Enigma...a mysterious 'voyage' in time

Like a timeless journey around the globe that make you feel all kinds of emotions is how Enigma can be described.
Inspired in new age music, gregorian chants, electronic innovations and mysterious voices and sounds the romanian producer and composer Michael Cretu created this musical project almost 30 years ago.
Everything began by the end of the 80's when Cretu started to produce some records for his wife Sandra Lauer, who was a very talented and popular singer.
After that by the beginning of the 90's he started to work as some solo production and he release his first creation MCMXC a.D., album that became massive through Europe specially with the release of the song Sadeness Part 1.
This album actually sold around 12 million units worldwide and became gold and platinum album in 25 countries.
In 1993, The Cross of changes was released and included a couple of special compositions for the movie Silver: Carly's song and Carly's loneliness.
In his following two albums, Cretu used a lot of chorus and old classical compositions to create most of the songs. He also decided to used the voice of famous singers, like the vocalist of the british band Olive.
In 2003 Cretu decided to change his musical creations and got more involved into the techno - pop - electronic music scene and sounds. Therefore, he released the album Voyageur, in which the first single, Voyageur reflected this new 'wave'.
His latest album, the seventh, was released in 2008 and it was a return to his basics with the use of old classical songs and mysterious sounds and a combination of techno - electronic sounds.
Seven Lives, Many faces was the name of this album which has been considered by many as a great return to Cretu's roots and creativity.
The most outstanding of Michael Cretu's creations is not only the creativity and originality but the magic that each composition has and the journey each make you feel.

* Source: www.enigma.de

Have a listen to some of my favourites songs from Enigma...

1) Sadeness Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F9DxYhqmKw

2) TNT for the brain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD6sMFyUtNk&feature=related

3) Voyageur
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTekA4vGLVU&feature=relate

4) Mea Culpa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itkzaT9yk9Y

5) Turn around
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtLkVbUq1pM

And the winner is...

Rage against the machine became this year's UK Christmas number one after beaten X Factor winner Joe McElderry to get to the top of the charts.
This Christmas was absolutely unexpected for the UK charts: for the first time the single of the X-Factor winner doesn't reach the number one.
After the past 4 years the name of the X-Factor winners was always in the top of the charts and their brand new songs became the number one in Christmas.
Alexandra Burke made it with 'Hallelujah' in 2008, Leon Jackson reached the top in 2007 with 'When you believe', Leona Lewis captivated the nation with 'A moment like this' in 2006 and finally the heart-throb Shayne Ward became the number one in 2005 with 'That's my goal'.
But 2009 will always be a remarkable year when Joe McElderry didn't get to the top of the charts with the single 'The Climb' (originally released by Miley Cirus).
The reason?
A campaign in Facebook started by a british couple with the aim of preventing another X-Factor number one in Christmas and supporting the song 'Killing in the name' by Rage Against the Machine to became the number one.
And this effort was successful when yesterday around 18:45 the Chart Show in BBC Radio 1 announced unexpectedly that this band was the number one Christmas with the sold of 500,000 downloads during the week.
Since that moment a lot of controversy has been in the news about people dissapointed with this results and claiming that this Rage against the machine's song is not proper for this time of the year as it is all about burning crosses, unholiness and rudeness.
Actually this song was released 17 years ago by this american band and it wasn't a massive success at all.
However, music experts predict that next sunday Joe McElderry will become the number one and might be the number one for New Year's Eve.

No Christmas in the UK Charts
This year seems to be quite different from, at least, last year. Here is the picture:
Last year during december and even january the UK charts were so full with classic Christmas songs and anthems, there was no much space for current singles, all you could see in the top 40 was Mariah Carey, Pogues, Wham, Chris Rea and some others, but was all about Christmas songs.
This year, so far, just a few Christmas songs have reached the chart, but when I say a few I really meant it: basically 4 or 5 songs at the most, while last year were like 10 or 12 songs.
And I reckon the same situation was in past years: in the Christmas period was a must to have the charts full by this kind of songs.
But, what is happening this year?
I guess, no one knows.

