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

the buscabulla album (Regresa) gives me some v chill helado negro vibes and then i discover they've worked together <3

This was released this year, and is blowing my mind right now: funeral songs from northern Ghana.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-JEhZ52sAw

here's my halfway 2020 top 10 for this thread

Obongjayar - Which Way is Forward
Mulatu Astatke, Black Jesus Experience - To Know Without Knowing
Sven Wunder - Eastern Flowers
Hailu Mergia - Yene Mircha
Tony Allen, Hugh Maskela - Rejoice
Buscabulla - Regresa
Nihiloxica - Kaloli
Majid Bekkas - Magic Spirit Quartet
Pacific Breeze Vol 2: Japanese City Pop, AOC & Boogie 1972-1986
Selam Seyoum - Grace

That Nihiloxica record is incredible.

Those Ugandan drummers in Nihiloxica are relentless

I need to listen to that new Mulatu Astatke and few others on Mordy’s list that I haven’t heard yet.

big Mulatu fan but was disappointed by this one

This is a French band, but this song feels like it might be at home here. I like it a lot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqLX3t9G6CA
Kolinga • Nguya na ngai

not sure why this gem is not included on Yene Mircha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNByVSLcR4U

It is only on the CD version of "Yene Mircha" - not the vinyl LP, nor the Bandcamp download. Similarly, the CD of "Lala Belu" has (unlisted) bonus tracks that aren't on the vinyl LP nor download.

That New Astatke one has A lot going on. Can’t decide if I like it yet , after 1 quick listen

Just learning about Astatke’s collaborators on this : from a Guardian review—- Melbourne’s Black Jesus Experience, a collective of singers, rappers, and jazz improvisers of Moroccan, Zimbabwean, Maori, Ethiopian and Australian origins.

Yeah, gotta admit the raps on that Astake record sound pretty corny to me, well intentioned and all but...

Balla Sidibé, founder member, lead singer, percussionist and composer of Orchestra Baobab passed away

Aw man RIP

That sucks. Covid related?

So this guy, the producer, is English but his sound and his collaborators are African so I feel I can mention it on this thread (if only under the "some exceptions" caveat to thread title). Need to listen again but really liked it on 1st pass:

Skinshape - Umoja

The heavy metal scene in Botswana.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02rc6xl

Orquestra Baobab member Balla Sidibe’s death has not been attributed to COVID in the articles I saw.

I haven’t listened to Botswana heavy metal. I have been listening to UK based Nigerian Obangjayar who raps and sometimes uses old-school rooted afrobeats rhythms.

2018 interview
https://pitchfork.com/features/rising/get-to-know-obongjayar-who-makes-otherworldly-spirituals-for-the-modern-soul/

Obangjayar has his own thread!
He’s great live too, saw him just before lockdown

here's that thread: up like sun, down like sun - a thread for obongjayar

(Obongjayar is the correct spelling)

Thanks

There’s Only like 2 comments on his thread!

Oumou Sangare is on Beyonce’s visual Black is King album and Burna Boy and Beyonce holding a Robert Farris Thompson book on Yoruban art. Lots of other cool guests too. It’s a bit flawed but I like the ambition.

Just noticed I have missed out on some new Mdou Moctar mixtapes plus new Saharan Whats App ones

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5807750

Some Hassan Hajjaj photos of Moroccan musicians and others

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/arts/hassan-hajjaj.html

The ongoing series “My Rock Stars” is Mr. Hajjaj’s homage to his cosmopolitan crowd. (A sampler: the American artist Hank Willis Thomas; the Moroccan filmmaker Meryem Benm’Barek; the French-Algerian musician Rachid Taha, who died last year.) Some are famous, but styled by Hajjaj
In the Shoreditch shop, the grime M.C. Afrikan Boy, the Gnawa drummer Simo Lagnawi & the soul singer Bumi drifted in to rehearse. Mr. Hajjaj was developing a multimedia stage show, “My Rock Stars Experimental,” w/ video projections & live performance by musicians styled by him

Buscabulla’s tropical Puerto Rican synth pop w/ some r’n’b is nice enough

Whatever the fuck is going on here is the best:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLF7JzUeVOY

They definitely have a vision:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHOcJIIU_5I

okay, i am very into this

perhaps predictably.

