s/d: Afro-Electric music

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i've been really digging Zazaou Bikaye lately, especially "Mr. Manager". it's got just what i'm looking for. mid 80s production with synths, drum machines, some live instruments and singing in 'african'. didn't really care for Guilty as much (except for the acid track) and prolly need to get my mits on Noir e Blanc.

also love the shit out of the first track on Hugh Masekela's "Techno Bush". afro-Italo disco.

i also listened to a Bukky Leo cd last night. wasn't exactly what i was looking for, but it was pretty nice. afro beat mixed with some modern electronic touches. some broken beat and house thrown into the mix.

so is there any other stuff i should be searching out? i'm not looking specifically for fela style afro funk, unless it has a strong electronic aspect to it.

maybe i need to check out more artists on Crammed, but from the comp i listened to (Crammed Global Soundclash: Electrowave) it seemed to be a bit more postpunk and european and less african

― Mike Hooter (jaxon), Thursday, 27 July 2006 00:47 (eighteen years ago)

i knew this was a jason thread

― david allen grier (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 27 July 2006 00:54 (eighteen years ago)

what can i say, i like my chocolate in my peanut butter

― Mike Hooter (jaxon), Thursday, 27 July 2006 01:05 (eighteen years ago)

dued you know you already downloaded Manu Dibango's Electric Africa from em MOCK THREAD!!!

― Sir Dr. Rev. PappaWheelie Jr. II of The Third Kind (PappaWheelie 2), Thursday, 27 July 2006 01:30 (eighteen years ago)

Lizzy Mercier Descloux, "Zulu Rock" reissue on Ze, my favorite old record of the year = Afro-carribean funk + highlife guitar + spunky exuberance + new wave/technicolor production. I can't recommend this enough.

Also, Krisma's "Miami" is a fave, like a mix of the nervous Talking Heads afro/world music dabblings, with some synth/italo-ness.

Sorry if this is not African enough for you though!

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 27 July 2006 05:22 (eighteen years ago)

i've got that Zulu Rock on 12" somewhere but don't remember liking it at the time (might have been too african, HAH). i'll have to search for it. the rest of the album is pretty good though? i really dig her Mambo Nassau album.

and i've always loved the early byrne/eno/heads african appropriation. also really digging the Michael Karoli Deluge album that's total fake african/reggae

― Mike Hooter (jaxon), Thursday, 27 July 2006 05:59 (eighteen years ago)

i downloaded the Manu Dibango track from you PW. is the rest of the album similar?

― Mike Hooter (jaxon), Thursday, 27 July 2006 06:00 (eighteen years ago)

Maybe try some kwaito? Wouldn't know where to start though.

― blunt (blunt), Thursday, 27 July 2006 09:20 (eighteen years ago)

you know, i tried some kwaito comp a few weeks ago and from what i read it was gonna be like a slow african house, but it was more or less hip house and that's not really my thang

― Mike Hooter (jaxon), Thursday, 27 July 2006 22:45 (eighteen years ago)

ugh...posted that drunk last night and thought i was funny. anyway, i've yet to hear the rest of the album.

― Sir Dr. Rev. PappaWheelie Jr. II of The Third Kind (PappaWheelie 2), Thursday, 27 July 2006 23:13 (eighteen years ago)

search:

Moody Boyz - Product Of The Environment

destroy:

Black Jazz Chronicles - Future JuJu

― hank (hank s), Friday, 28 July 2006 01:49 (eighteen years ago)

picked up the Laswell produced Toure Kunda album "Natalia" from '85. it's not as electro as i was hoping, but it's really nice. a good mix of rock, funk and electronic textures. features Bernie Worrell & Nicky Skopelitis.

i'm sure if i dug around i'd find something shitty, but the few laswell projects i've listened to (this, last exit, painkiller, material, miles remixes) are all pretty good. don't get the hatred.

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:08 (eighteen years ago)

destroy "future juju"? STFU w/ that noise. that's an all-time "detroit" "techno" classic, though it has nothing at all to do w/ what jaxon's talking about.

― JABBA JABBA!! NIB NIB!! (vahid), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:12 (eighteen years ago)

yeah, what are those records? the sound like nu-jazz/broken beat

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:14 (eighteen years ago)

just picked up Mandingo "WATTO SITA Featuring Foday Musa Suso". another one on laswell's Celuloid album. it's got Herbie Hancock on a few songs. along the lines of what i was looking for. a bit too happy for my tastes, but really nice.

http://www.fmsuso.com/WS.jpg

apparently i've had a cd by this guy for a while. mandingo griot society (both albums have hamid drake and adam rudolph as rhythm). this cd also has don cherry on trumpet on a few songs, but absolutely no electronic elements.

― jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 4 August 2006 21:30 (eighteen years ago)

also, try Love's A Real Thing, compilation of mid-70s African electrowakaka (they've obviously listened to Fela, and Stevie Wonder's clavinet, but got their own grooves too; no crushing influences atall)(some of it might be from vinyl, but the roughness works good)

― don (dow), Friday, 4 August 2006 22:00 (eighteen years ago)

mid 80s production with synths, drum machines, some live instruments and singing in 'african'.

this describes brenda fassie's '80s stuff pretty well. i only have the one compilation by her, but it's rly good. (some singing is in english, don't know if that bothers you.) search especially "thola madlozi" by her, great song.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 4 August 2006 22:56 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

picked up Manu Dibango's "Abele Dance" 12" also on Celluloid. exactly what i was looking for. i've got to find some of his albums from around this time

― jaxon (jaxon), Saturday, 16 September 2006 02:02 (eighteen years ago)

None of these are 'electro' by definition, but they do have modern/fusionary/synthy elements applied to African music...