Illegal downloading remains high

Still a lot of internet users keep downloading music without paying a pence for it.
Even though music industry and online platforms have been investing a lot of money and efforts to reduce the illegal downloading of music, the reality reflects a dissatisfy true.
According to a survey by The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) reveal that one in three internet users are using illegal sites to get their music.
When the 3,000 people that took part in the survey were asked about their future plans in the illegal downloading of music most of them agreed that in the coming six months they will intent to increase their illegal activities.
One of the executives of BPI said he is dissapointed that the number of people downloading illegal material remains high despite the efforts and publicity by the music industry.
Nowadays there are 35 legal digital music services in the United Kingdom.
However, the BPI registered a boost in the selling of UK singles specially in this year when the figures revealed more than 117 million sold.
Despite this the reality is not good: there are more than a billion illegal downloads every year in the UK.

The use of old songs to create dance music

Old songs and music, mainly from 70's and 80's, has become essential for current dj's.
The trend seems to be clear: dj's are using songs from these eras to create the latest electronic anthems of the night.
But this tendency started around 10 years ago or even in the mid 90's when popular dj's from the dance scene began to used sounds and make covers inspired in old former number ones.
Songs from the BeeGees like You should be dancing and Stayin' alive became a new inspiration for the new songs by N-trance and Blockbuster.
During the 90's Dj's like Armand Van Helden, Phats and Small, Yomanda, Bamboo and Stretch n Vern used 70's songs and typical sounds -melodies- from this era to create such songs as You don't know me, Turn Around and I'm alive.
By the beginning of 2000 and to date, the trend has kept growing very much that almost every dance tune has that influence of the music from the 70's and 80's.
Indeed, this massive influence, helped some dj's to reach the top spot of the national UK charts...Call on me by Eric Prydz, Lola's theme by The Shapeshifters, Out of Touch by Uniting Nations and some others became the most played songs for weeks. Also, they became the anthems of the clubs.
Even though, every song has a new vibe they still keep this influence from old sounds, either from the disco scene or the post-disco scene.
It is important to mention that sometimes the Dj just decide to use part of a song or the basic melody of it, meanwhile some others decided to make a full cover of the song and release a new version.
No matter what the case is, old songs and rhythm have become a massive influence for current dj's.

Take a look at some of the best new songs inspired by the oldies...

1) Eric Prydz - Call on me (cover of the song 'Valerie' by Steve Winwood's released in 1982)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_fCqg92qks

2) N-trance - Stayin' alive by (cover of the song "Staying alive" by The BeeGees released in the 70's)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiKOif0UKRM

3) Yomanda - Synth & Strings (inspired in the song 'Dance yourself dizzy by Liquid Gold, released in 1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbLpibHT5zY

4) York - On the beach (OTB) (inspired by the song 'On the beach' by Chris Rea, released in 1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF9P5xcCzb4

5) Stretch n Vern - Im alive (inspired in the song 'Boogie Wonderland' by Earth, wind and fire, released in 1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNsbC5hopR8&feature=related

Soundtracks: the magic behind the screen

A film is not only created by images, sounds, a nice plot or attractive actors, there is something further: the music composed for it.
Usually this genre is called Soundtracks or Scores.
But there is an important difference to point out about both terms, in the first case generally refers to popular or commercial songs that are used in the film, all of them with lyrics.
In the second case, score means that a specific composer is in charge of creating the music for a film.
The special characteristic about this genre is that the music is mainly instrumental, although most composers like to include a voice performing the song or some chorus to make the tune powerful.
To create this music, composers rely in the use of a quite big variety of instruments, from the traditional piano, keyboards to the strings including violins and cello, trumpets and sometimes even synthesizers.
Even though, people sometimes are not aware of the magic this music, believe me, a film wouldn't be the same with this music, it simply couldn't stand on its own.
Scores create a special magic to the film as they add a lot of emotions and feelings to the particular film, construct an unique atmosphere and literally bring into life the movie.
I don't believe a film would be the same without this special musical composition as it would lacks of certain emotions that images and sounds many times can't give.
The list of composers can be endless as well as their nationalities and the kind of films they usually tend to work. Even though nowadays most composers are quite flexible as they can create music for a drama and romance or horror.
In my personal opinion and, indeed, my favourites are Rachel Portman, Philip Glass, James Newton Howard, Thomas Newman, Harry Gregson-Williams, Dario Marianelli and Patrick Doyle.
Each of them with a different and unique style but still with something in common: make the movies magical.

