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In this issue:
1. Charlie Gillett: an update
2. RIP: Cheiki Remitti, Hamza el Din, Desmond Dekker
3. Events: live & radio
4. Libya
5. Online Music sources
6. African CD bargain
 

1. CHARLIE GILLETT: Thanks and best wishes

Readers of this website or the newsletter know how often I’ve recommended Charlie Gillett’s long-time Radio London (BBC) weekly radio show, “Sound of the City”. The show is available on the Internet, for a week; I never miss it. Most recently, the previous issue of this newsletter (www.to-music.ca/newsletter_11.htm) announced that Charlie’s “Radio Ping Pong” guest for that week was Toronto’s K’Naan – a singer whom Charlie has enthusiastically been playing and recommending for a few months.

Ironically, Charlie just announced this week, that due to health reasons the May 13 K’Naan show was his last, and he is giving up the show permanently.

I had been concerned in the last few weeks while listening to the show, to hear a brief note that Charlie would not be on as he was ill. So, now having some information – directly from him – is in itself good news. However, he is suffering from an auto-immune condition that has seriously affected his legs and feet, and is concentrating on recovery. He does hope to keep up another, less challenging show, and maintain in some form his excellent website... see links below.

I wish him all good luck and a quick and I hope a full recovery. I will miss his show greatly; although I had lost “contact” with him for many years, I first began enjoying Charlie’s knowledge and love of music in 1972 when I read his seminal book on the evolution of rock & roll from American regional music, Sound of the City.

Thanks, Charlie and best wishes.

For more of my personal appreciation of Charlie Gillett, see www.to-music.ca/charlie.htm. It also includes a number of links about and by him. Or go to www.charliegillett.com and explore!

Note: His announcement about his health and "retirement", and readers' many wishes and comments: http://tinyurl.com/myneq

Finally, many of Charlie’s best shows are archived on two websites (the list of shows on each site aren’t identical):
   ... his own site  (under the Mondomix Archives tab)
   ... the Mondomix site has some addtional shows: http://www.mondomix.com/en/radios.php
 Some of his notable shows featured guests like Hugh Masakela, Mavis Stapes, Mariza, Djelimady Tounkara, Waldemar Bastos and many others.

2. RIP
Three major international artists died recently:

a) Cheikha Remitti

A huge figure in Algerian rai over her 70 year(!) career, she also took new -- and large and courageous -- steps for a woman in a tightly conservative male environment, she died on May 15 at the age of 83.

She played Harbourfront in 2002.

Read some of her amazing story on the Mondomix site: http://mondomix.com/en/portraits.php?artist_id=183&reportage_id=183

An excerpt:
"Singer of the misty dawns full of the cabaret smoke of endless nights, Cheikha Rimitti, the defiant night bird, was a wonderfully indecent elderly lady. A mythical figure of Raï music with an extravagant personality, her story was that of her country, Algeria. A woman of infamous bars, moments of glory and fallen angels, the most extraordinary tales are told about her. She died of a heart attack in 2006, having celebrated her 83rd birthday a week before."
 

b) Hamza el Din

A ground-breaking figure in the very early world music scene, he brought Nubian music to the West in the 1960's and 70's, but he was a true "World Music" figure, describing himself as "Nubian-Egypto-Sudanese-Italo-American-Japanese. I've lived in all those places".

He died May 22, at the age of 76. See an obituary here: http://www.folkloreproductions.com/Html/dinbio.html
 

c) Desmond Dekker

"Wake up in the morning / Slavin' for bread sir" (And, until now, I wasn't quite sure what that second line said). Who doesn't immediately hear in their head, his great song "Israelites"?

After announcing the news of his death, Matt Galloway on CBC Radio played that song and said, "You could play that song 1000 times in a row; I'd never get tired of it". Dekker was 64. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5018910.stm

"Global Village" on CBC Radio Saturday, June 3 includes tributes to Dekker and Hamza (as well as news about new fighting in Tinariwen's hometown in Mali).

3. EVENTS
I've now posted the longest event listing ever on the website. Check www.to-music.ca/events.htm. Also see this week's NOW "Hot Summer Guide" http://www.nowtoronto.com/hotsummer/

A very few highlights include:
 - "Horn of Africa" concert re-broadcast on CBC this Sunday (June 4)
 - Lots of festival links...
   ... kicking off with the annual Muhtadi International Drum Festival http://muhtadidrumfest.com this weekend
 - Afrofest launch June 9
 - Sun Ra Orchestra Jun 8-11
 - Njacko Backo CD Release, Jun 16
 - Solomon Burke, Etta James, Neville Brothers, Seu Jorge and lots more this month alone.

John Leeson
www.to-music.ca

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