Dec. 30—Country music singer Lorrie Morgan will perform at 7 p.m. Feb. 10 at the RiverPark Center.
Morgan is the first woman in country music to begin her career with three consecutive platinum albums. She is working on a new album with producer Richard Landis.
Grae Greer, marketing director for the RiverPark Center, said Owensboro has hosted Morgan in the past.
“She is an incredible artist who has won a multitude of awards,” Greer said. “She is a powerhouse of a performer.”
Greer said the center is trying to “diversify” the acts that perform there.
“Any time there’s someone new or different, it’ll spark interest for those who haven’t been attending performances,” she said.
The RiverPark Center is excited for Morgan to be back in Owensboro, Greer said.
“She did really well here, and a lot has changed for her as a performer,” she said. “We’re excited to bring back those who have seen her and those who wouldn’t be able to see her unless she’s in town.”
The classical music concert dais poses a lot of challenges to artistes. They are expected to constantly raise the bar. Singing niravals, kalpanaswaras, or a ragam-tanam-pallavi (RTP) with intricate rhythmic patterns are time-tested ways to showcase one’s creativity.
However, those who come to concert halls for sheer enjoyment look for songs that are simple but linger on in the mind and heart. These are the ‘tukkadas’.
The practice of singing the thevaram, divya prabandham or pasuram, which date back to the 7th and 8th centuries, was popular because bhakti dominated the kutcheris and there was no time constraint. Also, the concerts were not confined to halls. As the concert format evolved, these pieces were pushed to the concluding section.
Bombay Sisters – C. Saroja and C. Lalitha at The Music Academy’s 87th Annual Conference and Concerts in Chennai, held in 2013.
| Photo Credit:
GANESAN V
During the 2013 music season, vocalist Kiranavali Vidyasankar, who loves to delve deep into all aspects of compositions, presented a lec-dem on ‘Traditional Tukkadas’. Her presentation included Tyagaraja’s Divyanama and Utsava Sampradaya keerthanas, Annamacharya’s sankeertana, ashtapadi, tarangam, Dasara pada, javalis, kavadi chindu, and more. Did you know that the kavadi chindu ‘Kannan varugindra neram’ was by Oothukkadu Venkatakavi.
Small piece, big impact
But why did these songs with fine aspects of musicality and lyrical beauty come to be known as ‘Tukkadas’, which means small piece in Hindi?
“A small piece doesn’t mean trivial. Tukkadas are as rich and musical as the main numbers in Thodi, Kalyani or Kamboji,” says vocalist Radha Bhaskar, who along with her mridangam artiste-husband Bhaskar runs Mudhra, an organisation to promote classical music. In 1999, they had organised a Tukkada Festival in which veteran vocalists Bombay Sisters Saroja and Lalitha performed an exclusive tukkada concert. Mudhra revived the idea this year and ran a series of tukkada concerts by young artistes. “The limited concert time today does not offer musicians the opportunity to explore the immense variety of tukkadas. So, we came up with this unique concept,” says Radha.
Popular vocalist duo Ranjani and Gayathri presented a lec-dem on ‘Leveraging the tukkada’ at The Music Academy in 2018 and spoke about how they prepare for this section. Their rendering of viruthams and abhangs are enjoyed by the audiences. They build the sangatis in abhangs gradually, sing the alapana as in khayals in Hindustani music and take the climax to a dramatic finish.
Madurai Mani Iyer during a concert.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
In the past, many legendary musicians structured their kutcheris in such a way that they could accommodate at least four to six tukkadas after the main piece. People waited for ‘Eppo varuvaro’, ‘Vellai thamarai’ and ‘Kandhan karunai puriyum’ in every concert by Madurai Mani Iyer. He also popularised Muthiah Bhagavatar’s ‘English Note’ so much so that it came to be known as the ‘Madurai Mani note’. G.N. Balasubramaniam’s lilting, fast-paced presentation of ‘Radha sametha krishna’ (Mishra Yaman) and ‘Dikku theriyada kaatil’ in Ragamalika were much looked forward to at his concerts.
MAHARAJA SWATHI THIRUNAL
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
As a contrast, K.V. Narayanaswamy’s vilambakala or slow-paced pieces such as ‘Varugalamo’ by Gopalakrishna Bharati (Manji), Purandaradasa’s ‘Jagadoddharana’ (Kapi) and ‘Eppadi manam thunindhadho’ from Arunachala Kavi’s Rama Natakam, set to tune by his guru Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar in Husseni, were major attractions. Who can forget his sedate ‘Ali veni yentu cheyvu’, a Swati Tirunal padam in Kurinji?
Thanjavur Sankara Iyer during his lecture-demonstration on the fusion of devotion and art in Tamil songs at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, T Nagar, in Chennai on August 14, 1991.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
While D.K. Pattammal included the medium-paced ‘Eppadi padinaro’ (Karnataka Devagandhari) and ‘Naan oru vilaiyattu bommaiya’ (Navarasa Kannada) apart from many patriotic songs by Subramanya Bharati, her sibling D.K. Jayaraman added compositions of his contemporaries such as ‘Nekkurugi’ (Abhogi) and ‘Nambikkettavar’ (Hindolam) by Papanasam Sivan, and ‘Mahadeva siva shambo’ (Revathi) and ‘Ranjanimala’ by Thanjavur Sankara Iyer. “He had enough songs, even in Sindhu Bhairavi, to choose from such as ‘Vaa vaa vaa murugaiya’ (Gomathi Ramasubramanian), ‘Karunai deivame’ (Madurai Srinivasan), ‘Gangadeeswaram’ (Guru Surajananda), and ‘Manadirkugandhadhu’ (Thanjavur Sankara Iyer),” says his senior disciple Dr. S. Sunder.
