Rolling Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2016 Thread Once Known as World Music

Am guessing her husband, Pakistani guitarist Rez Abbasi's event this past weekend got cancelled because of snow--

Saturday, January 23, 2016 at 8PM
Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), New York City

Asia Society is delighted to present the New York premiere of Invocation, Pakistani-born jazz guitarist Rez Abbasi's quintet featuring pianist Vijay Iyer, saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, Johannes Weidenmueller (acoustic bass), Dan Weiss (drums), and Elizabeth Means (cello). In this special performance, the group unveils a new project that explores Carnatic classical music from Southern India through the idiom of jazz.

Titled Unfiltered Universe, this is the final installment in a trilogy that puts a jazz lens on the musical traditions of South Asia. Their 2009 debut, Things To Come, employed Hindustani North Indian music and featured Indian vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia. DownBeat magazine chose the album as one of the decade's best. Suno Suno was released in 2012. Featuring compositions that were influenced by Abbasi's long time love of Pakistani Qawwali music, it also received many accolades.

I need to hear the album with Ahluwalia on it

Rez and Kiran Ahluwalia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1ZeVicy5PE

This looks good---but I am not in NYC

Pioneer Works Residency Launch Party: Africa/India Series
February 3rd, 2016, 8pm

Africa/India Series, Residency Launch Party!

Brooklyn Raga Massive will launch its Pioneer Works residency with a special concert celebration, a retrospective of it’s popular and joyful Africa/India Series.

Awa Sangho “Golden Voice of Mali”, featuring BRM All-Stars
Orakel – duo featuring Kane Mathis (kora) & Roshni Samlal (tabla)
Africa Meets India – Kevin Nathaniel (mbira) and Eric Fraser (bansuri)

Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231

Kiran Ahluwalia & guitarist Rez Abassi will be there March 23 and they'll be in DC on March 4th

love this > https://sahelsounds.bandcamp.com/album/tumastin

Lush studio compositions with rolling rhythms and wistful melodies from Northern Mali’s standout Tuareg guitar band. Disrupted by political conflict in the Sahara, Amanar’s follow up is years in the making. Soulful call and response in a charged reclamation to the origins of Tuareg guitar: messages to a people divided. Songs about change, nostalgia, and hope from Mali’s band-in-exile.

I will be curious to hear that Amanar album.

playlist is updated.

ILM's Rolling Global and Outernational Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist

Posted this on the Modern Brazil music thread, but in case you miss that---

Just got back from an incredible trip to Brazil (Rio and Salvador, Bahia). Alas, a connecting flight got cancelled and then our luggage got misplaced on the way there, so We missed a free Romulo Froes gig. But we did hear that MC Joao cut "Baile de favela" everywhere (that Rob mentioned upthread). Mostly a remixed version (the light remix I think its called). Thousands were chanting the words to that in a Carnival bloco parade we attended at Copocabana beach. The song certainly got stuck in our heads.

We saw a late-night Maria Rita gig, a number of bands playing Carnival gigs on various streets, the 2nd night of the Sambadrome event with samba schools composed of 1,000 or so folks, plus the amazing Salvador Campo Grande Carnaval circuit with afro-blocos like Olodum and Ilie Aiye.

― curmudgeon, Saturday, February 13, 2016 5:49 PM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there's a new rokia traorè out

She's gonna tour the US again too.

On her upcoming 2016 release, Rokia turns to friends John Parish (PJ Harvey, Eels), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), and Devendra Banhart to help her express her deep sadness at the state of turmoil in her native Mali. Lamenting her homeland’s loss of life, culture, and traditions, Rokia will draw audiences in with a striking translation from emotion to song, including transcriptions of some of Toni Morrison’s prolific writings.

x-post-Saw some bands in Brazilian carnival events in various neighborhoods of Rio and Salvador that I enjoyed but alas, I never figured out their names. Gonna see what I can figure out online and via some carnival newspaper guides I picked up.

