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

Haven't checked yet to see whether they are available online. Movie doc I saw about old-school Nigerian musicians "Elders Corner" came back to DC for 2 different one off showings recently.

this record is fantastic: http://siromband.si/sl/portfolio-items/the-liquified-throne-of-simplicity/

[googles name Sirom Band sees description avante folk ....ok will give it a listen ]

saw another person write that they felt sorry for 86 year old Ebo Taylor on a tour gig when they hoped to be enthused.

https://pan-african-music.com/en/music-from-saharan-whatsapp/

Need to listen to this some more

https://www.qwanqwa.net/live

Ethiopian band Qwangwa is touring the US of A from September through late November . Former ilxor H in Addis emailed me and encouraged people to go see them

That is Qwanqwa

Short Oumou Sangare tour of North America

October 23—Vancouver, BC—Chan Centre
October 25—Berkeley, CA—Freight & Salvage
October 26—Berkeley, CA—Freight & Salvage
October 28—Princeton, NJ—McCarter Theater
October 29—New York, NY—Apollo Theater

Not coming my way. I think the last time she was in DC was when the Smithsonian Folklife Fest brought a bunch of Malian musicians to town somewhere around 2004 I think. I was home with my kid who was young then. I did see Ali Farka Toure and some others though.

Speaking of Mali

singer-songwriter and guitarist Vieux Farka Touré’s brand new album ‘Les Racines’ is available to buy and stream now via World Circuit.

Is anyone familiar with Mdou Moctar? A buddy just offered me a free ticket. Do I go?

Yes.

I’s happily accept that ticket if I were you

I’d

Yes see Mdou Moctar and his band.

Upthread I mentioned that Ethiopian band Qwanqwa are on a long US tour. When I listened to a few cuts online they were instrumental and a few had a violin sound added that didn't quite sound Ethiopian. Decent but didn't wow me. Turns out the violinist is from the US but has spent lots of time in Ethiopia I think. More importantly when I saw them live they used a singer on many cuts and wow is she powerful .Vocalist Selamnesh Zemene Taye was the highlight of the gig tonight, although the bass krar player and the one string masinko musician were also impressive.

Tinariwen, the Tuareg band from North Mali which has been to the US a number of times just had to cancel their North American tour because of US Immigration slowness on visa issues. Also Malawi duo Madalitso has had to cancel dates for same reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sl5HR4a8W0

Maki KB on Nahom
New Ethiopian music

Maybe I will post that on the Ethiopiques thread

❗It is very sad to hear the passing away of Madingo Afework.

Madingo, the Melvin Franklin of #Ethiopia singing many melodious songs with his deep voice had many popular ballads that made him star for decades.

Rest In Peace! pic.twitter.com/xG9WCiCsL5

— Naty Yifru (@NatyYifru) September 27, 2022

RIP Ethiopian singer Madingo Afework

All of the Ethiopian folks I am friends with on FB are mourning Madingo Afework who died too young

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/09/28/arts/how-ata-kaks-long-forgotten-awesome-tape-turned-into-an-awesome-tour-30-years-later/?fbclid=IwAR2xi66-8YWbOOQBR3f-79pLR6If2NmnRWRTUjCAeb7quxOsY2KBEzGwM-0

Recent ata kak interview that also includes comments from Brian of awesome tapes who found an ata kak tape and tracked him down. Article is in relation to ATA kak Boston gig on us tour

thanks for this, enjoyed the read

https://chicagoreader.com/music/the-readers-guide-to-world-music-festival-chicago-2022/

Going on in Chicago now. Posting here to look at and see if it will give me us some ideas re who to listen to

Movie docs in DC area

Oct. 9- "Omara" film doc at 2:45 @ AFI Silver (a one time showing of doc on Cuban singer Omara Portuondo, who came to fame for many via her role in the Buena Vista Social Club. Showing as part of AFI Latin American Film Festival. There will be a Q&A with filmmaker Hugo Perez)

Oct 30-Movie doc "Em and Trinh" North American premiere @ 1 pm @ Asian Art Freer Gallery about late Vietnamese singer-songwriter Trịnh Công Sơn (1939–2001) known to some as “Vietnam’s Bob Dylan”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u682Fp4HWk

Nobuntu female Zimbabwe a cappella quintet

Isokratisses free on October 13 from 6 to 7 @ Kennedy Center Millennium Stage ( vocal ensemble of eight women who carry the ancient tradition of polyphonic songs from Epirus—a region in northern Greece and southern Albania)

