Mick Jagger's world music playlist
Chris Jagger talks to his brother, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, about his favourite music from around the world
By Chris Jagger 07 Jun 2013

Way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and pop bands had names like the Honeycombs, I was working at the Hampstead Theatre Club in North London and sometimes staying at my brother’s spacious apartment near Regent’s Park. He was mostly away in the US zigzagging across country, playing on the bill with people like George Jones and staying in Howard Johnson motels. When he did return he brought with him stacks of records from New York, which contained the largest diaspora of people from across the world, and consequently stocked records in stores for them.
Much of Mick’s stash remained unopened for months or even years as it piled up. There were records of choirs from the Balkans, mariachi bands, veena players from South India, the Persian oud, Oum Kalthoum from Egypt and a host of field recordings of blues from across the US, including Louisiana’s Clifton Chenier.
“Clifton was a great influence on me,” Mick [Jagger] says of the zydeco accordionist. “We first listened to him around 1965 when we went to the States and picked up his records on the Arhoolie label.”
The track Mick has selected for the playlist is I’m a Hog for You. “This is a shuffle with the washboard picking up the triplets and it moves along in the classic Chenier style that he really put on the map. We first met up with the band in Los Angeles, I think, and I love the way he just grabs a blues number and adapts it to his style. Now his son is out on the road playing the same accordion and it’s all in the great Louisiana tradition.”
There was plenty to listen to in his ever-growing collection. We would get rather stoned to some of the records and have a good laugh in our ignorance. Others left us wondering at their exotic sounds. Some we played frequently, intrigued as to how such different sounds came from diverse people across the globe.
There wasn’t much African music, apart from North Africa, but that hasn’t stopped Mick from picking up on the various sounds coming out of West Africa. One voice that caught his attention was Mali’s Salif Keita.
“He’s a lyrical singer from West Africa, which is where the blues came from.” Of the album M’Bemba he says, “the haunting voice and title-track from that album, which dates back to 2005, is still great to listen to today, in my view. He has a wonderful use of acoustic instruments and is rightly rated as the top man in his field.”
Mick was also drawn to the funky sounds of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti (below at London's National Theatre). He mentions Cream’s drummer Ginger Baker, who famously set up a recording studio in Nigeria and played with many Afrobeat musicians.

“As far as I know Ginger was one of the first to get into these rhythms and travel to Africa to actually sit there and play them,” Mick says. “He might have been influenced by Phil Seamen, the jazz drummer who pre-dated him, but Ginger went to play with Fela Kuti, which must have been a daunting journey in more ways than one. But then he always did want to push things that much further than most drummers who came from England. Fela always had great orchestration and an amazing horn section, as he played horn himself and liked to use two baritones, which is unusual.”
We also explored the sounds of India, with their long, flowing ragas. Among Mick’s record collection were some Indian field recordings by Alain Daniélou. “I first had some of the records Alain put out in the Sixties. He was a great pioneer, travelling across the subcontinent recording classical Indian music. I particularly like the simple flute — the closest instrument to the human voice, they say — and the South Indian style is particularly evocative from T Visvanathan and those that followed in his footsteps.”
Farafina, from Burkina Faso, provide the last track on Mick’s playlist. “I came across them because of Charlie Hart,” Mick explains. “They came to play on a track called Continental Drift on the Steel Wheels record,” a song which also features the wailing shawms of the Master Musicians of Jajouka from Morocco. “Farafina have done really well now and deserve the praise of those who catch their shows.”

Mick Jagger’s World Music Playlist
• Clifton Chenier: I’m a Hog for You
From the album Out West on Arhoolie Records
“Clifton was a great influence on me. We first listened to him around 1965 when we went to the States. I love the way he just grabs a blues number and adapts it to his style.”
• Salif Keita: M’Bemba
From the album M’Bemba on Decca Records
“The haunting voice and title-track from that album are still great to listen to today. He is rightly rated as the top man in his field.”
• T Visvanathan and T Ranganathan: Sandehamunu
From the album Anthology of Indian Classical Music: A Tribute to Alain Daniélou on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
“I particularly like the simple flute, and the south Indian style is particularly evocative from Visvanathan and those that followed in his footsteps.”
• Farafina: Dounounia
From the album Faso Denou on Real World Records
“I came across them because of Charlie Hart, who is a friend of my brother and knew all about them. They came to play on a track called Continental Drift on the Steel Wheels record.”
• Fela Kuti and Ginger Baker: Let’s Start
From the album Fela Kuti and the Africa 70 with Ginger Baker Live! on Knitting Factory Records
“As far as I know Ginger was one of the first to get into these rhythms and travel to Africa to actually sit there and play them. Fela always had great orchestration and an amazing horn section, as he played horn himself.”

This is an edited extract from a world exclusive interview in Songlines magazine. For the full interview and Mick Jagger’s playlist on the free CD, see the new issue of Songlines (July 2013) now on sale at larger WH Smith’s and all HMV and Fopp stores or from songlines.co.uk. The issue is also available on iPad and Android — download the free Songlines app from the App store or Google Play.

[www.telegraph.co.uk]

How wonderful it could be if various such impulses might sift into Mick Jagger's song writing and musical arrangements leading to new explorative and daring songs from the band in the best Stones tradition.

I'd love to hear more world music influence on the Stones sound. That way they would continue to evolve instead of being stuck in the current stadium rock four to the floor rut they're in.