Rolling Global Sublime Whirled Music 2009 (With an emphasis on African likely)

Last year's thread:

Rolling Sublime Whirled Music 2008 (a catch-all thread when you can't find another one that works)

This is intended to be a thread for whatever global (mostly non-English language) sounds you hear this year. We will mostly leave the reggaeton,salsa and other Latin sounds to its own thread, and similarly for reggae and dancehall. Others may also be starting threads for specific reissues or continuing existing reissue threads. And Brazilian threads will be the place for those ....so that leaves this one for other stuff--

Any New Yorkers (or folks visiting New York) going to this:

Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 7pm (doors open 6pm)

12 Artists from Around the World on 3 Stages!!!

CALYPSO ROSE - The legendary Queen of Calypso
CHICHA LIBRE - Psychedelic surf cumbia from Brooklyn
FEMI KUTI & The Positive Force - Afrobeat rebel torchbearer
HOT 8 BRASS BAND - New Orleans street party
KAILASH KHER'S KAILASA - Bollywood's Sufi pop idol
LA TROBA KUNG-FÚ - Barcelona's rumba catalana mestizos
L & O - Swinging French chanson
MARCIO LOCAL - Brazil's samba soul innovator
OCCIDENTAL BROTHERS Dance Band International - Chicago's Kings of Highlife
SHANBEHZADEH ENSEMBLE - Trance music and dance of Southern Iran
TANYA TAGAQ - Canada's Inuit vocal experimentalist
WATCHA CLAN - Electric Mediterranean diaspora dance party

At WEBSTER HALL
125 E. 11th Street (bet. Bowery & 4th Ave.), NYC

OCCIDENTAL BROTHERS Dance Band International - Chicago's Kings of Highlife

These folks include 2 guys from Ghana and a white guy from Michigan who spent time in Ghana. They do a kitschy but nice highlife version of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle." Theya re going to be in DC for free Wednesday January 7th from 6 to 7 at the Kennedy Center

http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.press_release/project_id/408.cfm

i got another orig music LP!

http://www.engine-studios.com/vpp/Africa/Images/FBebey_Akwaaba.jpg

The late Francis Bebey of Cameroon was a cultural giant. A novelist, musicologist and performer on as many as 100 instruments-Afropop.org

and on youtube:

http://www.africambiance.org/phpbbv3/viewforum.php?f=2

As I noted on last year's thread, there's lots of Congolese folks living abroad here

Occidental Brothers Dance Band International at the Kennedy Center for free should be fun Wednesday (even if I have my doubts about these revival bands--at least this group includes some Ghanaian highlife vets and the New Order cover comes across as clever not gimmicky to me).

Thursday night is Brazilian music night in the District with two worthwhile gigs. Rio de Janeiro's Marcio Local is a 30-something musician who, with his band, merges bouncy old-school samba with r’n’b and rock. Local and his group will be appearing for free from 6 p.m. to 7p.m. at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=201508704

Garotas Suecas, from Sao Paulo, Brazil also have some samba in their sound but they merge it with a big dose of
garage rock. They will be appearing with local dj Neville Chamberlain(who has been to Brazil a few times) at 9 p.m. at Comet Ping Pong, 5037 Connecticut Ave NW, $ (not free) Doors 9pm.

Forgot about this thread-

Banda music - Mexico

K. Ctr. webcast of Rio's Marcio Local live for an hour at Kennedy Ctr tonight from 6 to 7 US east coast time

Ylowwek Scavel-Cronek has a really good African vinyl rip blog.

From there, I found Sakis et le Groupe Dynamic System - Cyclone (1993), which indeed is the fastest-tempo Paris Soukous album. Nice if Kanda Bongo Man / Diblo are inducing drowsiness.

Of other interest, the latest star of Cameroonian bikutsi is (evidently) Lady Ponce, with an album out in 2008, and she and her fans are net-savvy enough to post lots of videos here and there (expect the usual African line dancing). Seems to be a cut above most bikutsi.

Forgot about this thread-

Banda music - Mexico

― curmudgeon, Thursday, January 8, 2009 4:37 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark

ah, finally the place for my duranguense questions.

