Fusic ‘98 - 2013.

20.Aug.23.

Aug 20, 2023

Helloo🎶ooo🎵oo (I’m saying this the way Auntie Ayesha used to sing out).

I ain’t too long done re-reading The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon. A li’l, but powerful, book. I can well nibble it again-again, the way we does relish we favourite dish every now and then.

I first read the book at uni, in The Island, and I took it with me when I returned to my lovely native land. It was in this book, written in the 1950s, that I discovered fusic. A character in it, Big City, insisted on pronouncing music this way.

Fusic saved me. My then-not-so-Aged P. and I were going through the anger stage of grief after my father’s death. When I played fusic, calm flowed into the spaces in our big, ole family home.

I’d like to share with you this fusic, and I hope it fills you with the same joy it’s given us. I’ve kept the list to only CDs that I played, countless times, from ‘98 to 2013, until we finally left the home.

Let’s start with ghazals, music from my some of my ancestors’ land. (On another note, you won’t believe that there are people in Guyana who think that only those with lower intellect would listen to music from India. These snoots have no clue about the power, the history and beauty of raags.)

I reconnected with this beauty via the voices of two famous singers. Their CDs belonged to Auntie Amna who had migrated Abroad. Ohhhh maaaan, I wore those CDs thin until I sent them to my auntie Overseas -

Pankaj Udhas: the best of his songs. (Chandi haisa rang hai tera was my favourite of all.)

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: I don’t remember the name of the CD, it was a collection of his best songs. Sometimes, I’d only play Yeh jo halka halka surror hai (a song that’s 23 minutes and still doesn’t feel long enough).

A couple of years later, I discovered Saeeda Bai, a ghazal singer in the book A Suitable Boy. Yeah, yeah, she wasn’t real but in my mind, she was. I’d imagine her voice, the audience applauding, yelling wha wha. Then, by chance, I bought a CD of various ghazal singers and there it was, this live recording -

Fareeda Khannum: Aaj jaan kid ze na karo.

Aiyyye. Her voice, the way the audience carried on, I knew for sure that this was how it sounded when Saeeda Bai sang!!

Along the way, via films on tv, I came upon a new, exciting fusic. It was composed by the maestro himself, the one my best friend in the whole wide world describes as the Ravel of the East. Of course, I had to buy the CDs with the soundtracks composed by him -

A. R. Rahman:

Dil Seh

Taal

Zubeidaa.

Mm-hm…Indian films have given me…us, the world…some of the best songs. My sister in the US sent a double CD collection with hit tunes from Shah Rukh Khan’s films. My favourites -

Yeh Dil

Mere mehboob mere sanam

Do dil mil rahe hain magar chupke chupke.

And from my PankajUdhasFatehAliKhan Auntie came the CDs with the soundtracks from these films -

Parineeta

Umrao Jaan (the modern remake with Aishwarya Rai).

Aishwarya Rai was in another film so vapid, I don’t want to mention it, but that theme song was rosemantic to the last note. I just had to get that CD, Dil Ka Rishta.

A part of the film was made in South Africa, which reminds me of a CD I found in my mother’s small collection -

Miriam Makeba: Africa. Novus Series 70. (I danced my hips off to this.)

The African continent has produced some of the world’s best musicians yet we don’t hear them on our radio stations in Guyana. I discovered two musicians via a film, and mentioned them to Cousin Lis who promptly sent me these songs from the film -

I dreamed of Africa:

Obiero - Ayub Ogada (Kenya)

Ondiek - Ayub Ogada

Kel kweyo - Geoffrey Oryema (Uganda).

Knowing how much I enjoyed music from the African continent, my cousin sent the music of these brilliant Mali musicians -

Ali Farka Touré with Toumani Diabaté: In the heart of the moon.

Sunday to Sunday my mother wanted to hear this album. But Sunday was my reggae day when the house rocked to -

Tougher than tough: The story of Jamaican music

Bob Marley & The Wailers:

Confrontation

(My faves:

Nyabinghi

Stiff necked fools

Rastaman live up)

Jimmy Cliff: Higher & Higher. (Rebel in me was made for me!)

Fun fact: Jimmy Cliff stood right next to me at an open-air concert. This close. I could’ve put my arm around him. I gazed at him in awe. I wanted to greet him in Jamaican, in Arabic (salaam), and in Portuguese because he used to live in Brazil.

