Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2021 Thread (Often African bands)

This thread is mainly for polyrhythmic, international sounds that aren't big enough to get threads of their own. I lean toward south of the equator sounds here that are sometimes less club-oriented than those of artists highlighted on Afrobeats, dancehall, soca, etc. threads. Sometimes, but not always, the artists are older than those on those other threads. More old-school bands too. Often less digital programming but if it includes such playing/programming it is usually less popular

Here's last year's thread- 2020

Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2020 Thread (Often African bands)

Still catching up on 2020 music slowly ( other things keeping me from listening)

Saw an Awesome Tapes from Africa email about a Mail release that looked promising; once I find time

https://jonathanbogart.substack.com/p/50-songs-of-2020-14

Jonathan Bogart in part re his top songs of 2020 : I dare say that just about anyone could find something to love in there, even if they don’t speak Spanish, Portuguese, French, Swahili, or Zulu (the most common non-English languages throughout the playlist).

Bogart ranked 50 songs and did a Spotify list plus a 626 song YouTube playlist. A lot of it is more Afro thread material but since he has Caribbean and Brazilian and more , I posted it here

Breastcrawl may even know already about many of the above artists.

cool, I only just saw this. reservations about JB aside, I’m looking forward to do some digging in. (rest assured, if last year’s list is anything to go by there will be lots I don’t know)

Chouk Bwa & The Ångstromers
Vodou Alé
Haitian Drumming and Singing with Touches of Electronica and Dancehall Music

Just finally listened to this 2020 effort. Not bad but doesn’t consistently wow me. Critic Ted Gioia had it in his long year end list

https://afropop.org/articles/catch-up-on-tiny-desk-globalfest-2021

https://afropop.org/articles/albums-from-2020-highlights

album titles in the link

Rocky Dawuni
Songhoy Blues
Elida Almeida
Aricia Mess from Putumayo presents Brazil-Samba, Bossa, and Beyond
Hailu Mergia
Groupe RTD
Gordon Konang
Linos Wengara Magaya & Zimbaremabwe Mbira Vibes
Modeste Hugues & Kilema
Artists for Peace & Justice- Let the Rhythm Lead: Haiti Song Summit Vol. 1
Ali Bilali Soudan
Herb Alpert
Andal Sukabe from Music from Saharan WhatsApp 7 Sahel Sounds
Penny Penny
Nahawa Doumbia
Ballake Sissoko
Oumou Sangare - Acoustic
Monty Alexander

This rips (Ugandan drum group on Nyege Nyege):
https://nyegenyegetapes.bandcamp.com/album/ejokawulida

Still catching up on 2020-- the Al Bilali Soudan (not Ali as I mistakenly typed earlier) album has great North African desert guitar work. Maybe not anything new at this point, but done really well.

Actually that's ngoni on that and maybe not guitar

https://www.clermontmusic.com/tombouctou

Malian singer Nahawa Doumbia also on above list has a powerful, passionate voice . She's from southern Mali. in the Wassoulou region. This area is well known for generating some of the best female singers in Mali, including Oumou Sangaré.

https://earthbeat.nl/artist/nahawa-doumbia/

Modeste Hugues & Kilema is pleasant afro-folk from Madagascar .

Still more there to go through.

The Oumou Sangare acoustic album from last year is nice. She's still got a great voice. One of those many fantastic southern Mali vocalists

I don't think the kora album by Ballake Sissoko that afropop.org listed is available yet. He is a good player. Saw him duet with French musician Vincent Segal live, and they also were together on Tiny Desk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtiTfejYpgs

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/26/kyrgyzstan-ballads-okinawan-folk-ugandan-hymns-the-album-rewriting-global-music-history-excavated-shellac?fbclid=IwAR1bKpkJrd2_MAmkb85GeWq3eQ5fLEV1CZBb7i7JZhqtXf4PynrAsMuBhpY

New digital only collection with e-book of global 78s put together by Excavated Shellac and Dust to Digital

thanks for posting that tiny desk concert! I watched it last night. I know their albums together already, but it was a real treat to be able to see them playing with each other. This is basically what I imagine heaven would sound like.

I skipped a kora concert summer '19. I don't even remember who was playing, but I've regretted it ever since, particularly in the past year.

That shellac collection sounds amazing, I kind of want to convene a group project to listen to the whole thing.

Good description.

Good description.

that excavated shellac thing looks amazing - used to follow the blog - but come on, 100+ tracks? no one has the time.

ordered the shellac collection! downloading the large pdf is taken some time let alone the music :D

oh wait that was the music

anyway listening now

the detail in the document is amazing btw, full page of history for each track and lyrics and translations

got it off bandcamp earlier and talked a friend into listening to a few songs each week and chatting about it, pretty excited!

Christgau just posted his fave albums for 2020 list and it includes this North African one below from 2017

3. Group Doueh & Cheveu: Dakhla Sahara Session (Born Bad ‘17)

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMh9h8twoGyInLFa-yMgFdSYNX642hhMb

Nahawa Doumbia , Mali singer with her band in Stockholm last year. She has a new album that was available in Mali in November 2020, & Awesome Tapes from Africa is releasing elsewhere now

Nice I'll have to check that out. I got pretty into La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 3 last summer

https://www.theafricareport.com/62955/sibongile-khumalo-voice-of-the-new-south-africa-dies-at-63/

RIP Sibongile Khumalo, South African Zulu jazz & choral singer

I forget the name of the rap not in English thread, so Inwill post this here instead. I see in The NY Times actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas saying that she listens to Hindi rap like Raftaar and Divine when she works out.

that's this thread, curmudge: Rolling worldwide rap thread 2021

Reading in NY Times about Barbara Dane , 93 years old musician and Paredon label owner

Musician Barbara Dane’s Life of Defiance and Song - plus Her label released music produced by liberation movements in Vietnam, Palestine, Angola, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Greece, Uruguay, Mexico, the United States and beyond.

