Rolling World Music Thread 2013

Based on the description of her style I think he might

Finally listened to that Senegalese comp I mentioned upthread. Eh, its just mostly average mbalax.

good stuff update:

http://www.magesy.me/uploads/posts/2013-02/1360234150_cover.jpg

and on spotify i think?

^ this btw sounds amazing in my ears fyi esp track #6

https://soundcloud.com/yadiyadiyadi/yadi-unbreakable-chris-baio

also this is worth reading:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/feb/15/staff-benda-bilili-where-did-it-go-wrong

That's so sad.

I came here to post that :-(((( definitely gives the movie a bittersweet tinge

I never did see the movie but I saw them do a poorly publicized, overpriced gig in Washington DC. I thought they were great live--charismatic and clever musically, and I liked the last album a lot too.

this reissue is hot

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0165/3366/products/ck-mann-1_large.jpg?1351

Have liked what I heard from CK Mann in the past, so I bet that is great.

Afrobeats 2013

Interesting discussion of Ghanaian music here

does anyone know about this it's this trancy south asian electronica i found on spotify called 'globalatronics'? it looks like the comp started in 2012. and i can't really find any information about who makes them or much about the artists on them. i found one iranian artist on the collection who was in a band called Vas that i'd never heard of but she makes beautiful folk music that reminds me a little of pharoah's daughter (she also apparently made some video game music for final fantasy) ---also another artist who contributes to a lot to the 'South Asian electronica scene' 'as defined by Asian Massive artists like Karsh Kale and Midival Punditz' and is on all the comps multiple times. i see a vieux farka toure remix is on the first comp in 2012.

http://open.spotify.com/album/2do45jDlS8YCd5Z7xvdssJ

sorry 'globaltronica' not globalatronics oops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z54uwY2VJNI

In Egypt a niqab was put on the statue of “first lady of Arabic song,” Umm Kulthum.

crazy.

For those who aren't looking at the Haitian thread:
Meanwhile in Haiti it's carnival time, and the President, once known as performer Sweet Mickey, is reportedly not enthused by some songs. Haiitian commentersare not completely enthused with this blogpost either. But it mentions current carnival songs worth looking up-- Brothers Posse, whose Carnival tune “Aloral” was the undisputed hit of the season.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/02/music-and-politics-haiti

NY Times on peace plan framework in war-ravaged Congo

The plan calls for greater cooperation between Congo's neighbors - some of which are accused of supporting rebel groups - and political changes by its government.

this is nuts:
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/24/172818754/turning-a-glacier-into-a-tuba-ice-music-from-norway

That does sound wild. All I have seen from the Kennedy Center Nordic Cool special program so far, is the "Northern lights" projected on to the outside of the building. They look cool (Nordic cool).

Hey New Yorkers,

March 7th at BAM event looks interesting:

Amkoullel, Deeb, El Général, and Shadia Mansour

Moderated by Jace Clayton
In a rare gathering of rappers from the creative front lines of conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East, the extraordinary MCs from Mic Check discuss the power of hip-hop in times of political change.

Interdisciplinary artist, DJ, and writer Jace Clayton (aka DJ /rupture) moderates this conversation with Malian rapper Amkoullel, whose music has been a galvanizing force amid recent struggles with rebel groups in the north; Egyptian MC Deeb, whose song “Masrah Deeb” was chanted during protests in Tahrir Square; Palestinian “first lady of Arabic hip-hop” Shadia Mansour, whose music promotes non-violent resistance—or as she calls it, a "musical intifada"—against Israeli occupation; and Tunisian rapper El Général, whose song “Rais Lebled” was dubbed the “anthem of the Jasmine Revolution.”

only Amkoullel track i go back to is SOS

Exiled From Iran, A Singer Makes The Case For Beauty

About Iranian-Kurdish singer Hani.

http://www.afribizcharts.com/
African electronic dance music mostly
― curmudgeon, donderdag 24 januari 2013 5:37 (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Posted something on this Afribiz Top 100 over on the Afrobeats 2013 thread.
(And thanks for sharing the link, curmudgeon. very interesting!)

