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

Xp— that Songlines list is good, I agree

Loving this!!! If you have been fortunate enough to see either Fendika or PNL’s Large Unit, you know that them together??! Perfection imo.

https://paalnilssen-love.bandcamp.com/album/ethiobraz

Yeah, I'm including that ^^^ in my upcoming Stereogum column. It rips.

I interviewed Korean artist Eunhye Jeong, who combines traditional pansori music with free jazz, for Bandcamp. The album is wild.

Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela recorded an album together before the latter died; it's coming out in March. This is the first track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMOJg16oHdI

Also note that this is the first release on the relaunched World Circuit label.

Saw Tony Allen with a band live once and he was great. Hopefully that recording with Masekela will be great.

finally got a hold of that early congo music comp from that songlines list and if congolese rumba in yr jam (it's v much mine) it's really a fantastic document and i don't know a lot of these artists!

also enjoyed this MOGADISCO: Dancing Mogadishu (Somalia 1972-1991) comp - not sure we've mentioned it in any of these threads

That early Congo music release is from a Japanese label. Is any US distributor handling it?

https://www.farsidemusic.com/acatalog/Early-Congo-Music-1946-1962--First-Rumba-to-the-Real-Rumba-FSD7558.html

Listened to the reissue of an Issam Hajali album today - Lebanese Acid Folk from the 70's with touches of orchestral pop, prog, bossa nova. Killer album, Habibi Funk is such a great label.

ooo good stuff thx for the tip

The major keepers from globalFest imo were:

San Salvador: South France polyphony with drums... fucking volcanic live - https://soundcloud.com/lostintraditions/sets/san-salvador-live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt1Ok0Kvcsg

La Chica: Venezuelan French woman doing dope electro-pop - https://remezcla.com/features/music/la-chica-profile/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Q0YmCRa1Y

Ak Dan Gwang Chil: sprawling South Korean band with three lead female singers and killer style - http://sori.nyc/adgc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krIHTd-7PGY

And, of course, Cheikh Lo was lovely as always

Heard good things about Ak Dan Gwang Chil. They were in DC at Kennedy Center too, but just billed as a folkloric trad group and I missed them. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage 1 hour gigs are videotaped and archived -- will check that out as well.

Gregory Maqoma’s Vuyani Dance Theatre from South Africa did an intense performance last night @ Kennedy Center entitled “Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Bolero.” Set in a graveyard , the singers/dancers combined mournful South African Isicathamiya a capella singing w/ beatbox rap & hiphop dance (both modern and popping and locking). A touch of Malathini in vocals via use of froggy voice megaphone, also traditional tongue clicking at one point. No video allowed last night. Too bad as the video trailers on Youtube are much more tame than what I saw. The NY Times profiled Maqoma and gave a fave review to their performance last weekend in NYC. South African composer Nhlanhla Mahlangu cleverly transposed Ravel's Bolero to a marching snare drum beat and via other ways as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGcOE7LamP0

i'm enjoying this this morning (on spotify) - sorta Anglo-Scots/Indian folk fusion:
https://www.dominomusic.com/releases/yorkston-thorne-khan/navarasa-nine-emotions/cd

x-post

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/arts/dance/gregory-maqoma.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/19/arts/music/prototype-festival-opera.html

Maqoma's South African dance and song gets love from NY Times

Looks like Maqoma’s Vuyani Dance Theatre from South Africa have only 1 more US appearance - February 1 at Mass Moca

Shows in New York:

Sat., Feb 1:
3MA, comprising Malian kora master Ballaké Sissoko, Moroccan oud expert Driss El Maloumi, and Malagasy valiha extraordinaire Rajery plays a FREE show at Public Records. Don't forget to RSVP!

Ulysses and Unperson should go to that.

Unfortunately, I'm gonna be at the Jazz Gallery tonight.

i've had the flu for about a week - mildly unpleasant. more unpleasant has been taking care of 3 sick kids who also are sick and being mostly cooped inside. today i was feeling better but w/ some cabin fever so i took reggie for a long walk outside. it had rained in the morning and was still cold and the air was sharp but there were lots of birds and small mammals about. i listened to the new afropop worldwide episode about the field recordings of High Tracey who did a lot of fieldwork in traditional communities in Africa in the 1950s particularly in Malawi. i had not heard these before but many are extraordinary + strange lots of inventive vocal and instrumental sounds, some things that reminded me of reading feld's sound and sentiment, really some wonderful things to listen to and especially on a chilly, somewhat wet walk after spending all week ill and indoors.