Folkways controls the label now

nice to see that paddy bush's old documentary on the malagasy musician rakotozafy has made it back to youtube again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orE-9ZQVsio

Kôrôlén is a very special collaboration between two titans in music: Toumani Diabaté, the Grammy-winning Malian kora virtuoso, and the London Symphony Orchestra, renowned worldwide for their performances of orchestral music on record, film and stage. Diabaté, a griot whose musical lineage stretches back generations, is well known as one of the most creative musicians on the African continent, and is almost single-handedly responsible for bringing the iconic sound of the kora to worldwide audiences. No stranger to a genre-defying collaboration, he has recorded two Grammy-winning albums alongside desert blues pioneer Ali Farka Touré, as well as projects with Taj Mahal, Björk, Béla Fleck, Damon Albarn and Afrocubism.

Commissioned as a special project by the Barbican Centre in London and produced by World Circuit, these recordings feature Diabaté and his group of eminent Malian musicians (including Kasse Mady Diabaté and Lassana Diabaté), accompanied by the soaring presence of the LSO, in dedicated arrangements by Nico Muhly and Ian Gardiner and conducted by Clark Rundell. The title bestowed by Diabaté on this unique and groundbreaking release, 'Kôrôlén', translates from the Mandinka language as 'ancestral' - a fitting theme for an album that brings together ancient griot melodies and Western orchestral arrangements, resulting in an achingly beautiful and fresh neo-classical sound that will appeal to admirers of African, traditional and new classical, and ambient music.

arghhhh with someone like toumani would go LOWER-fi not higher fi
orchestra collabs are such a snooze

Yep

yeah I'm listening to "Haïnamady Town" off this right now and Diabaté is excellent of course, but the LSO bits are pretty sacharine

Here's one that rightfully should go on yesterday's '70s boogie thread 'cept it's not from the '70s and isn't about boogying per se; is from the Songhoy Blues LP that Steve was disappointed by last year. Similar to fellow Malian Ali Farka Toure, Songhoy Blues are fans of John Lee Hooker; unlike Ali Farka Touré their Hooker-derived blues boogie sometimes sounds like Brownsville Station.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p-Zta6QLms

Sorry not much of Brownsville fan, although I am curious about how Songhoy Blues sound changed into this more boogie rock one

Paul Bowles, author & musician, went to Morocco in 1959 and recorded music there. It was released as a 1972 lp, and now his tapes are on YouTube

https://moroccantapestash.blogspot.com/2021/02/paul-bowles-library-of-congress.html?fbclid=IwAR0Uz6KRvZrIwsF8CjEI7M6KpTgLKmb22ORzXsFFb3Ga7YYKZaAl_O_hnuE&m=1

https://brazilbeatblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/15/favorite-brazilian-albums-of-2020/?fbclid=IwAR2RgmndUV6_OrRNlJfpSIlVwB-fWSPS1PVYhLKodT0zx-1VhS-mBrTIolc

A Brazilian top 20 for 2020

Oduor Nyagweno, solo nyatiti & vocals, worth reading the backstory here:
https://petelarson.bandcamp.com/album/where-i-go-i-am-there

At 14 years of age he had a dream about the nyatiti and when he awoke the following day, he was magically able to play it, or so the legend goes. Nyagweno started entering nyatiti competitions and quickly moved up the ranks to become one of the best nyatiti players in the area

Here’s part of backstory but there’s more.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-02-23/guy-chookoorian-armenian-american-novelty-records-dies

Longtime Armenian singer/ instrumentalist and occasional Hollywood bit actor Guy Chookoorian has died. Lots of Armenians who fled their homes after Turkish genocide end up in Southern California

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/sardool-sikander-1961-2021-roadways-di-laari-comes-to-a-grinding-halt-101614194628380.html

Punjabi / India singer Sardool Sikander dead at 60 from Covid

Not 100 percent sure this is the right thread for this, but Buscabulla was discussed on last year's thread. This is a lovely, languorous dream-pop cover. I wasn't familiar with the original, but I gather it's a Puerto Rican karaoke staple. I've gone back and listened to earlier recordings (Lissette Alvarez, Umberto Tozzi) and they're good but I like the chill vibe of this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3U_V46IonM

With the recent Spotify launches in several more African countries, I've been generating playlists to show what the new listeners in each country were disproportionately playing in their first few days. If you're interested:

Nigeria: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4RVekSXvQYyHrF6XyxEdwH?si=bPCTg3hlR5iERR1Z-j5z3g
Ghana: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0i3gO0KVgrTahrMziABjzi?si=qo64HhfaRgCDQqQO7k2J-g
Kenya: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4qTwmED83dqkVGNY9W76Jx?si=wePsV8afS0-Mw_0rL_B7pw
Tanzania: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Z0dnLnskhYb1aCHmreyP7?si=azB7nRvISeKQ0NY6ElLgzw
Uganda: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1JY0Esk4iU4vvCvxM6WOH9?si=H7hM1lCUR1O-awDgdO-_IA
Botswana: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1vAV9s9KXwLCD7knb4TrDX?si=SJKH7Xb6TqeUJBBumbTrCA
Senegal: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1uV3spPPFM8rbTjQm5R0U8?si=ijx0CwytSEaKU51c8M3x3Q
Zimbabwe: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6jz4ew4EjyoQEc93QXItMa?si=_nbg2izzScGPqgF8pdpWgQ
Rwanda: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6vqW1BNtJLAtrDNv5l0abc?si=oY1K1PFnRh2tTsziEpa2WQ
Burundi: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1mRpE6qCP9aKMqrkzoUTto?si=YnoYpakIRVy6OJKNXYBj0w
Malawi: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/44WtZOWm90wMMiaeFQauGw?si=VK8hLFhvQiKSXBAX12iyJA

