African Saturdays

[johncorrigan]

Sweet As Broken Dates

Lost Somali Tapes From the Horn of Africa:

Aamina Camaari - Rag Waa Nacab Iyo Nasteexo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdQSxK_ukrk

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/31/sweet-as-broken-dates-lost-somali-tapes-from-the-horn-of-africa-review-extraordinary-nod-to-swinging-somalia

(I almost hear the Far East in this music!)

That was really great, Lat.

For this African Saturday, here's an updated version of 'Singin' in the Rain' from Mali's Trio Da Kali and San Fran's Kronos...Eh Ya Ye!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxDsn-8eymk

[Globaltruth]

For this African Saturday, here's an updated version of 'Singin' in the Rain' from Mali's Trio Da Kali and San Fran's Kronos...Eh Ya Ye!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxDsn-8eymk

enjoyed that JC, thanks.
A simple yet powerful idea to accompany some excellent music.

And here's the full album:

https://open.spotify.com/album/4rTR79rN0EgalXZMmiGpag

[Lat-Literal]

That was really great, Lat.

For this African Saturday, here's an updated version of 'Singin' in the Rain' from Mali's Trio Da Kali and San Fran's Kronos...Eh Ya Ye!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxDsn-8eymk

enjoyed that JC, thanks.
A simple yet powerful idea to accompany some excellent music.

And here's the full album:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4rTR79rN0EgalXZMmiGpag

Thank you.

Quote : "A song that sounds as if Terry Riley went to Ghana for a highlife jam. From the album "Voices of Africa: High-Life and Other Popular Music" by the Ghanaian painter, sculptor, textile designer, teacher, arts administrator, dramatist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Saka Acquaye". I reckon the break around 2.14 is later - it might have given Glass ideas.

Saka Acquaye And His African Ensemble From Ghana - Akudonno - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4N6X31DeXE

[johncorrigan]

Really enjoyed this song and video from young South African guitarist, Sibusile Xaba with his song 'Open Letter to Adoniah'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU9h8YqPPOI

[johncorrigan]

Great track from Habab Koite and Bamada - Din Din Wo (Little Child) - Sorry I'm a wee bit late...was at a waddin' yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-ZiZnycnWY

[johncorrigan]

Here's an oldie from Nairobi in the 60s. John Mwale' Shirikisho la Afrika:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4--CLoiFBE

[johncorrigan]

In work during the week, Peel's son, Ravenscroft, was Djing on 6 and played The Four Brothers' 'Rumbidzai' from a BBC R1 session back in the late 80s, from that time when Zimbabwean bands ruled the World Music airwaves. Ravenscroft said Four Brothers were his first musical love. Music to lift the soul for an African Saturday...it certainly lifted mine on Monday morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sqb5I8-hXE

[Lat-Literal]

Alsarah and the Nubatones - NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daXGLo4aeFQ

Quote: "When singer Alsarah left her native Sudan, she was just a child who'd shown an interest in music. She's said it served as her coping mechanism during a subsequent transition to life in the U.S. That passion led her to a university degree in ethnomusicology. It also drew her to musicians who were passionate about the intersection of culture, music and migration. Together, their one-of-a-kind expression has been called "East African retro pop." But that tag only scratches the surface: In their hands, the music pulses, breathes and comes alive with a mix of tradition and contemporary influences. Alsarah and her band mesmerize and enchant in this performance behind Bob Boilen's Desk."

[johncorrigan]

Happy African Saturday. KOKOKO! had me thinking of when this crew were ruling the roost. Staff Benda Bilili - Auramandole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp2mqNTXNSA

Still sounds pretty damn good!

[Lat-Literal]

Happy African Saturday. KOKOKO! had me thinking of when this crew were ruling the roost. Staff Benda Bilili - Auramandole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp2mqNTXNSA

Still sounds pretty damn good!

Yes indeed.

