Les Filles de Illighadad doing a short April tour in North America I see. Publicist says they will be back in summer too. No Dc date this time. I did see them here a few years ago
― curmudgeon, Friday, 11 March 2022 19:09 (two years ago) link
https://afropop.org/articles/oumou-sangar%C3%A9-premieres-wassulu-don-on-international-womens-day
Nice new Oumou Sangare video
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 12 March 2022 07:01 (two years ago) link
Movie doc Elder's Corner about Nigerian juju, highlife, and afrobeat is showing again in DC area on Sunday March 20 at the AFI Silver as part of an African Film Fest. Might be showing near you all too at some point. Worth seeing
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 16 March 2022 20:09 (two years ago) link
Seeing a Bandcamp article--
Hamid Al Shaeri is recognized as a monumental figure in Al Jeel music. As both a solo star and writer/producer for many other Al Jeel artists throughout the late 1980s and ‘90s, he blessed Cairo with a homegrown alternative to foreign pop sounds. One cannot tell the story of the genre without invoking his name.
“It’s very much associated with Hamid,” says Cairo-based Egyptian music expert Malak Makar, speaking about Al Jeel. “He is the leader of that music.”
New compilation The SLAM! Years (1983 – 1988) is the origin story. Released as part of the always excellent Arabic music series Habibi Funk, it draws from El Shaeri’s first five solo albums, all released on the Cairo-based label SLAM!, the set captures his burgeoning interest in exuberant and glitzy pop music. There is an abundance of synths, glowing melodies, a generally upbeat atmosphere. Not as commercially successful as his later work, Makar considers this era as more of a precursor to El Shaeri’s influential Al Jeel style than representative of the genre. Nonetheless, it’s a crucial encapsulation of his early career...
https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/hamid-al-shaeri-the-slam-years-1983-1988-feature
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 19 March 2022 15:49 (two years ago) link
loving this
― nxd, Saturday, 19 March 2022 16:29 (two years ago) link
Have only listened to one song so far and I liked it. Fun Egyptian rhythmic pop
― curmudgeon, Monday, 21 March 2022 15:22 (two years ago) link
I'm becoming obsessed with this new album of Verdean koladera by the Ano Nobo Quartet: https://ostinatorecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-strings-of-s-o-domingos
The Ano Nobo Quartet’s Koladera is a global story with Cabo Verde at its center, a creole melting pot in the middle of the Atlantic attracting the best from four continents: hypnotic, haunting Koladera guitars inflected with twangs of Salsa Cubano, Spanish Flamenco, Brazilian Samba Canção, Jamaican Reggae, Argentine Tango, Mozambican Marrabenta, and finished with a dash of Black American Blues. It’s all here. Pascoal even picked up a few notes from a group of Chinese guitarists—a traditional instrument in China resembles the cavaquinho—who arrived on a socialist cultural exchange in Cabo Verde. Absent percussion, the quartet’s sound still drips with rhythm.
― rob, Wednesday, 23 March 2022 18:17 (two years ago) link
^this rules
v much enjoyed thishttps://hakunakulala.bandcamp.com/album/mmaso
"Since the appearance of his cult breakthrough debut Tuli Banyo released on Hakuna Kulala in 2018, Ugandan conscious rapper and MC, Ecko Bazz has challenged perceptions of East Africa's burgeoning rap scene. His style is hard to categorize blending elements of grime, dancehall and US hip-hop and twisting politicized lyrics in Luganda that explore violence, religion, drug abuse or the poverty in the Ugandan slums. This personality anchors his debut album Mmaso, an explosive call to action that balances his manic presence with production from MC Yallah collaborator Debmaster, Kenyan club futurist Slikback, Berlin-based Japanese beatmaker DJ Die Soon and the inimitable DJ Scotch Rolex."
― nxd, Friday, 25 March 2022 11:47 (two years ago) link
Yes! That Ecko Bazz record is awesome and distinctive.