Hugh* Tracey but i guess that's a little easter egg there

Mordy, did you study ethnomusicology? Not doing so has always been a minor regret of mine. I did take an intro anthropology course and the prof would start each class by playing music and asking us to guess where it was from

Sorta - I did a Performance Studies grad degree but worked with ethnomusicologists and on topics that had a lot of crossover so I ended up studying + reading a lot of ethnomusicology and took a few classes in the discipline. I was mostly interested in religious + liturgical music and wrote about Jewish music primarily but I also wrote about other things. I also did a course in Sound Studies that was very interesting.

Ah that's interesting. A good friend of mine is doing a PhD in performance studies at CUNY right now and all his classes sound great--he's a playwright & director but is also taking a lot of music-related courses. When I worked in academic publishing I promoted ethnomusicology books but never had time to do much more than skim them (I wish I'd kept copies of them all now!). Sound studies is closer to my own academic field (media/comms) but I haven't had a chance to get seriously into yet.

Shakira At Super Bowl halftime used the the Congo instrumental song Icha by Syran Mbenza. The guitar solo is by Lokassa Ya Mbongo I am reading on twitter. Colombian champeta is drawn from Congolese rumba in part.

She also drew a bit from her Lebanese heritage. Zaghrouta is the tongue thing she did.

Maybe some university classes are discussing that today!

Plus the myriad other elements and the guests Bad Bunny & J Balvin

I didn't see it, but that does sound like a rich text!

can't wait to talk about this w my students!
they love bad bunny

Others on twitter are saying Shakira’s tongue ululations are part of traditional carnival roots in Barranquilla in Colombia.

On Facebook the discussion is more re whether the dancing was too raunchy, and is it or not empowering for 43 & 50 years old women to dance like that ( and for children to see it)

ugh! put down your pearls, folks

the NFL still has cheerleaders, no?

this looks great - i don't know much about Apala music but acc to the description "Apala: Apala Groups in Nigeria 1967-70 is the first ever collection of Apala music to be released outside of Nigeria. The album focusses on a wide selection of recordings made in Nigeria in the 1960s, a time when Apala music was at the height of its popularity. Apala is a deeply rhythmical, hypnotic and powerful musical style that combines the striking nasal-style vocals and traditions of Islamic music, the Agidigbo (thumb piano), and the equally powerful drumming and percussion rhythms and techniques of the Yoruba of Nigeria."

https://www.strandedrecords.com/collections/soul-jazz/products/various-apala-apala-groups-in-nigeria-1967-70-2xlp

release 2/21

interesting!

cheerleaders are young though

and they know their place.

(i'm being sarcastic. i trust you realize this but i feel like i have to clarify.)

Christopher Kirkley's Sahel Sounds imprint (Mdou Moctar, Les Filles de Illighadad, Ahmedou Ahmed Lowla) jumpstarts 2020 with its catchy new "Music from Saharan WhatsApp" series: "Every month, we'll be releasing an EP from a musical group in the Sahel. Every album will be recorded on a cellphone, and transmitted over WhatsApp, and uploaded to Bandcamp - where it will live for one month only. Available for pay as you want, 100% of the sales will go directly to the artist or group. After one month, the album will be replaced by another one, until the end of the year."

First off is Etran de L'Aïr (which translates to 'Stars of the Aïr', a mountainous region in Northern Niger), a group hailing from Agadez that established itself as a wedding band, playing three guitars simultaneously, "pushing their instruments to the extreme, soloing over one another and creating a dreamy cacophony of sound." Originally the band formed back in 1995...

X-post - NY Times editorial by Jennifer Weiner re pearl clutchers vs butt shakers takes on Super Bowl

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/opinion/jlo-superbowl-performance.html

Now I'm sorry I skipped that Ballaké Sissoko show. This is totally fucked:

Malian musician & renowned Kora player Ballaké Sissoko says USA Customs have destroyed his custom-made Kora.
Statement reads ‘In Mali the jihadists threaten to destroy musical instruments - yet ironically US customs have managed to do this’ pic.twitter.com/4uwvkhoHPa

— Samira Sawlani (@samirasawlani) February 5, 2020

Terrible how they pulled it apart

The destruction of Ballaké Sissoko's kora by TSA agents of 'Homeland Security' is a reminder that cultural barbarism flows from political barbarism. They are not worthy of him, of his instrument, or of the beautiful sound he produces on his kora. https://t.co/vFwD3j1Zhr

— Adam Shatz (@adamshatz) February 7, 2020

shatz otm

Burna Boy and Koffee at least made ilm top 77 albums, but not Mdou Moctar or others discussed here. :(

No mention anywhere on ILM of djeuhdjoah & lt nicholson. Liked that album more than African-ish that made the top 77, except Samthing prob.

Must admit I never heard of that duo. French Afro-Soul singers it appears. Will check them out.