I like your analysis of the chart over on that thread and how you point out that it does not cover

large parts of Africa including Northern Africa and the "francophone" parts of Africa,

There could be economic factors at work, at least for sub-Saharan francophone Africa, not for Northern Africa. Maybe there just aren't enough well-developed internet-based musical infrastructures or music video channels in the poorer francophone countries, for instance. But still, the biggest hit in DR Congo (population: 30 million) has to be a bigger seller than a smash from Botswana (population: 2 million) or South Africa's #40 hit, I would think. If your explicit goal is to represent all 53 African countries you would somehow have to find a way to incorporate that in your chart.

Congo is really like 4 different countries anyway, right? From what I understand eg Goma is totally different (linguistically/culturally/ethnically/musically) than Kinshasa or Kasai etc?

That situation is probably not unique to DR Congo. For instance, in Ghana and Nigeria a lot of artists record in their own language too. Sometimes they're only regionally successful, sometimes they cross over to countrywide fame. And the DR Congo music scene has produced someone like Fally Ipupa, whose popularity and fame extend far outside his own country. He won Best Video at the 2010 MTV Africa Music Awards, for instance (as well as best Francophone Artist). But I don't want to pretend I'm some kind of expert on Africa by the way, because I'm not; nothing more than informed guesswork going on here, I'm afraid. Guess we'd have to ask the compilers of the Afribiz Chart if we really want to find out why there aren't any entries from the francophone parts of Africa in their "pan-African" chart…

Congolese rumba largely sung in Lingala has been infuential over vast swatches of the continent. Even with the war and destruction and changing music trends there, you'd think the Afribiz chart folks would somehow include the Congo

this is great: http://www.awesometapes.com/2013/03/kompilation-moytoul-hip-hop-contre-le.html

There was a whole compilation of this kind of Senegalese hip-hop, featuring some of the same artists (it also includes "Nexuma"), released a few years ago, called Dakar Dem Dikk (Compilation 100% Hip-Hop Senegalais). It's also on Spotify.

Terakaft, from Northern Mali, are doing a gig at the French Embassy tonight

Warning: this might be a divisive post.

Pareles wusses out:

http://mondoweiss.net/2013/03/palestinians-message-divisive.html

pareles otm imo but i understand why monodweiss would disagree

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/13/173843328/the-mix-the-mali-100-presented-by-afropop-worldwide

u can listen to a bunch of those tracks on spotify: http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/1oe486mk3957hYWFhfFLAD

Love Issa Bagayogo, been repping him for years. TECHNO ISSA

pareles otm imo but i understand why monodweiss would disagree

Well, maybe it simply is a fact that it is "divisive" in a Brooklyn (or American) context, but the word has negative connotations that are hard to avoid. So I think Weiss might be onto something here, maybe even right about Pareles somehow covering himself by reporting those lines and then applying that description; though to be honest, Weiss's reporting that he is sitting at his desk cursing about it seems a bit over the top even to me.

"Zionism shall be defeated" is a divisive lyric; it's anti-zionism for cripes sake. I get what dude is getting at in suggesting Pareles is somehow aiming for the "safe seat" there but cmon.

^^

I'm with Forks.

So I went to see North Malian desert band Terakaft last night at the French embassy in DC and there were just the group's two guitarists onstage. It seems according to the introduction made before the show that the band's bassist has an Arabic/Muslim name that was described as the equivalent of John Smith, but that name appears on the DO NOT Fly list, so the bassist was not able to get a visa to come to the US. Their percussionist in his haste to flee violence in northern Mali for Algeria a short while back, left his passport behind. He has not been able to get back from ALgeria to Mali and try to find his old passport or been able to get a new one yet. DC-based Malian singer Cheik Hamale Diabete sat in on percussion for their encore. These guys were largely stoic, but their guitars were impressive and they ocassionally smiled and hopped around, or varied their vocal melodies.

