African Spring: Batida/Bariba Sound/Gnawa Diffusion
Tagged with: Batida Soundway DJ Mpula Analog Africa Angola Benin Super Borgou Parakou Bariba Sound Bariba Dendi Turn Again Music Gnawa Diffusion Amazigh Kateb Gnawa Chaabi reggae ragga soul pachanga rumba afro beat funk Algeria Morocco Nigeria Ghana Togo Glyn Phillips
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Well, it certainly feels like the world music is waking up with the imminent approach of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere! There seems to a mass of new releases, tours and projects pushing their nodding heads above the forbidding cold soil of winter.
On an African tip, for instance, one of my favourite labels Soundway have today announced the forthcoming release of the debut album by Batida (brainchild of Angolan/Portuguese DJ Mpula aka Pedro Coquenão) which combines samples from old 1970s Angolan tracks with modern electronic dance music (check the link here for more info: www.worldmusic.co.uk/batida_soundway_70s_angola_updated_preview_dl_r)
"Batida" is due for release on 26 March 2012 (SNDW 038), but you can preview and even download one of the tracks "Tireí o Chapéu" here:
soundcloud.com/soundway-records/batida-tirei-o-chap-u
On another African note, yet another of my favourite labels specialising in re-releasing old albums, Analog Africa, are set to issue a blissful treasure trove of 70s Afro sounds.
This time, on its fifth expedition to the magical musical world of Benin, they open the vaults of the band Le Super Borgou de Parakou on an album entitled "The Bariba Sound".
If you liked any of Analog Africa's previous releases (eg "Bambara Mystical Soul - the Raw Sound of Burkina Faso 1974-79", the limited dance editions of "Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - The 1st Album"(1973)" and "ROB - Funky Rob Way (1977)", or "Afro-Beat Airways (Ghana & Togo 1972-1979)") then you will love this new album.
It opens up yet another window onto part of the Islamic Funk Belt of the northern regions of Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Benin. A raw but heady mixture of Bariba and Dendi folklore, Islamic melodies and soul, pachanga, breakbeats, rumba and afro-beat.
Very much recommended. Release date for this is 27 March 2012 (either as CD with 30 page booklet or as double LP gatefold deluxe edition). AACD 071 / AALP 071
Finally, the French agency Turn Again Music have contacted me to announce the 20th anniversary comeback of band Gnawa Diffusion (led by founder Amazigh Kateb) with plans for a tour to start in May this year and a new album to be recorded this year and released in Autumn 2012. As they put it: "a travel to chaabi through gnawi, reggae, ragga, rock...". No other details as yet, but watch this space . . .
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WorldBeatUK (15th Show) - Broadcast Notes (8th June 2011)
Tagged with: WorldBeatUK Glyn Phillips JuJu Frigg Kadialy Kouyate Gnawa Super Khoumeissa Doa Bonovo Balfa Brothers Timbalada Juçara Marçal Kiki Dinucci Luna Itzel Imam Baildi Goy Karamelo Poly Rythmo Rob Roy Ikebe Shakedown Mixticius Songhai Pedro Laza Strut Analog
WBUK15 (8/6/11) SHOWNOTES
1 “Intro-Mat” (1:47) by Matchatcha from album “Nyekesse” (Melodie)
Hi, this is WorldBeatUK, I’m Glyn Phillips and you’re listening to Rhubarb Radio - coming at you loud and clear from The Custard Factory, Digbeth, Birmingham. Welcome to the show that brings the sound of a planet to your living room.
Lots of goodies on the show tonight, including: some classic world fusion from the 1980s - courtesy of Ketama, Toumani Diabate and Danny Thompson’s Songhai project.
Notwithstanding: kora - a 21-string Senegalese harp, gimbri - a 3-string guitar and ritti - a one-string fiddle.
And how can you resist when Michael Jackson goes Cumbia, Pedro Laza goes Swing, and The Big Apple goes Afrobeat.
As well as all that we’ve got music from Beninese vodoun afrobeat maestros Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo’s last album in 2010 and from their first ever album in 1973, Ghanaian afro-funk from 1977, remixed Greek rembetiko and Serbian hasaposerviko, Mexican waltz, Brazilian rumba & carimbó, samba-reggae from Timbalada, and some classic cajun from the Balfa Brothers.
