Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2024 Thread (Often African guitar led bands)

This thread is mainly for polyrhythmic, international sounds that aren't big enough to get threads of their own (and often include use of old-school non-programmed instrumentation like guitars). I lean toward south of the equator sounds here that are sometimes less club-oriented than those of artists highlighted on Afrobeats, dancehall, soca, etc. threads. Sometimes, but not always, the artists are older than those on those other threads. More old-school bands too. Often less digital programming but if it includes such playing/programming it is usually less popular.

Here's last year's 2023 link

Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2023 Thread (Often African bands)

Chuck Eddy from his latest long essay about his fave 2023 albums:

Beyond that, I’m not sure how much more I can generalize, except to say that what I’m hearing out of Africa lately sounds a decade or more ahead of what I’m hearing from just about everywhere else. Who knows, maybe it always was. My favorite places on the Internet to find out about new music these days, for whatever it’s worth, are Pan African Music and the Brussels-based Rebel Up Nightshop; favorite record labels right now are Kampala’s Nyege Nyege Tapes (and its subsidiary Hakuna Kulala), Lisbon’s Príncipe (“most closely associated with a bouncy, staggered and sometimes roly-poly club sound—a syncretic blend of Angolan and Afro-Portuguese styles known as batida,” Resident Advisor puts it), and Geneva’s Les Disques Bongo Joe (“explores contemporary undergrounds to dig out extraordinary sounds and plows the furrows of time to unearth rare nuggets from here, there and everywhere” — bandcamp.) Not sure I could map out how exactly they interrelate, but it sure sounds like they do.

📸 Look at this post on Facebook https://accidentalevolution.wordpress.com/2024/01/05/150-best-albums-of-2023/?fbclid=IwAR1LMo6b1QDDtJO1ncngClxTsiqpAcsRff6jpqI86uBPRJkCafCesPKqEu4_aem_AdB7qnx7SXFUg4uYw719qcJ1kh-EypwcPWclI3bbz3EvqXbxJCdnkA-4LMyKDUU9H0w

https://www.allmusic.com/year-in-review/2023/favorite-latin-and-global

Allmusic,com list of fave Latin and Global is more pop than Xchuck Eddy

Bassekou Kouyate and his family band are doing a short US tour in February. Worth seeing these Malian greats if they’re near you.

New Les Amazones D'Afrique is great and has a fantastic video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ob0ic-wyfo

That is great. Nice mix of sung and rapped vocals and fun closeups and moves in the video

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/01/10/arts/blacklisted-west-bank-basel-zayed-has-settled-into-his-new-musical-home-boston/

Oud player ( & psychotherapist) Basel Zayed some years back angered both Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank , so he moved to the U.S.

https://lincolncenter.org/series/lincoln-center-presents/globalfest-387

Assiko Golden Band De Grand Yoff: Magg Tekki

Bounaly: Dimanche à Bamako

Azuka Moweta and His Anioma Brothers Band of Africa: Nwanne Bu Ife

Saw someone named Sidney Terano’s substack and his list of 2023 albums liked included the above 3. I only know Bounaly whom I like

I saw Senegalese kora player and singer Ablaye Cissoko duet last night with French accordionist Cyrille Brotto in Washington DC last night. Cissoko’s voice, singing in Wolof I think, was so moving as was his harp like kora sounds . They spoke in French between songs. Someone who spoke French and English came on stage before 1 song and translated into English the Cissoko explanation of a song that was about the current numbers of Africans fleeing the continent on boats to go to Europe and many not surviving ( and others losing interest in these sad experiences as they happen again and again).

Cissoko and Brotto played NY at Carnegie Hall a few nights before

They are in Los Angeles tonight.

They're still touring behind their 2022 album https://ablayecissoko.bandcamp.com/album/instant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks5hx_U-ilU

Cissoko and Brotto video

RIP DJ Katapila from Ghana. He blended Ghana styles with Chicago & Detroit style dance. He dj’d parties, funerals and more at home, and after Brian of Awesome Tapes from Africa found 2 of his tapes and re-released them, he did Europe gigs as well.

There’s a long heartfelt Awesome Tapes from Africa Instagram post

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2iRl0mo2ud/?igsh=aWQwamF1dWNuemNz

That is very sad. I saw him play alongside Ata Kak in Bristol and it was so much fun

Sorry to jump straight in here and derail slightly, but some of you might be interested in this thread Rolling DESI and SOUTH ASIAN music thread 2024 - Bhangra, Bollywood, Chutney Soca, Baila etc...

dunno if if north African crate-tape-digging fits here but listened to A Moi La Liberte: Early Electronic Rai a lot over Christmas and enjoyed it as much as anything I heard last year.

Yes it fits. Am leaving current programmed beat afrobeats/ afropop to the afropop thread, but almost anything else can go here.

DJ Katapila has died, per Awesome Tapes from Africa:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2iRl0mo2ud/?img_index=1

https://djkatapila.bandcamp.com/

Brian from Awesome Tapes said DJ Katapila was one of his biggest supporters. I need to try to keep up better on the various Awesome Tapes reissues and such.

