Return of the World Music Thread: 2012

this Bola album that Awesome Tapes from Africa put out is really great: http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/bola-volume-7. It's on spotify.

Need to check that out. I see Spin and others like it

CBS tv 60 Minutes story on Kinshasa orchestra

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-57410244-10391709/producer-finds-musical-sweet-spot-in-the-congo/

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2012/04/10/bombino-and-vieux-farka-toure-on-the-upheaval-in-mali/

A feature on Sahrawi music.

Liking this Karantamba album a whole lot:
http://open.spotify.com/album/4kAlAPW9owLaq2SwOPWhI2

This is really great! Feel I'm going to play it a lot this summer...

This album is not available in the United States :(

Nice interview piece in the NY Times with Amadou & Mariam. Cynical me assumed that the American indie-rockers on the album were chosen only for marketing purposes. In fact, while they did consciously decide to include American musicians to raise their profile here, they picked musicians they had been on bills with and who mostly had some familiarity and interest in playing with them. The album was originally supposed to be a double cd, with one disc with the Americans, and one all-African one, but the decision was ultimately made to combine them. I still need to listen to the album some more. Just listened to it once.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/arts/music/amadou-mariam-aim-to-expand-audience-with-folila.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

NY Times on Mali:

Despite promises of a return to democracy, soldiers seized a former prime minister, a former finance minister and at least three others, opposition figures said.

http://blog.afropop.org/2012/04/response-for-sake-of-clarity-on-mali.html

^thanks for posting that. Nice to see them acknowledge the problems with the first post and to clarify what exactly they thought was lacking

Yeah, the response seemed far better thought out than the original post.

Wow, a Sublime Frequencies artist is actually coming to Washington DC. Syrian Omar Souleyman is going to be at the 930 Club with Dengue Fever Wednesday June 6. Maybe's he's coming your way too.

he's a good show; I'd like to see him in a smaller venue sometime.

He's playing Webster Hall in NYC on Monday June 4 and he's in Vancouver at the end of May.

He's on a bill with Dengue Fever for the NYC show too

i much prefer DF to omar, do they have a new album?

Don't know.

Going to New Orleans for 1st weekend of Jazzfest. Cheikh Lo and Seun Kuti are on the bill.

new Khaira Arby ep coming out, and she is touring the US now through May

Just had the displeasure of reviewing a Songlines Music Awards compilation CD. For a 'world music' release it sure has got a lot of Americans/Western Europeans on it. Does the best the world have to offer in 'world' music really, genuinely include the Kronos Quartet, TV On The Radio, Ry Cooder and Abigail Washburn?

"World" music made the transition to encompass roots, bluegrass, global classical and multiculti rock a long time ago; broader net to trawl with.
it's always been a bullshit distinction tbqh

Caught some of Seun Kuti (and his great band and butt-shaking dancers); Cheikh Lo; and more at Jazzfest in New Orleans. Great stuff. Lo has a more relaxed approached, but I like his laidback Afro-Cuban influenced percussion work on some cuts.

When I was at Global Rhythm my argument was always, "America's part of the world, too."

is kinda seems sometimes like half of the musicians making world music* are either a Kuti or a Toure

*that gets attention in the United States

Nah, there's only like three Kutis; there are about 4500 Diabates.

http://619sports.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/wilford-brimley1.jpg

a quick email interview with Mali's Khaira Arby

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2012/05/02/khaira-arby-on-mali-and-its-music/

http://www.apple.com/euro/itunes/charts/top10worldsongs.html

9: Clair de Lune - Claude Debussy
10: Lady In Red - Kurt Darren

When I was at Global Rhythm my argument was always, "America's part of the world, too."

I'm not that uptight that I would have mentioned it if it was only one or two Western or partially Westernised acts but it's a sizeable proportion.

I got some Haitian voodoo and rara discs from a friend who just came back from there. He met a rara band on the street entirely made up of women-- apparently a rarer thing-- called Rara Fanm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AVnaChQisk

Nice. Non-rara, old-school Haitian funky konpa band Tabou Combo is doing some gigs in NYC and DC this month, as are Skah Shah and another group whose name I forget.

Unchhh I was supposed to see them in MTL but they cancelled. Jealous

This AMAZING record called Zao Ak Djakata. Can't find much online but there's a link here http://haitiforever.com/winterludes/rz-zao.shtml SO GOOD.

Will have to check that out. Luv me some Haitian musik, although some current modern Haitian stuff uses syrupy synth sounds that do not wow me. Every genre seems to have to have its brand of polished slow dance sounds.

Was thinking about media attention for Haitian muzik (there's a big Haitian presence in NYC and Miami and DC too):
New Yorker writer S F-Jones once was involved in a panel on Haitian soundz, but alas he never seems to write about them. Christgau and some NY Times writers I think have written about Tabou Combo. Nabisco at New York Mag and others do not seem interested. Jordan Levin at the Miami Herald recently wrote about Tabou and I think he has highlighted other international stuff as well

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/20/2759008/tabou-combo-the-rolling-stones.html

05/07: Montreal, QC
05/09: Grand Rapids, MI
05/10: Chicago, IL
05/11: Iowa City, IA
05/12; Lincoln, NE
05/14: Salt Lake City, UT
08/01: New York, NY

Khaira Arby's still touring North America. Her sound seems a bit westernized with some of the guitar sounds these days. I can't figure out whether this is what they are into, and/or when she plays weddings and other functions back home it sounds this way. Her first North American tour did not sound like her more recent ones.