Here are some samples, enjoy them
1) Dead things by Philip Glass (from the movie The Hours)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vvyktncO9Q&feature=related

2) Kissing in the rain by Patrick Doyle (from the movie Great Expectations)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSEvISsgaAE

3) The Gravel Road by James Newtom Howard (from the movie The Village)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJEk824VIas

4) Dead already by Thomas Newman (from the movie American Beauty)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sWll2mqPD0

5) Main titles by Rachel Portman (from the movie Cider House Rules)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2H8p4uqCZ0

Passionate by nature

Elena Krovvidi life and her daily activities has been defined by a simple word: passion

A person’s life can be ruled by love, friendship or daily hard work but for Elena Krovvidi, passion is the reason to wake up every single day.
“It doesn’t make sense to live if you don’t have a passion, at least for one thing”, says Elena with a cheerful smile.
In her former job back in Russia, Elena involved this feeling by creating deep and intense documentaries about; for example, elderly care homes in different countries.
“I cried a lot when I interviewed all of this old people and saw the terrible conditions in where so many of them lived”, said the former Tv producer from Russian National Broadcaster.
As she speaks with a strong and confident voice, Elena explains how her career in journalism has become an obsession due to the passion she feels to speak with people.
“I chose journalism because I enjoy passionately listen to people’s stories”, expressed.
When it comes to express her ideas, Elena enjoys doing not only with confident statements but also her body language says even much more.
“I gesture a lot. Every idea I express has a different gesture and I can make a million of gestures a minute”, expressed Elena with a loud laugh and a fast move with her hands.
Travelling is Elena’s most favourite activities in her free time.
This passion has made Elena travelled to different countries all over the world including Italy, Germany, France, India, USA, Austria and Canada
And the journey can continue, Elena believes.
“If I had the opportunity to visit the world I would do it not only once but maybe twice”.

Enjoying her passion in London
Currently, Elena is doing a Master in Journalism in London at the University of Westminster.
Beside the passion she feel for this daily activity, Elena enjoys with passion being at the wide variety of parks this city offers.
“I feel passion about the parks and I love to get lost in them as it seems time stops when you enter a park”.
After Elena finishes her master’s degree she would like to specialize in writing for magazines about psychology, language and arts.
The most important thing is that people express any kind of passion their feel, no matter what kind but express it in any way possible, says Elena while she raises her hand impatiently expressing this idea.

Hooverphonic: Between nostalgia and a 'blue' deep state of mind

Music can make you feel a wide variety of moods, can turn you upside down, can make you vibrate, can twist your emotions, can change your state your mind and in many times can make you submerge deeply in a state called nostalgia.

And when it comes to this 'blue' emotion and beyond it, there is only one band able to create this perfect atmosphere filled with sounds and marvelous musical creations: Hooverphonic.

The band emerged in 1996 from Belgium with a massive influence from the trip-hop movement that already started in Bristol, UK with artists like Portishead and Massive Attack.

However, this belgian act -conformed by Alex Callier, Raymond Geerts and Geike Arnaert- started to mix up the main elements of this musical scene with their own 'musical flavor'.

The journey began with 2 Tricky that became popular as it was part of the soundtrack of an european film of that time.

Their first album A new stereophonic sound spectacular was mainly created with a wide and impressive variety of sounds and effects with the use of synthesizers...Inhaler, Plus profond and Sarangi speak themselves about this.