They play all the hits! Mainly Brazilian ones, but some foreign ones as well, including a mean “Billie Jean”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHSEJpsquis

They are Fundo de Quintal OFC btw
(please tag your musical links for searching and Posterity reasons, folx!)

ha that's classic

their YT channel has dozens of videos!

they’re basically called The Backyard Boys.

https://tab.uol.com.br/noticias/redacao/2020/07/23/fundo-de-quintal-ofc-jovens-do-maranhao-conquistaram-brasil-na-quarentena.htm

GoogleTranslating this key quote:

“The name Fundo de Quintal was given in reference to the very scenario in which the quintet originated, and not in honor of the famous pagoda group of the 1990s. According to Simão, the inspirations for recording the first videos came from the boys' own will, and not from any prior influence of anything they have seen. The originality of Fundo de Quintal also caught the attention of producers and major YouTube players. On July 13, the video of the group interpreting the song "Na Raba Toma Tapão" by MC Niack, the most viewed of the channel - with almost 5 million hits -, was used on Kondzilla's Instagram to celebrate the 30 million hits views of the original version. The channel, by the way, is today the third largest in the world in the music segment on the platform.”

(icymi that Niack track is one of ILM's official Summer Jams of the year)

Brilliant bit of historical context, again through GoogleTranslate:

“This structure, created by the boys from Centro dos Rodrigues, also finds parallels in other artistic movements of great importance, such as the so-called "happenings" - a term used for the first time in 1959 by the American artist Allan Kaprow, and defined by the composer John Cage as " spontaneous and plot-free theatrical events ". In this type of scenic work, some element of spontaneity or improvisation is incorporated, which never happens in the same way with each new presentation. Considered performances, happenings were very popular during pop art in the United States.”

good background

Wow

https://www.washingtonian.com/2020/08/12/admass-sons-of-ethiopia-how-a-great-lost-album-is-finding-new-fans/

https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/admas-sons-of-ethiopia-interview

In 1984 some Ethiopians living in the DC area borrowed some $ and recorded an album as Admas and pressed a 1000 copies. Decades later they were selling for a lot on Ebay. A Danish collector living in NYC tracked them down after he bought a copy on Ebay, and he reissued the album. 3 of the band members are back in Ethiopia. 1 tours as Teddy Afro's keyboardist, one is a producer, the other is a music educator.

The album is mostly instrumental and starts with a loungey golden era Ethiopia type track, and has one track with a reggae feel, another with a Brazilian jazz samba portion, and funkier one and one has vocals.

As described, Admas are influenced by golden era Ethiopiques, but incorporated 80s influences as well, that they heard both in DC & back home in Ethiopia

nice find

Acclaimed Malian artist Afel Bocoum's new record Lindé is out today on World Circuit Records. The album is executive produced by Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) and Nick Gold (Buena Vista Social Club), and features appearances by Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen, Joan as Police Woman, Vin Gordon (The Skatalites) and many more.

Press release info for a new Afel Bocoum album I want to hear . Although worried Blur guy and other producer have tried to smother him with guests

that Fundo de Quintal stuff is brilliant

So, this probably has a lot of places it could fit, but I think because of its unclassifiable nature, it belongs here.

Duma- Lionsblood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd35MhHqjhc

They're from Nairobi, it's on Nyege Nyege, and is a bit metal, a bit gabber, a bit of Kenyan "slum drumming."

maximalist

I still have to get to Sharhabil Ahmed: the King of Sudanese Jazz ( Habibi Funk) and the 2 new Brazilian funky efforts from Carlinhos Brown (candyall)

X-post - that Duma video is wild.

Right? I think my main complaint about the video is that the album track is about four minutes longer, though I guess maintaining that level of simultaneously carefree and menacing atmosphere for a long period of time is a hard ask.