African Music

Yes.

After attending a screening of Beats of the Antonov, I've been listening to a fair bit of Sudanese music (and Nubian as well).

Miriam Makeba - The Click Song

I just saw that David Shabalala (founder of Ladysnith Bleck Mambazo) has retired. Ever since Graceland Ive been following a number of the East African guitar bands.
Djelimadi Tounkara used to play with the Super Rail Band of MAli and heres a breakout number in which he was the fea
tured soloist

Alright, pretty good start! Thank you all.

Here's a jazz/singing band from South Africa: Malibongwe. I posted the full album on another thread. Here is one tunes from that album:

https://youtu.be/o8uHsrtXRDY

Amadou et Mariam - Les Dimanches à Bamako
https://youtu.be/9CD3id6qLZ4

Watched a performance just the other night and presumed he must have retired. I think that is his son up front now.

Well done on setting this up, Olivier. I'll get back when I have more time.

ahhhhhhh love Amadou et Mariam so much

A Malagasy piece by some local friends

Excellent piece, Beth! Produced in Canada?

Now to DR Congo, Kinshasa la belle.



Staff Benda Bilili are a group of street musicians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They used to live around the grounds of the zoo in the country's capital city, Kinshasa, and play music which is rooted in soukous, with elements of old-school rhythm and blues and reggae. The core of the band consists of four senior singers/guitarists, who are paraplegic (they had poliomyelitis when they were young) and move around in spectacularly customized tricycles. They are backed by a younger rhythm section consisting of abandoned street children who were taken under the protection of the older members of the band. The soloist is an 18-year-old boy (2009) who plays guitar-like solos on an electrified one-stringed lute he designed and built himself out of a tin can. The group's name translates roughly from Lingala as "look beyond appearances".
(thanks wiki)

loved this tune ever since i first heard it on a WOMAD compilation album in the 80's



Nico Mbarga (1 January 1950 – 24 June 1997),better known as Prince Nico Mbarga, was a highlife musician, born to a Nigerian mother and a Cameroonian father in Abakaliki, Nigeria. He is renowned for his hit song "Sweet Mother", recorded with his band Rocafil Jazz.

He played the xylophone, conga, drums, and electric guitar in school bands and he made his professional debut as a member of a hotel band, the Melody Orchestra, in 1970.

Great site with lots of old field recordings.

I first became aware of not only the richness and diversity of African music but also its surprisingly complex treatment of phasing back in the 70's as the technique was being explored by Steve Reich. I understand that there were some tribal traditions where different complex drum patterns would be played over the course of a few days with the phases slowly going in and out of sync and finally merging in unison at the very end of the performance.

A great find... Thanks, I love it.

One of the first African songs I heard was Dibango's Soul Makossa.

Howard S tern used Soul Makoosa as bumper music in the 1990's it was very big with all the cab drivers who would call in.


Oliver Mtukudzi is a very well known Zimbabwe guitarist with a deep voice. We saw him after his 1979 album, when African music was just breaking out beyond just "international music" .
Hot hot nights, in bars, smells of patchouli ,sweat and really shitty beer, but the music was great. All our drillers were natives of whatever country e worked so once your embraced as a music fan, youre in (as long as our clients payed for the beer . HERES A WHOLE ALBUM I FOUND ON U TUBE



Im having a bit of trouble finding the music and songs of Stephen Makoni on youtube (maybe I got his name wrong, its been a while)

I'm listening to the album. So far so great. Very cool, good for working. Thanks. :-)