Utah Phillips - We Have Fed You All A Thousand Years

"These are songs and stories of the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies), a union to which I have belonged for over forty years. Recorded live in front of a group of striking Telecommunications Worker s in British Columbia, this is what I wanted to sing and say about our working class culture and why we should teach, study, and cherish it all the time, using it to build class solidarity and a better future for all workers. By the way, these workers I was singing for really joined in, and they all knew what we were singing about too!"

Utah Phillips was an amazing advocate for workers' rights, and he made it his life's mission to keep alive the songs of the working class. Here, in his 1993 recording, he collected the songs of Joe Hill and others as preserved through the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Songbook. Folks interested in learning more about the plight of the labor movement, and the history of the songs that have accompanied it, would appreciate this well-performed collection.

Tracklist:

1	Boss	0:19
2	We Have Fed You All A Thousand Years	1:59
3	Sheep And Goats	1:02
4	Timberbeast's Lament	1:41
5	Dump The Bosses Off Your Back	4:15
6	Lumberjack's Prayer	1:48
7	Mr. Block	4:27
8	Preacher And The Slave	4:12
9	Popular Wobbly	2:04
10	Casey Jones	2:57
11	Where The Fraser River Flows	2:53
12	Bread And Roses	2:56
13	Joe Hill	4:14
14	Union Burying Ground	3:31
15	Two Bums	1:02
16	Hallelujah, I'm A Bum	5:28
17	Solidarity Forever	4:19
18	There Is Power In A Union	3:42

Here´s a link to a nachruf in german language:
http://www.linksnet.de/de/artikel/23569

Utah Phillips - We Have Fed You All A Thousand Years
(320 kbps, front cover included)

John Zorn - Kristallnacht (1993)

Today is the Holocaust Memorial Day, dedicated to the remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust. The chosen date is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by the Soviet Army in 1945.

This release documents an intense musical representation of Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, a coordinated attack on Jews throughout the German Reich that occurred on November 9, 1938, during which Nazis, SS members, and Hitler youth broke into Jewish homes and businesses, assaulting the people and their property. The official German report tallied 7,500 businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned (with 177 totally destroyed), and 91 Jews killed.

John Zorn has created a musical work that powerfully represents the different stages of this historical event. "Shtetl (Ghetto Life)" is beautiful yet apprehensive klezmer, interspersed with sound bites of German rallies and speeches that become more frequent, increasingly crowding the life from the music. This segues into "Never Again," which, Zorn warns in the liner notes, "contains high frequency extremes at the limits of human hearing and beyond, which may cause nausea, headaches and ringing in the ears." While nearly unbearable, it is a fitting sound representation of Kristallnacht, as thousands of layers of shattering glass assault the ears. "Never Again" is both effective and affecting, if you can listen. This onslaught is followed by the loud silence and emptiness of "Gahelet (Embers)," a walk through the immediate aftermath of wind, darkness, and destruction. Alley echoes are heard as sound is overwhelmed by a dread and horror beyond expressing, and no words can contain what might begin to form in the midst of shock. This is a heavy silence. Strings have gone haggard on the next composition, and from this point the album becomes less literal and explicit, moving away from poignancy and focus into more chaos.

Zorn's forceful undertaking is realized through the expert and passionate musicianship of violinist Mark Feldman, guitarist Marc Ribot, keyboardist Anthony Coleman, bassist Mark Dresser, and percussionist William Winant, as well as guest trumpeter Frank London and clarinetist David Krakauer.

Tracklist:

1	Shtetl (Ghetto Life)	5:51
2	Never Again	11:41
3	Gahelet (Embers)	3:25
4	Tikkun (Rectification)	3:02
5	Tzfia (Looking Ahead)	8:46
6	Barzel (Iron Fist)	2:01
7	Gariin (Nucleus - The New Settlement)	7:58

John Zorn - Kristallnacht (1993)
(320 kbps, cover art included)
               

Hugh Masekela & The Union Of South Africa - Same (1971) - Rest In Peace!

