29 May 2008

Vienna Teng

A lot of us Stanford-types are fans of Vienna Teng. If you're in the area, she's performing in San Francisco this Friday and Saturday (details). Here are some of her songs you can dance to:

Waltzes:

  • Anna Rose (121 bpm) - Amazon, full preview on imeem
    A lovely cross-step.
  • Between (135 bpm) - Amazon, full preview on imeem
    Blue Caravan (136 bpm) - Amazon, full preview on last.fm
    A couple in-between tempo waltzes. You might slow "Between" down a tad for cross-step, or just deal with it (especially if you want to keep the title accurate). "Blue Caravan" might sound good sped up slightly to rotary tempo. I haven't actually danced to it yet.
  • Recessional (145 bpm, sort of) - Amazon, full preview on last.fm
    The tempo is approximate because it has a lot of fermatas and ritards and tricky things like that. Beautiful song, and a good challenge for paying attention to the music.
  • Drought (157 bpm) - Amazon, full preview on imeem
    An honest-to-goodness rotary waltz.

Rhumba:
  • Unwritten Letter (140 bpm) - Amazon
    Not being a rhumba-er myself, I'm taking this one on faith. :-)

In addition to the Amazon links above, some (but not all) of her albums are available on eMusic.

22 May 2008

Some Favorite Blues

I'm planning on going to Friday Night Blues tomorrow night. I haven't been before (since there are usually more convenient and more Graham-compatible dances on Friday nights) but I'm looking forward to it. So to get myself into the right frame of mind, here are a few blues songs I like:

  • Delbert McClinton - Everything I Know About the Blues (73 bpm) (Amazon | eMusic | Last.fm)
    One of the first blues songs I recall dancing to. It had me from the first line: "I learned to swim when Daddy threw me in the river."
  • Ike Turner - Cold Day in Hell (72 bpm) (Amazon)
    Seven minutes long and no vocals, but the instrumentation is fascinating.
  • Etta James - The Sky Is Crying (64 bpm) (Amazon | Last.fm)
    I've heard a few versions of this song, but this one is my favorite so far. I love it when her voice sort of goes underwater at the end of the scat section.
  • Celine Dion - Le Ballet (85 bpm) (Amazon | Last.fm)
    "The ballet is almost over, and real life will begin."

15 May 2008

Ray Bierl

I'm back from my latest travels, so here's some traveling music for you all. Ray Bierl (a member of The Hillbillies from Mars) came out with a great new solo album last year, entitled Any Place I Hang My Hat. It's full of songs, as he puts it, "about hitting the highway, riding the rails, lighting out for the territory," and is overall an excellent piece of work. I have several favorites, but for dancing, I recommend the following:

  • Down and Out (buy | listen) - Swing, 145 bpm.
    "Brother, can you spare a dime? Buck for a beer wouldn't be too bad...."
  • Tramps and Hawkers (buy | listen) - Moderate waltz, 137 bpm.
    Five minutes long, but worth it.
    "Like ghosts we roam without friends or home, these tramps and hawkers and me."
If you're in the Bay Area, there are lots of opportunities to hear him perform live as well.

03 May 2008

Redowa I

Apologies for the delay between posts -- Graham's been out of the country and work has been keeping me quite busy.

Notes on some of the redowa music from Richard Powers' Social Dance Discography:

E.S. Posthumous - Nara (152 bpm). You can hear a full preview on their website. If you've been to a Jammix or Friday Night Waltz you've probably heard this. It's a great redowa in terms of both tempo and musicality. I love the tension in the piece and the way it builds in great swells of music. The original, however, is almost five minutes long, which is tiring for a redowa. I'd suggest cutting it down to 3.5 minutes or less for social dancing, unless you have strong calves and good endurance.

Dae Jang Geum - Yun Bap (160 bpm). The link is to the CD on Amazon because I could not find anywhere to download an mp3, but you can find a WMA version linked from here. I first heard this song, which is from the soundtrack of the Korean TV drama Dae Jang Geum (or Jewel In The Palace), in Richard's "History of the Waltz" social dance class at Stanford. It has a fantastic percussion section which just begs for redowa. I spent hours and hours trying to track down an mp3 version online and eventually resorted to creating a membership on a special-interest "Asian OSTs" site so that I could access a private download link on their forum. I'd suggest using the WMA link above or asking me to send you the mp3 rather than duplicating my quest. But back to the song: it's quite dramatic and has cool eastern-sounding instruments that I can't identify (how crass).

The Corrs - Erin Shore (160 bpm). The "last waltz" at Jammix. This is the only full instrumental piece on The Corrs' album Forgiven, Not Forgotten, though it isn't the only waltz. It's based on a traditional Irish tune which is often sung with lyrics about "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore." I found a number of different versions of the lyrics online, but here's the chorus of the one I like best:

So, fare thee well my own true love
I'll think of you night and day
A place in my mind you will surely find
Although I am so far away
And when I'm alone, far away from home,
I'll think of the good times once more
Until I can make it back some day
Here to Paddy's green shamrock shore
Like both previous tunes, this needs a bit of editing to be good for dancing, as the original is over four minutes long. I think Richard cuts some of the build up to the extra-redoway drum solo.