Busy listening to Pakistani vocalist Ali Sethi who did an album where he improvised ghazals over the electronic sounds of Nicolas Jaar. His more pop effort, a collaborative single with fellow Pakistani singer Shae Gill “Pasoori,” a Punjabi word that translates roughly to “difficult mess, went viral on Youtube in 2022 with hundreds of millions of viewers

The Ali Sethi 2023 album with Nicolas Jaar music is called Intiha

More 2023 music I am catching up on DJ FINALE - Pitschu Debou (feat. DeBoul & Le Meilleur)

Kinshasa’s DJ Finale ( a key member of Fulu Mziki) smelts soukous, trap and Afrobeats with flexibly jazzy electronics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8HgFBDsAyo

That's on the Nyege Nyege label

RIP Gustave Bentho Titiou dit Junior bassist and composier of Tout Puissant Poly Rythmo , at 73 . Am awesome old school band from Benin

Saw the news on Facebook and Twitter

New Mdou Moctar out on Matador I think in a day or 2

They're announcing the new Moctar album tomorrow; actual release date is in May. There will be a tour in June.

April 14 - Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
April 21 - Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
June 5 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Anchor Rock Club
June 6 - Harrisburg, PA @ The Abbey Bar at ABC
June 7 - Richmond, VA @ Cheers Brown’s Island
June 8 - Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom
June 9 - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
June 11 - Charleston, SC @ Pour House
June 12 - Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
June 13 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
June 14 - Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
June 15 - Indianapolis, IN @ The Hi-Fi
June 18 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
June 19 - Detroit, MI @ Magic Bag
June 20 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
June 21 - Buffalo, NY @ Asbury Hall
June 22 - Greenfield, MA @ Green River Music Festival
June 23 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
June 26 - Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
June 27 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
June 28 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer

Ah yes. Moctar Funeral for Justice album title track here

https://www.stereogum.com/2253502/mdou-moctar-funeral-for-justice/music/

But Stereogum writer and editor doesn’t know the difference between Nigeria and Niger. Someone has mentioned it in the comments but they haven’t corrected it yet as of Wednesday morning ET

Ethiopian band Qwanqwa are returning to US for another tour. Their violinist is not Ethiopian but speaks Amharic and lives or lived there

They had an earlier IG post on how relieved they were to finally get visas approved for this tour, although the process was expensive, involved multiple languages, Gregorian and Ethiopian Ge’ez calendars, translation work, lawyers, and clunky government websites

Listening to Egyptian singer Mohamed Hamaki now . He's doing a short US tour. In suburban Washington DC Saturday

North American tour I mean. He did a Toronto show

Awesome Tapes From Africa and Sahel Sounds are offering digital albums for "Name Your Price" on Bandcamp Friday (today!):
https://awesometapesfromafrica.bandcamp.com/
https://sahelsounds.bandcamp.com/

Did you get anything? I got busy and well, maybe next time

Kaethe Hostetter, American violinist from Ethiopian group Qwanqwa , who lived in Addis for 11 years, but is now based in Brooklyn has been doing some solo violin and electronics gigs playing music influenced by her time in Ethiopia. Alas, I missed her Baltimore gig. Saw a video clip on Facebook that looked good. Qwanqwa are starting a north American tour March 31

Music from Saharan WhatsApp 04
by Alkibar Junior

"We've made this release available again as the band was recently a victim of radical extremists who destroyed all of their musical equipment. The band is currently raising funds to bring music back to Niafounke, and all proceeds to to the band"

https://alkibar.bandcamp.com/album/music-from-saharan-whatsapp-04

more info here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-alkibar-junior-bring-music-back-to-mali

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk4mn4CKVXA

curmudgeon asked: "Did you get anything?"

I got these, all are wonderful:
https://awapoulo.bandcamp.com/album/poulo-warali
https://hailumergia.bandcamp.com/album/pioneer-works-swing-live
https://lesfillesdeillighadad.bandcamp.com/album/les-filles-de-illighadad
https://lesfillesdeillighadad.bandcamp.com/album/at-pioneer-works

I was already familiar with the Awa Poulo and first Les Filles albums and threw down some cash to keep myself honest.
Love love love Hailu Mergia and will buy anything he puts out.

Nice haul

Sahel Sounds Go Fund Me fundraiser to get instruments for for Alkibar Jr , still going

So this old-school promoter who doesn’t plan well in advance or research well is booking the Bassekou Kouyate tour ( that is skipping DC because she insists band wants a guarantee in advance and no venue will do that) and she’s booking the Mokoomba tour . For Mokoomba I have now given her a list of clubs and contact information. Hopefully she will be successful

She means well.

https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/13/el-wali-the-shapeshifting-voice-of-saharan-struggle?fbclid=PAAaY3Ka6zGNehxSS4q6_8tb39tkjrPsJ028zRSuHhuCpq5roj4E2aEz6jY8c_aem_AUK1BEloS0B1zNJD_lchzx8mhISkqEq1-LvBLpqR-I355qNIiKXgqyXGE3W5W5VLi5Q

El Wali from Saharan Sahel

Florence Adooni debut album is on its way on Philophon, new single is wonderful:

https://florenceadooni.bandcamp.com/album/uh-ah-song

...and this is a different song from a festival appearance last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypv0_LM4c60

pure heat

Yes to Florence Adooni and she and her band’s frafra music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR51MWK_o2M

South African singer Thandiswa Mazwai on Tiny Desk Global Fest .

