With Glastonbury I had intentions of blogging about the days performances at the end of every night or between sets. But lets face it, the place is massive, the heat this year was unbearable, and there’s a million things to see and do. So by now I’m sure you’ve all read some really negative reviews about the highly anticipated Gorillaz set, but allow me to tell you what I think…

Sure, the performances weren’t perfect. A couple of times Damon Albarn must have thought there was another measure before he had to start singing, On Melancholy Hill was poorly placed as the third song in the set, Snoop Dogg not performing his part on Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach when he was actually at the festival, and words like “Breaking the cardinal rule of headlining” with regards to them not playing a hit heavy set.

To those of you who think Gorillaz’ setlist was the wrong way to go, I say it’s all of you who need to open you’re eyes to what Glastonbury is really all about. Water Aid, Greenpeace, Plastic Beach… are you beginning to see a theme yet? If it isn’t blatantly obvious that Plastic Beach’s is one of environmental concern and had a necessary message for festival goers, then think about all the scattered plastic bottles and then think about Albarn’s futile attempt at trying to get the crowd to sing the single repeated stanza from Pirate Jet.

Regardless of the performance shortcomings like Mark E Smith having to read his lines on what didn’t sound anything like Glitter Freeze, at the very least Kano and Bashy on White Flag, and Little Dragon on Empire Ants and the beautifully dueted To Binge were enough to make it one to remember… but most seem to have missed the boat to Plastic Beach.

Sigh!

Flickr Set

Gorillaz are available to download now from Nokia/Ovi Music Store and if you’re a Comes With Music member, they’re all free!

It’s Nokia Music research result time again, and this time we’re revealing the global popularity of Indian music. From Bollywood hits to Bhangra and Indipop, Indian music has established itself as a truly global phenomenon with it’s genres being downloaded* by music fans as far afield as the UK, Singapore, Australia, United Arab Emirates and Brazil.

Some statistics:

Indian music is the second most popular in the UAE with a huge 26% of all music downloads*, but it’s the UK that boasts the biggest appetite for the flavours of the East with Bollywood songs accounting for 1 in 4 download* songs outside of India itself. Apparently not a country to shy-away from supporting their own homegrown talent, Bollywood hits make up for 54% of India’s downloads*, followed by western ‘pop’ and ‘Ghazal’.

Top Bollywood Music Downloaders Outside India In 2010

1. UK
2. Singapore
3. Finland
4. Germany
5. Australia
6. UAE
7. South Africa
8. Switzerland
9. Mexico
10. Russia

The overall popularity of Indian music research shows that Singapore are responsible for nearly a third of all Indian music downloads* outside of India, while Australia account for a fifth of the global total – Crikey mate!

Double-Grammy award winner (Slumdog Millionaire)  A.R. Rahman leads the way as the world’s most downloaded* Indian artist and is followed by renowned playback singer Sonu Nigam.

Top 10 Downloaded indian Artists In 2010 (Outside India)

1. A.R. Rahman
2. Sonu Nigam
3. JoJo
4. Himesh Reshammiya
5. Shaan
6. Udit Narayan
7. Asha Bhosle
8. Kishore Kumar
9. Salim-Sulaiman
10. Tata Young

With a catalogue of over 10 million tracks and albums available to listeners all over the world, Nokia’s Ovi Music service allows people to explore popular Indian tracks as well as a vast range of world music, expanding their musical experience further than ever. From Bollywood classics to emerging Indian artists, check out Nokia’s global Bollywood page for the latest tracks and your dose of culturally-inspired melodies.

For a truly global music mix – from quirky pop ballads and iconic rock anthems to world music – Nokia Comes With Music is the place to download all the music you’ve ever wanted, with over 10 million songs to get your hands on for free, and to keep forever.

A few years back, before I joined the auspices of Nokia, I spent some time in Sri Lanka for a job.

It was an interesting experience, the work colleagues were great and I integrated with some really interesting characters. On the first day, they thought I needed some comfort food and so ended up in a McDonald’s! Still, I was soon into the curries and local foods that were just fantastic, such as Lamprais, Vada, Kothu Roti, String Hoppers and Curd. If you are a seafood fanatic then its worth going to Sri Lanka for that, the lobsters and crab were fantastic!

I still remember some of the escapades that we got up to, including trying to all get into one of those 3 wheeler “tuk-tuks” with about 6 people. It was late, we had quaffed a lot of drinks, and so I’m surprised I didn’t lose my legs as there sticking outside the vehicle for most of the journey.

A tight squeeze with 6 in the back!

But back to music, which was a big thing there. Even the PA system in the office piped music from our resident wannabe DJ. One thing that I found was that a lot of the nightclubs had this fusion of Western and Asian tunes that was just great.

