Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2023 Thread (Often African bands)

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-mdou-moctar-while-they-cannot-return-home

Was just coming here to post that Mdou Moctar go fund me re their inability to get back to Niger due to the coup

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2023/08/07/bobi-wine-the-peoples-president-movie-review/

A review of movie doc “Bobi Wine: the People’s President “ which is about a reggae singer who ran for president in Uganda in 2021

I haven’t seen it yet

Listening to Rophnan now. A young Ethiopian guy who sold out 2,500 capacity Echostage in DC last night. They usually have Anglo techno there. Rophnan melds some old school Ethiopian sounds with electro and hiphop.

Senegalese singer Baaba Maal has a new album out called Being

and Afro-funky Zimbabwe band Mokoomba out a new album out a month ago
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jul/01/mokoomba-tusona-tracings-in-the-sand-review-stirring-pan-african-sounds-flowing-from-the-zambezi

Also a good reissue on Bandcamp. A guitarist from Cameroon’s Les Tet Brûlées, who were together in late 80s pays tribute to the band’s late leader Zanzibar

https://gibraltardrakus.bandcamp.com/album/hommage-a-zanzibar

I am kinda liking all of the last 4 efforts I posted about -- by Rophnan, Baaba Maal, Mokoomba, Gibraltar Drakus

Listened again to Mokoomba last night. Strong rhythms , and powerful lead vocals and harmonies. Some might hear it as retro but hopefully afrobeats and amapiano listeners might still like it

Liked a song I just heard on WfMU from Roger Bekono who is from Cameroon and has a reissue out via Awesome Tapes from Africa

hey curmudgeon have u heard new blick bassy? not as jaw-dropping as 1958 maybe in part for not being as thematically focused? but quite beautiful and imo still one of the major vocal talents recording today.

No, will have to give a listen

Like Blick Bassy's voice on new one which feels like it is melding a bit of an indie rock & pop electronic feel to his tuneful Cameroonian one. Just saw an article about him that says he's been listening to James Blake and Bon Iver lately and I can hear that a little

Big Senegalese African Ball event in NYC tonight and I think Brooklyn Carnival this weekend. But I am in DC

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

Ethiocolor music and dance troupe from
Addis, Ethiopia at Kennedy Center last night
Sometimes traditional and folkloric sometimes pop

https://unicornriot.ninja/2023/makeba-a-viral-tiktok-trend-pays-homage-to-mama-africa/

Long long article/ post about M Makeba and a tiktok trend

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66568081

Salif Keita supports military coup in Mali

https://www.theafricareport.com/321727/in-mali-timbuktu-grapples-with-resurgent-jihadist-threat/

Jihadists blocking Timbuktu. No matter who is currently in charge in Mali, life is hard .

Lots of tough times now in Libya, Niger, and parts of Morocco also

https://africasacountry.com/2023/07/false-progress

Article suggests that just as there is a Latin Grammys and awards for Latin music at other Grammys, the same is needed for African music ( as opposed to what was recently done )

Article is from July 2023 but I just came across it

Madalisto 6 to 7 pm ET Fri Sept 15 free @ Kenn. Ctr Mill. Stage (& streamed on K. Ctr FB & Youtube) (Malawi duo)

The Alogte Oho & His Sounds Of Joy album posted up thread is so good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVVO9cSkDY

That’s the Madalisto guitar duo from
Kennedy Center.

X post- yeah the Alogte Oho gospel highlife is good

More Frafra Gospel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKPi_HQJH1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0w8x4CI91w
https://lindaayupuka.bandcamp.com/album/god-created-everything

Saw Alogte Oho & His Sounds at the End of the Road festival, insanely good. I'm no expert on the genre or Ghanaian music, but seemed like a really fluid, virtuosic collective, huge grooves, great at working the crowd. Maybe the best thing I saw (along with the not at all similar Nina Nastasia).

