I'm starting a new segment where I blog about what I've downloaded on eMusic this month. When I first joined eMusic, I wasn't sure if I'd eventually run out of things to download, 50 seemed high, but I figured I'd try it out, and as soon as it started to get hard, I'd cut back to 30 a month. That was October 2007. Two and a half years later, I'm still finding tonnes of stuff to download, and if I had 75 downloads available this month, I think I would have used it up. This is not to say that I'm completely happy with eMusic. I would prefer a rollover system, where my unused downloads rollover to another month, at least for 3 months. I'm also unhappy with their customer service, which is practically nonexistent, and when you do find someone, they're unsufferably rude. But enough, I digress.
This month found me downloading music by Lura, Habib Koite, Ojos De Brujo, Myriam Makeba, Sanchez, Buju Banton, Tony Rebel, Musical Youth, Pluto, and Sean Paul & Sasha.
Now technically I discovered Lura (Afro-Portuguese/Cape Verdian) last month, upon recommendation from one of my Aunts. She and Habib Koite (West African/Malian) fall into a category of music I've been exploring recently, modern African music, or Afro-something fusion. I say something because many of these artists have grown up in Portugal, France, Spain, England, America, wherever, and their music reflects this fusion of African and other genres. This genre is really becoming a favourite of mine.
Next up we have Ojos De Brujo ("jipjop flamenkillo"/Flamenco), which may have been my greatest new artist find this month. I'm not sure how I never ran across them before, but thanks to my Buika Pandora station, I heard their amazing song, Todo Tiende. Their style is similar to Gipsy Kings and Rodrigo y Gabriela.
Of course the music download that might have made me the happiest was "Love Tastes Like Strawberries", by Miriam Makeba. [See previous post] I've been looking for this song for ages, and while investigating the new prices on the newly DRM-free iTunes, I stumbled upon the album, "Le Monde de Myriam Makeba", finally avilable digitally. I then hopped over to eMusic to find that it was available there as well, so after long months of patience, I own it! It truly is a lovely song, probably one of the best love songs.
Finally, with 8 downloads remaining, I was missing Jamaica this morning, so I went on a hunt for some Jamaican oldies. eMusic seems to have a deal with VP Records, because I was able to find such classics like "Ramgoat Liver" by Pluto and "Pass The Dutchie" by Musical Youth. Also, Sean Paul's remix of "I'm Still in Love With You" with Sasha is one of the best remixes of a song, certainly one of the best dancehall songs of a reggae song.
The one song I'm still searching for is "Two White Girls Pon a Minibus" by The Word, though I did find it on youtube.
I already know what I'm downloading next month - "Fresh Vegetable" by Tony Rebel.
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