Sprinkle all that with Medieval tales of Arthurian romance from Spain’s celtic corner as well as contemporary Galician fusion, traditional Takamba music from northern Mali, Gnawa Sufi trance music from Morocco, and some Nordic fiddling and you’ve got the basis of tonight’s show.
However, I’m going to kick off with a band I played last week called JuJu which includes English guitarist/composer Justin Adams (who amongst other things was a member of Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart, produced Tinariwen’s first and third albums and co-wrote Robert Plant’s 2005 album) along with the Gambian singer and one-string fiddle player Juldeh Camara (who has previously been part of Ifang Bondi, has played with the Blind Boys of Alabama and also been part of Tunge Jegede’s African Classical Ensemble).
JuJu also includes Billy Fuller on bass and Dave Smith on drums. This is from their new album (“In Trance” about to be released on Monday 13th June by Real World Records) and it’s a suitably trance-like blues called “Jombajo”:
2 “Jombajo” (6:58) by JuJu (Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara) from album “In Trance” (Real World Records)
And continuing in a suitably laid-back vein I offer you this piece by the nordic string band Frigg (named after the Scandinavian mother goddess and wife of Odin and incidentally where we get the name of Friday from in English) made up of musicians from Norway and Finland, playing between them four fiddles, mandolin, guitar and bass. From their album “Grannen”, this is called “Amurin Tiikeri”:
3 “Amurin Tiikeri” (4:53) by Frigg from album “Grannen” (Frigg00007)
As I said last week, the Celebrating Sanctuary Festival 2011 will be taking place in London on the 19th June on the South Bank, as part of Refugee Week (which is the 20th-26th June) and to flag that up I’m featuring some of the artists involved this week and next. Last week I featured Rory McLeod and this week it’s the turn of Bravo Bravo. Normally this is a duo formed out of the Trinidadian steel pan maestro Fimber Bravo and the Senegalese kora player, Kadialy Kouyate.
This next track is from their album “Small Talk”; however it features just Kadialy on his own on one of his own compositions called “Kilonding” (which means ‘orphan’). The song tells how shortly after giving birth to a son a mother is killed by the King Manfati when she is caught stealing his water. Years later the son goes from village to village searching for the king to take his revenge . . .
4 “Kilonding” (4:22) by Kadialy Kouyate from BravoBravo’s album “Small Talk”
We’re going to go North from Southern Senegal, past Gambia and North Senegal, Mauretania, and Western Sahara to Morocco, where we find the Gnawa musicians of Essaouira. The Gnawa follow a branch of mystical sufi Islam that also incorporates elements of much older West African divinity.
The Gnawa musicians are famous for practising healing rituals and holding ceremonies on the night of the Leela which involve deeply hypnotic trance music led by a master musician or ‘maallem’ and his troupe, assisted by a ‘moqadeema’ female healer, to the melodies of the 3-stringed gimbri, the clapping of hands driving the rhythm forward, the rising and falling chants and the relentless clash of the ‘krakeb’ (the large metal castanets).
In this recording - made during one such healing session in 2003, you can hear the maallem Mokhtar Gania and his ensemble performing “Arrahb Alahmar Essaouria”, part of a much longer piece called “Sidi Hamou”, which represents the butcher who leads the sacrifice, his colour being, of course, blood-red . . .
5 “Arrahb Alahmar Essaouria” (3:14) by Maallem Mokhtar Gania from album Gnawa “Sufi Trance - Music Of Morocco” (Standard Records)
[BEWARE!! ENDS ABRUPTLY! FADE after 3 mins ie about 15 secs before end]
And from one trance-like piece to another - this is Super Khoumeissa a group of six musicians and four dancers from Gao on the banks of the River Niger in Northern Mali. They’ve been around in various formats for around 20 years but this is their first official release. The music they play is known as Takamba (the commonest musical form in Northern Mali) and refers also to the graceful dance which accompanies it. Super Khoumeissa play the heavily amplified three-stringed tahardent, also known as the ngoni (and also very similar to the gimbri of the previous track) alongside huge calabash gourds which they strike a bit like the Indian ghatam pot and are fronted by a female singer, Zerena Maiga.
