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Anyone know about African Music?

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:07 pm
by spaceboy
Any recommendations:

I watched the Last King of Scotland the other day and the soundtrack blew my mind away - looking to feed my desire...

anyone know anything? Obviously Ali Farkha Toure etc are well heard of, but I'd be interested in knowing about the jazz bands, the more clubbier stuff and just generally...

cheers.

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:35 pm
by selector.dub.u
fela anikulapo kuti
king sunny ade

pick up the musique ethiopiques vol4
http://www.amazon.fr/Ethiopiques-Vol-Mu ... B00000DDMB

konono no 1
antibalas

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:57 pm
by hera
dont know exactly what youre looking for, but i get alot of exposure to african music from our national public radio station. check some of these shows out:

Baaba Maal
http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/m ... aaba_maal/

Angelique Kidjo
http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/m ... que_kidjo/

Madilu System
http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/cl/c ... lu_system/

Ex Centric Sound System
http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/m ... sound_sys/

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:28 pm
by m9918868
Baaba Maal and King Sunny Ade are both astonishingly good. Especially this one:

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I have this one on heavy rotation as well:

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Basically, its soucous performed by two congolese musicians, produced by scratch perry. Nobody really knows how they ended up in Jamaica.

Oh and Sona Diabate is really good as well.

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:19 am
by atropinesting
femi kuti & the positive force - eldest son of fela kuti; good afrobeat

boubacar traoré - malian self taught guitarist; fuse blues, west african styles;

salif keita - west african wunderkind; investigate the rail band and super rail band among various other incarnations to discover his roots

rokia traoré - recently (03') garned a lot of attention with bowmboï; highly recommended

tounami diabaté - senegalese I think; kora player; collaborated with ali farka and ballake sissoko

oumou sangaré - another popular malian singer; moussoulou - great album

oliver mtukudzi - 'tuku music' unique, popular zimbabwean musician; the tuku years is admirable

orchestra baobab - afro-carribean fusion; fantastic sound that slipped through the cracks; recently gained more attention with some much needed reissues of older recordings

unforntunately, most of this is very geocentric (e.g. west africa) and more popular as opposed to traditional but I also recommend inspecting compilations on assorted world music labels such as nonesuch, chant du monde, sublime frequencies, putumayo, rough guide series etc..

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:11 am
by spaceboy
Thank you my fellow souljah's.

West Coast afro-beat rocks man.

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:48 am
by iag
spaceboy

check out http://bennloxo.com/

it's an african music blog written by a canadian, he posts mp3's with every article and i've downloaded many.also the Nigeria 70 compilation on AfroStrut/Strut is excellent

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 11:42 am
by bagelator
http://www.muzikifan.com/mali.html

mali jazz i like. andy kershaw used to batter this stuff when he was on radio 1

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 5:26 pm
by el cubist
dittoing the antibalas :D

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:05 pm
by spaceboy
wicked wicked. I'm so late to the table on African stuff - I've been focused on Arabica and Indian stuff so this is like a proper treat.

Fela Kuti where you been all my life man!!! Damn.

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:07 pm
by subframe
iag wrote:spaceboy

check out http://bennloxo.com/

it's an african music blog written by a canadian, he posts mp3's with every article and i've downloaded many.also the Nigeria 70 compilation on AfroStrut/Strut is excellent
nice, thanks!

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:53 pm
by iag
Spaceboy wrote:Fela Kuti where you been all my life man!!! Damn.
Exactly, i couldn't and still can't believe I'd never heard his stuff for so long. Ever since I've been embarking on an expensive vinyl pilgrimage towards lagos.

Also don't forget Fela's drummer and bandleader Tony Allen. He's involved in the recent Damon Albarn project, "the good, the bad and the queen", but don't let that put you off. His solo stuff is ace, the first non fela ep "no discrimination" is a late seventies poly-rhythmic moogy gem and the stuff he's produced in recent years is just as good.

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:34 pm
by pompende
Spaceboy wrote:wicked wicked. I'm so late to the table on African stuff - I've been focused on Arabica and Indian stuff so this is like a proper treat.

Fela Kuti where you been all my life man!!! Damn.
freal.
confusion. 1.

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:08 pm
by elgato
iag wrote:
Spaceboy wrote:Fela Kuti where you been all my life man!!! Damn.
Exactly, i couldn't and still can't believe I'd never heard his stuff for so long. Ever since I've been embarking on an expensive vinyl pilgrimage towards lagos.

Also don't forget Fela's drummer and bandleader Tony Allen. He's involved in the recent Damon Albarn project, "the good, the bad and the queen", but don't let that put you off. His solo stuff is ace, the first non fela ep "no discrimination" is a late seventies poly-rhythmic moogy gem and the stuff he's produced in recent years is just as good.
he's an absolute don. i was fortunate enough to see him live last year and it was an outrage. so deep and tracky, hypnotic.

also well worth checking on a dance tip is afrobeat's precursor in Nigeria - Highlife - ive only got some bate 3cd compilation 'This is Highlife' kind of thing but even thats absolutely awesome.

i know mostly about less dance orientated african music, but i would very highly recommend...

Orchestra Baobab - Specialist In All Styles, Pirates Choice
Etoile de Dakar (anything by them)

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:24 pm
by lord dubious
Ghana Soundz 1 & 2 from Soundway!

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:27 pm
by selector.dub.u
unfortunately fela kuti died in 1997

however his eldest son femi kuti is carrying on the kuti family's musical excellence and tradition.

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:21 am
by rachel
Lord Dubious wrote:Ghana Soundz 1 & 2 from Soundway!
any specific ghana recommens? moving there for a bit, in a bit, and wld b gd not to be totally clueless

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:05 am
by echo wanderer
m9918868 wrote:Baaba Maal
Yes!

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"Firin' In Fouta" is my favourite.It's got all these crazy large peeps on it too like Jah Wobble,Michael Brooke,Simon Hale,and Donal Lunny.It's a nice mix of traditional African music,pop,rock,Celtic/Ceili,funk,hip hop,reggae,dub(Wobble plays on a wicked dub meets African jazz tune called 'Njilou'!!)',and even a little 4 on the floor house biznit!I even hear a hint of progrock in there too...

Everyone must hear it I think.It's a beautiful record and flows nicely from start to finish.

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:53 am
by lord dubious
rach:

those two compilations are filled to the brim with quality tunes and the liner notes ain't bad, either.

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:25 am
by m9918868
Speaking of compilations, this one is really good as well:

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Never knew Youssou 'n' Dour made decent music. But he did!