No, no, use this one! It's new and it's hottt!
OK, I'LL start it: Rolling Banda/Duranguense/Narcocorrido/Flashy Matching Suits Regional Mexican Thread 2009

omg a surfeit of banda threads.

Advice requested: Should I buy a physical copy of this Francophonic double disc or should I just download it from emusic? In other words, are the packaging and liner notes worth it? THANKS!

Over on the 78rpm thread, i posted 8 sides from a collection I'm working with. Arabic, I believe mostly Egyptian?

78 Collectors: Why are they so weird?

Advice requested: Should I buy a physical copy of this Francophonic double disc or should I just download it from emusic? In other words, are the packaging and liner notes worth it? THANKS!

― tylerw, Thursday, January 8, 2009 10:01 PM (

I'm guessing the packaging and liners are worth it. I've got one or 2 Franco best-ofs and am trying to decide whether to get this. It's been so highly touted everywhere and I've been happy with other Stern's reissues.

those are cool ian. makes me wonder what the 78 market is like in north africa. everything in the u.s. has been so picked over for decades, but maybe there's still troves of discs in flea markets in marrakech. (probably not, i suppose obsessive collectors haven't confined themselves to the north american continent.)

on the franco, i got it off emusic and it's predictably great. i don't mind not having all the trappings, but i've been training myself for the last few years not to want that stuff (so as to minimize the amount of physical media i have to make room for in the apartment.)

(the only other franco i have is the originalite comp, which is all early stuff and only has a little overlap with francophonic.)

i don't know much about MARKETS, especially foreign ones, but Dick Spottswood has compiled a v. thorough discography of Ethnic music produced in America (1st & 2nd generation immigrants most likely?) You figure there is or will be someday various international discographies as well.

And judging by what shows up on ebay, and what does & doesn't sell, there are probably vast stores of material unavailable to the U.S. collectors without "connections." Every once in a while someone will post large lots of 78s from a specific region and a handful will sell for $20 and who knows what happens to the rest? They go back to Greek guy's shelves to be sold at a later date?

this thread reminds me for no particular reason that i started an abortive cantopop thread a while back. anybody know anything? some of this stuff is great.

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=68700#unread

That's the Newish Japanese Bossa Nova & Sophistipop [non-Shibuya-Kei]thread

Any New Yorkers See this show:

Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 7pm

12 Artists on 3 Stages!!!

CALYPSO ROSE - The legendary Queen of Calypso
CHICHA LIBRE - Psychedelic surf cumbia from Brooklyn
FEMI KUTI & The Positive Force - Afrobeat rebel torchbearer
HOT 8 BRASS BAND - New Orleans street party
KAILASH KHER'S KAILASA - Bollywood's Sufi pop idol
LA TROBA KUNG-FÚ - Barcelona's rumba catalana mestizos
L & O - Swinging French chanson
MARCIO LOCAL - Brazil's samba soul innovator
OCCIDENTAL BROTHERS Dance Band International - Chicago's Kings of Highlife
SHANBEHZADEH ENSEMBLE - Trance music and dance of Southern Iran
TANYA TAGAQ - Canada's Inuit vocal experimentalist
WATCHA CLAN - Electric Mediterranean diaspora dance party

At WEBSTER HALL
125 E. 11th Street (bet. Bowery & 4th Ave.), NYC

I think some of the groups also did additional gigs elsewhere

New issue of the Beat magazine out...with reviews of festivals from the summer and the usual columns

Hey New Yorkers:

INAUGURATION NIGHT
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Come Celebrate this Historic Event
and the African Heritage of
President Barack Obama

with
SOUNDS OF TARAAB
Music from Zanzibar & East Africa

M. SALIEU SUSO
Kora Griot from West Africa

DJ NEVA
Music for the Masses!

Party starts 8 PM
(Email us the names of the people in your party to be put on the Reserved list,
and your cover will be discounted )

LEOPARD LOUNGE
85 2nd Ave @ 5th St
East Village, NYC 10003
212.253.2222 * www.leopardloungenyc.com

yesssssssss

This is a one-time pressing of 1,500 copies. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl

Yes, but oh no we are vinyl snobs...

Great looking cover.

xpost to cumudgeon -- they may be snobby in some ways, but they HAVE pressed their vinyl stuff on CD, and digitized their library!

um also i just received that francis bebey LP in the mail, and it is INSANE. so so so amazing. two sanzas (mbiras), distorted vocals, and talking drums on seven long-form groovy vibe-outs.