The variety in M.L. Vasanthakumari’s post-tani session consisted of interesting collections of Dasara padas and tarangams, among others. For the evergreen ‘Baro krishnayya’ by Kanakadasa set in Ragamalika, and ‘Muralidhara Gopala’ by Periyasamy Thooran in Maand, the ugabhoga and shlokam preceding them gave her fans the hint of the songs.
Meera Bhajans, songs from Tamil epics (Vadavariyai Matthakki from the Silappadikaram), Annamacharya’s compositions such as ‘Cheri yashodaku’ and the most popular ‘Kurai onrum illai’ by Rajaji added colour to the inimitable M.S. Subbulakshmi’s concerts.
T. Brinda.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
Senior vocalist Rama Ravi traces the origin of these songs to the times when royal kingdoms ceased to exist, and the musicians relocated to various places for livelihood. “The concerts shifted from the courts to the stage and needed to be re-structured to present a variety in a limited time. Musicians with a dance background such as the duo, Brinda and Mukta (from the illustrious Dhanammal family), introduced padams and javalis, which were usually a part of dance performances, in their vocal concert,” she says.
Rama points out how musicians such as Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, who is credited with creating the kutcheri format as we experience today, tuned verses from bhakti literature such as Andal’s Tiruppavai pasurams and presented them in concerts.
“Not only music concerts, short pieces such as Bharatiyar’s ‘Theeradha vilaiyattu pillai’, which offers enough scope for abhinaya, were introduced in dance performances. Even thillanas such as Veena Seshanna’s composition in Thodi later gave way to those in ragas such as Desh for enhanced appeal,” says Rama Ravi.
Portrait of poet Subramania Bharati.
| Photo Credit:
THE HINDU ARCHIVES
According to senior veena artiste Kalyani Ganesan, “After the tani avartanam that involves intricate arithmetic calculations, these creatively presented viruthams come as a breather.” She recalls how once during a concert, after a grand tani, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer said, “Marandhu poche” (I’ve forgotten), and even as the listeners wondered, began to sing Bharati’s ‘Aasai mukham marandhu poche’.
Music composer Papanasam Sivan.
| Photo Credit:
R.K. SRIDHARAN
“Thillanas give an enticing finishing touch to a concert. But for instrumental music, we prefer well-known songs that can be easily identified by listeners. Just because these songs do not have alapana or kalpanaswaras, they are not less important,” says Kalyani, who usually concludes her concerts with Papanasam Sivan’s ‘Karpagame kann parai’ in Madhayamavati, as an offering to the goddess of Mylapore.
Creatively composed thillanas
Violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman. Photo : Special Arrangement
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
While Lalgudi Jayaraman had an amazing variety to offer in this section with lovely interludes such as the one at ‘Pinnalai pinnindrizhuppan’ in ‘Theeratha vilaiyattu pillai’ and his own thillanas, M.S. Gopalakrishnan used to present pieces in ragas such as Darbari Kanada and Hamsanandi with touches of the Hindustani style. The latter, along with vocalist S. Kalyanaraman, used to render ‘Hari gun gavat’, a Meera bhajan set in the raga Dipali to the delight of connoisseurs.
Any regular concert-goer during the Music Season will remember T.N. Krishnan’s ‘Jingle bells’ on his Christmas day concert at The Music Academy, as the penultimate tukkada as well as his ‘Sri Venkatagirisam’ (Surutti).
Today a lot of contemporary verses with social messages are also being included in the tukkada portion. T.M. Krishna set to tune and sang a kavadi chindu on Babasaheb Ambedkar, written by Perumal Murugan.
Though there are a wide variety of tukkadas to present in the post-tani session, not many artistes strive to make this an exciting part of the concert. Maybe because, the duration of Carnatic concerts have shrunk. But when sung in madhyamasruti, and in ragas such as Nadanamakriya, Chenchuruti, Brindavani, Madhuvanthi, Desh and Bageshri, the ‘small piece’ can become the pièce de résistance.
T.N. Krishnan, Viji Natarajan, Sriram Krishnan, during their concert at The Music Academy, Chennai on December 25, 2008.
| Photo Credit:
GANESAN V
Any regular concert-goer during the Music Season will remember violin maestro T.N. Krishnan’s ‘Jingle bells’, the penultimate tukkada in his Christmas day concert at The Music Academy
Pop star Jony (Jahid Huseynli) will thrill his Baku fans in the
summer, Azernews reports.
The singer will perform at Sea Breeze Resort on June 24,
2023.
In July 2022, Jony’s solo concert was a huge success at the Sea
Breeze Resort.
Jony is a Moscow-based performer born in Baku. He became famous
in Russia and the CIS countries after the mega-hit Alley.
In December 2019, he became the winner of the Breakthrough of
the Year nomination according to VKontakte and the BOOM music
service. In 2020, Apple Music named his track Comet among the most
popular songs in Russia.
Over the past years, the singer has taken part in multiple music
projects, including the Zhara Music Festival.
Jahid Huseynli was named best at the Bravo International
Professional Music Awards 2022. His song Comet was named Song of
the Year according to the Bravo Awards.
