AMERICAN ROUTES
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Koutaté Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Koutaté June 7th, 2023 (Hour 1)
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Koutaté

It’s Blueswomen, Jazzmen, African roots and branches. Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland‘s father, the late blues guitarist Johnny Copeland, brought her into his music as a child. As an adult, she found new ways to use blues to express her perspective. We’ll hear from some of Shemekia’s heroes including Etta James, Ruth Brown, Alberta Hunter and Big Mama Thornton. Then a conversation and performance by Boston-based Mandinka balafon player Balla Kouyaté and music inspired by and from the continent of Africa from Randy Weston, Miriam Makeba and the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Shemekia Copeland photo by Mike White

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IT'S CARNIVAL TIME!

February 23rd, 2022

From New Orleans to southern France, Trinidad to Brazil, we celebrate Mardi Gras masquerading and dancing to the beat of Carnival music. We’ll visit with Mardi Gras Indian Chief Monk Boudreaux as he suits up in handmade, feathered regalia and struts through the streets with his gang. Then we travel to southern France for the Carnival parade and music of Nice, and costumed revelry a few hours east in the wine country town of Limoux. Back home in French Louisiana, it’s the Cajun Courir de Mardi Gras where beggar clowns dance for a chicken to put in a communal gumbo feast. Plus calypso, New Orleans brass bands and rhythm & blues classics to keep the krewe mamboing through the end of Fat Tuesday.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Seven-Ay Pocky Way Jason Marsalis
    Music in Motion, Basin Street
  • Go to the Mardi Gras Professor Longhair
    Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Mardi Gras
  • Going Back to New Orleans Joe Liggins and the Honeydrippers
    Creole Kings of New Orleans, Specialty
  • Come Let the Good Times Roll Earl King
    Earl King: The Sonet Blues Story, Universal
  • Meet de Boys on de Battle Front The Wild Tchoupitoulas
    Wild Tchoupitoulas, Mango
  • New Suit The Wild Magnolias
    Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Mardi Gras
  • Instrumental: (Somebody Got) Soul, Soul, Soul The Wild Magnolias
    The Wild Magnolias, Polydor
  • SEGMENT: Monk Boudreaux

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  • Hiko Hiko Donald Harrison
    Indian Blues, Candid
  • Quadrille Figure Six Blinky and the Road Masters
    Crucian Scratch Band Music, Rounder
  • Instrumental: Masquerade George Michael, Fred William, Gustin Louis, Wilkinson Girard
    Musical Tranditions of St. Lucia, West Indies, Folkways
  • Mardi Gras Coteau
    Highly Seasoned Cajun Music, Rounder
  • SEGMENT: Carnival in Nice and Limoux, France

    Listen
  • End Bed: The Second Line Stop, Inc.
    Ultimate Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras Records

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Carnival Time Rebirth Brass
    Ultimate Rebirth Brass Band, Mardi Gras Records
  • Drop Me Off in New Orleans Kermit Ruffins and Irvin Mayfield
    A Beautiful World, Basin Street
  • Mardi Gras Mambo The Hawketts
    The Cosimo Matassa Story, Proper
  • Little Jewel of the Vieux Carre Joe Barry
    New Orleans Popeye Party, Night Train
  • Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing Baby Dodds Trio, feat. Danny Barker
    Jazz A'La Creole, GHB Records
  • Street Parade Earl King
    New Orleans Blues, Tomato
  • Instrumental: La Bamba Trinidad Cement Limited Skiffle Bunch
    Trinidad Carnival: Steelbands of Trinidad & Tobago, Delos International
  • Turning of a Picong
    Calypso Awakening, Smithsonian Folkways
  • History of Carnival Attila the Hun
    Calypso Carnival 1935-1939, Black Round Records
  • Way Down the Bayou Juan Pardo
    Spirit Food, Big Chief Juan Pardo
  • Iko-Iko Dixie Cups
    Mardi Gras in New Orleans Vol. II, Mardi Gras Records
  • Danse de Mardi Gras Steve Riley
    Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Rounder
  • Blues de Saoulard The Red Stick Ramblers
    Allons Boire un Coup: A Collection of Cajun and Creole Drinking Songs, Valcour
  • Instrumental: Indian Blues Donald Harrison
    Indian Blue, Candid
  • Jockomo Sugar Boy Crawford
    Mardi Gras in New Orleans Vol. II, Mardi Gras Records
  • New Indian Blues Brother Tyrone and the Mindbenders
    Mindbender, Brother Tyrone/Everette Eglin
  • Out in the Street Galactic (feat. Ivan and Cyrille Neville)
    Carnivale Electricos, Anti-
  • Wade in the River Olympia Brass
    Mardi Gras in New Orleans Vol. II, Mardi Gras Records
  • Walk Through the Streets of the City Joe Lastie and the Lastie Family Gospel
    Joe Lastie and the Lastie Family Gospel, Preservation Hall
  • End Bed: Walking Home Donald Harrison and Dr. John
    Indian Blues, Candid

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 7th, 2023

    BLUES AND JAZZ, AFRICAN ROOTS AND BRANCHES WITH SHEMEKIA COPELAND AND BALLA KOUTATé

    Listen
  • May 31st, 2023

    PIANO PEOPLE AND MORE: JASON MORAN & HEATH ALLEN

    Listen
  • May 24th, 2023

    MEMORIAL DAY WITH THE 2022 NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWS

    Listen
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