Rolling World Music Thread 2013

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

Freshly Ground is disappointing (well, the few songs from it I listened to)

yeah I wasn't blown away either

but I bet that gig at the Apollo was good, as I like some of their older material

this sounds amazing! http://www.npr.org/2013/03/24/174857551/first-listen-bombino-nomad

The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach pairs up with monster Tuareg guitarist Bombino for a dream-team album. The result balances tightly coiled melodies with wide-open, Saharan spaciousness.

Bombino is also gonna be back in W. DC opening for Amadou & Mariam in June I see

some of the straight forward tracks are a little blah, but theres some wonderfully heavy psychedelic guitarwork on the album

Tarraxinhas!

http://www.thisisafrica.me/downloads/detail/19847/Keep-Calm-And-Listen-To-Tarraxinha-music-to-loosen-up-your-partner-before-hitting-the-sack

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/03/26/9-questions-about-the-central-african-republic-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask/

With a song at the end. Rebels just overthrew the government in the CAR this week.

new Bombino is sounding great. not sure if Auerbach needed to throw in a vibraphone solo, and it's kinda weird that Bombino is still rerecording songs from his 2009 album, but the production sounds so much better than Algadaz.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/afropop/from-afro-funk-to-hiplife-ghana-reinvented-through

The Afropop worldwide folks have done good jobs on previous projects, if they get the funding, this Ghana one should be impressive too

Is this Bombino the same as the one on Sublime Frequencies?

afaik it's brand new material?

sorry, I just meant is it the same guy?

yes

so tried posting this a few days back but network went all screwy

new global music blog, know a cpl of the ppl involved and others look interesting, looks interesting, shld be worth a check http://tonspur.tv/

http://tonspur.tv/blog/austin/austin-accra-auckland-a-sxsw-special/

Worth checking out yes, but I find something annoying about their boasting here.

it looks cool but no rss feed pretty much guarantees i won't be back often

I just signed up for their email subscription mailchimp thing

I'm not seeing any new postings there since SxSW earlier in March

think those posts were early on, the official launch party was this past saturday so shld be picking up soon, but who knows

Ghanian hip-hop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7z7obVS-ag

also been digging this Epichorus - One Bead album (apparently they're playing the Y in NY soon)

http://www.thisisafrica.me/downloads/detail/19857/afriko-theque-the-bootleg-ep-african-classics-with-an-electro-house-dance-twist

Wow, the new Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni ba disc absolutely burns!

I need to check that one out

that afriko mix sounds great

Josh in Chicago completely OTMFM about Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba.

hahaha hearing a fuzzed-out ngoni version of Peter Frampton's "Do You Feel Like We Do" riff!!!!

some new stuff i've been digging:

http://boomkat.com/vinyl/655841-various-kassidat-raw-45s-from-morocco

http://i.imgur.com/GBkLSx5m.jpg

http://www.discogs.com/Arat-Kilo-12-Days-In-Addis/release/4365320 (ethio-jazz!!)

http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-4365320-1362939571-2965.jpeg

http://www.rachidtahaofficial.com/?page_id=69

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hyV-BMr9MRQ/USS6iKln7KI/AAAAAAAAEkE/Ib5V5gaorWA/s320/149417COVERRachidTahaZoomAlbumEPRockDZ2013.jpg

re the first one - dude also has a super cool blog here: http://shellachead.com

he's the compiler*

I was about to ask what's up with Rachid Taha these days!

ethio jazz is totes my thing now. listening to a ton of mulatu astatke obvs, any other recommendations? (anyone else interested, i have a spotify playlist here, tho most of it is local files so i don't know how extensive the actual thing is: http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/4AZeabX0TUgvvbC7yiLoRx )

also i discovered that Damian Marley samples 'Yegelle Tezeta' for 'As We Enter'

astatke is boss.
Mordy are you down with ethiopiques already? If not, spotify that name and you should find much to enjoy.

Ethio-jazz is a term that only really applies to Mulatu, he is the only person who would call his music that and consciously tries to ref jazz

All other stuff that non ethiops call ethio jazz is just Ethiopian pop music, however funk or jazz inflected

If you are just enjoying 60s/70s Ethiopian pop, then there is tons out there for you. If looking for more instrumental and def jazz feeling, look at Getachew Mekuria, great saxophonist from that time period, Ethiopiques 14 as a very Ethiopian album that makes many makes ppl think of Albert Ayler style jazz and his album with The Ex is glorious

Sammy Yirga is a young monstrously talented musician, his album Guzo on Real World sells him short in showing his abilities, but this is someone to watch

Also, honestly, Mulatu is a brilliant, brilliant arranger, but most of his so-called compositions were in collaboration with others or straight up rips and the musicians involved in composing have been left to the side. He has done well for himself in riding that though

thanks for the recommendations. i knew about the ethiopiques series but there are so many that i was wary about checking them out. i have heard the most recent Getachew album (Y'Anbessaw Tezeta) and I really loved it. I'll have to look up some of his older material.

If looking for more instrumental and def jazz feeling, look at Getachew Mekuria, great saxophonist from that time period, Ethiopiques 14 as a very Ethiopian album that makes many makes ppl think of Albert Ayler style jazz and his album with The Ex is glorious

YES! I saw the tour with The Ex and it was AMAZING. Extremely great stuff, you will like it if you haven't heard it already!

Ethiopiques S/D

comprehensive! thanks!