- "African Travels" compilation from Six Degrees
- the album "Tassoumakan" by Issa Bagayogo.
- "Ikoh Allah" by Bala Miller (on the Nigeria '70 comp).

Then there's this unidenitied track, which is a pure delight:
http://download.yousendit.com/FB25DCAD4C0AAFAC

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Saturday, 16 September 2006 19:21 (eighteen years ago)

Try some:
- Ata Kak (Ghanaian synthy pop, totally sweet)
- Black Blood (perhaps a bit more 70s)

that comp 'love's a real thing' is named after a super eagles song, no?

― trees (treesessplode), Sunday, 17 September 2006 20:43 (eighteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

dude, jaxon, i got this super cool juju album by *Dele Abiodun* on Shanachie called *Adawa Super Sound*. great electro touches throughout. The guitars are so amazing on this record. Like the island of hawaii fucking Les Paul under a mahogany tree in the Nigerian rain forest.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 9 October 2006 21:53 (eighteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

I got all excited and acquired a bunch of selections form this thread; Bukky Leo, Moody Boys, Lizzy Mercier Descloux. (Couldn't find Zazaou Bikaye. Already had the Hugh Masekela & Manu Dibango). From these, there were a few tracks pleasing to my palette, but overall nothing fed the appetite. Until...

I sampled "The Same Blood" from Tony Allen's Black Voices, then went and ordered the expensive import, only to wait 30 days for it's arrival and be told it's actually unavailable. But last night I'm rifling through the iTunes store and they have the rerelease for download. (!) It's got the minimal, dubby but clean, beat driven, vocoded, funky dividends. It is for what I sought.

I'd also recommend (a bit less enthusiasticly) Mali Music produced by Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), kind of his "Graceland" w/ the locals featured more prominently; Afel Bocoum, Ko Kan Ko Sata Doumbia, Toumani Diabete. Some good moods there.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Thursday, 26 October 2006 15:45 (eighteen years ago)

since the (good) Zazou Bikaye albums are impossible to find in any form, i've decided to upload the few tracks i can find on mp3.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/tjmb0m

― jaxon (jaxon), Thursday, 26 October 2006 17:02 (eighteen years ago)

I'd just like to say "wow". But in Congolese.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Thursday, 26 October 2006 21:30 (eighteen years ago)

So, the Crammed comps aren't all that?

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Thursday, 26 October 2006 21:42 (eighteen years ago)

two months pass...

This thread inspired me to make a pod-mix, here.

It has some Zazou Bikaye, Issa Bagayogo, Tony Allen, Moody Boys, Mabi Thobejane, King Sunny Ade, Mali Music, Sandoz... and more Zazou Bikaye. (1 hour download or stream).

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Monday, 15 January 2007 01:36 (eighteen years ago)

that was pretty great. thanks. was sandoz that dubby reggae thing near the end? i've always meant to pick up one of his albums.

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 23:14 (eighteen years ago)

Black Voices -- Tony Allen
Na Kenda -- Zazou Bikaye
Touba -- Issa Bigayogo
Pygmy Song -- Moody Boys
Sidudla (Gus Gus Remix) -- Mabi Thobejane
Strike Fire -- Sandoz
Mangungu -- Zazou Bikaye
Sunny Ti De Ariya -- King Sunny Ade & His African Beats
Mother Naturre's Spies -- Fila Brazila
Noumou Foly (Galliano Mix) -- Neba Solo
The Djembe -- Mali Music
M'pasi Ya M'pamba -- Zazou Bikaye

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 01:45 (eighteen years ago)

holy shit, the song i liked was Mali Music?! isn't that the damon albarn thing? weird.

― jaxon (jaxon), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 01:50 (eighteen years ago)

Well, yeah. He produced the album.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 03:42 (eighteen years ago)

nine months pass...

Huh. Congotronics unmentioned.

― Bobbi Peru, Saturday, 10 November 2007 00:32 (seventeen years ago)

that's because i started that thread too
Konono No1 - "Tradi-Modern" - This shit is unreal

― jaxon, Saturday, 10 November 2007 06:13 (seventeen years ago)

three months pass...

Natural Colour "State of Play" http://dreamchimney.com/tracks/18737

― jaxon, Thursday, 14 February 2008 20:35 (seventeen years ago)

Ray Lema "Hut of Fun" http://www.robotsinheat.com/trax/HutOfFun.mp3

― jaxon, Thursday, 14 February 2008 20:35 (seventeen years ago)

Ray Lema "Techno Dream" - http://www.robotsinheat.com/temp/TechnoDream.mp3

― jaxon, Thursday, 14 February 2008 20:37 (seventeen years ago)

keep 'em comin'

― Bobbi Peru, Thursday, 14 February 2008 22:51 (seventeen years ago)

one month passes...

i just put up a weeks worth of these tracks http://www.robotsinheat.com

― jaxon, Saturday, 12 April 2008 19:43 (seventeen years ago)

man, i been posting drunk on ilx for a couple years now

― PappaWheelie V, Saturday, 12 April 2008 20:58 (seventeen years ago)

two years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8LI2giE75U

― jaxon, Wednesday, 1 September 2010 22:30 (fourteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOzF8bN-PTg

― stirmonster, Wednesday, 1 September 2010 22:49 (fourteen years ago)

this blog

http://afrosynth.blogspot.com/

― oscar, Wednesday, 1 September 2010 22:53 (fourteen years ago)

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