museradio.fm blog

There is a little church, hidden away down a small alley off Bishopsgate near Liverpool station in London. Every week in this church a wonderful man called Wallee Mcdonnell organizes a concert with talented musicians from traditions ranging from Qawaali to Balkan, West African and Kurdish. It is a little gem of a place. St Ethelburga’s Church, 78 Bishopsgate. The music schedule can be viewed online.

For those of you who enjoy trawling through music blogs, Ive got a very good recommendation: Sound of the World, BBC radio host Charlie Gillett’s website. Charlie has been on the radio for the past 40 years or so, beginning on Capital Radio in the 1970’s, a time when England was into Rock, and where he was playing little known pre-1960’s American music. He’s traveled a long way musically, while never losing his roots so to speak, and currently selects and plays some of the best and least known contemporary music coming from many parts of the world.


These days Charlie has a weekly music program on the BBC World Service (the only music show on the world service!) and focuses mainly on music traditions from around the world. As strange a category as that may seem, he weaves together songs from different parts of the world that speak to one another through rhythm, instrumentation, melody or some less definable but palpable connection.


Im listening to the show currently posted on the BBC World Service site, and the theme is songs sung in languages invented by the singers! The first song is by Julien Jacob from Benin, followed by Rhett Brewer from the US and then DVA from the Czech Republic…


There is a fantastic forum on Charlie’s website, where people share comments on all kinds of topics ranging from live shows to music discoveries, to best youtube music video clips and playlists on spotify.

Marta Topferova is one of my favorite artists. Every one of her albums (sadly bar the latest) are filled with incredible songs and listenable the whole way through (something I find rare!). She sings almost entirely in Spanish, in an earthy sensuous tone, and is accompanied by beautiful acoustic arrangements. Every time I put on one of her albums, I feel immediately transported and uplifted, somewhere in between melancholy and joy.


Have a listen to a live version of Semana Azul with just her and her cuatro (small Venezuelan guitar): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmEmgOGYtJM


Anyone of her albums is perfect for a dinner party. Its very surprising and unfortunate that she hasnt been discovered by a wider audience… but all the better for you to catch her now at Green Note! Which brings me to the point of my blurb – she will be playing in London soon!! And you can see her, but tickets are running out fast. http://www.greennote.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=877&Itemid=6


The best part is that she is playing in a tiny, cozy little venue (reminiscent of college town music venues), big enough to fit a dozen tables, and small enough to feel super up close, called Green Note, in Camden. Ive got my tickets, so maybe see you there!

Some of you may already be familiar with Erlend Oye, Norwegian electro-pop writer and singer. He was part of Royksopp, and along with Eirik Glambek Bøe make up the acoustic indie band Kings of Convenience (featured on two museradio.fm playlists This City Never Sleeps and Funk Como Le Gusta). He also produced a remix album for the DJ Kicks series in 2004.


Im just listening to the album Dreams from his more recent project, The Whitest Boy Alive. More uptempo and rocky than Kings of Convenience, but with equally infectious melodies and his gentle voice crooning about love… The track Im listening to now is Fireworks. You can watch a great live version of it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju7PJYuNG3o

We have been racking our brains of late, trying to figure out how to make museradio.fm financially sustainable!!!

No easy feat. But maybe you have an idea that we don’t?!

We might start with asking our listeners to help us out and donate what they can, to keep us floating (ie keep putting out great playlists for free) while we figure out a more long-term business plan.

Ideas, ideas?!!! Please do comment, if anyone out there is indeed reading this…

Lilly and I are gearing up to take museradio to the next stage and thereby hopefully creating a sustainable business whilst bringing you the best service possible and of course lots of great music.
If you have not done so yet, please take a minute to take our survey. We read and take onboard all your feedback so please tell us what you think!