Don't sleep on Yousef Shamoun (sorry I find that expression irresistibly absurd sounding). He's probably the best Arabic singer in the US, which may not be saying a lot, but he's quite good.

(See youtube. I have one CD but it's all messed up and there are increasing numbers of drop-outs every time I play it.)

xpost to curmudgeon -- they may be snobby in some ways, but they HAVE pressed their vinyl stuff on CD, and digitized their library! -69

Excellent.

Meanwhile on some blogs the notion of what is authentic 'African' music is being batted about, although it's mainly being portrayed as aging 'whirled music' fans versus hip blogging kuduro and other programmed African beat types. Although interestingly someone (Scandanavian blogger Birdseed maybe?) is blogging about how some folks will listen to kuduro or kwaito because they are distinctively unique styles but they won't listen to Ugandan rap because it is considered too 'copycat.'

http://downwithtunes.blogspot.com/2009/01/in-defense-of-copycat.html

I should proofread before posting. Why did I use the word 'although' twice.

I ultimately find these arguments tiresome because I just want to hear more African music of any kind, and read about it too, whether it is 'copycat' African rap, a Sublime Frequencies product, a Rokia Traore artsy Malian whatever release or a reissue of Nigerian music. These what is authentic and what is hip and what is politically correct or music geek correct or ethnomusicologist or dj correct arguments while useful to some degree, ultimately seem like so much inside-baseball when there are bigger battles to fight (like getting any of this music heard and written about in the English language North American and UK and European 'world.'

http://wayneandwax.com/?p=1313

Meanwhile the VOA guy and the Awesome Tapes from Africa just keep digging out great mostly old stuff. Yea, I'm not one for living in the past but there's no point in ignoring it either.

http://www.voanews.com/english/africa/blog/index.cfm?mode=cat&catid=C2DFCEF2-9000-E2D4-0F376E6633818C59

http://awesometapesfromafrica.blogspot.com/

And while the 'what is the right African music to listen to' arguments get played out on blogs, folks keep dying in Eastern Congo and Darfur, and oppressed in Zimbabwe and elsewhere. Not that any of us talking on the internets can do much about that though.

curm dude THANKS for awesometapesfromafrica

<3<3<3<3

No problem.

Aww man, that Group Bombino lp that Pete(69) raved/linked about above is $22 from Forced Exposure who seem to be the exclusive distributor for Sublime Frequencies. I don't get charging that much, but I don't get paying for bottle service in fancy clubs or $10 bucks for a glass of wine or whatever for some types of clothing either. Yea, yea I know the S/F folks aren't gazillionaires and maybe 180 gram vinyl costs more and it has a fancy booklet inside apparently, but still. I'm gonna wait for these folks to make it a cd or digital as they've done for other S/F products- http://www.estradasphere.com/eshop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3_12&sort=20a&page=3

http://chiefboima.com/2009/01/13/a-taste-for-the-modern/#comment-106

huh. it seems a little boring that people are still talking about cultural legitimacy. i mostly respect boima's p.o.v., but the argument itself just seems so limiting.

South African kwaito dj coming to the UK and Miami

28/02/2009
Scala, King's Cross

Flying in from Johannesburg to celebrate his international recognition, Kronologik artist and South Africa's legendary DJ/Producer BLACKCOFFEE touches down in the UK for an exclusive 3 hour set. BLACKCOFFEE has a string of worldwide releases through Kronologik and is getting ready for the Miami Winter Conference 2009. He brings his deep house flavours to London.

http://www.africambiance.org/phpbbv3/viewforum.php?f=2

I posted this on last year's thread as well. It's an African music forum where most of the folks participating are of Congolese origin but live now in Europe, Canada, or the US

January 2009 top selling 20 releases from Sterns (album title first with artist name in next line)

