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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Assiko Golden Band De Grand Yoff: Magg Tekki

Bounaly: Dimanche à Bamako

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

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

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

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

They are in Los Angeles tonight.

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

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

Cissoko and Brotto video

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DJ Katapila has died, per Awesome Tapes from Africa:

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

https://djkatapila.bandcamp.com/

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's on the Nyege Nyege label

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

Saw the news on Facebook and Twitter

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

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

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

Ah yes. Moctar Funeral for Justice album title track here

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

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

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

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

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

North American tour I mean. He did a Toronto show

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

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

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

Music from Saharan WhatsApp 04
by Alkibar Junior

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

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

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

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

curmudgeon asked: "Did you get anything?"

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

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

Nice haul

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

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

She means well.

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

El Wali from Saharan Sahel

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

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

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

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

pure heat

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

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

South African singer Thandiswa Mazwai on Tiny Desk Global Fest .

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

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

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

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

Ghana hi life and hiplife veteran musician also on tour

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

seeing Etran de L'Aïr tonight, excited!

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

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

Toumani Diabate at Other Music in NYC some years back

https://vimeo.com/5415073

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some of the acts they liked are :

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saw a nice video clip of Tinariwen dc gig.

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

Washington Post re range of music at Olympics opening ceremony

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

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

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

Lots of videos of them on Youtube

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

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

https://busaramusic.org/

I guess not.

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

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

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

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

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

He's fantastic

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

nice!

Yes. I need to listen more

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

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

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

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

super jealous of this fyi <3

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

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

Sublime Frequencies release on Bandcamp

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

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

Mdou Moctar band Tiny Desk

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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