Airwaves

by Brian Goslow

Many a Saturday morning I've found myself mesmerized by the music of India being broadcast on Channel 27. The sitar-driven sounds are so engaging that Kula Shaker should be embarrassed to even attempt to duplicate such magic. Thank heaven there's finally a chance to experience the real thing this weekend when Worcester's Indian community celebrates India's 50th anniversary of independence from Great Britain.

"An Independence Concert in the Park" will be held on Saturday (August 16) from 5 to 7 p.m. at Elm Park as part of WCUW's ongoing Cultural Connection Concert Series. The program, which will be simulcast on WCUW (91.3 FM), is slated to include Rama Karedla and Friends performing "A Walk Down Memory Lane: 50 Years of Indian Film Songs," the Patel Sisters presentation of "Desh Bula Raha Hai," Swati and Shweta Subramaniam's rendition of "Mega Re Mega," and Rangeela, Assamesse, Rajasthani, and Bhangra dances.

You can hear WCUW's Saptsawar, which features music and news from India and the local Indian community, every Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m. WCUW's next concert spotlights the city's African-American community. Marshall White and the Workshop Choir, featuring ballad vocalist Ty Causey, headline the August 23 Elm Park show. The series concludes in September with music from Albanian and Polish cultures. For more information, tune in WCUW or call 753-1012.

WCUW recently published a newsletter and program guide. Members received their copies, which feature capsule descriptions of 'CUW's diverse programming, in the mail last month. If you'd like a copy, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to WCUW, 910 Main St., Worcester 01610. If you can, throw in a donation. Although the station's gone through its usual slew of equipment problems/failures this summer, programmers haven't taken it out on their listeners. Show a little thanks.

BOSTON SONGSTRESS Ratsy will be the special guest at 7:30 a.m. on Rick Fox's August 19 New Traditions program on WCUW. She'll perform tracks from her Squished Under a Train CD (Ratsy Records) and promote her August 30 show at the Vanilla Bean Café. With songs like "The Boy that Loved Me," "Fairy Tales in My Brain," and "Whales and Religion," she's sure to send listeners off to work in a good mood.

WICN (90.5 FM) JAZZ DIRECTOR Stephen Charbonneau ran down his favorite new jazz releases in last week's column. This week he suggests recently released collections if you aren't familiar with the music's history. "Check out The Instrumental History of Jazz (N2K). For those who are computer oriented, you can get full-motion videos and rare clips. It's by no means the final word, but it's an educational tool for those just getting into the music. It begins with its 1896 roots, Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" and Louis Armstrong and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, then proceeds to run through the swing, be-bop, cool, hard-bop, free, and fusion periods, before concluding with '80s and '90s popular artists like George Benson and Spyro Gyro and harder players like Christian McBride, Ray Hargrove, and the Marsalises."

If you want a quick shot of jazz euphoria, the soundtrack to The Last Time I Committed Suicide (Blue Note) sounds like a killer. "I don't know anything about the movie, but it certainly is loaded with some of the greatest jazz players, including Charlie Mingus, Max Roach, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Thelonious Monk," Charbonneau says. "Most of it's been reissued already, but it's a nice collection to have."