Christopher Kirkley of Sahel Sounds has a nts show coming up on Thursday called Autotune the World

https://www.nts.live/shows/christopher-kirkley

Qwanqwa are going to put out a live album soon I hear.

Cute South African kids band Biko's Manna are in the US doing some gigs now. They've gone viral on tiktok and Instagram reels, and Jennifer Hudson loves them

https://foxydigitalis.zone/2024/04/08/video-premiere-tidiane-thiam-yewende/?fbclid=PAAaZT3YdXx5SX0fYFCIAMr8TyeD6CcKqQslr1JpPpBTfKmS79GHx9iLlEa1g_aem_AdIfu64s3SSibzALmp-Ybr5c3u8L2MZD-dQ3oDxFKeUlSeirtqxCBWxjG11CIH-fz3I

Tidiane Thism from Senegal getting mellow on Sahel Sounds

Thiam

https://mississippirecords.bandcamp.com/album/rail-band

Mississippi records has reissued on vinyl an old 70s album from Mali’s Rail Band

Was out of town and missed recent gigs by Sona Jobarteh, and Blick Bassy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt3BYPw-3uk

1 hour performance of a special collaboration between Sunken Cages ( Ravish Momin), dragonchild ( Ethiopian sax & keyboard player DA Mekonnen) , Faraway Ghost ( Iranian Dc area percussionist Kamyar Arsani) & guest dancer Amirah Sackett , at the Kennedy Center

Ethiopian music band Qwanqwa, most of whose band members are based in Addis, were great tonight at little Makeba in Alexandria , Va just south of DC . Crowd was mostly dc area based Ethiopians . The singer of Qwanqwa can sing powerfully with melisma; as well as ululate and do that Ethiopian shoulder dance

Oumou Sangare , Malian singing great, is doing some US gigs again, but it doesn’t look like she’ll be near me in the Washington DC area

https://occidentalbrothers.bandcamp.com/album/likambo-te

Jordan noted on the Rolling Jazz thread that the Chicago-based Occidental Brothers are back and have a new highlife album with drummer Mackaya Macraven. Circa 2009 I was a fan of their a bit gimmicky highlife cover of New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle

Reyna Tropical were highlighted by Rob on the Afro-Latino, Latin Pop etc thread, but the occasional use of soukous guitar & some other touches might intrigue folks on this thread too. I like the new album a lot

Saw on Facebook a great video clip of Malian singer Oumou Sangare guesting with Colombia band Rancho Aparte from Colombia at the Blue Moon Saloon in Louisiana as its festival time down there

Mokoomba from Zimbabwe got a US date in June in DC

Apologies if there's a specific nyege nyege thread I can't find but loving this
https://nyegenyegetapes.bandcamp.com/album/izigqinamba

Interesting contrasts there between the vocals and beats

Ghana special 2 arrived in the post today but it might wait bcz that can't stop with that new Mdou Moctar album

Ghana Special 2 sounds good so far to me (decided to check it out before the Mdou Moctar )

Yeah very much looking forward to getting that one, soundway comps never disappoint

Meridian Brothers are more for the Latin thread, but they're hyping this new one for adding some Congolese soukous guitar

https://meridianbrothers.bandcamp.com/album/mi-latinoam-rica-sufre-2

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

Ballaké Sissoko (kora) and Derek Gripper (guitar) are putting out another album. Gripper is on tour in US now (In DC Monday night the 13th ) . Mellow but good

Absolutely loving Ghana Special 2, listened to it about 4 times straight through yesterday. I knew a few of these tunes beforehand but there is so much more great stuff on it. Kwasi Afari Minta - Barima Nsu is possibly my favourite new thing, but that MC Mambo song is super fun too. Top work Soundway!

It's definitely a good Ghana comp-

Sahel Sounds just announced a listening party for Africa Yontii by Tidiane Thiam:
Africa Yontii Listening Party with Tidiane Thiam!
The event is scheduled for:
Thursday, May 16, 2024 at 6:00 PM EDT

More details via label bandcamp

I could have sworn we had a dedicated Mdou Moctar thread. Anyway, I was already a huge fan, but the new one absolutely rips. "Imouhar" is the one I keep coming back to most.

X-post - that Tidiane Thiam album is mellow but beautiful guitar playing from Senegal

https://wapo.st/3UQ292T

gift link should hopefully work- Washington Post article title--With Europe’s support, North African nations push migrants to the desert

A year-long joint investigation by The Washington Post, Lighthouse Reports and a consortium of international media outlets shows how the European Union and individual European nations are supporting and financing aggressive operations by governments in North Africa to detain tens of thousands of migrants each year and dump them in remote areas, often barren deserts.