This track is from a 12” Limited Edition album on the FatCat Records label called “Split Series No 21” due to be released on the 21st of August this year. It’s called the Split Series because they share the album with the LA based vocal and percussion quartet Foot Village who will be touring the UK this July (including Brum’s Hare and Hounds). We’ll have to wait a bit to see Super Khoumeissa who should be accompanying the singer Khaira Arby, but in the meantime this is a track by them called “Khoumeissa”.
6 “Khoumeissa” (6:32) by Super Khoumeissa from album “Split Series #21” (FatCat Records)
[FADE AROUND 2-3 mins max!!]
OK, so far tonight I’ve played a rather laid-back show - which is fine, it’s good to take time to listen to stuff that I could never play in a club situation. So here’s one more reflective piece, before I start to change the gears musically speaking. This is from a new release on the Spanish Fol Musica label (part of the bigger Boa Music España group) which specialises in the music of the Galicia region of North-Western Spain.
Followers of this show will have heard me play plenty of music from this vibrant Celtic region, both traditional and contemporary fusion. So I’ve got two tracks lined up to represent both ends of the musical arc there.
First up is the group Doa who have been around for over 30 years now and tend towards exploring the traditional and ancient musical history of Galicia. They’ve just released a new album called “A Fronda dos Cervos” (The Horns of the Deer) which is entirely devoted to medieval Galician poetry set to music. No don’t run away! It’s good, honestly! This track is based upon the breton lays which deal with the Arthurian legends - in this case the story of Sir Tristan the Irish king Malhout. This track is called “O Maroot”.
7 “O Maroot” (3:28) by DOA from album “A Fronda Dos Cervos” (Fol Musica)
And now the other side of Galician folk music - some fusion from the trio Bonovo - which incidentally was formed by the zanfoñeiro Oscar Fernandez, one of the current members of the last band we just heard, Doa. Oscar plays the zanfoña - a galician hurdy-gurdy - and this is teamed up with accordion and drums and samplers to create a sort of electro-acoustic dancefloor folk reminiscent of early Afro-Celt Sound System, but with a more defined Galician sound.
The track is called “Sexta”, from the self-titled album “Bonovo” (also on the Spanish Fol Musica label). It’s like a cross between folk-rock, prog-rock and jazz-fusion - and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that in my book!
8 “Sexta” (4:03) by Bonovo from album “Bonovo” (Fol Musica)
Well, we’ve had lots of fiddlers already on tonight’s show and this next one is no exception. It’s not a new band or even a new album - I’m just playing this for the sheer love of it - this is for Dylan coz I know he loves cajun music: The Balfa Brothers from Mamou, Louisiana and the “Acadien Two Step”.
9 “Acadien Two Step” (3:09) by Balfa Brothers from album “World of Music Sampler” (Nascente)
Don’t forget you’re listening to WorldBeatUK right here on Rhubarb Radio, transmitting from Birmingham right across the world! If you’ve got an internet connection then we can reach you! My name’s Glyn Phillips and you can join me every Wednesday (7pm-9pm UK time) on a musical journey around the world.
Now, it’s very strange that even though I’ve spent various months in Brazil going back and I was a founder member of various Brazilian music ensembles in Birmingham from the late 80s onwards that I haven’t played a lot of music from there on this show. Well let’s try and redress the balance a bit - though as ever with a bit of a twist.
This next track is from samba-reggae giants Timbalada and one of my favourite numbers of theirs “Beija-Flor” (Hummingbird). Of course with me I always like to put a different slant on things - so this is Timbalada remixed with some ragga lyrics in English (possibly by someone called ‘British Bulldog’ - I just can’t tell, I’ve tried to track it down but to no avail - if you know the answer, contact me); I have no other details apart from it’s taken from the 2000 album “Brazil: The Essential Album” (on the Manteca label):
10 “Beija-Flor” (5:02) by Timbalada from album “Brazil: The Essential Album (Disc 2)” (Manteca)
[CONTINUOUS]
11 “Engasga Gato/Casa Barata” (3:26) by Juçara Marçal e Kiko Dinucci from album “Padê”
OK, that jaunty samba track was by the Brazilian paulistino duo of Juçara Marçal and Kiko Dinucci from their debut album “Padê” (which is a Yoruba word which means ‘finding’ and also refers to the opening ceremony of a candomble session where the first orixa to be called is always Exu the messenger). The track was a mixture of rumba and carimbó made from the medley of two songs “Engasga Gato” and “Casa Barata”.
