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

Final night of their us tour. This gig didn’t get much media attention, but small enthusiastic crowd for El Khat

I need to catch up on El Khat recorded efforts. I think they have a few or 3 albums out. They toured here as a trio , but I see photos with 4 guys and mentions of middle eastern horn instruments (they didn't have any of those last night)

RIP Sara Tavares, Cape Verde/ Portuguese singer/ guitarist dead from a brain tumor at 45

FUCK

Her eurovision entry was a big song of my childhood and she was an important element of representation for the Afro-Portuguese community at a time when all sorts of racist bullshit still flew on tv (tbh I can't say that it doesn't still).

Terrible news. I have seen similar reactions on Instagram and twitter (many from those in the Afro-Portuguese community), and must confess that for American suburbanite me my exposure was just hearing about her playing Globalfest in NY in 2007 and similar "world music" marketing. I wasn't even aware of the Eurovision entry. She's gone way too soon.

53. Tinariwen – Amatssou

From Uncut magazine best 2023 albums

wtfffffff

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0HuZH0P1mL/

i'm gutted. one of the best shows i've seen in years.

Yes . terrible news. Mamadou Sanou (Baba Commandant) passed away in his home town of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso yesterday. All we know at the moment is, a fatal bout of malaria was the reason.

Saw he and his band in DC and in Baltimore this year. Damn malaria....

Christopher Silver is the founder and curator of the website Gharamophone.com, a digital archive of North African records from the first half of the twentieth century. His first book Recording History: Jews, Muslims, and Music Across Twentieth Century North Africa was published in June 2022

Not familiar with his website or book but gonna look into them

Banning Eyre loves the 2023 Mokoomba album and I do too

https://afropop.org/articles/mokoomba-tusona-tracings-in-the-sand

Okwy Osadebe and Highlife Soundmakers International: Igbo Amaka (Palenque)
Nigerian, the son of Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe (1936-2007), an Igbo highlife star in Lagos from his first album in 1958. During the 1970s, highlife was eclipsed by juju and afrobeat, but I always found the early stuff especially charming, as is this slight update. **- Tom Hull review

just reading a reference to : Gouyad music and I see that:

Kompa gouyad is a popular Haitian music genre that blends African rhythms with Caribbean influences. It features a fast tempo and upbeat melodies, accompanied by percussion instruments like drums and tambourines.

Here's a konpa gouyad 2023 mix . I see mixes of konpa gouyad going back to 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN_h2STVOGU

Part of Ted Gioia list not paywalled

It includes Blick Bassy
Mádibá
Soulful Electropop Sung in the Baasa Language of Cameroon

Various Artists
Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs from Senegal and Gambia
Traditional African Music Performed on the Ekonting, a Three-Stringed Gourd Lute

This from Ted Gioia ‘s honorable mention list

Listened to Baaba Maal 2023 album Being again . It's a best of. Mokoomba 2023 one is good too, plus afropop/afrobeats and more Asake

Bounaly: Dimanche à Bamako (Sahel Sounds)
Guitarist Ali Traore, from Niafounke in north Mali, recorded live at a wedding bash in Mali's capitol city, a haven for many refugees from the jihad in the north. With vocals, drums, and calabash, the recording a little crude but powerful

I need to listen to this Tom Hull favorite again

is he playing Amadou & Mariam tunes? or is Dimanche à Bamako a kind of standard/expression?

He’s not playing their songs . It has apparently become a common expression. He’s a north Malian who moved down to Bamako as the jihadists up north have made it nearly impossible for musicians.

Plus Bounaly recorded this live on a Sunday, and that expression means “Sunday in Bamako” I think

It does yeah.

https://afropop.org/articles/afropop-top-videos-2023-the-final-seven

Congolese, Senegalese and more afropop band and solo videos

https://theatticmag.com/news/2456/staff-picks-_-november-and-december-2023.html

Some cool stuff here

60 Minutes did a 20-minute piece on Gnawa music last night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti1Nqaju4lY

Cool. Thanks , always wondered how to pronounce “gnawa “

Yeah, that was my big takeaway — "Oh shit, I've been pronouncing this word wrong for 30 years!" I always just pronounced it "nah-wah" with a silent G. Fortunately, that was mostly in my head as I almost never had to say it out loud. Except for the time I interviewed Bill Laswell about recording in Morocco, of course. And he didn't correct me...

I guess the Master Musicians of Joujouka who were Not in that 60
minutes segment are Sufi musicians but their music is not considered Gnawa

I still have to watch those 7 videos linked above in the afropop. Org list. That website usually posts a “Stockings stuffer” end of year list by now, but I am not seeing one.

I also need to dig into that attic one

Saw Tinariwen show up on someone’s 2023 list . Had forgotten about that one

Just saw elsewhere 2 best of 2023 references to Piconema: East African Hits on the Colombian Coast . I haven’t heard it yet and haven’t seen references to it elsewhere here on ILM

I heard it. It was an OK compilation of mostly early 80s guitar jams — if you like rumba (the African style) and that sort of thing, you'll probably enjoy this. I'm more of a highlife and juju person so it didn't do much for me.

It's 2024, time for a new thread

Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2024 Thread (Often African guitar led bands)