Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2017 Thread Once Known as World Music

Still need to check out Mordy fave Elida Almeida. My Zimbabwe fave Mokoomba are gonna be in London Sunday (for anyone over there)

fwiw i've kinda cooled on that album. mostly listening to the zaire 74 atm.

NPR ATC had an interview with Hugh Masekela and the other guy who he worked with on putting together the Zaire 74 album. Kinda interesting. All of the African stars from that show are now deceased-- Tabu ley; Franco; Makeba etc.

The documentary about that concert, <i>Soul Power</i>, has some short excerpts of African artists performing, plus James Brown, BB King, Bill Withers, etc. Also features a truly detestable British a&r man.

Has anyone seen Les Filles de Illighadad in concert? They're visiting Montreal next week, exciting.

Nope, but would like to.

x-post-- in addition to that Soul Power doc about the Zaire 74 concert, there is now a movie doc about the Latino acts-- “Fania All-Stars: Live in Africa"

new songhoy blues album out today

Friend just linked me to this. Beautiful Electro Pop:

https://open.spotify.com/album/0RWibDzGRDMx7PhC8koIHh?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open&play=true

Dizzy Mandjeku & Odemba OK All Stars

Was reading about this former guitarist for Franco and other Congolese rumba and soukous artists, who is based in Belgium now and just appeared over the weekend at a festival in Liverpool, England

Mdou Moctar, the guitarist from that Malian Prple Rain movie is doing some US tour dates, and the booker (whom I know) says he needs more Midwest dates between festivals

None of the dates booked so far are listed here, but I think the contact info is

http://multifloraproductions.com/booking/mdou-moctar-north-america-2017/#.WUvXD9IUmpo

any chance he's coming to philly? if not he should book world cafe live or crossroads (http://www.crossroadsconcerts.org) both of which have smaller venues and host a bunch of international acts.

I will check

Crossroads can't do it he says (brief text without explanation -- maybe the only date that will work is booked). No response back from the booking agent in the text re World Café Live. He is still hoping to do a Philly show he says.

this is another possibility and a really nice venue:
http://www.ardmoremusic.com

I let him know.

Was just reading about a Moroccan men's choir that could not get their visas approved to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

I dunno I love this Awa Poulo album, the crazy flute is what makes it for me

Trying to remember what about that Malian Awa Poulo instrumentation I wasn't crazy about back in March. I forgot, which means maybe I should give it another listen.

Been listening to Colombia's Tribu Baharu, whose champeta sound draws heavily from Congolese soukous and rumba high-pitched guitar.

Also been listening to old-school Cameroon singer Coco Argentee, who is going to be at Lee's Lounge in MD outside Washington DC late Friday night (early Saturday morning). I'd like to see her, but think it's gonna be a 1 am or so starting time and I'm not sure if she'll have a band or be singing over tracks.

I didn't go. She's still on her US tour. Did see a DC-based Palestinian oud player/singer last night who is very good.

Need to catch up on Afropop Worldwide podcasts plus various albums....

The flute, ngoni & calabash gourd don't always seem together on Awa Poulo's track "Djulau," but when they do it works nice with her voice.

That Ifriqiyya Electrique mentioned above is pretty wild--North African rock, postpunk industrial

So many afropop worldwide podcasts I need to hear

otm

Bakwamagazine.com has a history of Nigerian juju music piece I need to read.

New Amadou & Mariam full album won't be out till September, but they're touring North America now

some of their upcoming dates

July 20—Washington, DC—9:30 Club

July 21— Brooklyn, NY— Celebrate Brooklyn
July 22—Philadelphia, PA—World Café Live
July 24—Chicago, IL—Millennium Park
July 27—Minneapolis, MN—Cedar Cultural Center

bah sat night show not gonna happen too bad :(

(i mean not gonna happen for me - i'm sure it'll go on as planned)

speaking of afropop worldwide new ep looks super promising:

Proving the Bubu Myth: Janka Nabay, War, and Witchcraft in Sierra Leone

Saw Amadou & Mariam in DC last night. The arena rock flashes from the keyboardist & Trap drummer annoyed me at times. I'm not a purist but the hybrid has to work in a satisfying way. Plus Amadou 's guitar was sometimes too low in the mix. Some songs worked great though. The backup singer/dancer from Mali was impressive & Mariam's voice also.

Still haven't caught up on those podcasts.

I have been listening to Yemi Alade who is touring the US in a week or so. She's afropop/afrobeats and has probably been mentioned on that other thread. I like the songs "Koffi Anan" (it's a dance one can do) and "Johnny," a lot. Not a great voice but good enough (with clever enunciation) over those catchy, programmed Nigerian rhythms

On a few songs on her Mama Africa album, Yemi Alade goes beyond the afrobeats rhythm template a bit.

Her "Johnny" video has been viewed 72 million times. Alade is a superstar in Africa. She has recorded songs in French and Swahili to reach out to audiences too.

sorry to sort of hijack, but what's the best place to write about "world music" these days? print would be cool, but web only is fine, too.

Songlines? Are there better options than that?

