Rolling World Music Thread 2013

Like last year, and in some prior years this thread is for whatever "whirled", international, frequently non-English language genres you choose. Yes we hate the term "world" also. Yes, we know there are separate threads for Arabic music, Latin hiphop,K-pop, Afrobeatz and various other international genres. Yes, we know that Ethiopian old-school tunes sound very different from Angolan club beat filled ones. But since there are not enough folks on this chatboard forum to sustain separate threads for each country's current releases (or reissues), we have this. Ok, enough defensiveness. I am looking forward to hearing more guitar-using Afropop, more hybrid tunes using club beats and traditional sounds and vocals; and more exciting unique vocalists, instrumentalists and producers from many parts of the globe.

Here's last year's thread:

Return of the World Music Thread: 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/29/opinion/save-mali-before-its-too-late.html?smid=tw-share&_r=2&

An editorial by a female northern Mali mayor, Oumou Sall who has fled; and a tribute song to her by Khaira Arby

https://soundcloud.com/chrisanolan3/oumou-sall-par-khaira-arby

this is one of my fave ilm threads even if the title is a misnomer!

I assume everyone here knows about Awesome Tapes from Africa but the tape this morning, Blind Musical Flames' Flames Morale, is so warm + sunny. Blind Musical Flames are a sight-impaired group from Sierra Leone.

FATOUMATA DIAWARA (Mali)and others are gonna be at Global fest 2013 on January 13th in NYC. I wish she would come back to W. DC

looking forward to globalfest, pretty fun lineup and i trust those guys

http://www.globalfest-ny.com/gf2013

KAYHAN KALHOR AND ERDAL ERZINCAN (Iran/Turkey)

I like the little bit I have heard of this duo (who are coming to Globalfest in NYC and to DC's kennedy Center) and think Rudiph might like 'em too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/world/africa/mali-islamist-rebels-france.html

They are going to have to send more troops to dislodge the radicals. What a sad mess.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/13/us-mali-rebels-idUSBRE90912Q20130113

Le Drian said France was deploying a further contingent of 80 soldiers to Mali on Sunday, bring the total to 550 soldiers , split between Bamako and the town of Mopti, some 500 km (300 miles) north. State-of-the-art Rafale fighter jets would be dispatched to reinforce the operation on Sunday, he said.

http://www.npr.org/2013/01/08/168882594/despite-censorship-malis-musicians-play-on

I hadn't heard the Amkoullel album (came out in Dec) but it's on Spotify and worth a listen: http://open.spotify.com/album/5F8lIS8oposAM5nAkxTM2X

A Tribe Called Red were badass last night

The things being done by Islamists (or whatever, more precisely, they may be) in Mali are horrible, but I'm not so sanguine about US/NATO troops going into Mali or anywhere else.

I read that the US is giving support but it looks like France is going alone atm. Not sure how you feel about that, but I can't imagine much different from US/NATO.

That African Unity Group (of soldiers from various African countries) is supposed to get involved also, but they seem to be very disorganized.

Sunday 1-13 NY Times

Some Defense Department officials, notably officers at the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command, have pushed for a lethal campaign to kill senior operatives of two of the extremists groups holding northern Mali, Ansar Dine and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Killing the leadership, they argued, could lead to an internal collapse.

But with its attention and resources so focused on other conflicts in places like Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya, the Obama administration has rejected such strikes in favor of a more cautious, step-back strategy: helping African nations repel and contain the threat on their own.

We should just let the French handle this one. They know the place much better than us.

I guess. Our training of Malian soldiers so far hasn't done much but make things very worse.

x-post-
Amkoullel, that Malian rapper has kind of an old-school rap feel in the brief excerpt I heard

Sorry I was being kinda snarky. I just meant that the French have more of a colonial presence in Mali than the United States.

That they do.

http://www.npr.org/event/music/168491351/fatoumata-diawara-globalfest-2013?ft=1&f=10004
http://www.npr.org/event/music/168491292/oliver-mtukudzi-and-the-black-spirits-globalfest-2013?ft=1&f=10004
http://www.npr.org/event/music/168490717/kayhan-kalhor-erdal-erzincan-globalfest-2013?ft=1&f=10004

there are a bunch of these - they're all great, but these 3 are my faves

^^^^Yes.

Rudiph should check out Kayhan - Kalhor I think he might like that.

Was once skeptical of a long-ago Mtukudzi release, and decided back then that he was too much of a pop world music Zimbabwean and not rebellious like Thomas Mapfumo, but then I saw him live and liked his sound (and recognized how complex the political situation was in Zimbabwe and that based on that and Oliver's personal preference he can be as apolitical or pop as he wants). I like both he and Mapfumo (the latter I think is still in exile in Portland, ore)

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2013/01/14/169358371/discoveries-from-globalfest-2013?ft=1&f=10004

Salem, who everybody said was the major discovery, was the one i missed. Gonna try the NPR tape now.

Zieti, the Ivory Coast band with some members in DC, are hoping to record a second album over there by the end of 2013.

awesome!

Mali music ban by Islamists 'crushing culture to impose rule'
Rebels' clampdown on live performances, from Amadou and Mariam to Tinariwen, is driving music underground

Robin Denselow feature in today's Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jan/15/mali-music-ban-islamists-crushing

Wonder if Glen Greenwald, Guardian columnist who has written about France's incursion back into Mali, but never dealt with the Sharia Islamists vs secular Muslims issue, will read that.

i kinda love this "international" song off amkoullel's album

http://i48.tinypic.com/8yubrp.png

that fatoumata npr performance is really so great

she's such a rock star

i thought she was a lil restrained at gfest but even so yeah, total rockstar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elwA7SHM8_U

Published on Jan 17, 2013
In response to the situation in Mali, Fatoumata Diawara has gathered together over 40 of the Country's most renowned musicians to record a video and song calling for peace. The group is collectively called 'Voices United for Mali' and the track is called 'Mali-ko' (Peace / La Paix). Artists performing on the track include Amadou and Mariam, Oumou Sangare, Bassekou Kouyate, Vieux Farka Toure, Djelimady Tounkara, Toumani Diabate, Khaira Arby, Kasse Mady Diabate, Baba Salah, Afel Bocoum, Tiken Jah, Amkoullel and Habib Koite amongst many others.

Any revenue generated by the ads on this video will be donated to a charity supporting refugees in Mali.

Ester Rada’s cross-cultural sound is a deep reflection of the Israeli born Ethiopian’s heritage. Ester has most recently teamed up with acclaimed Israeli producers Kuti (Kutiman/Thru-You) and Sabbo (Soulico), to release her first self-written and composed solo EP.

She just got a profile in Haaretz and I guess there's a full length due out this year:
http://esterrada.bandcamp.com

i think she's playing sxsw this year.

Ester Rada at Indnegev 2012:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDF-R93sWpE

this one is better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCirOZs5whQ

Tiken Jah Fakoly, a well-known reggae artist who’s been based in Bamako’s Niamakoro neighborhood for the past several years, just released a single entitled “An ka wili” or “Let us rise up,” urging Malians to unite against the Islamists who have taken over the north of their country.

New Sounds from the Arab Lands, February 2013 US Tour:

New Sounds from the Arab Lands is led by the versatile clarinetist Kinan Azmeh. Born in Damascus, Kinan graduated from that city’s High Institute of Music and subsequently, from New York’s Juilliard Conservatory.

Basel Rajoub, born in Aleppo, Syria, graduated from the Damascus High Institute of Music, where he studied European and Middle Eastern classical music as well as jazz. He performs widely as leader of the Basel Rajoub Quartet.

Jasser Haj Youssef, originally from Tunisia, currently lives in Paris, and performs both on violin and on the Baroque viola d’amore,

Khaled Yassine is from Beirut and plays both Middle Eastern and Western percussion. He co-founded the Lebanese fusion band Fu Jan Shai, tours with Anouar Brahem, and is artistic director and producer of the Beirut-based CD label Edict Records.

Feras Charestan, comes from the city of Al-Hasakeh, in northeast Syria, and studied qanun at the High Institute of Music in Damascus. He performs regularly as a qanun soloist with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra as well as in the bands Roubai Toueis and Woujouh.

Full Tour Schedule

02/15/2013, Fri
Cambridge, MA
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
48 Quincy Street

ph: 617.495.1000

02/16/2013, Sat
Washington, DC
Freer & Sackler Gallery Meyer Auditorium
1050 Independence Avenue SW
Show: 7:30pm

Ph: 202.633.1000

02/26/2013, Tue
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College Hopkins Center for the Arts
2 E Wheelock St
Tix: $10- $38, Show: 7:00pm

ph: 603.646.2422

02/28/2013, Thu
Waltham, MA
Brandeis University Slosberg Recital Hall
414 South St.
Tix: $5- $25.00, Show: 7:00pm

ph: 781.736.3400

http://www.afribizcharts.com/

African electronic dance music mostly

Vusi Mahlasela's new live album is on Spotify!

Vusi's another guy who I have pushed to the back of the line of artists I want to hear because I have vague memories of him somehow being involved with Putumayo and being too folky mor or something. But I should probably listen again though, as maybe my recollections are incorrect.

i haven't been following putumayo closely but whenever i see one of their albums for a genre/country i know well they always well-represent some good artists, so i don't think identification w/ them is necessarily a deal killer. i think the live album is pretty rocking fwiw, worth a listen (esp for free on spotify)

http://sahelsounds.com/2013/01/remembrance-of-kidal/

Belgium PM Laurent Louis is not sanguine about Euro/American military intervention in Mali: http://youtu.be/uCTZDH3WDjo

Some good points but some overly simplistic and exaggerated points as well. Meanwhile the Festival in the Desert that was this year to involve a traveling caravan approach through "safe" countries in the area has now postponed one portion:

From Khaira Arby's Facebook page-

Dear friends of the Festival in the Desert,
As you are likely aware, Mali has entered a State of Emergency. This week, the Government has requested that the Festival au Desert temporarily postpone the Sahel portion of the Festival, as insecurity in the region could jeopardize the safety of tourists, technicians, artists, journalists, etc. The February caravan in the Sahel will be postponed most likely until late fall, after the rainy season.
The Festival Organization is working diligently on these, as well as Festival-in-Exile international logistics, which will commence this spring. They will post more information on all of the above in a matter of weeks at www.festival-au-desert.org.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support of the Festival. The Organization looks forward to continuing our cultural movement of peace & tolerance with you.
The Organizing Committee

French and Malian forces pushed toward the fabled desert town of Timbuktu on Sunday, as the two-week-long French mission gathered momentum against the Islamist extremists who have ruled the north for more than nine months.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57566059/french-mali-forces-head-toward-timbuktu/

That newish cd with cellist Vincent Ségal and kora player Ballaké Sissoko is very pretty on a number of compositions in a classical kind of way, but some of it is just too tasteful and nice for me. I think they're gonna be touring the US of A and elsewhere shortly

http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/festivals/12-13/nordic/

I think most of the Nordic musicians participating in this Kennedy Center month-long fest from Feb. 19th to March 17th are jazz musicians.

only new "world" music i've heard this last week is monoswezi's 'the village' which is so sleepy + boring that i just don't know.

I've been listening to Eddie Palmieri mostly

x-post-F Roots is pushing that Zimbabweian/ whatever hybrid Monoswezi and other things I see

http://www.frootsmag.com/content/issue/charts/frplaylist/

so sleepy

Folk Roots mag is now FRoots btw.

I'm more interested in checking out this Senegalese collection called Teranga! that is at #1 on the Sterns chart

http://www.sternsmusic.com/topchart.php

haaaaaaaaaaaaahahha FRoots
that's totally frooty and stupid

it's on spotify! xp

that looks really cool, thanks for posting it DOods

Maybe this should go over on the ile mid-east thread where some Mali talk is going on, but anyway--Tuareg band Tinariwen's former British manager (and writer) Andy Morgan weighs in with an opinion piece on Mali

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/01/201313094034781783.html

I kinda love that the two threads have become kinda companion threads on Mali...

I just wasn't sure that most of the folks reading the ILE Mideast one see this one.

It was Froots when i was in high school!

this looks like a must go to event
http://nmai.si.edu/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D103653987
Special NATIVE SOUNDS DOWNTOWN Presentation of Tanya Tagaq and Nanook of the North Sunday, March 3, 2013, 2 PM
Inuit performer Tanya Tagaq has refashioned traditional Inuit throat singing into her highly contemporary sound. Tonight for Robert Flaherty’s iconic 1922 silent movie Nanook of the North, she performs her own composition. The film itself was a breakthrough in its day, confronting the imagined remote life of Inuit with a picture of one man living a full life with his family. Over the years, it has been reinvented and reinterpreted through the use of sound, from full orchestra to original scores for chamber music performance. Tagaq premiered this live performance at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.

New Very Best song (and new album coming out this year!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-bC6MsjtlI

Can download full track here: http://bit.ly/TgiWJv

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/world/africa/timbuktu-endured-terror-under-harsh-shariah-law.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130201&_r=0

Those who remained told stories of how they survived the long occupation: by hiding away treasured manuscripts and amulets forbidden by the Islamists, burying crates of beer in the desert, standing by as the tombs of saints they venerated were reduced to rubble, silencing their radios to the city’s famous but now forbidden music.

“They tried to take away everything that made Timbuktu Timbuktu,” said Mahalmoudou Tandina, a marabout, or Islamic preacher, whose ancestors first settled in Timbuktu from Morocco in the 13th century. “They almost succeeded.”

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba's Jama Ko is the first great album of the year afaic (Mali)

http://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ay102464461bk_jama-ko-cover.jpg

not on spotify yet, sadface. bump when it is?
i set up an interview with bassekou and pareles and got to sit in; he's a lovely lovely guy

This Cesaret album from Grup Yorum (leftist Turkish protest music w/ associations to the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front) is pretty great imo.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/57693065/Cesaret+Grup+Yorum.jpg

I haven't heard this yet, but it sounds interesting:

Scattered Melodies is a compilation of Korean Kayagum Sanjo Music. Sanjo, meaning "scattered melodies," is a form of stylized string improvisation developed in the 1890s originally for the Korean kayagum, a smaller distant cousin of the Japanese koto. Stark and haunting, falling in the gaps between folk and classical music, kayagum sanjo employs a gradually increasing tempo, focused improvisation (the "scattering of melodies"), elastic rhythms, and intense snaps and vibrato that seem to power through the hazy abstractions of the 78rpm recording technology (these are old, exceedingly rare records that have survived nearly insurmountable odds: invasion, occupation, war, division.). Presented here are a few of the masters of sanjo as it originally emerged in the early part of the 20th century on 78rpm recordings from 1925 to the early 1950s. This limited edition LP comes enclosed in a beautiful tip-on jacket with two-sided insert featuring extended liner notes by compiler Robert Millis.