Terakaft were in Chicago already and are headed to S x SW now.

hot senegalese mbalax:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wax6MkDTRRU

a friend of mine had to legally change his name as there was someone else with the same name who was flagged as a terrorist so he went through hell and could not take it no more

in other news the Songlines nominees for 2013 are out, check link for artist profiles under each category (nominations are made by outsiders, Songlines crew make selection from that list)

BEST ARTIST
Katy Carr (for the album Paszport on Deluce Recordings)
Angélique Kidjo (for the album Spirit Rising: Live from Guest Street on Wrasse Records)
Seth Lakeman (for the album Tales from the Barrel House on Honour Oak Records)
Ravi Shankar (for the album The Living Room Sessions Part 1 on East Meets West Music)

BEST GROUP
Bellowhead (for the album Broadside on Navigator Records)
Guy Schalom& Baladi Blues Ensemble (for the album Baladi Blues 3 on Ethnomusic Records)
Lo'Jo (for the album Cinéma el Mundo on World Village)
Warsaw Village Band (for the album Nord on Jaro)

CROSS-CULTURAL COLLABORATION
Eric Bibb & Habib Koité (for the album Brothers in Bamako on Contre-Jour)
The Chieftains (for the album Voice of Ages on Hear Music/Decca Records)
Dub Colossus (for the album Dub Me Tender Vol 1 + 2 on Real World Records)
Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyaté (for the album Faya on Localization Records)

NEWCOMER
Sam Lee (for the album Ground of its Own on The Nest Collective)
Emel Mathlouthi (for the album Kelmti Horra on World Village)
Mokoomba (for the album Rising Tide on Zig Zag World)
Samuel Yirga (for the album Guzo on Real World Records)

I've never been to this website, but it seems like a really great source. Article about music scene in Goma that I haven't seen covered anywhere else:
http://www.thisisafrica.me/music/detail/19834/Artists-operating-outside-the-NGO-realm-in-eastern-Congo

The fact that Goma has a budding cultural scene has gone largely unnoticed by the rest of the world. Companies creating opportunities for young talent include the Maisha Soul studio, run by the brother of Congolese pop idol Innos’B, youth-oriented radio stations like Mutaani, the Yole!Africa youth center, UJADEP (Union des Jeunes Artistes Dessinateurs et Peintres), Maison des Jeunes and Maison Proplusion. There are organizations working to strengthen the budding local film industry like Collywood (yes, the name is for real!) and Goma Film Project, and in the past couple of years a number of new recording artists and music video producers have emerged.

Geographically isolated from Kinshasa, and still a four-hour drive from the Rwandan capital Kigali, artists from Goma don’t have many official avenues to promote their work. The city, though, is the capital of non-governmental organizations (NGOs); nearly every western and Congolese aid organization has an office (or rather, a barbed wire fenced compound flanked with watch towers) in Goma, and some of them have provided substantial budgets for workshops or support of local cultural initiatives.

Not surprisingly, the most visible output of the local artistic community has been through events or projects organized by these NGOs, and often the topics of these songs are restricted to the issues that they want to promote. The presence of these NGOs is not necessarily the best catalyst for the development of an independent, self-sustaining arts scene, or best for civil society as a whole (see "How international NGOs killed civil society in developing countries"). Sekombi Katondolo, founder and CEO of Mutaani project: "Most NGOs ask artists to write about their activities like against cholera, malaria and so on. It doesn’t mean this message is not welcome, but musicians should realize that this is music for food, they should not stay artists for NGOs; they should say what they believe."

this is africa is a very cool site, never seem to have time to go there but whenever i do am very interested but storie sthey have

working with them on a hugh masekela piece now; they're good peeps

https://soundcloud.com/akwaabamusic/duni-ramba

Burkinabé hip-hop -- I'll admit that before hearing this album and reading about Art Melody there's no way I could locate Burkina Faso on a map (directly below Mali apparently).

I have a globe in my house (like you had in your elementary school maybe) that I look at periodically to see where countries are located. Could I do it online sure...

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/20/174852411/the-lions-on-world-cafe
http://www.thisisafrica.me/music/detail/19844/Africa-Now-Freshlyground-SA-Lokua-Kanza-DRC-Nneka-Nigeria-and-Blitz-the-Ambassador-Ghana-bring-their-game-to-New-York

links unrelated

blitz is good times

this looks cool:

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/z/zzwidowsjoyeasterneur_101b.jpg