Cosmochemistry: The Melting Pot of The Elements (repost)

Da Lata's highly anticipated fourth album Birds is a genre busting journey through London Afro-Brazilian soul music. The most homogeneous Da Lata record to date, Christian Franck has honed his craft and expanded his art to create a glowing testimony from the melting pot of the capital's musical life. Gathering his family of collaborators with diverse musical backgrounds in soul,jazz,and gospel as well as African and Brazilian forms, Birds is an album that finally lays waste to that tired idea of World music. There are tracks that are inspired by Chris' journeys to the source, there are elegant horn and woodwind arrangements recorded in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, there are lyrics in different tongues, but this is a London record.

Ian Dury, like Ray Davies and Paul Weller was a very English talent. The colorful, metropolis-inhabiting characters like Billericay Dickie or Plaistow Patricia he sung about, and the ever so cockney music hall accent he chose to sing in, were a big part of that. But mostly, it was the detailed, poetic way he cataloged English life and the melting pot of musical styles he used to do so, from punk and funk to jazz and rock'n'roll, which left no doubt that Dury's work could only come from one place: The very heart of England. So few were surprised when after his death Sir Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Madness and more all lined up to pay their respects with cover versions of some of his best loved songs. You'll find plenty of them here, in their original versions, culled from his entire career from the mid-'70s with pub rockers Kilburn & the High Roads through the golden years with the majestic Blockheads right up to the last studio recordings at the start of the '90s. 2 CD set is comprised of 34 tracks. Music Club. 2005.

In the melting pot of Venice, trade is God. When the gold is flowing, all is well. But when a contract between Bassanio and Shylock is broken, simmering racial tensions boil over. A wronged father and despised outsider, Shylock looks to exact the ultimate price for a deal sealed in blood. Polly Findlay directs this Royal Shakespeare Company production of Shakespeare's uncompromising play with Makram J Khoury as Shylock, Patsy Ferran as Portia and Jamie Ballard as Antonio.

In the melting pot of New York, Salsa has achieved the dream of General Bolivar: "To unite under a single banner, in the heart of a single culture people as different as Colombians, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans". New York Salsa is a profoundly Latin music which has allowed these up-rooted communities to rediscover their cultural identity. Featuring performances by: Henry Fiol, Cuco Valoy, and José Alberto.

Ian Dury, like Ray Davies and Paul Weller was a very English talent. The colorful, metropolis-inhabiting characters like Billericay Dickie or Plaistow Patricia he sung about, and the ever so cockney music hall accent he chose to sing in, were a big part of that. But mostly, it was the detailed, poetic way he cataloged English life and the melting pot of musical styles he used to do so, from punk and funk to jazz and rock'n'roll, which left no doubt that Dury's work could only come from one place: The very heart of England. So few were surprised when after his death Sir Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Madness and more all lined up to pay their respects with cover versions of some of his best loved songs. You'll find plenty of them here, in their original versions, culled from his entire career from the mid-'70s with pub rockers Kilburn & the High Roads through the golden years with the majestic Blockheads right up to the last studio recordings at the start of the '90s. 2 CD set is comprised of 34 tracks. Music Club. 2005.