1.FRANCOPHONIC VOL. 1 1953-1980
FRANCO & TPOK JAZZ (38 releases), D.R.CONGO 1 1 2 STCD3041-42
2. WELCOME TO MALI
AMADOU & MARIAM (9 releases), MALI 2 4 2 BEC5772410
3. CONGO 70: RUMBA ROCK
VARIOUS/AFRICAN PEARLS (7 releases), D.R.CONGO 3 2 5 6139342
4. THE MANDE VARIATIONS
TOUMANI DIABATE (6 releases), MALI 4 8 9 WCD079
5. MALI 70: ELECTRIC MALI
VARIOUS/AFRICAN PEARLS (7 releases), MALI 5 New 1 6141132
6. BELLE EPOQUE VOLUME 2: MANSA
RAIL BAND (4 releases), MALI 6 5 7 STCD3039-40
7. BEL CANTO: BEST OF GENIDIA 1982-87
MBILIA BEL (14 releases), D.R.CONGO 7 6 14 STCD3037-38
8. TCHAMANTCHE
ROKIA TRAORE (5 releases), MALI 8 7 4 7559799345
9.MALI KOURA
ISSA BAGAYOGO (4 releases), MALI 9 New 1 6570361151-2
10. IPI NTOMBI: O.C.R. (IPI TOMBI)
BERTHA EGNOS/GAIL LAKIER (1 release), SOUTH AFRICA 10 20 8 CDRED682
11. GUINEE 70: THE DISCOTHEQUE YEARS
VARIOUS/AFRICAN PEARLS (7 releases), GUINEA 11 New 1 6140252
12. SALLE D'ATTENTE (CD + DVD)
SIMARO LE POETE LUTUMBA (1 release), D.R.CONGO 12 New 1 3700409803024
13. 20 YEARS HISTORY/BEST OF SYLLART
VARIOUS (IBRAHIM SYLLA) (1 release), AFRICA 13 Re-entry 3 CDS8911
14. CA VA SE SAVOIR
AMADOU SODIA (1 release), GUINEA 14 10 4 STCD1107
15. THE SYLIPHONE YEARS
BALLA & SES BALLADINS (2 releases), GUINEA 15 15 7 STCD3035-36
16. SUPER MAN
AWILO LONGOMBA (10 releases), D.R.CONGO 16 New 1 3700409802409
17. LA BONNE HUMEUR
MADILU SYSTEM (6 releases), D.R.CONGO 17 Re-entry 17 STCD1104
18. BON VOYAGE!! 1963-1977
RY-CO JAZZ (2 releases), CONGO/ANTILLES 18 3 2 RETRO22CD
19. RAISI JAKAYA M KIKWETE (NEW RECORD)
MAESTRO KING KIKI (2 releases), TANZANIA 19 9 4 PLANET006
20. MADE IN DAKAR
ORCHESTRA BAOBAB (8 releases), SENEGAL 20 25 11 WCD078

Some are not available on US labels yet

Rokia Traore's gonna be touring the US in February. I like her diplomat's daughter take on Malian music although others may find it too art-school.

I think this Group Bombino album is my favorite of the three. May have to listen to Group Inerane to make sure. Either way it's great.

I was afraid someone would say that about that vinyl limited release.

H in Addis, thanks, you make a good case for womef.

There's a lot to like about the Buraka Som Sistema album, but I'm not going to pretend that it does much to fulfil my personal needs. The first half of the Very Best album is a total knockout - don't think I've ever heard sung Chichewa before - although for me it tails off towards the end (MIA's contribution in particular doesn't bring much to the party). Really wish I'd caught Staff Benda Bilili on their recent UK tour, but they didn't come anywhere near my part of the world. Certainly my favourite African album of the year.

Just finally got Staff Benda Billili. Will weigh in shortly. I haven't listened in awhile to my earlier 2009 faves--Rokia Traore and Amadou & Mariam.

S Benda B is good but for some reason I am not as wowed as others are here by them. Just seems like standard retro Congo rumba.

I sadly have not yet heard these 2009 releases:

Mohammed Ilyas with the Nyota Zameremeta Orchestra of Zanzibar: Taarab (Chita)

Oumou Sangaré: Seya (World Circuit/Nonesuch)

Or this:
The Very Best: Warm Heart of Africa (Green Owl)

Actually I have heard some of it

or Khaled: Liberté (Universal/Wrasse) but I am going to try to hear these on lala or elsewhere

Mohammed Ilyas with the Nyota Zameremeta Orchestra of Zanzibar: Taarab (Chita)

Do you generally like that taarab stuff? I was initially excited when I heard about it, but I haven't really cared for what I've heard of it. It ends up sounding to me like Arab music done "wrong," which of course is probably unfair; but more reasonably, it does tend to stick to certain Egyptian big orchestra conventions that I don't like that much to begin with, like it's taking some of the features I least like about that music, and meanwhile I am losing some other aspects of it that I like. Sorry I can't be more specific since it's been a while since I've listened to any.

