boston progress radio

Shuffled! is a column appearing most Thursdays here on BPRLive. Each column, we welcome someone from the API* community to share some thoughts about the music they listen to. Check out the Shuffled! archive for past articles. Since an American holiday is being observed on Thursday, this Shuffled appears on Wednesday.

This week’s shuffler: Pen Khek Chear

Charles Pen Khek Chear hails from Philadelphia, PA. He is interested in art, community, faith and liberation. That’s it for his biography. So, we’re just going to have to move right onto the shuffle.

Brooke Fraser – Shadowfeet

This song, and the album from which it belongs, gives me a lot of comfort. There is a Christian undertone but she’s not cheesy about it. A lot of depth but not overbearing. Something for my everyday life.

For me, it gives a better sense of what it means to live life in faith, more than any “manual” or rigid set of rules. It’s so good, I feel that talking about it spoils the silence I’m usually put in when I’m listening to this album.

I’m usually not one for contemporary rock/pop but Fraser’s album has become one of my favorite of all time.

Les Nubians – Makeda

Another great song from a consistently awesome album.

I still don’t understand most of what they’re singing about and for the exception of “Makeda” and “Tabou,” I haven’t bothered to translate their lyrics. I picked up the album in 1998 during a time when I became very interested in urban and world French music.

It’s a good album for spring cleaning on a sunny day.

Vyvy Trinh – Little Sister

Hello, world… this is an exclusive!

I first heard Vyvy perform this song at East Meets West. It was so sweet and simple and after she finished playing, I asked her to send me a copy so that I could share it with the twentysome younger cousins I have in Greater Philadelphia.

I really like her Tapioca eyeball line. It’s hella cute.

Vyvy and I need to bring our families together for a picnic and watch ‘em as they climb trees, pick on each other and share ice cream. And then we can jump in, play some tag or volleyball.

Lauryn Hill – I Gotta Find Peace of Mind

Listening to this makes me just want to give Lauryn a big hug as both thanks and a show of support.

There are a lot of complaints that she played the same three chords throughout the session to which this song belongs but I don’t know if this session was so much entertaining an audience for Lauryn than it was about being raw and honest to the world. And hey, maybe that ends up being three chords.

You just need to listen to it.

Sara Tavares – Balance

Like Les Nubians, I don’t understand much of what she is saying. But that hasn’t stopped me from listening to and enjoying this Cape Verdean album time and time again.

Last 5 posts by shuffled

• Shuffled! North Star of the BROWNSTAR Revolution - December 10th, 2009
• Shuffled! Maanav Thakore - November 19th, 2009
• Shuffled! Jerry Ma - August 13th, 2009
• Shuffled! Tanzila Ahmed - August 6th, 2009
• Shuffled! Slanty - July 30th, 2009