Azana - Ingoma

One of my fav albums this year for sure

the BigCityDreams TV YouTube account has started uploading live versions of the album tracks in (more or less) daily instalments. this is "Egoli":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLeA4Aao3y8

argh i wanna see her live so bad

i like this extended mix of "ngize ngifike" that got uploaded on the el world youtube channel, particularly what it adds to the intro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iLsfVz8Jo8

i don't see it my usual streaming services yet tho :\

yeah, this is nice

Video for “Ngize Ngifike” (with Sun-El!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSTFsH7xOAI

Song description:

This is about someone who's willing to do whatever it takes to get to someone's heart. You can like a person and the person doesn't really see how much you actually value them, how much love you can give them and how good you are for them. so this person is saying, "I'll walk till i get there and show you what i can be."

highly recommend the live renditions of the whole album if your mind is a little unsettled lately

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-RkT8TjIrc

her singing sounds as exquisite as ever over those spare arrangements

nice

This rules thanks!

The Afro threads got too intimidating (and tbh too full of stuff I wasn't feeling!) So I missed this. Excellent.

in what way do/did you find them intimidating, table? care to expand?

Too much stuff to listen to, and not enough return on time spent listening— I just found a lot of stuff from the beginning of this year's thread really unremarkable, I guess, and the sheer amount of all of it was making my head hurt a bit.

fair enough I guess, but on the other hand I always feel we’re not even posting nearly enough tracks, because (as I’m pretty sure I’ve said numerous times before) we’re supposed to be covering the pop music of a large part of a whole actual continent there.

Oh I agree with you in spirit, but at a certain point, I just don't want to hear a third-rate gqom or amapiano track simply because it's briefly popular in its respective country, but I also feel the same way about pop music here.

And by here, I should say, the US, aka the land of mayonnaise farts and the birthplace of hiphop

I do relate to table's feeling overwhelmed but otoh the Afro threads are the only thing on ILM right now where people seem truly excited and discovering new things they think are great on a near daily basis, reminds me of how ILM felt in the early 00's, and I guess struggling-to-keep-up is an integral part of that.

As people have mentioned on other threads, too, there's just so much music coming out these days that it's impossible to really listen to or absorb it all, even if listening to and writing about music is one's full-time job. I've downloaded or purchased vinyl or tape copies of approximately 60 records this year, about 2/3rds of them being new, and that feels like a good amount to me! Which doesn't mean I'm going to stop, but more that sometimes my ears just aren't there for something, and becoming overwhelmed is inevitable in such cases.

That said, I purchased the Azana record the other night, and am love love loving it.

sorry i've said this a few times but if anyone into afrobeats is aware of a way to purchase/download any of this music at all that is lossless / cd quality please please lmk

obviously i disagree with you there table/map, but then audio quality isn't that big of an issue to me and i find the listen-to-return ratio remarkably high! but i'm a notorious omnivore anyways. FOMO regarding music is imo to be acknowledged and then ignored in favor of listening to everything and going back to what sticks.

Wrong thread for it but: my this-week-listening project is rummaging through glenn's 100 aqueduct of youth tracks, the billboard hot 100 and all the genre pulls. It's about 300 tracks and THAT'S producing a bad listen-to-return ratio... probably 1 out of 4 keepers? But it's useful to get a vertical slice of the modern pop world in 2020 and that feels worth the larger part of seven days of listening.

which is to say keep the firehose blasting bc; i promise someone is trying to drink from it!

obviously i disagree with you there table/map

which person and about what

you about the need for cd quality sound to bother engaging with the music, table about ROI to rummaging through the volcanic flow of afropop/beat music in the many threads bc+nabozo+crew are navigating

you about the need for cd quality sound to bother engaging with the music

that's not what i said and you can get the fuck out of my mentions

lol, you are outrageously angry about the silliest shit/meaninglessly rude for no reason. this is the azana thread ffs, keep the vibes positive

i've said this a few times but if anyone into afrobeats is aware of a way to purchase/download any of this music at all that is lossless / cd quality please please lmk

Ulysses, I just don't have the time, because my work often requires me to truly hone in on texts, and sadly, I haven't developed the ability to do so while listening to the latest gqom banger.

i can dig that; i am deeply privileged in better days to be able to listen to music more or less all day while i work and somewhat less privileged in post-covid days in that i can listen to music more or less all day while i am out of work.

ulysses, i'm going to say this politely one more time. i have no interest in interacting with you at all on this website and i'd really appreciate it if you would any mention of me out of your posts from here on out. thanks in advance.

would leave

oh, now i remember, you're kind of a jerk. i had forgotten. try killfiling me.

for the record, you're the one calling me names. i'm just requesting that you not include me in your posts as you have misrepresented me more than once.

http://i.redd.it/jf37w5kdf4f01.jpg

wow. really mature. i guess one of us hasn't really left his noise board persona behind.

damn forks, that was really totally uncalled for. I was gonna tell map that I personally don’t know about where to get those kinds of files, but that maybe dog latin or longneck would know since they both dj out (or used to at least, in longneck’s case)

ftr i've bought the azana album on itunes and love it. i'd just really like lossless versions if i can find them at some point. it makes a difference in dj mixes. i've done a lot of searching around but i don't think they're out there.