― glenn mcdonald, Friday, 25 March 2022 12:16 (two years ago) link
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/congotronics-international-konono-no1-deerhoof-juana-molina-more-prep-debut-lp-stream-2-tracks/
2 songs on the link
Congotronics International is a supergroup featuring Konono Nº1, Kasai Allstars, Deerhoof, Juana Molina, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, and Skeletons’ Matt Mehlan, and they'll release their debut album, Where’s The One?, on April 29 via Crammed Discs. This is a project that's been brewing for 11 years, and features s 21 tracks, including live concert recordings and studio tracks produced in the years before, during, and after the 2011 "Congotronics vs. Rockers" tour that featured all of groups and artists mentioned above.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 29 March 2022 03:07 (two years ago) link
I haven't seen anyone talk about Silvana Estrada's new album. It's a powerful, quiet, stripped down singer-songwriter "love aches" album with gorgeous, contrasted, nuanced songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMG7ePKkLnITe guardo (Live on KEXP)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egnp-WbtPs4Tristeza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDOeju9atXEMarchita
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmj-Vm7SJ9MSer de ti
― Nabozo, Friday, 1 April 2022 13:45 (two years ago) link
I like her too (briefly mentioned her on the Rolling Afro-Latino thread )
― curmudgeon, Friday, 1 April 2022 15:27 (two years ago) link
Her melodies and the production help make it more than just singer/songwriter formula
― curmudgeon, Friday, 1 April 2022 18:39 (two years ago) link
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/04/02/1090278433/opinion-grammys-global-music-category-ignores-musicians-from-much-of-the-globe?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR2uEUlgMBxq-sSmOwc3Atw2ZOhskMEHST0M7pLNn_dZ9mUxKcCVapxo50w
― curmudgeon, Monday, 4 April 2022 14:08 (two years ago) link
new Oumou Sangare song from upcoming album Timbuktu. She's got such a great voice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2vrl2S3tOE
― curmudgeon, Friday, 8 April 2022 02:43 (two years ago) link
Awesome Tapes From Africa just released Kadi Yombo by Papé Nziengui. Impressive percussion and call & response chants from Gabon
https://papenziengui.bandcamp.com/album/kadi-yombo?from=fanpub_fb_pr
― curmudgeon, Friday, 8 April 2022 11:29 (two years ago) link
― nxd, Friday, 8 April 2022 13:42 (two years ago) link
I saw Ata Kak perform last night, it was a delight. Instant dance party, just a very wholesome experience all around.
― change display name (Jordan), Saturday, 9 April 2022 18:08 (two years ago) link
ah man, saw him a few years backso joyous
― nxd, Saturday, 9 April 2022 18:16 (two years ago) link
Chontidelia for free from 6 to 7 @ Kennedy Center Millennium Stage Friday April 15 (Afro-Colombian band from eastern part of Colombia)
I think this east coast gig is being streamed live east coast time on the Kennedy Center youtube and Facebook page (and archived too). The band was just in NYC recently. Have heard good things about them. Plus heard them backing Kumera Zekarias on his his ep from last year
― curmudgeon, Friday, 15 April 2022 10:56 (two years ago) link
I recommend "Stories From Another Time 1982-1988" compilation of Angolan samba by Mário Rui Silva that came out last year. It's light, gentle, elegant grooves, often just guitars, vocals, percussion, occasional flute, with a nice dated fade. Super nice.https://timecapsulespace.bandcamp.com/album/stories-from-another-time-1982-1988
― Nabozo, Friday, 15 April 2022 14:14 (two years ago) link
Also enjoyed Ata Kak live, I had trouble believing that he was in front of me in the flesh, and did not only exist in a corner of the museum of music nerdom
― Nabozo, Friday, 15 April 2022 14:19 (two years ago) link
Seeing on Facebook and twitter that Nigerian hornman and bandleader Orlando Julius (OJ Ekemode) has died at 79. He and his band always put on a fun live show when I saw him circa 2015 to 2017.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 15 April 2022 15:12 (two years ago) link
Shame, discovered him with his last album with the Heliocentrics, already 8 years ago. I still have the groove of the opener Buje Buje in my head.There are so many of these afro-funk / highlife legends that are overshadowed by you-anikulaknow-who. I was listening to Tunji Oleyana today (born 1939, who knows if still alive) and a little while ago to Babatunde Olatunji (died a long time ago), and it gives the same impression of infinity of riches as the more famous musical countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gDOyC0ktcw
― Nabozo, Friday, 15 April 2022 16:34 (two years ago) link
Ata Kak played a 5 minute walk from me and I'm very bummed I couldn't catch that show. One of my favorite albums of all time probably, and the show looked very fun in the IG stories that I saw.