I was a bit underwhelmed by the Oumou Sangaré, but it was praised to the heavens when it first came out...

The most recent Tinariwen underwhelmed me, although I only listened to it twice. So maybe I need to listen again (it has gotten raves and I have liked previous releases and their live show).

x-post-I think I have only heard one taarab effort and I liked it.

Finally listened to the recent Oumou Sangare. I love her voice so I am impressed so far. Need to listen a bit more and see how it is different from her prior efforts.

The Khaled release is a good solid rai effort.

I wanna go to Dakar, Senegal. Here's an article from the NY Times travel section about the nightlife there (the writer interviews Youssou N'Dour and others; there's also a video link)

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/travel/06senegalmusic.html?th&emc=th

Tonight in DC a film about Irish musicians engaging with North Malian culture, "Dambe: the Mali Project" will be showing at the Goethe Institute as part of the Capital Irish Film Festival. In 2006, Irish musicians Liam o’Maonlaí (from the Hothouse Flowers) and Paddy Keenan went to Mali and to the The Festival in the Desert. Malian musicians Afel Bocoum, Toumani Diabaté, and the now deceased Ali Farka Toure are in the movie.

Dambe: the Mali Project Wednesday December 16 at 7:30 pm at the Goethe Institute, 812 7th street NW

hey curmudgeon, i met ira the other night at the KUSF xmas party! he gave me a cdr of a VOID show that he and his bro recorded back in the day. whatta guy.

Iraq and Albuquerque's own Rahim Al Haj wins recognition (including, best of all, some grant money):

http://alibi.com/index.php?story=30082&scn=music

Also, he and Ottmar Liebert have just finished a CD, as mentioned:

http://www.ottmarliebert.com/rose/

The most recent Tinariwen underwhelmed me

it didn't underwhelm me, exactly, but it didn't grab me the way the last one did. the production and tunes on "water is life" are a little rougher and feistier, it seems to me.

Just heard about the 'Alan Lomax In Haiti' box set via Aquarius Records mail out and I am very much wanting...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8hQRMWHhikg/SxhwzrdZ3wI/AAAAAAAAADE/UmdhBzgyLcw/s1600-h/haiti-contents-800.jpg

http://thehaitibox.blogspot.com/

Anyone been following this at all? I only just heard of it, but it sounds potentially awesome.

Hmm, the image didn't seem to work, so click here: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8hQRMWHhikg/SxhwzrdZ3wI/AAAAAAAAADE/UmdhBzgyLcw/s1600-h/haiti-contents-800.jpg

I'm hoping Cargo might get this for the UK, it seems like it could be their kind of thing.

That Haiti box just seems so overwhelming. So much material. So I have not splurged for it. It also reminded me that I have lost touch with current Haitian music. Between 3 and 10 years ago I saw Tabou Combo, Boukman Experyans, and some other Haitian groups whose names I have now forgotten (including a great DC band) at DC area gigs where my gf and I were the only white folks. Then when my editors started rejecting my pitches to write up the appearances, the promoters stopped hipping me to the shows. The only online Haitian American website I know does not seem to list any gigs lately. I think T-Vice still comes to town but their Haitian synth pop does not interest me as much as the '70s through 2000 konpa sound with guitars, bass and percussion.

I wish someone from Miami, where's there's a huge Haitian population,would post here.

Does anyone know anything about Ethiopian reggae(I think) performer Teddy Afro who's gonna be at the DC Armory(3,000 seat gym) January 2nd. I just saw a flyer for the show at my fave suburban DC Ethiopian restaurant, Meazza.

Wow, Subpop is co-releasing the new Bassekou Kouyate cd.

http://ambiancecongo.blogspot.com/

http://globalgroovers.blogspot.com/

old-school African vinyl download blog

Rokia Traore made one NY Times critic ballot and Oumou Sangare another.
Group Doueh's Treeg Salaam on Sublime Frequencies made the Wire magazine list.

