Tired of same ol' CD'd...

For Irish/Celtic, there's some great CD's like "Ceredwen: Legends of the Celts". Also, check out Clannad, The Chieftons, Enya, and The Pogues (great drinkin' music). There's also some really good "traditional/modern" Japanese music out there - don't have the right keys on the keyboard to give you a title. There is some cool world music out there but am not sure what style you're looking for. Just don't go raga man! - Tony

Buena Vista Social Club. Fun and more fun. Alchemist, by Plilp Pickett. Cool replication of 17th century and earlier. Most enjoyable. "Jazz Divas" Studio. So much, so few listening hours.

seek out the putumayo label for excellent caribbean/latin/african music. salif keita & youssou n'dour are among many great african singers. also try king sunny ade & chief commander ebeneezer obey. here's some great albums: bourbon & rosewater, w/vishwa mohan bhatt & jerry douglas - indian/american roots guitar, on water lily acoustics label; mondo beat - masters of percussion, on the narada label - lotsa great *world* percussion; mumtaz mahal - w/n. ravikiran, taj mahal, v.m. bhatt - more indian/american roots strings, on water lily acoustics label; manu dibango - wakafrika - world pop, on giant label; afro-cuban all-stars, on world-circuit/nonesuch label; olatunji! drums of passion, on columbia; steve riley & the mamou playboys - cajun, on rounder records; tito puente & eddie palmieri - masterpiece - latin, on rmm records; skip, hop, & wobble - bluegrass w/jerry douglas, russ barenberg & edgar meyer, on sugar hill records; ali farka toure w/ry cooder - talking timbuktu, african/american roots music, on rykodisc records; nusrat fateh ali khan & michael brook - night song - arab/african music (incredible synth-bass), on realworld records; taj mahal & toumani diabate - kulanjan - african/american roots music, on hannibal/rykodisc records. for celtic, try the chieftains, & the shanachie record label. also, the buena vista social club, (cuban) produced by ry cooder, is excellent, especially on vinyl! ;~) this is yust a taste! :>) regards, doug

Here are some great oddball CD's. Paul Winter and Friends "Celtic Solstice", 1999 Earth Music Productions, is recorded at St. Johns Cathedral NY with bagpipes and everything. "Kepa Junkera Bilbao" is available at Alula.com and is a double CD of Basque music and is a killer. Also Dudley Moore "Songs Without Words", don't knock it if you have not heard it - Moore is first rate on these instrumentals and is a classicaly trained pianist if you are not familiar with his musical talents - popular songs and very moving. These are all well recorded and engineered by the way.

When I'm in a music rut I go to Echoes.org. It is a radio show on NPR that has tons of new music. Since we don't have this program on NPR in the cultural-ridden Tampa Bay I use their website. Just about everything nentioned on these type threads is featured on ECHOES. I used to listen to this program format on WXPN in Phila. 20 years ago. and it is still going strong. Anyone else remember this?