He also won a prize (Best Artist Award) at New Radio Awards
2021, which brought together Azerbaijani and Russian pop stars.
In 2021, the singer was named best in the Best Song category at
MUZ-TV 20/21. World Beginning. He won the prize for the song
Comet.
In 2022, Jony won the Golden Gramophone Award, one of the main
awards in the Russian music industry since 1996.
The pop star received his first Golden Gramophone for the song
“Titles”, which became an absolute record holder at Russian Radio
Hit Parade.
Hailing from Leuven, Belgium is a new musician called Koné. The singer-songwriter and producer has just released his second single “Deeper Sound”.
“Deeper Sound” is a contemplative piece telling the story of a boy who, feeling uncontented with life, seeks a deeper meaning.
Koné expounds, “Since I’ve really gotten into meditation life has become a lot about listening to my inner voice and living as one with the universe. For me ‘Deeper Sound’ is the representation of this moment where you realise there is so much more potential in life and you start working on yourself and your passions.”
Musically, the track sounds percussion-heavy and eclectic. It comes laced with intoxicating African rhythms. “Deeper Sound” offers a great and introspective listen.
In the eyes of Founder and CEO of Malbork Designs Daniel Fajkis, the luxury lifestyle sector is one of boundless potential and innovative product development. Malbork Designs manufactures premium, high-end audio systems unlike others on the market.
His journey in the audio industry began four years ago. “I’d always been fascinated with music and acoustics, so I decided to start my own business,” says Fajkis. “There is a niche market for high-end audio out there — similar to watches and cars, there are connoisseurs for expensive audio.” Impassioned by his niche interest, he conceptualized a super-futuristic, ultra-modern audio system with unprecedented quality.
“The problem is you can’t see sound,” he continues. “You can’t measure the sound of a speaker over your computer. This is something different — a unique level of audio that, ‘if you don’t hear it in person, you don’t even know exists.’”
Incomparable to a standard box speaker, Malbork audio systems are made entirely of aluminum, weighing roughly 123 pounds a piece. They showcase very complex geometry and attention to detail and are designed to double as works of art, conversation-starters, or “statement pieces” for wherever they are on display.
For Malbork Audio, the most vital aspect of his business is meeting in person with clients and investors. Here are three of his go-to spots for wining and dining his business associates.
Daniel Fajkis
Daniel Fajkis
BoatYard
One of Daniel’s favorite go-to restaurants is BoatYard, a breathtaking waterfront restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, the yachting capital of the world. BoatYard offers diners a refined, upscale atmosphere that’s both classy and laid back. BoatYard serves food to guests aboard their docked yacht which includes freshly caught seafood, a premium raw bar, and locally sourced ingredients. With the slogan “Eat Local, Be Coastal,” much of its seafood is caught by local fisherman.
An avid lover of seafood and sushi, Daniel finds that every dish on the menu never fails to impress himself or his clients. His favorites include the Pan Roasted Chilean Sea Bass with black garlic soy glaze, coconut scented rice, and panca tomato broth and the Grouper Piccata with wilted spinach, cured tomato, caper berries and lemon chardonnay butter. The restaurant also features impressive seafood towers and sharable dishes like the Yellowfin Tuna Tacos with mango-jicama relish and the Charred Spanish Octopus with cauliflower purée, wilted escarole, onion duo, blistered tomato and pancetta chimichurri.
Seafood Tower
BoatYard
Cars and Coffee at Prestige Imports
Most often Daniel meets his clients and investors at spaces that embody their shared passion. One of the best places for this is at the Cars and Coffee event at Prestige Imports. Located in North Beach Miami, Prestige Imports is a dealer of used premium vehicles and luxury exotic assets.
Cars and Coffee is a get-together put on by Prestige Imports, connecting some of the finest supercar enthusiast in the South Florida area for networking, storytelling, and car enthusiasm — all taking place at the break of dawn. With a buzzing atmosphere, the Cars and Coffee experience evokes a sense of professionalism and zeal. It’s an event meant mingling, enjoying the morning air, and admiring supercars. Daniel’s morning drink of choice here is the macchiato.
Supercar Rooms Miami
Supercar Rooms Miami
Supercar Rooms Miami
For a more formal dining experience, Daniel takes investors to Supercar Rooms Miami. Located on the edge of Wynwood, this opulent automotive venue takes a creative approach to socializing and entertainment, showcasing dinner parties stylized to fit the supercar theme of the day.
Each event at Supercar Rooms Miami is dedicated to mouthwatering food, lively music, and luxury supercars. They often feature high-end artwork, ambient lighting, and unforgettable experiences for guests. Daniel recommends to clients his favorite culinary masterpiece: chocolate dessert sprayed with Ferrari Red edible paint. For entrepreneurs with an affinity towards luxury vehicles, there is no better place to leave clients with a long-lasting impression than at Supercar Rooms Miami.
Apple isn’t exactly new to the audio space. The iPod first got MP3 players into a wider audience’s pocket, and the iPhone has been built from the ground up to have music as a central part of the user experience.
Over the years Apple’s weight in the audio arena has become massively influential. Its massive AirPods headphone line of super popular in-ear and over-ear options are everywhere, its Music streaming app is the second-largest in the world with an estimated 85 million subscribers (opens in new tab), and even new Macs from the MacBook Air M2 to the Mac Studio have built-in high-impedance headphone jacks for weirdos like me to listen to our high res music through.
