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

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

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

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

North American tour I mean. He did a Toronto show

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

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

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

Music from Saharan WhatsApp 04
by Alkibar Junior

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

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

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

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

curmudgeon asked: "Did you get anything?"

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

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

Nice haul

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

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

She means well.

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

El Wali from Saharan Sahel

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

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

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

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

pure heat

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

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

South African singer Thandiswa Mazwai on Tiny Desk Global Fest .

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

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

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

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

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

Tidiane Thism from Senegal getting mellow on Sahel Sounds

Thiam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mokoomba from Zimbabwe got a US date in June in DC

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

Interesting contrasts there between the vocals and beats

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's definitely a good Ghana comp-

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

More details via label bandcamp

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

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

https://wapo.st/3UQ292T

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

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

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

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

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

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

Adooni sounds good there live

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

seeing Etran de L'Aïr tonight, excited!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dun-Dun band is influenced by some African sounds

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

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

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

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

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

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

That Karantamba does sound good

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

Songhoy Blues doc

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

Fairuz and other Lebanon musicians now

thank you

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

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

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

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

Fally Ipupa North American tour got cancelled at last minute

Need to get some albums here considered for 2024 critics polls