Two years later, a new album was born, new songs like Battersea, Club Monterpulciano and Magenta keep the same 'blue' and atmospheric state of music, while Eden -originally released by Sarah Brightman- made the band more popular with a more commercial sound.

Everything changed in 2000 when the belgian act released the song Mad about you as this tune became quite popular all over the world and was even included as part of the soundtracks and tv shows. This song showed off the magnificent voice of Geike, the female leader voice of Hooverphonic.

Also, a new character was introduced in this album: Jackie Cane, who seemed to be a mysterious girl with a complex behavior and a weird personality.

Their next album had actually as a massive inspiration in this peculiar person, the name: Hooverphonic presents Jackie Cane.

This new 'baby' combined a wider and different variety of songs, from classic trip-hop creations like One and Opium to a bit rock/pop with Sometimes and The world is mine.

And Jackie Cane fell into a deep and lost stage in the song: Jackie's delirium, a tune that includes music instruments from the Middle East and Africa.

In 2003, Hooverphonic released an album recorded previously in one of their european tours. This included their most important songs from the past 7 years and just a new single: The last thing I need is you.

This album is full with the sounds of strings and cords to stressed an even depressive and blue state of music.

Is it possible to record two versions of the same song in the same album? Hooverphonic believed it and released the bittersweet doubled album: No more sweet music.

This new musical trip includes 11 different songs recorded and presented in two quite different perspectives.

While We all float can remind you of a dessert in Africa, No more sweet music can take you back to the stage of an old bar in the 1950's and Heartbeat can submerge you in a futuristic spaceship of music.

A year later, in 2006, the band celebrated their first decade by releasing a collection of their best 20 singles of their past six albums.

This special album contains also a DVD with their videos and one of their concerts in Belgium.

A mysterious and 'foggy' album was born a year later with the name The President of the LSD Golf Club, in which the influence of trip-hop was the essence of the album.

The singles Circles and Gentle storm were released by the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008.

However, the life of the band was suddenly interrupted by the unexpected announcement of Geike who decided to continued her music career as a solo artist.

Therefore, the band had to split and began the search of a new voice.

The 'haunting' is still on process and, hopefully, next year a new stage and maybe a new era of Hooverphonic will begin.

Despite this, their nine albums and their more than 100 records remain as one of the most original treasure that the musical scene in the world have ever presented: Hooverphonic...between nostalgia and a blue deep state of mind.

If you are interested you can login in their official website to find out more about them and listen to their marvelous creations...

www.hooverphonic.com

Creativity + Combination + Time = worthy compositions

Create a dance tune can be not as easy as you might think

For some Dj's compose a song can be a bit difficult as it may require creativity, time, extravagant combinations and a lot of research...but at the end everything is worthy.
During the past decade, fearless dj's such as Sash!, LMC, Mousse T and Jakatta decided to experiment and take their chances in creating the latest dance tunes with a big inspiration and originality.
In all of these cases, they decided to re-use old songs and mix them with some of their original samples. But it took sometime to release the last version as some of them decided to use the lyrics of one song and the music from other or get inspiration in the score of a movie.
The british Dj Joey Negro has worked during the past decade in various solo projects, each with a different name and characteristics.
One of them was the acclaimed Jakatta, which became famous, mainly, from 2001 to 2004 releasing singles as So Lonely, My vision and American Dream.
This last composition, released by the end of 2001, was definitely the most acclaimed and popular as it is based in two of the main themes from the movie American Beauty.
The result of this mix and chop is the following song: American Dream...


