kalatva.


Beirut

Published March 1st, 2008 by karuna in , , , | 1 Comment »

Beirut is a band led by Zach Condon, a very talented young fellow who plays the ukelele. Beirut’s melodies are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever heard. It’s been very difficult to decide on a song to sample here, because there are so many amazing choices. Elephant Gun is a beautifully melodic and melancholy tune. It starts with a solo ukulele tune, and then launches into the vocals and an accordion accompaniment, which is later joined by some brass. Enjoy!

Elephant Gun

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The music video for this song is on YouTube. It’s a fairly imaginative and peculiar video, with interesting characters and costumes, so you can check that out as well here:

Jazz Manouche

Published February 27th, 2008 by karuna in , | Comment »

I found a fantastic two-disc album of Django Reinhardt covers by some of his greatest successors. It’s called Jazz Manouche, and it features such artists as Bireli Lagrene, John Jorgensen, The Rosenberg Trio, and many more. Bireli Lagrene happens to be one of my favourites, so here’s his cover of one of Django’s great songs.

Blues Clair

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Dikanda

Published February 27th, 2008 by karuna in , | 3 Comments »

Dikanda is a Polish folk band.  They are inspired by traditional Eastern European folk songs, but unlike many old folk bands, they have a really full band of instruments (accordion, violin, guitar, bass, drums, and vocals) which makes the arrangements really amazing.  These are two of my favourite songs of theirs:

Hosadyna

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Ketrin Ketrin

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