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

RIp Josky Kiambukuta of Tpok Jazz from the Congo. The 72-year-old singer, songwriter and performer had been ill for several years.

Josky was one of the last stars of Tout Puissant Ok Jazz (TPOK Jazz), founded by Luambo Luanzo Makiadi, better known as Franco

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/magazine/tpok-jazz-josky-kiambukuta-dies-3315198

TPOK were great. I need to dig into Josky cuts with them

yeah I don't recognize the name tbh, but TPOK are all-time

Someone who follows me on twitter swears by this Josky & TPOK song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZPtwopRML0

It’s “Limbisa Ngai”

This reminds me that some years back I used to be on an Old school African music chatboard dominated by Congolese diaspora members who confidently stated their music was the best in the world and who knew all the details. I wonder if that forum is still happening

A posthumous Tony Allen album is coming in late April. He had lots of guests on it- Danny Brown, Skepta, Sampa and more. Damon Albarn one of the 3 producers

First song from this late Tony Allen effort is called “Cosmosis “ and features Skepta and Ben Okiri. Nice relaxed polyrhythmic groove with some laidback grimey rapping/ talking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnM8foG4Vuc

Nice. I loved the Tony Allen/Hugh Masekela album from last year, that was a nice parting gift from him.

“Limbisa Ngai” unsurprisingly rules, those Congolese diaspora posters are pretty much otm!

Definitely a good one.

Listening to music from elsewhere though tonight. Wau Wau Collectif is a collaboration via What’s App with Senegalese musicians and Swedes led by a Swedish musician/musicologist who had visited Senegal. Not bad.. Need to listen some more.

Witch Camp from Ghana is worth hearing but sad. It features older Ghanaian women who have been labeled witches ( by people who want to steal their land and property ) chanting over hand pounded percussion. Song titles include “Hunted,” “Only God can Judge Me,” “ I have lost all that I love”, “ Left to live like an animal “

RIP Senegalese singer Thione Seck at 66. He was in Orchestre Baobab and later had his own band. He also put out an album in 2005 called Orientation that blended middle eastern and Asian Islamic aspects into his sound ( kinda like that Youssou N’Dour Egypt album). Doing an ilx search I see that Thione Seck album got some attention here from more than me. As I said back then, I saw him live in DC before a 99% Senegalese crowd years ago and that Orientation cd like Youssou's Egypt one is a great hybrid effort.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210314-senegalese-music-legend-thione-seck-dies-aged-66

Spotify is calling the 2005 Thione Seck cd Orientissime .

Syllart Records are responsible for that release, and that's how they titled it...

https://syllart.com/senegal/

RIP Seck, that's a bummer.

Glenn, thanks. Orientissime is the correct name I have discovered. I initially found one article that had the wrong title Orientation.

Apologies if this has been posted already, but I've never seen anything like it (and can't figure out a way to post it without Facebook, sorry):

https://www.facebook.com/100004043210594/videos/2338254156319335/

What is it?

riveting stuff, I love it!

it’s Chinese opera, of the Shanxi kind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanxi_opera

but it’s not at all like what most people would probably expect that to look and sound like

(can’t tell if that’s one like too many or not, but whatever)

xpost Oh, sorry, it's "Zhang Tong 張桐, suona master, performs *all three roles* in the Shanxi Jin Opera version of the classic “Two Enter the Palace 二進宮”. " He's got some sort of reed inserted into his mouth/throat, so that it looks like he's singing but this whistle sound is coming out instead.

it had me dancing around in my living room

wow

Great find!

BC, on the off chance you are unfamiliar with Wang Li, I think you would dig him! Here's a fun duet project with Wu Wei:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_gl7IKjc_w

...but I am playing the Wang Li x Wu Wei album now...

#onethread

(so far it’s very different from what JiC posted, bar a few wilder episodes, but I’m enjoying it all the same)

? maybe i'm misunderstanding your post but that's not wang li in the chinese opera video, different artists altogether.
Just thought if you like one you might like the other.

I got that! it’s just that beside the fact that they’re both Chinese musicians they don’t seem to have all that much in common (talking about the album here)

I do like it, like I said, so it’s all good and xiexie!

(but what does JiC have to say about all this?)

(currently digging “Sun and Snow” off that Overtones album)

the similarities in my mind were the mouth reed stuff

Wang Li is worth exploring; all his albums are great.

I honestly don't know much about Chinese opera, let alone this approach to it. It's definitely wild, though, since the clips are sometimes like watching an avant band like, say, the Ex but hearing totally different sounds come out.

I just learned about this South Korean band Jambinai:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB1k7CDVWVk

I've seen them described as post rock, which makes sense, but I also think it sometimes sounds weirdly like Nine Inch Nails.

nice piece on Ballaké Sissoko here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/07/ballake-sissoko-picking-up-the-pieces-after-us-customs-broke-his-kora

great pandemic profile of a wonderful musician practicing and parenting

RIP Gash Ayele Mamo, Ethiopian mandolin player and songwriter who played a big role in classic Ethiopiques music

Vieux Farka Toure stream concert April 15 . Tickets start at $7
https://sessionslive.com/VFT/tickets?fbclid=IwAR1zTC1eaUapuWPRXd9IWud6KpIahoi6KEh29prjhvIpDkUawAcZkmrZ6q4&ad_id=23847191289370755&publisher_id=Facebook_Mobile_Feed

Anybody see "The Mali Cuba Connection"

In the midst of the Cold War, ten young promising musicians from Mali are sent to Cuba to study music and strengthen cultural links between the two socialist countries. Combining Malian and Afro-Cuban influences, they develop a revolutionary new sound and become the iconic ensemble ‘Las Maravillas de Mali’. New Year’s Eve 2000. Richard Minier, a French music producer meets a former member of the band in Bamako and decides to bring the band back together

https://afivsr.eventive.org/films/the-mali-cuba-connection-606a3bc9eaf9ff005cebd6ff

or Zanka Contact ? Am curious about both of these movies

Re Zanka --

"A car crash throws together a has-been rocker who has just returned to Casablanca and a streetwise con-artist, who get lulled into the shenanigans of the city’s music underworld."‘For three days after the Bataclan, I thought I was dead,” says Ismaël el Iraki, whose debut feature, Zanka Contact, is a Wild at Heart-type love story starring Ahmed Hammoud & Moroccan music star Khansa Batma w/ debts to Quentin Tarantino and Sergio Leone.

Leaning towards seeing both of those movies

The Zanka Contact reviews on letterboxd are pretty withering but I am curious.

I read reviews elsewhere and the best I saw was “a mess but a fun one”.

Jambinai is cool!

[googles Jambinai]

Korean avant-rock. Does sound cool. Adds it to list to listen to later

hehe, a video was posted upthread, sounds like a studio take but looks live

many xps but sissoko's new album "Djourou" is pretty great

Yep Ballake Sissoko’s kora playing is heavenly. I really like the cuts with vocals on them best , I must admit though

mainly been listening to the stunning new Arooj Afab album Vulture Prince today

^the two tracks that are up on Bandcamp are gorgeous

An old friend used to recite the Rumi poem she sings on "Last Night" a lot; he was also the reason I got super into reggae, so the lightly skanking rhythm on that is perfect to me

listening to this now, spellbinding

it's really wonderful, big thanks to calzino

she is instantly super high up on my list of concerts I would like to see

yes that's spectacular, thanks for the tip

I like Aftab’s vocals plus the strings and arrangements. Pitchfork has given it a good review and it’s a best of album there ( singer lives in Brooklyn too!)