carrefour. Of course, as usual, I find I could have bought it Amazon a lot cheaper. Here's a link to the 2 CD set.

Even my 12-year old son loves this band and he often voluntarily puts this CD in the player. Catchy rock in the vein of Semisonic, The Wallflowers, and Maroon 5. Truly an indication of the importance of melody in music - none of us understand a word of what's being sung, but truly enjoy the songs. Here are a couple of selections from their CD 300 Lésions. You can find their debut album on Amazon here.

By the way, I have no idea how accurate this is, but the song title Dans Ma Chair was translated by Google Translator as "In The Flesh" Someone with a better understanding of French, please correct me if this is completely off base.

Meanwhile, enjoy "Contact" and "In The Flesh"!

1. Kyo - Contact (3.34 MB; 128 kbps MP3)
2. Kyo - Dans Ma Chair (3.09 MB; 128kbps MP3)