Africa

If you like electric music, try Tinariwen ,from the Saharan area.
Etran Finatawa have a similar sound.

I was a bit cool on the first Tinariwen album and did not bother with the second. Not heard of the other group though. Thanks

Bruce

I have a lot of links to Africa - south, east & west.
I am not sure whats going on, but I too get the feeling not much is happening on the recorded & published side. Lots going on in the clubs, but thats about it.

You jogged my must do button, I will call up some buddies in Kape Stad & Lagos to see wat gaan aan

considering all the problems the whole area is having it's not surprising not much is being produced. So many groups have been to Africa to record. Mick Fleetwood said they were first, but Macartney and of course Paul Simon with Black Mambazo. I think Peter Gabriel is behind Real World isn't he? Just great way to use your influence to bolster world music. I don't own much but gonna put on Graceland in short order. Rainy day here in LA music and heat on full.

Have you ever given a listen to The Oriental Bros? It's what I would call old-school Nigerian guitar Highlife. Not always easy to find (and sometimes albums labeled "Oriental Bros." are by different bands), but when you do find the good stuff, it's certainly worth it.

I also recommend some early Zaiko Langa Langa records. Also Ry-Co Jazz, Mose Fan Fan, and quite a bit on the RetroAfric label.

Take a listen to Rokia Traore - lovely jubbly.

Ian

Mudwolf ...... Paul Simon with Black Mambazo
Paul Simon is an anal gland of the 1st order & has never set foot in Africa so far as Black Mambazo are concerned. If he did dare to now, especially around the Ladysmith area, he would get a tyre necklace double-quick-time.
Black Mambazo recorded the backing track in SA & sent it to Simon in USA who did his stuff, published it, made a fortune & never paid them. Same shit with Los Lobos (& others) if you care to read www stuff

Its a real shame that this 'Paul Simon is a .........' keeps getting churned out! He is open to critism and some of it justified but he has had LBM on tour/record and having seen them on their own they have very publically thanked him for what he did. He got, rightly in my view, damned for breaking the apartied restrictions but without Graceland, african music would have remained in the background for much longer than it did and many in the west would not have been exposed to a number of glorious south african artists.

Of course Paris was the recording place of choice for many african artists during the 70's and 80's anyway just not SA ones! Access to equipment and a market!

Like Jamaica and reggae at the time most of the recording done was topical/political and locally relevent and often short lived..........and as a result very difficult to get hold of!

Many of the african artists seem to have tried to become more international as they got more successful ( and that meant pan africa as much as to the west) and the records were the poorer to my ears but who can blame them. However a number have gone back to 'roots' and produced more individual albums in recent years.

I remember Charlie Gillett syaing that it was the exploration of new sounds that was so exciting. Those closer to the ground can tell us otherwise but there seems to be a sameness to much of the stuff I have heard recently too. But there are still some very special stuff out there try:

Tres Tres Fort by Staff Benda Bilili
I Speak Fula by Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
Tchamantche by Rokia Traore
Seya by Oumou Sangare
Tell No Lies by Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara

of the more easy to get ones.

then try Wrasse, Sterns and Realworld and World Circuit and see what's there. There are also many compilations of older Ghanian, Nigerian and Ethopian out there now.
I have listened to more stuff from North Africa lately too.

Not african but pretty astonishing:
Gurrumul by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu

have fun
james

I seriously doubt he didn't pay them, they were on tour a couple times. Many people send tapes out and get musician's performance back, that's not unusual these days.

He's worked with many different groups but rightly takes credit as he works at the music in the studio and finds inspiration in other's music with his lyrics. He made that into the most amazing album. I put it on yesterday in the rain, it's still wonderful.

But he's not for everyone.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike-B:
Mudwolf ...... Paul Simon with Black Mambazo
Paul Simon is an anal gland of the 1st order & has never set foot in Africa so far as Black Mambazo are concerned. If he did dare to now, especially around the Ladysmith area, he would get a tyre necklace double-quick-time.
Black Mambazo recorded the backing track in SA & sent it to Simon in USA who did his stuff, published it, made a fortune & never paid them. Same shit with Los Lobos (& others) if you care to read www stuff

Sorry Mike but I have to take issue with you there. I was living in South Africa when Graceland came out and clearly remember him performing there at the time. Having worked in the music industry there for ten years (for both Paul Simon's and LBM's record companies) I can comfortably say they would have been paid for their work.

As far as new music goes, you could try Amadou and Mariam, as well as Dhaffer Youssef and the aforementioned Tinariwen,

King Size, I too was staying in SA on & off for years. I do not want to get into this but lets just say he took it on himself to assume he owed them less than they owed him as he "discovered" them & set them on the road. That's as far as I am going.

Mike,
the history of music is littered with cases of composers and musicians being ripped off or claiming to have been unfairly compensated (one of the most well known being known being that of Solomon Linda and "Mbube"). There is often more than one side to the story and it is indeed a minefield to wade through, so i'm happy not 'to get into this'.

I'll leave it by saying that Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo appeared on stage together as recently as 2007, and in a recent interview one of the band members is quoted as saying:

“Since we recorded with Paul Simon, our lifestyle has improved. The place we are living now, we wouldn’t have afforded at that time.”

With this in mind I find the assertions made in your original post a bit extreme.

Try Modeste; you can listen to some soundclips on his website.

Peter

King Size, I was working on a project with various orgs in 1999 to 2001 that included some contact with LBM. Much of that time I stayed in Harrismith & got to hear a lot of goss. So maybe they kissed & made up.

Thanks for the tips folks, a few for me to chase via Sterns wonderful website.

Bruce

Bruce

Try Toumast as an alternative to Tinariwen

Not mentioned so far:

Les Amazones de Guinee
Daby Toure
Kasai Allstars
Cheikh Lo

If you like a jazzy feel then
Éthiopiques
Dub Colossus

Have a look at B&W music club, they seem to be linked to Real World and their download subscription service has delivered some real gems - Dengue Fever and Speed Caravan to name but two

Huw

I am having a listen to Toumast at the moment, I would say if you don't "get" Tinariwen then maybe Toumast is too similar.
I quite like both.

Here's an album I frequently reach for - Spirit of Sheba by Netsannet Mellesse. Lovely, uptown stuff. Here's a link for clips:

http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=12...=Netsanet%20Mellesse

Other artists I enjoy: Jimi Mbaye, guitarist for Salif Keita and Yousou N'Dour, - Dakar Heart; Geoffrey Oryama - Beat the Border; and Ghorwane, a very soulful band from Madagascar. I like their disc Majurugenta the best.

Thanks Sigmund, especially for the link.

I have several Geoffrey Oryema including Beat the Border and also the 'Majurujenta' album. As I said at the outset RealWorld was always a good source in the past but has dried up for me, what I was looking for was some newer releases.

Bruce

The gift moves on, Bruce. Happy hunting and I hope you'll keep us posted on your finds.

I purchased Dobet Gnahore's album a year ago. Still enjoying it!

Purchased just one week after Dobet Gnahore's album:



Habib Koite & Bamada's 'Afriki'

Very tasty! The kind of happy music to play in the car in the early hours of the morning.