NEW WORLD

AFRICA

OLD WORLD (inc Asia, Arabia)

African Discographies

Greetings, Platterbugs!

Updated 1 October 2024

New & Upcoming

Igbo masquerade music, new from Okwy Osadebe

New album of Oriental Brothers from Palenque Records

also, Afro-Colombian roots music from Palenque Records

From Anvar Kalandarov:
Synthesizing the Silk Roads: Uzbek Disco, Tajik Folktronica, Uyghur Rock & Tatar Jazz from 1980s Soviet Central Asia — far-out disco from parts unknown

Two recommended by Tony Pitt:
reissue of Nahawa Doumbia cassette,
and the upcoming: Homeland by Seckou Keita, light African pop

Finally, under the category "Great, if you like that sort of thing," new from Afro Celt Sound System OVA on Six Degrees

Video

Dengue Fever live on KEXP, July 2024

For something completely different, check out Pelin su Yavez at Symphony Hall, she won a Young Artists Competition while still a student at Berklee. Here she plays 4 short pieces, from Mendelssohn to Miles, with a tight trio, notably at 10'02 "A Night in Tunisia"

From Pieter Remes:
Mbwana Radio: Preserving & Amplifying Coastal Music Heritage, a documentary on East African music scene, mainly taarab

Still awesome, "Ataole" song heard around the world, held over from last month

Radio

R.I.P.

Sergio Mendes of Brasil 66

Joni Haastrup, afro rock star, founder of Monomono

Rise Kagona (last of the Bhundu Boys); here on the Peel Sessions 1986

Roy Cape, calypsonian

Teddy Kalanda Harrison, of Them Mushrooms

Latest Muzikifan Podcasts

I'm a Man: Gypsy brass, Latin music,
jazz from Guinea and Mali, Congo funk,
rock from Nigeria and New Orleans boogie

A Typical Tuesday Night mix of Jazz,
Congolese classics, Bollywood, and Mali
...

Sweet & Lovely: the new music reviewed
below, plus music from all over, including
some viper jazz from the 30s and 40s

NUSRAT
CHAIN OF LIGHT (Real World Records CDRW256)

Recorded 34 years ago, in 1990, these one-inch magnetic tapes were unearthed in a storage shed. Nusrat would sing all night and ask the producer (Canadian guitarist) Michael Brook to let them know when to stop, but the additional hours of recording had been shelved and forgotten. Of course the album Musst Musst, issued by RealWorld in 1990 was a massive success and led to a much wider awareness of Sufi praise singing. Subsequently Real World issued five more albums of his music, plus remixes. For the next seven years until his death, Nusrat would tour and perform, astounding audiences all over the globe with his virtuosity. To hear him live convinced you that the twentieth century had produced no greater singer (though I am not a fan of opera, those are the only vocalists I have heard mentioned in the same breath). His ever-ascending percussive scat singing was truly breath-taking. Yes, all these references to breath are intentional. Even if you don't understand Urdu or Panjabi when he goes ah-aha-ah-ah-ayyyyiii-aaaaaa-alllahhhh, you are transported. The wordless vocalizing was his trademark and it makes Lambert, Hendricks and Ross sound like Mary and her little lamb. However, Nusrat's oeuvre is all of a piece (there are 348 listings on discogs), so if you buy any random album by him, the chances are you will be impressed. When I worked at Round World Music in San Francisco in the 1990s we had an in-house joke, when people who had Musst Musst would ask us to recommend another Nusrat album we would tell them to check out Live at Islamabad, volume 101. Great, do you have it? No, but you can buy it round the corner on cassette for $5. Because round the corner was an Indian grocery store, smelling of incense, with 10-pound sacks of basmati rice piled up on the floor, and on the wall were hundreds of cheap cassettes of all manner of music from the sub-continent, so we felt it part of our mission to send folks round there to dig a bit deeper. Here, too is a great gift. Four qawwals from the master, beautifully recorded, some appearing here for this first time, all of course unique performances. So roll over Pavarotti, tell Caruso the news, and make some space for Nusrat F. A. Khan.

MARTIN LOPEZ Y SUS ESTRELLAS
COCINANDO (Vampisoul VAMPI 305)