Dance tunes like La Primavera, Adelante and Ecuador were a massive success across Europe and specially in the UK.
The creator: the german producer Sash!, who decided to create an especial edition of the former number 2 Encore une fois, released in 1997.
This version was released last year as a compilation of Sash!'s greatest hits became available last year in stores. But even though it may sound quite catchy, the process to create was quite exhausting.
To create this new version Sash! took as an inspiration the song Insomnia from Faithless and the lyrics of the song Raindrops by the dj Stunt.
The result was quite original and successful as it reached the UK top ten by the beginning of last year. Enjoy the song

The german-turkish dj, Mousse T became massive in 1998 with the release of his first single Horny and later in 2004 with the song Is it cos I'm cool?
But in 2006, he made a remarkable return when he created the song Horny as a Dandy, which is nothing but a combination of his former number one Horny and the song Bohemians like you from the american band The Dandy Warhols.
The combination as it follows:


In 2004 the english dance artist LMC took the melody from that acclaimed song With or without you from U2 and then he mixed the lyrics from Whitney Houston's hit How will I know.
The result was the chart hit Take me to clouds above, single that became quite popular in the UK.

Are contestants in reality musical Tv shows real singers?

The question can be tricky, but what I tried to mean is if even they just compete to these kind of shows can they be consider as a singers? A professional ones?

For me the answer is simple: Yes.

I believe that even they just appear in a competition like this and not afterwards they don't become a formal and popular artist, they still remain as singers.

Their version or covers of the songs they perform in the shows can be consider as an alternative new version...sometimes quite better than the original one.

In Mexico, we have had for the past 7 years or so, different kind of musical reality shows, but the most popular is called The Academy (La Academia).

Each year, a new generation of people compete to reach the top of the contest and become popular in the country.

So far, the show has had 6 different generations of people, loads of singers have had struggled to get to the top but just a few of them have reached that place.

Here are some examples of female contestants that for me were the most talented in these generations...none of them become the most popular but have the talented required to be a professional singer in Mexico.

And yes, they are singers even though they were not quite popular, they have the talent to sing quite well and they can be seen as Mexican Singers.

Enjoy their voice and a piece of good mexican talented singers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHTwMVGEUMk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ft5lfKk4I0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRJ4ObZVGVM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrGHVjmIt08&feature=PlayList&p=175302097E48C269&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BexHCqaQ8gY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHjafmytZM0

The sounds of Scotland

Scotland is not only about beautiful landscapes and old castles, friendly people or ancient cities, it also can be seen as the land where talented artists and bands have emerged.

From pop, indie to rock and electronic music, Scottish acts have gained a good position among different audiences in Great Britain.

Talking about contemporary examples let's start with the classic band Texas who for more than a decade released around 20 singles that reached the UK Charts.

The band became famous in 1989 with the song 'I don't want a lover' who was his first major single. Unfortunately, they separate recently in 2006 when the front man of the band, Sharleen Spiteri, decided to took her on way in the music as a solo artist.

With nostalgic ballads and catchy pop songs, K.T. Tunstall has raised as one of the most prominent talents not only as a singer but as a composer.

Even though, her last album, Drastic Fantastic, didn't become as popular as the first one, she is got now a prominent place in british music.

Who can forget songs like Suddenly I see and Other side of the world?

The rock scene
Scotland has also brought incredible bands that have enjoyed a quite big popularity in the charts.

I will mention some of the latest and probably most popular ones: The View, Glasvegas and Biffy Clyro.

Probably from the three, indie rocker's Biffy Clyro has been the most successful, specially with their current album.

Recent singles like Folding stars, Mountains and The Golden Rule have reached at least the UK top 20. In fact, Mountains has become their major single to date when reached the 5th position last year.

Biffy Clyro's new album, Only Revolutions, was actually released in stores yesterday.

With a catchy and alternative sound, Same Jeans debuted in 2006 in the UK Charts and became The View's most popular rock anthem.

This year, the band released their second album Witch Bitch? and the leading single was Shock Horror.

Last year, Glasvegas became massively popular with their singles: Daddy's gone, Geraldine and Flower and football tops, and even though it was their first album success came steadily.

The electronic sounds
Electro pop best defines Calvin Harris who has become one of the most respectable Dj's in the current electronic scene.

With only two albums, Harris has enjoyed fame and popularity among the whole country with songs like Girls, Ready for the Weekend and Acceptable in the 80's.

Also, he worked with the acclaimed Dizzy Rascal in the song Dance wiv me, which stayed for 3 weeks in the top of the charts last summer.

