NEW WORLD

AFRICA

OLD WORLD (inc Asia, Arabia)

African Discographies

Greetings, Platterbugs!

Updated 1 February 2025

New & notable releases

El Brujo, Colombian roots single with remix, fropm Palenque records

also from Colombia, Ghetto Kumbé deliver "Se Fué" in a disco vein

a bit more out-of-the-way, a compilation of 1970s Japanese "Akasaka soul funk": I liked tracks 7 and 9, though honestly I prefer the harder edge of contemporary funk like Juna Serita; despite all the malarkey about the size of her tits, she whomps that bass. Even better is her jazz work with Tokyo Groove Jyoshi

Ken A, our Washington correspondent, likes "Onda" (Brasilian disco) by João Selva and new material from Colombia's Conjunto Son San, seen here in an old video

Tony P, our Bristol correspondent, likes the rootsy "Oyé Maloya" by Lindigo from Réunion & I concur, this one is a gem;
Tony also recommends "Héritage" Malian roots music by Songhoy Blues
also, DJAM! white boy rocker meets Malian blues guitar

Mr Bongo announces the imminent arrival of Original Sound of Mali vol 2

Live shows

Kokoroko (Afro-British jazz) live on KEXP

Videos

"A Jig in the Jungle" Dorothy Dandridge in a bikini from 1941 (20 years before the French "invented" the bikini) amid standard racist African stereotypes: cannibals with war paint and top hats, but groovy music

Ken A. found this cool video from Madagascar by Nestor Lazão

Ted Jaspers has launched a YouTube channel with videos of West African artists performing, including Thione Seck, Baobab with "Utru horas," etc, Super Diamono, Etoile 2000, Les Ambassadeurs, Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar & more

Dogo du Togo "Zonva"

R.I.P.

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NOVALIMA
LA DANZA (Six Degrees)

For two decades Novalima have been recording, touring and sophisticating their unique style, a blend of Afro-Peruvian rhythms with modern urban electronica and dub. Traditional Afro-Peruvian music was unknown until relatively recently and the work of Perú Negro and Susana Baca, featured on The Soul of Black Peru (Luaka Bop, 1995). For their new album Novalima have added new material to tracks from their last two EPs which came out on Six Degrees. While the arrival of Spanish conquistadores in Peru is well documented, histories don't mention the black slaves brought there, perhaps because greater numbers were brought to Brasil and other countries in Latin America. Fewer Africans were brought to Peru, until the Spaniards established plantations and then imported them from Cuba, Colombia and Hispaniola. Today black Peruvians still number less than 5% of the population. Probably more is known about the origins of house music, though again I remain in the dark. There is a good balance of tradition with innovation here: the electronica allows them space to suspend the rhythms and use them subtly, instead of in a barrage. Small hand drums and the buzzing jawbone of an ass are framed with pulses and sitar-like drones that create an effective wash of sound. The use of echo and loops also sets up a dramatic dialogue with the earnest vocals, which are clear and reinforced with sweet harmonies, even when the backing is more like guitars on buzz saw setting. I sense an expansive South American mood here as it reminds me of Colombian music in places including cumbia rhythms. The lush backing often has an eerie soundtrack quality weaving complex moods around the different vocalists. There are eight guest artists, though maybe some are DJs rather than singers. The collective started out file-sharing on different continents (London, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Lima) and working up their material remotely, but now they do it live at major world festivals, and their last outing got a Grammy nod as best alternative album. I cracked up at "Canta del Agua" because the guitar lick is "Stayin Alive" by the Bee Gees. They end with a gratuitous Bob Marley cover, "Exodus," which is the only weak spot on the album, though it probably gets the crowd sweating & heaving in concert.

ABOUBACAR TRAORE & BALIMA
SABABU (Zephyrus Records)

This comes out of the gates like a bunch of thoroughbreds bent on winning the Grand National. Aboubacar Traoré sings and plays kamélé ngoni; the other members of Balima (who all sing backing vocals) are Guillaume Codutti on percussion, Zonata Dembélé on bass, Geoffrey Desmet on balafon and djembe and Désiré Soméon on guitar. I hear some studio effects on there too, sweetening the mix which is already very powerful. This is a solid, rocking album. The songs are socially aware: in "Gnani," Traoré asks how we can escape from poverty? The Europeans and Americans have fiscal sway over the CFA and extract the rich resources of Africa, such as gold, uranium and coltan, while Africans perish trying to cross the Mediterranean to escape their plight. The energy might remind you of BKO or Zani Diabaté, and it has that "well-worked-up in concert" feeling to it. Mariam Dioubate joins in as lead singer on the epic "Turamagan" about a 13th-century Mandingo warrior chief. This track, despite the implicit traditional origin, has a reggae feeling to it with one-drop trap drums and the balafon continuo chunking like a clavinet. We go back to the sound of pure ngoni blasting out of the speakers on "Djuru kan" as Aboubacar shows off his chops. The melody, he says, evokes the nightlife of Sector 22 in his beloved Bobo-Dioulasso, the economic hub of Burkina Faso. The ensemble return for "Tulon," which celebrates everything: baptisms, weddings, departures, even funerals where song and dance are at the heart of the event. The dancing quality of the balafon and guitar underscore this as we end this too brief trip, still galloping.

