My music collection is full of compilation CDs; some that I’ve cobbled together myself, and others that are commercial collections I’ve bought for a quick introduction to a particular record label like Flying Nun, Creation, Barsuk, Minty Fresh, Sarah, Candle, and Parasol. Others are unique collections of a particular kind of music like Haloween or Christmas or songs about trains. Then there’s tributes to artists like Elvis or Leonard Cohen by an unlikely assembly of other musicians eager to put their unique spin on music they appreciate. One of my favorites is Pravda Records’ 20 Explosive Dynamic Super Smash Hit Explosion series that not only showcases their roster, but also is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the cheesy K-Tel Record collections that used to be advertised ad nauseam on TV in the 70s. Of course there’s a few Irish compilation CD’s in my collection as well, and all of them have pointed me in the direction of some great music. 
Today’s song comes from one of those comps; part of a series called Breaking Sound Barriers - Music From Ireland.  On Volume 2 in the series, a disc that was released in 1992, there is a brilliant track that sounds intrinsically Irish, but at the same time, so completely different from the other 14 songs on the album or any of the other Irish bands I’ve featured so far this month I couldn’t resist playing it.
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Zrazy is a duo made up of Carole Nelson (saxophones, tin whistle, piano) and Maria Walsh (vocals, bodhrán). Over the past 27 years the two women have recorded six highly acclaimed albums of very distinctive and diverse music combining techno, jazz, trance, hip-hop, pop, funk, and Celtic fusion. Their 1992 debut, Give it All Up won them the 1992 Hot Press/Music Critics Award for Best New Band in Ireland, and six years later their song “Remember (That You Did it First With Me)” won the USA Gay & Lesbian American Music Award (GLAMA) in the jazz category. The category-defying Happy Medium Song of the Day did more than just break sound barriers in Ireland when it was released. The video for “I’m in Love With Mother Nature” was actually banned on Irish TV because it featured two women slow dancing together. How zrazy is that?  

Speaking of crazy… Happy Birthday Ellen, I hope you manage to celebrate your special day despite the shit show swirling around us! (Please use the comments box to share your thoughts.)
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Zrazy