Ted Gioia is praising Jantra: Synthesized Sudan: Astro-Nubian Electronic Jaglara Dance Sounds from the Fashaga Underground

Really enjoyed the Kayhan Kalhor / Toumanié Diabaté album (The Sky is the Same Colour Everywhere), very pleasant autumn album of glistening strings, the Iranian (cello-like) Kamancheh especially shines.

Also the BCUC (Millions of Us) from South Africa was good fun, hypnotic jams constructed on percussion and slapping bass with a variety of vocals on top.

https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/amp/news/south-africa/2023-10-01-political-activist-and-musician-julian-sebothane-bahula-has-died/

Julian S Bahula RIP. Was Malombo Jazz founder and activist who organized the first Free Nelson Mandela concert

A Malombo Jazz comp on Strut got some love on ilx some years back

Baba Commandant and Mandingo band (Burkina Faso afrobeat on Sublime Frequencies label) are on their second big US tour now . They're not bad (although didn't wow me when I saw them).

Friday October 13--Alan Bishop as Alvarius B (Sun City Girls guitarist plays outsider folk w/ Egyptian influences) solo and does a Q & a before movie doc “Invisible Hands” a documentary film about Bishop & his band, Invisible Hands, one of two of his Egypt based groups) @ 7:30 @ Lost Origins Gallery in Washington DC

Saturday October 14- Dwarves of East Agouza ( Cairo based w/ Alan Bishop from Sun City Girls & Maurice Louca & Sam Shalabi) , Deakin & Geologist ( of Animal Collective), Jenny Moon Tucker @ Rhizome in DC

Mon. Oct 16- Baba Commandant and Mandingo band (Sublime Frequencies label band) @ 6 pm @ the Mt Pleasant Library (Burkina Faso afrobeat) in Washington DC

“Musical Brotherhoods of the Trans-Saharan Highway” 2005 film about street musicians in Marrakesh, Morocco plaza by Hisham Mayet w/ a q & a w/Sublime Frequencies label head & director Mayet and musician Alan Bishop @ 7:30 @ Lost Origins

Fri. October 20-
Dwarfs of East Agouza (Alan Bishop from Sun City Girls) with Deakin + Geologist, @, and Androgynous Bulge @ The Compound, 2239 Kirk Avenue in Baltimore

https://x.com/nyegenyegefest/status/1707757121733853412?s=46&t=u2ZSlsY3trRV36IPP6jNDQ
Nyege Nyege fest in Uganda in November with acts from all over the world

Musical Brotherhoods of the Trans-Saharan Highway” 2005 film about street musicians in Marrakesh, Morocco plaza by Hisham Mayet w/ a q & a w/Sublime Frequencies label head & director Mayet and musician Alan Bishop @ 7:30 @ Lost Origins

The dvd of this is sold out, it's not streaming anywhere that I saw in a search but lucky me did get an online version because I wrote a preview of the Monday doc event. Some great Moroccan street musicians in this playing oud and other instruments and singing and chanting. Names of the musicians though are just bundled together at the end (Sublime Frequencies director Hisham Mayet just wants viewers to be in the moment and not reading subtitles or seeing interviews and such )

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-israeli-forces-arrest-palestinian-singer-dalal-abu-amneh

Palestinian Singer and neurologist Dalal Abu Amneh arrested

Saw Baba Commandant & band again the other night. Liked em more than when I had first seen them in the spring ( guitarist’s solos back then didn’t wow me).

Sublime F show w/ Baba Commandant & Dwarfs of East Agouza in Queens ; and I see on Dada Strain substack that this is also tonight in NY

London-based Nigerian vocalist, keyboardist and bandleader Dele Sosimi first made his name in Fela Kuti’s Egypt 80, then in Femi’s Positive Force. But for the past decade, Sosimi has been a cornerstone of London’s Afrobeat and soul community, making a steady stream of excellent recordings under his own name, while playing with many others. He’s making an all-too-rare New York appearance to celebrate the release of producer Joe Claussell’s mixes of Sosimi’s 2002 solo debut, “Turbulent Times.” This free event at Clausell’s record shop is billed as a talk, but don’t be surprised if funky live sounds emanate at Cosmic Sounds in Bushwick

I missed that Haitian movie N&d Subl#tte announced via email yesterday morning he was showing via zoom last night

From a dust to digital email:

Several years ago, we were blown away by a cellphone video from Zimbabwe. The two-minute clip, originally shared by deeptrender2328 on YouTube, featured blind guitarist Daniel Gonora performing on a street in Harare with his 10-year-old son, Isaac, playing along on his homemade drumkit. In a 2017 interview Daniel stated, “People should not think we are destined to play on the streets forever because coming to the streets is so we can get someone to help us progress to the next level and when that happens, we will be going for shows.”