In Salvador da Bahia, we were the only customers twice at Cana Brava Records, a store run by an American ex-pat who knows everything about Brazilian samba, bossa nova, jazz, and more. He mostly just sells cdrs of hard to find Brazilian vinyl. He is pals with various old Brazilian musicians and would like to help them record some more, but he doesn't have the money to do so himself. Here is his website

http://www.salvadorcentral.com/guide/index.php/salvador/cana-brava-records

http://www.afropop.org/27401/afropop-returns-to-mali/

Rokia Traore album sounds good on first listen

Angelique Kidjo, one of Africa's most prominent musicians, won her third Grammy on Monday, this time together with Luxembourg's Philharmonic Orchestra under well known Luxembourg musician Gast Waltzing.

Kidjo dedicated the "Best World Music Album" award to aspiring artists on the continent of Africa.

x-post--that afropop.org Mali article is worth a read

The Dogon Festival listed Oumou Sangare as the final night headline, but apparently she dropped out and accepted a gig in China. We can’t blame her. For all the ambition and richness of these festivals, the crowds were not large. Money is scarce, and despite appearances, people we spoke with report that there is a reluctance by some to gather in large outdoor crowds.

....
One of the biggest changes in Mali in the decade since we were last here has been the dramatic rise of young rappers, who now draw bigger crowds than nearly all the old-school stars, and wield more influence over youth than any politician. When Master Soumi took the stage at the Dogon Festival, the energy lifted palpably. Teenagers and 20-somethings surged forward, shouting affirmations to his boldly barbed raps. Soumi gave us a hard-hitting interview on the roof of his humble home where he still lives with his parents. Even a rapper of his stature still can’t get rich in Mali.

...One exception to that rule may be Sidiki Diabaté, the charismatic 24-year-old son of Toumani Diabaté. Their 2014 kora duo release Toumani and Sidiki (Nonesuch) showcases the son’s fidelity to the family tradition. But Sidiki is also a huge pop star—“more popular than me!” says Toumani with a mixture of pride and pique. We saw Sidiki perform as headliner at a 4,000-seat sports center, packed with teenagers swooning and screaming for his pop rap. When Sidiki hit the stage at around 3 a.m., the place went berserk

I wanna go to Mali, but...

same

http://www.afropop.org/27604/afropop-returns-to-mali-part-2/

Noura Mint Seymali's on the west coast soon. I should go, right? Anyone seen her this time around?

I haven't but yes 100% gogogo

She's been great in years past live-- her powerful voice and her band's nearly psychedelic sound

DJ Katapila's Ghanaian Ga dance music on Awesome Tapes from Africa now

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/arts/music/spinning-tunes-in-ghana-with-the-world-on-his-mind.html?ref=arts

. Mr. Shimkovitz found two bootleg tapes of Katapila’s music, including “Trotro,” and began trying to track the musician down immediately.

“I was really excited because it reminded me of the kind of electronic music we like back home, Chicago- and Detroit-type stuff,” Mr. Shimkovitz said. On closer listen, however, Mr. Shimkovitz said he realized that Mr. Abbey’s music was full of “bell patterns, drum patterns, clap patterns and vocalizing that are all total one-to-one connections with Ga dance music.”

Mr. Shimkovitz said that Mr. Abbey stood out among his Ghanaian peers, most of whom play soukous-influenced Francophone club music or the highlife-derived local hip-hop known as hiplife. “In the context of Ghana,” Mr. Shimkovitz said, “where electronic music in the form of dance music like house or techno has never had a foothold, it’s quite interesting that there’s something that sounds like that being made there.”

Might be a little too programmed dancey for this thread, but DJ Katapila does offer some qualities that readers of this thread might like

Noura Mint Seymali is amazing live. Highly recommended.

I've transferred my playlist of Middle Eastern and African music to the Quietus from the Guardian if anyone's interested.

Yes! Thanks, nice coverage of the ethical issues involved for those of us interested in such music.

