NEW WORLD

AFRICA

OLD WORLD (inc Asia, Arabia)

African Discographies

Greetings, Platterbugs!

Updated 1 October 2026

Grooves

and from the Malian band called Baobab (not the Senegalese one) on Palenque Records

A fine set of Malian blues from Gaoussou "Sobra" Kouyate

Experimental Arabic jazz-rock "Fakir" from Orange Express

Balkan Taksim "Acide Balkanique" new on Buda musique

and if you dig that, here's some psychedelic music from Anatolia by Derya Yildirim

DJ Rata vol 5 from Colombia's busy picotero sound-system culture (Deux des 4 Etoiles, Bopol & Nyboma pop up)

Dur-Dur Band, vols 3 & 4, now out from Analog Africa, with the 80s sound of Mogadishu

White Elephant by Negro Leo from Brasil (Hive Mind)

Sunrise: Don Cherry, Collin Walcott, Leon Thomas, live gig from 1977 on WeWantSounds

Tony Pitt finds himself in Kyrgyzstan & unearths a Moldovan label dedicated to Taraab and other local African music; here is the Taraab ensemble; the impressive catalog also has this fine Nyatiti player from Western Kenya's Luo, but check out the other recordings on this small kitchen-table label

medieval Sefardic music, which finds a groove

lovely fingerstyle guitar tune from William Osale (Kenya, 1960), via Emma at Jazz Crazy & the flipside

And don't miss Daniel Kachamba riffing on the "Maria Tebbo" changes with a unique strumming style (Discovered in Malawi by Gerhard Kubik who brought him to Germany to perform in 1972)

News

afro7.net is reloaded with a fresh batch of 45s from east Africa. In addition Fred has uploaded the former website of Tim Clifford KENTANZA VINYL, an incredible resource. This time, bookmark it!

R.I.P.

Treasure Isle bass-player Jackie Jackson; he also played with the Crystalites and toured with Toots & the Maytals

Tony Gatlif, French film director, who made Gadjo Dilo and the best movie ever made about gypsies, Latcho Drom; the soundtrack is stunning

Western Ghanaian Highlife singer Safohene Djeni

The best-known music from Mozambique is Marrabenta, a rough & ready pop played on saxophones and home-made guitars. There are other musical forms of course, and the Chopi people have their xylophones which they bash energetically to create a manic buzzing that makes you dance as if you are in a swarm of mosquitos, limbs a-flailing. Mwenje, the slow growing and rugged thorn bush, whose wood provides the material for making the instruments is dying out, and villagers have to travel miles to find it. There are five instruments in an ensemble, from bass on up, and each has bars tuned in equidistant sevenths, creating a wide range of microtonal sounds. Gourd resonators mounted beneath the bars add the deep nasal tone. Venâncio Mbande was the most celebrated composer of music for this ensemble and his descendants, who live in Zavala, have now recorded a complete cycle written by him. While the bass instruments are massive, some of the higher register ones can be worn around the neck with straps. The sound has been recognized by UNESCO as part of the world's Intangible Cultural Heritage. The rhythm is signaled by the ankle-rattles of the dancers and in addition to the singers, exhorters urge them on and blow whistles. The sound is hundreds of years old and of course evolves: it signals joy and love but also, inevitably, resistance and resolve. The lyrics record community events with humor and also form a chronicle of their village life, as new songs are written annually. In 1980 Smithsonian Folkways captured them on LP and a videographer caught Venâncio in performance. The performers on this new recording are all brothers, the sons of Venâncio who died in 2015; their music is intense and rhythmically complex and very invigorating.

I assume in medieval times they got down to wild endless jams, just as we do today. And when you think of it, in that era they had their own psychedelic drugs (such as mushrooms or ergot from moldy rye wheat which desperate people ate unaware they'd soon be tripping), as you can see in the famous art of Hieronymous Bosch. They also fermented fruit to make liquor and like the USA under the insane tr*mpian regime, there was little in the way of quality control over what people ingested. La Tène is a trio (or maybe a ten-piece band?) from Geneva who have taken up some medieval instruments, like hurdy-gurdy and percussion, and added drones from an Indian harmonium and a few electronic loops. The main members, Cyril Bondi (percussion), d'Incise (harmonium) and Degrenier (hurdy-gurdy) play in different bands, such as a jazz trio, as well as solo and experimental collabs with other musicians. They collect folk tunes from the Jura to Auvergne in the Alps and play them to exhaustion, inviting listeners to get lost in the repetitive droning riffs, which will lead to trance, followed by euphoria or prostration. But getting high has a different meaning when you climb those mountains: fresh air is your reward and may clear your brain from the toxic effects of the mushrooms or bread you ate earlier. But then the music soon draws you back into the trance.