And from one giant nation of Latin America to another - ¡OYEN! Sres y Sras - vamo’ a Mexico! Sí, Sr. ¿Cómo no? Dele por ‘echo… Llamando a todo’ lo mexicano’ y las mexicanas - desde Tijuana a Cancún - que bellas y riquísimas que son!
Now then, Luna Itzel comes from Mexico and is an interpreter of classic Mexican songs and traditional styles especially the notoriously difficult huapango style (you can look her up at www.lunaitzel.com). However, in the track I’m going to play for you she sings a lilting waltz.
This is taken from her fourth album “Frida Volumen 2 - El Venadito” which is dedicated to Mexico’s most celebrated visual artist the great, nay the legendary, Frida Kahlo. If you’ve never come across the artwork of Frida Kahlo - or indeed her even more unbelievable life story - then I urge you to investigate further.
In the meantime, the beautiful Luna Itzel is going to ensare us with her voice. This is called “La Bruja” (The Witch).
12 “La Bruja” (3:55) by Luna Itzel from album “Frida (Vol 2) - El Venadito” (2008 - Tratore)
[CONTINUOUS]
13 “De Thelo Pia Na Xanarthis” (3:34) by Imam Baildi from album “Imam Baildi” (2007 Emi Greece and 2009 Kukin Music)
[CHANGE CD!!]
You’re listening to WorldBeatUK on Rhubarb Radio with me, Glyn Phillips, taking you on a musical journey around the world from 7pm to 9pm every Wednesday evening.
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The last tune you heard was by the Greek remixers, refixers, producers and bandleaders Imam Baildi. Formed by two brothers Orestis and Lysandros Falireas in the mid-noughties, they specialised in taking old recordings - especially Greek rembetiko ones - and refixing them with a contemporary aesthetic - new rhythms, style clashes, rap overlays, hip-hop, trip-hop, drum & bass etc. Not surprising when you realise that their father owned a record label and shop specialising in old rebetiko.
That track was from their first album called simply “Imam Baildi” which incidentally means the ‘The Fainting Imam’ (or Fainting Priest) and is also the name of a Middle Eastern stuffed aubergine dish! The track was called “De Thelo Pia Na Zanarthis” and features the vocal talents of Meri Lida (aka Mary Linda) and her husband, Greece’s most famous bazouki-player, singer and composer Manolis Hiotis (aka Manolis Chiotis) - all remixed by the Falireas brothers, Imam Baildi.
Since that first album, the brothers have been inundated with requests to form a live band to tour their remixes and so they’ve put that together and also in the meantime worked on a new album called appropriately enough “Cookbook” (EMI Greece). They added more strings to their remixing bows by mashing in Balkan and Latin elements to their Greek rebetiko base. This uptempo Serbian inspired track is called “Ki Allo Hasaposerviko” (which just means ‘yet another hasaposerviko’).
1 (14) “Ki Allo Hasaposerviko” (2:57) by Imam Baildi from album “The Imam Baildi Cookbook” (EMI Greece)
[CONTINUOUS]
2 - Reggae City Ad Jingle (1:05) -
[CONTINUOUS]
3 (15) “Cumbiapunkreggae Party” (4:12) by Goy Karamelo & Los Kangrejos from album “Remedio De Mi Corazon” (Cangrejo Records)
That track was the uplifting and very danceable “Cumbiapunkreggae” from the album “Remedio De Mi Corazon” (Remedy from my Heart) by the Argentinian musician, producer and remixer Goy Karamelo originally from Mendoza, now in Buenos Aires - you can check him out on Soundcloud. And I loved the little nod to La Colegiala in there too!
And talking of Cumbiapunkreggae Party - that seems like a good time to thank everyone that turned up to the Wagon and Horses in Digbeth last Saturday for Subvert where a slew of great reggae and dub DJs played some fabulous tunes and a packed crowd got into the wonderful dub tunes of Relative - very impressive outfit indeed - with special guests including Bongo Damo also turning up on bongo.
In particular I’d like to thank all the people who gave my new band Kilombo a rapturous reception on our debut gig. Relative were not an easy act follow, but we threw ourselves into it - all 9 of us cramped up on the stage and props to Greg for managing to eek some kind of sound from a very difficult situation.