― billstevejim, Friday, 15 April 2022 20:19 (two years ago) link
I listened to Susuma by Jembaa Groove, a duo based in Berlin playing very consistent and warm afro-funk / highlife. https://www.jembaamusic.com/They sound like thishttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZxm0EyvFjA
― Nabozo, Monday, 18 April 2022 12:14 (two years ago) link
I recommend "Stories From Another Time 1982-1988" compilation of Angolan samba by Mário Rui Silva that came out last year.
Thanks, this is really great, though I don't know how much of it I would categorize as samba. Reminded me of this Fausto album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlTh95tUNOs
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 25 April 2022 13:35 (two years ago) link
Angélique Kidjo stars in Yemandja, a new music theater work that is at once family drama and historical thriller, redolent of Greek tragedy and infused with themes of love, betrayal, honor, free will, and the horror and injustice of slavery. Named for a Yoruban deity, this MASS MoCA co-commission is a panoramic work of magical realism, a parable about gods and humans that illuminates through song what can happen when people are robbed of their culture.
This is coming to Kennedy Center in DC for 2 performances
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 16:54 (two years ago) link
Yemandja is featuring a cast of eight performers and four musicians
Conceived by Angélique Kidjo, Jean Hebrail, andNaïma Hebrail KidjoBook and Lyrics by Naïma Hebrail KidjoMusic by Angélique Kidjo and Jean Hebrail
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 16:56 (two years ago) link
very old news of course, but:just chanced upon Samba Touré’s Albala album, a 2013 Glitterbeat release. fantastic stuff, just beautiful.
― middot • is • my • middle • name (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 20:54 (two years ago) link
also the 2015 follow-up, Gandadiko
― middot • is • my • middle • name (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 22:36 (two years ago) link
Oh yeah, Toure with that Mali north African desert guitar sound and his warm vocals
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 27 April 2022 14:31 (two years ago) link
Nice Haitian folky voice --Nathalie Joachim w/ Spektral Quartet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-Cclla3k2w
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 4 May 2022 19:26 (one year ago) link
I missed the Kidjo theatrical show in DC but someone who I know saw it and said it was as bad as this reviewer in San Francisco thought
https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/theater/review-marquee-name-grand-venue-host-amateur-hour-in-angelique-kidjos-yemandja
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 8 May 2022 22:02 (one year ago) link
https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/the-big-lookback-dakar-diary
Christgau diary of 2010 visit to Dakar
― curmudgeon, Monday, 9 May 2022 21:26 (one year ago) link
https://papenziengui.bandcamp.com/album/kadi-yombo
― curmudgeon, Friday, April 8, 2022 7:29 AM (one month ago)
I'm finally getting to this: it's really good! manages to remind me of an impressive range of other acts (Sunny Ade, Thomas Mapfumo) while remaining unique
Visitors to this thread might like Haitian American Leyla McCalla's new album: https://leylamccalla.bandcamp.com/album/breaking-the-thermometer
I've only listened to it once, but I thought it was excellent. Among other good things, she does a great cover of Veloso's "You Don't Know Me"
― rob, Wednesday, 11 May 2022 13:41 (one year ago) link
This is a bewitching mixture of traditional music and experimental, sub-testing leftfield bass music from Kinshasa. Truly rad.
