Every week, CKUA’s hosts submit their songs for our weekly House Blend Playlist: an exciting new release, a beloved classic or just an old personal favourite. We mix it all together to create a sonic concoction that’ll help kick off your week. Check out what’s on this week’s playlist.
The Playlist
The Picks
Orest Soltykevych: South Jutland Symphony Orchestra, “Helios Overture” by Carl Nielsen
Carl Nielsen is considered Denmark’s greatest composer. He’s best known for his concertos and symphonies. Of his shorter orchestral works, the best known is this piece, written in 1904. It resulted from a trip he and his wife took to Greece. The main inspiration was the sun rising and setting over the Aegean Sea — this image opens and closes this work.
Tom Coxworth: Eric Anderson, “Blue River”
“Blue River” is a true classic for the folk genre. The entire album of the same name is full of great songs. Joni Mitchel sings background vocals. Eric recently performed at the Folk Alliance in Montreal
Lionel Rault: Nick Waterhouse, “Song For Winners”
On his new, self-titled album, new-age California, soul-man Nick Waterhouse continues to mine the deep pockets of soul, jazz, blues and gospel for his inspiration.
Lark Clark: Habib Koité, “I Ka Barra (Your Work)”
Habib Koité is a great guitarist, singer and songwriter from Mali. He’s playing at Jack Singer this Friday, March 1, 2019. Here’s a sample of how he rocks.
Grant Stovel: Hannah Georgas, “That’s the Way Love Goes”
Hannah Georgas has a way of finding the compassion, vulnerability and soul in just about anything. Ahead of an upcoming full-length album of original material, she’s readying an EP of covers, Imprints, for release on March 8th, International Women’s Day. It features loving renditions of female-fronted songs that inspired her over the years. Songs originally by the Eurythmics, Tegan and Sara, Janet Jackson and the Cranberries. On this track, she’s joined by Emily King in finding the groovy, fatalistic melancholy in Janet Jackson’s “That’s the Way Love Goes”.
Amy van Keeken: Buffy Sainte-Marie, “God is Alive, Magic is Afoot”
In celebration of her recent birthday on February 20th, I’m picking a track from her 1969 album, Illuminations. “God is Alive, Magic is Afoot” uses an interpretation of lyrics from Leonard Cohen’s 1966 novel Beautiful Losers. The song was done in one take and, as testament to the experimental nature of the album, the vocals were basically stream of consciousness in their delivery. Always a creative trailblazer, always inspiring — happy birthday Buffy Sainte-Marie. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and gifts with us.
Celeigh Cardinal: Regina Spektor, “Fidelity”
Probably her biggest hit, “Fidelity” is a song by Regina inspired by the movie, High Fidelity — it just happens to be one of my favourite movies. The song encompasses her eclectic tastes with electronic beats, orchestra samples, and of course, her staccato and melismatic singing. This song was released in 2006, but holds up. Also the music video is cute as all heck. FYI, melisma is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession.