Nigeria Special / Nigeria Disco Funk Special

Soundway are offering FLAC's of their back catalogue for a fiver until the end of Feb. Wahoo!

http://www.soundwayrecords.com/catalogue

the 2010 guardian article above seems to take a disparaging view of this phenomenon:

The African music that does well on the world music circuit is usually that perceived by white audiences as more authentic, meaning free from the influence of contemporary western pop: Toumani Diabaté's multitextured kora playing. Oumou Sangaré's jittery wassoulou music with its kamelengoni hunters' harp. The desert blues of the guitar-toting Tuareg band Tinariwen, whose members come dressed in indigo-dyed robes and turbans. Music that feels slightly exotic but vaguely familiar.

but after sampling the "African music the actual African diaspora likes," i agree with what's in the text-box above.

maybe it's that i'm not connecting with that (very possibly non-representative sample of) mainstream pop that's popular among the expat community, much like i often don't connect with mainstream pop that's popular in the u.s.

You haven't listed which of the musicians (rappers, djs, whatever) that the diaspora likes that you do not like. The boxed quote in your post mentions traditional Malian musicians who use non-synth instruments mostly. I like them and the Nigerian reissues that are the subject of this thread more than some African "ghettotech" club sounds (that actually sound like the worst of European pop-trance stuff). But some of the Malian musicians that are mentioned and some Congolese musicians also make music that is danceable and appeals to both fans of old-school sounds and younger African disapora members. In the Rolling African thread and in previous year's Rolling "whirled" thread I have discussed this a bit.

http://bamalovesoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Nigeria70small_4.jpg

New Nigeria70 has just come out on Strut. I don't have any of these - presumably the 2cd Nigeria70 Vol.1 is the place to start?

It's a slippery slope, man - hard to know what's best since most of these comps are pretty awesome. Easy to get addicted to this stuff. As for authenticity, I dunno - I buy this stuff 'cause it sounds good to me. I mean I am studying ethnomusicology, so I guess it's vulgar of me to prefer the more Westernized pop stuff. With time that could change, as tastes often do. I just hope the money from these comps is going to the right people, or at least the families and the ones who are still alive - even though I know it probably isn't. Isn't that the more important point here - whether or not Nigerian musicians and their families and communities are actually reaping the benefits of releases like these? I realize that's a pretty farfetched thing to hope for with multi-artist compilations of music that's 30 or 40+ years old and was originally produced under who knows what kind of shady business arrangements, but if we want to get away from the very real possibility that there's some neo-colonialist exploitation going on here, shouldn't we be concerned about how labels like Strut and Soundway conduct their business - and what these releases are doing, if anything, for the communities and the culture in which they were produced?

Do you know or have you read anything specific about their business practices re paying musicians?

I don't, and I'm not trying to make accusations - for all I know these reissue labels could be socially conscious and may be doing a lot of good for the actual lives and welfare of Nigerian musicians. I have no idea either way. My point was that if we're going to talk about colonialism, qualms about taste and listening habits are small potatoes - the more important issue is whether, by purchasing these records, we're complicit in any kind of financial exploitation. If a record, even a compilation, sells tens of thousands of copies and the musicians or their families get nothing, that's exploitation (of course this happens all the time in America too). And if it's a UK or American label that's making money off of African music and not paying its creators, that's when we should really start getting worried about "neo-colonialism." Not that the issue of what we listen to and why isn't important, or even that it's not shaped one way or the other by colonialism and its legacy - I'm just saying there could be bigger issues at stake here.

Everything i've read from / about Soundway and Analog Africa indicate they are very fair and go through lots of trouble to pay the proper people.

I'm just saying there could be bigger issues at stake here.

We've had the discussion re exploitation of musicians on one of the Mississippi label threads and I think on a Sublime Frequencies one as well.

Will check those out. Thanks for the heads up. Posting this made me realize I should really be better informed myself before I make these kinds of purchases.

And I'm glad to hear that labels like Soundway are doing what they can to operate ethically.

these two strut comps are both great, especially as an introduction to some of the music that's been discussed up-thread.

http://www.parisdjs.com/images/strut/Various-Club_Africa_b.jpg

http://www.parisdjs.com/images/strut/Various-Club_Africa_2_b.jpg

the modern highlife comp, always a pleasure

approx how long does it take to tire of ol 'circular' guitar patterns anyway, or am i set from here on out

in my experience you're set

all music should have circular guitars