TUMBLACK (Be With Records 167LP)

Another reissue, this time of a 1979 rarity that has been bootlegged several times over the years. The recording is from Guadeloupe and Martinique, part of the chain of tiny islands scattered between Puerto Rico and Trinidad, off the north coast of Venezuela. The echoing call to an equally echoey drum at first reminds you of "Day-O," the well-known "Banana boat song," but this clearly is from a deeper source and far from kitschy. Also it's in French as far as it is comprehensible (what sounds like "Gibiley-o" is Jubilee). The drums dominate but it is not a percussion album per se, because bass and synth soon enter thanks to Wally Badarou (who later worked with Herbie Hancock, Grace Jones and Black Uhuru) on mini Moog & Yves Hayat on knobs. It falls into the Zouk and Gwo-ka category on tracks like "Parlement," though the purely percussive tracks qualify in my mind as African. A little burst of "syndrums on flanger" (on "Caraiba intro") betrays the 70s origins; otherwise it's a clearcut case of superb percussion ("Gwo ka" is Antillean creole for "Big drum"). This was originally conceived as a concept album: traditional on side one and remixes with funk and disco overtones on side two. The disco doesn't age so well, especially primitive synth effects like "steel drums," but the horns sound live. The album returns to base with "Bateau la passé" authentic street sounds that are pure drum and chant.

THE BROOKLYN SOUNDS
LIBRE/FREE (Vampisoul)

This is the reissue of a brash and bawdy salsa dura album from 1972. Characterized by heavy trombones and wonky piano with loads of percussion high in the mix, salsa dura was another rebellion against the mainstream, played enthusiastically by a new generation of immigrant children in Brooklyn. They have not forgotten their parents' melodies like "Lagrimas negras," but their version is far from elegiac, more like the soundtrack to a bar-room brawl. They also pay homage to Santa Barbara and Elegua in an incantation to "Chango Santero." The wild dissonance of the horns going toe-to-toe with the nearly yelled vocals make it far from the contemplative sound of Cuban septets and more like a contest to see who is playing further "out." The out-of-tune piano excels on their epic "Las Margaritas," which is not the Chucho Valdes ballad. Their parents must have thought they were loco or on drugs, both of which seem self-evident. If you don't have any Hector Lavoe or Willie Colon you might want to stock up on them first as their production values and musicality is the highest, but if you need some raunchy loud music to accompany you while washing dishes or vacuuming, check this out.

Most recent posts

(click on maps at the top of the page to get to continent of choice)

December 2024

Festival Donso Ngoni vol 1 is filed under Mali part 6
Zanzibara 11: Congo in Dar with orchestres Maquis and Safari Sound is in Tanzania part 3
Accra Quartet can be read about in Ghana part 2
Dogo du Togo's latest is filed in African miscellany
Occidental Brothers' Likambo Te also made it to African miscellany!
Los Kenya's Vol 2 went to Venezuela
while the 107th Street Stickball Team slid into Salsa in a questionable call

November 2024

Arun Ramamurthy Trio's New Moon went to India & Pakistan part 2
Houssam Guinia's Dead of Night can be found in Morocco
Oriental Brothers' Onye rie ibe ya erie is filed under Nigeria part 3
as is Music of Igbo Masquerade by Okwy Osadebe & his Highlife Soundmakers
Super Disco Pirata 1965-80 is filed in Colombia part 3
Danilo Perez with the Bohuslan Big Band is found in World miscellany
Magnifico Boogaloo is pumping it up in Peru, part 2

October 2024

Nusrat's Chain of Light can be found in India & Pakistan part 2
Martin Lopez y sus Estrellas are in Peru
Karantamba's Galgi is filed in The Gambia

September 2024

Mute by El Khat is filed in Arabia
Conjunto Africa Negra's Antologia vol 2 is filed in the Cabo Verde and Sao Tomé section
Bobby Marin's We gotta good thing going can be found in Puerto Rico

August 2024

Nigerian Guitar Roots 1936-68 is filed in Nigeria part 3
Tribute to Toumani Koné by Nfaly Diakite is filed under Mali 6
Kokoko!'s latest album Butu is in Congo 4
Asmaa Hamzaoui & Bnat Tumbuktou can be reads about in the Morocco section
Okaija Afroso is found under the Ghana part 2 tab
Jyotsna Srikanth's Carnatic Nomad is filed in India part 2

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By Alastair Johnston

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