FIVE POP SONGS INFLUENCED BY WORLD MUSIC
ARABIC
GORILLAZ – ‘WHITE FLAG’ Damon Albarn has long foraged global sounds – his Chinese opera, his Malian album – but ‘White Flag’ was revelatory. Betwixt cameos from Kano and Bashy blazed the real stars of Plastic Beach: the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music.
BOLLYWOOD BLACK EYED PEAS – ‘DON’T PHUNK WITH MY HEART’
Before they rekindled Bossa Nova (with Sergio Mendes on ‘Mas Que Nada’), the Peas rewired two of Asha Bhosle’s 70s Indian cinema serenades, and created a lurid, dancefloor megahit.
TURKISH POP HOLLY VALANCE – ‘KISS KISS’
In which Benny Hill’s best-loved second-cousin exited the musical laboratory of Neighbours and gyrated to the top spot with a tribute to Turkey’s ‘Prince of Pop’, Tarken. Mwah!
AFROBEAT FRANZ FERDINAND – ‘SEND HIM AWAY’
Franz’s fascination with African Music saw them team up with figurehead Baaba Maal, and join 2008’s Africa Express carnival. This woozy, Afro- pop croon ensued, and appeared on their third long-player, Tonight.
FAUX-ORIENTAL
ANEKA – ‘JAPANESE BOY’ In the summer of 1981, Scots folk dowager Mary Sandeman revamped herself as a disco-pop geisha. The pentatonic scale deployed was common to Chinese (not Japanese) music, and the fold of her Kimono was customarily used on the dead for cremation, but this mock-exotic chart- topper is joyous. (Nicola Meighan)
8–22 Jul 2010 THE LIST 25
around 11pm under a white sky – it doesn’t get much better than that. I’m looking forward to playing it again this summer.’
Their last T in the Park was in 2008, although this year sees the band deservedly upgraded from King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent to the Main Stage on Saturday evening. ‘I really enjoy playing festivals in the summer,’ says Baio of the whole experience, ‘because I get the chance to check out other bands that I like, although I don’t really walk around the festival grounds anymore. I used to enjoy it!’ Such is the price of fame. This year he’s looking out for Phoenix, Julian Casablancas and Aeroplane, one of whom (Phoenix) can be found at T. ‘It’s not really possible to go to shows when you’re on tour, and then when you’re home from tour, oftentimes a club is the last place you want to spend your free time. I also enjoy playing to the larger crowds with people who might not necessarily be fans of the band.’ Such has been their punishing schedule of late that the band haven’t even had a moment to think about their third album yet, although
perhaps the threat of overkill might render that a good thing. Baio does foresee a longer gap between Contra and what he calls LP3 than the two years between the debut Vampire Weekend and its follow-up. ‘We haven’t had much time to take stock of the album going to number one,’ he says (you get the feeling he’d be gasping for breath if he wasn’t busy doing our interview). ‘The week it came out we were in Los Angeles, London and New York, and we really haven’t stopped touring since. That said, if you had told me four years ago when we started this band that we’d have a number one album, I’d have thought you were crazy.
‘To be honest, it hasn’t really changed anything. I don’t think many people start listening to an artist because they had a number one album. Still, we’re really happy with Contra’s reception and have been playing larger and larger shows this year. It’s definitely an exciting time.’
Main Stage, T in the Park, Sat 10 Jul.