European funds have been used to train personnel and buy equipment for units implicated in desert dumps and human rights abuses, records and interviews show. Migrants have been pushed back into the most inhospitable parts of North Africa, exposing them to abandonment with no food or water, kidnapping, extortion, sale as human chattel, torture, sexual violence and, in the worst instances, death.
Spanish security forces in Mauritania photographed and reviewed lists of migrants before they were driven to Mali against their will and left to wander for days in an area where violent Islamist groups operate, according to testimony and documents.
In Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, vehicles of the same make and model as those provided by European countries to local security forces rounded up Black migrants from streets or transported them from detention centers to remote regions, according to filmed footage, verified images, migrant testimony and interviews with officials.
European officials held internal discussions on some of the abusive practices since at least 2019, and were flagged to allegations in reports by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Frontex, the E.U. border agency.

The E.U. provided more than 400 million euros to Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania between 2015 and 2021 under its largest migration fund, the E.U. Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, an initiative to foster local economic growth and stem migration.

That's just some context for the music that I try not to overlook

guitar led band Etran de L'Air touring Europe in May and most of June, then touring North America in end of June and July

https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/2024/g:african-music/

xp they were great when I saw them last year

Mdou Moctar were on Office Hours two weeks ago and they fucking ruled

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xeQKXQrWIo

Office Hours performance in California

https://matsulimusic.bandcamp.com/album/ballak-sissoko-derek-gripper

very nice kora/acoustic guitar duo here, two master musicians who don't fuck about + put this together in 3 hours.

Yep been meaning to listen to that .

Also this:

Congo Funk! - Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River (Kinshasa​/​Brazzaville 1969​-​1982)

some might consider Arooj Aftab outernational

Some recent things I've been digging (mostly dance music, but not sure where to put it otherwise - thought we had a thread for it but can't find it)

Most of these came recommended via the Terrain Facebook Community - join up if you're inclined!

Gqom vibes from Mr Thela - Wetsalang Remake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_UCkqk55vY

Polyrhythmic Arabesque techno: Muskila - QAAR A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H82_LZDXnzw

UK/Uganda team-up: Swordman Kitala x Burland - Sweet Bebe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuIXUBojWv0

A real favourite here from young Turkish artist Fevzi Kaan alongside Şenol Evgi - Size Mi Kaldı

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KkLGb4kzJE

Cambodian Drill: B-Side Khrew - Phlerng Jonk Keang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R__05EYHocU

Thanks . I need to check those out

thanks for the re-up!!

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sisso-maiko-singeli-ya-maajabu/

sisso Maiko on nyege nyege might be better placed on an electronic or club thread but whatever

I thought we had a "global club" thread, but I couldn't find it, so here will do. Thanks for this

It's been on a couple of threads already! it's fantastic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrKO9JB30gI

Great 1 hour set by Le Etran de L’air , Agadez Saharan guitar led band at free show at Kennedy Center in Washington DC yesterday

I missed Mdou Moctar in dc last night but have seen a bunch of times before. Folks on social media seem to be enjoying this tour , especially some who I sense have not seen him before.

That Le Etran de L’Air show from Wednesday is really strong I think

Dobet Gnahoré, the Ivorian “Best Urban/Alternative Performance” Grammy-winner, drums, sings, and dances afropop afrobeats in a family presentation for Summer for the City; in Hearst Plaza at Lincoln Center; on Saturday, June 29, 2024 at 12pm. FREE

Not seeing a date near me, just this NYC show. I saw her many moons back and she was good.

Put up some new recommendations on the site. We've got Portuguese art pop that occasionally folds in fado, Chinese dream pop from a band whose follow-up record was IDM, a 2000s bounce classic with a track that samples "Liberian Girl," and more

all this at https://t.co/paf6UPDYsW pic.twitter.com/2aGsmAWoD0

— Joshua Minsoo Kim (@misterminsoo) July 3, 2024

Hah, interesting to see Mler Ife Dada show up there. Would've expected them to get revived by the post punkers as opposed to within a world music context but it makes some sense.

Joshua Minsoo Kim is into post-punk, including post-punk from everywhere

https://www.jazzisdead.com/news/ebo-taylor-amp-pat-thomas-north-american-tour

Ebo Taylor and Pat Thomas old-school afropop North America tour in October and November

I need to get my tickets for the dc show on that tour.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyedu-Blay_Ambolley

Ghana hi life and hiplife veteran musician also on tour

All the album of the year "so far" lists I see barely include any acts from Africa, the Caribbean, South America, or Asia

seeing Etran de L'Aïr tonight, excited!

Enjoy. Etran de L'Air were great in their Washington DC shows . Their guitar sound and a bit of onstage charisma combined to make their gigs work

Oh no. Malian kora great Toumani Diabete has died at age 58. Have seen some posts about this on twitter/x and one on Bluesky

Toumani Diabate at Other Music in NYC some years back

https://vimeo.com/5415073

According to the ilx search, I posted in 2007 that I was going to see Toumani Diabate and band in 2007, but I don't really remember that. Doh.

