Souad Massi – Ghir Enta

httpv://youtu.be/sYStxC90iqE

Souad Massi's music has an amazing lineage, steeped the tumult of her native Algeria and its rigid cultural mores. From a 2005 profile by The Independent:

From the beginning, she was drawn to wildly different musical styles. "I listened to folk rock and hard rock," she says, "and then, later, pop music and, I guess, world music. But at first, it was basically through movies, the spaghetti westerns." Joan Baez, who played Algiers in the 1970s, was a formative influence, as was the flamenco and jazz guitar that her uncle played, and even, incongruously, the country star Kenny Rogers. "Folk rock has been a big influence," Massi says, "and I was inspired by the poetry in the songs of that time, its rich metaphors and phrases that had double meanings. I pushed myself to work in the same way."

She learnt guitar with the help of her older brother Hassan, and her first professional gigs were with a short-lived flamenco group, before she joined the Algerian rock band Atakor. She stayed with them for seven years, touring a country where musicians were routinely shot by Islamists and army alike, and playing festivals picketed by extremists, patrolled by armed police and, more often than not, torched by the crowd itself. The Big Chill they were not.

The first time I heard this – I don't even know where I came across it – I was transfixed. The album versions more enchanting than this performance (a clever fella on YouTube dubbed the studio track over this same video), but this is still very nice.

I don't know all the words to the song, but I'm translating the refrain from the Russian translation on this video:

No one but you
No one but you
No one but you
Has entered my heart

No one but you
No one but you
No one but you
In my heart only you

1 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 10 (1 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
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2016 Series 5 Recap: Brewers 1, Twins 1

For the first time this year, a sweep was not involved in the series. Once again, the good and bad from the series.

The bad:

  • Sano in the outfield. Oof. There will be bad plays, I get that. But Sano needs all the practice he can get. It also would help he he'd mash more. For the season he has a .607 OPS. Thankfully, before the series it was at .535 but it has a long ways to go to.
  • Run prevention. Four runs in one game, even if only six innings, is decent but six runs is not. I think it's likely the Brewers would have scored again in game one so letting the bad guys score five plus runs a game is not good.
  • Murphy. I want the Murphy era to begin. His OPS is below Punto levels at .279. World Champion Butera at least managed that for a SLG.

The good:

  • Scoring. The Twins scored seven runs in six innings and then five more in the next nine. Scoring six runs a game will result in a lot of wins.
  • The bullpen before Jepsen. In the three innings from Santana to Jepsen on Tuesday, the bullpen had two hits, one walk, and six strikeouts. Each reliever allowed only a single batter to reach base. Tonkin and O'Rourke did make it interesting by having both of their batters reach in the same inning, but all three outs came on strikeouts.
  • Strikeouts. The Twins batters struck out only five times in each game. They also walked six times on Tuesday (only once on Monday).
  • Park. He raised his OPS from .657 entering Monday's game to .871. The OBP still needs work at only .313, but the SLG of .558 is great to see.
  • Mauer. Mauer back to Mauering.

Boban Marković Orkestar – Mesecina

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBDtRhxLwoI

 

This one's for Rhu_Ru. Boban Marković Orkestar is frequently heralded as best brass band in the world. These guys – and Boban's group with his son, Marko – are awesome, but it's just about impossible to find a decent video where you can hear the low brass & accordion as well as the upper brass. In a typical example, here's Marko Marković taking lead on a Balkan-inflected cover of Lee Dorsey's "Ya Ya" nonsense song from 1961:

httpv://youtu.be/WkSVsdHalmU

1 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 10 (1 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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Happy Birthday–April 20

Germany Smith (1863)
Tommy Dowd (1869)
Charlie Hemphill (1876)
Charlie Smith (1880)
Dave Bancroft (1891)
Roy Hofheinz (1912)
Preston Gomez (1923)
Tom Hutton (1946)
Milt Wilcox (1950)
Doug Clarey (1954)
Floyd Chiffer (1956)
Don Mattingly (1961)
Greg Brummett (1967)
Dan Smith (1969)
Todd Hollandsworth (1973)

Judge Roy Hofheinz was the leader of a group that brought an expansion team to Houston.

Dan Smith was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-second round in 1987, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 20

Game 14. Brewers v. Twins

I'm writing this from the Amsterdam airport with so-so free wi-fi.

The suddenly no one wants to play them Minnesota Twins take on the hated Brewers of Milwaukee.   Looking at the weather, not sure I'd this gets in or not.

Ervin Santana mound in his first start since shorning his hair.  Let's hope for good results. I can't let this post go by without mentioning how dumb MLB is to be scheduling this series against the Brew-crew midweek.  This should be on a nice June weekend where the crowds will be plentiful and boisterous. You know create excitement where a kids tells his mom, that was a blast, let's go back again soon.  But then we could write a treatise on MLB and marketing and I have some Heineken and cheese to buy.