Return of the World Music Thread: 2012

So again, because it's this weekend:

FREE SHOW
Saturday, July 21 at 3:00pm in Central Park, Manhattan
Bebel Gilberto
Criolo
Flávio Renegado
DJ Béco Dranoff
Presented in Association with Brasil Summerfest
File Under: Brazil, Rock, Hip Hop, Electronic, Global
Join SummerStage as we celebrate the newest generation of musicians making a mark on the Brazilian music scene with up and coming Brazilian hip-hop artists Criolo and Flávio Renegado making their New York City premiere.
Artist Website: http://www.bebelgilberto.com
Internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter Bebel Gilberto is the daughter of Joao Gilberto, the iconic voice of bossa nova. Gilberto’s famed father would always color her musical path, and with the addition of elements of electronic music, she took the legacy of bossa nova from Bahia to the dance floor, earning worldwide success. With the release of Tanto Tempo in 2000, Gilberto formulated her trademark electronic bossa nova, which took over clubs around the world and positioned Bebel as one of the top-selling Brazilian artists in the U.S. Her subsequent albums, which garnered several GRAMMY® nominations, including Bebel Gilberto, Momento and All in One refined her sound to also include an acoustic lounge style that showcased her strengths as a composer.
Artist Website: http://www.criolo.net
Criolo, Brazil's newest star creates rhymes like an industrial machine. At the same time, he can also sing beautifully and blend Brazilian rhythms including samba, soul, Afro-funk and rock riffs and assemble it with hip-hop beats and flow to create some of the most exciting new music to come out of Brazil in recent times. Recently chosen by MTV Brazil as “Best New Artist” in 2011, Criolo’s newest album, Nó Na Orelha explores his full range of musical adventurousness and is lyrically, a dense and far-reaching work.
Artist Website: http://minhatribo.flaviorenegado.com.br
Rising Brazilian hip-hop artist, Flávio Renegado has been making moves in the Brazilian music scene since 2008 with the release of his debut, Do Oiapoque a Nova York. Renegado’s sound is at once identifiably hip-hop based but incorporates other musical influences such as reggae, maracatu, Cuban music, African rhythms, samba and other sounds typical of Brazilian culture. These global inspirations are exemplified in his newest release, Minha Tribo é o Mundo meaning, “My Tribe is the World.”
Artist Website: http://becodranoff.com
Béco Dranoff has been involved in the Brazilian music industry for over 20 years. Béco's multi-faceted career and international expertise positions him as a unique bridge for cultural projects between Brazil and the world. As a Music Selector, Béco has worked in prestigious venues such as Cielo, MoMA's Sculpture Garden, Le Poisson Rouge and Nublu. His musical style can be defined as Global-Neo-Brazilian, featuring new hybrid sounds from Brazil’s top DJ’s and producers mixed in a with a good dose of classic beats such as Samba, Forró, Bahian grooves and everything else in between. Béco hosts SONORIDADE, a monthly online Brazilian radio show.