Why, then, was 2022 so disappointing on the audio front?
There have been new headphone launches like the AirPods Pro 2, announcements around new Apple Music features like Apple Music Sing, and the afore-mentioned new Macs catering to music professionals. But it’s less about what did happen, and more about what didn’t happen. The things that Apple promised that have never been delivered. 2022 was a year in Apple audio of ‘come on, Apple’ rather than a year of ‘yes, thank you Apple!’
As the year draws to a close and 2023 looms, it’s time to look back on the highs and lows of 2022 — and the many Apple goodies apparently waiting to serenade our ears over the next 12 months.
2022: the year of not very much
(Image credit: Gerald Lynch / Future)
Ok, so what did we actually get from Apple this year? The biggest thing that Apple gave us where the AirPods Pro 2, the latest in the AirPods family.
The buds offer vastly improved noise canceling over the previous model, better find-my functionality, and better touch controls on the stems. It was a nice upgrade, with our Editor in Chief Gerald loving the new noise canceling in his AirPods Pro 2 review.
But they remain the same on the outside, with a very similar design to the outgoing model. Similar enough that if you didn’t tell your friends at football practice that you’ve got the older model and introduced them as the newer model instead, it’s likely they’d believe you.
Spatial Audio remains a strange experiment that leaves a weird taste in my mouth – and outright makes some music sound awful.
Apart from that? Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio continue to receive updates, which is fun if you like wearing headphones while you’re watching movies and TV. For music, Spatial Audio remains a strange experiment that leaves a weird taste in my mouth – and outright makes some music sound awful if it’s left on. There are now more Apple Music lossless tracks too, with more of that Hi-res lossless logo to be found on various songs. But support for the highest 24-bit 192 kHz bitrate remains spotty, with most tracks only available in 16-bit 44.1 kHz bitrate which, given Apple’s lofty goals, isn’t really good enough.
Apple’s promised/rumored 2022
(Image credit: Tammy Rogers/ iMore)
This year was supposed to be pretty great for Apple audio. While they were never actually promised, a new large ‘HomePod 2’ has been on the cards for a while and is still yet to show its face. There are the aforementioned lofty goals of Apple Music lossless that is yet to show any fruit, even though the likes of Tidal and even Amazon Music have far more comprehensive high-res lossless libraries that continue to grow as the services mature.
That’s nothing to be said of the aging AirPods Max, which continue to struggle to justify their large price tags, despite rumors that they would be receiving an upgrade this year.
In late 2021, Apple acquired a new classical music streaming app called PrimePhonic and promptly made the service unavailable.
Then there was the big one that everyone was looking forward to. In late 2021, Apple acquired a new classical music streaming app called PrimePhonic and promptly made the service unavailable on the app store.
Since then, more classical music has become available on Apple Music – but one thing that remains a swirl in Apple’s rumor mill is the arrival of Apple Classical, the dedicated classical music app that’s supposed to replace PrimePhonic.
Maybe we’re never getting it, and instead, PrimePhonic’s library has simply been added to Apple Music’s over the last 13 months. If nothing else, it is weird that we haven’t heard anything about it. Like, at all. It’s also, as with so many other branches of the Apple audio tree that’s been slowly drying out this year, incredibly disappointing.
Looking into 2023: What Apple could do
(Image credit: Apple)
While this year may have been boring and slightly disappointing, there are lots of exciting things that Apple might introduce in 2023. Rumours and promises that where never fulfilled this year could come to fruition in the next – so let’s see what those are.
Apple Classical: We’ve talked a little about it already, but the Apple Classical app could still launch. PrimePhonic had some great features, including the way in which it paid artists and composers through a pay-per-time listened payment model, instead of a pay-per-full song stream like other streaming services.
Given that classical pieces tend to be a lot longer, this model made more sense. Bringing this to a new app, or even building it into the existing Apple Music app, would benefit the musicians involved greatly.
Not only that but PrimePhonic had a search system tailored to the complexities of the classical genre, helping you find precise recordings of pieces by the greatest composers of all time. That’s lost until Apple re-instates the feature somewhere, e that in a new app or within the existing Apple Music service. This has been a long time coming, so hopefully, we’ll see it arrive sometime in 2023.
(Image credit: Tammy Rogers/ iMore)
The HomePod 2: The original HomePod is starting to get a little long in the tooth now, and some people’s devices are starting to show their age with software issues that somewhat dim the experience. One rumor that’s been floating around for some time is the release of the HomePod 2. We’re not expecting much of a redesign, but the potential for new Siri integrations and better sound quality are potential upgrades to the device.
The HomePod/Apple TV hybrid: The HomePod does now have the ability to link up to Apple TV to be used as a kind of cylindrical sound bar, with multiple speakers linking up for a surround sound analog. One of the most exciting rumors is the idea of an Apple TV and HomePod hybrid, combining the two into a device that can just slip under a TV and provide both a great Apple TV experience and improved TV sound. We heard about this one late this year, so we think we might see more in 2023.
An AirPods Max refresh: The AirPods Max have been around for a little while now, and they are well due an upgrade. They are one of Apple’s premium audio devices, and still look the part, but they don’t quite hold up anymore. Competitors from the likes of Sony and Bose have now started to overtake them in some key ways, such as noise canceling and even sound quality. Expect a slight cosmetic redesign, but also hopefully a look at the sound signature and the noise canceling performance. We all know what I want of course — proper support for Apple Hi-res lossless.
