May 2, 2007
iTunes Random 10
I don't have time for a full post today, so instead I give you this edition of the iTunes Random 10. I was thinking about restricting it to music in Portuguese only, but I decided not to, so I was amused when the first track was a fado anyway.
1. "Que Fazes Aí Lisboa" sung by Cristina Branco (Portugeuse fado)
2. "Tercio De Vara" played by Manolo Sanlúcar (flamenco)
3. "Tu Scende Della Stella/Tarantella Di Giovani Lo Zampognaro" played by Sean Folsom (Southern Italian bagpipes - folk tune)
4. "Ritmo De Negros" sung by Pepe Vasquez (Peru)
5. "Su Cojoviu Novu (Ballu Lestru)" sung by Tenores Di Bitti - Mialinu (Sardegnian polyphony)
6. "L'invitation Au Départ" by jacques lejeune (electronic classical music from IRCAM)
7. "Recondita Armonia (Tosca)" by Puccini, sung by Mario Lanza (Italian operatic)
8. "Ku'u Pua Mikinolia" sung by Raiatea Helm (Hawaii)
9. "Akita Sugagaki" performed by Kohachiro Miyata (Japanese shakuhachi)
10. "Before You Go" sung by the late, great Buck Owens (the greatest music ever made: Californian Country! Viva la Oildale!)
If you want to play, just hit "random" on your mp3 player of choice and report on your blog the first ten. No cheating. If Babs Strsnd comes up, you gotta list it.
Perhaps later I will do a themed one, where I make it pick from a certain playlist.
Posted by erik at May 2, 2007 10:05 AMIf Babs comes up, abandon all hope.
Mario Lanza, the pride of South Philly (my Grandad lived near "Mario" when they were kids, though I doubt they knew each other) was a fine singer and should be listened to more.
Posted by: John Salmnon at May 4, 2007 8:21 AMMario Lanza was a fantastic singer, but you must realize that you are listening to an American variant on Italian popular music: in fact, one of the only forms of European popular music to survive the invasion of African forms and rhythms (brass band music and Mexican norteno are two others that come readily to mind). Mario Lanza was a great in a tradition that is now known mostly from Andrea Bocelli.
What causes opera buffs to listen with the wrong ears is the fact that the repertoires overlap (for instance, in the track I posted, from The Great Caruso). In the Italian municipal brass band music, another pop tradition that survives largely without African influence, although jazz does exert some influence on some of the bands, the operatic repertoire frequently pops up, too.
Posted by: Erik Keilholtz at May 2, 2007 2:47 PMYou have Mario Lanza instead of a real singer? For shame! (though he did inspire Jose Carreras to train for opera.)
My dad's favorite tenor seems to be Jussi Björling, though he did make us suffer through some cornball Lanza films back when I was little.
Posted by: John Herreid at May 2, 2007 2:32 PM