https://nyegenyegetapes.bandcamp.com/album/liye-liye
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Friday, 13 May 2022 15:48 (one year ago) link
yes! posted before but maybe not on this thread, amazing album
― nxd, Friday, 13 May 2022 17:50 (one year ago) link
silvana estrada album is incredibly beautiful, wow
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Thursday, 19 May 2022 23:39 (one year ago) link
yes yes to Silvana Estrada
― curmudgeon, Friday, 20 May 2022 11:21 (one year ago) link
Listening to Somi album now (seeing what I think. Some I like and some of her vocalizing is too afro-jazzy melodramatic and overwrought for me). Her Off-broadway production "Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba" is @ The NY Theatre Workshop through June 26. She's been researching Makeba. Seun Kuti has a co-writing credit on one song; Gregory Porter also; Angelique Kidjo & Ladysmith Black Mambazo too
Washington Post article on her (not sure if it's paywalled)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/05/19/somi-miriam-makeba/
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 22 May 2022 16:00 (one year ago) link
A journalist friend of mine who likes some of Kidjo's music said he saw her musical/show/play I referenced above a short while back and he thought it was not good and poorly written. He said the story lacked subtlety
― curmudgeon, Monday, 23 May 2022 17:41 (one year ago) link
https://www.songlines.co.uk/best-new-albums/the-10-best-new-albums-from-around-the-world-june-2022
Some of these (out now or upcoming) releases look worth checking out
― curmudgeon, Monday, 23 May 2022 21:03 (one year ago) link
I missed Reyna Tropical (afro-Mexican tropical pop) live in DC last night, but the little I have heard I have liked. In an IG story I saw, there was a bit of guitar playing that sounded like Congolese soukous/rumba
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 24 May 2022 14:59 (one year ago) link
https://pan-african-music.com/categorie/articles/?fs=e&s=cl
French website with some interesting articles
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 24 May 2022 17:01 (one year ago) link
Just heard a late night radio dj play this year-plus old song “Jerusalema” by Master KG ft. Nomcebo Zikode and it still sounds great (as many ilxors have noted on various threads in recent years)
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 7 June 2022 15:55 (one year ago) link
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3036461062_10.jpg
A soundtrack of Sudan's revolution and the first ever international release of the Beja sound, performed by Noori and his Dorpa Band, an unheard outfit from Port Sudan, a city on the Red Sea coast in eastern Sudan and the heart of Beja culture.Electric soul, blues, jazz, rock, surf, even hints of country, speak fluently to styles and chords that could be Tuareg, Ethiopian, Peruvian or Thai—all grounded by hypnotic Sudanese grooves, Naji's impeccable, haunting tenor sax, and of course, Noori's tambo-guitar, a self-made unique hybrid of an electric guitar and an electric tambour, a four-string instrument found across East Africa.A truly ancient community, Beja trace their ancestry back millennia. Some say they are among the living descendants of Ancient Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush. Beja melodies—nostalgic, hopeful and sweet, ambiguous and honest—are thousands of years old.The Beja community has been on the forefront of political change in Sudan for decades because successive Sudanese governments have turned a blind eye to their calls for recognition and access to the gold wealth of their own soil. Noori believes an unleashing of Beja music would form the most potent act of resistance in their quest for equity and justice.Read the full story and finer details: www.okayafrica.com/sudan-music-noori-dorpa-band/
Electric soul, blues, jazz, rock, surf, even hints of country, speak fluently to styles and chords that could be Tuareg, Ethiopian, Peruvian or Thai—all grounded by hypnotic Sudanese grooves, Naji's impeccable, haunting tenor sax, and of course, Noori's tambo-guitar, a self-made unique hybrid of an electric guitar and an electric tambour, a four-string instrument found across East Africa.
A truly ancient community, Beja trace their ancestry back millennia. Some say they are among the living descendants of Ancient Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush. Beja melodies—nostalgic, hopeful and sweet, ambiguous and honest—are thousands of years old.
The Beja community has been on the forefront of political change in Sudan for decades because successive Sudanese governments have turned a blind eye to their calls for recognition and access to the gold wealth of their own soil. Noori believes an unleashing of Beja music would form the most potent act of resistance in their quest for equity and justice.
Read the full story and finer details: www.okayafrica.com/sudan-music-noori-dorpa-band/
In a way, "Jabana" is my fave because in striking contrast to their usual, faster (though equally reflective) groove approach, and a helluva ballad anyway--but also "Al Amal" and "Wondeeb" and then "Daleb" kind of melds the slower and faster, without seeming nearly its official playing time, which is nearly twice the usual. Really the whole album, of course. (Will also have to check out that other Ostinato Records 2022 release, The Strings of Santo Domingos, and the earlier sets.
― dow, Saturday, 11 June 2022 20:43 (one year ago) link
Haven't listened to "Jabana" yet, but groove songs sound good
― curmudgeon, Monday, 13 June 2022 14:18 (one year ago) link
Very much enjoying this, thanks for the recommendation. Quite an eclectic mix of stuff on there - semba, into clattery marimba stuff, into some random Roots horns, into almost sophistipop territory by the end.
― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Friday, 17 June 2022 20:31 (one year ago) link
Smithsonian Folklife Fest in DC will be live on National mall and on Youtube starting this week Wednesday June 22 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm with cellist Yo Yo Ma playing with a largely Afghan band . Details and Youtube link on the below
https://festival.si.edu/schedule?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D159951024
― curmudgeon, Monday, 20 June 2022 23:57 (one year ago) link