I was happily skimming through those but got stuck on Eli Njuchi (Malawi) for a while!

https://open.spotify.com/album/0KCzZIFaZ7BHdTHcLSM14x?si=TuFxj7SmQES1J_5Or6vXpg

without having checked those links yet: that’s very cool, thanx!

these playlists would actually be at least as appropriate for the Rolling Afropop. feel free to post them there as well!

am I correct in assuming you rid these lists of “international” hits, like in one of your earlier projects?

can also report a sham upload in the Nigeria list: “High Way” is a big hit by DJ Kaywise featuring (famous rapper) Phyno, but some sneaky person re-uploaded it with the non-existing ‘Phynoo’ as the artist name.

More about Eli Njuchi: https://massplugmag.com/article/eli-has-taken-us-on-a-journey-people-from-all-walks-of-life-are-able-to-resonate-with-his-lyrics

have to say, that song "Phone" of his shares *a lot* of dna with a five-year-old Nigerian hit, Nonso Amadi's "Tonight" - up and including the actual "phone me, I am here for you" message:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcfOIfa5kvE

Thanks Glenn for those posts. Lots to go through

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/11/the-grammys-have-a-major-problem-with-global-diversity-lip-service-isnt-going-to-solve-it?fbclid=IwAR1tmzxswloH5Szdz_W1ZV44Xuo8fnuoYqIeqMlLRQZMPmsJ8C8gG8pVXH0

Re the former Grammy world music category now called global music

“It seems the surest way to win in the category is to have won before. Some 23 of 37 winners have won a Grammy previously, including each winner of the past eight years during which time Angélique Kidjo won three times.”

RIp Josky Kiambukuta of Tpok Jazz from the Congo. The 72-year-old singer, songwriter and performer had been ill for several years.

Josky was one of the last stars of Tout Puissant Ok Jazz (TPOK Jazz), founded by Luambo Luanzo Makiadi, better known as Franco

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/magazine/tpok-jazz-josky-kiambukuta-dies-3315198

TPOK were great. I need to dig into Josky cuts with them

yeah I don't recognize the name tbh, but TPOK are all-time

Someone who follows me on twitter swears by this Josky & TPOK song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZPtwopRML0

It’s “Limbisa Ngai”

This reminds me that some years back I used to be on an Old school African music chatboard dominated by Congolese diaspora members who confidently stated their music was the best in the world and who knew all the details. I wonder if that forum is still happening

A posthumous Tony Allen album is coming in late April. He had lots of guests on it- Danny Brown, Skepta, Sampa and more. Damon Albarn one of the 3 producers

First song from this late Tony Allen effort is called “Cosmosis “ and features Skepta and Ben Okiri. Nice relaxed polyrhythmic groove with some laidback grimey rapping/ talking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnM8foG4Vuc

Nice. I loved the Tony Allen/Hugh Masekela album from last year, that was a nice parting gift from him.

“Limbisa Ngai” unsurprisingly rules, those Congolese diaspora posters are pretty much otm!

Definitely a good one.

Listening to music from elsewhere though tonight. Wau Wau Collectif is a collaboration via What’s App with Senegalese musicians and Swedes led by a Swedish musician/musicologist who had visited Senegal. Not bad.. Need to listen some more.

Witch Camp from Ghana is worth hearing but sad. It features older Ghanaian women who have been labeled witches ( by people who want to steal their land and property ) chanting over hand pounded percussion. Song titles include “Hunted,” “Only God can Judge Me,” “ I have lost all that I love”, “ Left to live like an animal “

RIP Senegalese singer Thione Seck at 66. He was in Orchestre Baobab and later had his own band. He also put out an album in 2005 called Orientation that blended middle eastern and Asian Islamic aspects into his sound ( kinda like that Youssou N’Dour Egypt album). Doing an ilx search I see that Thione Seck album got some attention here from more than me. As I said back then, I saw him live in DC before a 99% Senegalese crowd years ago and that Orientation cd like Youssou's Egypt one is a great hybrid effort.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210314-senegalese-music-legend-thione-seck-dies-aged-66

Spotify is calling the 2005 Thione Seck cd Orientissime .

Syllart Records are responsible for that release, and that's how they titled it...

https://syllart.com/senegal/

RIP Seck, that's a bummer.

Glenn, thanks. Orientissime is the correct name I have discovered. I initially found one article that had the wrong title Orientation.

Apologies if this has been posted already, but I've never seen anything like it (and can't figure out a way to post it without Facebook, sorry):

https://www.facebook.com/100004043210594/videos/2338254156319335/

What is it?

riveting stuff, I love it!

it’s Chinese opera, of the Shanxi kind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanxi_opera

but it’s not at all like what most people would probably expect that to look and sound like

(can’t tell if that’s one like too many or not, but whatever)

xpost Oh, sorry, it's "Zhang Tong 張桐, suona master, performs *all three roles* in the Shanxi Jin Opera version of the classic “Two Enter the Palace 二進宮”. " He's got some sort of reed inserted into his mouth/throat, so that it looks like he's singing but this whistle sound is coming out instead.

it had me dancing around in my living room

wow

Great find!