FREE SHOW
Sunday, July 22 at 3:00pm in Central Park, Manhattan
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo
SMOD
Bibi Tanga and The Selenites
DJ Chief Boima
Presented in Association with The Museum for African Art
File Under: Africa, Rock, Hip Hop, Global
Artist Website: http://www.polyrythmo.com
The eternal youth of the legendary Orchestre Poly-Rythmo from Benin, Africa has stunned deejays and African music aficionados with their pure African funky sound for over forty years. Their voice, brass section, guitar and percussion weaves together to create an irresistible Afro-funk sound deeply anchored in voodoo music, beat out by an immense vertical drum. By inter-mixing these vibrant traditional rhythms with psychedelic guitar riffs, unreal organ harmonies and funk and soul elements, the band has gone on to perform throughout Africa and internationally alongside other famous African musicians such as such as Seun Kuti and Amadou and Mariam. The band has juste released a new album, Cotonou Club featuring musicians from Scottish band, Franz Ferdinand, Angelique Kidjo and Fatoumata Diawara.
Artist Website: http://www.smod.fr
The Malian group SMOD is a group of four young MCs, hailing from Bamako, the capital of Mali in West Africa. In 2002, they edited their first album, Dunia Kuntala. The album and the group’s intersection of folk meets rap with a distinctly African vibe launched them to fame in their homeland. Two years later, they released the follow up, Ta I Tola in collaboration with numerous famed world artists including Amadou & Mariam and Manu Chao. With a new album being released in 2013 and a world tour lined up, SMOD is taking their special brand of African hip-hop to audiences around the world.
Artist Website: http://www.myspace.com/bibitanga
The future of funk is being written right now by a pair of Parisian groove theorists named Bibi Tanga and Professeur Inlassable. Singer, bassist and bandleader Bibi Tanga bridges the divide between Paris’ arty South Bank of the Seine and the gritty suburbs, where he grew up as an immigrant from the Central African Republic. Tanga’s music is marked by slinky, sinuous bass lines and a wicked falsetto that conjures up the spirit of Prince and Curtis Mayfield. With his band, the Selenites, they forge a stunningly original new sound, and create a space where Afro-futurism meets steampunk and Fela Kuti jams with Sidney Bechet.
Artist Website: http://chiefboima.com
Chief Boima is a Sierra Leonean-American electronic musician/DJ, cultural activist, and writer currently based in New York. He is a member of the Brooklyn based music, art and culture collective, Dutty Artz. His DJ style was inspired by the parties he knew growing up in a close knit African immigrant community in Wisconsin. As a touring club DJ, he has become a respected figure in the promotion of various musical styles from around the globe such as Coupe Decale, Cumbia, Kuduro, and Champeta.

really looking forward to the sunday show

oh hey i'm going to that!

Free! Curious New Yorkers should definately check these out. In DC folks had to spend $22 to $38 to see Poly Rythmo

Another Saturday July 21 option

The Wake Up Madagascar tour featuring Jaojoby, Razia Said, Saramba and Charles Kely hits the Big Apple. And we are proud to annouce that we will be LIVE STREAMING the show via Afropop.org. Show starts at 6:30pm on this Saturday.

I am not completely wowed by Batida, the Angolan/Portuguese outfit that mixes old-school Angolan sounds with current programmed beats. This has made several top 10 lists here on ilx, but I find the programmed beats less than impressive

i am also not a huge fan of that either really, but i have been enjoying Ondatrópica and feel like it's going to take someone telling me to shut up to get me to shut up about it

I am trying to catch up this week on stuff I have missed. I need to listen to Ondatropica still.

Cool, its on Spotify.

I'm liking this year's Amadou & Mariam. Not sure I will be able to see them again next week in W. DC. They were good live the last time they were in my hood.

ondatropica sounds real fun! i should go friday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVbGBBAiW8M

you seriously really totally should!

Is that right that their US tour is just Friday in NYC at Lincoln Center and Sunday in Los Angeles?

Okay I know I need to listen to some of this Ondatropica, but here's another song from the Sa Dingding album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT3vuHE9NmU

Could it be because I have been seeing rainbows in front of the Sandias on a regular basis this monsoon season?

I think there is or will be a film about her travel experiences which inspired this album. So some of these videos might serve as advertisement for that, I'm not entirely sure since I only have fragments of information.

I hate to say it, but some of that Ondatropica sounds too novelty/ gimmicky-- Latin version of Black Sabbath; 2-tone ska, etc.

Some of it, but not enough to ruin the album for me. I dunno, I guess the cheese is there if you want to hear it.

Not really feeling what I've heard of Ondatropica so far. I don't think I like the comparison which I think is going too much for a "real" natural hard wood floor just the musicians in the studio sound (kind of like an Latin alternative cumbia version of Spanish Harlem Orchestra?). I don't know, you (La Lechera) tend to have more of a real feel for real roots cumbia. Like, I prefer 70s Colombian cumbia to most of the stuff on that historic cumbia compilation that came out on Soundways (I think that was Soundways too?).