Ulysses, I just don't have the time, because my work often requires me to truly hone in on texts, and sadly, I haven't developed the ability to do so while listening to the latest gqom banger.

Ulysses, I just don't have the time, because my work often requires me to truly hone in on texts, and sadly, I haven't developed the ability to do so while listening to the latest gqom banger.

FWIW I would also love to get CDs of Azana, Simmy, et al. I’m less bothered by the naija stuff though glad to have African Giant on physical media

Likewise. Would also welcome a poll or list of the essentials of the year from those who've had the time, but that's asking people to do work for me, which feels unfair.

The Azana is glorious, was on my blastbox while cycling to my uni library today. Made the empty campus feel a little less weird, and a student asked me what it was and I told them!

lol table, guess I could ask a mod to re-open voting especially for you:

url=🇳🇬 NAIJA SPECIAL: which of these *seven* current high-profile Nigerian hit songs is the best one? please help me decide]🇳🇬 NAIJA SPECIAL: which of these *seven* current high-profile Nigerian hit songs is the best one? please help me decide[/url]

ftr i've bought the azana album on itunes and love it. i'd just really like lossless versions if i can find them at some point. it makes a difference in dj mixes. i've done a lot of searching around but i don't think they're out there.

7digital has lossless and the azana album at least is there

This is that kind of album that as I'm hearing it I can only feel it's the best album ever

7digital has lossless and the azana album at least is there

― dbs, Wednesday, September 16, 2020 10:57 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

thank you!!

with regards to audio, I tend to find most afrobeats stuff etc is available to buy via Google Play for about a quid a track. I end up spending a lot of money each month thinking 'Well it's only 99p' before realising I've bought 30 songs. it's 320kbps which I find is just fine for my needs

c+p'd from the Jessie Ware thread:

hey yall who invoked Azana, thanx so much! Just now listed, then commented & linked to Frank Kogan, who had sent South African picks:

Here's a good -sounding playlist, all from her currrent album, Ingoma, I think--might seem a bit ballad-y at first, but mostly of a smooth pulsation, luxury class but never wasteful---or wasted, alas; I wouldn't something a little less reasonable, but she's as good, as that gets. Relatively mainstream "Your Love" is even a fave---first single, and I totally get that, ditto the plainer version of "Goodbye," but most faves make more overt use of "ethnic" elements, like the other version of "Goodbye," feat. Just Bheki and Afriikan Papi, and another fave, "Uthando Lwangemela" (that might be my No.1), also "Sikelela", with 0 guests listed. Ditto the mystique of "Egoli," with clipped accents drawing catchy verses around the sidewalk, then chorus stretching some syllables toward dreamtime--here's the playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgV3lUftsRbYnDhoIIwZoqvIfFN4gOYkF
And one of several not on the list, v. catchy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNCml8NfC8I
There's also a live at the Redbox set, where she performs the whole album, apparently, haven;t listened to that yet (several African artists with vids from the Redbox, I see) (Oh also on the list: "Lovers and Best Friends," feat. Disciples of House.)

Somebody in YT comments said, like, "If she were Anita Baker or Sade, people would be raving." Yeah she's in there between them, vibe-wise, also found/from her own nexus.

― dow, donderdag 5 november 2020 23:18

i guess i never posted it here but i've been introducing Azama to friends with a "RIYL Anita Baker" note

that makes sense to me, listening to this now has got me like "whew, this album is really something else"

it might be my fave album of the year, it's certainly in the mix

Totally fucking up my lists! Ballots are coming sooon!

This year is an overload of goodness and badness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But you knew that.

one of my favorite tracks from the album now has a really nice, joyful video

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

definitely one of my faves too, I tend to play it together with “Askies (I’m Sorry)”

This record continues to be exactly what I need at any conceivable moment. Just brilliant, beautiful work.

It's nearly 70 degrees here in Philly today, and I am blasting this record while I work, this one is particularly lovely atm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSP5Tqlssw8

"Your Love" was my favorite find from the ilx 2020 tracks playlist. Great Sade vibes, I'll check the album soon

First new track from her that i've heard all year and it is lovely if not especially rocking. hidden on an "African Lullabies" compilation album and on streaming services now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYnPY_9otRk

v nice

New single, "Zalabantu", from a new album IGAGU

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

thanks for the heads up!

not blown away by this track, but curious about the new album.

I like this recent uptempo track she did with Punk Mbedzi, which also features Vanco: “Sabela”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTcpvzVrU-w

IGAGU came out last month, which is something I only learned yesterday (I blame the brokenness of algorithms and my own failure to keep up with African pop of late). The first three tracks are a bit of a slog, but it picks up with "Never The Same". A pity there are no Sun-EL contributions.