Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2021 Thread (Often African bands)

This thread is mainly for polyrhythmic, international sounds that aren't big enough to get threads of their own. I lean toward south of the equator sounds here that are sometimes less club-oriented than those of artists highlighted on Afrobeats, dancehall, soca, etc. threads. Sometimes, but not always, the artists are older than those on those other threads. More old-school bands too. Often less digital programming but if it includes such playing/programming it is usually less popular

Here's last year's thread- 2020

Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2020 Thread (Often African bands)

Still catching up on 2020 music slowly ( other things keeping me from listening)

Saw an Awesome Tapes from Africa email about a Mail release that looked promising; once I find time

https://jonathanbogart.substack.com/p/50-songs-of-2020-14

Jonathan Bogart in part re his top songs of 2020 : I dare say that just about anyone could find something to love in there, even if they don’t speak Spanish, Portuguese, French, Swahili, or Zulu (the most common non-English languages throughout the playlist).

Bogart ranked 50 songs and did a Spotify list plus a 626 song YouTube playlist. A lot of it is more Afro thread material but since he has Caribbean and Brazilian and more , I posted it here

Breastcrawl may even know already about many of the above artists.

cool, I only just saw this. reservations about JB aside, I’m looking forward to do some digging in. (rest assured, if last year’s list is anything to go by there will be lots I don’t know)

Chouk Bwa & The Ångstromers
Vodou Alé
Haitian Drumming and Singing with Touches of Electronica and Dancehall Music

Just finally listened to this 2020 effort. Not bad but doesn’t consistently wow me. Critic Ted Gioia had it in his long year end list

https://afropop.org/articles/catch-up-on-tiny-desk-globalfest-2021

https://afropop.org/articles/albums-from-2020-highlights

album titles in the link

Rocky Dawuni
Songhoy Blues
Elida Almeida
Aricia Mess from Putumayo presents Brazil-Samba, Bossa, and Beyond
Hailu Mergia
Groupe RTD
Gordon Konang
Linos Wengara Magaya & Zimbaremabwe Mbira Vibes
Modeste Hugues & Kilema
Artists for Peace & Justice- Let the Rhythm Lead: Haiti Song Summit Vol. 1
Ali Bilali Soudan
Herb Alpert
Andal Sukabe from Music from Saharan WhatsApp 7 Sahel Sounds
Penny Penny
Nahawa Doumbia
Ballake Sissoko
Oumou Sangare - Acoustic
Monty Alexander

This rips (Ugandan drum group on Nyege Nyege):
https://nyegenyegetapes.bandcamp.com/album/ejokawulida

Still catching up on 2020-- the Al Bilali Soudan (not Ali as I mistakenly typed earlier) album has great North African desert guitar work. Maybe not anything new at this point, but done really well.

Actually that's ngoni on that and maybe not guitar

https://www.clermontmusic.com/tombouctou

Malian singer Nahawa Doumbia also on above list has a powerful, passionate voice . She's from southern Mali. in the Wassoulou region. This area is well known for generating some of the best female singers in Mali, including Oumou Sangaré.

https://earthbeat.nl/artist/nahawa-doumbia/

Modeste Hugues & Kilema is pleasant afro-folk from Madagascar .

Still more there to go through.

The Oumou Sangare acoustic album from last year is nice. She's still got a great voice. One of those many fantastic southern Mali vocalists

I don't think the kora album by Ballake Sissoko that afropop.org listed is available yet. He is a good player. Saw him duet with French musician Vincent Segal live, and they also were together on Tiny Desk

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

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/26/kyrgyzstan-ballads-okinawan-folk-ugandan-hymns-the-album-rewriting-global-music-history-excavated-shellac?fbclid=IwAR1bKpkJrd2_MAmkb85GeWq3eQ5fLEV1CZBb7i7JZhqtXf4PynrAsMuBhpY

New digital only collection with e-book of global 78s put together by Excavated Shellac and Dust to Digital

thanks for posting that tiny desk concert! I watched it last night. I know their albums together already, but it was a real treat to be able to see them playing with each other. This is basically what I imagine heaven would sound like.

I skipped a kora concert summer '19. I don't even remember who was playing, but I've regretted it ever since, particularly in the past year.

That shellac collection sounds amazing, I kind of want to convene a group project to listen to the whole thing.

Good description.

Good description.

that excavated shellac thing looks amazing - used to follow the blog - but come on, 100+ tracks? no one has the time.

ordered the shellac collection! downloading the large pdf is taken some time let alone the music :D

oh wait that was the music

anyway listening now

the detail in the document is amazing btw, full page of history for each track and lyrics and translations

got it off bandcamp earlier and talked a friend into listening to a few songs each week and chatting about it, pretty excited!

