In honor of Nonesuch finally getting around to releasing Made In Dakar (May 20 - 7 months after the UK release) here's more of OB's live majesty.

Source: OCPA 204

Musicians and singers in Somalia are continuously facing targeted killings, intimidation, injuries, and deprivation of their basic rights to work and express themselves freely by all sides in the country's conflict, but these violations against Somali artists are not reported.

www.freemuse.org/sw26598.asp

Source: OCPA 204

http://allafrica.com/stories/200804250980.html

In spite of the developmental benefits, which music has imposed on the global developed economies around the world, Ghana is yet to experience such socio-economic benefits from the music industry.

After subjecting the memories of Ismael Beah a teenage boy who was forcefully conscripted into a violent civil war in Sierra Leone and then wrote about it to the kind of scrutiny that should be reserved for war mongers and war criminals (I am still trying to figure out what the point of all that "investigation" was), the Village Voice treats another former child soldier -- this time the Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal -- with courtesy.

See here.

Source: Africa News

Friday 9 May 2008 - 10:50
Absolutely splendid and marvelous, that is what the audience who watched Ivory Coast female artist Dobet Gnahore perform in Malawi's commercial city of Blantyre on Wednesday night described her.

Source:UCLA International Insititute

A Fiddle's Deep Roots

Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje is an international expert on things she once snubbed, with articles on gospel and spirituals and a new book on fiddling, "Fiddling in West Africa: Touching the Spirit in Fulbe, Hausa, and Dagbamba Cultures."

Read the full article

FADER TV: Open Bar With BLK JKS from The FADER on Vimeo.

In December 2006 I visited Cape Town with my wife and new daughter. I bought some music and books, mailed it back to New York City. I looked out for it for a while, then gave up.

This week I got a note from the post office to pick up a big box. I won't say much about the state of the box.

The books and music were all in there. Including 'Nomad/Jez' the third album of Cape Town funkster and jazzman Robbie Jansen (he played with Abdullah Ibrahim, and along with Basil Coetzee dominated the local jazz scene during the 1980s; they're the premier exponents of "Cape Jazz"). You can read about him here and sample some of his music here. [The accordion player in the background is Alex van Heerden, one of my favorite Cape Town musicians.]

I am looping it now along with Bongo Muffin's 'New Construction,' Bheki Mseleku, Tumi and the Volume, Johnny Dyani Quartet's 'Mbizo,' and Brenda Fassie. Love the post office.

Posted by sociolingo on May 8, 2008

I know a lot of you guys already know this, but I am finding out what a rich source of cultural material YouTube is! Whilst trying to get together a post on a Jazz festival in Guinea in honour of the Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure, who sadly died a couple of years ago, I found a lot of YouTube clips. Born in the village of Nafunke near Timbuktu he never forgot his northern Mali roots, and in fact was ignored for some time in Mali because he was regarded as a ‘northerner’. In 2004 he was elected mayor of Niafunke. He is considered the pioneer of ‘Mali Blues‘ and his jazz style is appreciated all over the world. He won 2 Grammy awards for Talking Timbuktu and again in 2006, for his album in collaboration with another famous Malian musician, Toumani Diabate, In the Heart of the Moon (both links have clips you can play).

I did a little searching. I found this interesting video of the great man, posted by pusanguy, not just playing but giving his thoughts about ‘African Americans’. I hope you find it encouraging!

Well, back to the Jazz festival. According to APA News it is being held in Guinea at the Franco-Guinean Centre. It started on 7th will end on 11th May. The Guineans are honouring Farka Toure

because had given up attending a cultural festival in Nice, France, where he was to earn €80,000, to take part in the 2nd edition of the Jazz Festival

The following link can only be listened to through YouTube, I can’t embed it. But is is such a seminal recording of Farka Toure I really wanted to bring it to your attention. It was recorded at the Segou festival in 2005. The other instrument being played is the Ngoni or xalam and is played by Bassekou Kouyate. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSWuzp_0hn4&feature=related

Disc 1

1. Jaloux Saboteurs
2. Amie
3. Taximen
4. Ziboté
5. Lonlon Nyeku
6. Dis-Moi la Vérité
7. Beni Haminanko
8. Bolola Sanou
9. Rail Band
10. N'Toman

Download

Download

Disc 2

1. Dissan Na M'Bera (Suur Di No Pubis)
2. Yaye Boye
3. Mane Kouma Xol
4. Thiely
5. Autorail
6. Yaye Boye
7. Warteef Jiggeen
8. Aliou Gori-Mami
9. Gambia/Zambia
10. Paulette
11. Malouyame
12. Kadia Blues
13. Samba
14. Tentemba

Download

Download

Crowd Goes Wild for "Hoba Hoba Spirit," a Moroccan Rock Band.

Over the May Labor Day weekend, I attended one day of a four-day-long rock festival held at the Lalla Takerkoust Reservoir, nearby Marrakesh, Morocco.  The photos were taken while a Moroccan rock group called Hoba Hoba Spirit played.

I took some photos of a few interesting people in the crowd (using my newly-acquired digital camera):

Madame Monet

To launch the latest issue of Chimurenga Magazine, we put on a party in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. It was monster. I played papparazzi. More pictures here.

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Whoa.  Stop right there.  What the fuck is this?  I'll tell you what it is - it's a beast.  The most finely concieved, played and produced African album I have ever heard.

It is an absolutely stunning mashup of tribal rythm from Mali an extended family of Saharan nomads who are quite unlike anything you've ever seen or heard in your life.

