10 songs that carry back memories of my travels: Jo Frost’s playlist

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Zorba’s Dance by Mikis Theodorakis

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Cape Verde accordionist Victor Tavares, recognized as Bitori, on phase with bass player Danilo Tavares.

Some of my fondest childhood reminiscences are of loved ones holidays to Greece. These days Zorba’s Dance is undeniably a bit of a cliche, but when I listen to that gradual bouzouki intro, I’m reminded of my dad, who would put this LP on following drunken dinners and start off dancing the sirtaki. I viewed Zorba the Greek for the initially time throughout lockdown very last year when I arrived throughout it in my dad’s DVD assortment. I was shocked by how much it influenced me, generating me pine for Greece – and for my dad, who I realise appeared remarkably like Zorba (played by Anthony Quinn).

Vuoi Vuoi Me by Mari Boine

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Sami musician Mari Boine on phase in Norway. Photograph: Gonzales Image/Alamy

Womad has been the supply of so numerous of my musical introductions: it was there, in 2007, that I initially saw Mari Boine – the unofficial ambassador of Sámi audio – carry out stay. It begun a fascination with Sámi lifestyle and joik, the unique guttural tune design and style of the indigenous folks of northern Scandinavia. Various several years later on I was invited to Kautokeino, way up past the Arctic Circle in the vicinity of Boine’s house of Karasjok, for the Sámi Easter pageant. It felt like a crash class in all items to do with joik and reindeer, but it also gave me an priceless perception into Sámi record and the people’s connection with people who colonised their land. These times the Sámi have their personal parliament, flag and nationwide day (6 February).

That’s It! by the Preservation Corridor Jazz Band

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Jazz at Preservation Corridor, New Orleans. Photograph: Alamy

Like many others, I observed most of my vacation designs scuppered past 12 months, which include a highway trip from Nashville to New Orleans to coincide with the New Orleans jazz fest. The impetus for the journey experienced largely arrive about although binge-observing the HBO series Treme. We’d compiled a playlist for our journey as a result of Tennessee and Louisiana, but when it grew to become apparent that our desire of visiting venues these as Preservation Corridor in New Orleans was not likely to happen, we’d enjoy it at household. This observe by the Preservation Corridor Jazz Band normally lifts my spirits, will get me dancing and would make me useless established on rebooking our journey as before long as it’s safe to do so.

Bitori Nha Bibinha by Bitori

The most internationally celebrated artist from Cape Verde is the late Cesária Évora, the doyenne of morna songs, steeped in saudade (nostalgia or longing). I could have picked any quantity of Cesária tracks, but when I frequented Santiago – greatest of the Cape Verde islands – it was funaná that became the soundtrack of my vacation, blaring out of the packed alugueres (minibus taxis), sector stalls and bars. Funaná was banned by the Portuguese up until eventually 1975 as they feared the songs in Creole had been subversive and its frenetic dance rhythms immoral. Septuagenarian accordion participant Victor Tavares, AKA Bitori, is the genre’s unlikely star, mainly many thanks to singer Chando Graciosa who persuaded him to file this in 1997, and to Samy Ben Redjeb of Analog Africa, who rereleased it in 2016.

Coach Track by Sakar Khan

A person of the most atmospheric festival areas I’ve frequented is the Mehrangarh Fort, property of Riff – the Rajasthan Global Folk Pageant, held each Oct for the duration of the harvest moon in Jodhpur. This colossal red sandstone edifice reverberates with the audio of Rajasthani people musicians these kinds of as Manganiyar legends Lakha Khan and the late Sakar Khan, masters of traditional bowed, stringed instruments the sindhi sarangi and the kamayacha. Riff is a complete-on immersive expertise and to do it justice, a specified stage of endurance is required as concert events start off at dawn, have on by means of the heat of the working day, then keep on very long into the evening. Any time I listen to the rasping sounds of these ancient instruments, I’m quickly transported back to Jodhpur.

St Thomas by Sonny Rollins

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The Jazz a Vienne festival, France. Photograph: Alamy

1 of the added benefits of finding out French and German (in those delighted EU times) was being equipped to spend a year as an English language assistant in a university in Vienne, just south of Lyon. After my stint educating, I volunteered at Jazz à Vienne, a excellent two-week jazz competition held in the town’s Roman amphitheatre. I returned each summer all through the early 1990s, earning lifelong friends and getting a crash system in jazz in the method. Above the yrs I saw unbelievable artists, such as Ray Charles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, and Sonny Rollins, who continues to be one of my favourite sax players. The encounter turned the basis for my like of audio from about the world and my function now.

The Plateau by Jenny Sturgeon

I’ve often discovered ease and comfort in strolling, and past calendar year it took on even increased significance. So involving lockdowns, my spouse and I headed up to the Cairngorms to do some mountaineering. Just before our journey I received Jenny Sturgeon’s musical tribute to Nan Shepherd’s guide about the Cairngorms, The Dwelling Mountain. Each individual hike we embarked on would expose unique landscapes – and every style of weather conditions imaginable. Back in London, listening to Jenny’s album brings back memories of individuals mountains, primarily hearing the chook track on this opening keep track of, as Jenny sings: “Step on phase, foot by foot, we wander that is how we know, through the heather and the mud, the plateau ringing via our blood.”

Rely Your Blessings by the Como Mamas

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Porto Covo beach front, Alentejo. Photograph: Alamy

Just one of my European festival highlights in modern a long time was FMM Sines, held on Portugal’s wild and somewhat untouristy Alentejo coastline, in the cities of Porto Covo and Sines. A really relaxed, pleasant vibe permeated the opening weekend in the seaside vacation resort of Porto Covo, where a combination audience of locals and travellers congregated in the primary square. The Como Mamas, from Mississippi, were being mysterious to me, but turned out to be a revelation. As the three singers took to the stage, the environment remodeled into something resembling a devoted congregation at a gospel accumulating. Considering that then, Depend Your Blessings has turn out to be a mantra, specifically final 12 months.

Pothole in the Sky by Lisa O’Neill

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Irish musicians at O’Donoghue’s pub, Dublin. Photograph: Hugh Reynolds/Alamy

A person of the issues I sorely pass up for the duration of these socially distanced situations is all those random conversations you strike up with comprehensive strangers about a pint. There’s nowhere better to do this than in Dublin, in particular in a single of the city’s quite a few new music pubs, this kind of as The Cobblestone or O’Donoghue’s. I have not been fortunate ample to see the Irish singer Lisa O’Neill at a session, even though she was apparently a regular in pre-Covid moments. The mix of chat, beer and music is excellent and I can not wait to revisit.

La Grande Folie by San Salvador

Most of the travelling I do as editor of Songlines is to festivals all-around the earth, and 1 of the items I most take pleasure in about them is the communal listening encounter. There’s a little something visceral about listening to songs getting done stay with other persons all-around you. For me, San Salvador flawlessly encapsulate this sensation. A sextet from Saint-Salvadour in south-west France, they sing in Occitan. There is a real physicality to their audio and something very highly effective about the mixture of voice and percussion. They always complete their sets with La Grande Folie – a song that resonates with these insane times.

• San Salvador are due to perform at Songlines Encounters Competition at Kings Location in Could (Covid allowing)