BC, on the off chance you are unfamiliar with Wang Li, I think you would dig him! Here's a fun duet project with Wu Wei:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_gl7IKjc_w

...but I am playing the Wang Li x Wu Wei album now...

#onethread

(so far it’s very different from what JiC posted, bar a few wilder episodes, but I’m enjoying it all the same)

? maybe i'm misunderstanding your post but that's not wang li in the chinese opera video, different artists altogether.
Just thought if you like one you might like the other.

I got that! it’s just that beside the fact that they’re both Chinese musicians they don’t seem to have all that much in common (talking about the album here)

I do like it, like I said, so it’s all good and xiexie!

(but what does JiC have to say about all this?)

(currently digging “Sun and Snow” off that Overtones album)

the similarities in my mind were the mouth reed stuff

Wang Li is worth exploring; all his albums are great.

I honestly don't know much about Chinese opera, let alone this approach to it. It's definitely wild, though, since the clips are sometimes like watching an avant band like, say, the Ex but hearing totally different sounds come out.

I just learned about this South Korean band Jambinai:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB1k7CDVWVk

I've seen them described as post rock, which makes sense, but I also think it sometimes sounds weirdly like Nine Inch Nails.

nice piece on Ballaké Sissoko here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/07/ballake-sissoko-picking-up-the-pieces-after-us-customs-broke-his-kora

great pandemic profile of a wonderful musician practicing and parenting

RIP Gash Ayele Mamo, Ethiopian mandolin player and songwriter who played a big role in classic Ethiopiques music

Vieux Farka Toure stream concert April 15 . Tickets start at $7
https://sessionslive.com/VFT/tickets?fbclid=IwAR1zTC1eaUapuWPRXd9IWud6KpIahoi6KEh29prjhvIpDkUawAcZkmrZ6q4&ad_id=23847191289370755&publisher_id=Facebook_Mobile_Feed

Anybody see "The Mali Cuba Connection"

In the midst of the Cold War, ten young promising musicians from Mali are sent to Cuba to study music and strengthen cultural links between the two socialist countries. Combining Malian and Afro-Cuban influences, they develop a revolutionary new sound and become the iconic ensemble ‘Las Maravillas de Mali’. New Year’s Eve 2000. Richard Minier, a French music producer meets a former member of the band in Bamako and decides to bring the band back together

https://afivsr.eventive.org/films/the-mali-cuba-connection-606a3bc9eaf9ff005cebd6ff

or Zanka Contact ? Am curious about both of these movies

Re Zanka --

"A car crash throws together a has-been rocker who has just returned to Casablanca and a streetwise con-artist, who get lulled into the shenanigans of the city’s music underworld."‘For three days after the Bataclan, I thought I was dead,” says Ismaël el Iraki, whose debut feature, Zanka Contact, is a Wild at Heart-type love story starring Ahmed Hammoud & Moroccan music star Khansa Batma w/ debts to Quentin Tarantino and Sergio Leone.

Leaning towards seeing both of those movies

The Zanka Contact reviews on letterboxd are pretty withering but I am curious.

I read reviews elsewhere and the best I saw was “a mess but a fun one”.

Jambinai is cool!

[googles Jambinai]

Korean avant-rock. Does sound cool. Adds it to list to listen to later

hehe, a video was posted upthread, sounds like a studio take but looks live

many xps but sissoko's new album "Djourou" is pretty great

Yep Ballake Sissoko’s kora playing is heavenly. I really like the cuts with vocals on them best , I must admit though

mainly been listening to the stunning new Arooj Afab album Vulture Prince today

^the two tracks that are up on Bandcamp are gorgeous

An old friend used to recite the Rumi poem she sings on "Last Night" a lot; he was also the reason I got super into reggae, so the lightly skanking rhythm on that is perfect to me

listening to this now, spellbinding

it's really wonderful, big thanks to calzino

she is instantly super high up on my list of concerts I would like to see

yes that's spectacular, thanks for the tip

I like Aftab’s vocals plus the strings and arrangements. Pitchfork has given it a good review and it’s a best of album there ( singer lives in Brooklyn too!)

happy to be introduced to Arooj Aftab, I love this album. that Pitchfork review is very detailed and knowledgeable. this quote may be obvious, but I think it's worth highlighting:

Educated at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Aftab has as much of a claim to the Western traditions of jazz and experimental electronica as to the folk and classical music of her native homeland. She mixes and matches these traditions not with the awkward, respectful hesitancy of an outsider, but with the casual intimacy of an initiate.

"Saans Lo", one of the highlights for me, brought to mind Nina Simone's version of "Who Knows Where The Time Goes".

rob made a thread:

Arooj Aftab

I posted in the Ethiopiques thread about the death of pioneering Ethiopian record producer and label owner Amha Eshete. After he later fled Ethiopia he came to Washington DC and started the Blue Nile and Ibex clubs and continued to work with Ethiopian musicians

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xJETByzg7A

DC based Ethiopian singer/ guitarist Kumera Zekarias discovered Colombian music in DC and heard some similarities to Ethiopian music. He eventually went to Colombia and recorded with some Afro-Colombian musicians. He has now released a 4 song ep Biyya Chonta on Spotify and Bandcamp.

I like the Kumera Zekarias ep and video, and interviewed him about the project

https://medium.com/seventhirty-dc/on-biyya-chonta-kumera-zekarias-creates-a-heady-blend-of-ethiopian-and-colombian-grooves-353a460a9beb

Zekarias’s buzzing guitar work stands out as well. He says that a friend has jokingly told him that he “can’t speak Amharic that well, but your guitar does.”