Christgau just posted his fave albums for 2020 list and it includes this North African one below from 2017

3. Group Doueh & Cheveu: Dakhla Sahara Session (Born Bad ‘17)

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMh9h8twoGyInLFa-yMgFdSYNX642hhMb

Nahawa Doumbia , Mali singer with her band in Stockholm last year. She has a new album that was available in Mali in November 2020, & Awesome Tapes from Africa is releasing elsewhere now

Nice I'll have to check that out. I got pretty into La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 3 last summer

https://www.theafricareport.com/62955/sibongile-khumalo-voice-of-the-new-south-africa-dies-at-63/

RIP Sibongile Khumalo, South African Zulu jazz & choral singer

I forget the name of the rap not in English thread, so Inwill post this here instead. I see in The NY Times actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas saying that she listens to Hindi rap like Raftaar and Divine when she works out.

that's this thread, curmudge: Rolling worldwide rap thread 2021

Reading in NY Times about Barbara Dane , 93 years old musician and Paredon label owner

Musician Barbara Dane’s Life of Defiance and Song - plus Her label released music produced by liberation movements in Vietnam, Palestine, Angola, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Greece, Uruguay, Mexico, the United States and beyond.

Folkways controls the label now

nice to see that paddy bush's old documentary on the malagasy musician rakotozafy has made it back to youtube again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orE-9ZQVsio

Kôrôlén is a very special collaboration between two titans in music: Toumani Diabaté, the Grammy-winning Malian kora virtuoso, and the London Symphony Orchestra, renowned worldwide for their performances of orchestral music on record, film and stage. Diabaté, a griot whose musical lineage stretches back generations, is well known as one of the most creative musicians on the African continent, and is almost single-handedly responsible for bringing the iconic sound of the kora to worldwide audiences. No stranger to a genre-defying collaboration, he has recorded two Grammy-winning albums alongside desert blues pioneer Ali Farka Touré, as well as projects with Taj Mahal, Björk, Béla Fleck, Damon Albarn and Afrocubism.

Commissioned as a special project by the Barbican Centre in London and produced by World Circuit, these recordings feature Diabaté and his group of eminent Malian musicians (including Kasse Mady Diabaté and Lassana Diabaté), accompanied by the soaring presence of the LSO, in dedicated arrangements by Nico Muhly and Ian Gardiner and conducted by Clark Rundell. The title bestowed by Diabaté on this unique and groundbreaking release, 'Kôrôlén', translates from the Mandinka language as 'ancestral' - a fitting theme for an album that brings together ancient griot melodies and Western orchestral arrangements, resulting in an achingly beautiful and fresh neo-classical sound that will appeal to admirers of African, traditional and new classical, and ambient music.

arghhhh with someone like toumani would go LOWER-fi not higher fi
orchestra collabs are such a snooze

Yep

yeah I'm listening to "Haïnamady Town" off this right now and Diabaté is excellent of course, but the LSO bits are pretty sacharine

Here's one that rightfully should go on yesterday's '70s boogie thread 'cept it's not from the '70s and isn't about boogying per se; is from the Songhoy Blues LP that Steve was disappointed by last year. Similar to fellow Malian Ali Farka Toure, Songhoy Blues are fans of John Lee Hooker; unlike Ali Farka Touré their Hooker-derived blues boogie sometimes sounds like Brownsville Station.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p-Zta6QLms

Sorry not much of Brownsville fan, although I am curious about how Songhoy Blues sound changed into this more boogie rock one

Paul Bowles, author & musician, went to Morocco in 1959 and recorded music there. It was released as a 1972 lp, and now his tapes are on YouTube

https://moroccantapestash.blogspot.com/2021/02/paul-bowles-library-of-congress.html?fbclid=IwAR0Uz6KRvZrIwsF8CjEI7M6KpTgLKmb22ORzXsFFb3Ga7YYKZaAl_O_hnuE&m=1

https://brazilbeatblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/15/favorite-brazilian-albums-of-2020/?fbclid=IwAR2RgmndUV6_OrRNlJfpSIlVwB-fWSPS1PVYhLKodT0zx-1VhS-mBrTIolc

A Brazilian top 20 for 2020

Oduor Nyagweno, solo nyatiti & vocals, worth reading the backstory here:
https://petelarson.bandcamp.com/album/where-i-go-i-am-there

At 14 years of age he had a dream about the nyatiti and when he awoke the following day, he was magically able to play it, or so the legend goes. Nyagweno started entering nyatiti competitions and quickly moved up the ranks to become one of the best nyatiti players in the area

Here’s part of backstory but there’s more.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-02-23/guy-chookoorian-armenian-american-novelty-records-dies

Longtime Armenian singer/ instrumentalist and occasional Hollywood bit actor Guy Chookoorian has died. Lots of Armenians who fled their homes after Turkish genocide end up in Southern California

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/sardool-sikander-1961-2021-roadways-di-laari-comes-to-a-grinding-halt-101614194628380.html

