Trinidad: The Sound of the Sun (The Westland Steel Band)

It's summer and this enticing recording from the stellar Nonesuch Explorer series seems particularly appropriate to discuss at this balmy time of the year.  Recorded by Bill Leader and released initially in 1967, "The Sound of the Sun" presents a dozen pieces from The Westland Steel Band, with the traditional four types of drums (guitar/alto; cello/tenor; boom/bass; and ping pong/soprano) providing the range of tonal sounds that epitomize its form of calypso music.

The liner notes by Jane Sarnoff start off with a poetic appreciation of the beauty and vibrancy of Trinidad, which forms with the smaller Tobago, and independent nation just off the coast of Venezuela.  Usually the only time we hear about the tiny island nation is during the summer Olympics, especially the impressive showing by sprinters at the London games in 2012 or the impressive career of Ato Boldon in the 1996 and 2000 games.

The music presented here comes from a tradition dating back to the late 18th century when French planters introduced Carnival and, following the abolition of slavery in the late 1830s, black and mixed-race residents took up the celebration in their own way.  When traditional conga drums were outlawed because of fears of overexcitement stirring up celenbrants, bamboo sticks (bamboo tamboo) were used and that, too, was banner in the 1930s.

Undaunted, people turned to hitting bottles partly filled with spoons and then observed that metal worked better, including car axles, tin cans, pots, containers and drums, especially the oil containers commonly found on the island.  Experimentation gradually led to the formation of steel drum bands, whose musicians became experts in tone, pitch, harmony and melody.  As Sarnoff observes, the instruments are more gongs that drums and one player plays the melody on the 32-note ping pong while the others accompany with theme variations, though the melody moves among instruments as the procession moves through the streets.

As Sarnoff concludes, "the sound is liquid—the sound of the sun on the sea, the sea against sand, feet marching through strets that hold sparkling heat and the hearts of an entire island."  While for some the music might sound repetitive on the surface, a deeper listen reveals a great deal of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic variety, making "The Sound of the Sun" highly enjoyable and fun.

Elizabeth Cotten: Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes

The name Elizabeth Cotten first came to this blogger's attention on the 1987 Firehose album If'n and its fine ballad "In Memory of Elizabeth Cotten," written and performed by the band's guitarist and singer Ed Crawford.

Years later, a couple of her albums were acquired and this Smithsonian Folkways release is the first part of an amazing story.  Cotten, who was born in 1895 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, learned to play guitar upside down in her distinctive finger-picking style as a young girl, married, raised a family, divorced and was working in a department store in Washington, D.C. when she returned a lost child to her family.

It turned out the child was Peggy Seeger of the well-known musical family, including her older half-brother Pete, the famed folk singer, and her brother Mike, compiler of this recording.  Hired to work for the Seeger family, Cotten saw a guitar on the wall of the home, stated that she used to play and "started playing again, recalling one by one many of the songs and tunes of her childhood and youth."

That led to her being recorded by Mike Seeger in 1957 and 1958 with the result being this album with the very long title, but a great many attractions.  The main one is that Cotten was remarkably dexterous and played the guitar and banjo with great senstitvity and skill.  Another is that her fragile voice rings with authenciity and the weight of experience for someone in her early sixties who'd raised a family and worked for decades.  Finally, the material is beautiful, constituting the marriage of folk and blues that made so much of the folk revival of the time so interesting.

Cotten's "Freight Train," which she wrote in her pre-teen years, became well-known, but there are other excellent songs, like "Oh, Babe, It Ain't No Lie," "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad," and a trio of medleys.  It's stated that she recorded many of the pieces on this phenomenal record at her home, while her grandchildren silently watched and listened.  This makes this one of the more interesting "live albums" you could imagine from a musician of immense talent and charm!