Zekarias speaks some Amharic, Oromo, Spanish, & English. That’s from my latest article -

He organically blends that guitar sound well with Afro-Colombian tinted vocals support and the marimba & hand hit drum percussion

Banning Eyre of Afropop.Org is starting his own label Lion Songs Records and the first release on the label, Boubabcar "Badian" Diabaté's Mande Guitar (African Guitar Series Vol I, drops June 4).

Anyone has checked out Duda Beat - Te amo lá fora ? It's an exceedingly pleasant and smooth glossy mix of pop, r&b, Brazilian genres, and more. It has a certain vintage quality. Kali Uchis and Javiera Mena are my closest reference since I'm not so familiar with the scene in Brazil. Anyway, let's start with the closer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-qNnmmfdhY
Duda Beat - Tocar Você

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkv-w5QJPC0
Duda Beat - Meu Pisêro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS92p-sUDq4
Duda Beat - 50 Meninas

Since I'm at it, I also quite liked Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagés - Clamor which is also pop but more rooted in classically trained folklore. The electronic touches are well blended and the album is consistent.

Nice. May want to xpost to Modern Brazil - s/d

Nice vocals

I need to check out Khaira Arby New York live 2010

Arby was a powerful voiced Malian singer who died young at 58 in 2018. Now this live recording has come out

Angélique Kidjo has a new album coming out next month; Burna Boy is on one track. She dedicated her 2020 Grammy win to him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpwUq-tZfmE

Also seeing reviews of new Mdou Moctar album

The Moctar w/ his touring band album "Afrique Victime" is his first on Matador

it's a really good album this, some absolutely sick guitar playing and the songs are growing on me.

Listening for first time this morning. Sounds good. The one white guy in the group Mikey Coltun is from DC. Coltun’s dad is a guitarist who runs an international music club/ restaurant in DC. Dad has played with a DC based Malian musician for some time

A fantastic South African record — Philip Tabane's The Indigenous Afro-Jazz Sounds Of..., from 1969 — is being reissued on LP only (boo, hiss) next month. Bandcamp link

It's a duo disc, just guitar and percussion for most of it, but Tabane occasionally plays flute and the percussionist, Gabriel "Sonnyboy" Thobejane, plays thumb piano. Tabane's guitar style is somewhere between Grant Green and John Lee Hooker, really raw-sounding but technically quite skilled. If you can find a digital version, or own a turntable, snap this one up.

That'll be this? https://open.spotify.com/album/4BPFOWZvn6eKmZOGk3oJKZ?si=6em_cftNSMGut_ajvMwm8Q
sounds good indeed

India Covid relief benefit stream

Live Performances By:
Terry Riley
Kala Ramnath & Abhijit Banerjee
George Brooks & Utsav Lal
Chuck Johnson
Saturday, June 5
4pm PST / 7pm EST

https://grayarea.org/event/music-for-india/

This is fantastic Afro/Cuban/Funk/Jazz based out of Cologne

Mutio Kaballa Power Ensemble - Mamari

https://muitokaballa.bandcamp.com/album/mamari

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/03/973428817/new-compilation-of-old-tunes-is-an-alternate-history-of-the-worlds-music

More on Excavated Shellac collection

x-post- Mutio Kaballa Power Ensemble have a little afrobeat as well as the jazz

Finally saw a bit of Innov Gnawa last night. Good stuff, love that sintir.

Yes. Saw them once and agree.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/angelique-kidjo-mother-nature/?utm_medium=social&utm_brand=p4k&mbid=social_twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_social-type=owned&fbclid=IwAR2zF6R8K3U9fkhTfBUEo6oXszowPeSa9D128cSDMhlkb-k9TEplGYNk9p0

New Angelique Kidjo album . She wrote 11 of 13 songs. Guests include Burna Boy, Yemi Alade, Mr Eazi

Pitchfork review is favorable although grade of 7.6 won’t make it a “best album “

Haven’t listened to the Kidjo album yet

Cameroonian singer Wes Madiko:

https://then24.com/2021/06/26/singer-wes-madiko-author-of-the-hit-alane-died-at-the-age-of-57/

RIP

Was listening to Witch Camp— percussion and chants and harmonies from Ghanaian women in a camp who have been wrongfully condemned as witches

Sample tracks from this are good: https://analogafrica.bandcamp.com/album/cameroon-garage-funk

Pop Makossa was amazing so I'm looking forward to hearing that

Sounds funky and liners say most songs were recorded in a church with just one mic

This is pretty sweet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFZobgLF5Vc

Bandcamp daily had a story about this Moroccan banjo player, really nice: https://hassanwargui.bandcamp.com/album/tiddukla

I am behind on listening to various things related to this thread. But intend to find time

https://daily.bandcamp.com/hidden-gems/u-tin-burmese-guitar-review?utm_source=notification

The late Burmese / Myanmar guitarist U-tin sounds good on my first quick listen

yes, sounds very interesting

Yep

Belatedly caught up with the new Ballaké Sissoko, who never disappoints. The chamber pop collabs (with Camille and Arthur Teboul of Feu ! Chatterton, among others) are more convincing than I expected and don't sound off in this context where most features involve African musicians (or musicians of African descent). The duo with Oxmo Puccino is the sole misstep as far as I'm concerned. By far one of the best French rappers of the late 90s/early 00s, he just sounds exhausted here, and his attempt at doing a spoken word bit falls flat.