Their approach sounds cool to me in small doses, then I get bored. Their gig tonight can be seen on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage youtube page and maybe Facebook too

Of some of the groups who were in Chicago at that fest there, I intend to check out Kaleta & Super Yamba Band , who have played in DC as well

La Dame Blanche (Cuba by way of France) pairs her fierce rhymes and dramatic flute with colossal beats from across the African diaspora; Paolo Angeli (Italy) turns his cleverly modified Sardinian guitar into a percussion engine; Gili Yalo (Ethiopia by way of Israel) honors the jazzy, funky grooves that his homeland made immortal in the 60s and 70s; and Kaleta & Super Yamba Band (Benin and Nigeria by way of New York City) fuse Afrobeat and juju for a driving, danceable sound that’s as cheerful as it is aggressive.

I wonder if there are any young Congolese musicians playing rumba/soukous ? Similarly are there young Senegalese mbalax musicians? And are veterans in these genres doing anything interesting still?

What genres did everyone start getting into this year? For me the big ones were pagode romântico (Brazil), campus folk (Taiwan), cumbia villera (Argentina), and I also had a blast finally listening through as much as I could from Lance Scott Walker's "Houston Rap Tapes" book.

— Joshua Minsoo Kim (@misterminsoo) October 25, 2022

Looking fwd to this---so far, most of my favorite tracks are on their early albs:

Last month, Touareg collective Tinariwen announced the reissue of Kel Tinariwen, marking the project's first-ever official release since it appeared in 1992 locally in Mali on cassette, out November 4th via Wedge. Kel Tinariwen will see release alongside two additional Tinariwen reissues, Aman Iman: Water Is Life and Imidiwan: Companion, out for the first time on vinyl the same day via Craft Recordings. Today, the group is thrilled to share Kel Tinariwen’s opening track, “À L’Histoire,” following lead single “Arghane Manin.” There’s a waltzing, whimsical edge to “À L’Histoire,” as voices call back to each other over springy percussion and guitar.

A revelatory discovery in the Tinariwen archives, Kel Tinariwen is an early cassette tape recorded in the early 90s that never received a wider release, and sheds new light on the band's already rich history. Not having yet developed the fuller band sound that they became internationally established with, Kel Tinariwen features their trademark hypnotic guitar lines and call-and-response vocals weaving in between raw drum machine rhythms and keyboard melodies that almost evoke an Arabic take on 80s synth-pop. Alongside this record, Tinariwen are also reissuing Aman Iman and Imidiwan: Companions - their third and fourth studio albums respectively. A blend of West African traditional music and electrified rock’n’roll – a sound that critics have called “desert blues”.

Aman Iman: Water Is Life was Tinariwen’s third studio album, originally released in 2007, and recorded in Mali’s capital, Bamako. Produced by Justin Adams (Robert Plant’s guitarist and producer of the Tinariwen’s debut album The Radio Tisdas Sessions), and recording engineer Ben Findlay. The whole Tinariwen story breathes through its twelve songs, beginning with the first Touareg rebellion of 1963, which lies at the root of so much pain and trauma in the Malian Touareg mindset and which is vividly recalled by Ibrahim in his brooding song ‘Soixante Trois’.

Imidiwan: Companions was the band's fourth album, and it possesses all the elements that have made them so alluring; raw simplicity, melodic beauty, songs ranging from the epic and universal to the intimate and personal. The 13-track album, produced by Jean-Paul Romann, was recorded in Tessalit, the Malian desert village home of band members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib & Hassan Ag Touhami.

Kel Tinariwen Tracklist:
1. À L'Histoire
2. Khedou Khedou
3. Adounia Tarha
4. Matadjem Yinmexan
5. Awa Idjan War Infa Iman
6. Sendad Eghlalan
7. Sendad Eghlalan
8. Arghane Manine

Aman Iman: Water Is Life Tracklist:
1. Cler Achel
2. Mano Dayak
3. Matadjem Yinmixan
4. Ahimana
5. Soixante Trois
6. Toumast
7. Imidiwan WinakaliN
8. Awa Didjen
9. Ikyadarh Dim
10. Tamatant Tilay
11. Assouf
12. Izarharh Tenere