Novalima, the Peruvian collective, seem to be on an endless world tour: I have seen them here in the Bay Area (where they are immensely popular) several times this century. Throughout 2024 and 5 they brought La Danza to clubs everywhere and got the crowds moving to their wonderful Afro-Peruvian beat. As with their previous albums, the next logical step was to allow some prominent mixologists to rework some of the tracks for enhanced club accessibility. This EP contains 5 tracks which have been converted to Afro-house by top producers, including The Spy from Cairo. The tracks start out light and summery: the echo and loops and woody bass synth sound are carried over from the studio album. Percussion is to the fore (beaded gourds, rainstick) so the remixes blend seamlessly with the sourced album tracks, taking it up a notch. Over the generations, Peru has shared some musical ideas with Colombia, particularly cumbia, but this group reach out to Palenquera roots music too, on "Canto del Agua." This is my favorite cut on the album and a great dancefloor cruncher, even with gratuitous disco whoops on the syn-drum pads. "Soy Palenque" has flamenco guitar and a mournful trumpet that has Mexican-Spanish overtones, along the lines of "The Lonely Bull." But it is driven by a punchy bass riff and gravelly percussion that make a fine heavy climax to this outing.

Year so far

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

September 2026

Dollar Brand, Don Cherry, Carlos Ward's Third World Underground is hard to classify, maybe it's world music, maybe jazz, so I put it under Old World miscellany
Orch Baboma is filed in Congo part 4
Aly Eissa's Eggshells has gone to Egypt, which is in "Rest of Arabia" part 3

July 2026

Mama Sissoko's Diamond Fingers is filed in Mali part 6
Angine de Poitrine vol II creates a dilemma: I can't file them in USA as they are Canadians, so they have gone to Europe (Old World Miscellany)!
Los Orientales de Paramonga are filed in Peru 2
The biography of Don Cherry by Graeme Ewens, Eternal Rhythm is on the bookshelf

June 2026

The Handover went to Arabia part 3
Msindaba Jazz Band are filed in Kenya & Tanzania part 3
Mah Damba is reviewed in Mali part 6
Spok's Raizes is filed in Brasil 3

May 2026

Dr K. Gyasi & his Noble Kings are in Ghana part two
Antoine Dougbe & Poly-Rythmo's compilation can be read about in Benin
Conjunto Angola 70's Turma da Benca is filed in Angola
La Fantástica's rare album now on Vampisoul and
Joe Acosta's Power of love are filed in Salsa

April 2026

Saly Kouyaté's Mali Kelen is filed in Mali part 6
Zanja All stars are filed in Cuba 4
Léve Léve volume two from São Tomé can be found in the Cabo Verde tab
Les Belgicains are right there in Congo Classics 2
Read about Himba Hymn from Namibia in African miscellany
Steve Hernández and his Latinoamericana orchestra are filed in salsa
Ayjay Walzaqat al Jilalia is in Morocco

March 2026

Azuka Moweta and his Anioma Brothers' Kenechukwu is found in Nigeria part 3
Tim Maia's eponymous fourth album is reviewed in Brasil part 3
Roberto y su Nuevo Montuno can be read about in Puerto Rico
Music for a Revolution vol 2 is filed in Music of Guinee
Indian Talking Machine part 2 is filed in India & Pakistan part 2
Joseph Kamaru's Heavy Combination went to Kenya part 3

February 2026

Los Rogers are filed in Peru two

January 2026

Excavated Shellac: Voices is filed under world miscellany
Lenine's Eita can be found in Brasil part 3

...

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A DISCOGRAPHY OF DOCTEUR NICO
By Alastair Johnston

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