A Musical Odyssey

Spousal Unit and I went on a library music binge recently, bringing home about a dozen CDs to listen to and enjoy. Many of them featured music from around the world - Asia, in particular.

I especially love Silaihuar by Urna Chahar-Tugchi, a Mongolian musician. It's harder to tell at the beginning of the song, but her vocals really mimic the instruments. I can especially hear it around 3:55 (plus, listen to those notes she hits). It makes me draw parallels with scat singing in jazz, even though these styles are half a world apart.

Another thing I love? That she's wearing a bulky jacket and sitting on the ground on her album cover. Any American artist with a voice like that would probably be wearing a fancy dress. In a big city. On a stage with red curtains.


I also love the song Zara Zara by Bombay S. Jayashri from Putumayo's "India". This is my second favorite of the Putumayo CDs - the album flows together very well, and almost all of the songs are masterpieces in themselves. (My first favorite Putumayo? "Celtic Tides", easily.)


And Popular Mechanics for Lovers by Beulah? That's just been stuck in my head for days now.

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