Mdou Moctar got 7 votes in ILM album poll 2019

love sissoko, very much bullshit from customs

https://homerecordsbe.bandcamp.com/album/sissoko-sissoko

this sissoko & sissoko album with (Baba) features some beautiful playing. I suppose -ruined instrument aside- the upshot is that this ugly incident brought him lots of sympathetic publicity and attention that he thoroughly deserves.

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/11/804788290/joseph-shabalala-ladysmith-black-mambazo-founder-dies-at-78

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

“it” doesn’t do channel links apparently

the live link works tho

Alas, most music critics included in year end polls discussed in that other thread aren’t listening to music on this thread

:-(

Notable that Duma, among some other Nyege Nyege-related artists, have made it onto many lists.

That’s good . It’s beat driven and noisy enough. But others on this thread are ignored as they’re considered too traditional or too old ; or just ignored by folks just listening to only age 20-something artists from the genres of country, rap, chart pop, and rock .

...but not afropop

so it’s probably not so much age-related as geographical

Or maybe both. I see Jon Pareles of NY Times included Burna Boy in his album list, and a Tiwa Savage song in his song list. He has Bad Bunny and Lido Pimienta too. Other Times critics had no African music. NY Times jazz list had 2 South African releases though

LA Times song list I glanced at was largely US pop, rap, country with some token reggaeton

they are some of the exceptions that prove the rule unfortunately (I’ve been moaning about it on the 2020 end of year music lists thread)

I wasn’t clear enough. I agree with you that those are the exceptions.

Los Angeles Times top 10 album list with 10 more honorable mentions includes no African based acts. It does include Los Angeles resident ( via DC area) Kali Uchis new Spanish language release as its one exception to the rule.

this list includes some thread-worthy selections:

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/best-albums-of-2020/

(apart from two Nyege Nyege Tapes releases, I glanced Groupe RTD -
The Dancing Devils of Djibouti at 41, Benin's Star Feminine Band - s/t at 36, and Siti Muharam - Siti of Unguja (Romance Revolution On Zanzibar) at 25)

I finally listened to some of Siti Muharam - Siti of Unguja (Romance Revolution On Zanzibar). Hand slapped percussion with some traditional high-pitched female vocals, some jazzy horns, and high-pitched strings that all together evokes a mid-eastern, north African, and South Asian whirling Islamic feel

Still more to catch up on here and on Afro Thread, dancehall, soca , Brazilian ones too

Majid Bekkas' Magic Spirit Quartet is good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTFoqHJtap8

oh wow, the Siti Muharam albums RULES

X-post - have only heard a little of Moroccan stringed instruments player Bekkas with his Scandanavian based band but I like it so far.

I need to dig through that Ted Gioia critic’s list

Nomcebo Zikode - Xola Moya Wami [Feat. Master KG]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPDyF04DyOQ

wow, what's that language? those qh like aspirations remind me of Greenlandic

it’s Zulu (and she’s South African). the same people made one of the big global hits of this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCZVL_8D048
Master KG ft. Nomcebo Zikode • Jerusalema

excellent, thanks

Skeleton Move is one of my all time faves, but that's light on lyrics (although maybe that first phrase "uaneetamos"? is Zulu)

really like his/their melancholy/inspirational/banger vibe

In fairness, it's very hard to keep up with the ridiculously high volume of great music coming out of South Africa right now.

we’ve got threads for that!

Albums from Ted Gioia list I am curious about (with his little descriptions; artist name is listed on top):

Bab L’ Bluz
Nayda!
If Motown Had Existed in North Africa...

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

Contours
Balafon Sketches
Gamelan, Percussion and Traditional Instruments Meet Synthesizers, Software and Pedal Effects

André Mehmari and Danilo Brito
Nosso Brazil
Mandolin and Piano Duet Performances of the Works of Brazilian Choro Composers

Penya (with Msafiri Zawose)
Penya Safari
East African EDM/Call-and-Response Tanzanian Pop

Various Artists
Apala Groups In Nigeria 1967-70
First Collection of Apala Music Released Outside Nigeria

more from Ted's honorable mentions:

Caixa Cubo: Angela
Electric Brazilian Jazz-Rock-Pop

Dumama + Kechou: Buffering Juju
African Traditional Song Meets Synthpop

Seu Jorge & Rogê: Night Dreamer Direct-To-Disc Sessions
Acoustic Brazilian Popular Music

Matthew Joseph: Mood Masala
Funk Influenced by Indian Music and Fingerstyle Guitar

the Bab L’Bluz is great, not sure what Motown has to do with it tho

I wish the movie doc Elder’s Corner was available for streaming. It is now only visible via certain movie festivals. It’s about a NYC based Nigerian who goes back home to find the old school musicians he heard as a kid

Gonna start a 2021 thread

Here's to 2021

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