Return of the World Music Thread: 2012

9: Clair de Lune - Claude Debussy
10: Lady In Red - Kurt Darren

When I was at Global Rhythm my argument was always, "America's part of the world, too."

I'm not that uptight that I would have mentioned it if it was only one or two Western or partially Westernised acts but it's a sizeable proportion.

I got some Haitian voodoo and rara discs from a friend who just came back from there. He met a rara band on the street entirely made up of women-- apparently a rarer thing-- called Rara Fanm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AVnaChQisk

Nice. Non-rara, old-school Haitian funky konpa band Tabou Combo is doing some gigs in NYC and DC this month, as are Skah Shah and another group whose name I forget.

Unchhh I was supposed to see them in MTL but they cancelled. Jealous

This AMAZING record called Zao Ak Djakata. Can't find much online but there's a link here http://haitiforever.com/winterludes/rz-zao.shtml SO GOOD.

Will have to check that out. Luv me some Haitian musik, although some current modern Haitian stuff uses syrupy synth sounds that do not wow me. Every genre seems to have to have its brand of polished slow dance sounds.

Was thinking about media attention for Haitian muzik (there's a big Haitian presence in NYC and Miami and DC too):
New Yorker writer S F-Jones once was involved in a panel on Haitian soundz, but alas he never seems to write about them. Christgau and some NY Times writers I think have written about Tabou Combo. Nabisco at New York Mag and others do not seem interested. Jordan Levin at the Miami Herald recently wrote about Tabou and I think he has highlighted other international stuff as well

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/20/2759008/tabou-combo-the-rolling-stones.html

05/07: Montreal, QC
05/09: Grand Rapids, MI
05/10: Chicago, IL
05/11: Iowa City, IA
05/12; Lincoln, NE
05/14: Salt Lake City, UT
08/01: New York, NY

Khaira Arby's still touring North America. Her sound seems a bit westernized with some of the guitar sounds these days. I can't figure out whether this is what they are into, and/or when she plays weddings and other functions back home it sounds this way. Her first North American tour did not sound like her more recent ones.

Anyone see her?

What's everyone listening to? I went out and heard (and danced a bit to) dancehall and soca at a Caribbean club Friday night. Was also listening to a couple cds in the car whose names I have forgotten right now-- a hybrid West African one with an Anglo; and an Iranian vocalist. I liked the latter one more. Will update with the names later.

WORLD MUSIC EUROPEAN AIRPLAY 20
March’s most played world music albums, compiled from returns from radio DJs all over Europe World Music Charts Europe

BONGA Hora Kota (Lusafrica)
VÄRTTINÄ Utu (Westpark)
VARIOUS ARTISTS World Routes On The Road (Nascente)
ILGI Tur Saulite Perties Gaja (Upe)
PETRAKIS, LOPEZ, CHEMIRANI Mavra Froudia (Musiepoca)
CEU Caravana Sereia Bloom (Six Degrees)
LEPISTÖ & LEHTI Radio Moskova (Aito)
VARIOUS ARTISTS The New Brazilian Music 4 (BME)
MELINGO Corazon Y Hueso (World Village)
LOGA RAMIN TORKIAN Mehraab (Six Degrees)
MARIA KALANIEMI, TIMO ALAKOTILA Akerö (Akerö)
VARIOUS ARTISTS Cumbia Cumbia 1 & 2 (World Circuit)
FATOUMATA DIAWARA Fatou (World Circuit)
AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND Mokum (Essay)
BALKAN BEAT BOX Give (Crammed)
ZITA SWOON GROUP Wait For Me (Crammed)
EDA ZARI Toka Incognita (Intuition)
SAMBASUNDA QUINTET Java (Riverboat)
BALOJI Kinshasa Succursale (Crammed)
EMEL MATHLOUTHI Kelmti Horra (World Village)
© giftmusic 2012

fRoots forum

http://www.froots.net/phpBB2/

of those i've heard the world routes album, the amsterdam klezmer band, balkan beat box and eda zari. none of my favorite world albums of the year charting unfortunately :(

That list may reflect a certain bias as it is of just the European djs who the Folk Roots(fRoots) magazine/website surveys.

a hybrid West African one with an Anglo = this is the ZITA SWOON GROUP with additional Burkina Faso musicians cd Wait For Me (Crammed) that I should more accurately have described as a Belgian music collective led by Stef Kamil Carlens working with 2 Burkina Faso musicians Awa Démé and Mamadou Diabaté Kibié --

Wait For Me is the meeting of Stef Kamil Carlens and his Belgian collectif Zita Swoon Group with the Burkinabe Awa Démé and Mamadou Diabaté Kibié. The sound is a mixture of raw acoustic blues and folk and the traditional ‘mandigue’ music from West-Africa. Awa Démé sings in Bambara, Stef Kamil Carlens in English and French. The songs deal with the moral and the problems of modern African society.

