Beautiful African Music

I cant pretend to know a huge amount about African music, but Ive been picking up LPs and downloading stuff for the past 5 years or so and theres a few things I would definitely recommend for EVERYBODY:


The legendary Sunny Adé King of Nigerian Juju:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8LKDnhOTek

Download the 'Juju music' LP here:

http://zombibaba.blogspot.com/2007/12/ki...-1982.html


Congolese soukous don: Pamelo Mounk'a's debut LP:



Info: http://permanentcondition.blogspot.com/2...ounka.html

Download: http://ylow.blogspot.com/2008/08/pamelo-mounka.html


A favourite LP of mine - more soukous, this time from Pablo Lubadika Porthos with his sublime LP 'En Action'.



Info and download here:

http://permanentcondition.blogspot.com/2...ction.html


This is a great introduction to Ghanian High-Life - unavailable for the next two weeks though unfortunately:



http://stewtheredshoe.blogspot.com/2008/...other.html


Malinese Kora King Toumani Diabaté:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lep1tjEIkJc

Debut LP 'Kaira' here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/108852825/To...a.rar.html


Other stuff worth checking are the Kenyan pop Orchestras. There was a brilliant selection of tunes here, but unfortunately its long gone:

http://matsuli.blogspot.com/2007/03/deta...in-64.html


And I could go on and on without scratching the surface... just get some of that stuff into ya! Theres loads more downloads on the blogs Ive linked to.

Arrrgghhhh! Completely unknown genre alert!

*panics*

Cheers for the info

Arrrgghhhh! Completely unknown genre alert!

*panics*

Cheers for the info

Been there.

The really, really horrible things is that its not just one genre - its a whole continent of genres, with more history and tradition than nearly any other type of music combined with a haphazard approach to documentation, information and accreditation that makes reggae look like it was created by accountants...

Just dip yer toe in. If you like what you hear, well - thats when its time to panic!

[Statto]

Malinese Kora King Toumani Diabaté:

have you heard his record with Taj Mahal?

and Dembo Konte & Kausu Kuyateh – playing kora duets

some of the mbira stuff is very nice as well

a couple more:

Burundi



with the famous drummers
but it's all about the first track with the guy in the picture
that trough zither makes an awesome sound

Morocco



Brian Jones' original recordings of the Master Musicians of Jajouka

Malinese Kora King Toumani Diabaté:

have you heard his record with Taj Mahal?

I got that from here.

http://welove-music.blogspot.com/2008/08...abate.html

Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet though.

malinese kora king toumani diabaté:

have you heard his record with taj mahal?

yeah - hes fusion-tastic that fella. great lp if i remember correctly.

brian jones' original recordings of the master musicians of jajouka

one of the first african lps i heard - though it has to be said that its maybe more islamic/middle eastern influenced than african...

Veering marginally off topic, Id also like to big up Zhao and his Ngoma mixes for those looking for more recent and digestible Africana:

http://differentwaters.blogspot.com/2008...-zhao.html

And his Blogariddims of course :

http://differentwaters.blogspot.com/2008...-zhao.html

I heard a lot of sudanese music through doing that charity cd i got

I was sent the following podcast by one of the hardcore volunteers. Its lovely yet challenging.


Omdurman Womens Kitchen Ensemble

http://afriscape.podOmatic.com/entry/200...3_35-07_00

Nice one!. Brilliant name too.

Cold Storage Band - Bulawayo Jazz

http://bulawayojazz.calabashmusic.com/

I got this beacuse of track 5 - Skokian.

Its an old 50s jazz thingy from a certain region of Africa who had this certain type of jazz.

I came across it when I was geeking the shit out of it and looking into the African Love Riddim in Under Me Sensi.

Apparently Skokian is an old African folk thing, was picked up by some jazz heads in the States in 60s and was a standard tune known by Jamacian session musicians.

Hence the origins of the African Love riddim.

Dunno how true or correct all that is, you'd probably correct me droid, but that tune and the whole CD are astounding

Go on the random Cd buying that turns out to one of your faves

Cold Storage Band - Bulawayo Jazz

http://bulawayojazz.calabashmusic.com/

I got this beacuse of track 5 - Skokian.

Its an old 50s jazz thingy from a certain region of Africa who had this certain type of jazz.

I came across it when I was geeking the shit out of it and looking into the African Love Riddim in Under Me Sensi.

Apparently Skokian is an old African folk thing, was picked up by some jazz heads in the States in 60s and was a standard tune known by Jamacian session musicians.

Hence the origins of the African Love riddim.

Dunno how true or correct all that is, you'd probably correct me droid, but that tune and the whole CD are astounding

Go on the random Cd buying that turns out to one of your faves

i think you mean 'African Beat'?