LP SF078 The Crying Princess (SF078) compiles rare Burmese 78rpm records gathered by Robert Millis and Sublime Frequencies co-founder Alan Bishop during various trips to Burma (Myanmar) and continues the tradition of amazing music from this Southeast Asian nation released by SF. Spanning the years 1909 to 1960 these unique and ridiculously rare records feature early sides by Po Sein (one of the giants of early Burmese music and theater), vocal and harp music from 1929,

This I have heard (single from Fanfara Tirana's upcoming album Kabatronics) and it's like balkan/lauturi wedding beat.

Just bought that Scattered Melodies. Just the thing I want.

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

One of my favorite things on the internet.

Wow

Yeah, that's fabulous.

one more:

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com/images/SF079.jpg

A+ kayakuming

that is rad as fuck

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/03/170849486/first-listen-ballake-sissoko-for-peace?ft=1&f=10004

This Sissoko/Segal release is too subtle at times.

very light listening

I really like Sissoko. Yeah, it's not challenging stuff. Great for my working morning, though!

I'll second the new Bassekou Kouyate recommendation. Fantastic record. I had the good fortune to see BK and Ngoni Ba as part of the Sahara Soul tour last week, along with Tamikrest and Sidi Toure. Heck of a night of music. BK is a real star, with a louche charisma and incredible chops. His son got to shred some ngoni at the start. Tamikrest were really good, if not quite in the same league as Tinariwen. Sidi Toure was superb - beautiful songs and playing and a great voice.

That Turkish protest records sounds interesting. Will investigate.

The stuff Ballake Sissoko is doing with Vincent Segal kinda reminds me of Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Anyone else?

That's a really good thing in my book.

Lots of stuff to catch up with. Was out last night at a Peace in Mali benefit show in W. DC attended by a number of African Ambassadors to the US including Mali's plus UN & ngo people and others, with locally based Malian rapper Supernova King, Malian traditional ngoni player Master Griot Cheick Hamala Diabate, and Afro-r'n'b Cameroonian singer Taka Tanni, and Afro-r'n'b singer Finckya of the Congo.Diabete's not bad and the rest were ok, but nothing amazing to be frank. A good cause.

that sounds amazing tbh

The Very Best & Seye scored a documentary about street kids

in Kenya, sniffing glue and trying to survive. It's called

Tough Bond, and was directed by Village Beat

(who also did The Very Best's Yoshua Alikuti and Kondaine

videos).

Watch the trailer and listen to one of the songs

from the score/soundtrack over at Fader:

http://www.thefader.com/2013/02/05/preview-tough-bond-a-documentary-on-street-kids-in-kenya-scored-by-the-very-best-and-seye/

The film is premiering at Berlin International Film Festival

next week Wednesday 13th of February 2013.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/music-review-new-albums-from-bongos-ikwue-and-teni/2013/02/06/c36a1644-6ca9-11e2-8f4f-2abd96162ba8_story.html

Bongos Ikwue is an old Nigerian guy and Teni is a young Nigerian/UK based gal; and I am curious about both of their albums

The Teni album is on Spotify.

I wonder what lex would think about this Teni album.

Based on the description of her style I think he might

Finally listened to that Senegalese comp I mentioned upthread. Eh, its just mostly average mbalax.

good stuff update:

http://www.magesy.me/uploads/posts/2013-02/1360234150_cover.jpg

and on spotify i think?

^ this btw sounds amazing in my ears fyi esp track #6

https://soundcloud.com/yadiyadiyadi/yadi-unbreakable-chris-baio

also this is worth reading:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/feb/15/staff-benda-bilili-where-did-it-go-wrong

That's so sad.

I came here to post that :-(((( definitely gives the movie a bittersweet tinge

I never did see the movie but I saw them do a poorly publicized, overpriced gig in Washington DC. I thought they were great live--charismatic and clever musically, and I liked the last album a lot too.

this reissue is hot

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0165/3366/products/ck-mann-1_large.jpg?1351

Have liked what I heard from CK Mann in the past, so I bet that is great.

Afrobeats 2013

Interesting discussion of Ghanaian music here

does anyone know about this it's this trancy south asian electronica i found on spotify called 'globalatronics'? it looks like the comp started in 2012. and i can't really find any information about who makes them or much about the artists on them. i found one iranian artist on the collection who was in a band called Vas that i'd never heard of but she makes beautiful folk music that reminds me a little of pharoah's daughter (she also apparently made some video game music for final fantasy) ---also another artist who contributes to a lot to the 'South Asian electronica scene' 'as defined by Asian Massive artists like Karsh Kale and Midival Punditz' and is on all the comps multiple times. i see a vieux farka toure remix is on the first comp in 2012.

http://open.spotify.com/album/2do45jDlS8YCd5Z7xvdssJ

sorry 'globaltronica' not globalatronics oops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z54uwY2VJNI

In Egypt a niqab was put on the statue of “first lady of Arabic song,” Umm Kulthum.

crazy.

For those who aren't looking at the Haitian thread:
Meanwhile in Haiti it's carnival time, and the President, once known as performer Sweet Mickey, is reportedly not enthused by some songs. Haiitian commentersare not completely enthused with this blogpost either. But it mentions current carnival songs worth looking up-- Brothers Posse, whose Carnival tune “Aloral” was the undisputed hit of the season.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/02/music-and-politics-haiti

NY Times on peace plan framework in war-ravaged Congo

The plan calls for greater cooperation between Congo's neighbors - some of which are accused of supporting rebel groups - and political changes by its government.

this is nuts:
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/24/172818754/turning-a-glacier-into-a-tuba-ice-music-from-norway

That does sound wild. All I have seen from the Kennedy Center Nordic Cool special program so far, is the "Northern lights" projected on to the outside of the building. They look cool (Nordic cool).

Hey New Yorkers,

March 7th at BAM event looks interesting:

Amkoullel, Deeb, El Général, and Shadia Mansour

Moderated by Jace Clayton
In a rare gathering of rappers from the creative front lines of conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East, the extraordinary MCs from Mic Check discuss the power of hip-hop in times of political change.

Interdisciplinary artist, DJ, and writer Jace Clayton (aka DJ /rupture) moderates this conversation with Malian rapper Amkoullel, whose music has been a galvanizing force amid recent struggles with rebel groups in the north; Egyptian MC Deeb, whose song “Masrah Deeb” was chanted during protests in Tahrir Square; Palestinian “first lady of Arabic hip-hop” Shadia Mansour, whose music promotes non-violent resistance—or as she calls it, a "musical intifada"—against Israeli occupation; and Tunisian rapper El Général, whose song “Rais Lebled” was dubbed the “anthem of the Jasmine Revolution.”

only Amkoullel track i go back to is SOS

Exiled From Iran, A Singer Makes The Case For Beauty

About Iranian-Kurdish singer Hani.

http://www.afribizcharts.com/
African electronic dance music mostly
― curmudgeon, donderdag 24 januari 2013 5:37 (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Posted something on this Afribiz Top 100 over on the Afrobeats 2013 thread.
(And thanks for sharing the link, curmudgeon. very interesting!)

I like your analysis of the chart over on that thread and how you point out that it does not cover

large parts of Africa including Northern Africa and the "francophone" parts of Africa,

There could be economic factors at work, at least for sub-Saharan francophone Africa, not for Northern Africa. Maybe there just aren't enough well-developed internet-based musical infrastructures or music video channels in the poorer francophone countries, for instance. But still, the biggest hit in DR Congo (population: 30 million) has to be a bigger seller than a smash from Botswana (population: 2 million) or South Africa's #40 hit, I would think. If your explicit goal is to represent all 53 African countries you would somehow have to find a way to incorporate that in your chart.

Congo is really like 4 different countries anyway, right? From what I understand eg Goma is totally different (linguistically/culturally/ethnically/musically) than Kinshasa or Kasai etc?

That situation is probably not unique to DR Congo. For instance, in Ghana and Nigeria a lot of artists record in their own language too. Sometimes they're only regionally successful, sometimes they cross over to countrywide fame. And the DR Congo music scene has produced someone like Fally Ipupa, whose popularity and fame extend far outside his own country. He won Best Video at the 2010 MTV Africa Music Awards, for instance (as well as best Francophone Artist). But I don't want to pretend I'm some kind of expert on Africa by the way, because I'm not; nothing more than informed guesswork going on here, I'm afraid. Guess we'd have to ask the compilers of the Afribiz Chart if we really want to find out why there aren't any entries from the francophone parts of Africa in their "pan-African" chart…

Congolese rumba largely sung in Lingala has been infuential over vast swatches of the continent. Even with the war and destruction and changing music trends there, you'd think the Afribiz chart folks would somehow include the Congo

this is great: http://www.awesometapes.com/2013/03/kompilation-moytoul-hip-hop-contre-le.html

There was a whole compilation of this kind of Senegalese hip-hop, featuring some of the same artists (it also includes "Nexuma"), released a few years ago, called Dakar Dem Dikk (Compilation 100% Hip-Hop Senegalais). It's also on Spotify.

Terakaft, from Northern Mali, are doing a gig at the French Embassy tonight

Warning: this might be a divisive post.

Pareles wusses out:

http://mondoweiss.net/2013/03/palestinians-message-divisive.html

pareles otm imo but i understand why monodweiss would disagree

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/13/173843328/the-mix-the-mali-100-presented-by-afropop-worldwide

u can listen to a bunch of those tracks on spotify: http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/1oe486mk3957hYWFhfFLAD

Love Issa Bagayogo, been repping him for years. TECHNO ISSA

pareles otm imo but i understand why monodweiss would disagree

Well, maybe it simply is a fact that it is "divisive" in a Brooklyn (or American) context, but the word has negative connotations that are hard to avoid. So I think Weiss might be onto something here, maybe even right about Pareles somehow covering himself by reporting those lines and then applying that description; though to be honest, Weiss's reporting that he is sitting at his desk cursing about it seems a bit over the top even to me.

"Zionism shall be defeated" is a divisive lyric; it's anti-zionism for cripes sake. I get what dude is getting at in suggesting Pareles is somehow aiming for the "safe seat" there but cmon.

^^

I'm with Forks.

So I went to see North Malian desert band Terakaft last night at the French embassy in DC and there were just the group's two guitarists onstage. It seems according to the introduction made before the show that the band's bassist has an Arabic/Muslim name that was described as the equivalent of John Smith, but that name appears on the DO NOT Fly list, so the bassist was not able to get a visa to come to the US. Their percussionist in his haste to flee violence in northern Mali for Algeria a short while back, left his passport behind. He has not been able to get back from ALgeria to Mali and try to find his old passport or been able to get a new one yet. DC-based Malian singer Cheik Hamale Diabete sat in on percussion for their encore. These guys were largely stoic, but their guitars were impressive and they ocassionally smiled and hopped around, or varied their vocal melodies.

Terakaft were in Chicago already and are headed to S x SW now.

hot senegalese mbalax:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wax6MkDTRRU

a friend of mine had to legally change his name as there was someone else with the same name who was flagged as a terrorist so he went through hell and could not take it no more

in other news the Songlines nominees for 2013 are out, check link for artist profiles under each category (nominations are made by outsiders, Songlines crew make selection from that list)

BEST ARTIST
Katy Carr (for the album Paszport on Deluce Recordings)
Angélique Kidjo (for the album Spirit Rising: Live from Guest Street on Wrasse Records)
Seth Lakeman (for the album Tales from the Barrel House on Honour Oak Records)
Ravi Shankar (for the album The Living Room Sessions Part 1 on East Meets West Music)

BEST GROUP
Bellowhead (for the album Broadside on Navigator Records)
Guy Schalom& Baladi Blues Ensemble (for the album Baladi Blues 3 on Ethnomusic Records)
Lo'Jo (for the album Cinéma el Mundo on World Village)
Warsaw Village Band (for the album Nord on Jaro)

CROSS-CULTURAL COLLABORATION
Eric Bibb & Habib Koité (for the album Brothers in Bamako on Contre-Jour)
The Chieftains (for the album Voice of Ages on Hear Music/Decca Records)
Dub Colossus (for the album Dub Me Tender Vol 1 + 2 on Real World Records)
Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyaté (for the album Faya on Localization Records)

NEWCOMER
Sam Lee (for the album Ground of its Own on The Nest Collective)
Emel Mathlouthi (for the album Kelmti Horra on World Village)
Mokoomba (for the album Rising Tide on Zig Zag World)
Samuel Yirga (for the album Guzo on Real World Records)

I've never been to this website, but it seems like a really great source. Article about music scene in Goma that I haven't seen covered anywhere else:
http://www.thisisafrica.me/music/detail/19834/Artists-operating-outside-the-NGO-realm-in-eastern-Congo

The fact that Goma has a budding cultural scene has gone largely unnoticed by the rest of the world. Companies creating opportunities for young talent include the Maisha Soul studio, run by the brother of Congolese pop idol Innos’B, youth-oriented radio stations like Mutaani, the Yole!Africa youth center, UJADEP (Union des Jeunes Artistes Dessinateurs et Peintres), Maison des Jeunes and Maison Proplusion. There are organizations working to strengthen the budding local film industry like Collywood (yes, the name is for real!) and Goma Film Project, and in the past couple of years a number of new recording artists and music video producers have emerged.

Geographically isolated from Kinshasa, and still a four-hour drive from the Rwandan capital Kigali, artists from Goma don’t have many official avenues to promote their work. The city, though, is the capital of non-governmental organizations (NGOs); nearly every western and Congolese aid organization has an office (or rather, a barbed wire fenced compound flanked with watch towers) in Goma, and some of them have provided substantial budgets for workshops or support of local cultural initiatives.

Not surprisingly, the most visible output of the local artistic community has been through events or projects organized by these NGOs, and often the topics of these songs are restricted to the issues that they want to promote. The presence of these NGOs is not necessarily the best catalyst for the development of an independent, self-sustaining arts scene, or best for civil society as a whole (see "How international NGOs killed civil society in developing countries"). Sekombi Katondolo, founder and CEO of Mutaani project: "Most NGOs ask artists to write about their activities like against cholera, malaria and so on. It doesn’t mean this message is not welcome, but musicians should realize that this is music for food, they should not stay artists for NGOs; they should say what they believe."

this is africa is a very cool site, never seem to have time to go there but whenever i do am very interested but storie sthey have

working with them on a hugh masekela piece now; they're good peeps

https://soundcloud.com/akwaabamusic/duni-ramba

Burkinabé hip-hop -- I'll admit that before hearing this album and reading about Art Melody there's no way I could locate Burkina Faso on a map (directly below Mali apparently).

I have a globe in my house (like you had in your elementary school maybe) that I look at periodically to see where countries are located. Could I do it online sure...

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/20/174852411/the-lions-on-world-cafe
http://www.thisisafrica.me/music/detail/19844/Africa-Now-Freshlyground-SA-Lokua-Kanza-DRC-Nneka-Nigeria-and-Blitz-the-Ambassador-Ghana-bring-their-game-to-New-York

links unrelated

blitz is good times

this looks cool:

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/z/zzwidowsjoyeasterneur_101b.jpg

Freshly Ground is disappointing (well, the few songs from it I listened to)

yeah I wasn't blown away either

but I bet that gig at the Apollo was good, as I like some of their older material

this sounds amazing! http://www.npr.org/2013/03/24/174857551/first-listen-bombino-nomad

The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach pairs up with monster Tuareg guitarist Bombino for a dream-team album. The result balances tightly coiled melodies with wide-open, Saharan spaciousness.

Bombino is also gonna be back in W. DC opening for Amadou & Mariam in June I see

some of the straight forward tracks are a little blah, but theres some wonderfully heavy psychedelic guitarwork on the album

Tarraxinhas!

http://www.thisisafrica.me/downloads/detail/19847/Keep-Calm-And-Listen-To-Tarraxinha-music-to-loosen-up-your-partner-before-hitting-the-sack

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/03/26/9-questions-about-the-central-african-republic-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask/

With a song at the end. Rebels just overthrew the government in the CAR this week.

new Bombino is sounding great. not sure if Auerbach needed to throw in a vibraphone solo, and it's kinda weird that Bombino is still rerecording songs from his 2009 album, but the production sounds so much better than Algadaz.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/afropop/from-afro-funk-to-hiplife-ghana-reinvented-through

The Afropop worldwide folks have done good jobs on previous projects, if they get the funding, this Ghana one should be impressive too

Is this Bombino the same as the one on Sublime Frequencies?

afaik it's brand new material?

sorry, I just meant is it the same guy?

yes

so tried posting this a few days back but network went all screwy

new global music blog, know a cpl of the ppl involved and others look interesting, looks interesting, shld be worth a check http://tonspur.tv/

http://tonspur.tv/blog/austin/austin-accra-auckland-a-sxsw-special/

Worth checking out yes, but I find something annoying about their boasting here.

it looks cool but no rss feed pretty much guarantees i won't be back often

I just signed up for their email subscription mailchimp thing

I'm not seeing any new postings there since SxSW earlier in March

think those posts were early on, the official launch party was this past saturday so shld be picking up soon, but who knows

Ghanian hip-hop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7z7obVS-ag

also been digging this Epichorus - One Bead album (apparently they're playing the Y in NY soon)

http://www.thisisafrica.me/downloads/detail/19857/afriko-theque-the-bootleg-ep-african-classics-with-an-electro-house-dance-twist

Wow, the new Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni ba disc absolutely burns!

I need to check that one out

that afriko mix sounds great

Josh in Chicago completely OTMFM about Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba.

hahaha hearing a fuzzed-out ngoni version of Peter Frampton's "Do You Feel Like We Do" riff!!!!

some new stuff i've been digging:

http://boomkat.com/vinyl/655841-various-kassidat-raw-45s-from-morocco

http://i.imgur.com/GBkLSx5m.jpg

http://www.discogs.com/Arat-Kilo-12-Days-In-Addis/release/4365320 (ethio-jazz!!)

http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-4365320-1362939571-2965.jpeg

http://www.rachidtahaofficial.com/?page_id=69

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hyV-BMr9MRQ/USS6iKln7KI/AAAAAAAAEkE/Ib5V5gaorWA/s320/149417COVERRachidTahaZoomAlbumEPRockDZ2013.jpg

re the first one - dude also has a super cool blog here: http://shellachead.com

he's the compiler*

I was about to ask what's up with Rachid Taha these days!

ethio jazz is totes my thing now. listening to a ton of mulatu astatke obvs, any other recommendations? (anyone else interested, i have a spotify playlist here, tho most of it is local files so i don't know how extensive the actual thing is: http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/4AZeabX0TUgvvbC7yiLoRx )

also i discovered that Damian Marley samples 'Yegelle Tezeta' for 'As We Enter'

astatke is boss.
Mordy are you down with ethiopiques already? If not, spotify that name and you should find much to enjoy.

Ethio-jazz is a term that only really applies to Mulatu, he is the only person who would call his music that and consciously tries to ref jazz

All other stuff that non ethiops call ethio jazz is just Ethiopian pop music, however funk or jazz inflected

If you are just enjoying 60s/70s Ethiopian pop, then there is tons out there for you. If looking for more instrumental and def jazz feeling, look at Getachew Mekuria, great saxophonist from that time period, Ethiopiques 14 as a very Ethiopian album that makes many makes ppl think of Albert Ayler style jazz and his album with The Ex is glorious

Sammy Yirga is a young monstrously talented musician, his album Guzo on Real World sells him short in showing his abilities, but this is someone to watch

Also, honestly, Mulatu is a brilliant, brilliant arranger, but most of his so-called compositions were in collaboration with others or straight up rips and the musicians involved in composing have been left to the side. He has done well for himself in riding that though

thanks for the recommendations. i knew about the ethiopiques series but there are so many that i was wary about checking them out. i have heard the most recent Getachew album (Y'Anbessaw Tezeta) and I really loved it. I'll have to look up some of his older material.

If looking for more instrumental and def jazz feeling, look at Getachew Mekuria, great saxophonist from that time period, Ethiopiques 14 as a very Ethiopian album that makes many makes ppl think of Albert Ayler style jazz and his album with The Ex is glorious

YES! I saw the tour with The Ex and it was AMAZING. Extremely great stuff, you will like it if you haven't heard it already!

Ethiopiques S/D

comprehensive! thanks!

That Ex gig with Eshete and getachew at LC was so fuckin' epic; i had such a splitting migraine and yet still good memories

i was one of the ppl who put that LC show together and i missed the damn show!

lotta happy people that night

can anyone help me place who sampled "tey gedyeleshem" by Alemayehu Eshete on Ethiopiques 3? sounds so familiar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fRF6Cby824

yes! thank you

http://www.thisisafrica.me/new-releases/detail/19861/oy-kokokyinaka-genre-bending-african-inflected-electronica-inspired-by-traditional-african-stories-and-proverbs

it's really good! i've never heard her debut but i'm going to check it out after i listen to kokokyinaka (the debut is on spotify so i imagine this one will show up soon too)

would ppl itt be interested in some kind of world music poll? something like 'the non-western music canon in the second half of the 20th century' (or a better name if i can figure one out)? i really want to run one, but i keep running into roadblocks about how best to present/categorize it (also i want to make sure ppl will participate)

Just got an email that may interest thread denizens:

Soundway Records present Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings from the 1970s & '80s -- a treasure-trove of rare and unusual recordings from East Africa. Spread out over two CDs and one triple LP set, Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings from the 1970s & ‘80s out 5/14/13

Kenya Special is accompanied by detailed liner notes, original artwork and photographs. It follows on from Soundway's much-acclaimed African "Special" series that to date has focused on the highlife and Afrobeat output from 1970s Nigeria and Ghana. Kenya Special is a collection of 32 recordings (most of which were only ever released on small-run 45rpm 7" singles) that stand out as being different or unique as well as some classic genre standards. From Kikuyu language "liquid soul," Luo benga and Swahili Afrobeat, to genre-bending Congolese and Tanzanian tracks recorded in Nairobi, Kenya Special sees Soundway yet again taking the less-trodden path. Many of the tracks featured here are peppered with innovation and experimentation, highlighting how diverse the music scene in Kenya was at the time. In 1970s Kenya the two threads of rumba and benga loosely dominated the music scene. Benga quickly became Kenya's unique contribution to Afro-pop; spreading like wildfire through the interior countryside with its fast, 4/4 machine-gun beat and intricate electric guitar layers. The Congolese take on Afro-Cuban rumba was introduced by touring bands, many of whom settled in East Africa -- influencing bands from Kenya and Tanzania to come up with their own take on this popular style. Alongside these styles were small ensembles and hotel-sponsored bands, playing a blend of music that often included rock 'n' roll riffs, elements of "Afro" music (influenced by West African musicians like Fela Kuti), and multiple other combinations from South African and Zambian guitar styles to disco, funk and Swahili coastal rhythms like chakacha. Painstakingly compiled, assembled and researched over two years by a team of five people from five countries (Kenya included), Kenya Special is a collection that looks beyond the mainstream and brings new life and recognition to some little-known gems and forgotten classics of Kenya's past.

awesome! i cannot wait to hear that.

some this is africa links worth checking out:

Didjak Munya's Oxygene

http://www.thisisafrica.me/data/thumb/abc_media_image/6000/6977/w430.68de7.jpg

http://www.thisisafrica.me/opinion/detail/19865/music-and-politics-and-why-we-should-not-romanticize-our-leaders-faults

new Oy music video (and the whole album is on Spotify now!): http://www.thisisafrica.me/videos/detail/19867/oy-market-place -- http://open.spotify.com/album/6Jc2M2a00jOksgAjGiP4H1

that was a really confusing, and, i think, confused piece.
I'm glad i saw it but have to try to process what he is saying and what i think he is trying to say. zim is a really ... complicated place

http://f0.bcbits.com/z/66/65/666558280-1.jpg

really good ^

Thomas Mapfumo who had to leave Zimbabwe would obviously agree that Mugabe should not be romanticized.

x-post- I am still making up my mind on that hybrid calypso of Kobo Town. It also kinda bugs me that this guy's cd is being sent to press folks everywhere, while efforts from many of other calypsonians and soca artists get ignored

Wish I was in New Orleans this week for the Senegal/New Orleans sister cities conference. It started with an event that was presented as part of the EMP Pop COnference in New Orleans closing event that I did see: 5 fishermen brothers from Senegal (4 who play types of ngoni's and 1 on acoustic guitar) performed by themselves and then in a jam session with New Orleans afro-Creole banjoists Don Vappie and Carl LeBlanc. It was nice.

https://tulane.edu/giving/news/scholars-study-new-orleans-and-its-sister-city.cfm

http://www.afropop.org/wp/8281/accra-2013-journal-first-2-nights/

Interesting. Connecticut-based world traveler Banning needs to read an ilx thread or 2 (or maybe he has)

[A lot of this music sounds like what American African music fans would call afrobeat, though that term does not seem to have much currency here. Young people talk about afrobeats--but that's a story for another day.]

Cairo Liberation Front (electro/dub/bass/cha3bi from the Arab Spring)

Aleppo, Syria, my home, is famous for its love of music. It is said that every house in the city contains at least one instrument. My anxiety over the city and the news of its destruction is intimately connected to my anxiety over the survival of our musical traditions, what we all stand to lose when shrapnel and rage reduce a cultural nexus to rubble. These days, the bombed-out residential streets are lined with the splintered wood of ouds.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/opinion/a-writers-lament-for-the-female-musicians-of-aleppo-syria.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130427&_r=0

I don't think I'm familiar w/ any Aleppian music - anything I should check out?

I tend to just know the singers in older styles. Sabah Fakhri, Shadi Jamil/Jameel, Nour Mhanna (getting progressively more one-foot-in-pop as the list goes on, but all classically trained). Fakhri is the king of Syrian classical music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7IdPuUQtsI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L9Z-GRm0sY

Nour Mhanna:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_GOWnfTP1U

know anything about these sublime frequencies comps?

I Remember Syria 2-CD SF009
Omar Souleyman: Highway to Hassake (Folk and Pop Sounds of Syria) 2-LP SF031

Omar Souleyman is banging uptempo wedding music, has toured the West playing hipster venues and festivals, I assume there's a thread about him?

Leh Jani

so this omar souleyman guy (RFI, RFD)

there are other compilations of dabke out there also

I saw Omar Souleyman on an unusual doublebill with Dengue Fever. More folks were there for Dengue's Cambodian garage-pop and they began leaving early into Omar's Syrian speedy beats set with Arabic vocals

I know nothing about old-school Jewish Moroccan music but this blog writer can school me:

http://jewishmorocco.blogspot.com/2013/04/sing-out-maghreb-jewish-moroccan.html

omar souleyman has a strangely paternal presence, gently insisting everybody gets into it, leaning over attentively to be fed poetry from a guy w/ a laptop. killed it when i saw him a few years ago

yeah he puts on a good show

I see on Facebook that Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara is in New Orleans. Wish she would add a W. DC gig to her tour as I was seeing the Burundi Drummers the night she was last in DC.

she's with Mtukudzi in Central Park in July for a free gig

!!!

Lots of empty dates on her July calendar. Maybe they can add a gig in my area then.

forks what is the date for Fatou?

http://www.nonesuch.com/on-tour/fatoumata-diawara?page=1

July 21 in Central park

http://www.cityparksfoundation.org/calendar/oliver-mtukudzi-and-the-black-spirits-fatoumata-diawara-krar-collective/
OLIVER MTUKUDZI AND THE BLACK SPIRITS / FATOUMATA DIAWARA / KRAR COLLECTIVE
DJ sets by DJ Sirak
7.21.2013 | 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm

also:

FEMI KUTI & THE POSITIVE FORCE / SINKANE / DJ SETS BY KING BRITT
In association with Okayafrica
6.23.2013 | 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Both free and in Central Park. Best entrance is 72 st and 5th ave, then bear left.

i would really love to go to the fatou show. atm the only possible problem is that we're due mid-july so it might just not be feasible.

why haven't we discussed this wonderful new rokia traore album at all??

also http://sahelsounds.bandcamp.com/album/harafin-so-bollywood-inspired-film-music-from-hausa-nigeria

holy shit it is breaking my brain is sounds so amazing in my ears

Have not heard new Rokia Traore. Will have to check it out later. And Harafin thing too.

Incidentally, while we are on the topic of Syrian music (which we aren't any more), let me once again point out this 90s concert recording by George Wassouf (who is definitely not classicaly trained), possibly at his peak here, at a young age. I think quite a bit more accessible than a lot of the strictly classical stuff (I have to be in the right mood to listen to Sabah Fakhri). The rolling rhythms on these two songs continue to blow my mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKVa9FR5q30

x-post

http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/rokia-traore-beautiful-africa-released-europe-five-stars-2013-04-08

Nonesuch, as they have done with Youssou Ndour and others, is delaying the US release of an album-- Traore's even though its out now elsewhere. Nonesuch is likely waiting for her to be doing a US tour.

The record was produced by English musician John Parish (PJ Harvey, Eels, Sparklehorse) and recorded at Toybox Studios in Bristol, UK.

http://www.npr.org/event/music/180548391/baaba-maal-on-mountain-stage

He has always been a good live performer in the past. I have not seen him since he did that album with programmed beats and such (Television). I wonder if he includes that material live?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/world/asia/satirical-song-blocked-in-pakistan-but-no-reason-is-given.html?ref=music

http://vimeo.com/64414932

The only Pakistani music thread I see on ilx is a metal one.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/03/its-beach-oclock-somewhere-songs-of-the-southern-hemisphere-summer/274200/

I've heard a few of these, but haven't made up my mind yet.

The next Awesome Tapes From Africa LP release is by Hailu Mergia, the Ethiopian one-man-band accordion/keyboardist extraordinaire. Hailu made his name in Walias Band and later went on to do some visionary solo recordings. Hailu Mergia's beautiful and surprising 1985 foray into traditional Ethiopian songs via analog synth, electric piano and accordion has been remastered and will be available June 25 on LP/CD/MP3/C60.

Shame on me for not having bought that last Awesome Tapes lp release

Egypt's Music Revolution (NYT video): http://nyti.ms/160E0dI

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/world/middleeast/egypts-chaos-stirs-musical-revolution.html?ref=music

and the article about the rappers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-timbuktu-conflict-shatters-a-citys-soul/2013/05/11/726eb604-b66f-11e2-b568-6917f6ac6d9d_story.html?hpid=z1

Still a mess

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2013/may/15/101-strangest-spotify-les-bantous

also posted this to the metal thread but i think it might be of geographical interest to this one too: http://www.thisisafrica.me/music/detail/19889/terra-pesada-heavy-metal-in-mozambique

I almost always enjoy this kind of thing.... http://arbiterrecords.org/catalog/japanese-traditional-music-shamisen-and-songs/

http://arbiterrecords.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/2013-cover-298x300.jpg

wow, that looks great

Mohammed Assaf, singing sensation out of Gaza refugee camp, torches Arab Idol competition

This guy is seriously good.

He's got that classic style down. Very nice

Just came in the mail! http://www.amazon.com/Juju-History-Ethnography-African-Ethnomusicology/dp/0226874656

I got it pretty much entirely for chapter one: "Sakara, Asiko, Highlife, and Palmwine: Lagosian Popular Music between the World Wars." Other chapters look interesting too tho, esp the one on early Juju Music (1932-1948).

Mali Music

An article linked here re the current state of North Mali

Loving this deep mbalax album from the Mark Ernestus/Jeri-Jeri crew:

http://ndagga.com/images/ND-06x.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/64LuN0l6roX9wcCQAuohPF

anyone seen bombino on his current US tour? playing my neck of the woods this week, thinking about going...

I've only seen him on an earlier tour ( a not well-promoted gig before a sparsely attended, but enthusiastic audience at an indie-rock club). He's opening for Amadou & Mariam in W. DC shortly. He was mellower and more accessible at that gig than he once was,but I still liked him.

yeah i'm not nuts about the new one (it's good, just not as good as the previous LPs), but I'm assuming he'll put on a great show.

He was kinda sitting on a chair folk-singer like in his presentation at the gig I saw, but he exuded a subtle charisma

NPR's on to Jeri-Jeri, mbalax & more, mentioned above. Here are videos and such:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2013/05/10/182859072/first-watch-jeri-jeri-with-baaba-maal-gawlo

this album is so good: http://muzzicaltrips.blogspot.com/2013/05/dieuf-dieul-de-thies-unreleased.html

I was very excited to find this lo fi burner from Pakistan circa 1995(?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMbvbFPg64w

Rap from Mali!
http://www.awesometapes.com/2013/05/tondjon-niyak3.html

Haven't listened to that Dieuf-Dieul yet that Mordy linked to but the description there sounds like something I will like:

One foot in the 70s, period knowing the evolution from 60s latin music to a specific senegalese sound, and one foot on the early 80s, new evolution phase toward urban sounds as mbalax and new sonorities form instruments technological progress.

it's great btw.

um, crossposted from best albums thread in case of local interest:

my top 10 world albums (new)

1. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba - Jama Ko (Mali)
2. Rokia Traore - Beautiful Africa (Mali)
3. Esther Rada - Life Happens EP (Israel)
4. Cheick Tidiane Seck - Guerrier (Mali)
5. The Epichorus - One Bead (New York/Sudan)
6. Arat Kilo - 12 Days in Addis (France)
7. Nuru Kane - Exile (Senegal)
8. Bombino - Nomad (Niger)
9. Jon Madof - Zion80 (New York)
10. Amkoullel - Afrique Soleil (Mali)

my top 10 world albums (reissues)

1. Harafin So - Bollywood Inspired Film Music from Hausa Nigeria (Nigeria)
2. Blind Musical Flames - Flames Morale (Sierra Leone)
3. Orchestra Super Mazembe - Mazembe @ 45rpm, Vol. 1 (Kenya)
4. C.K. Mann & His Carousel 7 - Funky Highlife (Ghana)
5. Dieuf-Dieul De Thies - Aw Sa Yone Vol. 1 (Senegal)
6. Mammane Sani et son Orgue - La Musique Electronique du Niger (Niger)
7. Dur-Dur Band - Volume 5 (Somalia)
8. Orchestre National de Mauritanie - Orchestre National de Mauritanie (Mauritania/West Africa)
9. Various Artists - Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings from the 1970's & 80's (Kenya)
10. Kassidat: Raw 45s from Morocco (Morocco)

i don't know how many of those are on spotify but i made two playlists:
http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/74Cwr5M9GAUuh5nD7wBnbs (reissues list)
http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/56xI7bi39W89b2OCIK0D9R (new world list)

has anyone heard this/should i buy this? y/n

http://www.amazon.com/African-Dialects-Peter-King/dp/B00B6CVT24/

thanx for the material mordy, will explore over the year.

that super mazembe collection is super summer music

essential new congolese music:

http://payload41.cargocollective.com/1/6/223025/3127471/Pochette-low.jpg

If Omar Souleyman has whet anyone's whistle enough that they want more modern Syrian dabke then they could do worse than picking up Dabke: Sounds Of The Syrian Houran compiled by Mark Gergis on Sham Palace.

This song, 'Sway To Me' is one of my favourite of the year so far with its much slower than Souleyman tempo and pitched up, almost 'ardkore vocals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g21bfLYyk8c

Is the Rokia Traore available online to North Americans? I thought Nonesuch was holding it and not releasing it here till she tours the US sometime in the future.

Plenty of good stuff to check out above

Amazon has the Traore just not Spotify US

Finally listened to the Jeri-Jeri Senegalese thang. While I love the percussion, I think I am even more fond of the vocals.

Also like the old-school Dieuf-dieul-de-thies that's posted above as well as the 90s Pakistani guitar pop.

solid dabke track, feedback and all

http://www.honestjons.com/shop.php?pid=42655&CatID=124

Stand Up, People is an astonishing collection of rare pop songs by Roma Gypsy musicians from Tito′s socialist Yugoslavia, 1960-1980. Combining rootsy gypsy folk rhythms with the new influences of Bollywood film music, Turkish psychedelia and British and American pop-rock, these are the songs of sophisticated artists who were captivated by modernity, but who had not lost sight of the old themes of love, loss, and life on the road.

just heard this, and if you like turkish music it's fantastic:
http://press-assets-midheaven.s3.amazonaws.com/pdfs/sepetci_bahriye_onesheet.pdf

In Istanbul, close to the city center, lies a district not often visited by tourists. It’s called Dolapdere, and it is populated by the Roma of the city, many of whom are originally from Thrace. They supply the music for the city’s weddings, circumcisions, parades and parties.

Dolapdere is the home of clarinet virtuoso Cüneyt Sepetçi and the Orchestra Dolapdere—some of the greatest musicians of Istanbul. They specialize in a modern take on classic Turkish Roma (gypsy) music, as well as folk songs from Albania, Macedonia, Spain and elsewhere that they have adapted to their own inimitable style.

On days when Sepetçi is not working, one can find him in the café, drinking chai and waiting for the highest bidder to hire him for the night’s concert. In the summer of 2012, he met American musicians A Hawk and A Hacksaw, who agreed to get the under-recorded master into a studio and release his first album. Sepetçi has chosen all the tracks; many are hits from the Turkish Roma repertoire, but many have not been heard in the West.

http://www.harriseisenstadt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Bata-copy.jpeg

looks super cool but i doubt i'll be able to make it in

this is really good:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ReixHngc-TQ/UUcOe5YDcVI/AAAAAAAAAjs/c2EIWta2IRs/s1600/POLY3_RECTO_300dpi.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SfFT3ie-ok

They're always finding more old stuff from those guys. I like what I have heard in the past

that subtitle is hilarious--is it at all justified?

Really liking Soap Kills - the banned Lebanese trip-hop band from the early 2000s
http://bodegapop.blogspot.com/2013/06/soap-kills-complete-discography.html

(BTW, highly recommend the Bodega Pop blog)

Cool blog

Stand Up, People is an astonishing collection of rare pop songs by Roma Gypsy musicians from Tito′s socialist Yugoslavia, 1960-1980. Combining rootsy gypsy folk rhythms with the new influences of Bollywood film music, Turkish psychedelia and British and American pop-rock, these are the songs of sophisticated artists who were captivated by modernity, but who had not lost sight of the old themes of love, loss, and life on the road.

― Mordy , Tuesday, June 4, 2013 2:54 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark

this is such a great comp btw. definitely worth checking out (and on spotify here)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/15/world/asia/prison-sentence-for-2-musicians-who-released-album-of-protest-songs.html?src=recg

China locking up Tibetan musicians

http://africaupclose.wilsoncenter.org/the-rise-of-islamic-extremist-and-the-transformation-of-mali-into-an-islamist-state/

As I departed Mali for the second time, I was overwhelmed with despair. Mali’s challenges are entrenched and connected to a regional dynamic that will not be easy to dismantle. The level of complicity and direct engagement of national and regional government and military actors in illicit activities is unfathomable. Everyone seems to benefit from the instability, drug trade, and ransoms from kidnapping foreigners. My greatest fear is that external actors will fall into the all-too-familiar trap of dumping money into short-term and oversimplified programs that are not aligned with each other or home-grown initiatives. Or that the focus and emphasis of interventions in northern Mali will be on oversimplified military-based counter-terrorism initiatives. As a result, interventions will either have a negative impact or no impact at all . Another quagmire that I am currently struggling to understand is the dangerous dance that the United States and European continues continue to play with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Pakistan. We provide these countries with billions of dollars in aid and oil revenue. In turn, these countries extend enormous resources to promote more extremist forms of Islam in Mali and the Sahel region through direct funding or by providing education to Imams and Koranic teachers. Then, to counter violent extremism, the United States and Europe design and implement relatively small-scale and short-term development programs that have no chance of competing with these larger forces who possess endless resources and longer term visions. Similarly, the drug trade, particularly cocaine trafficking and ransoms, fund both AQIM and rebel groups. Until the United States and Europe can find ways to deter the demand for cocaine, there will be a supply.

But tonight Bamako, Mali's Amadou & Mariam with Niger's Bombino opening are at the 930 Club in W. D.C.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/video/2013/jun/18/rokia-traore-ka-moun-ke-video

http://www.awesometapes.com/2013/06/simons-slow-music-from-africa-vol-2.html

The tracklist on that contains lots of legendary acts: Rail Band, etc. Bet it sounds great.

I still need to listen to that 80s Ethiopian effort he's re-releasing on an Awesome tapes cd.

this is a good piece: http://www.thisisafrica.me/music/detail/19916/the-barely-documented-history-of-zamrock

Bombino was sitting down and playing acoustic guitar last night with his band in DC. Nice in a mellow way mostly (like when I saw him over a year ago)but not as rocking as on that Sublime Frequencies effort.

Headliners Amadou & Mariam and their band (same group members as when I last saw them) offered their brand of speedy Malian afropop and rockin tunes melding some late '60 rock flavor with their homegrown melodies, chords and percussion. A fun hour and 45 minute set.

x-post-- That Zambian piece is mostly good but I want to nitpick one sentence:

the appropriation of Afrobeat by rock group Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend appropriated Congolese rumba and South African styles more than "Afrobeat," which should not really be used to generically describe all African music, as it is largely used to cover Nigerian and Ghanaian sounds. Afrobeatz is the current modern programmed beat genre that has its own thread on ILM

That Amkoullel album you mentioned upthread is awesome, Mordy.

I'm pretty slow on the uptake on this but Soundway's Kenya Special is fast becoming my favourite album of the year. There isn't a bad track on it, can't recommend it enough.

Femi Kuti and Sinkane playing free in Central Park this Sunday at 3

http://newsandnoise.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/the-people-of-super-11-are-in-distress-an-interview-with-mps-pilot/

Will have to buy the digital release to help them out

i'm listening right now. it's pretty cool (from 1994, i think): http://super11.bandcamp.com

New Yorkers should go to this doublebill:

Celebrate Brooklyn tonight, 21st, for Bombino and Amadou & Mariam

http://thefontanellesuk.bandcamp.com

new sahelsounds release: http://sahelsounds.bandcamp.com/album/issawat

This recording of Idassane Wallet Mohammed was made in Kidal, Mali in 2008. The Tuareg run studio “Maison de Luxembourg” produced a handful of CDs and cassettes sold in Kidal. It has since been looted and destroyed by the Islamists who briefly occupied the town. The recordings stand out as professional/local Tuareg productions. The songs are love songs, songs that speak of nomadic life, that reference Adrar and local geography. Today, while the guitar music may reign supreme in towns like Kidal, the nomads live in world apart. The music of isswat is the music of the desert.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22961519

Mali and Tuaregs peace deal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23051824

UN troops coming to Mali

i saw the most awesome ethiopian musical/dance group tonight! the shorter woman and the man dancing in this video were there, and three musicians. it was great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aPWLBI7dtY

the wedel bikri tape that was just posted on awesome tapes is freaking awesome

grr, post cut off
re the ethiop post above, that's melaku, great guy, great dancer & founder/leader of ethiocolor/fendika project. mentioned him on board before, he tours semi-regularly with The Ex so there is other footage of him up on some posts here. short female dancer would be Zenash

I wasn't there by accident, I know who he is :) just wanted to say how much I enjoyed it.

Lots of Ethiopian acts coming to W. DC and elsewhere in US now in association with big Ethiopian sports festival going on in DC area:

Ethiopian and German duet Munit and Jorg will start their U.S. tour on July 1st at Tropicalia Dance Club in DC with opener Feedel Band and hosted by the Seattle-based hip-hop musician Gabriel Teodros.

Fendika (six dancers and Azmari singers) is July 2nd at the Smithsonian Museum of African Art in Washington D.C., followed by a concert at the Lincoln Center Atrium, in NYC on July 4th, as well as in Boston at Hibernian Hall on July 7th.

Jano (young Ethiopian rock band)at the Howard Theatere in Washington, D.C. on July 4th. Maybe I need to listen more, but they haven't wowed me yet

Legend Mahmoud Ahmed and Teddy Afro (ethiopian reggae) on July 5th at Echostage in D.C. And an Ethiopian reggae show that night at the Howard

Washington Post has now joined Washington City Paper in writing about Ethiopian cabdriver (at DC's Dulles Airport) Hailu Mergia whose 1985 tape has been reissued by Awesome Tapes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/hailu-mergia-a-beloved-ethiopian-musician-of-a-generation-ago-now-stays-quiet-in-dc/2013/06/27/c34090b8-ddd7-11e2-948c-d644453cf169_story.html

ok melaku belay is amazing, new to me. this video from last year blew my mind a bit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkMkcyouGV0

Belay's group Fendika are on a short US tour now

yeah, they're rad

I also like singer Kuku Sebsebe who mixes traditional Ethiopian vocal stylings with contemporary Ethiopian synth sounds. She is gonna be in DC Friday night the 5th as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urpsRYyfVf0

She's opening for Haile Roots, an Ethiopian reggae singer

So many Ethiopian shows in the DC area through Sunday. On Saturday night the Millenial Band (?) and a bunch of singers will be performing at the DC Convention Center.

Millennium Band

I saw and danced to some awesome Garifuna music at the Smithsonian Folklife Fest yesterday on the mall in DC. Not the Garifuna Collective (who are on tour and will be in the nation's capital Monday night) but others--women singing in a call and response manner over big conga drums, a sax player, conch shell blower who also banged on tortoise shell drums. After starting folky, they sorta became a Central American afrobeat combo.

So the "Ri Palenge" are the people of Palenque from Colombia? Trying to figure out the background of more participants in the Smithsonian Folklife Fest. I have liked "Afro-Palenque" music I have heard over the years, but have not heard the term "Palenge" till now.

http://www.ethiotube.net/video/26722/EthioTube--the-Scene--ESFNA-30th-Anniversary--Ethiopian-Day--Maritu-Legesse--Endew-Zerafewa--July-5-2013

http://www.ethiotube.net/video/26738/Must-Watch-EthioTube--the-Scene--ESFNA-30th-Anniversary--Ethiopian-Day-celebration-with-Berhanu-Tezera--July-5th

Just discovered that Nigerian rapper Ice Prince was in DC last night. Too many Promoters with their disinterest in reaching out, or lack of knowledge or maybe its just a tight budget

I see that promoter is bringing another act next Friday--Flavor N'Abnia (Nigeria) live at Rio Lounge, Baltimore Avenue(Route 1) in Laurel, Maryland

So the "Ri Palenge" are the people of Palenque from Colombia?

Answering my own question. Yes I think so. They ended up having just a conga drummer and 2 teenage female dancer/singers for their set at the Folklife Fest on the mall. Eh, kinda disappointing. I wanted a full Palenque afro-funky set.

Garifuna Collective in DC at Tropicalia tonight with neuvo-Calypso guy Kobotown

Festival au Desert: Caravan for Peace Concert – a nomadic version of the Festival au Desert that has been touring Europe and will make its United States debut at the Lensic in Santa Fe on July 10, 2013 as the kick-off to the International Folk Art Market

Malian musicians Mamadou Kelly, Tartit and Imharhan.

http://www.globalquerque.org/festivalaudesert.html

Looking forward to their DC gig

Thrill Jockey is putting out another Sidi Toure release, speaking of Malians. I haven't listened to the advance yet. He's gonna tour North America in the fall with Louisiana Creole musician Cedric Watson

Love Tartit. That Festival show looks great.

Tartit and Mamadou Kelly, U.S. & Canada 2013 Tour: Tour Schedule [view artist info]

07/10/2013, Wed
Santa Fe, NM
Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco St
Doors Open: 25.00- $40.00, Show: 7:30 pm
Ph: (505) 988-1234

07/17/2013, Wed
Montreal, QC
Canada La Tulipe, 4530 Papineau Ave
Tix: $35.00, Doors Open: 7:00 pm, Show: 8:00 pm
Ph: (514) 526-4000

07/18/2013, Thu
Northampton, MA
Iron Horse Theater, 20 Center St.
Tix: $15.00 - $20.00, Show: 7:00 pm
(413) 586-8686

07/20/2013, Sat
Trumansburg, NY
Fingerlakes Grassroots Festival: Fairgrounds, 2150 New York 96
Tix: $33.00 - $130.00, Show: 5:00 pm
(607) 387-5098 Admissions Packages Available

07/26/2013, Fri
North Troy, NY
The Sanctuary for Independent Media, 3361 6th Avenue
Tix: $0, Show: 5 pm - 8 pm

07/27/2013, Sat
Washington, DC
Tropicalia, 14th St at U St.

07/31/2013, Wed
New York, NY
Damrosch Park Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza
Show: 6:30 pm
Ph: (212) 875-5456

i'm seriously digging http://www.dustygroove.com/item/655671

Tartit, Imharhan, and Mamadou Kelly from Mali were good at the small Tropicalia club in W. D.C. Tartit's droning afro-folk melodies get a bit repetitive after awhile but are good in small doses. They were part of Imharhan that is led by an electric guitarist whose sister leads Tartit. They melded the Tartit approach with a Tinariwen-like style. Mamadou Kelly has played with Afel Bocoum and Ali Farke Toure, and he had the most varied and melodic approach. He might have been the best on the bill

New Yorkers: in addition to the show with the above at Lincoln Center on Wednesday there's a Saturday August 3rd show at Littlefield Performance and Art Space in Brooklyn

Also Saturday in NYC, Jewish and Muslim chaabi musicians:

The El Gusto Orchestra of Algiers will be playing on Saturday, Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Damrosch Park Bandshell in Lincoln Center as part of Lincoln Center Out of Doors; it will be joined by the crack Israeli dance group ZviDance. The event is free and is preceded at 6 p.m. by a free dance lesson.

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/the-mawazine-sessions-part-5-el-gusto-orchestra-of-algiers

http://www.ajff.org/film/el-gusto

movie trailer for El Gusto. I missed its one-off DC showing. The group have ouds and violins and guttural vocals. Gonna miss them Tuesday for free in D.C. as I will be out of town. But I think the Kennedy Center is gonna stream and archive the video of it.

group has

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/arts/music/musical-nomads-escaping-political-upheaval.html?ref=music

More on Mali

The barely promoted "Africa Umoja", the South African song & dance musical was fun at the Warner Theatre in D.C. last night. It's there through Sunday. We bought the cheapest $20 tickets through Goldstar for the balcony and they nicely seated us in the orchestra in row L (balcony was largely empty). A bit corny, but strong township voices & acrobatic leg kicks,butt shakin, swing dance moves, fierce percussion and more, made it worth it. If you like Miriam Makeba, township jive/mbquanga, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, etc. and can appreciate an emcee who is supposed to look like Nelson Mandela, see this. Its in Dc through Sunday and then goes to Toronto. It was in a bunch of US cities before D.C.

Sister Deborah's novetyish dancey # "Uncle Obama"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2HSo3yywDU

noveltyish

She wants his banana for her monkey

C'mon, somebody make fun of that song. Complain that it has gotten a million youtube views

You New Yorkers made it to the Malian Festival gig(s) and or the Algerian one, right? And you can tell me which Harlem restaurant the Malians went to? A NY Times interview just mentioned "Harlem restaurant" but not the name.

was in central park both nights, sadface

a couple albums i've been digging:

http://img.cdandlp.com/2013/06/imgL/2969816181.png

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0068/0042/products/Screen_Shot_2013-07-19_at_10.33.26_AM_1024x1024.png7492

and new from tzadik!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/p480x480/970555_10151620040999172_808941866_n.jpg

i am working this festival in NYC and recommend pretty much everybody. pretty excited.
http://liveat365.org/index.php

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/el-gusto-s-american-dream

El Gusto not raising much money so far with this fundraising film trailer on the link

Wasn't able to get the link in the preview/interview piece I wrote about them

I think they added additional gigs so hopefully they're making some $

Friday night D.C. movie premiere (I saw an advance of it. It has some dull moments and non-interesting interviews but there's some great music footage and scenery shots of the desert and Bamako):

*Friday August 23rd--"The Last Song Before the War", a movie doc about the 2011 Festival in the Desert in Mali w/Habib Koite, Vieux Farka Toure, Bombino, Tinariwen, Oumou Sangare, Tartit, Group Amanar, Bassekou Kouyate, and Khaira Arby, Leni Stern, Je Conte and the Malian Allstars, and Afropop Worldwide Senior Editor Banning Eyre. from 9:15 to 11 at the Navy Memorial Burk theatre, 701 Pennsylvania Ave NW part of the WMIFF festival

http://thelastsongbeforethewar-dc-premiere-eac2.eventbrite.com/

Watched the movie on the big screen and liked it better. Great footage of Timbuktu plus various small towns and of course the charismatic Khaira Arby. In addition tot eh movie, local based Malian musician Cheikh Hamala Diabete played the ngoni and rapper Supernova did 2 numbers. The ambassador from Mali was there, plus the ones from Senegal and Burkini Faso.

Just watched an awesome Bahamian junkanoo version of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington event at the Lincoln Memorial in DC

http://www.okayafrica.com/2013/08/23/orchestre-poly-rythmo-sound-ailleurs-elodie-maillot/
http://www.franceculture.fr/emission-continent-musiques-le-sahel-par-la-bande-2013-08-26

Elodie was living in D.C. for awhile and I met her. Now she's back in Paris I think

I should listen to her radio show

Heard a steelpan version of James Brown "I Feel Good" in a subway station yesterday. Nice

this mulatu astatke track feat. fatoumata is fantastic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q0ibCVBFGA

i also love this:
http://www.nowagainrecords.com/out-now-karl-hector-ngunga-yeti-fofa-ep/

Heard some great Brazilian drumming and some ok Brazilian rap at Brazil Day in NYC today. So crowded.

That explains the gazillion brazilians (jerseys, flags, etc) on the train today

Yellow and green was everywhere!

I need to check out Niger's Tal Nation who are coming to the US for a tour shortly.

AFROPOP CELEBRATES 25 YEARS ON PUBLIC RADIO WITH GALA CONCERT:

GRAMMY NOMINEE BASSEKOU KOUYATE, MAMADOU KELLY, OMAR EHSAS & SPECIAL GUESTS,

SEPT. 19TH , CITY WINERY, NEW YORK CITY

HARRY BELAFONTE, HONORARY CHAIR.

AFROPOP’S GEORGES COLLINET, MC

Brooklyn. N.Y., September 4th, 2013

x-post--

Liking Tal National the more I listen to their most recent album (not on Spotify I believe). They seamlessly blend various guitar styles--Congolese rumba, Tuareg/Tamashek desert; Ghanaian highlife-- for their self-described trad-moderne approach

. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba - Jama Ko (Mali)

Liking this Mordy fave from earlier this year. Lots of special guest vocalists

But alas, only 1 mention on metacritic and no mentions on Pitchfork.

Rolling Chinese indie rock thread

x-post- Oops, I may be wrong about the vocalists on the Bassekou Kouyate album. Now I think it is his wife's deep strong vocals and his sons on there, and not special guests. Strong vocals and multiple ngonis playing at often speedy tempos is a very good thing.

Liking that album and the Tal National one a lot.

working with Ukrainian artrock band called DakhaBraka on their US premiere and these guys are awesome.
jump to .55 here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=5KskDd0gg00

Visa issues still a problem:

We were just were notified that members of Tal National have encountered unforeseen delays in the visa process and will not be able to travel to arrive on time for this Saturday’s concert with Janka Nabay & The Bubu Gang. The concert scheduled for this Saturday has been rescheduled for Saturday, October 19, same time and same line-up.

i can cosign that the tal national album is fantastic

x-post re Bassekou Kouyate album-- he's got his own family plus lots of guests---Khaira Arby, Taj Mahal and others

Also listening to Malian singer Leila Goby (sometime spelled Gobi)

http://blog.lightintheattic.net/?p=14191

Psych Turk recorded in Israel! Up your alley. Old-school psych Turkish band Mogollar is touring the US now. DC show at Tropicalia Saturday (I know nothing about these groups).

yeah, i was sold the moment i saw that cover.

this is hot too:

http://weirdorecords.com/zen/images/16044.jpg

listening right now and loving it.

oh, and i mentioned this album on the metal thread but it belongs here too for sure -- avant jazz inspired by the music of the historical roman jewish community:

http://sacvs.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/bc_cover.jpg?w=300&h=300

super fantastic + gorgeous

BEST AFRICAN ACT (winner goes on to compete in Worldwide Act category)
Fuse ODG
LCNVL
Mafikizolo
P-Square
Wizkid

MTV EMA Awards http://23rdmusic.com/?p=2679

P-Square is Nigerian Afrobeats, not sure about the others.

I'm still listening to old-school style Malian music. Liking the latest Sidi Toure better than previous efforts from this Malian guitarist. The secret weapon here is vocalist Leila Gobi, I am convinced. She's touring the USA on the Festival in the Desert II tour, separately from Sidi.

http://allafrica.com/music/?aa_source=main-nav-t2

have a show with P-Square tomorrow night, will report back on how they are

dakhabrakha were unimaginably good last night, total top ten of the year show.
if they come to your town DEFINITELY see them

Malian Bassekou Kouyate and his family band were fun Friday night. Lots of ngonis, percussion, choreographed dance moves, and Amy Sacko's great voice

any video from the show? xp

looks like Fork's fave Ukrainian "ethnic chaos" band (that's what their pr person calls them) are in the midwest and west for the rest of their US tour

http://www.eyefortalent.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/artist.performance_schedule/artist_id/187/tour_id/18989/day/09-21-2013

i dunno about ethnic chaos, but they're fuckin' great. get thee to one o' those shows!

new tamikrest is great

Cool. I liked 'em live (well, the members of the group whose visas were approved)

Jonathan Bogart, free-floating pop critic
African pop music: Africa is so huge that it's impossible for me to really have a grasp on the breadth of its musical output. In practice, I'm mostly listening to Nigerian, Ghanaian, and Angolan pop songs as they crop up in my YouTube subscriptions and recommendations. Goldie Harvey, who died earlier this year at age 29, was in a position to become the Nigerian Nicki Minaj, but comparisons to U.S. pop stars never tell the whole story. See Angola's Titica, a transgender woman who's a genuine star in her home country, with banging kuduro and swaying kizomba songs alike.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/in-rotation-pop-critic-jonathan-bogart-on-transgender-angolan-pop-star-titica/Content?oid=10357293

http://sleazybeats.blogspot.com/2013/02/va-african-shakedown.html

finally got to hear this

Tiny bit disappointed by the new Tamikrest. I'm a sucker for that sound, so I'm easily pleased, but while there are some good songs on there, it sounds a bit too much like a slick blues rock record for my tastes - not only in the second guitarist's slide work, but also the more straight-ahead rock rhythms. Dire Straits in the desert! I worry if I'm fetishising the otherness by objecting to their music sounding more like a western rock record - after all, that's what they're inspired by - but then I don't usually go for western rock records with that sound either.

Might be unfair to compare them to Tinariwen, but their publicity does just that, so it's hard not to feel that their songwriting and musicianship, while perfectly competent, is just not in the same league. After a few listens none of the songs have really stuck in my head.

Best Saharan guitar record I've heard recently is the Mdou Moctar live LP on Sahel Sounds. Wild electric jams and beautiful campfire acoustic songs. He does a breakneck version of Tinariwen's Chet Bhogassa that's just outta sight.

x=post copyright violation on the youtube african shakedown blog....

I heard it elsewhere- worth looking around for imo

my city of residence is hosting the WOMEX festival/industry circlejerk/whatever in about a month, I am quite jazzed about some of the live music but don't know large swathes of it

I know and like Shangaan Electro, Sidi Toure, Ebo Taylor and Filastine, does this list have anyone else good on it

Amira, Cumbia All Stars, Debademba, Ensemble Al-Kindi, Fanfaraï, Flamenco Eléctrico, Orquestra Contemporånea de Olinda, Shangaan Electro, Sidi Touré, Fanfara Tirana meets Transglobal Underground, Ganesh-Kumaresh, Ghazalaw, Guillaume Perret & The Electric Epic, Lau, Les Tambours de Brazza, Lo Griyo, Vojasa and Winston McAnuff & Fixi, Aysenur Kolivar, Ebo Taylor, Filastine & Nova, Grupo Bongar, Jambinai, Ljova And The Kontraband, Navarra, Rascuelos, Stelios Petrakis Quartet

The Al-Kindî Ensemble, founded in 1983 by the french virtuoso of Arab zither (qânûn) Julien Jâlal Eddine Weiss, resident in Aleppo (capital of northern Syria and a stopping place on the famous Silk Road) is currently rated among the best formations devoted to classical Arab music

That group looks interesting from the blog but I haven't heard them myself

Debademba are apparently a Paris-based band of folks from Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast and maybe Mali too. I haven't heard them either but their website has me intrigued http://www.rfimusique.com/musiqueen/articles/133/article_8445.asp

http://www.npr.org/2013/09/25/226103347/rokia-traor-on-taking-up-music-and-malis-iron-women?ft=1&f=10004

The album is finally getting a US release so she's doing interviews stateside I see. I haven't read or listened to that NPR one but the initial description on that link looks like that one is covering some of the same topics of interviews with her as the last time she came to the US--daughter of an ambassador influenced by music from everywhere...Its always a good lede I guess.

I like her music and am always glad though to see coverage of artists like her

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/globalfest/globalfest-2014

are you gonna go forks?

How was Globalfest funded in years past?

i'm def going; already bought a ticket through that kickstarter
globalfest has other funding than crowdfunding but i think they're leaning on it a bit more than in years past given the success they've had with it

one of the joys of WOMEX showcases is discovering so much stuff never heard before, tho never enuf time to see every performance, still trying to decide whether attending this year,

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/general/2013/09/27/sidi-toure-and-leila-gobi-bring-malian-music-to-d-c-this-weekend/

http://matsuli.blogspot.com/2013/09/coming-soon-keeping-time-1964-1974.html

Saw Mali's Sidi Toure Saturday with an ngoni player and then saw Malians Leila Gobi and Mamadou Kelly with their respective bands Sunday night along with Mauritania's Noura Mint Seymali and her group. Seymali and band were fantastic--she sang in a powerful afro-Islamic manner while her band played Afro-psych-funky w/ a touch of North Malian sounds. She and her current group were live on WFMU. I haven't heard it yet. The high-pitched Gobi had a flashy guitar player who rocked also.

http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/52542

Semali only did a handful of US shows and she only has a 4 song ep out that resembles her current sound. Plus no publicist

http://lightintheattic.net/releases/923-walk-in-africa-1979-81

So much reissued old African music. Hard to keep up

As for more new African music--hard to keep up too. Nigerian r'n'b/afrobeatz guy Timali is in Chicago at the Shrine tonight. He was in DC in the wee hours last night. I missed it but this guy was there:

http://africaindc.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/weekend-african-music-in-dc-1-419ed-at-the-timaya-show/

Still need to catch up on those reissues Mordy is posting about. I like my afropop live too. Gonna see Vieux Farka toure again friday.

Listening to Vieux's latest on Spotify this morning. Nice stuff

i thought it was kinda boring :/ -- his brother's latest too

It's real mellow so I liked it during breakfast this morning, but it did not resemble the aggressive Malian rock kinda stuff I saw him play live once; or the mix of trad Malian acoustic and rockin Malian music I saw him do opening for Tinariwen many years back. Just read a Guardian review of a recent gig in the UK and it seemed to suggest he was going back in forth between styles. He did acoustic and noodly stuff when I saw him perform with Israeli Idan Rachel.

Doesn't he have more than one brother? Which one has something out.

you know, now that i check maybe it isn't his brother? i was referring to samba toure.

new ayelet rose gottlieb in itunes israel -- not in american store yet:
https://itunes.apple.com/il/album/bzdy-drkym/id722781114

bandcamp: http://ayelet.bandcamp.com/album/-

Oh, she's a jazz vocalist with touches of other things

So Vieux Farka Tour live Friday night, with a smaller band(ngoni, bass & drummer who switched back & froth from calabash to trap drum set) alternated back and forth from mellow (or boring depending on your point of view) to more energetic ones that more resembled his earlier Fondo one. When I interviewed hi afterwards he said this current album was a conscious decision to emphasize traditional culture. His drummer said that on tour Vieux has been listening on his headphones to more modern obscure African music (but the bandmate did not know the names)

The new AYG sounds pretty good one one listen, but I wish she'd honor the boycott of her country of birth rather than singing poems by Mahmoud Darwish. If it didn't involve Jews, the taken for granted attitude toward this issue among so-called liberals and progressives would be a lot further along by now, to say the least.

(Oh but there is a precedent for political comments on this thread. God save me from liberal interventionists who think the U.S. and NATO should go in and save Africans before they've put their own houses in order, including prosecuting their own war criminals.)

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/13/230176762/first-listen-omar-souleyman-wenu-wenu?ft=1&f=10004

fyi she's been living in her country of birth for a few years now xp jerusalem iirc

instead of rehashing boycott israel on yet another thread tho, maybe we could talk about how fucking rocking this omar souleyman album is

Title track is impressive

Just been listening to Wenu Wenu and it is incredible. It is unbelievable what he can do with a korg, at first I thought it was some kind of Syrian wind instrument making that beguiling noise.

I still need to listen to the whole thing. When I saw him live, I liked his sound in small does but got bored after awhile.

I am looking forward to seeing Bale Folclorico de Bahia (dancers, drummers, singers) Thursday night; and Niger's Tal National Saturday night (with Janka)

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/17/five-year-quest-reissue-william-onyeabor

Wow

x-post re Omar Souleyman-- I see that Mark Gergis of Sublime Frequencies in an interview that's been posted on a couple of other ilx threads, says he does not think Souleyman's latest is as good as older releases

http://thequietus.com/articles/13623-mark-gergis-interview-sublime-frequencies-dabke-syria

i really like the souleyman and i haven't been such a big fan in the past

unrelated - this is really gorgeous:
http://www.awesometapes.com/2013/10/yilma-hailu-tewahido.html

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/17/236229506/tal-national-the-rock-stars-of-west-africa

While Nigerian corporations seem to be currently losing the battle to South African ones for retail domination of the continent, demographics are helping Nigeria win the battle on the entertainment front. In my experience, South African music (like Kwaito) has a very limited following in much of Africa and is not even that strong in the SADC (southern African) region, with Namibia being a notable exception.

Conversely, Nigerian pop stars are massive throughout west Africa and are quickly gaining ground across the continent. The same holds true for Nollywood movies. Accordingly, I was very interested to see this piece in a Zimbabwean state paper about an upcoming performance by D’banj, a Nigerian star with ties to Kanye West.

http://africaindc.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/the-spread-of-africa-in-africa-sa-vs-naija/

Tal National from Niger were wild at Artisphere last night. The guitar-playing judge's frenetic, minimalistic aggressive sounds (onstage & on the dance floor) with the cool bassist, trap drummer pounding the snare, echoed & chanted vocals, the percussionist with the hand-held talking drums, and the butt-shakin dancer. A small crowd of folks from Niger were throwing money at the band. Headliner Janka Nabay & the Bubu Gang's groove approach was good if not as impressive.

waltzing into the rolling world thread to ask a dumb question: Is there anyone making music right now that sounds like / is heavily influenced by King Tubby?

Rob or Alex in SF or someone over on the reggae dancehall thread or an Adrian Sherwood/On-U Sound thread would probably know better about anyone still doing old-school like, early dub reggae style productions. I did notice that British-based Jamaican dub producer Mad Professor is touring the US now, opening for the Orb.

Jamie XX and Four Tet guy are into "African music" (not sure what genres. Well, Four Tet's Kieran produced Omar Souleyman)

He went on to discuss his current leanings, explaining: "[I've been] picking up old records and a lot of African music. I've been enjoying the melodies and how different the song structuring process is, and especially how danceable it is. I was speaking to [Four Tet's] Kieran Hebden a while ago and he was recommending me a lot of records in that vein... I feel like I've been absorbing a lot of that production wise. All the records that I collect work their way into the music that I make in some way or another, but I think in terms of the African influence it's becoming more visible."

http://pitchfork.com/news/50045-jamie-xx-says-hes-working-with-big-name-pop-artists-on-african-influenced-new-music/

I do know where Syria is by the way

Oh, I searched for a rolling reggae thread and must've missed it. Sorry and thanks.

rolling dancehall & reggae 2013

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/20/236378375/first-listen-william-onyeabor-who-is-william-onyeabor

Thanks. I also want to catch up on current Nigerian music

"atomic bomb" is alltime

Will see if I like it better than the current Nigerian, South African, and Ghanaian club tracks discussed here:

Afrobeats 2013

report back. i'm digging it a lot

"Atomic Bomb" is one of the better cuts. I'm also liking a current song on the Afrobeats thread: "Khona" a South African track by Mafikizolo Ft Uhuru. It's got piano and kind of a house feel.

Excited by both of those tracks. There is lots happening in both new and reissued African music. Alas, Pitchfork and my morning paper, the Washington Post, are mostly missing out. Pitchfork has run ocassional reviews, Washington Post has been silent (limited in part by smaller budget and less music reviews period).

Those two tracks plus live gigs by Mauritanian Noura Mint Seymali and Niger's Tal National (and various Malians) have me excited this year. Just have to get NY Times, Spin, Guardian and others mentioned above on board.

Competing Friday night October 25th gigs by artists I know little about (maybe someday Four Tet will produce them...ha ha ha...)

*Sarkodie (Ghanaian rapper) at Howard U Homecoming Afterparty 9 pm to 3 am at Vita 9 Lounge DC
1318 9th Street Northwest Washington, DC

*Toofan (from Togo) at Nectar Lounge. 7926 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring MD.

Don't know Toofan, but Sarkodie had one of the best afrobeats hits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTJ3bwDIyWc

Thanks

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2013/10/24/the-maracuyeah-djs-talk-touring-mexico-and-their-last-party-of-2013/

Could a put this on the cumbia thread or maybe the Afro-Latino one, but how about here-- tribal and ruidison and other tropical styles and more mentioned

this looks great, but only vinyl reissue atm:
http://voodoofunk.blogspot.com/2013/09/christy-azumah-uppers-international-out.html

http://www.bellanaija.com/music/

Nigerian music videos here

http://allafrica.com/stories/201310251230.html

Tunisian rapper, acquitted, after 3 weeks in jail

Wish I could be at that Womex conference now. Btw, allafrica.com and bellanaija.com (that I linked to above) have various pieces or links to articles and videos involving young pop African club music and rap

Womex will include performances from around 50 leading musical acts from around the world at the Wales Millennium Centre, along with business meetings, seminars, and a trade fair at the Motorpoint Arena in the city.

However a group of Syrian performers - Ensemble Al-Kindi - have had to pull out of a concert on Thursday after being refused entry to the UK.

http://musicinisrael.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/these-are-not-nice-boys-music-politics-and-the-israeli-black-panthers-ha-panterim-ha-shechorim/

I'm not sure I understand that blogpost

What specifically is confusing you? My only quibble is that I wouldn't translate mizrachi as 'oriental.' The term refers to Jews from the Middle East (and North Africa); aka Sephardim.

Mostly just the use of the term "Oriental". But thanks for the definition

Mauritanian Noura Mint Seymali and her band (who add such greaty funky, psychedelic Sahel & more touches) will be back in the US in early January. Yay!

Brian Eno q and a in NY Times magazine section mentions his recent trip to Mali

Are you dismayed by the fact that so much art today wants to appeal to the fight-and-flight part of us?

Oh, no. I think that’s an important part of what art can do for us. It’s thrilling. Dance music is essentially about that. I was at a fantastic party in Mali the other night where I danced for three hours in 42 degrees of heat. I thought, “My God, it’s amazing that music can make you do this. I’m being forced to dance.” When I finished, it was like I’d been thrown in a swimming pool.

Still haven't heard most of those reissues Mordy's been enthusing about. Need to find time

Brian Eno being compelled/forced to dance for three hours at a sweaty dance party in Mali is my go-to feelgood thought of the week.

yes, but Here's my feel-bad thought about Mali

http://www.voanews.com/content/journalist-murders-wont-derail-troop-drawdown-france-says/1784675.html

:-/

http://kboo.fm/content/christopherkirkleyspinsrecentfindsfromniger

I still need to listen to that. Meanwhile the reissues keep coming. Here's part of Ben Ratliff's review in teh New York Times re a Senegalese one:

Vagabonde” is Mar Seck’s voice, one of the greatest in the Senegalese music of the 1970s and worth a closer listen. Mr. Seck worked with some of the top bands in Senegal: the Star Band de Dakar, Number One de Dakar, Etoile de Dakar. (His tenures in some of those groups overlapped with the singer Youssou N’Dour, who went on to become an international superstar, and the great guitarist Barthélémy Attisso, who later joined Orchestra Baobab.) “Vagabonde,” released by the Senegalese label Teranga Beat, collects unreleased recordings from three sessions: one in 1969, the very beginning of his career, with the band Super Cap-Vert from Rufisque, his hometown near Dakar; one with the Star Band in 1973; and the last with Number One, recorded live in 1980.

In 2003, Robert Plant travelled to Mali to perform at the famed Festival in the Desert alongside Ali Farka Toure, Tinariwen and many others. He wanted to document this unique journey by personally filming his life-changing experiences in that beautiful West African country. Also on the trip were band members Justin Adams and Skin Tyson, as well as his son Logan, who acted as cameraman at times. Plant finally edited the footage into an evocative, personal documentary film entitled Zirka, which has been segmented into eight episodes that will be unveiled every Monday, on Plant's official youtube channel, beginning November 18. Rolling Stone premiered the first episode HERE.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/robert-plant-documents-his-time-in-mali-20131111

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=7808

Some interesting discussion of Nigerian music in the comments

notjustok.com

Nigerian pop music site

DynamicAfrica.tumblr.com

African cultural blog with ocassional music-related postings

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=7959

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=8275

more African dance music there.

Club beat oriented dance music that is, you can also dance to some of the more traditional stuff here

I've always liked Malian in Paris Rokia Traore's music although sometimes it was a little too mannered. I think her latest Beautiful Africa sounds looser and more energetic, while still ocassionally offering more restrained Afro-folky elements. She's at Lincoln Center in NYC Friday, wish she was coming back down to my part of the world.

Rokia Traore, more than just an earnest Malian afropop singer for public radio and WOMAD fans???

Some folks who would never go on a thread with the phrase "world music" in the title commented on the separate Rokia thread.

can we change the thread name for next year? world music reminds me too much of putumayo. honest jon has a cool name for a lot of the kinds of stuff we discuss in this thread - 'outernational'

Sure, but first some history for ya: I think that name was used years ago, then I changed it and put it in quotes before changing it to "whirled" music, and then I added "sublime" to the title to win over fans of that label, and other code words and once I simply called it an "African" something or other thread, and I have added other phrasing to that. Rudiph later mocked my attempts and simply stuck the name World back in the title 2 years ago I think, with a knowing nod that we of course we're not Putumayo fans but we are interested in various international sounds, and that nothing we do would get more folks to post here.

The idea has always been to have a catch-all thread while recognizing that there will be separate K-pop and dancehall and Afro-Latin and whatever threads.

it's weird calling it world, esp when there are threads like rolling afrobeatz and rolling latin music. but i guess it's a catchall for stuff not discussed in those places - other less clubby african music, middle east, asian, balkan, etc music?

lol jinx

i've been interested in some kind of world music poll for a while but separating between western + non-western music becomes really tricky - politically, aesthetically, geographically, etc.

This catch-all thread preceded some of those other threads. Lotsa folks into clubby sounds are not into ones that use old-school instruments so they started separate threads; then there are the folks just into reissues (using old-school instruments)etc.

The intro from this year addressed this a bit:

Like last year, and in some prior years this thread is for whatever "whirled", international, frequently non-English language genres you choose. Yes we hate the term "world" also. Yes, we know there are separate threads for Arabic music, Latin hiphop,K-pop, Afrobeatz and various other international genres. Yes, we know that Ethiopian old-school tunes sound very different from Angolan club beat filled ones. But since there are not enough folks on this chatboard forum to sustain separate threads for each country's current releases (or reissues), we have this. Ok, enough defensiveness. I am looking forward to hearing more guitar-using Afropop, more hybrid tunes using club beats and traditional sounds and vocals; and more exciting unique vocalists, instrumentalists and producers from many parts of the globe.

Here's last year's thread:

Return of the World Music Thread: 2012

dayjob and life is keeping me from listening to everything mentioned recently on this thread and elsewhere that I'd like to. Heard some of the new Anouska Shankar album this morning (with her half-sister Nora Jones on a few cuts). Eh, its ok.

i've got a year end best reissues+new music list i've been saving for december

I've still got a lot of music I have read mentions of that I want to hear a few more times before I'm ready for a year-end piece of my own. Plus there's still time left in the year.

i've kinda been refraining from posting new stuff (esp reissues) that i've been digging bc i feel like if too many get posted ppl just get overwhelmed w/ the volume and check out.

however - Penny Penny - Shaka Bundu is on spotify - new reissue from African Tapes and it's awesome.

um - so is Lobi Traoré's Bamako Nights (Live) - related to Rokia?

have you guys heard the Joseph Kabasele set that Stern's put out? I listened to most of it on Spotify and was pretty blown away, but I really only know the Franco and Tabu Ley Rochereau sets on Stern's as far as Congolese stuff goes.

yes - i have been listening a little. have you heard the Orchestra Super Mazembe 2CD set from this year? i think it's my favorite in that 'genre' (i think they mostly performed in kenya but were originally a congolese band)

No, I haven't heard that yet, but I will check it out. Kenya Special has been my favorite reissue this year, though regrettably I'm not nearly as completist about this stuff as I used to be

this is super cool - unknown band recorded live performance from somalia:
http://www.awesometapes.com/2013/11/side-side-b-its-really-pretty-hard-to.html

x-post--Listened to some of Kenya Special this morning. Yessss, that's a nice comp.

fantastic senegalese comp:
http://terangabeat.com/index.php?/releases/mar-seck---vagabonde/

really enjoyed this show tonight:
http://liveat365.org/concert04.php
(i am working this series and would love to talk about it more on this thread but don't really wanna hijack shill)

share insider world music intellz!

I think that Hawaiian duo played down my way too.

I wonder if a different title for this thread next year would get non-Yanks to post here? Or even a few more Yanks. Eh, whatever.

kaumakaiwa recently reassigned her gender to female. she's got a killer fuckin voice.

x-post- that Mar Seck Senegalese reissue I see further upthread was raved about in the NY Times. I need to check that out.

Still listening to Kenya Special and have not moved on to Senegalese Mar Seck reissue yet.

It always takes me a while to start differentiating tracks on huge comps like that, but Afro 70's "Cha-Emheja" really stood out to me the other day. I need to actually read the liner notes at some point

Yes, and since I was just listening to that Kenya Special comp on Spotify, I need to find the liner notes.

I've been too busy researching just-deceased go-go and jazz drummer Ricky Wellman lately, plus listening to Latin-popster Natalie Fourcade to catch up on the various African music releases I want to hear. They weren't playing any music in the Sierre leonian restaurant/carryout I ate in the other night. They were selling bootleg looking dvds of old-school Congolese singers and uh, Bob Marley

Natalie LaFourcade

I need to listen to these podcasts:

http://www.afropop.org/wp/hipdeep/

http://www.thisisafrica.me/music/detail/19648/DJ-Zhao:-observations-from-South-Africa,-a-nation-still-segregated

http://worldmusiccentral.org/2013/11/27/leni-stern-explores-the-music-of-senegal/

really great ^

I will read it, but I must confess to having found Leni Stern's comments in the "Festival in the Desert" movie doc less than enlightening (comparing blues and Sahel region sounds); and when I saw her play live on a multi-act bill, her too flashy with little substance solos did not impress me. But she seems well-intentioned and has made lots of trips to Mali and elsewhere.

oh, i didn't mean the review was great, i meant the album has a really nice sound

i love the senegalese music tho, so i'm predisposed towards liking those sounds - the mar seck comp too

I thought that was a travelogue from her. Oh, she has an album out. She has a following and critical acclaim, but sorry, I wasn't wowed in the past--when she was incorporating Malian influenced sounds. I will give her music a 2nd chance sometime, but based on the time I saw her live I'm cautious about it. She was trying a little too hard I thought to prove to folks she belonged onstage with the billed "women of Africa" performers Dobet Gnahoré, Manou Gallo, and Kareyce Fotso. And I liked them all better musically.

I like old-school Senegalese music too. Perhaps I will like her renditions of Senegalese sounds better than her Malian-influenced ones.

Okay, requests...

(1)Music that shows off the Steelpan sound the best.
(2)Really colorful tropical music.

I guess some music might cover both.

I don't know about steel pan, but talk a little bit more about what you mean by tropical? I tend to associate that w/ south american sounds, but there are great rumba-style movements in like Congo, Kenya - I could definitely recommend a bunch of that if that's what you like. There's a great book called Rumba on the River that I made a playlist out of a bit ago on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/5aSRWjfIu0dsgx4r0jHz1c -- this might be good for you? Re recent stuff, the new Orchestra Super Mazembe 2-disc reissue is fantastic.

Regarding 1, can't help you too much. I'm more a fan of Trinidadian David Rudder, a singer who mixes the storytelling and melodic vocal lilt of calypso with the speedy energy of soca. He might have some cuts that incorporate steelpan, but he's not a steelpan instrumentalist.

Not sure what you mean by (2)Really colorful tropical music.

i haven't really dug through these yet, but lots of interesting looking stuff here:
http://www.vincentmoon.com/list.php?cid=13

sorry, that's the wrong link:
http://petitesplanetes.bandcamp.com

like this looks absurdly cool:
http://petitesplanetes.bandcamp.com/album/vaynakh-ancient-chechen-folklore

more senegalese reissue from this year:
http://www.awesometapes.com/2013/02/madiodio-gning-sultanu-arifine-face.html

I wish I knew more steelpan stuff too, but there is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ym7PxjFfP4

What do I mean by colorful tropical music? It's quite hard to say, sometimes I find a word that I assume everyone shares the exact same meaning of, like Psychedlic, but people can mean it really different ways.
I think of the steelpan sound as tropical sounding. Isnt there a similar style of music but playing with glass bottles and cups?

This sounds a bit crass but just think of an advert for mixed fruit drinks with girls dancing in fancy colorful clothes, mangos, kiwis, guava, bananas and mango everywhere; but with the music a lot better than an advert like that would be.

It's especially confusing since there is a marketing category of tropical music (which is basically Latin Caribbean, or derived from it).

I ran away and never checked to see what sort of response, if any, my post on Ayelet Rose Gottlieb elicited, but musically speaking I still prefer Mayim Rabim, with its NYC downtown sound, and specifically the post-minimalist thread running through it, but also the occasional dissonance which is mostly missing from her other work that I've heard. I strongly suspect that was the influlence of Zorn, possible enforcing some sort of house style on her Tzadik recording, but I'm not sure. I've read anecdotal comments elsewhere that Zorn sometimes can be very heavy handed about wanting certain kinds of sounds from his less estbalished artists, but the person saying this wouldn't provide any speciifcs, so not much reason to be confident in it (except that this poster seemed pretty trustworthy in general). Otherwise, she has a terrific voice and can use it well. Sometimes on Roadsides it seems like she is relying too much on jazz singer cliches, but not understanding the lyrics, it's not possible to know what the delivery might mean. Roadsides is a good album, overall, certainly one of the best I've heard this year, but my list of favorite 2013 albums is pretty short. I don't care for the male singers on it though.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/dec/01/dj-sadat-mahraganat-salam-cairo

There's also more info on mahraganat I think on the "Arabic music (not otherwise classified)" thread and I think Doran did a thread (and article in Quietus maybe)

Oh no, saw on the Rolling obit thread that Tabu ley Rochereau died. I saw him perform at least once and he had quite a voice

http://www.npr.org/2013/12/02/248192885/remembering-a-congolese-rumba-king

This guy's been reviewing stuff for a long time, and uh, I never quite agree with him most of the time. I guess these are ok (have only heard some of 'em)

MAGNET’s j. poet picks the best world-music releases of the year.

1 Various Artists Salsa De La Bahia, Vol. 1 (Patois)
2 The Garifuna Collective Ayó (Cumbancha)
3 A Hawk And A Hacksaw You Have Already Gone To The Other World (I.M.)
4 Gary Nuñez y Plena Libre Corazon (plenalibre)
5 Minor Empire Second Nature (World Trip)
6 Habib Koité/Eric Bibb Brothers In Bamako (Stony Plain)
7 Le Vent Du Nord Tromper Le Temps (Borealis)
8 Very Be Careful ¿Remember Me From The Party? (Downtown Pijao)
9 Brushy One-String Destiny (Rise Up)
10 Boban I Marko Markovic Orkestar Golden Horns (Piranha)

i haven't heard any! maybe the bamako one.

aw, that's very sad about Rochereau. The Voice of Lightness comps are stunning

Way back when he did this free but mostly underpublicized gig with his band outdoors near a canal in the uppercrust Georgetown part of Washington DC. There were only 100 or so folks there, but he and his group were so great.

Gonna try to find time to check out those J. Poet selections, but I think I should first go through stuff I haven't heard on this thread, the Afrobeats one and the Dancehall one, some more.

very tangentially world music - the track 'the godfather' on the sons of kemet album "burn" is a tribute to controversial ethiojazz figure mulatu astatke. and in general it's a fantastic album i am enjoying.

I forget what's controversial about Astatke?

I listened to a few songs of that Eric Bobb & Habib Koite cd...Bibb has that easy-going bluesy style. Its almost too easy listening. I have liked Koite in the past

Le Grand Kallé
His Life, His Music: Joseph Kabasele and the Creation of Modern Congolese Music
(Sterns)

Recent acclaimed 2 cd comp of another Congolese great who sometimes worked with Tabu Ley Rochereau. I haven't heard this yet either

x-post-- Astatke has a fairly new album out now too, done with a member of that Either/Or Orchestra

was also wondering what Mordy meant about Astatke. That Kabasele is really good and on Spotify.

astatke's supposed to be on us tour this summer as i understand it

oh sorry guys, that was just a joke. i think addis or some poster was talking about how he was overrated and really good at marketing himself earlier in the year and there was a little back-and-forth. i don't think he's really controversial!

x-post to :

Le Grand Kallé
His Life, His Music: Joseph Kabasele and the Creation of Modern Congolese Music
(Sterns)

Listened to some of this on Spotify. It goes chronologically from easy-going slow stuff from way way way back when to more groove-filled, speedier rumba with those great high-pitched guitar sounds and lilting vocals

I didn't get all the way through it yet, but the old slow stuff sounded really special to me. Might just be a mood I'm in. I've also finally gotten around to listening to those London Is the Place for Me calypso/etc comps so I'm really digging slightly scratchy 50s stuff right now.

I didn't mean to sound too harsh re the older stuff.

Oh yeah I didn't think you were, but I did wonder myself when I listened to it if someone who'd heard lots of old Congolese stuff would think it was as great as I did.

I had been listening to that recent club hit by Nigerians Wizkid and Femi Kuti 'Jaiye jaiye' beofre I put Le Grand Kalle on, and so there was quite a difference...

before

Sigh. Wouldn't it be great if there were as many African club music end of 2013 lists, African guitar band lists, Dancehall and trad reggae ones, Latin ones, South Asian ones etc. as there are metal ones?

+1

+2 - i'll post my lists sometime soon. i wish i could publish them somewhere tho but except for jewish press (where i'll hopefully run a 'jewish' album list soon) i'm not hooked into any world music press.

October’s most played world music albums, compiled from returns from radio DJs all over Europe World Music Charts Europe
by giftmusic 2013

1.AFRICANDO Viva Africando (Stern’s)
2.THE GARIFUNA COLLECTIVE Ayo (Cumbancha/Stonetree)
3.TAMIKREST Chatma (Glitterbeat)
4.VIEUX FARKA TOURÉ Mon Pays (Six Degrees)
5.MULATU ASTATKE Sketches Of Ethiopia (Jazz Village)
6.DRISS EL MALOUMI Makan (Contre Jour)
7.ÇIĞDEM ASLAN Mortissa (Asphalt Tango)
8.MERCAN DEDE Dünya (Onearth)
9.CATRIN FINCH & SECKOU KEITA Clychau Dibon (Astar/Mwldan)
10.DANNY MICHEL/GARIFUNA COLLECTIVE Blackbirds Are Dancing Over Me (Cumbancha/Stonetree)
11.VARIOUS ARTISTS Red Hot & Fela (Knitting Factory)
12.THE IDAN RAICHEL PROJECT Quarter To Six (Cumbancha)
13.LAS HERMANAS CARONNI Vuela (Adami)
14.CLANNAD Nádúr (ARC)
15.OLIVER RAJAMANI Texas Gypsy Fire (Jaro)
16.ASHIA & THE BISON ROUGE Diesel v. Lungs (Jaro)
17.DJ TUDO E SUA GENTE DE TODO LUGAR Pancada Motor (Mundo Melhor)
18.BOBAN & MARKO MARKOVIC ORCH. Gipsy Manifesto (Piranha)
19.FARAUALIA Ogni Male Fore (Digressione Music)
20.LAJKO FELIX Mezö – Field (Fono)

fRoots (formerly Folk Roots) published that

http://www.afribizcharts.com/top100.php

African club dance

nice!

lol @ fRoots -- that's a hilarious name for a publication

it's been around for 35 years! i remember buying a copy in high school

But it was Folk Roots then

New Yorkers, you should go see the movie doc "The Last Song Before the War" about the Malian Festival in the Desert

Directed by Kiley Kraskouskas, 2013, 89 m, Mali/USA, Documentary, French/English subt. Q&A after screening.
Sunday, December 8th @ 3:00 PM – Quad Cinema
Followed by Q & A with Banning Eyre, Senior Editor of Afropop Worldwide; world musician Leni Stern; and the filmmakers.

Tuesday, December 10th @ 8:30 PM – Chapel
Followed by Q & A with Chris Nolan, North American Liaison for the Festival in the Desert, and the filmmakers.

Quad is at 34 West 13th Street; Chapel is at Teachers College, Columbia University
525 West 120th Street

http://nyadiff.org/the-last-song-before-the-war/
New York, NY

hm i know all those people! i should go!

You should. I saw the movie in DC and liked it

bump

mmmmm will try. busy week ahead

http://wayneandwax.com/?p=7749

http://pitchfork.com/features/rising/9148-john-wizards/

John Wizards--South African duo with a white guitarist and beat maker, and a Rawandan immigrant vocalist

checked that out after reading the W&W post--it was a perfect antidote for the crazy snow and cold we got this weekend

I just listened to parts of 2 songs and thought it mixed various elements in an interesting way. I need to give it more attention. It's not club dance or traditional music either, so that helps it get Pitchfork attention.

Changing gears:

Yes the Grammys are poorly selected (and folks are still mad they narrowed down the number of international music categories) but here the nominees for this 1 token category:

World Music Field
Best World Music Album
Savor Flamenco - Gipsy Kings

No Place For My Dream - Femi Kuti

Live: Singing For Peace Around The World - Ladysmith Black Mambazo

The Living Room Sessions Part 2 - Ravi Shankar

Man, that is seriously the most clichéd possible list of nominees. And the nominees are: Dead Guy, Son Of Dead Guy, Band Paul Simon Likes, and Band Your Grandma Likes.

the reggae ones are pretty lol too. VItal musical force Ziggy Marley will probably win

yeah that's some barely trying picks there. i presume they give it to shankar and anoushka and norah accept on his behalf.

here are those reggae nominees Rob mentioned

Best Reggae Album
One Love, One Life - Beres Hammond

Ziggy Marley In Concert - Ziggy Marley

The Messiah - Sizzla

Reggae Connection - Sly & Robbie And The Jam Masters

Reincarnated - Snoop Lion

wow curmudgeon this john wizards album is gorgeous - such thanks 4 heads up

I like a fair amount of it but there's 1 cut that sounds too much like Bon Iver goes to South Africa; and another too much like a self-recorded bedroom Vampire Weekend demo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/09/arts/music/basel-rajoub-and-saeid-shanbehzadeh-at-asia-society.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1386701054-TvhdAimVTnSXGzKu041pBw

Iranian bagpipes (?); Iranian percussionist and a jazz player

They're gonna be in DC Thursday night

Bombino showing up in some year-end polls. I dunno

http://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/why-mafikizolo-remains-at-the-top-1.1608198

I only know their impressive song "Khona" and have not heard the whole album, discussed in the linked South African article.

http://www.tropicalbass.com/

http://isthisafrica.com/music/

crossposted this to favorite music 2013 too so sorry for redundancy (loosely ordered):

TOP 20 NEW WORLD
http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/56xI7bi39W89b2OCIK0D9R

Rokia Traore - Beautiful Africa (Nonesuch) (Mali)
John Wizards - John Wizards (Planet Mu) (South Africa)
Deveykus - Pillar Without Mercy (Tzadik)
Ester Rada - Life Happens EP (self-released) (Israel)
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba - Jama Ko (Out Here) (Mali)
Omar Souleyman - Wenu Wenu (Ribbon Music) (Syria)
Barbez - Bella Ciao (Tzadik)
Bombino - Nomad (Nonesuch) (Niger)
Jon Madof - Zion80 (Tzadik)
The Epichorus - One Bead (New York/Sudan)
Etran Finatawa - The Sahara Sessions (Riverboat) (Niger)
Arat Kilo - 12 Days in Addis (Only Music)
Tal National - Kaani (FatCat) (Niger)
Mulatu Astatke - Sketches of Ethiopia (Jazz Village) (Ethiopia)
Cheick Tidiane Seck - Guerrier (UMC) (Mali)
Various Artists - Paris DJs Soundsystem Presents Rise of the Troubadour Warriors Tropical Grooves & Afrofunk International Vol. 3 (Paris DJs)
Orphaned Land - All is One (Century) (Israel)
Nuru Kane - Exile (Riverboat) (Senegal)
Karl Hector & The Malcouns - Ngunga Yeti Fofa (Now Again)

TOP 25 WORLD REISSUES
http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/74Cwr5M9GAUuh5nD7wBnbs

William Onyeabor - World Psychedelic Classics 5: Who is William Onyeabor? (Luaka Bop) (Nigeria)
Grazia - Grazia (Fortuna Records) (Israel)
Hailu Mergia - Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument: Shemonmuanaye (Awesome Tapes from Africa) (Ethiopia)
Orchestra Super Mazembe - Mazembe @ 45rpm, Vol. 1 + 2 (Stern's Africa) (Zaire/Kenya)
VA - Voltaique Panoramique Volume 1 - Popular Music in Ouagadougou & Bobo-Dioulasso 1968-1978 (Kindred Spirits) (Burkina Faso)
Colomach - Colomach (Soundway) (Nigeria)
VA - Harafin So: Bollywood Inspired Film Music from Hausa Nigeria (Sahel Sounds) (Nigeria)
Blind Musical Flames - Flames Morale (Awesome Tapes from Africa) (Sierra Leone)
T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - The Skeletal Essences of Afro Funk 1969-1980 Vol. 3 (Analog Africa) (Benin)
National Wake - Walk in Africa 1979-81 (Light in the Attic) (South Africa)
Idassane Wallet Mohamed - Issawat (Sahel Sounds) (Mali)
VA - Shik Shak Shok! (Worldwild Production) (Lebanon)
Freedom Family - Ayentsoo (Academy LPs) (West Africa)
Itadi - Itadi (Hot Casa) (Togo)
VA - African Shakedown EP (Juno Records) (Ghana)
Penny Penny - Shaka Bundu (Awesome Tapes from Africa) (South Africa)
C.K. Mann & His Carousel 7 - Funky Highlife (Mr Bongo) (Ghana)
Dieuf-Dieul De Thies - Aw Sa Yone Vol. 1 (Teranga Beat) (Senegal)
Mammane Sani et son Orgue - La Musique Electronique du Niger (Sahel Sounds) (Niger)
Dur-Dur Band - Volume 5 (Awesome Tapes from Africa) (Somalia)
Orchestre National de Mauritanie - ST (Sahel Sounds) (Mauritanie)
VA - Afrobeat Airways 2: Return Flight to Ghana 1974-1983 (Analog Africa) (Ghana)
VA - Stand Up, People: Gypsy Pop Songs from Tito's Yugoslavia, 1964-1980 (Asphalt Tango) (Yugoslavia)
VA - Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings from the 1970s & 80s (Soundway Records) (Kenya)
VA - Nightingales & Canaries (Mississippi)
VA - Kassidat: Raw 45s from Morocco (Dust to Digital) (Morocco)

nice!

I don't subscribe to The Wire and perhaps I am missing something, but from this list below it appears the writer who handles this list for them only cares about non-English speaking musicians who are dead or no longer active. Not that its not good stuff, its just kinda troublesome to me when music only gets recognized long after the artist is around to appreciate the compliments.

The Wire Rewind 2013: Global
Abduvali Abdurashidov - Tajikistan Classical Music And Songs
Lili Boniche - Anthologie
Lena Hughes - Queen Of The Flat Top Guitar
Kakujo Iwasa - Kakuryu Saito - Japan: Satsuma Biwa
Orchestra Super Mazembe - Mazembe @ 45 rpm Vol 1
V/A - Cameroon: Flutes Of The Mandara Mountains
V/A - Classical Celtic Music
V/A - Ethnic Minority Music Of Southern China
V/A - 100 Moons: Hindustani Vocal Art 1930-1955
V/A - Stand Up People: Gypsy Pop Songs From Tito's Yugoslavia 1964-1980

Oops, Lena Hughes is an American English speaker, or was-- she died in 1998. She was a Missouri Ozarks guitarist.

OK, Kakujo Iwasa was born in 1954.

lena hughes may be one of my fave albums of the year tbh

Haven't heard it yet

Lap steel guitar for parlors, on spotify

more americana than world but ymmv

i'm interested in hearing this:

http://www.honestjons.com/doc_library/Originals/43149.jpg

Jon Pareles put 1 of my faves, Tal National, in his NY Times top album list

And Mordy likes them too

i do!

But while New York Magazine's Jody Rosen tweeted about Tabu Ley Rochereau's death, alas no African albums are in his top 10.

what do you think accounts for the limited appeal of this kind of music? is it the language barrier? in 2013 it seems like there aren't really geographic barriers to hearing almost anything you want (esp w/ all the labels releasing stuff online/bandcamp/spotify/etc). maybe it's just the sounds are generally more stripped down / folk / acoustic for a critical community that seems primarily invested in electronic / future noises?

Both guitar played "traditional" African music as well as state of the art African music are being largely ignored.

Metal and avante artsy Wire magazine stuff from the US, UK and Europe seem to get more love in critics lists that I have seen than African, Asian and Caribbean music of any style.

Part of the lack of attention is the wrongheaded Putumayo like stereotyping of the music, and part of its the marketing(the afrobeatz dancey stuff like that song "Khona" may be on Spotify and Youtube but no one's is hyping it to Pitchfork or Spin or alt-weeklies and getting it into kid's instagrams), and part of it is being overwhelmed by the amount of music from all genres. But the under 30 Pitchform mindset also seems locked into a pop, rap, r'n'b, rock, and electronica only worldview.

no one is hyping

Yes the language barrier too. Latin music is also largely ignored

NPR's Ann Powers' listed the Rokia Traore album and played up the PJ Harvey connection (producer/guitarish John parrish)

Aster Aweke's remaining gigs on her North American tour

Dec 21st: Toronto | Dec 28th: Minneapolis | Dec 31st: Dallas | Jan 1st: Las Vegas

******GRAND FINALE - Jan 4th: Washington DC ******

Bob Boilen of NPR went for Bombino in the 20th slot of his top 20 albums for the year

Joe Tangari from Pitchfork who is their only reviewer of African music lists the following in his lists

Albums:
8.Vieux Farka Toure: Mon Pays
9.Bombino: Nomad

Singles:

5.Dieuf-Dieul de Thies: “Na Binta”
6.Bombino: “Amidinine”

Skimmed through some of the rest of the Pitchfork individual ballots-- nothing but indie rock, rap, Euro & US electronic dance, metal & experimental....

Eh,stuff from this thread is just as worthy as James Holden

somehow missed this when it came out?? http://tzadik.com/volume.php?VolumeID=718

experimental shofar music...Wow.