THROWBACK THURSDAY: All Hail the Andean Princess of Exotica!

So I sat down at my laptop Tuesday morning to Google the meaning of life and I noticed up by the Google logo this picture of a woman in colorful ethnic garb surrounded by musical notes.

I didn't recognize the lady and I couldn't figure out what ethnicity her costume represented, So I couldn't resist clicking on her picture.

And I'm glad I did. I soon learned that this was a South American singer with an amazing

voice, Yma Sumac.

 She was born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri Del Castillo in the mountains of Peru on Sept. 13, 1922. According to her official website she "is the only singer known to possess close to a staggering 5 octave voice. While less than a handful of singers have managed to capture Sumac's high notes, none have managed to acquire those notes including Sumac's lowest registers. More amazing, is that Yma Sumac had no formal training! It has been said she is unable to read musical notes!"

Apparently five octaves really draws out the exclamation points!

More from her bio:

Around the age of 9 she could often be seen high atop a mountain in the High Andes singing ancient Peruvian folkloric songs, to a group of rocks, which she pretended was her audience. Entranced by the beautiful birds that sang nearby, she began to imitate them, by incorporating their high pitched sounds into her"repertoire."

At the age of 13 she began appearing on Argentine radio, which led to a recording career. She and her husband, conductor Moises Vivanco, moved to New York. With her group  Inca Taqui Trio she performed on the Arthur Godfrey's television show. According to the Allmusic Guide, the trio "became a fixture on the Borscht Belt circuit and the Catskills."

Sumac was discovered by a talent scout from Capitol Records. In 1950 Yma recorded the album Voice of the Xtabay, considered to be a classic in the sound that later would be known as exotic.

So what did she sound like? Glad you asked.

Here's a song she did in the 1954  Charlton Heston movie called The Secret of the Incas.

 

She did a mambo album in 1954. Here's a song from that called "Five Bottles Mambo."


Here she performs a song called "Midnight in Moscow" in a 1960 concert in Russia.



This is one from her "psychedelic" album Miracles (1972), which she recorded with bandleader Les Baxter.



She appeared on Late Night with David Letterman in 1987.


Sumac lived until 2008. She died in Los Angeles at the age of 86.

WACKY WEDNESDAY: An International Salute to Hank Williams

Are you getting ready for Hank's birthday?

Yes, there are only three shopping days before what would have been Hank Williams' 93rd birthday. In a world that hadn't gone insane, this would be a national holiday.

Hank's songs are beloved by all true Americans. But even though we claim him as our own, love for Hank Williams does not stop at our borders. Truly, he belongs to the world as the following videos will attest.

Happy birthday Hank!

Juáner Dominguez takes us to the bayou country ... of Spain



Yes, they have Hank in Thailand. Apparently they also have chipmunks. Here's a band called Pairote.



Some Swedish hillbilly sounds on a much-loved Hank song by The Long Gone Smiles Band



In Brazil, The Fabulous Bandits see the Light!



Sabah Habas Mustapha, aka Colin Bass, is an Englishman who was in a wonderful faux Balkan group 3 Mustaphas 3, then in the '90s recorded several albums in Indonesia. Here's his Dangdut cover of "Lost Highway" (written by Leon Payne but made famous by Hank.)



Brace yourself, Bridget, here's a Tuvan band called Ya-Kha doing "Ramblin' Man."



And back to "Jambalya" with a Jakartan hip-hop take on Hank's faux Cajun classic.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016 
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org


Here's the playlist

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres 

Low Life Baby by DD Owen

The Wolf by The Bloodhounds

Bollywood Woman by The Above

Bleed Me by The Upper Crust

White Glove Service by The Grannies
Froggy by The A-Bones
Dogjaw (Do Some Things You Say) by James Leg

What Happens When You Turn the Devil Down by The Mystery Lights

Atom Spies by The Fleshtones

Mystic Eyes by Them

Rats in the Gas Tank by Ex-Cult

Glendale Junkyard by GØGGS

Trouble of the World by Dex Romweber

Plastic Plant by Thee Oh Sees

Unease and Deviance by Johnny Dowd

When Death Deals It's Mortal Blow by Meet Your Death

Meanwhile, Back in the Jungle by Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers

She Ain't No Child No More by Sharon Jones 

Trouble in the Land by Charles Bradley

Bitch I Love You by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

All the Way Wrong by Wiley & The Checkmates 

What Have You Done by Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens

Baaad News by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
Burn it Down by Charles Walker & The Dynamites
I'm a Millionaire by Lee Fields

I'm No Good by Amy Winehouse
Jon E.'s Mood by Jon E. Edwards

Ain't a Sin by Charles Bradley

Lying Lying Lying Woman by Swamp Dogg

This Land is Your Land by Sharon Jones

Moonbeam by King Richard & The Knights


CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, Sept. 9, 2016
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
I Gotta Drive by Dale Watson

Slingin' Rhythm by Wayne Hancock

I'm a Nut by Leroy Pullens

Wildwood Flower by Mike Ness

Straight Tears, No Chaser by Paul Burch

Lonesome Road Blues by Martha Fields

Lord, Mr. Ford by Jerry Reed

Blue Collar Dollar by Kevin Gordon

Drinking Problem by Audrey Auld 

Sweet Virginia by The Rolling Stones

The Color of a Cloudy Day by Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires

Corn Money by The Defibulators

One More Night Alone by Dan Whitaker & The Sidebenders

Granny's Got the Baby ('Cause Mama's Doin' Time) by Trailer Radio

Loners for Life by Hank 3 

Everybody's Had the Blues by Merle Haggard

Poison by The Waco Brothers

Payphone by Eric Hisaw 

Where Do You Roam by Dex Romweber

I'm Gonna Dress in Black by Eilen Jewell

Cheap Whiskey by Patty Loveless

Europe by Lydia Loveless
What Do I Care by Eddie Spaghetti

Days of '49 by Bob Dylan

Green Willow Valley by The Handsome Family

Hello Stranger by Carolina Chocolate Drops

Tennessee Blues by Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur

Lord I Need Somebody Bad Tonight by Rhonda Vincent

Takin' Names by Josh White

Black Jack David by Loretta Lynn
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets


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Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: The Struggles and Triumps of Miss Sharon Jones

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 

Sept. 9, 2016

Even before soul singer Sharon Jones’ triumph over cancer, her story was one of the most inspiring tales in modern popular music. First, it’s the story of talent and determination overcoming show-biz shallowness. When she auditioned for Sony Records back in the 1980s, some cretinous executive rejected her, telling the young singer she was too black, too fat, too short, and too old. 

That was a setback for certain. She had to work at a series of day jobs — including as a corrections officer at Rikers Island — before she began her recording career. Jones was in her forties when she released her first album, in 2002, on the musician-owned Daptone Records. The fact that she built a respectable career with millions of fans and critically acclaimed work — without the help of a major record label or commercial radio — is heartening in itself.

So it’s only logical that Jones’ battle against cancer would also be an inspirational story — and that’s the main focus of Barbara Kopple’s documentary Miss Sharon Jones!

In 2013, Jones was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This was before the release of her album Give the People What They Want. After a brief montage of music clips and biographical narrative, one of the first scenes of the documentary shows Jones in a barber shop getting her head shaved. After that, she tries on various wigs — one, she jokes, makes her look like Tina Turner, another like Oprah. But that’s about the last time we see her in a wig. During her chemo treatments, she prefers to be defiantly bald.

Not surprisingly, this movie is not always pleasant. We see Jones at her highs — like when she finds out she’s booked for an appearance on Ellen, one of her favorite TV talk shows. And we see her lows, such as the scene where she lashes out at her band, the Dap-Kings, because their Thanksgiving dinner was canceled. 

One of the most moving scenes is an interview in which Jones, full of shame, talks about a low point when she wrongfully accused her loyal, longtime manager Alex Kadvan of being more worried about the money the band was losing than about her health.

But the truth is that Jones’ cancer was a huge financial strain on the Dap-Kings and others who work with her — all of whom depend on performing with Jones to make a living. For starters, the band’s tour was canceled the summer she was diagnosed. Dap-King guitarist Binky Griptite tells how the news of Jones’ condition came right after he and his wife decided to split. All at once he realized he was “divorced, laid off, and my friend had cancer.” And bassist Gabe Roth tells how a couple of banks balked at refinancing his home after they read about Jones’ illness.

After viewing Miss Sharon Jones! the first time, my initial criticism was that Kopple spends too much time in Jones’ chemo clinics and not enough time at concert halls. My knee-jerk reaction as a fan of her music was that I’d much rather watch two hours of Jones and her band doing what they do best, proving that good old-fashioned funk and soul never die, no matter what the musical industrial complex is trying to sell you at the moment.

But watching the documentary a second time softened that reaction somewhat. While I’d still like to have more music in the film, I realized that seeing the energetic, confident Jones at these moments of weakness, exhaustion, and frustration is important in understanding the singer.

Kopple intersperses bits of Jones’ biography into the film. We hear Roth talk about how back in the ’90s, he and Jones themselves remodeled the building that would become Daptone Records, even doing the electrical wiring themselves. 

The film takes us to North Augusta, South Carolina, where Jones was raised, along with nearby Augusta, Georgia, where Jones tours a museum dedicated to another famous musician from the area, James Brown. And Jones talks about growing up in the South during segregation, remembering how a cruel shopkeeper taught a parrot to say racist slurs anytime a black child entered the store.

And there are powerful musical moments in this film. At one point, Kopple literally takes us to church. Jones sings a mighty version of the old hymn “His Eye is on the Sparrow” (best known for versions by Ethel Waters and Mahalia Jackson). Jones is winded by the end of the song, but then again, it also has a breathtaking effect for those of us who are listening. Unfortunately, this song is not on the soundtrack album for the movie.

We see Jones backstage at New York’s Beacon Theatre, where she kicked off her comeback tour in February 2014 —a tour that included a sold-out show at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe. 

As guitarist Griptite goes through his soul-show spiel announcing her entrance, we see Jones’ stage fright poignantly illustrated by her hand shaking uncontrollably as she grips a paper cup. But only seconds later, she walks onstage and transforms into the superheroine her fans know best, visibly soaking up the applause, the cheers, and the love.

Spoiler alert: Miss Sharon Jones! has a happy ending, in which Jones is cancer-free and the Dap-Kings are again going strong. However, after the film was made, the cancer returned. Jones had to resume chemo treatments last year. Early last month, she was forced to cancel a European tour. 

“Sharon is doing well, but must undergo a medical procedure related to her cancer and the recovery time will conflict with these European dates,” her website says. However, it also says that an American tour scheduled to begin this month will go on.

Miss Sharon Jones! opens Friday, Sept. 9, at The Screen on the campus of Santa Fe University of Art and Design, 1600 St. Michael’s Drive.

Video time!

Here's a song from Give The People What They Want called "Retreat!"



Here's Sharon at South by Southwest in 2010.



And here is the official Trailer for Miss Sharon Jones!