India - America - Poland - Spain - Colombia

Here's an unusually international post.

Here I am, an American of Indian origin listening to the radio in Poland and finding myself really enjoying a song that turns out to be by a Colombian musician.

So, this song comes on the radio and I ask my hosts in Poland who this is and they say it is a popular song by Fuanes. I assumed it was a Polish artist fusing some Spanish melody with his singing. After failing to communicate with the salesperson at the CD store when I asked for the "popular Polish group Fuanes,", I was finally told that I was looking for the CD by a Spanish singer called Juanes.

I eventually walked out of the CD store with the CD. Then, Wikipedia tells me that Juanes is a very big star from Medellin, Colombia. He's a huge star with a record number of Latin Grammys. Not only that, I was embarrassed to find that the album from which this song was taken (Mi Sangre; 2004) has sold almost a million copies in the US!

Here's great Spanish music, coming to you from Poland (from a man of Indian origin who is an American citizen!)

You can find his complete discography on Amazon here. Mi Sangre is available here. Why he's not a fixture on American radio, I just don't know.

Visit the artist's site at www.juanes.net.

1. Juanes - La camisa negra (MP3 Removed by IFPI)

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)

Getting Back In The Saddle

As I mentioned in my "other blog," I finally fell off the wagon and missed an entire week of posts. I was out of town almost all of last week and was also out for half the previous week. As a result, I've been struggling to catch up and the blog posting fell off my list of priorities. So, I'm going to try hard to get back in line, straighten the wagon, hop back on the saddle, and try and relearn how not to mix metaphors.

On to business.

This weekend, the touring Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar was in town. Of course, I couldn't miss it. It featured Ted Neeley as Jesus (yes, he's been playing the role for 35 years now) and Corey Glover (of Living Color) as Judas. While Ted's voice was surprisingly strong for his age (he nailed the screaming tones of Gethsemane!). The rest of the production was okay. It wasn't bad, but nothing spectacular. I have always wanted to play Pilate in a stage production of this musical and I thought the Pilate in this production resorted to screaming too much instead of singing.

To celebrate my return to the blog and my weekend of Jesus Christ Superstar, here are two selections from "international" versions of the production from my collection. The first one is from the Japanese production. The Japanese production has a terrible Judas. He screams dischordantly through many of the numbers. Still, I selected Everything's Alright from the Japanese cast recording because it provides a reasonable sampling of the voices of Jesus (Takeshi Kaga), Judas (Minoru Terada), and Mary Magdalene (Hideko Kuno). The sound seems a little more synthesizer-tinged than the original. It appears that this CD is available via an Amazon seller at a very high price here.

The second selection is from the Spanish cast recording from Madrid. What I love about these different versions is how the local musical flavor influences the arrangement. The Spanish version has a stronger chorus of acoustic guitars than the original. Here's an extra energetic and rock version of Simon Zealotes. Note the great use of synthesizers on this song. I also include I Don't Know How To Love Him sung by Angela Carrasco as Mary Magdalene. The Spanish version is also available for a ridiculous price on Amazon here.

1. Everything's Alright - Jesus Christ Superstar Japanese Cast (3.7 MB; 128 kbps MP3)
2. Simon Zealotes - Jesus Christ Superstar Spanish Cast (3.35 MB; 128 kbps MP3)
3. Es Mas Que Amor (I Don't Know How To Love Him) - Jesus Christ Superstar Spanish Cast (3.78 MB; 128 kbps MP3)