... WORLD TOUR ... New Orleans - Greece -Trinidad & Tobago - India

Ever since hearing the sitar on a few Beatles songs back when I was a teenager, I've become a fan of many different types of indigenous sounds and music throughout the world. To that end, our first entry is a "world tour" of different music from around the globe.

We'll start in New Orleans, then on to Greece. From there we go to Trinidad and Tobago, and finish off in India! Enjoy!
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from New Orleans: "Swingin' Dixie" from trumpeter Al Hirt.

Great music for your next Mardi Gras party!

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from Greece:

Bouzouki music from the album "Bouzouki Is Beautiful". A bouzouki is a stringed instrument similar to a mandolin, quite often heard after the word "OPA!" is shouted.

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With all due respect and props, Harry Belafonte this ain't; this is the real deal from Trinidad, the true home of Calypso music.

My favourite track on this album is by far is "Bye, Bye Blakie", in which Calypso Princess tell us all about her turbulent relationship, and subsequent break from, Lord Blakie (also a featured calypso artist on the same album). The refrain goes like this:

"Let go me, hon ... don't touch me, hon ... leave me alone, I want another man.

Try a next plan, like you can't understand, I don't want to hear your conversation.

I decided to leave you for sure, mister mean I don't want you no more, I pack up me t'ings and walk out your door, so what the hell you bothering me for?"

In the third verse, we hear a tearful Lord Blakie pleading with his woman to take him back:

"Well, I'm getting down on my knees, and I'm begging you darling, please ..."



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from India: bhajans (devotional songs) from Lata Mangeshkar.

Lata Mangeshkar is far and away India's most famous singer, and indeed one of the world's most prolific recording artists of all time. These songs were recorded circa 1968.

If you're thinking to yourself, "I've never heard Lata Mangeshkar sing", you may be wrong without knowing it. If you've ever watched or heard a musical number from an older "Bollywood" movie, there's a good chance it was Lata singing, since she was one of the dominant female singers in the industry and her talents were highly sought after.