New Sissoko album is called Djourou

Salif Keita’s voice is still so gorgeous on Sissoko cut Guelen

Saw a little video clip on an Ethiopian DC FB group of Tsedi , an Ethiopian singer performing before a big Sunday night crowd at the Hashtag Lounge in Alexandria, Virginia, pretty close to Washington DC. I don’t know her music but may investigate further at some point

was Habibi Funk 015 mentioned? it's very good on first listen
https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-015-an-eclectic-selection-of-music-from-the-arab-world-part-2

wow there are 15 volumes of that? not sure I've heard a one—any particular volume to recommend?

this is a personal favorite https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-010-mouasalat-ila-jacad-el-ard

cheers, I'll check that out!

https://pan-african-music.com/en/nobesuthu-mbadu-dies-at-76/

Too many deaths of older musicians lately

Nobesuthu Mbadu of South Africa’s Mahotella Queens mbaqanga and vocal harmonies group

Sir Victor Uwaifo guitarist
Barthalemy Attiso, guitarist for Orchestra Baobab

https://www.getrevue.co/profile/jonathanbogart/issues/exist-yesterday-2021-tropical-pop-2-may-aug-743619?utm_campaign=Issue&utm_content=view_in_browser&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Exist+Yesterday

Jonathan Bogart on his fave May to August 2021 pop/dance/ rap/reggae /soca songs

Really into this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0GKOazMFho

Falle Nioke & sir Was - Wonama yo ema

That sounds super nice

ooh that's lovely

this newer, bangier track is good too - i think it's on the BBC Radio 6 playlist

Falle Nioke & Ghost Culture - Leywole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndqyUDPVBt0

Thanks for the Falle Nioke posts. Good stuff.

Unrelated-

Ethiopian New Year is Saturday. A couple of good live shows coming up this weekend in DC. One with guitarist Selamino who is on a Ethiopiques album or 2.

I checked Altın Gün's album because it was mentionned first on Popmatters mid-year list. It's a pleasant discovery: tasty mix of synths, grooves and Anatolian rock. It's light in a good way, without the superficial exotic I expect on such releases. For example the track of right now, Kesik Çayır, sounds kinda like the B-side of Remain in Light. I wouldn't mind a bit more edge and a world-class singer, but I think I'll check their previous album as well.

Following the author, I just found this. Fitting since I'm going to Kin soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0jF5QxNtI8
Rey Sapienz & The Congo Techno Ensemble - Eza Makambo

https://www.businessinsider.com/afghanistan-taliban-kills-popular-folk-singer-days-after-music-ban-2021-8

Oh no.

Mecca-based MSYLMA, who made what I believe to be the best record of 2019, is coming out with a new one next Monday, a collaboration with producer ISMAEL. Some gorgeous preview tracks here: https://editionsappaerent.bandcamp.com/album/the-tenets-of-forgetting

Doesn't fit with a lot of the more "traditional" music that this thread catalogs, but is obviously influenced by Muslim devotional music and prayer practices. Really cool stuff.

I missed the 2019 album as well, so will check out both

Some of 2019 Msylma is a bit too melodramatic for me, but much of it works.

Yeah, it is a little melodramatic, but I love it— and he does have quite a set of pipes.

Family responsibilities mean I can’t go see Cameroon’s longtime mokassa artist Petit Pays Friday night in a burb between DC and Baltimore, but he’s released a zillion albums that I haven’t heard and should check out

Makossa

Neha Kakkar from India is at the MGM theatre near me tonight, as well.

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/29/1041553988/googoosh-iranian-singer-american-tour

NPR story on Los Angeles based Iranian singer Googoosh who is on tour again

More than 100 young artists, teachers and their relatives affiliated with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, a celebrated school that became a target of the Taliban in part for its efforts to promote the education of girls, fled the country on Sunday, the school’s leaders said.

The musicians, many of whom have been trying to leave for more than a month, boarded a flight from Kabul’s main airport and arrived in Doha, the capital of Qatar, around midday Eastern time, according to Ahmad Naser Sarmast, the head of the school, who is currently in Australia. In the coming days, they plan to resettle in Portugal, where the government has agreed to grant them visas

From NY Times

Between helping my elderly Mom ( who’s more a Sinatra fan than a Mdou Moctar one) and moving locally in the DC area , I am way behind on my global listening.

https://afropop.org/articles/robson-banda-and-the-new-black-eagles-soweto

I need to listen to this reissue

That Robson Banda and the new black eagles reissue has those zimbabwean and south african guitars from the 80s that I like

. BLK JKS - Abantu/Before Humans

Saw this and Mdou Moctar on a best of 2021 album list in that thread of them

Omar Souleymane now being held in a Turkish prison is bad news.

https://www.passionweiss.com/2021/11/16/afro-jams-of-the-week-november-16-2021/

Hmmm have I ever heard Sona Jobarteh who’s gonna be on cover of December Songlines and has a gig in London soon

That BLK JKS album is very busy with lots of sounds coming at you at once, sometimes I like it while other times it’s too jazz fusion/ prog busy for me.

learned recently that demola adepoju also played pedal steel on paul simon's "graceland" (the song). his solo album is amazing. any/all other nigerian/african pedal steel tips always totally welcome! https://t.co/PUnQ9dyfvF

— jesse jarnow (@bourgwick) November 20, 2021

https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/arooj-aftab-grammy-nomination-best-new-artist-things-to-know-1235001996/

Pakistani music for the masses. I like her but it’s interesting how she has managed to reach ilx, indie hipsters, and the Grammys

I think it's because it's very good

https://www.elderscornermovie.com/

This doc about Older Nigerian musicians looks promising

Jon Pareles listed some additional albums that didn’t make his NY Times top list and he has Omar Sosa and East African Journey on it. Cuban pianist Sosa went to a number of countries and recorded with local musicians there.

