Posted 5:43 PM by Brad
Super Mama Djombo

In the same way sports teams foster national pride, musicians did the job in many West African countries. Mali had the Super Rail Band. Guinea had Bembeya Jazz. Senegal, Orchestra Baobab. And more than a decade later, when Guinea-Bissau became Portugal's first colony to gain independence, a group of guys who met as kids at a scout camp became the new nation's house band. They called themselves Super Mama Djombo. more...listen to Marco Werman tell the band's story on TheWorld.org

A collection of the group's music has just been released. Their CD is called Super Mama Djombo.

Download Super Mama Djombo

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Posted 6:14 PM by Brad

Los de Abajo -- The Underdogs of Chilango City

Chilango (cheeLONGO) means Hispanics - Specifically Mexico City inhabitants. People from Mexico's provinces use it as an insult denoting a lazy, tricky, cheating person from the big city. Seen on bumper stickers: "Haz Patria, Mata Un Chilango" (Make Mexico great, kill a Chilango).

Happily, Mexico City residents Los de Abajo seem to have struck a good balance in mixing poilitcs & music. Their name means "those from below" and represents a statement of solidarity with the oppressed people of the world. When they first took their demo tapes to Mexican record companies, their music was considered insufficiently commercial to warrant release, so they decided to do that independently. The group plays benefits for the infamous Zapatista movement, which is fighting to bring a degree of self-determination to the people of Chiapas in southern Mexico. more... read the full story on the BBC Music Awards

Download the debut Los de Abajo CD

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Posted 5:08 PM by Brad

Antibalas: Proudly Providing 'America’s Only Live Afrobeat Party'

Carrying on the legacy of Fela Kuti is a Brooklyn collective putting their Latin spin on afrobeat. Constant touring and frequent NYC gigs have earned them a following, but it is their relentless sound and politics that put them front and center.

Antibalas (“Bulletproof” or literally “Anti-bullets” in Spanish) maintains their political stance in their music, by denouncing the powers that don’t empower but rather try to maintain society in a controlled, fake, and subjugated state. Their songs are floor scorchers and keep the dancers in the pocket, but the social commentary is ever-present in most of their tracks as a reminder that there is nothing wrong in having a good time while using the stage or the floor to bring awareness and action to the masses.

As the liner notes say, “No amount of money, violence, or good intention can make the world a better place. For true change to happen, the hearts of each and every human being must evolve. Respect and understanding must replace greed and egotism as the fundamentals by which we live. Talkatif is dedicated to people all over the earth who create positive change by changing themselves.”
more... listen to the full story at NPR.org

Antibalas' New release is called 'Takatif'

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Posted 8:33 PM by Brad

Gokh bi System

The social consciousness of Senegalese rap is one of its trademarks. One of the reasons rap has grown so quickly in Senegal is that freedom of expression has a relatively strong tradition there.

George W. Bush stayed less than six hours during his recent visit to Senegal. And in that time, he focused on the legacy of slavery and the situation in Liberia with the president of Senegal and six other leaders from West Africa (Ghana, Cape Verde, Mali, Sierra Leone). Handfuls of students and intellectuals staged anti- US demonstrations around Dakar, the Senegalese capital. That's one sign of the relatively open society in Senegal. Another, which President Bush also likely didn't see or hear, is Senegalese rap.

Listen as Marco Werman at TheWorld.org explores Senegalese rap and a new recording that features Senegalese rap group Gokh bi System...

Gokh bi System's new recording is called 'Message from Home'

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Posted 8:06 PM by Brad

So Kalmery

Four vice presidents signed a power sharing agreement this week in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The agreement is aimed at bringing peace to the nation that's been at war for the past five years. Civil strife has been part of life in the central African nation for longer than that though. And that's part of the reason so many talented Congolese musicians have left their country. 48 year-old So Kalmery is one of them.

So Kalmery says that not being in Congo has torn him. He has to be abroad to pursue his music. And that means, in his mind, he and his fellow Congolese musicians can't really be part of their country.

Listen to the full story by Marco Werman at TheWorld.org...

So Kalmery's CD is called 'Bendera'

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Posted 5:19 AM by Brad

'Queen of Salsa' Celia Cruz Dies at 77

Celia Cruz, the Cuban singer who died on Wednesday aged 78, was the undisputed "Queen of Salsa", widely regarded as the most influential woman in the history of Afro-Cuban music.

Listen to the full story... NPR's Neda Ulaby has a remembrance.

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Posted 5:09 AM by Brad

'Buena Vista' Musician Compay Segundo, 95, Dies

Cuban composer, singer and guitarist Compay Segundo died in Havana Sunday of kidney failure. He was 95. Segundo gained worldwide fame as the front man for the group of musicians who played on the Buena Vista Social Club. The album won a 1997 Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Performance.

Listen to the full story as NPR's Melissa Block speaks with music producer Ry Cooder about Segundo's life and legacy.

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Posted 11:22 AM by Brad

Chiwoniso -- Ancient Voices

Chiwoniso is the daughter a Zimbabwean musician who taught for decades at the University of Washington. She spent her first fifteen years in the Pacific Northwest, then went back to Zimbabwe to get involved in the music scene there. She now has a growing international audience, in Africa, Europe and the USA.

Banning Eyre reviews Ancient Voices, the debut CD of the talented 20-something Chiwoniso. "A young singer like Chiwoniso is able to take the music and messages of her ancestors and turn them into a pop sound that young people can really get. Chiwoniso is more than a promising new African star, she is a voice of hope and a guiding light for a society in crisis." Listen to the full story on NPR.org...

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Posted 7:13 PM by Brad

Isolation Blues:
Could perpetual war cut us off from world music?

Last March, one of the biggest stars of African pop music, Youssou N’Dour, cancelled a 38-date tour of North America to protest the US government’s policies toward Iraq. The singer said, in a press release. As any fan of African music here in the United States will recognize, the cancellation of a Youssou N’Dour performance is more than the loss of an evening of great music — it’s a lost opportunity for members of our own communities to discover one another.

This story explores the myriad of post 9/11 U.S. Immigration issues now facing artists and promoters of world music performances.

Read the full story by Damon Krukowski in the Boston Phoenix...

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