Latin Tribute to David Bowie

It took a while for me to get to a blog post regarding the sad passing of British rock legend David Bowie, but I figured a note about the way I discovered Bowie should be addressed no matter the delay. Growing up I had heard the occasional Bowie song on the local classic rock music station, although I never really understand the depth and origins of his music until I heard Brazilian singer songwriter Seu Jorge. As a fan of different styles of music, I've always loved varied interpretations of classic songs. This was especially the case when I heard Jorge cover Bowie's "Changes" in Portuguese in Wes Anderson's film The Life Aquatic.

In fact, the entire soundtrack to The Life Aquatic provided me with a latin perspective of many of the classic songs from Bowie's highly regarded albums "Hunky Dory" and "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust." The original songs will always be my favorites but it was intriguing to hear these recognizable melodies with an acoustic ring and in an unknown language. It could be said that first hearing Jorge's covers of Bowie's songs even encouraged me to study Portuguese in college.

Today I can understand parts of Jorge's passionate tributes, yet some words still fly over my head. Regardless, I'm left in the melodies that I believe really characterized Bowie's songwriting. His lyrics take the listener to another orbit or universe remote from the reality we know, but his music and the melodies in particular that carry his songs to another dimension. Thank you for the dreaming inspiration Bowie! Your legend will be missed.

I'll leave you with a couple of my favorite Jorge interpretations.

Mexican Folk with David Wax Museum

A band touched by the sounds and culture of Mexican folk music, David Wax Museum is a result of the musical inquiry and adaption by band mates and married couple David Wax and Suz Slezak. Both historians and musicians they've created a unique indie American folk sound by incorporating instruments and rhythms of Mexican roots music.

The album's title track Guesthouse is a nice example of their unique style as the music draws on Mexican son jarocho folk songs and the lyrics relate their vagabond lifestyle of traveling on the road and living as guests.

In an interview with Stephen Thompson at NPR Music, David describes the title track "Guesthouse" as the following:

"This song draws loosely on two Mexican folk songs from the son jarocho tradition - 'El Buscapies' and 'La Iguana" - and is about coming to terms with our peripatetic lifestyle and constantly being a guest," Wax writes via email. "Sometimes I've felt like a guest within the Mexican music community, and so I found myself also thinking through that process and navigating it through this song."

Attached are the videos for "La Iguana and "El Buscapies" to give you an idea of the rich musical inspiration south of the border.