Pareles has Bomba Estereo, Mon Laferte, & Mdou Moctar in his top albums plus in his 15 more deserving albums -Arooj Aftab, “Vulture Prince”

Khaira Arby, “New York Live” and Omar Sosa

Kumera Zekarias, a DC based Ethiopian singer/ guitarist who grew up in Texas , released a great record in April called Biyya Chonta that he recorded in Colombia with musicians from that country.

He hasn’t gotten huge Bandcamp or Spotify attention and doesn’t have a pr team ( he’s now studying ethnomusicology in Boston) but he’s worth checking out . I highlighted him earlier this year and his effort is one of my fave 2021 releases https://medium.com/seventhirty-dc/on-biyya-chonta-kumera-zekarias-creates-a-heady-blend-of-ethiopian-and-colombian-grooves-353a460a9beb

Les Filles at Pioneer Works is showing up on a few lists too

Afropop. Org list isn’t due out till later. Anyone aware of some good lists involving old school or new school sounds from the global south or elsewhere?

Saw Elder's Corner movie doc last night . A love letter to Nigeria focused on highlife, but also juju and afrobeat. Haven't seen the new Velvets or Beatles docs yet, but I saw this 2020 effort. The artists are enthused that the Nigerian musician/ director (first time film-maker I think) is taking them into recording studios as so many have been ignored for years. Ebenezer Obey, Sir Victor Uwaifo, the Lijadu Sisters, Tony Allen and many more previously unknown to me like EC Arinze and the Empire Rhythm Band. Spoiler alert- suddenly in the closing credits you learn that since the filming began for this effort and was completed that nearly 15 of the artists shown and talked to have passed.
When a young London-born Nigerian music fan makes the shocking discovery that many Nigerian musical icons don’t possess copies of their own recordings, he returns to Lagos to re-record them. This film chronicles the music—from juju to Afrobeat and everything in between—and its parallels to Nigeria’s socio-political evolution from the colonial 1950s through the nationalist movement and independence in the ’60s. Rare archival footage colors this performance-rich tour through the history of the nation’s music.

Filmmaker Siji Awoyinka and producer Ade Bantu for Elder's Corner.

That sounds really great! hopefully it will show up somewhere I can see it soon

It has been at some fests but Siji A, a first time director has little budget for marketing. I enjoyed it but it helps to have some background on Nigerian music when seeing it. The film kinda jumps around a bit, he mentions King Sunny Ade's importance but doesn't have an interview with him. He covers Fela but the Tony Allen interview is sorta short. The host of the post showing panel last night was a Nigerian woman whose name I did not catch. She was glad the film not only included the Lijadu Sisters, but also other women involved in Nigerian music like Mary Afi Usua. Plus Lijadu sisters mentioned Batila Alatke. That aspect was a strong part of the film. The director would need more hours than the 1 1/2 he had to cover everything fully. Record geeks may be wowed by an early scene where the director is flipping through his friend's big collection of old-school African vinyl

Pareles has a Teddy Afro Ethio- reggae song on his top list of 2021 tracks. It’s apparently a political one re the sad civil war like status of Ethiopia today

I saw Afro some years back. Pretty good

Ok I only found this because it had a track of mine on it, but I'm discovering lots of really incredible west and north African music on this mix (complete with Bandcamp links):

https://soundcloud.com/no-exotik-no-turistik/no-exotik-no-turistik-radioshow-5122021

from above soundcloud

1. Cheb - Sma' Balak -
cheb.bandcamp.com/album/sma-balak
2. Cheb - Sma' Balak -
cheb.bandcamp.com/album/sma-balak
3. Super Somali Sounds from the Gulf of Tadjoura - ostinatorecords.bandcamp.com/album/djib…f-tadjoura
4. Chants - Poly Pointillism - chants.bandcamp.com/album/poly-pointillism
5. Senyawa - Alkisah - senyawaofficial.bandcamp.com/album/alkisah
6. Meril Wubslin - Alors Quoi - merilwubslin.bandcamp.com/album/alors-quoi
7. Lavender Hex - Bunch of Flowers - lavenderhex.bandcamp.com/album/bunch-of-flowers
8. Witch Camp (Ghana) - I`ve forgotten now who i used to be - witchcampghana.bandcamp.com/
9. De la Crau - Temperi
10. Khlab & M`berra Ensemble - M`berra - djkhalab.bandcamp.com/album/mberra
11. Futur Antérieur: Bongo Joe 5 Years - lesdisquesbongojoe.bandcamp.com/album/fut…e-5-years
12. Comorian. We are an island, but we are not alone - comorian.bandcamp.com/album/we-are-a…e-re-not-alone
13. Sufyvn - Pseudarhythm, Vol. 3 - sufyvn.bandcamp.com/album/pseudarhythm-vol-3
14. Maral - On your way - maral.bandcamp.com/track/on-your-way-ft-panda-bear
15. Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp - We`re OK. But we are lost anyway - otpmd.bandcamp.com/album/were-ok-b…ere-lost-anyway
16. Amami - Soleil - amami.bandcamp.com/album/soleil
17. Kasai Allstars - Black Ants Remixes - kasaiallstars.bandcamp.com/album/black…nts-remixes
18. ZEA - Witst noch dat d'r neat wie - zeamusic.bandcamp.com/album/witst-no…at-dr-neat-wie
19. Tout Bleu - Otium - toutbleu.bandcamp.com/album/otium

This is a really great record: https://hassanwargui.bandcamp.com/album/tiddukla

Hassan Wargui is a self taught musician, composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and an expert in the songcraft and poetry of the Tachelhit speaking Amazigh tribes of the Anti-Atlas mountains in the south of Morocco.

