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King Cabbage Brass Band – a New Orleans-styled group based in Tulsa – has released their first album: ‘Live at Cain’s Ballroom.’ On the new radio program airing this week, I’m playing the wonderfully funky track “Kings & Queens.” It’s an original composition written by King Cabbage Brass Band leader Greg Fallis, and performed by Fallis, Nicholas Foster, Jordan Hehl, Dave Johnson, Ryan Hatcher, Bishop Marsh, Andy McCormick, Kristin Ruyle, Dylan Ward, and Isaac Washam. NPR Music featured a video of the band playing this song on their Live Sessions pages. You can check it out right here too! Go to the Listen page in our main menu for direct links to live-streams of the program on three NPR stations: Thursdays at 3 pm (Central) on KAMU in College Station, Texas; Saturdays at 7 pm (Pacific) on KPBX in Spokane, Washington; and Sundays at 6 pm (Central) on KWGS in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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On the radio program airing this week I’m playing the song “Chaque jour nouveau” by the trio Meïkhâneh from Rennes, France. It’s a wonderful song from their latest album ‘Chants du dedans, chants du dehors / Songs from Inside, Songs from Outside’ released by Buda Musique / Cas Particuliers / Socadisc. The song features Meïkhâneh ideoband members Maria Laurent on vocals and banjo, Milad Pasta on riqq – a Persian frame drum related to the tambourine, and Johanni Curtet on the morin khuur – the two-stringed horsehead fiddle from Mongolia. He also performed the Mongolian overtone singing heard in the latter part of the song. As it says on their website about their unique sound, “Meïkhâneh’s compositions are fed by imagination, improvisation and traditional music from Europe, Mongolia and Iran.” You can see the trio performing the song in this video below, which was recorded live in the studio.

Go the Listen page linked in the menu to find out how you can hear the radio program on three NPR stations this week!

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On my special program that airs this weekend in celebration of Indigenous People’s Day, I’m playing the wonderful song “Immutaa” by Beatrice Deer and her band. She is an Inuk-Mohawk artist who grew up in the remote village of Quaqtaq in northern Quebec Province. I chose the song for its lively beat and the interesting throat-singing style that Beatrice uses in it, but as I did more research about Beatrice and this song, I thought it would be nice to share the fun video she made for “Immutaa.” It turns out that “Immutaa” is a traditional Inuk children’s song and the lyrics for it are basically random words tossed together that don’t really make sense. It’s one of those classic children’s nonsense songs, the likes of which can be found in cultures all around the world. Take a few minutes to watch the video, which was filmed in her hometown of Quaqtaq and features her own children as well as other young folks from her community. You can also read an interview at the Audiofemme website that Alexa Peters did with Beatrice Deer in which she talks more about the song, as well as her background and the album on which the song appears, My All To You. Enjoy!

(Note: if you go to the video on YouTube, you can see more info and full credits for it as well.)