Just ok on first listen.

good khaira arby show in montreal - love the band's zeal, khaira's energy. but not quite at the level of when i last saw her, about 18 months ago. someone slipped the awesome guitarist kid some terrible records, and i can't handle it when he hits a pedal and goes in on these awful metal hard-rock guitar solos.

curious for the new record

Zita Swoon are still around, huh? Might check out the album for old time's sake.

x-post-
I am worried about the new (some of it recorded in Brooklyn) upcoming K. Arby record and the possibility of those guitar solos. I wonder if plays those solos back home where her group still does weddings and other local events?

maybe. but in montreal at least he was all hipster-ified in skinny jeans and an almost-keffiyeh. feel like it's some brushes with Brooklyn that turned him on to this stuff, rather than the back-home style. maybe i'm projecting.

btw my friend Howard Bilerman (mtl indie rock producer - but in a good way, punkrock sounding, live off the floor, etc.) just came back from recording an album with Bassekou Kouyate in Mali. (w Khaira Arby as guest)

bassekou is a badass

x-post-- re Arby I agree. I (and maybe I am projecting as well) think Arby's band is, in current gigs in North America trying to play what they think North Americans will like (from Brooklyn hipsters to whomever), while back in Mali at weddings omitting those North American style licks.

But of course Arby suggested the above theory was not true when I asked her via email the following in an interview:

WCP: On your first U.S. tour you had additional women singers and musicians, compared to your smaller group on later U.S. tours. Is the size of your group a matter of money or an artistic choice? How does it change your group's sound?

KA: Both. There is certainly a big expense to tour. It is something that is very hard to do. Also, I perform with all different sizes of groups. The sound changes all the time even at home. If I am performing on a large festival stage at home, I can bring a larger group. But when we are at a smaller event like a wedding, I bring the smaller core group. The sound doesn't change very much because these are my core musicians.

x-post-found that "new Brazilian 4 music" comp from that Euro radio dj list, on soundcloud. Was impressed on first listen

My son's baseball playoff game was postponed till tonight, so that means no Tabou Combo gig at the Smithsonian for me. They were fun when I saw them years back. Guitar-playing seems Congolese-like.

Been jumping back in forth in the car between an Iranian cd and my commercial Latin radio station playing lots of bachata and some reggaeton. However, reading emails about Haitian stuff and looking at Facebook posts about Haitian stuff has me wanting to find the time to dig in to some Haitian music. That Rara Fanm video upthread is awesome. Most Haitian pop doesn't sound like that though. It can be good but in a different way.

Awesome Tapes from Africa guy lists a few of his fave sites:

http://thewire.co.uk/articles/9060/

Nabay has taken bubu before the all-important hipster demographic in Brooklyn, where they too have crowned him king."

From a press release email I got re a new Nabay song

terrible press release, but Nabay is awesome + certainly deserves lots of love from hipsters and non-hipsters alike

Awesome Tapes from Africa dj was in Europe with his tapes and now he's moving around the USA (often with bands)

23.05 Boston MA / Spectacle w/ Debo Band
25.05 Seattle, WA / CAIRO
26.05 Portland OR / Holocene w/ Sahel Sounds
28.05 George, WA / Sasquatch! Music Festival at the Gorge

Need to check out this later: Afrobeats mix in the UK by DJ Abrantees

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jan/19/the-rise-of-afrobeats

"See I like Beyoncé, but she dey with Jigga / I like Nicki, her yansh is bigger..." // D'BANJ - OLIVER TWIST // afrobeats in the charts

Maybe I need to start looking at Dissensus again-- discussed there and here

suppose i was referring to a few people on the dissensus afrobeats thread, which quite depressingly turned into a moanfest about lumping together Naija, Hiplife, Boomba, kuduro etc, thereby misrepresenting these distinct musical styles/traditions etc...i suppose they have a point but slagging Abrantee seemed a bit cynical to me, he's doing a lot to promote this music.

― Benny B, Thursday, May 24, 2012 12:00 PM (1 hour ago

http://africasacountry.com/2012/01/27/the-whole-afrobeats-thing/

um, i don't know if this would interest anyone here but
http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/155829/monday-music-the-face-of-ladino-dream-pop/

Nice. I only know Ladino-rock band Deleon, and traditional Ladino singer Flory Jagoda.