Not much out there....Bandcamp; Pitchfork seems to have dropped coverage of this stuff;Folk Roots aka FRoots; the Afropop Worldwide website ; if its got programmed beats - Fader;

ouch

otoh i find music listening much more pleasant when i'm not expected to write about it

I think that bland site Paste sometime has African music coverage

http://kronosquartet.org/news/article/out-this-fall-collaborative-album-with-malian-super-group-trio-da-kali

Back in 2014 I think, I saw Malian group Trio Da Kali do a live collaboration gig with the Kronos Quartet. An album is now due in September, and the link has an advance stream of one song

Great Zimbabwe band Mokoomba who were in the UK recently, are now touring the US again. Their one hour free gig on Tuesday August 1st from 6 to 7pm at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage in Washington DC will be videostreamed on the Millennium Stage website and on Facebook. It will also be video-archived.

Mokoomba did a few too many instrumental solos at that gig, but it was still enjoyable.

http://sahelsounds.com/2017/08/mdou-moctar-usa-tour-2017/

Includes NY, DC, and Philly shows plus more (no Ohio tho )

Latin Arabia! Check out excerpt and or full article below

https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/from-south-america-to-a-dance-floor-near-you-looking-at-the-rise-of-reggaeton-1.614324

Marshall says all this points to the fact that popular music is drawing more of its inspiration from Africa and across the Caribbean.

“It’s that same Afro-Caribbean rhythm that underpins reggaeton,” he says, mentioning the recent success of Drizzy and RiRi.

“The rise of these Afro-Diasporic polyrhythms over the last 10 to 15 years across the global pop and dance landscape is the bigger story here. Reggaeton is playing the role of one crucial vector for that spread.”

Also paying close attention to the trend is Taymoor Marmarchi. As head of one of the Arab world’s most powerful music labels, Dubai-based Platinum Records, Marmarchi has this week launched a sub-branch of the label, called Latin Arabia.

With the aim of fusing Latin sounds with Arabic pop, the initiative was launched with a pair of tracks featuring Arab stars who have collaborated with one of the world’s leading reggaeton acts, Cuban duo Gente De Zona.

While young Moroccan stars Grini and Jamila’s La Gozadera is an Arabic remix of last year’s hit by De Zona, it is the original composed collaboration featuring Palestinian star Mohammed Assaf that hints at Latin Arabia’s promise.

Released last week as part of Assaf’s second album Ma Wahashnak, Baddek Enayah is a monster hit in the making with its seamless blend of Arabic folk and reggaeton beat with bright splashes of horns and flamenco guitars.

An accompanying music video featuring both artists is in the works, and Assaf says he is particularly proud of the song because it proves that Arab artists can keep up with the latest trends and can release work relevant to their fan base at any particular time.

“I think it has that nice modern touch that my Arabic fans want now from their music,” he told The National in an exclusive interview last week.

“They hear these western styles every day – I mean, just look at how big Despacito is around the world, I want to tap into that and prove that I, as an Arab artist, can do that, too.”

On a Diplo thread and elsewhere his interest in Afrobeats/afropop is discussed re a recent GQ story on him. Jordan linked to another story there, that works for this thread too

http://africasacountry.com/2017/07/sunday-read-cultural-appropriation-revisited/

As I write this, I’m sitting in a bit of limbo in London in one of my music partner’s dad’s flat (nice digs, but not a fancy Ace Hotel corner room by any means). I’m here because I’m on a promotional tour for the Kondi Band. Our label is based in London, and I know that Europe is a better place for us to tour this kind of music. They have tons of festivals, often funded by their national governments, that allow up and coming, experimental, underground, classic and lesser known acts to get their foot in the door or sustain a career. There’s one big problem: Sorie Kondi is not here since his travel has been put in limbo by the UK’s immigration agency. We have had several shows cancelled, even though we’ve offered an alternative set up that resembles more of a Jamaican Soundsystem-style show. So, we are losing money, and I’m stuck here waiting for my scheduled flight home (we don’t have enough money to change the flight.) I don’t know the future of the project because Sorie’s passport is also in limbo somewhere called Sheffield, and we don’t know if future tours will be put in jeopardy because of this situation. Add this to the fact that we are currently on a race against time to get enough attention to be able to justify the financing of the recording of a second album to our label and distributor. An international project like this needs infrastructure and capital to survive. The project as a whole is currently in several thousands of Euros debt, and after five years of hard work, it is in danger of falling apart.

That's Bomia Tucker writing

god dammit khun narin cancelled pdx tonight due to flight difficulties. :( honestly though i'm surprised anybody from outside america can get here. or that anybody from outside america would _want_ to get here.

mdou moctar supposed to be here next month. we'll see. we'll see.

they cancelled at Pickathon, too. but the bar gig was supposed to still happen, as of yesterday. bummer.

Youssou N'Dour's short US tour in August included a free show the other night in Chicago and an upcoming free one Saturday/tomorrow night in Brooklyn. He's in DC tonight and Columbus, Oh Sunday and then done. He did a few west coast dates to start. I'm just now catching up to his 2 most recent albums. I'm a big fan of his live gigs over the years (that are all mostly Senegalese mbalax with little of his cross attempts from decades ago, not that those are that terrible). The albums are solid enough (in my quick listens so far).

I like the 2017 N'Dour album Seeni Valeurs that I think was self-released better than the 2016 one Africa Rekk, that was on a major label (but I missed it till now). The 2016 one does have him dueting I think with someone else doing an autotuned vocal on one song (I think it's someone else and not his vocals dubbed in to duet with himself).

afropop worldwide is knockout ep after knockout ep right now. the malawi ep that just came out, and the bayaka pygmies ep they just reposted are both brilliant. the janka nabay ep was great. and now i see they just put out a new ep about afro-dominicana and "afro-syncretic religious parties."