Punjabi / India singer Sardool Sikander dead at 60 from Covid

Not 100 percent sure this is the right thread for this, but Buscabulla was discussed on last year's thread. This is a lovely, languorous dream-pop cover. I wasn't familiar with the original, but I gather it's a Puerto Rican karaoke staple. I've gone back and listened to earlier recordings (Lissette Alvarez, Umberto Tozzi) and they're good but I like the chill vibe of this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3U_V46IonM

With the recent Spotify launches in several more African countries, I've been generating playlists to show what the new listeners in each country were disproportionately playing in their first few days. If you're interested:

Nigeria: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4RVekSXvQYyHrF6XyxEdwH?si=bPCTg3hlR5iERR1Z-j5z3g
Ghana: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0i3gO0KVgrTahrMziABjzi?si=qo64HhfaRgCDQqQO7k2J-g
Kenya: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4qTwmED83dqkVGNY9W76Jx?si=wePsV8afS0-Mw_0rL_B7pw
Tanzania: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Z0dnLnskhYb1aCHmreyP7?si=azB7nRvISeKQ0NY6ElLgzw
Uganda: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1JY0Esk4iU4vvCvxM6WOH9?si=H7hM1lCUR1O-awDgdO-_IA
Botswana: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1vAV9s9KXwLCD7knb4TrDX?si=SJKH7Xb6TqeUJBBumbTrCA
Senegal: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1uV3spPPFM8rbTjQm5R0U8?si=ijx0CwytSEaKU51c8M3x3Q
Zimbabwe: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6jz4ew4EjyoQEc93QXItMa?si=_nbg2izzScGPqgF8pdpWgQ
Rwanda: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6vqW1BNtJLAtrDNv5l0abc?si=oY1K1PFnRh2tTsziEpa2WQ
Burundi: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1mRpE6qCP9aKMqrkzoUTto?si=YnoYpakIRVy6OJKNXYBj0w
Malawi: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/44WtZOWm90wMMiaeFQauGw?si=VK8hLFhvQiKSXBAX12iyJA

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/angelique-kidjo-mother-nature/?utm_medium=social&utm_brand=p4k&mbid=social_twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_social-type=owned&fbclid=IwAR2zF6R8K3U9fkhTfBUEo6oXszowPeSa9D128cSDMhlkb-k9TEplGYNk9p0

New Angelique Kidjo album . She wrote 11 of 13 songs. Guests include Burna Boy, Yemi Alade, Mr Eazi

Pitchfork review is favorable although grade of 7.6 won’t make it a “best album “

Haven’t listened to the Kidjo album yet

Cameroonian singer Wes Madiko:

https://then24.com/2021/06/26/singer-wes-madiko-author-of-the-hit-alane-died-at-the-age-of-57/

RIP

Was listening to Witch Camp— percussion and chants and harmonies from Ghanaian women in a camp who have been wrongfully condemned as witches

Sample tracks from this are good: https://analogafrica.bandcamp.com/album/cameroon-garage-funk

Pop Makossa was amazing so I'm looking forward to hearing that

Sounds funky and liners say most songs were recorded in a church with just one mic

This is pretty sweet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFZobgLF5Vc

Bandcamp daily had a story about this Moroccan banjo player, really nice: https://hassanwargui.bandcamp.com/album/tiddukla

I am behind on listening to various things related to this thread. But intend to find time

https://daily.bandcamp.com/hidden-gems/u-tin-burmese-guitar-review?utm_source=notification

The late Burmese / Myanmar guitarist U-tin sounds good on my first quick listen

yes, sounds very interesting

Yep

Belatedly caught up with the new Ballaké Sissoko, who never disappoints. The chamber pop collabs (with Camille and Arthur Teboul of Feu ! Chatterton, among others) are more convincing than I expected and don't sound off in this context where most features involve African musicians (or musicians of African descent). The duo with Oxmo Puccino is the sole misstep as far as I'm concerned. By far one of the best French rappers of the late 90s/early 00s, he just sounds exhausted here, and his attempt at doing a spoken word bit falls flat.

New Sissoko album is called Djourou

Salif Keita’s voice is still so gorgeous on Sissoko cut Guelen

Saw a little video clip on an Ethiopian DC FB group of Tsedi , an Ethiopian singer performing before a big Sunday night crowd at the Hashtag Lounge in Alexandria, Virginia, pretty close to Washington DC. I don’t know her music but may investigate further at some point

was Habibi Funk 015 mentioned? it's very good on first listen
https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-015-an-eclectic-selection-of-music-from-the-arab-world-part-2

wow there are 15 volumes of that? not sure I've heard a one—any particular volume to recommend?

this is a personal favorite https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-010-mouasalat-ila-jacad-el-ard

cheers, I'll check that out!