Now I just have to listen to the music

Movie “On The Banks Of The Tigris: The Hidden Story Of Iraqi Music” at 7 pm at the DC JCC in W. DC (its about Iraqi Jewish musicians, who are now in exile I believe) Showing Monday night in DC too at the West End Theatre. I don't think this doc has a distributor yet

sounds interesting - are you going?

Yes, gonna see it tonight

Playlist somewhat updated.

ILM's Rolling Global / Outernational Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist

how dare u ;)

L and I are going to see Noura Mint Seymali in Portland on Wednesday, excited.

x-post-- The documentary movie “On The Banks Of The Tigris: The Hidden Story Of Iraqi Music” was great. Very touching and emotional. An Iraqi Muslim actor who fled from Sadaam's Baathists in the 90s (and was shot in the arm) ended up in Melbourne, Australia. He loved folkloric Iraqi songs growing up but had no idea of their roots. He began researching online and discovered that Iraqi Jews from the 1920s to 1948 or so created and played many of the songs, occasionally working with Iraqi Muslim musicians. He then goes to Israel and elsewhere around the world in search of the musicians and their descendants.

http://www.fruitfulfilms.com.au/films/tigris

A celebration of Iraqi music, featuring Farida Mohammad Ali, Yair Dalal and Ahmed Mukhtar

The movie will be on dvd beginning in April. It is also being shown at certain film fests.

Here's the movie doc's trailer--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ok7Aodd33c

It's gonna be on dvd in April and they're still showing it at filmfests.

10 years now since Ali Farka Toure died. There's gonna be a weekend of tribute gigs in Mali, and some unreleased material coming out

Noura Mint Seymali was great, god damn can her husband play guitar. loved how the opening band were Portland guys fussing over their electronic tuner pedals, and then this dude gets up and tunes his guitar to some crazy modal variation in like ten seconds, by ear.

He is great. I think I saw an interview saying that he listens to just Tuareg/Sahel region players and old Dire Straits tapes, but his sound is so much more than that-- feels psychedelic.

haha that is awesome

http://label.glitterhouse.com/files/image/releases/AB%20COVER%20SMALL.jpg

love this; very worth checking out imho

portland had Jepsen and Seymali on back to back nights #blessed

x-post--like Brahim's strong voice on the one song I checked out on Youtube--"Julud" from that album.

Listened again to Rokia Traore's latest. Some cuts I like a lot, others sound like forced experiments that have weaker vocals and less groove

agreed - v uneven

i've been listening to the new debo band. so far it's not sticking with me but it's definitely listenable. i need to give it some more time bc i loved their last one.

this looks interesting:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1243412199007657&set=a.103845412964347.8928.100000166659970&type=3&theater

That Cambodian collection does look nice.

This movie, from a different part of the world, looks like it could be good too

MORBAYASSA

Thirty-year-old Bella (singer Fatoumata Diawara, previously seen in Oscar®-nominated TIMBUKTU) works in a mafia-run cabaret in Dakar, struggling to accept the limitations of her miserable life. Having given up her daughter for adoption 15 years prior, Bella is wracked with guilt over her past actions. But when she meets Yélo, a fellow Guinean, working for the UN, she has a chance for redemption as the two set out to find her daughter and rebuild a life worth living. This inspiring drama celebrating the female spirit comes from filmmaker Cheick Fantamady Camara (CLOUDS OVER CONAKRY, 2008 New African Film Festival). Official Selection, 2015 Seattle, FESPACO and Zanzibar Film Festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Cheick Fantamady Camara; SCR Marc Gautron, Catherine Foussadier. France/Guinea, 2015, color, 124 min, DCP. In French with English subtitles. NOT RATED

I missed that movie at the African Film Fest at the AFI Silver in MD last night. I did see on opening night of the Fest a very good Ethiopian movie called Lamb (in Amharic with English subtitles) , about a half-Jewish Ethiopian kid in a rural mountainous part of the country with a pet lamb. The kid's mother died from the drought, and the movie then follows issues relating to the kid, his father and relatives. Some old testament bible analogies included (although these and the kid's half-Jewishness is not highlighted broadly). Lots of great Ethiopian music on the soundtrack.