On first listen, this new Céu album sounds pretty good.

Just came across this best "world Music" of the "noughties" list. The notion of selecting just 10 cds to represent so much time and such a potentially wide selection of music genres and countries is ridiculous, but here it is anyway:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6925503.ece

I have nearly all of them-- Tinariwen, Salif Keita, Staff Benda Bilili, Rahid Taha, Amadou & Mariam-- to name a few, but there's no rap, no traditional Asian or Eastern European or Caribbean or South American.

Hmm, I own eight of these - don't know that particular Rachid Taha or Buena Vista. I'd strongly disagree with the inclusion of Lhasa (pretty but a bit dull) and Youssou's Nothing's In Vain (Egypt should have been there instead). Totally agree with: Staff Benda Bilili, Orchestra Baobab, Salif Keita's Mouffou and Dimanche A Bamako. Would have picked the 2nd or 3rd Tinariwen in preference to the Tisdas Sessions. Used to love Mariza's Fado Curvo, but it suffered from over-playing. Would have added: Ali Farka Toure's Savane, Miguel 'Anga' Diaz's Echu Minga, Gundecha Brothers' Darshan, KTU's 8 Armed Monkey, Thione Seck's Orientation, Rokia Traore's Bowmboi, Bebo & Cigala's Lagrimas Negras, Boubacar Traore's Kongo Magni. (Which makes more than 10, but hey.) Runners-up: Cesaria Evora's Voz D'Amor, Duoud's Wild Serenade, Toumani Diabate's Boulevard De L'Independence.

Whatever happened to Thione Seck? I need to do some googling. I saw him live in DC before a 99% Senegalese crowd years ago and that Orientation cd like Youssou's Egypt one is a great hybrid effort.

Wow, I only own one of these particular titles, tho I have discs by six of the acts. Surprised at the Tinariwen disc they chose, but OTOH, Tinariewn appeared on my radar screen around the time of their Water is Life disc. Going to check out all the titles mentioned by TimesOnline and Mike-t.

Is it surprising that this list of names is fairly familiar? On another thread, someone noted that a lot of top-flight modern African music is barely heard in the US and Europe (lack of distribution deals).

Yea, the well-distributed in the UK and US stuff tends to show up the most.

So apparently Thione Seck performed in Newtown Birmingham UK in August 2009 and I read a blog post about a 2008 Senegalese appearance here, http://lerterland.blogspot.com/2008/02/music-in-dakar.html and it looks like a cd called 15th Anniversary Live was released since Orientation. I came across blog posts in French and English mentioning his son Wally Balango Seck who sings as well.

Miguel 'Anga' Diaz's Echu Minga

Nice to see someone other than me still mentioning this.

Gundecha Brothers' Darshan

Dhrupad is too extreme for me, but the Sense World label this album appears on seems really interesting to me overall, and perhaps deserving of more attention in the U.S. I don't know much at all about Indian classical music, but I think it's smart the way Sense World has a fairly identifiable, eye-catching, house graphic design style. Also, they appear to have their own spin: an emphasis on newer performers (often from existing Indian classical music lineages) and a lot of Hindustani/Karnatak collaborations (at least more than I think are typical).

As far as the list goes, it doesn't excite me, but I don't really consider myself a "world music" fan per se, especially in the sense of liking most of the top artists that get labeled that way. I'm just not that world.

Mariza has a very pleasant voice, but I'm pretty sure fado just bores me in general.

This list looks likes it's really tied closely to acts that are the most marketed as "world music." I think a more interesting world music (or international music) list would ignore that. Much of the best music in most countries isn't necessarily marketed, or marketed very effectively, outside that particular country.

On first listen, this new Céu album sounds pretty good.

On second and third listens, it sounds okay. She sounds nice. It's not bad, but not terribly exciting. There must have been dozens of more interesting albums released in Brazil this year, but since they are not picked up by Six Degrees, we aren't going to find out about them so easily. I find almost everything that label puts out to be okay, but lackluster.

They put out these bossa-inspired efforts with some token programmed beats that are not annoying or painful but they're not unique or exciting or surprising either.