Hmmm…Brazil. Interesting how we can walk over to Brazil from Lethem; we mingle with Brazilians in Guyana, but we don’t hear many of their songs on our airwaves. One musician did come to town, and for a while, he was massive. My Brazilian neighbours across the road gave me his CDs -

Pepe Moreno: O cantor do risca faca. Vols. 1 & 2. My two fave tracks were Risca faca and Psiu.

When I wanted to mellow down, I’d play these classics from Brazil -

Jobim: (you probably know these tunes):

Corcovado

Águas do março

Só danço samba

Garota de Ipanema - (better in Portuguese, trust me).

On a Friday evening, I’d relax with more Portuguese songs, but from Cabo Verde -

Cesária Évora: An entire collection given to me by a Moscow gal who used to live in Guyana. (I think everyone knows the song Sodade).

Cesária’s husky voice was perfect for our tropical Guyana evenings in that big, creaky house of ours. She set the mood for Saturday nights with -

Tracy Chapman:

Tracy Chapman

New Beginning

Lizz Wright: a collection of songs, gift from cousin. Whoa, these songs left me breathless -

Coming home

Hit the ground

When I fall

I fall to pieces.

After Lizz Wright, I’d skip over to Patsy Cline singing I fall to pieces…because heartbreak, even vicarious, sung in two styles is hard to resist.

When I was in a dancing mood, I’d spin Beyoncé: I am Sasha Fierce.

And when it rained like the sun won’t shine again, it was time for jazz & blues & soul -

Dinah Washington: Verve Jazz Masters 19

Best of the blues:

The Sky Is Crying ~ Elmore James
Farther Up The Road - Bobby "Blue" Shard
Spoonful ~ Howlin' Wolf
Fannie Mae ~ The James Cotton Bard
I'm A King Bee ~ Slim Harpo
Everyday (I Have The Blues) - 8.8. Kin
I'm In The Mood ~ John lee Hocker
Hold That Plane - Svady Guy
Big Boss Man - Jimmy Reed
I'm Your Hoochte Coochie Man ~ Muddy Waters

The best of John Lee Hooker - 1965-1974

Nat King Cole: Greatest hits, a double CD (sent to me by my sister-in-law, Ruth).

I’ve cleaned house, cooked, washed the dishes, danced, showered, played air guitar, sat in the verandah and stared at the sky with these -

Bruce Springsteen: Greatest hits

Billy Joel: Greatest hits

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Greatest Hits (our lawyer gave this CD to my mother who wanted to hear these often - Have you ever seen the rain and Who’ll stop the rain)

Cat Stevens: The very best of Cat Stevens

The Cream of Clapton (I wore these out - White room & Strange brew)

Eric Clapton: Unplugged

The best of Van Morrison: (the brown CD with the close up of the mic on the cover. How I loved Brown eyed girl, Cleaning windows, Bright side of the road, And it stoned me)

Rolling Stones: Tattoo you

U2: Zooropa

Pink Floyd: The dark side of the moon

The best of rock live: (I played these 1 million times - Frampton: I wanna go to the sun, Scorpions: In trance)

Queen: Made in heaven

Bryan Adams:

On a day like today

Unplugged

Cheryl Crow: Tuesday night music club

Sarah McLachlan:

Surfacing

Fumbling towards ecstasy

Solace

Enya:

Shepherd moons

A day without rain

Paint the sky with stars

Amrantine

Memory of trees

The very best of Enya.

Once, when my mother was overseas and I was alone, a flood swamped our area, then left behind layers of mud. I placed my ancient CD/boom box near the verandah door, and while I washed our yard with hose, brush, coconut broom and a bucket of water with Dettol, I played -

Katie Melua: A mixed CD given to me by an elderly uncle in London. (Nine million bicycles & If you were a sailboat were my go-to happy tunes.)

That’s it for now, m’dear. I only want to add: music for me is more than just a string of pretty sounds. It’s been my doctor, my guide, my travelling companion. It has removed physical borders and emotional boundaries, and has taken me into near and far-flung places, into homes. It transports me into the hearts of people whose songs, despite being sung in strange languages, have only one language - the language of humanity. Big City was right. It’s fusic.

S’all for now, friend. Have a lovely two weeks until next time. Take care of you. Eat well, hug your sweetheart (or pillow) and dance. Plenty luuuve, neena.