When I left, one of the colleagues gave me a compilation CD that had some of those tunes. Still have it somewhere although much has been transferred to my computer.

One of the hits at the time was Flute Fantasy by DJ Nasha. My main memory (or lack of!) with this song is being at a beach nightclub near Galle. We had just finished a seafood supper of lobster with French fries (delicious!) and had moved to this club from drinks. One wall of this place had been removed so that the dancefloor rolled into the sandy beach and out into the ocean. Very surreal experience especially after drinking what I suspect might have been locally brewed vodka or arrack. The hangover the next day was truly spectacular!

Other stuff on this compilation included Bollywood hits. One favourite I picked up was “Chaiya Chaiya” from the film Dil Se. It’s notable for the music video being filmed on a moving train.

The final song that I picked up was by the Bhangra Knights. The backing tune was used in a rather popular car advert here in the UK and involved someone taking an Elephant to a car, so that he could convert it into his dream vehicle.

I’ve been floundering around in the shallows of this vast samba ocean for quite a few months now, turning up every week to learn to play drums in a bloco carnavalesco  – a type of samba that’s played at carnival where groups of drummers, singers and dancers parade together. For those who don’t know – samba’s a diverse and versatile form of Brazilian music and dance.

Playing within this genre has been a mix of frustration, with brief flashes of elation and a lot of perspiration, (Aloe Vera deodorant , kind to sensitive skin, has had a big influence on my playing).  Oh and keeping all those patterns and breaks in my head (with slight memory seepage) is better than a Nintendo Brain Trainer for keeping senility at bay

I arrived at this point via a meandering route.  Growing up in London my ears roamed through Jamaican reggae, folk, blues, rock, jazz, flamenco, west African juju and the Drummers of Burundi. (An unforgettable night in exotic Kentish Town which made me realise how powerful drums on their own can be). Eventually the rest of my body joined my ears for a wander through South America only for them to be blown away again in Brazil.

The interweaving layers of African, native Indian, Latin and European patterns was inspiring enough in itself, but even more than this was its presence when I waited for a ferry, camped on a beach, shopped for food, went to a football match, stepped foot inside a church (and I’m not talking muzak here).

The clip below gives some kind of impresson of this. It features the Timbalada bloco, based in the Bahia region of Brazil – the heartland of Brazilian music heavily influenced by African rhythms.  Many of Brazil’s most famous musicians come from this area including Gilberto Gil, Carlinhos Brown, Caetano Veloso, Margareth Menezes and blocos including Ilê Aiyê and Olodum (who’ve played with Paul Simon and Michael Jackson).  Its capital, Salvador, claims to have the biggest street party in the world.

I doubt I’ll ever manage to leave the shallows and plunge into samba’s depths to get at its true meaning.  But, hey, it’s worth the effort just for those rare moments when you merge into that flow of energy from everyone else’s beats.  The ground gets jumping, the blood pumping, the heart thumping and you feel truly – alive!

I came across a nice little website for the band Labuat, a Spanish group that play a fusion of styles. The website is an interactive one that allows you to draw or trace a pattern in time with the music that’s playing. It plays out a story with the inky style and the various animations which I think is quite relaxing.

http://soytuaire.labuat.com/

Appears (although my Spanish is rubbish) that you can record the traces you make and replay them.

Inevitably had to go onto YouTube and check out what their other stuff is like. Have to say, I think they’re rather good. Definitely will be adding to my collection! They apparently supported Beyonce when she played in Barcelona in 2009 and were the first act onstage.

Here’s another track – a good slide into the weekend methinks.

You can download Labuat’s album ‘Labuat’  from the Nokia Music Store - if you’ve got  ‘Comes With Music’, it’s completely free!

I’m a big fan of Shakira, she has a great voice and well, certainly rates highly on the hotness factor!

But, I actually don’t think her voice is great in English and personally prefer a lot of her Spanish language songs instead.

Even her English hits like “Whenever, Wherever” I think sound much better in the Spanish version.  Perhaps it’s because Spanish is a rather deeper and seductive language that suits her very unique voice.

If you listen to the two versions, then I do think the Spanish version feels a lot better! (Must apologise for the lack of embedding capabilities for the below YouTube video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKS7QkYvum0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_LkjpYx8do

It does make me think about the culture around music and the subtle differences that I think exist when it comes to regional tastes. I’m bit of a fan of the Latin genres of music. Perhaps it’s the romance and passion - the perfect antidote to the Stiff Upper Lip and British sensibilities?

As an example, I recently picked up, what is in my view, one of the definitive versions of the folk song Guantanamera which is sung by Joan Baez.

In any case, here are a few of Shakira’s other Spanish language tunes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyXTMjF7cWU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m-Se_oeyLw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LznYGrYSVG4

Duke Special’s Songs from the deep forest is available on Nokia Music