Fifth Plectrum Podcast - World music by Jesse Cook

I only recently discovered this musician actually, and it was such a pleasant surprise because first of all I would have never expected this style of music from a Canadian musician and secondly because it is of such a high standard. I do believe in fact that Jesse can do with some more publicity!
Well Jesse Cook's music is predominantly Spanish. [Wikipedia describes his music as New Flamenco but I beg to disagree and call it World Music], most of the time sounding much like The Gypsy Kings (sometimes too much so in fact) - with a difference though: he includes Arabic and Indian sounds in some of his tracks. This is what makes his music so intriguing to me. Its amazing how these three cultures (Indian, Arabic and Spanish) blend so well together even though they are so different! I can imagine Arabic and Spanish together because Spain was ruled for a long time by North African Arabs (in fact Spanish music owes a lot to Arabic music) but how Indian music blends in is not that obvious.

Podcast description:

TRACK 1. Nomad - From Nomad (2003). This track starts off with an eery sound then evolving into a more Spanish sound and using the kind of percussions one usually hears in Spanish or Lating music but then, near the middle of it, starts introducing the Djembe, the traditional North African (Arabic) drums. In fact there are two drum solos in this track using the Djembe.

TRACK 2. Incantation - From Free Fall (2000). Here is a nice blend of Spanish and Indian sounds. Notice the droning sound of the Indian Sitar throught the track and the Tablas, the typical Indian percussions (they look like bongoes but they are nothing near in sound). A strange and sad sounding wind instrument is also used for a long part of the song but I have no idea what instrument it is - but it sounds Indian too. Simply enchanting.

TRACK 3. Breeze from Sainte Maries - From Montreal (Live) (2004). No I did not make a spelling mistake when writing "Sainte" instead of "Saint" - that's how the track's name is written - maybe its in French?!! Anyway, in this track one can see why I said that Jessy's music sometimes sounds a lot like Gypsy Kings. It's here that maybe Jesse lacks originality but the track is still very pleasant. It is a lively track and the crowd's cheering that's audible at the beginning helps the listener to appreciate more the great atmosphere of the concert.

Happy listening.

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