Category Archives: Café Mouffe

What Is Success? Fare Thee Well, Allen Toussaint

New Orleans composer, producer and piano doctor Allen Toussaint died last night following a concert in Madrid. He was 77 years old. I learned his name first as the songwriter of “What is Success?” recorded in the 1970s by Bonnie Raitt. It wasn’t the first time I heard is music, I just didn’t know who wrote the hits for Irma Thomas, Lee Dorsey, and many other R&B singers. Wish I could be in New Orleans to dance in his Second Line! Continue reading






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Café Mouffe: Zoë Keating

I heard an interview with cellist Zoë Keating on Studio 360, a frank discussion of her dispute with YouTube about the availability of her music on that platform. Read her blog post for a deeper explanation of the online music business viewed from a composer’s perspective. There you can also listen to a stream of her last album, Into the Trees, which is available for purchase on Bandcamp. You can sample her music here at Café Mouffe, but you better be quick about it. If she can’t negotiate a compromise, YouTube will pull the plug on her channel.






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Café Mouffe: Astha Tamang-Maskey

Astha writes: “This new song is dedicated to the beautiful children of CWIN Balika Peace Home. I fell in love with these girls when I visited them for the first time in 2012. I am so happy to have finished this song for them this year. These young women have been through unimaginable struggles and seeing their positivity always inspires me to become a better person.”






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Café Mouffe: Bernadette Peters Sings Sondheim

In a flight of fancy I suggested to Ms. M that, if our love could be translated into musical theater, Bernadette Peters could play her part. She was dubious, reluctant to accept any simulacrum. Not even for Broadway? So here are three clips to persuade her to change her mind. All are songs by Stephen Sondheim, recorded at Royal Festival Hall in London in 1998.






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Café Mouffe: Marin Marais “Sonnerie de Sainte Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris”

Ms. M is touring Versailles today with her daughter. Here’s a soundtrack for her.I think of this composition by Marin Marais [1656-1728] whenever the Sun King comes to mind, though perhaps it is more suitable for walking about in our Ve neighborhood near the Pantheon and Rue Mouffetard, since it is dedicated to Sainte Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris. I believe it also was used in the soundtrack for the 1991 Canadian film Black Robe. This performance is by Jordi Savall.






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