This album kicks off with a circus-like whirling zippy organ and jungle noises, and it seemed like a pop hit from a bygone era that might be best forgotten. But then on track two, "Sonero," my ears perk up, as we get into a good old slapping salsa vamp, with piano montuno and horns riding timbales, congas and cowbells as a strong coro warms us up. This is the real deal! It's another reissue from Peru's MAG label which has now become the new hunting ground for Munster Records and Vampisoul after they served us up a full shelf of Discos Fuentes from Colombia. The album is titled "Cooking" in Spanish. It's a stew with guaracha and cumbia simmering to the top. The singer Pedro López, who also wrote the songs, was a police lieutenant, so changed his stage name to Martín López for these recordings, made between 1969 and 1971. In the studio he was joined by MAG's top session musicians, including the legendary Melcochita on coro (or second voice). The percussionists are veteran timbalero Niko Estrada and tumbador Coco Lagos, whom we have met before, thanks to this stellar reissue series. At a guess I'd say it's Alfredo Linares on piano. There's stand-up bass and guitar, alternating with electrified tres which picks the lead on "Mi razón de vivir," a sweet bolero, that slides into a rave-up reminiscent of Arsenio Rodríguez. While the label's PR singles out three tunes as hits, I feel some of the other tracks are better. My favorite is "Mi ritmo te llama," which I would class as a descarga. It has brilliant block chords on piano and a crashing dissonance with percussion breaking in after about a minute, then it goes into a wild extended jam. This is one they should have done for ten minutes more, and probably did in concert. The last track, also designated a hit, is a chicha called "No me dejas." It's quite bubbly with guitar and marimba over a complex rhythmic base. The guitar lead does stretch out into unexpected places and this one was another undoubted dancefloor sensation.

KARANTAMBA
GALGI (Teranga Beat TBLP026)

Teranga Beat has returned to West Africa, this time to Gambia, for another dose of Karantamba who appeared first on that legendary landmark series of eight issues of previously unreleased tapes of great West African — mostly Senegalese — bands in their prime. Volume one of Karantamba, Ndigal, was recorded in 1984. Four years later they had evolved into a more psychedelic sound with a female vocalist, Ndey Nyang, and boosted the synths to the front line with the guitars. Bandleader Jai Banha plays both guitar and synth and has a second keyboard player backing him also. Personally I liked the earlier sound better, but despite my difficulty in listening to the shrill vocals, there are some hefty grooves here. The talking drum is reinforced by traps, so overall the mix is dense. "Galgi" means slave ship in Wolof, and the title track is dedicated to those who suffered that awful fate over the centuries. The cover was shot in the House of Slaves on Gorée island which was the embarkation point for the Atlantic trade in humans. There is a new take on "Ndigal" with fuzz-tone guitar and a sparer backing to Jai's vocals, showing the four-year evolution of the song in performance. The earlier take was funkier, with choppy percussion, now the rhythm is more mbalax. They get into long jams on most of the tunes which are really good, and the sense of a live performance pervades the later tracks, with well-constructed guitar leads.

Year to date

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

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

July 2024

Kandia Kouyate's album is filed under Mali part 6
Gabi Guedes can be found in Brasil part 3
Bakary Kamaso is from the Gambia
Orquesta Olivieri is filed in Puerto Rico

June 2024

Okwy Osadebe & his Highlife Soundmakers' Ifunanya is filed in Nigeria pt 3
Ballake Sissoko and Derek Gripper is filed in Old World miscellany
Bassekou Kouyate & Amy Sacko's Djudjon is filed under Mali part 6
Kiki Valera's Vacilón Santiaguera is filed in Cuba 4
Yasser Tejeda can be found in the Dominican Republic
Tidiane Thiam is filed in Senegal 4
as is Tidiane Thiam with Amadou Binta Konte
Grupo Polo Montañez is found in Cuba part 4
Sonora Nelson Ferreyra went to Peru

May 2024

Les Belgicains is filed under Congo Classics part 2
Kolonel Djafaar's Getaway is filed in Olde Worlde misc
Brooklyn Sounds' eponymous disc is filed in Latin/Salsa, New World
Cumbia Sabroso vol 2 is filed in Colombia part 3

April 2024

Franco & OK Jazz compilation from Les Editions Populaires is under Congo Classics 2
Maliheh Moradi and Ehsan Matoori are filed in Iran
Los Guayabo Bros went to Colombia part 3
Rough Guide to Murder Ballads went to USA, of course
ShazaLaKazoo can be found in the Balkans

March 2024

Ngwaka Son Système with Iboto ngenge is filed in Congo part 4
Meanwhile Congo Funk! has gone to Congo Classics part 2
Tarek Abdallah & Adel Shams El Din with Ousoul is filed in Arabia
Adama Yalomba is filed in Mali 6
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba in concert can be read about in Mali Live

February 2024

Afrika Muye Muye! Tanzanian Rumba 1968-70 is filed in Kenya/Tanzania part 3
Wagadu Grooves from all over West Africa is filed in Mali part 6
Mohammad Syfkhan can be found in Arabia (though he lives in Ireland)
Gao Hong with Ignacio Lusardi Monteverde are in Old world miscellany
Aguidavi do Jeje are found under Brasil 3

January 2024

Mama Sissoko Live is filed in Mali part 6
The return of Dieuf-Dieul can be read about in Senegal part 4
Principe y su Sexteto are found in Venezuela
Said Chalaban is filed in Morocco

...

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A DISCOGRAPHY OF DOCTEUR NICO
By Alastair Johnston

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