I do remember the other show I said I was seeing that weekend, Venezuelan salsa singer Oscar D'Leon

https://afropop.org/articles/festival-international-de-jazz-de-montreal-2024-an-overwhelming-musical-feast

This Montreal fest always has a fair amount of performers from Africa

This year's already happened! I saw Chief Adjuah and Shabaka Hutchings but no one from Africa this year. Nor did I make it to the Nuits d'Afrique festival the week after Jazz Fest (meant to see Bombino but forgot). I do hope to see RAM and Boukmans at this on the weekend: https://montreal.haitienfolie.com/

Yes, sorry my language wasn't clear but that link is a review by someone of what happened. I know the fest already happened-

Some of the acts they liked are :

an ecstatic set from Ugandan-British Alfa Mist with his mix of jazz and hip-hop; we melted into our chair listening to the voice of Angolan-Portuguese Fado diva Ana Moura (we will soon post an interview with Moura);

La Lom (which stands for Los Angeles League of Musicians) grooved us with their Latino meets surf guitar sound; Nigerian-British singer Ego Ella May and Cameroonian-American singer Ekep Nkwelle both delighted us in very different ways (and we'll be featuring interviews with them shortly), the incredibly energetic Thai-Canadian drummer Salin who brings together traditional Northern Thai sounds and Afrobeat rhythms;

Other world music acts of note included Tuareg guitar band Etran de l'Air, the Django Festival Allstars, Os Mutantes from Brazil (only featuring one original member), and the Congolese group Kin'Gongolo Kiniata (who will also be performing at Nuits d'Afrique festival next week).

my bad, I didn't click through. The Jazz Fest is a treasure, but that review is v otm about it being overwhelming, and this year I was moving house during it which sapped my going-out energy big time

Tinariwen are on tour again but I missed their Washington DC gig last night. Have seen em 3 times I think. Anybody seen em lately? I think their membership might have changed slightly based on a comment I read somewhere.

Funny enough, I checked in on this thread to say that I am seeing them tonight in Philly, as my husband is an enormous fan. Will report back.

Incredible show tonight in Philly. We ran into a friend who called it “euphoric,” and yeah, that’s a good superlative.

Saw a nice video clip of Tinariwen dc gig.

Congolese group Jupiter & Okwess are back in Washington DC on Friday. I might go .

Washington Post re range of music at Olympics opening ceremony

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2024/07/26/paris-olympics-opening-ceremony-arson-attack-live-updates/#link-FDE573U75JACRHAJ2JC7PCPGX4

From a heavy metal band to the orchestra of the Republican Guard, the musical range of these Opening Ceremonies is impressive. After the masked torchbearer lit a fuse that opened the doors to the Institut de France, French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura, dressed in gold, performed on the Pont des Arts accompanied by the orchestra and six dancers.

Jupiter & Okwess from the Congo were a lot of fun last night. The singer was energetic and constantly moving. The drummer with a Mexican wrestling mask on was really good, shifting between fast tempos & shower ones along with the guitars melding a small bit of old school souokous rumba with funk and southern African rhythms . They had cool visuals behind them - black and white ones of people in the Congo switching to mult- colored psych art and then to animation

Lots of videos of them on Youtube

I went to see Reyna Tropical in DC last night which meant I missed Plena Libre from Puerto Rico and Swanky Kitchen from the Cayman Islands, elsewhere in DC. A busy Wednesday. Saw some social media video clips of Swanky Kitchen and they sounded great.

Anybody know anything about the Sauti Za Busara fest in Zanzibar, Tanzania that takes place there in February ?

https://busaramusic.org/

I guess not.

I saw Amadou & Mariam open for Andrew Bird at kinda big outdoor shed Wolf Trap near Washington DC (3,000 people maybe there) . Amadou's guitar sounded great (when I could hear it as sometimes it was too low in the mix. Was re-reading an old Guardian article about how Amadou is familiar with every Malian and many West African genres and can play many of them). Their vocals were strong and one could hear their great melodies. I read that in July they were in London on a bill with Fatoumata Diawara in London. So they're making the rounds.

Ghanan highlife dipped with disco strings and acid squelches sounds like a mess but I am into it: https://florenceadooni.bandcamp.com/track/otoma-da-naba-2

Nice. I like Florence Adooni's vocals and the strings. I see she has a group with folks from Kumasi, Ghana and has been touring Europe

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/mar/13/british-punjabi-music-star-raf-saperra-id-be-listening-to-giggs-on-the-bus-then-bhangra-at-home

UK based Punjabi vocalist Raf Saperra is gonna be at the Howard Theatre in Washington DC on September 4th

He's fantastic

this guy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYXP0rDJiLY

nice!

Yes. I need to listen more

Saw Florence Adooni at the End of the Road festival on Sunday - terrific, I thought. Great voice, funny and charming. Fabulous band - I think (understandably/obviously) player overlap with the Alogte Oho show I saw same time same place last year. Philophon def know how to organise a party show for a big crowd who might not know the music.

oh was also going to see Mdou Moctar there but he dropped out - haven't seen a reason but I hope he's ok.

Based on the stunning/dazzling/transcendent show I saw him play last night, Mdou Moctar is very much OK!

