Every time they get out, we pull them back in

by Nicholas Jahr

I’m a little behind the curve on this (as ever), but the end of April saw the return to the internet after nearly two years MIA of the KassaNostra, surely the world’s best-named anonymous folk music blogger. Where was this mysterious figure? Checking out the night life in Havana? Rubbing out their enemies in time for their son’s bris? Witness protection? Who knows. I’m just glad they’re back. (And I’ll use the third-person plural as a gender-neutral singular until we all agree on something better, dammit.)

This time out we’ve been graced with a post on Thina Sizwe, a South African freedom song of which I’d been shamefully unaware. But even if the KassaNostra somehow manages to work in Garrett Morris (of SNL’s glory days) and Mary Jane Hooper, the real find here is Harry Belafonte’s mellifluous take. It’s a beautiful song, and like all the best critics, the KassaNostra’s observations deepen your appreciation of the work, to say nothing of how it relates to the struggle.

Who else so finely sifts the wheat from the chaff? Who else can serve up rare covers as if they were everday platters? Who else could scrounge up six versions of Goodnight, Irene (“one of the sweetest and saddest songs ever written”), much less ten? Who else even knew a Japanese surf rocker tried his hand at shtetl lament Dona Dona? Who else can provide YouTube clips of people dancing Pata Pata all over the world or Dennis Hopper eulogizing Pablo Neruda at a concert organized by Phil Ochs? Who else posts PDFs of liner notes (complete with a South African pronunciation guide)?! Who else even remembers liner notes existed? Every post is an education. Seriously, go learn something.