Hugh Masekela, the legendary trumpeter, composer, singer and anti-apartheid activist, lost his battle with prostate cancer for which he had been receiving treatment since 2008. “The father of South African jazz” as he had been dubbed, died on Tuesday, January 23 2018.

Hugh Masekela & the Union of South Africa is an inspired mix of soul, highlife, and even New Orleans jazz. This works excellently on the old-fashioned "Goin' Back to New Orleans" and the fast-moving "Ade" and "Dyambo" where horn lines, call-and-response singing, and funky guitars, together with African rhythms, create furious dance music. But some of the slower numbers seem to be left without direction, a fact that is only partly covered by Masekela's trumpet playing. The closing "Hush (Somebody's Calling My Name)," though, is a great exception to that, with simple basslines and chorus, and slow-building energy. But if the mix of cultural influences is the strength of Hugh Masekela & the Union of South Africa, it may also be the weakness of the album; the difference between the groove-based "Ade," jazzier numbers like "Caution," and African highlife songs like "Shebeen" and "Johannesburg Hi-Lite Jive" is so big you'd think they belong on separate albums, and they may not appeal to the same audience. Hugh Masekela & the Union of South Africa was originally released on Masekela's own label, Chisa, and was re-released in 1994 on Motown. 

Tracklist:

Goin' Back To New Orleans	5:07
Ade	3:47
To Get Ourselves Together	2:55
Johannesburg Hi-Lite Jive	3:57
Mamani	5:20
Shebeen	4:00
Dyambo	3:48
Caution!	5:45
Hush (Somebody's Calling My Name)	3:32

Hugh Masekela & The Union Of South Africa - Same (1971)       
(192 kbps, cover art included)   

Erich Kästner - Muttersohn im Vaterland

Erich Kästner (February 23, 1899 - July 29, 1974) was one of the most famous German authors, screenplay writers, and satirists of the 20th century. His popularity in Germany is primarily due to his humorous and perceptive children's literature and his often satirical poetry.

Kästner was a pacifist and was opposed to the Nazi regime in Germany. Unlike many of his fellow authors critical of the dictatorship, Kästner did not emigrate. The Gestapo interrogated Kästner several times, and the writers' guild excluded him. Fanatic mobs burnt Kästner's books as "contrary to the German spirit" during the book burnings of 1933.

"Muttersohn im Vaterland" is a literary and musical voyage through the time, life and dreams of Erich Kästner.

With it´s well selected collection of the satirists poems, notes and fragments of novels this lecture by Ulrich Ritter leads us authentic and in a high tempo through Erich Kästner´s world.

Erich Kästner - Muttersohn im Vaterland

(192 kbps, ca. 88 MB)

Mississippi John Hurt ‎– The Best Of Mississippi John Hurt - Ain't No Tellin'

No blues singer ever presented a more gentle, genial image than Mississippi John Hurt. A guitarist with an extraordinarily lyrical and refined fingerpicking style, he also sang with a warmth unique in the field of blues, and the gospel influence in his music gave it a depth and reflective quality unusual in the field. 

Coupled with the sheer gratitude and amazement that he felt over having found a mass audience so late in life, and playing concerts in front of thousands of people - for fees that seemed astronomical to a man who had always made music a sideline to his life as a farm laborer - these qualities make Hurt's recordings into a very special listening experience. 

"Ain´t No Tellin´" is a compilation album of live recordings from various performances.

Tracklist:

1	Rich Woman Blues
2	Trouble I Had All My Days
3	Chicken Blues
4	Coffee Blues
5	Monday Morning Blues
6	Frankie & Albert
7	Talking Casey
8	Here I Am, Oh Lord Send Me
9	Hard Times In The Old Town
10	Spike Drivers Blues
11	Candy Man
12	My Creole Belle
13	Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor
14	Shake That Thing
15	I'm Satisfied
16	Salty Dog
17	Nobody's Business
18	The Angels Laid Him Away
19	Casey Jones
20	Baby What's Wrong With You
21	Lonesome Blues

Mississippi John Hurt ‎– The Best Of Mississippi John Hurt - Ain't No Tellin' 

(320 kbps, cover art included)