Imidiwan: Companions Tracklist:
1. Imidiwan Afrik Tendam
2. Lulla
3. Tenhert
4. Enseqi Ehad Didagh
5. Tahult In
6. Tamodjerazt Assis
7. Intitlayaghen
8. Imazighen N Adagh
9. Tenalle Chegret
10. Kel Tamashek
11. Assuf Ag Assuf
12. Chabiba
13. Ere Tasfata Adounia

https://www.tinariwen.com/
For more information, contact:
Sam McAllister | Pitch Perfect PR - sam at pitchperfectpr dot com

That old Tinariwen stuff does look like its worth checking out

https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/01/22/beneath-the-rhythm-congolese-rumba-is-a-link-to-the-past?utm_medium=cpc.adword.pd&utm_source=google&ppccampaignID=17210591673&ppcadID=&utm_campaign=a.22brand_pmax&utm_content=conversion.direct-response.anonymous&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuem45dOA-wIVfsmUCR0AZAgqEAMYASAAEgLNJPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

paywalled and I don't have access to this Economist mag article on Congolese rumba and politics

https://therumbakings.com/

Rumba Kings doc on Congo music still at festivals worldwide

Did any New Yorkers here catch any of these October 2022 events?

http://congoinharlem.org/lineup2022

Lagos, Abidjan, and more

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/27/megalopolis-how-coastal-west-africa-will-shape-the-coming-century

x-post- Some of the films about Congo musicians, art, etc on the Congo in Harlem link are streaming through October 31 . Rumba Kings, a Congolese rap one and more

Speaking of Congo musicians

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1370979743_16.jpg

ALBUM OF THE DAY
Lady Aicha & Pisko Crane’s Original Fulu Miziki of Kinshasa, “N’Djila Wa Mudujimu”
By James Gui · October 25, 2022

yes, it sounded very good on first encounter. Chris L mentioned it on the 2022 AOTY So Far thread and I forgot to otm them.

(otm them for it being a vg album - way too early for me to make any aoty announcements)

I liked it a lot; I was already in a mood to trust the label because they put out the Phelimuncasi album, which is definitely an AOTY candidate for me. I can definitely tell they're using home-built electronics, junk percussion, and even some power drills and stuff (like a West African Einstürzende Neubauten). This video really lets you see what they do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri2oK4gApMU

Nyege Nyege doesn’t put out bad stuff afaic— it’s all interesting if not really great. Their companion label, Hakuna Kulala, does more dance oriented stuff, and is also excellent

do we not have a Nyege Nyege thread? I could've sworn dog latin started one

Maybe .

For those interested in the history of Congolese music (that laid the groundwork for the experimental methods of the musicians on Nyege Nyege), the documentary Rumba Kings that I mentioned above is definitely worth seeing. It's available just through Monday for free. It covers the roots of Congolese rumba and covers the period of 1940 through 1980, with a focus on musicians Grand Kalle, Dr Nico, and Franco with lots of old footage mixed in with newer interviews with musicians from the bands as well as African music historians. It also covers the ugly colonialist history , the segregation, and the exploitation. The doc shows shows how a small but star-filled Congolese Orchestra flew to Belgium in 1960 the night when Congolese and Belgians were negotiating independence there, and how the music helped the transition to independence. Someone in the film says about the Grand Kalle and African Jazz song "Independence Cha Cha " that it even made the colonizer dance.

that twitter thread on genres you got into this year had some interesting recommendations, was not familiar with freebeat / cruise but it's nice:
https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/nigerian-cruise-freebeat-feature

Yep, didn’t know that Nigerian one either

I should pay a lot more attention to this thread.

Few things I've been enjoying:

CRRDR - DAMNBOW
I don't understand this but I love it. Dembow and Reggaeton tunes sped up and gabba'd-up

Anti-General
If you liked that Birdy Island by Howie Lee, check this out

xpost

McQuaid points to the success of the track “Zazoo Zehh” by Portable—which features established singer/rapper Olamide, and which is now approaching 10 million streams—as a sign that vocalists are becoming more willing to jump on the uptempo beats, bringing the music further into Nigeria’s mainstream.

this song was the first post on rolling afropop this year! not that I claim to know much about the genre in general

Cool.

http://davidbyrne.com/radio/the-heart-of-arabia

David Byrne list of songs in Arabic, Farsi, & some African languages that he is listening to now. Says most are within last 10 years.

if you’re going to include artists from places like Senegal, Iran, Pakistan and… the Netherlands (by way of Iran), why call your playlist From the Heart of Arabia for crying out loud? given his age and experience Byrne *really* should know better than that