African music
Michael H. Bloom
the last five years, under the term "World Beat" (which we were discussing last
night, and decided another name might be more appropriate: "Global Pillage" :-).
I confess I can't tell most of it apart. The Gnawa Night Music record is one of
the ones that stands out, and I don't know anything else quite like that! But
I'll jot down a few recommendations. Your mileage may vary...
_Yalla Hitlist Egypt_ (Mango) -- it's a compilation of 12 songs that "topped the
charts" in the Cairo market. Apparently they don't make records there; music is
distributed on cassette, because it's easier and cheaper-- and the same factors
allow piracy to be rampant too, so the artists get ripped off hugely. But they
don't much care; what they're really after is name recognition so they can get
work in the big time Cairo night clubs. Anyway, 12 contemporary dance classics,
with traditional instruments like dumbegs and qanuns jamming away with string
sections and synthesizers, and very agile singers crooning something exotic and
deeply mysterious. I love it.
Kanda Bongo Man, _Zing Zong_ (Hannibal) -- my favorite example so far of the
West African style, with the interlocked high-up-the-neck guitar licks (maybe
we should add Ray Phiri, the guy that worked on Paul Simon's _Graceland_, to
the list of great guitarists!) and the exuberant call-and-response singing.
Ali Farka Toure, _African Blues_ (Shanachie) -- I may have the title wrong, but
it really is African blues. Toure's from one of those countries (Mali?) where
there's a hereditary musicians' guild, the Griots, and nobody else is supposed
to be a musician. (The Gnawa musicians are Griots too, I think, although their
songs and traditions are different from the Malians.) Toure wasn't born into a
Griot family, and when he decided he wanted to play anyway, it was apparently
sort of a scandal. He came to the USA for schooling, and acquired a guitar, and
dicovered the music of John Lee Hooker. His music now is a hybrid of the Malian
style and Delta blues. The record I have is just his guitar and voice, and one
other singer with accompanying light percussion. It reminds me of the Kalahari,
dry scrub with wandering antelope herds, as portrayed in nature documentaries.
Mahmoud Ahmed, _Ere Mela Mela_ (Hannibal) -- Ethiopian rock that sounds utterly
weird, like the more cosmic and dissonant Doors material played backwards, with
a horn section on even better drugs than Morrison. Recording quality is really
primitive, which is a damn shame. This record is unique in my experience, and
people that know the field much better than I tend to agree. The closest thing
I've heard is Nubian music by a guy named Kuban, with a relatively new release
on Shanachie called _From Nubia to Cairo_. (Nubia's not an independent country
but a region of the Nile basin within Egypt and Sudan. The Nubians are darker
skinned than the Cairenes, and get looked down upon as country bumpkins, and
have developed their own sub-culture sorta like American Blacks. And, like the
Blacks, they make incredible party music.) There's a woman named Aster Aweke,
an Ethiopian living in Washington DC, whose two records feature half and half
Ethiopian and Western musicians, and the grooves are kind of a mixed bag, but
on the balance I think she's pretty cool-- terrific, for a major label (Epic).
But she's nowhere near as Martian as Mahmoud.
Fela Anikapela Kuti, _Original Sufferhead_ (Shanachie) -- I always respected
Fela for his courage and his political stance, but I never really liked him
until this record came down the pike. It's got real killer grooves that run
for 10 or 20 minutes at a stretch (4 songs, over an hour), and Fela's rant
is icily bitter, and the horns are almost as propulsive as James Brown's.
You will note some patterns here, like the concentration of the good stuff on
a relatively small number of record labels. In particular, you'll see an awful
lot of stuff on Shanachie. My experience is that Shanachie puts out carloads of
records, and not all are good. They seem to be able to drain all the excitement
out of certain things, and leave them dry and dusty museum artifacts, so listen
to anything before you buy it! (I do vouch for everything I listed here.) The
Hannibal catalog has all passed muster with producer Joe Boyd, so it won't be
dull, but it might be milder than you want too (Boyd's claims to fame are that
he discovered and produced Fairport Convention, and folkies like Nick Drake).
The Mango catalog tends to be the personal interests of Bill Laswell (Material),
maybe stuff William Burroughs turned him on to, especially the stuff on Axiom.
Here's something you can try: go to a Greek restaurant that has belly dancers.
Ask them what they listen to. At least they'll credit you with a distinctive
pickup line.
SWE...@esoc.bitnet
>Fela for his courage and his political stance, but I never really liked him
>until this record came down the pike. It's got real killer grooves that run
>for 10 or 20 minutes at a stretch (4 songs, over an hour), and Fela's rant
>is icily bitter, and the horns are almost as propulsive as James Brown's.
>
Well if the finances are any good I should be seeing him on Saturday, but
Sunday is a large record fair (and the ones here are real good) plus our
record club at work is selling all it's vinyl (going to CD only) and I want
it all, so maybe not! I actually don't know much about the ins and outs of
African music (even having lived there for 6 years) but I would say for
a reasonable good start for a newcomer would be a band such as Osibisa who
combine the elements of high-life (to which you dance a form of the fox-trot)
and rock.
Seb
Vote Libertarian (SPGDAM@UCCVMA)
>a reasonable good start for a newcomer would be a band such as Osibisa who
>combine the elements of high-life (to which you dance a form of the fox-trot)
>and rock.
Osibisa. Man, they've been at it a long time, huh? I remember them opening
for the Jeff Beck Group (seriously!) twenty years ago. They were good
then, they must be great now.
David
Jeff Beer
station and see if they carry AFROPOP. This is a show that has been
running 3 or 4 years with a very charismatic DJ, Georges Collinet.
They usually have a theme each week, they might focus on one
geographical area, or they might feature an artist, or they might have a
broadcast of a concert, or they might have some spin-offs such as the
influence of African music on the music of Brazil.
If you listen to this every week, you will find out about a ton of
stuff.
other than that, here is an incomplete list of some good african
musicians: (probably lots of mispellings, I am typing from memory)
Fela (Nigerian Afro-beat)
King Sunny Ade (Nigerian juju)
Baaba Maal (Senagalise drummer)
Ladysmith Black Mazimba (South African acappella vocal)
Hugh Masekella (South African trumpeter)
Miriam Makeeba (South African singer)
Ester Aweke (Ethiopian singer)
Abdullah Ibraham (South African jazz pianist)
Pierre Akendengue (Gabonais singer and composer)
In addition, there is similar music inspired from African forms in the
Antilles, Haiti, Brazil and others.
There have been mentions of Peter Gabriel, he also is involved in a
record company which distributes this music. David Byrne has a set of
compilations of Brazilian musics which are very excellent.
Numerous jazz musicians such as Don Cherry, Joe Zawinal, Don Pullen have
collaberated with African musicians. There is Dizzy Gillespie's United
Nations Orchestra.
there you have it...
Jeff