Saw Florence Adooni at the End of the Road festival on Sunday - terrific, I thought

super jealous of this fyi <3

Xpost- Mdou Moctar Instagram says he just finished UK and Europe tour with a gig in Leeds

“The Handover elegantly combines the delicacy of classical Arabic music, the raw expressiveness of Egypt's countryside music, and the spontaneity of free improvisation, carefully obliterating the artificial separation between acoustic and electronic instruments

Sublime Frequencies release on Bandcamp

https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/album/the-handover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu0GsALW1w8

Mdou Moctar band Tiny Desk

Happy Ethiopian New Year. There were a number of Ethiopian New Year’s Eve gigs last night in the Washington DC area

London-based Kokoroko who mix polished Afrobeats and jazz are coming to North America for a tour . They’re at Howard Theatre in DC in October

https://chicagoreader.com/music/world-music-festival-chicago-2024-guide/

Lots of acts coming to Chicago over next 10 days or so

I decided not to see Le'Etran de la Air for a second time tonight, and instead saw Colombian chirimia carnival band Rancho Aparte in a little bar in DC. They were full of energy and fun.

I think the cost and paperwork and struggles involved in getting visas now is definitely reducing the amount of acts who come to the U.S. .

I hadn't seen Bombino in years, but saw some of his set at the Richmond VA Folk Fest and he and the band were great. Interestingly, he had Pakistani Shahzad Ismaily on bass & percussion. Ismaily is known most recently to me for playing with Arooj Aftab and Vijay Iyer. Ismaily also played at the Fest with Lonnie Holley. Bombino has come to the US enough that I guess he can now make the finances work

Saw Colombian brass band and more Rancho Aparte again, at the Richmond Folk Fest. They were lots of fun.

From Brad Luen's Semi-Pop Life Substack (I sometimes disagree with him. Haven't heard this one yet)

Les Belgicains: Na Tango Ya Covadia 1964​-​70

Just because Congolese rumba is the deepest well of 20th century music doesn’t mean you can’t tell you’ve reached “not mentioned in Rumba on the River” depths (“Ngaï Dhesolé”, “Palado Palado”)

https://pitchfork.com/news/mdou-moctar-re-record-funeral-for-justice-for-new-album-share-song-listen/

Mdou Moctar and band re-do and reimagine latest album with acoustic and traditional instruments only this time

i somehow missed this but Florence Adooni played some Ghanaian tunes on NTS a couple of weeks back...

https://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/florence-adooni-23rd-september-2024

Also her debut album comes out on Philophon in Feb next year, super looking forward to that!

really shouldve made more of an effort to go and see her live this year...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGOsBFn-1Ks

Adooni sounds good there live

right at tbe end of her show, she plays the title teack off the forthcoming album and its amazing, starts off slowly like early 60s coltrane in a contemplative mood and then breaks into highlife in the second half and it is totally a thing of beauty, gonna be a killer album for sure

seeing Etran de L'Aïr tonight, excited!

― moral ziosk (geoffreyess), Wednesday, July 10, 2024 4:12 PM (two months ago) bookmarkflaglink

forgot to say, not sure I've ever enjoyed a show as much as that one. just blissfully suspended in notes, could've stayed for hours. love the new album too, very happy that it captures some of that feeling.

https://www.jazzisdead.com/news/ebo-taylor-amp-pat-thomas-tour-postponed

Visa issues seem to have caused postponement until next year of Ebo Taylor and Pat Thomas Ghanaian music legends tour

Nice Guardian article on the talented oudist Huda Asfour , a Palestinian who lived in Egypt for awhile, later in the Washington DC area where I saw her perform and met her, and now she’s in the NYC region

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/09/huda-asfour-palestinian-music

https://www.objectsandsounds.com/product/dun-dun-band-pita-parka-pt-i-xam-egdub/

Dun-Dun band is influenced by some African sounds

https://www.hearingthings.co/lollises-afrofuturistic-pop-utopia/

Lollise is a Botswana raised singer now in NY and her afropop could maybe be on the Afropop thread but it also works here . Her producer Morgan Greenstreet is also a drummer with NY based Congolese band Loboko, and a DJ

NY-based Congolese band Loboko have one single out (also on Bandcamp) and there are a few videos of them on Youtube

Turns out that legendary band Karantamba from The Gambia had another album out in the 80s next to Ndigal (which is a must-hear)
https://terangabeat.bandcamp.com/album/galgi

I'm playing it right now and it's the right kind of hypnotic grooves, part desert, part coast.

"When I visited Bai Janha in August 2010 in his house in Kololi to prepare the release of Ndigal, he told me that he had another unreleased album on two master reel tapes. The next days we were trying to find in Gambia a reel to reel machine to listen to them. We finally found one, but it was not in a good shape, so the sound was coming out poorly, it struck me though the ‘80s sound of the synthesizers and guitars and I hoped I would have another chance to listen to them properly."