Reminds me a bit of Grupo Fantasma who I was talking up a few years back, but who haven't worn well for me.

Okay, now I'm finding the album is on Spotify. I like "Punkero Sonidero" a bit more than "I Ron Man" or "Tiene Sabor, Tiene Sazon." I don't think I'm in the mood for this tonight but I'll try to give it some kind of chance at a later point.

Back to the sometimes saccharine, sometimes bombastic in an 80s synth way, new age world Chinese pop that I can't get enough of at the moment.

=Sa Dingding

I'm going to have to start trying to post what I like about her album, rather than these preemptive descriptions of what there is to not like about it.

Things to like: those vocal slides she does from time to time, for one.

Some helpful background here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3556865/Why-Sa-Dingding-has-China-in-her-hand.html

More curmudgeonly comments from me:

Listened to that raved about 2012 Congos collaboration with Sun Araw and M.
Geddes Gengras, and I really don't like the Gengras noise input(I love the Congos). This is popping up on various best of 2012 so far lists, but not on mine.

Planning on seeing Amadou & Mariam tonight. They were enjoyable live the last time I saw 'em a few years back.

seeing them saturday. i like them better in a place with a roof but what can you do

The W. DC Amadou & Mariam gig at the 930 Club was a lot of fun.

YAM Magazine, worth a look: http://www.yam-mag.com/

forks did you see ondatropica?

unfortunately no. I got hit with a bad migraine and spent the night in my house holding my head.

:( i saw pics but i bet it was a great show, even if you find their recording borderline cheesy.
off topic, i used to get really bad migraines and then they slowly disappeared. it's one of the several wonders of my world.

mine are totally stress related; i've had a host of similar issues. I'm doing like six jobs right now and it's messing with me head. Getting the work done at least.

take care of yourself!

gracias
should be okay by september, just one more month of this to go

Am curious about the new Very Best(UK beat-making duo with Malawi singer) but haven't heard it yet. Has anyone here heard it?

yes! i love it. very catchy.

Listened to some of the new The Very Best album on Spotify last night. I liked some of it (typical for me, I like the Malawian singer's vocals the most. As opposed to the Euro beatmaker).

Amadou and Mariam try to put the hardship of being sampled by Maroon 5 behind them at the 9:30 Club in Washington.

Did not know they were sampled. That Some Dude has all the info.

Has anybody heard Nigerian Wizkid? He's gonna be in W. DC soon.

Wizkid is great. I can't remember if anything by him has been posted in the "Oliver Twist"/azonto thread but he's on a few of the mixes mentioned in there. No idea what he'd be like live, but he's one of my favorite of the little bit of Naija stuff I've checked out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPtzXHh1Tz0&feature=related

thanks

this was amazing and everyone should go see it:
http://www.lcoutofdoors.org/shows/view/205475?show_date=2012-08-03%2020:30:00

Reviving the dormant Finnish tradition of accordion-accompanied wrestling matches

Eh, I kinda like old-school Finnish accordion-accompanied wrestling better. Actually I have never heard of this. Lots of interesting stuff in that summertime Lincoln Center Out of Doors program.

I thought someone would add some funny accordion jokes. Oh well.

Janka Nabay has a new Olympics song/video out---honoring one of his country's 2 participants.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/general/2012/08/06/janka-nabays-olympic-anthem/

Janka's at Kennedy Center for free for an hour at 6 tonight and later is this:

United Sounds of Africa with Tuface, M.I, Ice Prince, Jesse Jagz, J Martins, Timi Dakolo, Iyanya, and Brymo at the Howard (r'n'b from Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa) at Howard Theatre

I think it is r'n'b but have not yet really investigated. It's not free

very best album sounds amazing on high volume while driving around

I need to research how the group has changed since the earlier releases. One of the beatmakers left. I wonder how that has affected their sound? Also, I see it got a mixed review in the NY Times. I like most of it.

i think it's more poppy this time around