Mailbag

[katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Kansas City)]

Vickie here again.

   YEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!! We saw k.d. lang in concert last
night and it was SO GREAT!!!! If she comes anywhere near where
you are-DON'T MISS IT!!!  She is so much fun and has a voice
and singing style that will send chills up your spine-no kidding!
I predict that she will go on to become the greatest star in the
history of country music. She already is a legend in her own time,
though the general public doesn't know it....yet. Neither does
Nashville. They're too worried about her hair.

Pirate TV made its debut on MTV tonight. Stunk real bad.

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OK, so Ed wants a report of the first sighting of The Sensual World
video on American TV. I hate to be technical, but change that to
"national TV". It's already been played on American TV. In December
I was a guest on a local TV show, invited on to talk about women in
music and my radio show. I talked mainly about Kate and I showed
TSW video. I also played Jane's Bound By The Beauty, and I even
got in RUTH under the closing credits. 


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bilbo@CIS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (William H Stoner III) writes:

> I'm looking for recommendations on what stuff I should buy
> from the following artists.  My funds are limited so I was 
> wondering if you folk could give me a feel for what the 
> "best/difinitive" work each group has done.  I'm basically
> looking for suggestions on where to start but I probably
> won't buy more than one or two albums by 'em.  So here are
> the arists:

> Ensemble Alcatraz - What section of a store do find these guys under?
    New Age, Classsical?                                   ^^^^

This is very kindly stolen from Bob Arnold, a rec. music. misc reader:
Ensemble Alcatraz .....	These folks are local Bay Area performers who
                        play Early Music on period instruments.
                        They specialize in music of 13th and 14th century
                        Spain and France, both religious and secular.
                        I've seen them 5 or 6 times since they formed 2 years
                        ago.  Their lineup includes a good woman singer
                        (Susan Rhode-Morris), two great	female players
                        (one plays the harp and the other plays
			violin precursers), a great male percussionist, and
			a good male zither/recorder player.  They have an
			album out, "Visions and Miracles", in LP/CD formats,
			on Nonesuch I think.  It's their playing that I 
			really love, but they have a good sense of humor
			and lots of people love the vocals too.
                                                        Bob Arnold

I would check the Classical section first.

> Le Mystere des voix Bulgares (this is the correct spelling, it means
 "Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices")
>     which is the better volume?

No question......Volume 1 is the one to buy. They are all good though.
Keep tuned in and in the next few days I'll re-post something about 
them that I posted in rec.music.misc--I have to find it.


> Ofra Haza - something that shows her range yet isn't too pop
>    (I'm not quite sure what I'mean by "too pop".  Does
>    she have an album which just totally blows you?)

No.   I have to be honest. IMHO, Ofra Haza's music is awful. She
DOES have an incredible voice, but it's surrounded by horrible
disco synth music. Trash the disco and she'd be great. There's
a tear-you-heart-out beautiful song on the Shaday LP called
"Love Song" that showcases her voice. Sad it's the only one.

If you want my opinion, forget Ofra Haza and seek out Najma.
She has 2 albums out. The first is called "Qareeb" and it's on
the Shanachie Label in America. Here's a blurb from the LP:
  "The ghazal occupies a unique place in the poerty and music
of the Indian sub-continent. A perfect example of form, many
hundreds of year old, that has maintained its popularity
throughout the ages, yet never more so than within the last
half-dozen years as singers have taken it from the light
classical area into the popular market with remarkable
success.
  Najma Akhtar is the first UK born singer to concentrate
on this art and won the Asian Song Contest at Birmingham in
1984. Numerous television, radio and public performances 
have consolidated her position together with an album
recorded in India under the musical direction of the 
well-respected Ravi."

It's a very, very, very wonderful album. I fell deeply in love with
the music and her voice the first time I heard it. She writes all
the music, by the way. She has just released a second album, which
I don't have and haven't heard. :-(  :-(  :-(

Another huge favorite is Sheila Chandra. She recorded an album with
a group named Monsoon called "Third Eye". It was recently re-released
by a French company. Good news..It's a perfect album. Bad news..It's
available in the US only as an import, so it's more expensive than
average. IT'S WORTH IT!! Sheila has a georgeous voice and the music
is what is generally known as "Indipop". It's "pop" music, but not
like any you've ever heard before. I quote other sources because I
have no capacity for describing music that will do it any justice.
Uh...call me sometime and I can play a bit of it over the phone to
you. At least that will give you an idea. (816) 561-0846 evenings.
(The nice thing about having a radio show is that I can just play
the music and let people judge for themselves.)
Sheila also has 4 (I think that's all she has) solo LPs. My favorites
are "Quiet" and "Nada Brahma". "Out On My Own" and "The Struggle"
are the other ones and they are uneven, but still worth getting
if you should find them. 

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>> Vickie writes:
>> So, oh well, does anybody else like skating or am I boring you all
>> to death??? 

> What an interesting subject!  My best friend is a professional
> ice skating instructor and is always asking me for music ideas.
> She's choreographed skating shows to Gary Numan, David Bowie's 'Cat
> People', and other things from my music collection.  I hope
> Vickie won't mind if I ask her for ideas in future!  I haven't
> succeeded in getting her to put a piece to Kate yet, but I'm
> still trying...  (a certain song on the Ninth Wave comes to mind...)

Oh, how neat! I'm absoloutely willing to help out. So.....was it
Waking The Witch?? 

> By the by, I LOVE Brian Orser and felt much the same way Vicki did
> when the show of champions came through Boston last year...

I......almost.....gave a tape to Katarina Witt, my all-time favorite
female skater (B. Orser's my favorite guy too), but I chickened out
again. Cluck, cluck. 


>P.S.  Vickie - I couldn't figure out how to mail you directly...
>      any help would be appreciated.
  
katefans@world.std.com is the only address we have. We seem to get
mail OK, but have had a VERY hard time sending mail. So many letters
have bounced and we can't figure out why. 

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Speaking of which....Maitland, our letter to you bounced.
Steve, our letter to you bounced. Michael, our letter to you
bounced. Neil, our letter to you bounced. It's very frustrating
but we'll keep trying.


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Woj, I'm not ignoring you, I just can't think of anything sensible to say
about your post. I'm still thinking about it.

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I'm still playing catch-up



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%  Vickie-one of    Vickie'n'Chris of Kansas City    katefans@world.std.com  %
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%                    "Suspended in Gaffa" KKFI 90.1fm                        %
%          Kansas City's Alternative alternative to boyz with guitarz        %
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