I'm not alone became his first solo chart-topper to date and currently his third single Flashback reached yesterday the top 20 in the UK Charts.

Now is time to enjoy all of these magic sounds of Scotland that I have been talking about, have a listen...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uIFISklvXY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clY2RAgXpM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm5PFIRdPfQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhEDbqktSEM

*Main photographs by Luis Dominguez

Calvin Harris and Mr. Hudson rocking London!

It seems to be a promising night, the stage was ready to ‘burn’ and the place was as busy as can be.

It was almost 9 of wednesday last week when suddenly colourful lights came into the stage: red, yellow, green, white, purple…the widest variety I have ever seen.

As the first song started to begin you can already feel its echoes all over the HMV Forum in Kentish Town, London.

This musical venue, located in North London, was being today the house for Calvin Harris’ performance, but before he appeared on stage an unexpected guest came to perform: Mr. Hudson.

The london based artist opened the show with White Lies, the second single of his latest record Straight No Chaser.

The combination of R&B and electropop was the perfect mix to 'warm up' the audience who enjoyed the three other songs he performed in the stage, including his cover of Forever Young.

With Supernova, which debuted at number 2 on the Charts in July, Mr. Hudson end his performance.

Minutes later...the lights dimmed, the public started to shout excited and then the stage was suddenly covered by the music of Calvin Harris.

The scottish DJ, who debuted in the charts in 2007 with the cover of Acceptable in the 80's, began to 'burn' the stage with Merry Making.

The people started to jump and shout as some of the songs from his latest record, Ready for the Weekend, were performed.

The euphoria came specially when the artist performed songs like Ready for the Weekend, Flashback and Girls.

And just when people believed that everything ended came back to the stage to perform I'm not alone, which became his first and yet so far his only chart topper song in the UK.

Q Awards 2009

The best of current british music was recognized at the 2009 Q Awards yesterday.

This year, the 19th ceremony, Lilly Allen scooped the most competed prize: Best Track of the Year with the single The Fear, which was a former number one in Britain earlier this year.

In the same category, Dizzee Rascal, Noisette and Arctic Monkeys were just some of the artists that were beaten by Allen.

The best album was for the Leicester's indie band Kasabian with West Ryder Pauper Lunatic and Mr. Hudson won the prize for Breakthrough Artist' category.

The singer became massively popular in the UK after releasing the single Supernova -in duo with Kanye West- and reaching the Top Five in the Chart Singles.

The ceremony, annually held by this famous british magazine, recognized the achievements of U2 by awarding them the Q classic album with The Unforgettable Fire and the Classic song was for Frankie Goes to the City with Relax.

Other awards included Best Live Act scooped by Arctic Monkeys and Best new act by White Lies.

Muse was named as the best act in the world today.

The anthems of your life

Have you ever thought about the songs that have joined you in your every day living for, maybe, the last 10 years?
Do you think that songs have become an essential part of your life? Isn't amazing remember and listen for a moment all of these anthems?

If you agree with me, let me tell you that yesterday I was searching through the Internet some news and interesting topics to talk about and suddenly I found an incredible article in the website of Daily Telegraph in which they listed the 100 songs that -according to them- defined the 00's.
The list is amazing, even though it has a lot of american artists, you can still have outstanding british music and other music's countries.
The article also describes a bit about music issues in these years and gives a brief description of either the song or artist.

My favourites are...
Mad World by Gary Jules (everytime I listen it, reminds me of this phenomenal movie Donnie Darko).
Since I left you by The Avalanches
Standing in the way of control by Gossip
Skinny Love by Bon Iver
Call on me by Eric Prydz
Dy-na-mi-tee by Ms Dynamite
Sex on fire by Kings of Leon
Babylon by David Gray
Run by Snow Patrol
Hallelujah by Alexandra Burke (who actually has just released a new single which is massive now here in London)
Patience by Take That
Paper Planes by MIA

What about you?...