What we want most
More of this please Apple. (Image credit: iMore/ Tammy Rogers)
Ok, so those are what Apple might actually do… but what about the stuff we really want? Our (or in this case, my) Apple audio pipe dreams. Things I think Apple should do to really make them the tippiest top of the audio tree. They’ve got the tools dotted around various products: they just need to capitalize on them.
Steal some of the coolest Spotify’s features: I’ve already talked, at some length, about the features that Apple needs to nab from its rivals. While it’s better (in my eyes, at least) than Spotify in a range of ways, there are some fun bits that the green circle does better. Apple Music needs more fun gimmicks – think in-app round-ups at the end of the year like Spotify wrapped, or those fun song progress bars that come with big movie releases. I want a lightsaber progress bar when I listen to the Star Wars soundtrack, damn it!
(Image credit: Tammy Rogers/ iMore)
Support for true Apple Lossless in the AirPods line: So I know that there just isn’t the bandwidth in even the latest Bluetooth version to handle the high bitrates of the hi-res lossless ALACs that Apple Music hi-res lossless uses. Does that excuse the fact that Apple Music can’t pump those codecs down a wire for them to remain unmolested by a DAC in the AirPods Max? No, absolutely not.
With Apple’s most premium headphones I should be able to listen to Apple Music in its best form, even if there aren’t that many tracks that use the highest quality. If we’re truly praying to the audio gods for some more miracles, I’d love to see some audio black magic into getting those bit rates over a wireless signal. Who knows, Bluetooth might have a massive breakthrough next year, or Tim will sacrifice enough tributes for Apple and the dark audio forces to work something out.
Collate all your apps, Apple: I’ve always thought it weird just how different the audio apps in Apple’s repertoire are. The separation of my library from Apple music in the Apple Music app on my MacBook makes sense in that I can hop over to iTunes and buy tracks, but it feels very disjointed in app. When I click the artist’s name on an album in Apple Music, I am taken to their artist page so that I can see that artist’s page. When I do it in my library, I am — I have to click ‘view in Apple Music’ instead. It doesn’t feel slick and consistent with Apple’s usual attention to detail, with three different ways of doing something depending on where I am in the app.
Podcasts too – it’s a very useful app, but just merge it into Apple Music. It looks too different from Apple Music at the moment to feel like it’s part of a cohesive design language, and when Spotify lets you listen to all kinds of audio in one app, the separation feels weird. Bring it all together, Apple — simplify.
Persuade people to switch over: A streaming platform lives and dies by its userbase, and Apple Music’s still trails behind Spotify’s. I wondered what feature would make the Spotify faithful switch over? Make an Apple Music subscription much cheaper than Spotify premium? Give users the ability to transfer their playlists across services?
Is it likely we’ll see these features launch over? Perhaps not. Would they be fantastic additions? Absolutely yes, and they may even get some more users across.
The final word
(Image credit: Tammy Rogers. iMore)
All in all, Apple has some work to do. 2022 has been disappointing from an audio perspective, with empty promises, rumors and little innovation. Sure, a new product in the AirPods Pro 2 — but launches have otherwise been threadbare, and it’s started to feel a little like audio has been mostly ignored by Apple this year.
2023 is a new year, and should bring loads more new features, however. There is plenty of reason to be hopeful — there are loads of new products rumored that Apple may announce, from that HomePod/TV combo to new AirPods Max.
So while 2022 may not have been the year that audio fans have been waiting for, or even expecting, a more robust product line up in 2023 would be music to our ears.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – It is family and faith that’s fueling the dreams of country music artist Brei Carter. After the release of her debut album, Carter sat down with WSMV 4′s Marius Payton to discuss the obstacles she faces as not only a woman in country music, but a woman of color in search of country music stardom.
Brei Carter is what you get when musical passion and opportunity collide. She’s a rising African American country music hopeful who’s all in on pursuing her dreams to make it big.
“It’s something burning deep within. I’ve always loved country music and faith has always been huge for me.” Carter said.
She has had to lean on faith. They say being a woman in country music is tough. But being a black woman in country music is an obstacle she’s found rooted in race.
“People aren’t just people. People see color. So that’s where it’s kind of like a shock because people don’t look at the voice or who I am. The inner and what they see. They look at what’s on the outside and that’s kind of been a struggle,” Carter said.
But Carter is used to hard times. She enlisted in the Army, graduated college and was commissioned as an officer. She credits the military for the tough skin. And her songs are a way to release some of the pain. The single “Stronger Than That” from her debut album “Brand New Country” tells the story of her life.
Carter is a child of the divorce in a small Southern town. She had to hold on to hope and find grace in a hurricane.
“This music is not just about me. Stronger Than That is someone else’s story. I tell stories. I want to empower people. I want to uplift people.” Carter added.
Charlie Pride was the man Carter idolized for as long as she could remember.
“I just knew someday I would meet him, but unfortunately he passed away.” Carter said.
Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline are also idols. Darius Rucker and Jimmie Allen are current artists she listens to. And just like the struggles Rucker and Allen had as black artists breaking through country music barriers, Carter is up for the challenge.
“You have to believe in yourself because there’s going to be a whole lot of naysayers. You can’t do that. You’re not good enough. You’re not capable, but if I let that rule who I am, I will succumb to what they think I will become,” Carter said. “But I’m so much more than that. I’m stronger than that.”
She tells Payton she’s up at 4:30 every morning, strumming the guitar and preparing for her day.