Count yoursef blessed that you have stumbled upon this post because the track I have for you, the first from their third album, is an absolute stonewall classic.  This stuff takes your breath away and played back to back with The Very Best of Ethiopiques it shows the quality of music coming out of Northern Africa is nothing short of sublime

Please do yourself a favour.  Buy this record.  And Pick up The Very Best of Ethiopiques while you're at it.

]

Zaki Ibrahim. Sample here. 

The success of music and video sharing/social networking sites, Myspace and Youtube has meant that African Internet users have a lot of choices to make as they can listen and watch African music and videos from local music/video sharing sites such as Afriville.com

Afriville is a Nigerian social networking site that allows users to listen to music, watch videos, create blogs, share opinions in forums, see photos, meet people and do more.

The site is growing, but still lacks that ability to bring all African music together in one place. There are mostly Nigerian music and videos on the site, which brings the question: Is 'Afriville' actually an African music/video sharing site?

Besides, a look at Afriville's Alexa traffic details shows that almost 60% of user traffic comes from Nigeria, while the rest is spread between the UK 13.4% , US 11.0% and Kenya 8.9%. In fact, TLC Studio, a blog that monitors and criticizes Web 2.0 sites in Africa thinks that Afriville is "using the African card to gain members".

What is your own opinion?

If you like this blog, you can subscribe to the feeds. You can also save this article to digg, delicious, stumbleupon or sturvs.

Interview by Howie Mitchell

When it comes to Seattle hip-hop, there is Sir Mix-A-Lot and honestly nothing else if you're talking about national recognition. For a city that dominated mainstream music in the '90s with its grunge icons, Seattle hasn't broken its rappers in the same way it did with its alternative-rock acts. Ironically, Sir Mix-A-Lot was on the verge of a commercial breakthrough years before Nirvana, and you'd think a hip-hop revolution would've followed. Maybe it's because the Seattle rap scene hasn't found its voice yet, still trying to find its own identity from the overpowering shadows of East and West Coast hip-hop. Local talent Diano Garcia has the potential of turning that around. Built from parts of funk, rap, soul, psychedelic rock, and world music, Garcia has an adventurous style that could only emanate from the creative open-mindedness of Seattle.

Howie Mitchell: The Afro-Beat genre hasn't been absorbed by mainstream hip-hop, which seems to me suffering from creative stagnation. Why do you think that is?

Diano Garcia: I'm not really sure. They both spring from the same ancestral well. Of course in West African music you hear more and more hip-hop influences being absorbed into Afro-Beat music. I think Afro Beat needs more time to find its way into mainstream American music; maybe then we'll hear it seeping into hip hop.

Mitchell: Your music offers a variety of flavors, from psychedelia to world to funk. How did you become so eclectic in your tastes and creative expression?

Garcia: When I was a kid I listened to a lot of late '60s early '70s rock. At the same time I was really into War, the Ohio Players, Marvin Gaye, Steve Wonder. Eventually I got into Herbie Hancock. Miles' progression 
through the '70s still inspires me. I'd always been a vocalist, then in the mid-'90s I started studying traditional West African percussion. That opened the door to the amazing world of African music which obviously influences everything I do.

Mitchell: What artists moved you the most while growing up and in what ways did they affect you?

Garcia: I mentioned the artists and music I listened to growing up. Even though the styles were different, they all seemed to have to have a similar psychedelic effect on me. I grew up in a conservative suburban 
family. There wasn't a frame work for me to relate that kind of experience to, but that's how the music affected me. 10-years-old on the living room floor with the head phones on tripping balls. Definitely got me hooked.

Mitchell: You're based in Seattle, which is best known for grunge. How does your music fit into the musical menu of the Emerald City?

Garcia: Seattle has a lot of world music fans. There's also a vital hip-hop scene. It's obviously a rock town. Hopefully, what I do will relate to a cross section Seattle music fans.

Mitchell: What can people expect from seeing Diano Garcia in live performance? Do you have a band? What is the set-up like?

Garcia: People can expect a high energy, deeply grooving show with beautiful harmonies and rhythms that move you you from the inside out. I'm really excited about the band I've put together. They do an amazing job of interpreting the music into a live format. You can expect to hear all the music from Turn It On plus songs from an album I'm just now in the process of finishing. We like to stretch things out in the live performance. Play the songs as written while using the grooves as templates to improv off of.

http://www.dianogarcia.com

In honor of the 47th anniversary of Sierra Leone's independence, we've got a special all--Sierra Leonean mix today.

The opening track, "Black Loyalist," is performed by up-and-coming Sierra Leonean reggae star Shabaka, who---for those of you in the DC area---will be performing at Zanzibar on the Waterfront on Saturday, May 2 (that's this coming Saturday). You can check out the "Black Loyalist" video in the videos section of the blog (right-hand column).

As always, you can listen online or download the mix and listen later.

The full playlist should be up tomorrow.

I have a couple of genge songs on my ipod and youtube that I absolutely love. I have made a list that includes Bongo music from Tanzania. It is my mission to inform people of this music genre as well culture. So without any further ado, here is my top 5 Genge music and more list:
Boomba Clan
X Plastaz
Nonini
Ali Kiba
Kleptomaniacs
I know that this is a list that is a mix of Genge Music and Bongo flava. So now that you have checked the music out here are some questions. Does this music have any redeeming value? What are the artists saying? What are your thoughts on hip-hop's influence on african music?