https://pan-african-music.com/en/nobesuthu-mbadu-dies-at-76/

Too many deaths of older musicians lately

Nobesuthu Mbadu of South Africa’s Mahotella Queens mbaqanga and vocal harmonies group

Sir Victor Uwaifo guitarist
Barthalemy Attiso, guitarist for Orchestra Baobab

https://www.getrevue.co/profile/jonathanbogart/issues/exist-yesterday-2021-tropical-pop-2-may-aug-743619?utm_campaign=Issue&utm_content=view_in_browser&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Exist+Yesterday

Jonathan Bogart on his fave May to August 2021 pop/dance/ rap/reggae /soca songs

Really into this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0GKOazMFho

Falle Nioke & sir Was - Wonama yo ema

That sounds super nice

ooh that's lovely

this newer, bangier track is good too - i think it's on the BBC Radio 6 playlist

Falle Nioke & Ghost Culture - Leywole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndqyUDPVBt0

Thanks for the Falle Nioke posts. Good stuff.

Unrelated-

Ethiopian New Year is Saturday. A couple of good live shows coming up this weekend in DC. One with guitarist Selamino who is on a Ethiopiques album or 2.

I checked Altın Gün's album because it was mentionned first on Popmatters mid-year list. It's a pleasant discovery: tasty mix of synths, grooves and Anatolian rock. It's light in a good way, without the superficial exotic I expect on such releases. For example the track of right now, Kesik Çayır, sounds kinda like the B-side of Remain in Light. I wouldn't mind a bit more edge and a world-class singer, but I think I'll check their previous album as well.

Following the author, I just found this. Fitting since I'm going to Kin soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0jF5QxNtI8
Rey Sapienz & The Congo Techno Ensemble - Eza Makambo

https://www.businessinsider.com/afghanistan-taliban-kills-popular-folk-singer-days-after-music-ban-2021-8

Oh no.

Mecca-based MSYLMA, who made what I believe to be the best record of 2019, is coming out with a new one next Monday, a collaboration with producer ISMAEL. Some gorgeous preview tracks here: https://editionsappaerent.bandcamp.com/album/the-tenets-of-forgetting

Doesn't fit with a lot of the more "traditional" music that this thread catalogs, but is obviously influenced by Muslim devotional music and prayer practices. Really cool stuff.

I missed the 2019 album as well, so will check out both

Some of 2019 Msylma is a bit too melodramatic for me, but much of it works.

Yeah, it is a little melodramatic, but I love it— and he does have quite a set of pipes.

Family responsibilities mean I can’t go see Cameroon’s longtime mokassa artist Petit Pays Friday night in a burb between DC and Baltimore, but he’s released a zillion albums that I haven’t heard and should check out

Makossa

Neha Kakkar from India is at the MGM theatre near me tonight, as well.

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/29/1041553988/googoosh-iranian-singer-american-tour

NPR story on Los Angeles based Iranian singer Googoosh who is on tour again

More than 100 young artists, teachers and their relatives affiliated with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, a celebrated school that became a target of the Taliban in part for its efforts to promote the education of girls, fled the country on Sunday, the school’s leaders said.

The musicians, many of whom have been trying to leave for more than a month, boarded a flight from Kabul’s main airport and arrived in Doha, the capital of Qatar, around midday Eastern time, according to Ahmad Naser Sarmast, the head of the school, who is currently in Australia. In the coming days, they plan to resettle in Portugal, where the government has agreed to grant them visas

From NY Times

Between helping my elderly Mom ( who’s more a Sinatra fan than a Mdou Moctar one) and moving locally in the DC area , I am way behind on my global listening.

https://afropop.org/articles/robson-banda-and-the-new-black-eagles-soweto

I need to listen to this reissue

That Robson Banda and the new black eagles reissue has those zimbabwean and south african guitars from the 80s that I like

. BLK JKS - Abantu/Before Humans

Saw this and Mdou Moctar on a best of 2021 album list in that thread of them

Omar Souleymane now being held in a Turkish prison is bad news.

https://www.passionweiss.com/2021/11/16/afro-jams-of-the-week-november-16-2021/

Hmmm have I ever heard Sona Jobarteh who’s gonna be on cover of December Songlines and has a gig in London soon

That BLK JKS album is very busy with lots of sounds coming at you at once, sometimes I like it while other times it’s too jazz fusion/ prog busy for me.

learned recently that demola adepoju also played pedal steel on paul simon's "graceland" (the song). his solo album is amazing. any/all other nigerian/african pedal steel tips always totally welcome! https://t.co/PUnQ9dyfvF

— jesse jarnow (@bourgwick) November 20, 2021

https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/arooj-aftab-grammy-nomination-best-new-artist-things-to-know-1235001996/

Pakistani music for the masses. I like her but it’s interesting how she has managed to reach ilx, indie hipsters, and the Grammys