It's Weird How My Music Moods Change...

Earlier this week I was listening to a lot of African musicians... Angelique Kidjo's new album (which is not as good as Ojaya! but still has a couple of gems on it like Sedjedo and her remake of Ravel's Bolero which she calls Lonlon), Fela & Femi Kuti, Seun Kuti (who's performing at S.O.B.'s soon!) ... etc. etc.

The bouncy, fluid rhythms and vowels have been a really good match for how I've been feeling inside ... go, go, go ... tons of good stuff going on - stay happy, no worries, just keep bouncing and moving and everything stays light... keep pushing darkness away... i'm imagining myself bopping down little fears and concerns like that carnival game where you mallet the groundhogs back into the underworld. Just keep popping them underground, and they don't exist. I love all this music... but the truth is, at some point, I have to slow down. Come face to face with my groundhogs and listen to what they have to say about cold, wintry spells.

So I've switched my Rhapsody to start listening to singer-songwriters -- some "blue-eyed soul" (for the record, I hate that term ... ) And it's weird -- in a different mood, I might find Jonah Smith, and much more so, Dave Barnes - too cheesy. In fact the first time I listened to Dave Barnes I thought he was cheesy and saccharine. But right now, this music feels more real. More aligned with my breathing. More in tune with how I feel inside. Positive, yes, but a little vulnerable. Still grooving and nodding my head, but a little more slowly - a little more self-consciously. A good thing? Ask me tomorrow. I might be back to blasting Clipse.

See BrooklynRocks for a link to listen to My Morning Scene by Jonah Smith

Link to Itunes to hear a sample of Angelique Kidjo (feat. Ziggy Marley) on Sedjedo

Seun Kuti's myspace