David Aglow, who runs The Vital Record, saw the same video and was inspired to travel to Zimbabwe in hopes of bringing Daniel's music to a wider listening audience. The result was the studio album "Hard Times Never Kill" by Gonora Sounds, which was released last year. We were excited to be a partner on the release of the digital edition of the album.

Very cool record of largely solo guitar -
https://vumbidekula.bandcamp.com/album/congo-guitar

Nice old school Congolese rumba playing on that

Kahanga Dekula, nicknamed ‘Vumbi’, is a Congolese guitarist who has been playing with a range of other artists such as Makonde Band and Orchestra Maquis for more than forty years and has, only now, got round to releasing his first solo album

https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/onipa-off-the-grid-interview

UK- Ghana act Onipa try to blend traditional and modern afropop

Listened again to this year’s Baba Maal album and it sounded strong.

On 3 November, Hailu Mergia releases Pioneer Works Swing (Live) on LP, CD, Tape, Digital and Deluxe Edition, which includes 3-color vinyl, poster, OBI strip and a bonus 7” (limited to 500 copies). The first single “Belew Beduby” is available today on all digital platforms. Mergia fans may recognize the tune in a drastically different arrangement from Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument.

Finally, we have a recorded document of the keyboard player’s powerful DC-based trio—which practices each weekend in his basement—featuring Kenneth Joseph on drums and Alemseged Kebede on bass. Beautifully captured at one of their fiery live shows at the venerable Brooklyn non-profit cultural center Pioneer Works on July 1, 2016, the concert was recorded by PW staff and mixed by Ted Young with mastering by ATFA’s expert audio extraction collaborator Jessica Thompson.

big Hailu fan, not sure I need this live album but happy it's there for posterity

what I need is to see him play again

great band

Hailu was a Real nice guy when I met him . He lives not far from me in DC area but doesn’t gig a lot . Practices every week though with his band in his basement.

He is going to do some tour gigs shortly

Where Israelis, Palestinians and Iranians Must Listen to One Another
Students from the Middle East come to Berlin to study music with the star conductor Daniel Barenboim. Now the Israel-Hamas war is testing their ideals

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/31/arts/music/israeli-palestinian-barenboim-peacemaking.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/un-retreat-mali-disarray-violence-surges-2023-11-03/

The situation in northern Mali is a mess

I saw Rawanda duo The Good Ones do their only (!) US gig last night at a small 50 seat room in Washington DC. There were about 40 people there. One member stood and strummed acoustic guitar and the other guy sat and tapped on a large tambourine. Both delivered Beautiful vocal melodies and harmonies. Despite Not enough tempo changes for non-folky me, I still enjoyed show. They don’t speak much English so no chatter between songs. The percussionist banged together a pair of boots rather than using his tambourine drum on one song. On the encore they marched down the aisle there and used their feet and handclaps as percussion for their soothing vocals. These guys are survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and live in a rural area there . Might also be farmers. Their lyrics might deal with heavy subjects. They are recording an NPR Tiny Desk today. They were supposed to play NY the other day, but got blocked somehow from flying out via Amsterdam the other day and had to wait an additional day. Their American producer spoke last night and was blaming Rawanda and Dutch authorities for the delay

Is anything from this thread on best rolling albums 2023? It seems to me that both old-school style and new school afropop, as well as Spanish language music still seems to be labeled niche music in these polls in a manner that US and UK pop , rock, r’nb , and rap isn’t