Absolutely killer riddim. One of my faves. Dont know about its origin, but that sounds eminently plausible to me.

Some interesting info and a sample here:

"This one is - very strange - originated by the German Bert Kaempfert back in 1962. I have the song on a German sampler (Deutsche Singlehits der 60er Jahre, Polydor 516 195-2), and it is called, well, ,Afrikaan Beat'. Sorry for Don Drummond ...Bert Kaempfert is well known for his US No. 1 Hit in 1960 called "Wonderland by Night", he also is the songwriter of "Spanish Eyes" and "Strangers in the Night". In 1962 he produced the Beatles with Tony Sherdian. (CD-ROM ,Frank Laufenbergs Rock- und Pop-Lexikon', Sony Music)."

http://www.jamrid.com/RiddimDetail.php?I...ype=Riddim

cheers for all those links -- will check them later

good stuff - you should see our world collection at ktuh


some of those links are sounding pretty nice

Good all round guide to the music of Nigeria:

http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/music.html

Interesting offshoot of soukos: Ndombolo. People have tried to ban it in Mali, Cameroon and Kenya because of the obscene lyrics.

Aurus Mabele LP here:

http://ylow.blogspot.com/2007/12/aurlus-...retez.html

i think you mean 'African Beat'?

Absolutely killer riddim. One of my faves. Dont know about its origin, but that sounds eminently plausible to me.

Some interesting info and a sample here:

"This one is - very strange - originated by the German Bert Kaempfert back in 1962. I have the song on a German sampler (Deutsche Singlehits der 60er Jahre, Polydor 516 195-2), and it is called, well, ,Afrikaan Beat'. Sorry for Don Drummond ...Bert Kaempfert is well known for his US No. 1 Hit in 1960 called "Wonderland by Night", he also is the songwriter of "Spanish Eyes" and "Strangers in the Night". In 1962 he produced the Beatles with Tony Sherdian. (CD-ROM ,Frank Laufenbergs Rock- und Pop-Lexikon', Sony Music)."

http://www.jamrid.com/RiddimDetail.php?I...ype=Riddim

Yeah African Beat, my woopsy.

I have just gotten that Berf Kaempfert record "Swingin Safari"


His 'Afrikaan Beat' is great, its like a cocktail-music version of African Beat, lovely stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOf4uNwvC6c

Actually there is also a Skokian on it, that is not African Beat riddim , but is one of the happiest tunes I've heard in my life

Yeah African Beat, my woopsy.

I have just gotten that Berf Kaempfert record "Swingin Safari"


His 'Afrikaan Beat' is great, its like a cocktail-music version of African Beat, lovely stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOf4uNwvC6c

Actually there is also a Skokian on it, that is not African Beat riddim , but is one of the happiest tunes I've heard in my life

Brilliant. The strings!

If you're used to the riddim its like something from another universe. Check the contrast:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxS_K7WIBQw

Good taste btw - one of my all time favourite riddims. ya know the Brigadier cut? 'Raaaaaagamuffin...'

I'm sure there's a book waiting to be written about the racial and cultural semiotics of how Afrikaan beat became African beat...

Dollar Brand Duo - Good News From Africa (1973)

http://rapidshare.com/files/134932673/DbDgn.rar.html

Abdullah Ibrahim in fine form. Have a listen here first if you wanna...

http://devantf.blogspot.com/2008/08/doll...frica.html

Beautiful African Music indeed

what a perfect way to expose newbies, like myself. thank you heka for all the links and good info. new music is better than drinking bats blood.

great thread.. the best music in the world comes from Africa, heh!


anybody get a double album from about five or six years ago called Impala lounge? -because this has tons of great African artists on there.. some records i recommend:

Toires- Oued
Pete LaRoca - Basra
any kind of folkloric music related to Lucumi, Carabali, Kongo, Yuka (possibly where we got the word for jukebox?), Gnawa, Mandinka, and yeh, Jajouka..

[Statto]

hey hey
http://www.subvertcentral.com/forum/view...p?&t=45416

bump for good ish

So, has anyone listened to any of these records yet?

Heres 2 more to check:



http://ylow.blogspot.com/2007/05/sona-di...sahel.html



http://ylow.blogspot.com/2008/04/sir-war...-band.html

@PDX - The Omdurman Womens Kitchen Ensemble stuff is ace. Only wish it were longer.

lets not forget Olatunji, Babatunde..

bump

good call!

http://likembe.blogspot.com/2008/09/mahm...-1992.html



check the rest of the blog -- some incredible gems in there (don't know if it was already mentioned on here)