Take a look of the article and remember those Wonder Years:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/6198897/100-songs-that-defined-the-Noughties.html

Mexican Divas

As it might be happening in many countries, sometimes the most popular music that is played on radio and the most selling albums are not likely to be from the most talented artists.

Usually there is much more to discover, singers or composers that maybe haven't had the opportunity or the money to have a 'space' in commercial radio...but still they are there, exist, struggling to be seen, discover or receive the support of a record label.

In Mexico, my hometown country, we have a lot of examples of talented artists -specially women- that many times don't receive the same attention of the listeners or the support from the musical industry.

Therefore, I would like to give them the 'space' they deserve, not only for being so creative or innovative with their music but because they are from Mexico.

I call them: Mexican Divas.

Women who decided to go further the existed musical parameters, that dared to create music that doesn't seem to existed in my country and that established their own original music style without any sort of labels.

Rock+jazz+blues+opera+traditional mexican music, are just some of the combination of styles you will find in their music.

Lila Downs, Cecilia Toussaint, Jeanette Macari, Jaramar, Magos Herrera, Iraida Noriega, Carmen Leñero y Susana Harp...this tribute is for you Ladies.

As my blog is not only about write and read, but listen and comment, here are some interesting links about this outstanding women...

http://ceciliatoussaint.com/flash/temp.html

http://www.liladowns.com/liladaSite/Lila_Downs.html

http://www.myspace.com/jeanettemacari

http://www.jaramar.com.mx/#

http://www.magosherrera.com/

http://www.myspace.com/iraidanorieg

http://www.susanaharp.com/2010/

Is the Trip-hop music scene gone?

You might be asking what is trip-hop? Is it a music genre? Is still currently played? Which artists or bands are a good example of this kind of music?

Well, first of all you should know that this movement originally started in United Kingdom, particularly in Bristol about the mid 90's.

A combination of strings, down-tempo electronic music and a bit of hip hop and, sometimes, acid jazz. The main musical characteristic of Trip-hop is the "blue" sound that not only the music but the lyrics involve.

The atmosphere of this music style relies on nostalgia, bittersweetness, sense of loss, longing and sadness.

I am very sure that sometime in your life you have listened to this kind of music I am talking about...

Who hasn't heard Massive Attack, Portishead, Zero 7 or Lamb?

Those are good examples of what was Trip-Hop...and when I say WAS it is because today this musical genre is gone, at least its original sense or musical bases.

The last thing I heard about pure Trip-Hop was the album Third that Portishead released last year...which was a good return for this legendary band.

Nowadays the popular music that is play in commercial radio or that hit the charts in the UK doesn't seem to have "space" for Trip-hop...while in the 90's Glory Box by Portishead, Teardrop by Massive Attack, Destiny by Zero 7 Gabriel by Lamb and some songs of Morcheeba, Tricky, Hooverphonic and UNKLE were massive in the UK.

Do you think someday will see the return of this genre? Do this bands can possibly get together again and create more innovative trip-hop music?

Is there any currently artist or band in the UK that plays Trip-Hop scene?

If you want to know more about this music and its artists, I suggest to take a look at this website:

http://www.triphop-music.com/

Or you might find useful to listen to the music of Massive Attack, Portishead, Lamb, Hooverphonic, Morcheeba, Zero 7, Frou Frou, Mandalay, Mono and many others.

Editors are back

With a more electronic sound this indie-rock band came back to the musical scene with their third album In this light and on this evening, which was released today in the UK.

It has been two years since the Birmingham based band scored in the top ten the hit Smokers outside the hospital doors, song that began the promotion of their acclaimed second album in 2007.

Different reviews said that this new album has a more electronic sound in its music due to the use of synthesizer in most of the nine songs that form part of the album.

Papillon the first single is, actually, a proof of this brand new sound.

* I think Editors is one of the most talented acts in the UK currently. They are not only the typical band that has catchy rock songs but also offers deep and meaningful lyrics (sometimes a bit nostalgic).

You may find useful this review released last week by BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/d6pn