However, you, the crowd just blew us away as we moved from cumbia to rumba to rhythm and blues and jazz and funk and township, bolero and reggae and each time you just hopped, bopped and skanked along to every tune - even the slow ones. And then to not let us leave the stage - even though we’d got no more tunes to play! Too much, guys, too much!
OK, last week I played you a new tune by the Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara and she’s back this week on the show but as a special guest of the great Beninese vodoun afrobeat band Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo who’ve recently released their first new album in about 20 years called “Cotonou Club” (on the Strut Records label). Fatoumata joins them on vocals for this tune called “Mariage/Ou C’est Lui” - this one’s for ma petite soeur Virginie lá en Le Havre avec gros bisous:
4 (16) “Mariage/Ou C'est Lui” (5:05) by Orchestre Poly Rythmo from album “Cotonou Club” (Strut Records)
And from their most recent album to their very first album! This is Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo from 1973. In an exciting development the record label Analog Africa are launching a new series of albums called “Analog Africa - Limited Dance Edition” dedicated to releasing African and tropical records in strictly limited editions which concentrate on single artists that have had an impact on the label in one way or another.
The first two releases feature the first LP of Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo simply entitled “Le 1re album” and also a cosmic compilation by the legendary Ghanaian funkster Rob “Roy” Rainsdorf - usually just referred to as Rob.
Both albums are released on Monday 13th June and I strongly urge you to seek them out. They come as either CDs (as a sixpage digipack) or as a vinyl LP - both distributed by Proper Records and the vinyl also distributed by F-Minor. Don’t forget, these are limited editions - when they gone, they gone!
The first track I’m going to play is by Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo and it’s called “Egni Miton? Nin Mi Na Wa Gbin” (Analog Africa)
5 (17) “Egni Miton? Nin Mi Na Wa Gbin” (6:13) by Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou from album “The First Album”
[CONTINUOUS]
6 (18) “Boogie On” (4:15) by Rob "Roy" Raindorf from album “Funky Rob Way” (Analog Africa)
Yep, you just heard the Ghanian funky afrobeat maestro Rob “Roy” Raindorf and a track called “Boogie On”.
And that’s exactly what we’re going to do - this is a band I also played last week called Ikebe Shakedown from Brooklyn, New York, who play some really shit-kicking funk, boogaloo and afrobeat! This track’s from their eponymous album and it’s called “Sakonsa”:
7 (19) “Sakonsa” (2:32) by Ikebe Shakedown from album “Ikebe Shakedown” (Ubiquity)
Right, anybody wanna dance? Let’s get this party started! One of my favourite cumbiamberos Pedro Laza with his Pelayeros and a Mixticius cumbia-swing remix of the track “Cójeme La Caña” . . .
8 (20) “Cójeme La Caña” (3:00) by Pedro Laza Y Sus Pelayeros (Mixticius remix)
Now, didn’t that do you the world of good!? Certainly did it for me. This is almost the last track so let’s keep grooving and dancing - in fact as Mixticius has it in this fabulous cumbia crash-up: don’t stop till you get enough!
9 (21) “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” (2:55) by Mixticius
That’s the end of the show, boys and girls, hope you enjoyed it.
[Shout-outs, reminders, etc]
I’m going to leave you with a slice of classic world music history - well in my mind at least. At the beginning of the 90s three different cultures got together to search out common ground together - the young Spanish flamenco group at the head of the nu-flamenco movement, Ketama, the jazz and folk double-bassist with the amazing warm sound, Danny Thompson of Pentangle fame and the as then little-known, in Europe at least, Malian musician Toumani Diabate and his then very unusual african harp, the kora.
What they created still stands the test of time - two beautiful, life-affirming records Both called Songhai. Although I love the first album, this is from the second album (“Songhai 2”) and also reunites Ketama with their former vocalist José Soto and includes Keletigui Diabate on the marimba-like balafon.
This track’s called “Sute Monebo” (which translates as ‘Shouting Won’t Raise the Dead’) and it’s going out to Big Neil and to Dylan and to all those who love great world music. Good night all and sweet dreams!
10 (22) “Sute Monebo” (4:56) by Ketama, Toumani Diabate & José Soto from album “Songhai 2” (Hannibal Records)
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