Sometime ago, my younger brother gave me a copy of Sarah Chang‘s Debut album. The album has, among others, Sarasate‘s Carmen Fantasy, from Bizet’s opera Carmen. I love the liveliness of Carmen the opera, but before Sarah Chang, I had never listened to Sarasate’s violin Fantasy. I instantly loved it when I listened to Sarah Chang’s rendition. I recently stumbled on the video on Youtube and I was surprised at how young she was when she did the album.

Sarah Chang was born in 1980 in Pennsylvania, the USA, of Korean descent. Her father is a violinist and her mother a composer. She started learning the violin pretty early, and auditioned for Juilliard at the age of 6. Her debut album, Debut, was released in 1991. I jave just seen her recording, along with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on iTunes and I am thinking of buying it. Whoever gets the chance should check her out, at least the Youtube video; I promise, you will simply love her.

I had seen Rehab a couple of times but I didn’t really know much about Amy Winehouse until I saw a news piece on her on CNN. I don’t think I ever really paid much attention to her until then. I liked the sound of her voice, and her style. It was the same thing I liked about Joss Stone, at least her first album. (I haven’t had time to really listen to the other albums so I can’t really say much about them.) I have visited Amy Winehouse’s website, and I have listened to snitches and snatches of her sound and what I heard sound like what I would really enjoy. But this post is not really about her music, it is about her self-destructing streak.

She is 23, and she is on heroin, cocain and a host of other drugs, and I find myself wondering why this is happening to her. Somehow, it just sounds really sad. She is so out of control that her family is begging her fans not to buy her album till she cleans herself up. Maybe if I didn’t find her music as nice as I did I would simply write her in the Britney Spears group and forget about her….

I was missing Nigeria today so I spent some time on Youtube…. One thing led to many others… and ended up with this. I really like the video. Enjoy.

Just stumbled on this video of Miles Davis and John Coltrane doing So What. It was recorded in 1959. Check it out here

I decided to post Nneka’s The Uncomfortable Truth here…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHoQFWF3bEg]

One of my colleagues told me today that she had a CD for me. About an hour ago she walked into my office with a copy of Nneka’s Victim of Truth. I have since been listening to the CD, and I am finding the music really charming. I have googled her,found her website and her Myspace page. Please guys, check her out.

Nneka was born in Warri in 1981 and she now lives in Germany. She says that Fela, Mos Def, Bob Marley and Lauryn Hill are her musical role models. One can hear the Lauryn Hill influence in her music. I still think she reminds me of someone I can’t really place right now… if you guys can think of someone please leave the name in a comment. You can also check some videos on youtube and on her Myspace page I am really looking forward to more good things from her.

Now, I am really sure that I am on a music roll…. Dave Lucas just called my attention to South Africa’s Freshlyground. Their music is a beatiful mixture of African pop, folk, Jazz…. Actually, you need to sample their music to see the fields they traverse. The ease with which they move between a smooth sounding pop, a bluesy jazz and a deep and involed soulful sound is sure going to make sure they remain popular with music lovers…. Here is their website, and here is Dave Lucas’ post on them. Thanks Dave.

Jeremy just called my attention to Tinariwen. They are a Touareg band who are said to be the first Touareg band to play electric guitars. You can read about them on Wikipedia, check their website, or their Myspace page. Thanks Jeremy.

Ok Ishtar, I have got you some. Click here for some Touareg music. And here is a German website with information about Niger. Click on the audi tab and you will get some mp3 files of Nigerien music. I have been listening to the music and I like it… hope you do too.

Now that I am in the music train why don’t I do another post on music?

Ishtar asked if I listen to Nigerien music. The answer, sadly, is no. I am making up for it by blogging about someone from Mali. Actually, I am currently listening to his album ‘Niafunké’ on my computer. You can read more about him here and here. I ‘discovered’ him some three years ago… but then he died last year in March, before I could see him perform. A taste of his music on Youtube.