This one is slightly late as there was a need to wait for news:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42043370

I am struck first by the fact that while Mr Mugabe became leader of his country when I was just 17, he has not only been in power for 37 years but was actually older in 1980 than I am now. Two, with hindsight, citizens and professional observers will speak about his first decade as not being all bad while adding that the turning point was only seven years into his reign when the Prime Minister made himself President Elect. Three, that timing in 1987 intriguingly sets the popularity of the Bhundu Boys and the Four Brothers here precisely on that axis not that we would have appreciated the nuances. Here's John Peel's first session of the Bhundus, which was an introduction for many, when it was broadcast on 22nd December 1986:

John Peel's Bhundu Boys : 1st Peel Session:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPXJPvfhOt8

(apologies for the hiss on the recording but it's listenable)

Also: I have had this album on vinyl and later on CD almost from its time of release. It is, I think, from early 1988 in the UK even if the Four Brothers were played on R1 earlier and as the interesting notes on YT show it includes a track from 1977 in favour of independence. If my memory serves me correctly, some photos on the cover are courtesy of Andy Kershaw? If not, he did the photography for the Bhundu Boys' "Tsvimbodzemoto". I'll have to check but either way he was there or thereabouts - and I probably bought the two on the same day!

The Four Brothers - Makorokoto - (Cooking Vinyl):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBti8aSTXxc

[Globaltruth]

This

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/from-playing-with-madonna-to-an-edinburgh-homeless-shelter-1455448

[Lat-Literal]

This
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/enterta...helter-1455448

Yes.

That fits the narrative of the universal slide since 1990. I thought Biggie Tembo had also been taken by HIV but the article suggests possibly not so. A sensible reporter on the World Service in the early hours of this morning suggested that those who appear to singularly deliver to the people can expect several decades of adulation or tolerance but then the tide turns. It might be the ANC next although it could be another decade before it is Orban. Am I right in thinking the President of Ireland in 2018 would not need to be elected to the Dail?

[Lat-Literal]

Anyhow, it happened if it was somewhat delayed. Can't help but think "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" - hopefully I will be proven wrong. I'm with Patrick my dentist from Co Clare tomorrow morning - lovely man, scary scenario, but after that if we get through it without bad news the emphasis will have to be on calming for health, somehow. I'm not very optimistic, whichever way it flows. I just know I am going to get back in a kayak as soon as I can, whatever all the issues preventing that, following a very unexpected initiative last July.

Anyhow, my neighbours, who we need here as soon as possible as we are emotionally dependent on the presence of nice people, are back on the seas again. They were delayed for three days because the captain has prostate problems. It's just them now with the Italian crew delivering motors on the Ro-Ro. The other three couples embarked to tour South America.

Graham has been gazing at the stars from the ship for over a month now - we share a similar romantic outlook on life almost a la Cutler, not that you would know it from the jokey demeanours. Our favourite conversation is the rain he heard as a boy on his corrugated roof. It's a meeting of minds there. His wife Gerry has been doing jigsaw puzzles, reading and "tolerating". They are British-South Africans and more like family than family. I like them so much, especially how they are with my parents. He would have been in the Olympics swimming team in Montreal had it not been for the appropriate ban because of apartheid. There's much more about them both but that's for another time. Suffice it to say, at 64, they are for imaginative madcap adventure. They enjoyed Montevideo, mainly because it was their first opportunity to get back on dry land, and now they are on their way back via Dakar.

Amadou and Mariam - La Confusion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXKRDMZeKdA

This is my favourite, though, with autotune, because it is so wonderfully old and new - it's an absolute gem which I loved from the moment I heard it:

Amadou and Mariam - Sabali - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSQUs99tmkM

And whisper it quietly....we think there is a new album about to happen from the marvellous Manu Chao who is getting on a bit and long may that last!

[Lat-Literal]

Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling - The Water - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNDXSems9-E

(Flynn was born in Johannesburg!)

[Globaltruth]

Here, for the very first time, we combine African Saturdays with Irish Fridays...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL_4kxPHbC0

Not once but twice ('cos I'm sure Afro Celt Sound System count...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYr_iMkdC14

(from the film 'Gangs of New York', and their singer is not too shabby either...)