Curtis Radio: Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy #43

On 5th May 2024, while travelling through Spain, Colleen stopped at the Curtis Audio cafe, cocktail bar & record store for a special show.

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About this show. – We're so excited to share a new episode of Curtis Radio curated by legendary DJ and producer Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy. Her exciting and successful musical journey spans 4 decades, from her adolescence working in record stores and radio stations in her hometown, to her connection and friendship with the 'godfather of Disco music' David Mancuso and his seminal parties.

From the Loft, to current projects Balearic Breakfast, Classic Album Sundays, Love Dancin' Sound System, among many others, her resume is too long and rich to list here. We can simply say that for a humble Barcelona audio bar that cares about quality sound and music, having Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy select 10 songs she likes to be featured on our radio show is an important event and an honor. We share that with our audience.

Colleen doesn't just play records. She tells the stories behind the music. In her own words… “I am a music lover, music curator and music educator. It's about trying to transcend everyday life through music. When people say that Balearic Breakfast helped them get through the pandemic, I think it's because music has a healing quality. When people are on the dancefloor, I want them to forget about their daily lives. And the same goes for Classic Album Sundays, when people are completely immersed listening to an album, it takes them to another place. Those experiences have been very important to me. The search is endless and that is what motivates me. I never set out to do any of this intentionally; It just happened because of my passion. One thing led to another which fed another which fed another. I will never stop discovering music. “You always have to be looking forward, expanding your horizons.”

So let's do just that, sit back, relax, turn up the volume and fully expand our musical horizons with these 10 beautiful songs lovingly curated by Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy. Press play and enjoy.

Listen back to the 43rd episode of the Curtis Radio Show:

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TRACKLIST

(2023) The Circling Sun – Spirits (Part 2)

(2011) Jonathan Wilson – Desert Raven

(2023) Jacob Gurevitsch – Elevation in MInor (Cosmodelica Remix)

(2022) Derya Yildrim & Grup Simsek – Bal

(1976) Pacific Express – Sky Ride 2

(1973) Madeline Bell – That's what it's all about

(2023) Parbleu – Elios

(2021) Flamingo Pier – Cosmic Sunset

(2021) Sun Palace – Rude Movments (François K Sats Dub Extended)

(1984) Robert Sandrini – Occhi Su Di Me

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CURTIS RADIO PRESENTATION

Let's celebrate. Here, from the Curtis Radio sound system. Your monthly space where we propose music from the best selectors, interviews with quality content, Music with soul. No robots or artificial intelligence here. Through a selection of ten themes, today we are accompanied by a defender of the art of listening.

Colleen brings together everything you can dream of in a musical prescriber. Writer, radio host, collector, DJ and producer. Basically, we could define her as a central figure in the contemporary musical scene, with a life dedicated to sharing and spreading.

She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. At 14, she was already in charge of her own radio show, marking the beginning of a career that would lead her to be one of the most respected voices in the waves. In 1986, she moved to New York to study sound and radio at the School of Cinema.

During her stay, she would become the first female director of one of the most important university radio stations in the United States. There, she would be a pioneer in the diffusion of the emerging house music style, attracting the genre's main figures. The conduction of radio shows, along with her experience working in the main record store in Massachusetts, made her a part of an eclectic musical fanbase that would promote her beginnings as a DJ.

The turning point in her career would come when she attended the legendary David Mancuso parties at The Loft back in the 1990s. For those of you who are not familiar with David Mancuso, he is something like the "godfather of disco music". Mancuso's influence led her to appreciate music from a completely new perspective and to adopt a unique philosophy, the dance floor, as a community experience.

Soon, a friendship would be forged where Mancuso would entrust her with the task of being the hostess of his mythical parties. In the 2000s, she founded the record label Beaches Brew, releasing a variety of recordings that covered genres from dub to rock. Collecting vinyls, putting records on, telling stories and producing, which would lead her to collaborate with artists like the Irish singer Roisin Murphy, others like Chaka Khan or Stevie Wonder himself, leaving her mark with innovative and eclectic remixes.

Her influence transcends and goes beyond, creating the classic album Sundays concept in the Royal Albert Hall, a movement that proclaims the art of listening to albums in full with the audience. To this day, Colleen continues to express herself through her show Balearic Breakfast, which began on Gilles Peterson's radio as a musical lighthouse and transcended to a series of vinyl compilations. Colleen Murphy merges the desire to entertain with the need to heal and educate through music, inspiring with new sounds and perspectives.

Today, through Diez Temas, she educates us again with a very special selection for this new episode of Corte y Radio. Thank you for being here with us. Colleen Cosmo Murphy, friends.

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COLLEEN PRESENTATION

Greetings, this is Colleen Cosmo Murphy and right now I am in Andalucía. Actually, I'm in Zahora and I've had a lovely holiday, just about to return home and back to reality, but just love this part of Spain so much. We've been coming here for over 20 years now and I'm feeling pretty Balearic, even though we're on the wrong coast.

Of course, we're on the West Coast. Those are Spanish birds that you can hear in the background. I'm delighted to be here on Corte y Radio with 10 selections that give an idea of the overall arc of my weekly Balearic Breakfast radio show, which started on Worldwide FM and I now host on Mixcloud.

I'm on Mixcloud Live every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon British summertime. You can join in the live chat. And, yeah, it's a great community of people.

The show's been going on for just over three years now. I guess coming up on four years. It was started during the pandemic.

And luckily and quite gratefully, I also have a Balearic Breakfast compilation series on Heavenly Recordings. And volume three is coming out very soon. I believe it's at the end of May or early June.

And I'm also doing a special record release party in Ibiza on the 8th of June at The Standard, if you want to come along and join me. Today's selection, as I said, represents the arc of Balearic Breakfast. And there's some New Zealand spiritual jazz, some contemporary California singer-songwriter material just kind of hearkening back to the Laurel Canyon days, but more modern.

There's a remix of mine, a Cosmodélica remix of mine, of Jacob Gurevich, who is a Danish guitarist who really specializes in Spanish-style guitar. It's a song called Elevation in Minor that I remixed for him. And that can be found on the upcoming compilation, Balearic Breakfast, volume three.

You can still hear the Spanish birds here. There's also some Turkish folk dance music, some 70s South African jazz rock, some classic American soul, some Neapolitan jazz funk. I just love what's coming out of Napoli at the moment.

Some New Zealand live cosmic disco. Yes, a couple of New Zealand tracks because we went to New Zealand for the first time this year and had a great time. I also have a tribute to two of my mentors, Francois K. Francois Kvorkian, that is. He did a great remix of a song that was played a lot by David Mancuso, David Mancuso of The Loft in New York. They're both supporters, friends, mentors, and just people who I admire and have had very intense relationships with in a very positive way.

And I also leave with one little song that's a little bit of a surprise, so I hope you enjoy. Thanks to Curtis Radio for having me here, and thanks to all of you for listening.