This week on Time for the Blues (3/7/10), John Porter and Henry Cook are joined by Ian Stewart, host of the World Music Show to look at blues influences on the world music scene. Ian brings great sounds from the “African John Lee Hooker,” Ali Farka Touré as well as a sampling of South African Zulu performers, all with the strong rhythms and guitar work associated with great blues. We’ll also hear some Latin-influenced blues along with blues bands from Iceland, Australia and Canada.
Ian’s World Music Show is on hiatus during the Metropolitan Opera Season, but will return this May on Saturday afternoons – keep an eye on the World Music Show page for details later this spring.
Tell us about your favorite World Music and other blues-influenced artists. Also, let us know if you have any suggestions for topics for future programs.
Time for the Blues airs Sundays @ 1 AM.
May 13th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Sorry I missed this. Who was the Icelandic blues band featured?
Tinariwen is a great “Desert Blues” band consisting of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali.
May 13th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Thanks for the info on Tinariwen–we’ll get some tracks for a future show! We plan to have Ian Stewart back for a return visit on TFTB!
The Icelandic blues band was The Blue Ice Band and the album was “Pinetop Perkins with the Blue Ice Band featuring Chicago Beau” on Earwig CDs, released in 1995. Pinetop and Chicago Beau(harp) were the only U.S. bluesmen and the all the guys in the band were natives of Iceland. The album was recorded in Reykjavik in 1991.
Unfortunately, the Blue Ice Band haven’t released a lot of music in the states other than this. I found that good blues can come from everywhere and these guys are pretty good.
Henry Cook
Time for the Blues