I am shocked and deeply saddened by the news of Lhasa’s recent death to breast cancer. Lhasa de Sela was one of my favorite singers, someone with so much to say, who sung with such grace and sensitivity and whose music seemed to always come from deep within. She was only 37 years old and passed away before midnight on new year’s day, after battling breast cancer for 20 months.

I recently met Lhasa when Charlie Gillett interviewed her for his BBC radio show. I didnt realize then why she had such short hair and seemed tired. Nor when I first listened to her last album, self-titled “Lhasa”, which departed from the previous two in how melancholic and introspective it was, laden with images of parting, the unknown and death. What did strike me however, upon first listening (apart from how immediately and deeply struck I was by it), is how much she stood out from many other contemporary artists.

Each of her 3 albums has shown her evolution as an artist; as someone who followed and carved out her own musical journey. I felt so refreshed to discover that her third album was as powerful and beautiful as the previous two and yet charted new territory. It felt like the creation of it was done outside the context of the contemporary folk, fusion or indie music scene, with their trends, production style and time-line. And instead inside her own rich musical world, with its own references. For example, “Lhasa” was recorded entirely in analog, a practice few if any artists do in the current age of digital recording. It took her 5 years to release her second album “the Living Road”, and it another 6 after that to release “Lhasa” in 2009. She was an artist who really was “going in” and who brought us the fruits of that journey. She was an artist whose journey I believed in and was excited about. A rare and wonderful thing.

And now we have lost her. But her music will stay with us, all the more haunting.

The lyrics from “I’m Going In” from her last album:

When my lifetime had just ended
And my death had just begun
I told you I’d never leave you
But I knew this day would come

Give me blood for my blood wedding
I am ready to be born
I feel new
As if this body were the first I’d ever worn

I need straw for the straw fire
I need hard earth for the plow
Don’t ask me to reconsider
I am ready to go now

I’m going in I’m going in
This is how it starts
I can see in so far
But afterwards we always forget
Who we are

I’m going in I’m going in
I can stand the pain
And the blinding heat
‘Cause I won’t remember you
The next time we meet

You’ll be making the arrangements
You’ll be trying to set me free
Not a moment for the meeting
I’ll be busy as a bee

You’ll be talking to me
But I just won’t understand
I’ll be falling by the wayside
You’ll be holding out your hand

Don’t you tempt me with perfection
I have other things to do
I didn’t burrow this far in
Just to come right back to you

I’m going in I’m going in
I have never been so ugly
I have never been so slow
These prison walls get closer now
The further in I go

I’m going in I’m going in
I like to see you from a distance
And just barely believe
And think that
Even lost and blind
I still invented love

I’m going in
I’m going in
I’m going in

- Lhasa de Sela

Listen to “I’m Going In” on youtube

A lot of people are getting excited about the young new singer songwriter Nneka, based in Germany and from Nigeria. Check her out.

Watch this video: Heartbeat

You can download a free song here

Olivia and I are in the process of creating our museradio.fm Christmas playlist! And just in case you were interested, we thought we’d write a bit about how that process works. First we need to get inspired. A few glasses of wine later… Just kidding.


First we come up with a rough concept. In this case, we imagined what we’d like to listen to in front of the fireplace around Christmas time. Warm, nostalgic tunes that go with the sense of carrying on tradition, but not necessarily the same versions of them that youve heard a million times before. Then we brainstorm and do a lot of listening, create a huge playlist with our favorites and start to pluck out the ones we arent in love with.


In this case, we’ve found some great gospel tracks, blues, gypsy jazz as well as tunes by classic Christmas balladeers such as Bing Crosby. This process is cyclical, as new tracks keep coming in and we get inspired and make associations. Then its about finding the right order. We love the Fats Waller version of Jingle Bells, which has become track number one. I think we’ve got a great list now. It will need some more fine tuning, as every playlists (or indeed every work) does.But it should be ready later next week, so stay tuned for some jolly Christmas fun!

Come and join us for some mulled wine and fondue!

Tabernacle Street EC2 till 5pm today!