Mordy, you should see this.

I also saw Necktie Youth, a South African film about middle class white and black youth (soundtrack of pop dancey stuff was not that memorable)

an affluent group of adolescent friends living in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa are shocked by the live streamed suicide of a young girl in her parent's family home. A year and some months after the incident, two disillusioned new generation Zulu youths, Jabz and his best friend September rummage through the sleepy manicured northern suburbs of Johannesburg in search of answers, drugs, distraction and salvation.

sounds like really good stuff. for some reason "about a half-Jewish Ethiopian kid in a rural mountainous part of the country with a pet lamb" reminds me of

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b2/ZlatehTheGoat.jpg/220px-ZlatehTheGoat.jpg

Maybe and of course ...Abraham and Isaac and the lamb or ram that got sacrificed

that mouse boys album is a quiet heatseeker it's true
they're secretly one of my fave live shows of all time

Osei Korankye, Seperewa of Ghana: Emmere Nhyina Nse (Akwaaba Music)

Nice, pleasant acoustic Ghanaian music

Was also listening to the Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra - Too Much Information - Laolu Remix on Spotify. That's a Dec. 2015 afrobeat goes club thing that is popping up on some 2016 year-end track lists.

Elza Soares – The Woman At The End Of the World

This seems to be the Brazilian effort getting the most crossover attention. But sometimes this is too avante-noisy for my tastes, and she sometimes shrieks too much. Romulo Froes who I like, wrote a song on this and Soares is hailed by many, so ignore my nitpicking if you want.

yeah I listened to a bit of that and it was pretty good, but it seems obvs that her life story is key to the attention it's getting. This is a reissue from 1970 but it was on bandcamp's list and is quite nice: https://josemauro.bandcamp.com/releases

Was also listening to the Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra - Too Much Information - Laolu Remix on Spotify. That's a Dec. 2015 afrobeat goes club thing that is popping up on some 2016 year-end track lists.

It makes no sense to me to list that rather than the dub album, but it's good -- I found a FLAC version from some comp and just appended it to the dub album.

Afrobeat Makers - Nu Guinea: The Tony Allen Experiments (Paris)

Is this a compilation of the two volumes, which came out in 2012 and 2014?

Abayomy Afrobeat Orquestra - Abra Sua Cabeça (Brazil)

I love this and am trying to find a way to officially buy it (lossless files or CD) with no luck so far.

Here's a few others that were just outside my top 20 or on other genre lists:

Mohammed Lamouri – MOMOstLAMOURI tape (Lamouri) | Algeria
Baaba Maal – The Traveller (180 Proof) | Senegal
Konono No. 1 & Batida – Konono No. 1 & Batida (Crammed) | Congo
Douglas Germano – Golpe de vista (Digitalize) | Brazil
Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band – Wede Harer Guzo (ATFA) | Ethiopia
Susso – Keira (Soundway) | UK
Wardruna – Runaljod: Ragnarok (Norse Music) | Norway
Steve Lehman – Sélébéyone (Pi) | US & Senegal
The Eternals – Espiritu Zombi (New Atlantis) | US
Melt Yourself Down – Last Evenings On Earth (Leaf)
Luisa Maita – Fio de memória (Cumbancha) | Brazil
Horse Lords – Interventions (Northern Spy) | US
The Dwarfs Of East Agouza – Bes (Nawa) | Egypt
Laraaji & Sun Araw – Professional Sunflows – Professional Sunflow (W.25th) | US
Shabaka and the Ancestors – Wisdom Of Elders (Brownswood) | South Africa
Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids – We Be All Africans (Strut) | US

Ah, it's actually Volume 3:

https://afrobeatmakers.bandcamp.com/album/nu-guinea-the-tony-allen-experiments

yeah i like it a lot

Was also listening to the Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra - Too Much Information - Laolu Remix on Spotify. That's a Dec. 2015 afrobeat goes club thing that is popping up on some 2016 year-end track lists.