She also works a full-time job in the medical industry to pay for the music. She says country music is in her blood.
“All the Names of God at Once,” the hypnotizing debut solo album from Little Rock astral soul singer-songwriter Joshua Asante, isn’t out until late January, but there is a chance for you to get an early listen. Asante will perform the record during a show Friday at White Water Tavern in Little Rock.
Blcvck Spvde of St. Louis and Little Rock electronic musician Yuni Wa will open.
Asante, frontman for Amasa Hines and Velvet Kente, began work on the record in late 2019 with the idea of rolling it out in 2020. Care to guess what happened next?
“I had in my mind that I’d get these songs together. I’d started touring solo, and I thought that at the top of 2020 I’d go out and play these songs,” Asante says with a chuckle.
Of course, the pandemic prevented any touring or shows for a while. “There are probably half a billion stories like that from pre-covid life, of musicians and artists who thought they were going to do something,” Asante muses.
Something positive came from the delay, however. The record, which comes out Jan. 28 on Asante’s Quiet Contender label, was initially planned as a quickly recorded project. With more time on his hands, Asante began to tinker with the album, with help from Zachariah Reeves who played bass and keyboards and contributed to the production.
[RELATED: Live Music in Arkansas for New Year’s Weekend]
“We recorded at the chapel behind Fellowship Hall Sound,” he says. “As the virus proliferated, we ended up sort of mixing and overdubbing on it for the next year and a half. So it sounds like an expensive record, but the primary capital investment was time … . Having that time changed the shape of the record. It made it an album.”
The result is a dreamy, atmospheric album that calls to mind TV on the Radio, Radiohead and Alabama Shakes. There are forays into jazz, electronica, rock, soul and ’80s synth pop, all highlighted by Asante’s passionate and intense vocals.
“Seen It, Say It,” an album highlight that Asante calls his best composition, features saxophonist Stuart Bogie, a member of New York-based afro-beat group Antibalas who also played on TV on the Radio’s “Return to Cookie Mountain” and has recorded or performed with the Hold Steady, Run the Jewels, Arcade Fire, Amy Helm, Adia Victoria, Taylor Swift and more.
Joshua Asante (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Joshua Asante)“I sent him the song to put some clarinet on and he made such a lush orchestration, I have to credit him for a greater contribution because of how diligent he was with this one song,” Asante says.
There’s also an undeniable spiritual element to the record, whose title was inspired by the Saul Williams song “All John Coltrane’s Solos at Once.”
“I was like, if you’re trying to create a mental framework around all of his solos at once, you’re trying to hear all of the names of God at once,” Asante says. “The way [Coltrane] worked, he was trying to pronounce all he understood about creation, the creator, the creators and divinity. I scribbled those thoughts down, and they stayed with me as a common thread from a philosophical standpoint.”
Lyrically, Asante is influenced by things like “Blade Runner,”http://www.bing.com/news/”Dune,” Black speculative fiction and the sci-fi novels of Octavia Butler. “Everybody Gets Used,” the album opener, reflects these touchstones and sets the tone for the record, he says.
“This notion of like, you’re in a car and it’s a scene in ‘Blade Runner’ but there are actually Black people there. Or you’re on Arrakis [from ‘Dune’] and there are Black people among the Fremen. I wanted the rest of the record to pan out from there.”
Joining Asante onstage for the Friday album show will be Reeves, Seratones drummer Jesse Gabriel and bassist Corey Harris.
It’s become fairly common for musicians to perform entire albums in concert, though Asante’s approach of presenting an unreleased work is unique. We were wondering, though, what album would he like to see played live in its entirety?
“Oooooo, damn. I almost said [Radiohead’s] ‘In Rainbows,’ but I’ve watched [the concert video] ‘From the Basement,’ like, 1,000 times. I think I’d go with ‘Black Up,’ by Shabazz Palaces. That would be tight.”
Joshua Asante
Opening acts: Blcvck Spvde, Yuni Wa
8:30 p.m. Friday, White Water Tavern, 2500 W. 7th St., Little Rock
I can’t believe we are through with another year. And what a year it was, It saw me complete my goal of one post for every day of the year and it saw me start and still not finish the massive Jeff Scott Soto Series. I still have about 6 months to go on that one. Crazy. It saw some struggles as I had a minor surgery but the two week recovery was hard and then I got sick and was miserable for another two weeks and that put a massive damper on my enthusiasm for writing. For October, I barely wrote anything. Thankfully, I keep ahead so it had no impact on my readers, you probably didn’t even notice, but for me, it was hard. But we are way past that now and all is good.
With the Soto series and the Scorpions series, I actually didn’t spend much time with new releases, but I did have a bunch that I liked and wish I spent more time with. So, we are going to go through the Top 10 Rock Albums of 2022 and of course there will be some honorable mentions, a worst of album and some of my favorite Non-Rock albums. Sit back, grab a cup of coffee if it is morning, or a beer if it is any other time of day…and enjoy!!
#10 – HALESTORM – BACK FROM THE DEAD: Lzzy Hale and the boys are back from the dead and they are rocking the hell out of you with this one. With the title track, then “Wicked Ways” and “The Steeple”, they showed they mean business and are carrying the torch for rock. Listen to this and you know Rock Ain’t Dead!! And if you want more great ones, I really like “Psycho Crazy” and the ballad “Raise Your Horns”…oh sooooo good!!