Anyone see her?

What's everyone listening to? I went out and heard (and danced a bit to) dancehall and soca at a Caribbean club Friday night. Was also listening to a couple cds in the car whose names I have forgotten right now-- a hybrid West African one with an Anglo; and an Iranian vocalist. I liked the latter one more. Will update with the names later.

WORLD MUSIC EUROPEAN AIRPLAY 20
March’s most played world music albums, compiled from returns from radio DJs all over Europe World Music Charts Europe

BONGA Hora Kota (Lusafrica)
VÄRTTINÄ Utu (Westpark)
VARIOUS ARTISTS World Routes On The Road (Nascente)
ILGI Tur Saulite Perties Gaja (Upe)
PETRAKIS, LOPEZ, CHEMIRANI Mavra Froudia (Musiepoca)
CEU Caravana Sereia Bloom (Six Degrees)
LEPISTÖ & LEHTI Radio Moskova (Aito)
VARIOUS ARTISTS The New Brazilian Music 4 (BME)
MELINGO Corazon Y Hueso (World Village)
LOGA RAMIN TORKIAN Mehraab (Six Degrees)
MARIA KALANIEMI, TIMO ALAKOTILA Akerö (Akerö)
VARIOUS ARTISTS Cumbia Cumbia 1 & 2 (World Circuit)
FATOUMATA DIAWARA Fatou (World Circuit)
AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND Mokum (Essay)
BALKAN BEAT BOX Give (Crammed)
ZITA SWOON GROUP Wait For Me (Crammed)
EDA ZARI Toka Incognita (Intuition)
SAMBASUNDA QUINTET Java (Riverboat)
BALOJI Kinshasa Succursale (Crammed)
EMEL MATHLOUTHI Kelmti Horra (World Village)
© giftmusic 2012

fRoots forum

http://www.froots.net/phpBB2/

of those i've heard the world routes album, the amsterdam klezmer band, balkan beat box and eda zari. none of my favorite world albums of the year charting unfortunately :(

That list may reflect a certain bias as it is of just the European djs who the Folk Roots(fRoots) magazine/website surveys.

a hybrid West African one with an Anglo = this is the ZITA SWOON GROUP with additional Burkina Faso musicians cd Wait For Me (Crammed) that I should more accurately have described as a Belgian music collective led by Stef Kamil Carlens working with 2 Burkina Faso musicians Awa Démé and Mamadou Diabaté Kibié --

Wait For Me is the meeting of Stef Kamil Carlens and his Belgian collectif Zita Swoon Group with the Burkinabe Awa Démé and Mamadou Diabaté Kibié. The sound is a mixture of raw acoustic blues and folk and the traditional ‘mandigue’ music from West-Africa. Awa Démé sings in Bambara, Stef Kamil Carlens in English and French. The songs deal with the moral and the problems of modern African society.

Just ok on first listen.

good khaira arby show in montreal - love the band's zeal, khaira's energy. but not quite at the level of when i last saw her, about 18 months ago. someone slipped the awesome guitarist kid some terrible records, and i can't handle it when he hits a pedal and goes in on these awful metal hard-rock guitar solos.

curious for the new record

Zita Swoon are still around, huh? Might check out the album for old time's sake.

x-post-
I am worried about the new (some of it recorded in Brooklyn) upcoming K. Arby record and the possibility of those guitar solos. I wonder if plays those solos back home where her group still does weddings and other local events?

maybe. but in montreal at least he was all hipster-ified in skinny jeans and an almost-keffiyeh. feel like it's some brushes with Brooklyn that turned him on to this stuff, rather than the back-home style. maybe i'm projecting.

btw my friend Howard Bilerman (mtl indie rock producer - but in a good way, punkrock sounding, live off the floor, etc.) just came back from recording an album with Bassekou Kouyate in Mali. (w Khaira Arby as guest)

bassekou is a badass

x-post-- re Arby I agree. I (and maybe I am projecting as well) think Arby's band is, in current gigs in North America trying to play what they think North Americans will like (from Brooklyn hipsters to whomever), while back in Mali at weddings omitting those North American style licks.

But of course Arby suggested the above theory was not true when I asked her via email the following in an interview:

WCP: On your first U.S. tour you had additional women singers and musicians, compared to your smaller group on later U.S. tours. Is the size of your group a matter of money or an artistic choice? How does it change your group's sound?

KA: Both. There is certainly a big expense to tour. It is something that is very hard to do. Also, I perform with all different sizes of groups. The sound changes all the time even at home. If I am performing on a large festival stage at home, I can bring a larger group. But when we are at a smaller event like a wedding, I bring the smaller core group. The sound doesn't change very much because these are my core musicians.

x-post-found that "new Brazilian 4 music" comp from that Euro radio dj list, on soundcloud. Was impressed on first listen