10 songs that provide 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, known as Bitori, on stage with bass participant Danilo Tavares.

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of family members holiday seasons to Greece. These days Zorba’s Dance is undeniably a bit of a cliche, but when I listen to that sluggish bouzouki intro, I’m reminded of my father, who would put this LP on soon after drunken dinners and start dancing the sirtaki. I watched Zorba the Greek for the very first time through lockdown previous calendar year when I came throughout it in my dad’s DVD assortment. I was stunned by how much it afflicted me, making me pine for Greece – and for my father, who I realise seemed remarkably like Zorba (performed by Anthony Quinn).

Vuoi Vuoi Me by Mari Boine

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Sami musician Mari Boine on stage in Norway. Photograph: Gonzales Picture/Alamy

Womad has been the resource of so several of my musical introductions: it was there, in 2007, that I initial observed Mari Boine – the unofficial ambassador of Sámi audio – complete stay. It began a fascination with Sámi society and joik, the distinct guttural tune fashion of the indigenous men and women of northern Scandinavia. Quite a few yrs later I was invited to Kautokeino, way up past the Arctic Circle close to Boine’s property of Karasjok, for the Sámi Easter festival. It felt like a crash training course in all points to do with joik and reindeer, but it also gave me an a must have perception into Sámi record and the people’s romantic relationship with these who colonised their land. These times the Sámi have their individual parliament, flag and national day (6 February).

That is It! by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band

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Jazz at Preservation Corridor, New Orleans. Photograph: Alamy

Like a lot of some others, I noticed most of my vacation ideas scuppered final year, including a street journey from Nashville to New Orleans to coincide with the New Orleans jazz fest. The impetus for the trip had mostly arrive about while binge-watching the HBO sequence Treme. We’d compiled a playlist for our journey via Tennessee and Louisiana, but when it became apparent that our desire of visiting venues these as Preservation Corridor in New Orleans wasn’t going to transpire, we’d engage in it at household. This observe by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band generally lifts my spirits, gets me dancing and would make me lifeless set on rebooking our excursion as quickly as it’s safe and sound 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 music, steeped in saudade (nostalgia or longing). I could have picked any number of Cesária tracks, but when I frequented Santiago – premier of the Cape Verde islands – it was funaná that grew to become the soundtrack of my journey, blaring out of the packed alugueres (minibus taxis), current market stalls and bars. Funaná was banned by the Portuguese up until eventually 1975 as they feared the tunes in Creole were subversive and its frenetic dance rhythms immoral. Septuagenarian accordion player Victor Tavares, AKA Bitori, is the genre’s unlikely star, largely many thanks to singer Chando Graciosa who persuaded him to history this in 1997, and to Samy Ben Redjeb of Analog Africa, who rereleased it in 2016.

Practice Tune by Sakar Khan

1 of the most atmospheric competition areas I’ve visited is the Mehrangarh Fort, property of Riff – the Rajasthan Global Folk Pageant, held each and every October through the harvest moon in Jodhpur. This colossal red sandstone edifice reverberates with the audio of Rajasthani folk musicians these kinds of as Manganiyar legends Lakha Khan and the late Sakar Khan, masters of conventional bowed, stringed devices the sindhi sarangi and the kamayacha. Riff is a comprehensive-on immersive working experience and to do it justice, a specified stage of endurance is required as live shows start off at dawn, carry on by means of the heat of the day, then continue on extensive into the night time. Every time I listen to the rasping seems of these historic instruments, I’m instantly transported back to Jodhpur.

St Thomas by Sonny Rollins

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The Jazz a Vienne festival, France. Photograph: Alamy

A person of the positive aspects of researching French and German (in those joyful EU days) was remaining equipped to shell out a 12 months as an English language assistant in a university in Vienne, just south of Lyon. Soon after my stint training, I volunteered at Jazz à Vienne, a fantastic two-week jazz pageant held in the town’s Roman amphitheatre. I returned each summer season during the early 1990s, earning lifelong close friends and obtaining a crash program in jazz in the procedure. Over the several years I saw outstanding artists, such as Ray Charles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, and Sonny Rollins, who continues to be just one of my favorite sax players. The experience became the foundation for my like of audio from close to the globe and my work now.

The Plateau by Jenny Sturgeon

I have constantly located consolation in walking, and very last calendar year it took on even increased significance. So between lockdowns, my lover and I headed up to the Cairngorms to do some mountaineering. Just ahead of our trip I received Jenny Sturgeon’s musical tribute to Nan Shepherd’s e book about the Cairngorms, The Dwelling Mountain. Every single hike we embarked on would reveal different landscapes – and every single style of weather conditions imaginable. Back again in London, listening to Jenny’s album provides again memories of all those mountains, in particular listening to the chook track on this opening monitor, as Jenny sings: “Step on action, foot by foot, we wander that’s how we know, as a result of the heather and the mud, the plateau ringing as a result of our blood.”

Count Your Blessings by the Como Mamas

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Porto Covo seaside, Alentejo. Photograph: Alamy

Just one of my European competition highlights in new years was FMM Sines, held on Portugal’s wild and somewhat untouristy Alentejo coastline, in the cities of Porto Covo and Sines. A genuinely calm, welcoming vibe permeated the opening weekend in the seaside vacation resort of Porto Covo, wherever a mixture audience of locals and travellers congregated in the principal sq.. The Como Mamas, from Mississippi, ended up mysterious to me, but turned out to be a revelation. As the a few singers took to the stage, the ambiance reworked into a thing resembling a devoted congregation at a gospel accumulating. Considering that then, Count Your Blessings has turn out to be a mantra, specially very last 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

1 of the points I sorely miss throughout these socially distanced moments is those people random conversations you strike up with total strangers more than a pint. There is nowhere greater to do this than in Dublin, particularly in 1 of the city’s a lot of tunes pubs, these kinds of as The Cobblestone or O’Donoghue’s. I have not been lucky more than enough to see the Irish singer Lisa O’Neill at a session, while she was apparently a frequent in pre-Covid instances. The mix of chat, beer and audio is excellent and I just can’t wait to revisit.

La Grande Folie by San Salvador

Most of the travelling I do as editor of Songlines is to festivals all over the environment, and 1 of the matters I most appreciate about them is the communal listening expertise. There’s a thing visceral about listening to songs getting carried out are living with other people all around you. For me, San Salvador properly encapsulate this emotion. A sextet from Saint-Salvadour in south-west France, they sing in Occitan. There is a authentic physicality to their music and something exceptionally powerful about the blend of voice and percussion. They usually finish their sets with La Grande Folie – a track that resonates with these ridiculous situations.

• San Salvador are due to perform at Songlines Encounters Festival at Kings Area in May possibly (Covid allowing)