He was born in 1985 in the rural community of Issafen, which lies between Taroudant and Tafraoute in the Anti-Atlas mountains of Southern Morocco. His music draws from the deep well of Amazigh, or Berber, cultures that have long been suppressed across North Africa after the region underwent a process of Arabization following the Arab invasions of the 7th Century.

Hassan grew up in an isolated mountain community in which art and music is embedded into daily life. This allowed him to develop an excellent musical sense, a deep understanding of the complex poly-rhythms that underpin Amazigh music, and time to become proficient on the banjo which, since the ascendency of the popular modern folk movement involving groups such as Nass El Ghiwane and Jil Jilala in the late '60s and early '70s, has been the preferred instrument of the region. Like many musicians from the region, Hassan built his first instruments himself, and it wasn't until he moved to Casablanca in his teens to find work which was scarce in his local community, that he was able to save for his first real banjo.

Since then Hassan has been active in the Amazigh musical community and has worked with a number of groups, notably Groupe Lbouchart, Imanaren and Etran Tiznit, as well as recording prolifically as a solo artist using Fruity Loops as a home studio. In 2009, Jace Clayton (DJ/Rupture) stumbled across a CD by Imanaren on a stall in Casablanca medina and this led to a fruitful series of collaborations in 2009 and 2011 (you can learn more about their work together here: www.dublab.com/archive/louder-than-the-noise-jace-clayton-hassan-wargui)

Tiddukla (which translates to Friendship) is one of Hassan's numerous group projects and he recorded the album with friends in 2015 and self released it through YouTube due to the lack of music infrastructure in Morocco. The Tiddukla album is raw and hypnotic and sees Hassan and his group channeling the deep and contemplative sounds of classic Amazigh groups such as Izenzaren, Archach, Izmaz, all of whom risked their freedom by daring to sing in Tachelhit at a time when the language was still forbidden, and when Amazigh people were fighting for their rights to be recognised.

Just had a really great phone call with South African jazz drummer Ayanda Sikade, who's on a ton of Nduduzo Makhathini's albums, has worked with trombonist Siya Makuzeni and bassist Herbie Tsoaeli, was in Zim Ngqawana's band (with Makhathini), and has two albums of his own, including one that came out just the other week. I'm working on a piece about him for Bandcamp.

Cool.

Connecting with Makhathini in 2019-2020 has really opened a ton of other doors this past year. I've interviewed a ton of other South African artists, some of whom have reached out directly to me through him — I was even able to help get saxophonist Linda Sikhakhane signed to Ropeadope; his new album will be coming out next year. It's such an incredibly fertile scene, and/but I seem to be one of the few US journalists paying any real attention to it.

Interesting. I wonder if there are aging mbaqanga musicians in South Africa still playing? Or maybe their children have picked it up?

https://afropop.org/articles/2021-picks

Here’s the Afropop. Org list of African and diaspora albums

cool to hear that news, unperson

I thought about starting a dedicated thread, but maybe I'll just mention it here. The new Fimber Bravo album Lunar Tredd is very good: https://fimberbravo.bandcamp.com/album/lunar-tredd

He's a Trinidadian steelpan player who was in the 20th Century Steel Band and Steel an' Skin. On this one he collaborates with a bunch of people (striking context collapse moment for me: hearing the singer for Vanishing Twin pop up in the middle of the album), particularly a group of Senegalese musicians.

xp
afropop list looks especially rich this year

https://pan-african-music.com/les-50-meilleurs-albums-de-2021/

Just saw this on the thread for 2021 critics lists

Came to post about Falle Nioke but I see he's already been mentioned a few months ago. If anyone one could recommend some simile stuff, I'd be much obliged.

3. Group Doueh & Cheveu: Dakhla Sahara Session (Born Bad ‘17)

― curmudgeon,

listening to this on bandcamp now. c'est incroyable.

xp
wow, the Falle Nioke EPs are fantastic!

Granny, maybe try the Wau Wau Collectif album? https://wauwaucollectif.bandcamp.com/album/yaral-sa-doom. Not quite the same (it's less "electronic" for one), but the feeling is similar and it also manages to do fusion/intl collaboration right.

Thanks rob, I'll check it out

Lol went to add it to my iTunes library and it already has been. Don't remember having done that!

Falle Nioke does sound great

A fantastic South African record — Philip Tabane's _The Indigenous Afro-Jazz Sounds Of..._, from 1969 — is being reissued on LP only (boo, hiss) next month. Bandcamp link🕸

It's a duo disc, just guitar and percussion for most of it, but Tabane occasionally plays flute and the percussionist, Gabriel "Sonnyboy" Thobejane, plays thumb piano. Tabane's guitar style is somewhere between Grant Green and John Lee Hooker, really raw-sounding but technically quite skilled. If you can find a digital version, or own a turntable, snap this one up.

yeah that is a gem

Listening to Femi Kuti & his 25 year old son Made on their album Legacy + , that came out earlier this year. Good not great

None of the Kuti kids has ever done anything that's impressed me. Most of it just slides in one ear and out the other.

Same

Seun has made some great records imo, Many Things is my fave

For me a lot of it is the production/engineering, and that holds true for nearly all modern afrobeat. It's too clean-sounding, the drums in particular.

I've had a blast seeing Femi live, as a substitute for Fela who I'll never get to see. But have never had much use for his albums

New 2022 thread-

Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2022 Thread (Often African bands)