So I think the magazine the Beat has finally gone under. The website does not say so, but I e-mailed one of their writers and he told me. Since Global Rhythms went under earlier in the year, and Latin Beat is online only now, I do not think there's an American print magazine covering non-rock/non-jazz/non-country music.

Perhaps I am wrong on the magazine front---there might be hippie reggae magazines or klezmer ones that I do not know about.

Rudi, how come not too many Japanese artists get American releases? Or it seems that way to me in terms of media attention.

I guess it's a bad sad about those magazines, but then again, I haven't been keeping up with them myself. I don't even buy Songlines these days, though I would if it were a little less tacky in its presentation, I think.

how come not too many Japanese artists get American releases?

You're asking me? I don't know. Maybe because the Japanese market is pretty large in its own right? Anyway, most music from other countries doesn't see a lot of releases here, it seems to me. Japan probably does better than some.

Incidnetally, most of the Japanese music I'm interested in consists of people working within western popular music genres, so I don't tend to class it in my head as "world music."

I borrowed Inspiration Information by Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics from the library, and on one or two listens, I like it. I am not familiar with his work, so I don't know how this compares to whatever else he's been doing over the years, though I understand (going by the liner notes) that it's a throwback to the sound he was working with earlier in his career.

I never seem to like Ethiopian music quite as much as I would expect to or as I feel I somehow ought to (given the other musics I love). Admittedly, I've still hardly scratched the surface. I'm that this year I might get around to picking up a few more of those Ethiopiques volumes, especially the Mahmoud Ahmed ones. (Ethiopian music is going to have a lot of competition though as I find myself wanting to hear "everything" at the moment, more than has been true for a while. Not really close to everything, you understand, but maybe a wider range of genre than I've genuinely wanted to listen to for a long time. Plus the amazing archival Sun Ra releases from the last few years, or last couple years, are high on my to-buy list.)

But I definitely find this current Mulatu Astatke album to be very approachable, even "easy listening."

I generally don't say "What's wrong with me that I don't like this" but with Ethiopian music I tend to say that, because I recognize that it's doing a lot of stuff that normally pushes my buttons. (This might be worth trying to go into more detail about later.) Maybe a lot of it is too funky for me? I'm not really into funk very much. Still I don't hate funk by any means, and the mere presence of some funk elements shouldn't be a deal breaker.

Again, I do like this album and fwiw I will probably vote for it in our little poll.

ha I can't get into Ethiopian music, either, but I think it's because it's NOT funky enough for me. Except for that Inspiration Information album, which is as funky as can be in parts.

Eh maybe it's not that it's not funky enough, but that the funk is usually obscured by jarring dissonance. Def prefer smooooother funk eg Sunny Ade or Congolese stuff.

IIRC, a lot of the Ethiopiques series is more jazzy than funky, e.g., Vol. 4.

but that the funk is usually obscured by jarring dissonance.

This is getting funnier, because I think I tend to like some dissonant flavoring. (I'm not sure I actual hear much real dissonance though. It's more a matter of a different "scale.")

(Plus the amazing archival Sun Ra releases from the last few years, or last couple years, are high on my to-buy list.

In fact, I just spent $80 on something from that batch of releases I was afraid I would regret not buying otherwise. You will be hearing more because I'm damn well going to get my $80 worth if only in excuse to chatter online.)

http://byebyebeat.blogspot.com/2009/12/beat-goes-off.html

The Beat Magazine farewell blog. The Beat was around for 28 years

Ethiopians today are not listening to Ethiopiques(well,some might be) they are listening to Teddy Afro. He was just on tour in the UK and now comes to the US with a gig in Washington at the DC Armory Saturday Jan. 2nd. Alas, I'm not crazy about his schmaltzy pop-reggae meets quiet storm r'n'b ballad approach and I don't understand Amharic so his socio-political lyrics and more do not mean much to me. Maybe I need to hear more.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2009/12/31/teddy-afro-ethiopias-bob-marley-at-the-armory-saturday/

Wow, a handful of Ethiopians have posted worshipful comments on my Teddy Afro City Paper blog post. They just love the guy.

I need to start the 2010 thread.

Rolling Global Sublime Whirled "World" Music Thread 2010(with an emphasis on African likely)