blues | Pandaemonium

‘SCUSE ME WHILE I KISS THE SKY

September 19, 2020 by Kenan Malik

. A shorter version of this article appears in the Observer, 20 September 2020 It is one of the defining moments in the story both of rock and of black expression. Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock 1969, finishing his set by deconstructing the Star Spangled Banner. A black man on stage, claiming the anthem as his own, stripping it of its reverence, and, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War – in the midst of the song Hendrix recreated the sound of […]

Categories: Culture & Books • Tags: blues, eric clapton, jimi hendrix, mitch mitchell, music, noel redding, racism, rock, usa, woodstock

MAKE ME WANNA HOLLER

June 6, 2020 by Kenan Malik

I have published a similar post before, but this seemed a good time to resurrect it. The story of the struggle for black rights in America is intimately linked to the story of popular music. And this is a collection of 12 songs that span the past century and have acted as the soundtrack to the black struggle in America. It is largely chronological and reflects the shifts both in the struggle and in the music (as well as my […]

Categories: Culture & Books, International, Race & Immigration • Tags: african americans, america, anti-racism, black struggle, blues, ferguson, freedom struggles, george floyd, hip hop, jacob lawrence, jazz, police racism, r'n'b, racism, soul

TRACKS DISCOVERED IN 2018

January 19, 2019 by Kenan Malik

Not a compilation of my favourite music from 2018, but ten tracks from bands, singers and music that I discovered for the first time last year. Many I should have known about already, but I’m glad I’ve discovered now. And I might make this an annual post… . Driss El Maloumi, Imtidad (from the album Makan) Possibly my favourite discovery from last year. Driss El Maloumi is a Moroccan oud player, his style lyrical and haunting, melding classical Arabic and […]

Categories: Culture & Books • Tags: blues, music, oud

OTIS RUSH AND CHICAGO BLUES

October 5, 2018 by Kenan Malik

Last week Otis Rush, one of the legendary figures of Chicago blues, died. Not as well know as guitarists such as Muddy Waters and BB King, he was nevertheless probably more influential, especially on rock guitarists from Eric Clapton to Jimmy Page. Chicago blues came out of the Great Migration, when African Americans from the South moved to Northern cities. Through that migration, the Delta blues, which had originated in Mississippi in the 1920s and 30s, gave way, from the […]

Categories: Culture & Books • Tags: blues, chicago blues, music, otis rush

IRANIAN BLUES

July 25, 2015 by Kenan Malik

No, not a political post, but a musical one. I have only recently started listening to Iranian blues and jazz. There is here a wonderful store of music, both traditional and modern, beautiful and often haunting, related to, but different from, forms of Arab and North African blues and jazz. So, here is a compilation of some of my favourite singers, or at least those I have so far discovered. There must be countless artists that I should know about […]

Categories: Culture & Books • Tags: blues, iran, music

WISH I KNEW HOW IT WOULD FEEL TO BE FREE

June 27, 2015 by Kenan Malik

The story of the struggle for black rights in America is intimately linked to the story of popular music. And from Ferguson to Charleston, every recent conflict, confrontation and tragedy has brought to mind a particular song. So, here is a collection of 12 songs that have acted as the soundtrack to the black struggle in America over the past century. It is largely chronological and reflects the shifts both in the struggle and in the music (as well as […]

Categories: Culture & Books, Race & Immigration • Tags: african americans, america, anti-racism, black struggle, blues, freedom struggles, hiphop, jacob lawrence, jazz, music, r'n'b, racism, soul

THE KING MAY HAVE GONE, BUT THE THRILL REMAINS

May 17, 2015 by Kenan Malik

Everybody wants to know Why I sing the blues Well, I’ve been around a long time I really have paid my dues We are these days too often given to calling people great. BB King, who died last week, truly was a great. There are few musicians whose influence has been more significant, or whose style has shaped the playing of more musicians many of whom may also be called ‘great’ from Jimi Hendrix to Duane Allman, from Pete Green […]

Categories: Culture & Books • Tags: bb king, blues, music

DYLAN COVERED

December 28, 2014 by Kenan Malik

Bob Dylan’s forthcoming album, Shadows in the Night, will consist of cover versions of Sinatra songs. Which should be… interesting. But what of cover versions of Dylan’s own songs? Dylan has, of course, an incomparable back catalogue, and few modern songsmiths have been so covered by others. Dylan himself remains the best interpreter of his work: most cover versions are either too reverential or fail to capture the essence of the original. There have, however, been some outstanding reworkings of […]

Categories: Culture & Books • Tags: barb jungr, blues, bob dylan, jimi hendrix, music, nina simone, the band, van morrison

THE DEVIL’S TUNES AND THE MUSIC OF ANGELS

December 25, 2013 by Kenan Malik

The devil has the best tunes? Perhaps. But the music of angels can be damn fine too. So, here is a Christmas soundtrack splicing some of my favourite gospel tracks with songs in which the devil pops up (most of which derive, of course, from the blues/gospel tradition). For the music of the angels I could easily have created a whole soundtrack simply of Mahalia Jackson songs, but I have restricted myself to just two, which open and close the […]

Categories: Culture & Books • Tags: blues, gospel, music, religion

BAD WEATHER BLUES

May 26, 2013 by Kenan Malik

A weekend of glorious sun in London and I’m almost nostalgic for the misery of the previous eight months of rain and hail and wind and fog. More than once during that time I was reminded of the T-Bone Walker song: They call it Stormy Monday But Tuesday’s just as bad. They call it Stormy Monday But Tuesday’s just as bad. Lord, and Wednesday’s worse And Thursday’s all so sad. Not to worry, the rain returns tomorrow. So, in celebration […]

Categories: Photos • Tags: bad weather, blues, canada, london, photos, rockies, scotland, skye, yorkshire

THE WEARY BLUES GO FORTH

January 27, 2013 by Kenan Malik

Last month, in The Weary Blues, I set out my 20 favourite blues tracks, mainly from the Mississippi Delta and Chicago, the two traditional homes of the blues. Over the past half century the blues have travelled well beyond their origins and become anything but traditional. So here is a brief attempt to trace that journey. As ever, this is a personal, eclectic, even eccentric collection. There are 20 tracks split into three groups. The first group comprise singers whose […]

Categories: Culture & Books • Tags: blues, mali, music, world music

THE WEARY BLUES

December 27, 2012 by Kenan Malik

. I have lately been re-reading a lot of Langston Hughes, one of the great figures of the Harlem Renaissance. I had forgotten how much I liked his poem ‘The Weary Blues’: . Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other night By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway. . . . He did a lazy […]

Categories: Culture & Books • Tags: blues, langston hughes, music