PR folks are pushing another Ladino effort: Ljuba Davis Ladino Ensemble's new album, East and West

I'm covering them in early June

They want me to cover them but I'm more interested in:

from the Ethiopiques thread:

Just talked last night to Selam Seyoum Woldemariam, founder and member of the Ibex and Roha Band and guitarist with Mahmoud Ahmed since 1974. They're on Ethiopiques #7

He lives near me in the Washington DC area

it's a little coughcoughmediocre even for a ladino album :/

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2012/05/25/this-weekend-in-global-music-mahmoud-ahmed-skah-shah-and-more/

Busy weekend in the US Capitol

But I was unable to make any of the events, sadly (out of town for most of 'em)

Interesting Baloji(Belgium-based Congolese rapper) interview from a few weeks back

http://www.afropop.org/multi/interview/ID/233

Loving this: http://boomkat.com/cds/519204-francis-bebey-african-electronic-music-1975-1982

And also this: http://radioletoubib.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/cafe-aman-istanbul-fasl-i-rembetiko.html

Wow, only knew Bebey for his guitar-based work.

Strange, wonderful, unexpected stuff; I kept drawing parallels between Bebey and Shuggie Otis.

Hey New Yorkers, look what's happening tonight:

Saturday June 2, at PS 145, W 105th Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus.
Doors at 4pm. Music all day--great locally based West AFrican musicians.
The Sway Machinery hits at about 8pm. Khaira closes out the show at about 9:30pm.
$20 tickets--all proceeds go to medical relief for isolated and desperate north Mali communities.

Meanwhile back in Northern Mali, things are not so good:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/world/africa/in-timbuktu-mali-rebels-and-islamists-impose-harsh-rule.html?_r=1&hp

The situation is said to be especially troubling for women in Timbuktu. “Women are living in terrible fear,” said Baba Aicha Kalil, a well-known civic activist who is still living in the town, which once had a population of more than 50,000 but has experienced a significant exodus since the rebels moved in.

“They want to put a veil on everything,” Mrs. Kalil said, reached over a crackly telephone line from Timbuktu, which is about 440 miles northeast of Bamako, at the edge of the Sahara. “They are everywhere, everywhere with their guns.”

All of northern Mali, an area the size of France, has been in the hands of a loose coalition of Islamists and nomadic Tuareg rebels since late March, when resistance by the Malian Army collapsed after a coup d’état by junior military officers in the capital.

Since the takeover, however, the Islamists of Ansar Dine, supported by Al Qaeda, have gained the upper hand over the Tuaregs, and they are aggressively promoting their brand of Islamic law, or Shariah.

Black billboards with Koranic inscriptions have replaced advertisements, residents said. Leading figures in the regional Qaeda affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, have also been spotted there.

If Khaira Arby decides to move to Brooklyn, I hope she finds a band other than the Sway Machinery (and if her current Malian guitarist stays with her, that he stop doing his current axe moves)

Dengue Fever with Omar Souleyman is a bill that makes little sense except in "world music" terms. I am going to see them tomorrow night in Washington DC

Discussion of the ethics and quality of the latest Mississippi Records box set re-release(various John Storm Roberts compiled efforts and other stuff...But no liner notes or credits given)

The thread for discussing the amazing Life Is A Problem comp on MISSISSIPPI records

A Bola remix collection is out on the Awesome tapes from Africa label now, and I forgot to check out the original release that Rob praised upthread back in April. Will check 'em both out this weekend, I promise. Seeing Omar Souleyman tonight, and the Clean tomorrow night.

So behind in my cd, spotify and online listening. Azonto, old and very old F. Bebey, tracking down Storm Roberts comps, soca hits...

Enjoyed Dengue Fever last night (friend who had seen 'em before though was disapointed--said they were missing a multi-instrumentalist member guy and had less energy, plus crowd was smaller) and Omar Souleyman and his talented keyboardist

baseball game, art exhibit, party, bike riding were all fun, but I still haven't caught up on some listening I want to do.

Tinariwen are touring North America now btw.

http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/obituaries/obituary-jan-fairley-writer-broadcaster-lecturer-1-2348562

Liked that Bolo video for a song from his album on Awesome tapes that Robe mentioned upthread. A bit more folkloric than I expected (he's strumming some kind of stringed instrument) but the album and the remixes are less so. He's from Ghana.