postcard from home

As I was playing with my new NPR app the other day, I listened to a couple podcasts from The World series and caught a story about Cesaria Evora's new album.  I love many of her songs, and was not surprised in the least that I really enjoyed the snippets I heard from her new album, "Nha Sentimento." Having just returned from Portugal a few months ago, the Portuguese language has now taken new meaning for me and I am able to enjoy Cesaria's music on a whole new level now.

I really enjoyed listening to Sentimento, and absolutely love the Arabic influence from her collaboration on this track with Egyptian musicians. I found out from the podcast that she had to go open heart surgery recently, and so querida Cesaria, esperamos ver-te de novo! Get well soon.

My friend Dan gchatted me the other day with an awesome new find.  I don't know what else to say except that I love everything about this song and how it all comes together - the beat, the lead singer Sarah's beautiful voice voice, the guitar, the words, the melody. It's perfection. 

I don't know much about the band, except that they are relatively new to the scene and from Saratoga Springs, NY.  Matthew Loiacano, describes Phantogram's sound as "street beat, psych pop", which I actually find to be a very fitting description. Found that info via my trusty wikipedia source :)

They're playing a few shows in Europe currently, and I'm definitely keeping tabs on them to see if they come around these parts to play a show some time soon. Come to DC Phantogram!

So here it is, When I'm small, by Phantogram!

I just came across this cover.  I hadn't heard of Lissie before but I absolutely love her voice & style... I love the original, but this one is just as good. I've also included an original of hers, In Sleep.  What's great is that these are both live! Very talented..

Friday's playlist! Makes me wanna get up and sing, dance & let loose.  I defer credit for reminding me of this great song to someone who shall remain nameless :)
 

I was an early Onerepublic fan, and immediately fell in love with their first hit song Apologize.  As a cellist, I loved the fact that this band has a cellist as a permanent member and in the song Apologize, the cello is front and center in this piece.   I also love the melodies Onerepublic comes up with, especially the interplay between piano and cello. 

Since I've just recently returned to the US after about a year and a half away, I haven't been as intimately linked to Billboard charts and I happened to miss Onerepublic's latest hit All the right moves.  But since I have also recently been reunited with my cello, it seemed like an appropriate song to post.  The cello part in this song is really beautiful, especially around the 2 minute mark. And the solo at around 3:50.. And the fact that the song ENDS with the cello! Ok, enough of my overhyped cello shout out. Here's the song...

Yesterday as I was driving home I happened to catch an amazing tribute to Jackie Wilson on NPR.  The program is part of their 50 Great Voices program and I'm looking forward to catching more of this series.  I literally caught the program from the first line, which is amazing because all too often I'll catch an amazing radio program or documentary right in the middle. 

I'll be honest.  I had no clue who Jackie Wilson was before listening to this, but the opening line of the program caught my attention immediately.

"You could, if you were so inclined, sort the top pop singers into two groups. There's the fairly small club of singers who consistently produce hits. And then there's an even smaller elite, the singers that the other singers look up to. Jackie Wilson was one of those: a singer's singer."

ften I'll catch an amazing radio program or documentary right in the middle.  After listening to a few of his songs, I can definitely see how he has influenced so many singers that came after him, including Michael Jackson. He has an electric stage presence and a feel good voice.  And if you see some of these videos below, you can definitely see some Jackie Wilson in Michael Jackson's dancing.