#9 – H.E.A.T. – FORCE MAJEURE: I thought there last album was amazing with Erik Gronwell on vocals, but Erik left and is now with Skid Row who also released an album this year. Original H.E.A.T. lead singer, Kenny Leckremo, returned and they released another stellar release. I like it way better than the new Skid Row…sorry Erik. Such stellar tracks as “Back to the Rhythm”, “Nationwide”, “Tainted Blood” and “Demon Eyes” to only name a handful.
#8 – STARCRAWLER – SHE SAID: This L.A. pop/punk, rock band exploded on to the scene a few years back and with their new release they caught my attention. What a great record. I love lead singers, Arrow de Wilde’s vocals as she has such a great tone. They even played our local record shop, Repo Records, a couple months back. I really enjoy “Roadkill”, “Stranded” and “Broken Angels”. This is not something I would typically listen, not sure why, but wouldn’t. However, there is something about them that drew me in and never let go.
#7 – ELLEFSON/SOTO – VACATION IN THE UNDERWORLD: The first four songs on this thing are just brutal with the title track, “Like a Bullet”, “Sharpen the Sword” and “The Reason”. A totally killer opening set. But it doesn’t wane from there. It is more heavy guitars, bass and pounding drums. An assault on the senses and you won’t press charges. Jeff Scott Soto is vicious in his vocal attack and Ellefson shows he means business. A welcome new project from Soto.
#6 – ALDO NOVA – THE LIFE & TIMES OF EDDIE GAGE E.P.: Now, this is a 10 song set so not really an E.P., however, the full album is over 20 songs and two CD set and hasn’t been released yet. This was a sample of the Rock Opera that Aldo has in store. This 10 song set sat in my CD player and long time and got played a lot!! I find that the story is great of a guy who sold his soul for rock & roll and what happens to him. Great song such as “Hey Ladi Dady”, ‘Free Your Mind”, “King of Deceit” and “On the Way to the Psycho Ward” were all fantastic and told great stories…Aldo release the whole thing NOW!!!
#5 – BILLY IDOL – THE CAGE E.P.: What two E.P.’s in a row, come on they aren’t albums. So what, they are great. Now Billy’s is only 4 songs, but they are great. The title track, “The Cage”, “Rebel Like You” and “Miss Nobody” are all great Idol tracks and shouldn’t be missed. But “Running from the Ghost” is the prize on this one as it is Billy at his best and being introspective on his life and he expressed it perfectly in a song. We might not get albums from him as he seems to like this whole E.P. every year kind of thing. And I’m okay with that if they are as good as this.
#4 – LIT – TASTES LIKE GOLD: This for me was my Summer album as it was a total blast and a great reminder of everything I loved about Lit. It is all right here. Go sit by the pool and crank this baby!! So many great songs including “Yeah Yeah Yeah”, “Mouth Shut”, “Do It Again”, “Kicked off the Plane” and “The Life That I Got”. And that is only part of them. I really awesome blast from the past and glad they are back in full form.
#3 – SHINEDOWN – PLANET ZERO: Shinedown are back with another concept album, but for me, it was the songs and not the concept even though it is a good concept about not losing our humanity or bowing to the chaos of life. A 2LP set full of 20 tracks they rock especially “Planet Zero”, “Daylight”, ‘Dead Don’t Die” and one of my favorites, “A Symptom of Being Human”. If you like Shinedown at all, then this is a must pick up as it will rock you hard as Brent Smith is at his best vocally.
#2 – SCORPIONS – ROCK BELIEVER: Wow!! Did the Scorpions come out of nowhere with their best album in decades and that isn’t an exaggeration. They brought back their old school 80’s rock sound and in a big way. Klaus’ voice just gets better an dhow is that for someone who has been doing this for 50 years! It’s insane. Check out such great songs as “Gas in the Tanke”, “Rock Believer”, “Shining Of Your Soul”, “Seventh Sun” and “Peacemaker”. This one blew me away with how good it turned out to be. Totally unexpected and totally welcomed!!
#1 – GHOST – IMPERA: Tobias Forge just keeps bringing it album after album with Ghost. Impera is no different although it is. I like the Ghost sound as it is metal, it is 80’s rock, it is arena rock and even pop all rolled in to one. How he does it, we don’t know just glad he does. This album is now the first Ghost album I have bought and now as a result I am starting to get all the rest so that should tell you something. The best tracks are “Kaisarion”, “Call Me Little Sunshine”, “Hunter’s Moon” and “Darkness at the Heart of My Love” and I could list more but you get the point. Tobias has made me a believer in Ghosts. He can haunt me always now.
HONORABLE MENTION:
In no particular order…
Ozzy Osbourne – Patient Number 9: Ozzy shouldn’t be putting albums out this good this late in his career, it is unheard of. This time around he had a lot of guest guitarist including Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Zakk Wylde and Tony Iommi. My favorite tracks were “Immortal”, ‘No Escape from Now, Patient Number 9 and most especially Degradation Rules. It made honorable because I think I liked his last one a little more (if only slightly).
Hollywood Undead – Hotel Kalifornia: After 8 albums, this rap metal, rap rock band out of L.A. is still bringing the aggressive music to the masses. I don’t know why I love these guys so much, but I guess it is because I like the aggressiveness of the lyrics and the music. I need a release. Love to listen to them while I’m driving. They keep their greatness going with this one with songs like “Chaos”, “World War Me”, “Ruin My Life” and “City of the Dead” to name a some. Worth checking out.