That Karantamba does sound good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieGX33GsNHg

Songhoy Blues doc

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/10/nx-s1-5147220/lebanon-israel-hezbollah-music-middle-east-war

Fairuz and other Lebanon musicians now

thank you

I saw NY-based Congolese band Loboko last night in DC. Energetic show of danceable Congolese guitar-led rumba before a small crowd. They just have a single out (on their bandcamp) plus some video footage on Youtube

x-post-- You're welcome. That Lebanon musicians at a time of war article is informative and emotional

yes i didnt know what else to say really, any other words seemed so banal given the awful context :/

So Loboko kinda reminds me of 80s and 90s soukous, but the band members insist that they're as modern and contemporary as Fally Ipupa , who is a bigger star and plays larger room. I need to listen more and research how Congolese music has changed over the years.

Fally Ipupa North American tour got cancelled at last minute

Need to get some albums here considered for 2024 critics polls

I am forever bored with end of year lists that just have rock and rap and pop on them, but I haven't had time to really dig for other stuff myself that much this year.

Saw Apache Indian and Panjabi MC on a double bill at the weekend in London and it was so so much fun. Audience was around 70% South Asian heritage, many in the 40-60 age bracket and you could tell this was a big night out and a special occasion for a lot of people. And it was! Just so much energy from beginning to end. It felt like a proper party.

I was fairly young when "Boom-Shaka-Lak" came out, but the more I read about Apache Indian the more I realise he was streets ahead in fusing the (hugely popular) ragga/dancehall/reggae-pop style with the (hugely unappreciated outside of Indian-heritage enclaves and the odd novelty appearance on light entertainment shows) Bhangra style. You look at where he recorded and who he recorded with and it shows he was always much more than a one-hit wonder

Here are a few things I've been enjoying that may or may not be relevant to the thread. We kind of need a revival of the outernational dance threads I guess

MOMO. - P​á​ra (feat. Jessica Lauren)
This wonderful slice of moody, relaxing Brazilian jazzy grooviness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unC7q5S6Gn4

Sliime x Gagan Kooner - Punjabi Queen
UK Punjabi rap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcmk8j_oBtY

Jaubi - Chandrakauns
Pakistani jazz troupe exploring fusion and Northern Indian classical music who had an album out this year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsvBJ914reg

Tshegue - Shuffle
Congolese-French collab band return with this slammer. Whole EP is very good indeed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amgdlvPSAP8

Kalash - So Coman
French-Martinique rapper Kalash is such a force and this is one of the best things I've heard from him so far
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14GClBV33jQ

Freebot x Rosa Pistola - Regarega
Mexican hard-psy? Strap in!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7iQRISCdvo

wow, love the MOMO song. thank you for sharing these, great variety.

Heard that Tshegue track a month or two back on a recommendation from Kevin Martin (The Bug). Great stuff but the other tracks I heard weren't so blown-out, which was disappointing. I'm always up for noisy African stuff like that or Phelimuncasi.

Xp Yeah thats a great song

Xp unperson have you heard Muanapoto by them? Really like it

I saw a nice traditional Malian music gig last night by singer/guitarist Habib Koite and his band. The group included a balafon player, a kora player, and a percussionist with djembe drums and one of those globe shaped drums. This was the last show of their month long tour of the US.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/nov/21/malian-singer-rokia-traore-to-be-extradited-from-italy-to-belgium

This is a sad mess. Singer Rokia Traoré facing charges due to a custody battle

oh wow, that's awful, i hadn't heard any of it

Mdou Moctar making some best of lists

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/891302-mohammad-syfkhan-i-am-kurdish.php

Syfkhan I am Kurdish album on quietus albums of year list . I haven’t heard it yet

Sorry to spam/blow me own trumpet, but some of you might be interested in my latest "Bangers Without Borders" mix that ties in with the Terrain community / club night I run: https://soundcloud.com/charliestoicdj/2024-bangers-without-borders-pt-1

listened to it last week, it was a lot of fun! need to go back to it with the tracklist in front of me so i can figure out whats what

xxp mohammad syfkhan in a tiny pub in brighton was one of the greatest things i saw this year...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4nEoV1A5yE/?igsh=MWF4M2t3YW1hNGYwNQ==

Thanks for listening NickB! :-)

Palestinian oudist and singer Huda Asfour is back in Egypt where she has family and lived for awhile. I met her when she was in DC getting an engineering degree and a masters and performing sometimes at night. I don’t think she has anything new out , but her occasional IG stories and posts of gigs are worth checking out. She also lived in NYC for a bit. She has some music on streaming and I think on YouTube and Bandcamp

Jon Pareles additional 15 standout albums after his top 10 includes Arooj Aftab, “Night Reign”; Les Amazones d’Afrique, “Musow Danse (Bonus Edition)

An Arabic music dj in DC tonight is billing his session tonight as "Free Syria." He's excited about the rebellion gaining ground there

Just noticed that Syrian electro-dabke singer Omar Souleyman who fled Syria around the time of the 2011 rebellion and ended up in Turkey for awhile has recently been living in Erbil, Iraq and his earlier 2024 album is called Erbil. I haven't listened to it yet, but I see Pitchfork wasn't crazy about it. I saw him in DC once at the 930 Club. He's doing some European shows this month

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/omar-souleyman-erbil/

Mdou Moctar is doing a solo acoustic tour of US in February

Mdou Moctar acoustic seems like an artist fundamentally misunderstanding their own appeal, but OK.

