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

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

Ignored as niche music I mean while Tubs get so much love for their Richard Thompson meets punk approach

BCUC mentioned upthread were just in the Boston area recently as a writer pal of mine from that way posted a photo on social media.

Asake, Baaba Maal, Mokoomba all sound as worthy to me as ilx rock fave the Tubs (who i kinda like too)

Grammys nominees for Feb 2024 awards

Best Global Music Performance

For new vocal or instrumental Global music recordings.

Shadow Forces
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily

Alone
Burna Boy

FEEL
Davido

Milagro Y Disastre
Silvana Estrada

Abundance In Millets
Falu & Gaurav Shah (Featuring PM Narendra Modi)

Pashto
Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer & Zakir Hussain Featuring Rakesh Chaurasia

Todo Colores
Ibrahim Maalouf Featuring Cimafunk & Tank And The Bangas

Grammys nominees for Feb 2024 awards

Best Global Music Album

For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new vocal or instrumental Global Music recordings.

Epifanías
Susana Baca

History
Bokanté

I Told Them...
Burna Boy

Timeless
Davido

This Moment
Shakti

https://pan-african-music.com/en/egypt-cassette-culture/

1970s Egyptian music on cassettes

Uncut albums of the year 2023- 31. Baaba Maal – Being

Yay

First heard by global audiences on Sahel Sounds’ Music from Saharan WhatsApp series, Malian guitar hero Bounaly (the stage name of Ali "Bounaly" Traore) makes his full-length debut with “Dimanche à Bamako” (“Sunday in Bamako”). Recorded live on location, the music on "Dimanche à Bamako" is a mix of regional favorites, traditional standards, and originals. Long songs with looping rhythms, pounding kick drums, and electric shredding guitars, punctuated by shout-outs to the guests of honor. A raw and frenetic take on Northern Mali desert sound, playing for the diaspora at a Bamako wedding. …

Bounaly is on Bandcamp. Cool Malian guitar sound. Sahel Sounds has a vinyl version

El Khat trio’s Yemen music sounds great live tonight in little Bossa club in DC . They are on a short tour. Were in NY last night. Chanted Arabic vocals, drummer uses kitchen pots and a drum kit, lead vocalist uses a stringed instrument. Not sure what the instrument is called that other guy is using

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