#4962, John Schaefer's Highly Opinionated Top Ten of 2024
John Schaefer picks just ten new music releases from 2024. There’s music from composer Caroline Shaw with Sō Percussion, who wrote collaboratively as a band; brass band music from “father of Ethio-jazz,” Mulatu Astatke, with the Tel Aviv-based Hoodna Orchestra; and the Tuareg guitar rock by shredder Mdou Moctar from Niger; and riff-heavy work from Mexico City-based Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti. Also, hear ancestral offerings in work from Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas; trio music from Anglo-Polish singer and composer, violinist and pianist Alice Zawadzki, with long-term collaborators Fred Thomas (piano, drums, vielle) and Misha Mullov Abbado (double bass); and work from song collector Moira Smiley. Plus, a retelling of Amelia Earhart’s final flight from Laurie Anderson; an electro-acoustic adaptation of a spiritual by multi-instrumentalist and singer Jake Blount and bassist/composer Mali Obomsawin, featuring Ojibwe Pow Wow singer Joe Rainey; and a climate-focused work from Brooklyn-based composer Christopher Cerrone. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4962, John Schaefer's Highly Opinionated Top Ten of 2024 (First aired 1/06/2025)
10. ARTIST: Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion
WORK: Rectangles and Circumstance [2:22]
RECORDING: Rectangles and Circumstance
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: https://sopercussion.bandcamp.com/album/rectangles-and-circumstance
9. ARTIST: Mdou Moctar
WORK: Takoba [3:53]
RECORDING: Funeral for Justice
SOURCE: Matador Records
INFO: https://mdoumoctar.bandcamp.com/album/funeral-for-justice
8. ARTIST: Amaro Freitas
WORK: Uiara (Encantada da Agua) - Vida e cura (Life and Cure) [3:55]
RECORDING: Y'Y
SOURCE: Psychic Hotline
INFO: https://amarofreitas.bandcamp.com/album/yy
7. ARTIST: Mabe Fratti
WORK: Enfrente [4:04]
RECORDING: Sentir que no sabes
SOURCE: Tin Angel Records
INFO: https://tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sentir-que-no-sabes
6. ARTIST: Alice Zawadzki, Fred Thomas, Misha Mullov-Abbado
WORK: Gentle Lady [4:44]
RECORDING: Za Górami
SOURCE: ECM Records
INFO: ecmrecords.com
5. ARTIST: Moira Smiley, Merrill Garbus
WORK: Go Dig My Grave [4:44]
RECORDING: The Rhizome Project Album
SOURCE: Whim Records
INFO: https://moirasmiley.bandcamp.com/album/the-rhizome-project
4. ARTIST: Laurie Anderson, Anohni
WORK: India And On Down to Australia [3:51]
RECORDING: Amelia
SOURCE: Nonesuch
INFO: https://laurieanderson.lnk.to/amelia
3. ARTIST: Mulatu Astatke & Hoodna Orchestra
WORK: Dun Gate [4:07]
RECORDING: Tension
SOURCE: Batov Records
INFO: https://mulatuastatke.bandcamp.com/album/tension
2. ARTIST: Jake Blount and Mali Obomsawin
WORK: My Way's Cloudy, feat. Joe Rainey [3:21]
RECORDING: symbiont
SOURCE: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
INFO: https://jakeblountmusic.bandcamp.com/album/symbiont
1. ARTIST: Lorelei Ensemble; Beth Willer, conductor; Christopher Cerrone, electronics
WORK: Christopher Cerrone: Steps 10 & 11- Very high waves [3:18]
RECORDING: Beaufort Scales
SOURCE: Cold Blue Music
INFO: https://cerrone.bandcamp.com/album/beaufort-scales
