Markus Görsch Podcasts
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Guedra Guedra a.k.a. Abdellah M. Hassak is a musician and producer from Morocco who explores the nomadic tribal cultures of North and West Africa, tracing the tracks from thousands of years of migration to crossroads of traditions where the continent’s music blossomed.
The sounds that form the backbone of the debut album Vexillology come from a library of field recordings. Choirs, flutes, string instruments; the sound of fire and cicadas; a riff consisting of looped bird sounds; hands clapping and feet stomping.
In this episode, Guedra Guedra talks to Markus Görsch about the process behind this highly imaginative collection of dance tracks. -
One of Iran’s most important musicians and composers, Kayhan Kalhor was born to Kurdish parents in Teheran and already as a thirteen-year-old found himself playing in the National Radio and Television Orchestra.
At the age of seventeen his career was abruptly interrupted by the Iranian Revolution. Alone, with nothing but a suitcase and his favourite instrument – a kamancheh – he escaped to Europe and later to North America.
Since then he has become an internationally acclaimed soloist and collaborator with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble, the Kronos Quartet, the New York Philharmonic and many others.
In this interview, Kayhan Kalhor talks to Markus Görsch about tradition and innovation, about language, love and revolution. -
The composer and multiinstrumentalist Lea Bertucci works with a combination of performance and sound installations. Alto saxophone and bass clarinet are her go-to instruments, but flutes, organs, and field recordings also play important roles.
In 2021 she released A Visible Length of Light, an album that emerged out of a turbulent year in the USA. The beauty of the American landscape – beaches, mountains and prairies – is reflected in the compositions. But you can also hear the cities, desolate in lockdown, or as scenes for revolt and chaos. The feeling of alienation in one’s own native country hangs like a shadow over the music.
In this episode, Lea Bertucci talks to Markus Görsch about the physical and social geography of her home country – and about the idea of nature and how to make music inside a giant German bridge. -
At the beginning of the 20th century, the taarab music of Zanzibar was revolutionized by the singer Siti Binti Saad. In stark contrast to previous versions, hers was an improvised people's music with lyrics in both Arabic and Swahili. As the first female superstar of the genre, Siti Binti Saad also paved the way for coming generations – one of them being her great granddaughter Siti Muharam, who is bringing new life to the old songs on a much acclaimed album called Siti of Unguja.
In this episode, Markus Görsch is joined by Siti Muharam as well as oud player Hassan Mahenge and Pete Buckenham of the record label On the Corner. We'll hear about the process behind this album and about Siti Binti Saad's importance for the music of Zanzibar. -
Moroccan singer and master of several string instruments Majid Bekkas is one of the foremost modern gnawa musicians. He is also one of the genre's superspreaders to the west through his collaborations with jazz legends such as Archie Shepp and Pharaoh Sanders. And lately, he has been playing with the Magic Spirit Quartet alongside Swedish trumpeter Goran Kajfeš and others. In episode nine, Markus Görsch talks to Majid Bekkas about all these collaborations, and about the magic that is musical improvisation.
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Meet Hasan Nakhleh, singer and keyboard player of the band Tootard. He started the band with his brother Rami when they were both living in the Golan Heights. Since then they have gone through several line ups and their style has changed from Mali blues meets Arabic reggae to a kind of 80's Levantine disco sound, like on their latest album Migrant Birds.
In this interview Hasan Nakhleh talks to Markus Görsch about the band's dream of traveling freely, about relocating to Europe, and how a cheap oriental-scale synthesizer caused a sort of Proustian madeleine-experience. And why the band chose the name Tootard, meaning "strawberry" in Arabic. -
On their album Nayda, the French-Moroccan group Bab L' Bluz use modernized versions of the traditional string instruments guembri and awicha, to create a combination of North African gnawa and hassani music, mixed with blues and rock n roll noises.
Bab l' Bluz talk to Markus Görsch about the role of female musicians in Morocco, and about their unique sound, created not only through the mix of many traditions but also by using gardening equipment as part of their instruments. But the story begins in Morocco, where the two main songwriters Yousra Mansour and Brice Battin started writing songs together after meeting at a festival. -
In episode three of Clandestino Podcast, we meet guitarist and singer Lula Pena. Her music has been praised by the likes of Caetano Veloso, while others describe her voice as a female version of Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits. Traces of French chanson, bossa nova and Greek traditional music can be heard in Lula Pena's songs, blending with the music she once became known for: the Portuguese fado, songs of loss and longing, once sung by sailors far away on the outskirts of the Portuguese Empire. Markus Görsch interviewed Lula Pena just before her concert arranged by Clandestino Festival at Folkteatern in Gothenburg, Sweden.
I det tredje avsnittet av Clandestino Podcast träffar vi gitarristen och sångerskan Lula Pena. Storheter som Caetano Veloso har hyllat hennes musik, och vissa beskriver hennes röst som en kvinnlig version av av Leonard Cohen eller Tom Waits. Fransk chanson, bossanova och grekisk folkmusik hörs i Lula Penas musik, men någonstans under alla lager finns den portugisiska fadon: Sånger om saknad och längtan, som en gång sjöngs av sjömän långt borta i det portugisiska imperiets utkanter. Fado handlar om att vara i rörelse och har alltid varit en musikstil i förändring. Markus Görsch intervjuade Lula Pena kort innan med hennes konsert som arrangerades av Clandestino Festival på Folkteatern i Göteborg. -
I avsnitt två träffar vi Ebo Krdum, gitarrist, sångare och låtskrivare. Musikkarriären började när han som grabb spelade muntrummor och sjöng på gatorna i Darfur. På en hemmabyggd gitarr lärde han sig sedan spela, inspirerad av afroblueskungen Ali Farka Touré. Idag bor han i Stockholm och har utnämnts till Årets nykomling på Folk- och världsmusiken tillsammans med bandet Genuine Mezziga. I den här podcasten berättar Ebo Krdum också om hur regimen i Sudan utsatte honom för tortyr och fängelse på grund av hans politiska aktivism. Ebo Krdum intervjuas av Markus Görsch.