The Alarm – Omega: Mike Peters is ill and has been pumping out music. He has done 6 albums in 6 years and all of it has been quality material. He is having a rather prolific moment while he battles chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. Whatever the reason for this output, as fans we are reaping the benefits. I wish him all the best and hope he beats it and is around for years to come. Thanks for all this great music!! On this one I really like “Protect and Serve” and “We Got This” along with “Still Unsafe” and “Gods and Demons” plus many more. This one just missed the Top 10.
Def Leppard – Diamond Star Halos: Def Leppard finally bring us a new album some 7 years after their last one. Is this their best, not by a long shot, but I enjoyed it immensely this year. Any time I can get new music from them, I’ll take it. There were a lot of good songs including “Take What You Want”, “Kick”, “Fire It Up”, “Open Your Eyes” and my favorite “Liquid Dust”. They had moments of all their albums on here and I think that is why I liked it. Didn’t love it, but it deserves an honorable mention at the very least. Glad to have it.
Megadeth – The Sick, The Dying and The Dead: I was never a big Megadeth fan, but with their last album Dystopia, that changed and has continued with their new album. I find these last two to be more accessible for people like me and it has me even interested in their back catalog as well. My favorites on this album are the title track plus “Life in Hell”, ‘Night Stalkers (with Ice-T)” and “We’ll Be Back”.
MACHINE GUN KELLY – MAINSTREAM SELLOUT: How the hell did this get nominated for a Grammy as Best Rock Album. Proof one that the Grammy’s have lost touch with all reality. This is so not rock and is completely unlistenable. It sounds like a bad Blink 182 ripoff. Total trash. What do people see in this garbage??? The best songs on here are NONE!!!
I always like to mention the albums I liked this year that wouldn’t be listed in the rock label. Here they are…
Richard Marx – Songwriter: What I loved about this is how Richard had 5 songs that were pop, 5 that were rock, 5 that were country and 5 that were ballads. They funny thing is there isn’t much difference between any of the sounds, but just enough to make that categorization. Whatever he wants to call them, for 20 songs, there were so many great songs on here including “Moscow Calling”, “Same Heartbreak Different Day”, “One Day Longer”, “Believe in Me” and “We Are Not Alone”. There are more but I need to write about the other albums now.
Will Hoge – Wings on My Shoes: I am a huge fan of Will. I have all his albums and saw him in concert this past year as well. He can’t really do any wrong for me. And his new album did not disappoint. I really loved his dig at Trump with “Whose God Is This?” and live it was even better. The other new songs that were worth grabbing are “John Prine’s Cadillac”, “Queenie”, “All I Can Take” and “It’s Just You”. Do yourself a favor and check this man out.
James Bay – Leap: James Bay is a pop artist who has some rock tendencies at time. But I love his vocals and his style (I wish I could pull of that hat). This is his third album and he can craft a great, catchy song and again, that tone of his vocal just grabs me. A great pop singer and not a bad guitar player either. I really like “Give Me the Reason”, “Nowhere Left to Go”, “Everybody Needs Someone”, “One Life” and “Silent Love”.
Harry Styles – Harry’s House: Yes, I like Harry Styles, I can’t help. You have my Kids to thank for that. He is a great pop singer and has so many great songs that are like ear worms that burrow in to your head and you can’t get the song out of it. So many great tracks on here including the big hit “As It Was”, but I really love “Late Night Talking”, “Music From A Sushi Restaurant” and even “Little Freak”. He is doing something right!
Robbie Williams – XXV: Now this isn’t a typical album. It consists of all his classic hits newly orchestrated by Jules Buckley, Guy Chambers and Steve Sidwell, and re-recorded with the acclaimed Metropole Orkest. The copy I got came with a book and a bonus CD of 10 additional songs. I think he did a great job and reconstructing the songs.
Matt Nathanson – Boston Accent: This is a different album for Matt. It isn’t as pop as his earlier work. He is taking a slight turn and trying something a little left of center. He is keeping it fresh and trying to grow as an artist. The one thing the album hasn’t changed is his brilliant song writing and his lyrical phrasing as it always a delight. I really like “Picture”, “German Cars”, “Boston Accent” and “Beginners”.
And there you have it. All the albums I enjoyed in 2022. Some surprises for me and some that weren’t. I am glad each year we do get some great new albums to keep our listening pleasures fresh. It is nice to get new material from newly discovered artist or even from old favorites. Music is the always the best and can get you through any situation and why I love it so. Let me know what your favorites were for the year and tomorrow we will see what is coming for new music in 2023!! Can’t wait for that!!
Thanks for always stopping by and spending some time!!
Finding a way to be happy and so fulfilled despite the lurking dangers ahead, Harshini Magesh moves forward expeditiously and attempts to be so much better that yesterday on the stirring new single Seven.
Harshini Magesh is a passionate indie singer-songwriter who makes the kind of songs which will surely make the heart rather happy.
Projected like a young Queen who is working out her flight path, Harshini Magesh sings with so much joy on this tremendously meaningful soundtrack to life in this perplexing world.
Sevenby the promising indie singer-songwriter Harshini Magesh is a totally mesmerising performance from one of the more genuine vocalists imaginable. With a sweet sound and honest lyrics to feel nourished by, this is the story of finding your way in this confusing world. Sung with so much poise and precise timing, we find a young artist who is finding her wings rather quickly.
Knowing who you really are takes many years of deep thought and life experiences to figure out, after all.
