buskers in Oxford

I've come to realise in recent years that we have an amazing busking scene here in Oxford. There are quite a few artists and bands whose music I really love and whom I discovered in the streets of Oxford, and from quite a few I also bought CDs:

So as a new series on this blog, I will start introducing some of my favourite buskers. Starting with flamenco fusion band Fernando’s kitchen, who I saw a few years ago. They aren’t regulars on the Oxford scene, as they are based in London and Cambridge, so I’ve been extremely lucky to bump into them.

Since then, they have brought out a couple of new CDs which I ordered off their website. In fact, I also bought the cajón (which is the background for the CDs photo above) because of them. Percussionist and singer Heidi Joubert teaches cajón lessons on YouTube and in real life and by now also sells her own brand cajóns.

As I understand it, FK are consciously remaining independent of music labels and selling and promoting their own music, so the best way to get it is through their website (unless, of course, you're lucky enough to find them playing in the streets of London or Cambridge).

NB: Anybody wanting to join the vibrant Oxford busking scene needs a busking pass from the Oxford City Council, application details here. See also the code of practice and the map of the nine official busking spots here.

Fernando's kitchen

Last weekend I stumbled upon an unsigned band called Fernando's Kitchen, as three of its members were playing in Oxford's Bonn Square. Though I couldn't stay long, I loved what I heard, essentially a mediterranean fusion of styles including flamenco and arabic music (not that I'm very good at analysing this, but the oud is a giveaway):



Looked them up on MySpace and found this nice video with the complete band, also doing a street performance:



I should have bought the CD though.

Mor Karbasi

Back in January, I was raving about Yasmin Levy and her Ladino / Flamenco music. Thanks to this and the magic of MySpace I found a "friend request" this morning from Mor Karbasi, a London-based singer who does very similar things, and I like the four songs on her MySpace profile a lot.

music of the sephardim

I've just "discovered" (for myself) the singer Yasmin Levy, who specialises in reviving (and adding to) the music of the Sephardim, i.e. the Jews who lived in Spain before the "reyes catolicos" cleared the country of all non-catholics in 1492.

Although I'm neither Spanish nor Jewish, nor 550 years old, I just love this music. It also has had some influence on the origins of flamenco, which I like too.

Yasmin Levy has a MySpace page with a few of her tracks and a new album out with Harmonia Mundi, which I'll check out pronto.

There was also a piece in the Guardian about her. The Guardian made a big fuss about Ladino being a distinct language that hardly anybody speaks any more -- but to me it sounds just like spanish with a bit of a weird accent.