11-26-19 | Songs for Listening | Mary Ho
Mary Ho, longtime manager of guitarist Marc Ribot and producer at Big Ears Festival, picked tunes for Tuesday, November 26 at Songs for Listening.
Here's Mary's picks with her annotations:
"It’s always difficult to know where to begin with playlist ‘picks’, but when Aaron asked me to participate in SfL, the first snowflakes of the season were falling and the impeachment inquiry was on the radio. I longed for the warmth of the summer sun and for a simpler time. Deep down I’m just a sucker for simple sweet melodies, vocal harmonies, and the nostalgic feeling of summer. Going into the colder months and the end of this darker decade, these are my picks that evoke those in one way or another… "
'Spinster’s Waltz' by Evan Lurie
"'Selling Water By the Side of the River' is perhaps my favorite album ever, sadly out of print by a defunct Belgian label. It has the feeling of catching the final rays of the sun as it sets from an NYC rooftop at the end of summer"
'Nan Guinin' Frantz Casseus played by Alberto Mesirca
"Marc Ribot’s guitar teacher & mentor was the late Frantz Casseus, the father of Haitian classical guitar. In the early 90s Marc recorded an album of Frantz’s music on the same defunct label as Evan Lurie’s, also long out of print. Luckily for us in 2011, Italian classical guitarist Alberto Mesirca recorded a gorgeous album of Frantz’s repertoire including newly discovered compositions discovered by Marc in a manuscript tucked inside a Chopin vinyl box set Ribot inherited from Frantz."
'Saint Behind the Glass' by Los Lobos
"I don’t think I need to add any commentary on this sweet tune off their most beloved album, ‘Kiko’, my summertime jam."
'The Blast, The Bloom' by Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band
"A side project of TVOTR’s Tunde Adebimpe…this just needs to be out there in the sonic world more."
‘Let’s Dance’ by Spiritualized
"Swoon…Let us all not forget to at times, just dance."
Mary grew up in the DC area, raised on a steady diet of local punk and indie rock while also studying classical double bass. She earned her undergraduate degree in Music at VCU and a Masters in Arts Administration & Cultural Policy from Goldsmiths College, University of London. Mary spent seven years in Japan immersing herself in underground Japanese music and subcultures, which became the subject of her graduate dissertation, & wrote for English publications on Japanese music. After landing in NYC in 2006, Mary worked at boutique artist management company Bernstein Artists, and later went on her own to manage guitarist Marc Ribot and duo CocoRosie. She also programmed beloved Brooklyn club Rose Live Music for six years. Mary now splits her time between Brooklyn and Nashville, and for several years has been a part of the team behind Big Ears.
Spinster’s Waltz' by Evan Lurie from ‘Selling Water By the Side of the River’
'Nan Guinin' by Frantz Casseus, performed by Alberto Mesirca
'Saint Behind the Glass' by Los Lobos from ‘Kiko & the Lavender Moon’
'The Blast, The Bloom' by Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band
‘Let’s Dance’ by Spiritualized from ‘And Nothing Hurt’