I think he’s just trying to vary things a bit , as he and the band have toured a lot. Oh, his tour includes Canada dates as well.

Let an artist do what he wants ( if this is done because he feels like varying things musically). I have seen him at least 5 times with a band over the years .

Seeing Senegalese guitarist Tidiane Thiam on some best of lists .

This man is on Sahel Sounds

this could also go in jazz or modern brazil: Fabiano do Nascimento and Shin Sasakubo on guitars, gorgeous stuff

https://fabianodonascimentoandshinsasakubo.bandcamp.com/album/harm-nicos

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2exzm9r043o

RIP Zakir

Zakir Hussain, one of the world's greatest tabla players, has died at the age of 73.

The Indian classical music icon died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease, at a hospital in San Francisco, his family said in a statement.

Hussain was a four-time Grammy award winner and has received the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award.

Through his performances, he transformed the tabla into a globally loved solo instrument that was the star of the show.

The tabla - a pair of drums used in Indian classical music - was historically viewed as an accompaniment to the main performance.

Former ilxor Keith Harris has this in his best-of list for Racket , his Minnesota site

19. Sisso & Maiko, Singeli Ya Maajabu

Sisso is among the better-known producers of singele, a Tanzanian dance music style supposedly derived from Zanzibar’s taarab (a style I know even less about) and so wildly sped up it should be measured in beats per second. Jamming live to Singele’s beats on keys is Maiko, who vamps with ostinatos, doodles wildly on top, and occasionally runs a finger along the keys till he reaches the highest note, just to be funny. I’m told singele is often tough-guy music, but the effect here is comic, even cartoonish. During the nearly six minutes of the frenetic, dayglo “Kazi Ipo,” I feel like a paper cone that’s been stuck into a cotton candy machine.

More from Keith -

2. Various artists, Kampire Presents: A Dancefloor in Ndola

A compilation of mostly decades-old Afropop? Isn’t that… cheating? Well I make the rules here, bub, and despite two familiar Congolese names (Samba Mapangala and Tshala Muana, their great ’90s records are streaming, check ’em out) all these tracks are new to me and—don’t front—you too. Yet to Kampire, a Ugandan DJ and part of the crew behind the Nyege Nyege festival and label (they put out the Sisso & Maiko album) these have nostalgic appeal, as they might to a queer party thrower in a country where gay sex is a capital crime. Sureshot opener Princess Aya Shara’s “O Wina Tienge” sets the tone with soukous guitars from Zaire trading elegance for the frisky, chattering melodies that appealed to Kenyan audiences, though the comp also dips into South African for added sass (the Township bubblegum of V-Mash’s “Naughty Boy,” the early kwaito of Di Groovy Girls). Artifacts of a simpler time? Not if you know your history. More like reminders that the beat goes on, in good times and bad.

On Keith's runner up list --Les Amazones d’Afrique, Musow Danse;

This is all over the internet at the moment. An African Country Gospel song, by (I think) SDA Youth Songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh2v_CYMayo

or maybe those are the publishers. The artist is MAOMBI SAMSON

Seems like a TikTok viral thing too.

Less viral things I have been enjoying watching are Sahel Sounds on Instagram sharing Instagram stories and posts from a rural Fulani area of Senegal by an ethnomusicologist I think who has an IG page called blind.in.1.eye

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDfy3lnIYbg/?igsh=MTY0MDRnNTlkZHo3YQ==

Very pretty dreamy gamelan pop from Java:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjMoo2mNC98

Les Amazones d’Afrique, “Musow Danse (Bonus Edition) which was mentioned above , is the latest from a Malian supergroup that mixes traditional female afropop vocals with a mix of modern and traditional beats . There's a few older mentions on ilx for their previous releases. I like em

Oh I like that Deni Kristiani gamelan pop from Java too

* Sad to hear about Zakir Hussain. I'll probably never see a greater tabla player - the guy was absolutely mind-blowing. I was looking forward to seeing his "Masters of Percussion" show at the 2025 Big Ears Festival.

* FYI Awesome Tapes from Africa has digital downloads on sale...albums for $1 each until Dec. 25: https://awesometapesfromafrica.bandcamp.com/

Oh I like that Deni Kristiani gamelan pop from Java too

― curmudgeon, Monday, 23 December 2024 21:16 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

me too! That's from last year but after a bit of research I nominated this chill jam for the EOY poll:

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

this one's all about the percussion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95d3bXs3jYk

Journalist/ author Michael Azerrad has Phelimuncasi & Metal Preyers album Izigqinamba on his top 10 (they're a South African duo who were /are ? on Nyege Nyege

Also on his list is Mdou Moctar ; & the Nascimento & Spalding album

digging these javan tunes

2025 thread time -

Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2025 Thread (Often African guitar led bands)

Nice to see that Deni is making such an impact. Thanks for the nomination - we'll see how she does in the top 100.

https://www.voaafrica.com/a/7882793.html?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabGvZldgZ-IhD1Ti-lyFqGuhqR64jfcJdhXGVRRh9_T3SsiXOB2uU5L114_aem_R7JcOPS6_lZJgRd8ppwxgQ

VOA’s Music time in Africa best of 2024 program