It makes no sense to me to list that rather than the dub album, but it's good -- I found a FLAC version from some comp and just appended it to the dub album.

They sound different-- the "Too Much Info" single is faster-tempoed and more funky goes clubbing while that album is dub. They both have their virtues.

César Lacerda & Romulo Fróes – O Meu Nome é Qualquer Um (google translate says that means in English): My Name is Anyone

Nice, quiet & folky yet bossa-samba-mpb inflected duo effort from Brazil

― curmudgeon, Saturday, December 3, 2016 6:23 AM (two weeks ago) Bookmar

This is really growing on me. Froes wrote a song (or more) on the Elza Soares album that gettting lots of love. He and Lacerda can do straight-ahead Brazilian samba stuff with nice melodies, and sometimes they add rock aspects to it.

They sound different-- the "Too Much Info" single is faster-tempoed and more funky goes clubbing while that album is dub. They both have their virtues.

I was just thinking in terms of it's a single 7:13 track (no one seems to be including the Rainy City Music Version) released in 2015, whereas the dub album is a full album from this year.

The Folk Roots magazine "world" and folk music critics poll is in their new issue, but is not on their website

that Dhafer Youssef album is growing on me, maybe a bit jazz for this thread but it does feature a Tunisian oud master.

Anyone hear some 2016 Congolese music you can recommend?

Was kinda underwhelmed by Brazilian rock group Meta Meta album on only listen, but I see it got nominated on ilx poll. Maybe I should give it another shot

this was a great podcast about congo music and NGOs: http://www.afropop.org/26411/congo-goma-music-conflict-and-ngos/

this Tswe song is pretty cool: https://soundcloud.com/thesongwriteredition/tswe-feat-patexx-we-let-it-flame-c-imsgllc

also the new Konono N1 meets Batida album: http://open.spotify.com/album/0dz2NmWVZ6XaFtFIGxQ0Lc

Thanks.

Oh, in another news I see that the fRoots crit poll is now on their website:

1. Shirley Collins Lodestar (From Here)
2. Kristi Stassinopoulou & Stathis Kalyviotis Nyn (Riverboat)
3. Jim Moray Upcetera (NIAG)
4. Aziza Brahim Abbar El Hamada (Glitterbeat)
5. The Gloaming The Gloaming 2 (Real World)
6. Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker Overnight (Rough Trade)
7.= Maarja Nuut Une Meeles (Maarja Nuut)
Refugees For Refugees Amerli (Muziekpublique)
9. The Furrow Collective Wild Hog (Hudson)
10. Leyla McCalla A Day For The Hunter, A Day For The Prey (Jazz Village)
11. Elza Soares A Mulher Do Fim Do Mundo (Mais Um Discos)
12. Calypso Rose Far From Home (Because)
13.= Leveret In The Round (RootBeat)
Noura Mint Seymali Arbina (Glitterbeat)
15. Afro Celt Sound System The Source (ECC)
16. Bombino Azel (Knitting Factory)
17.= Lady Maisery Cycle (RootBeat);
Lakou Mizik Wa Di Yo (Cumbancha)
19.= Kris Drever If Wishes Were Horses (Reveal)
Orkesta Mendoza ¡Vamos A Guarachar! (Glitterbeat)

runner-ups are also listed

Pretty sure I listened to 4. Aziza Brahim Abbar El Hamada (Glitterbeat) but I have forgotten it

Kristi Stassinopoulou & Stathis Kalyviotis' Nyn has some good things going for it, but it doesn't quite seal the deal for me. I think they need to intensify the guitar and bouzouk lines. It sounds like they could put more tension into the music by cutting loose a bit more (?). Worth checking out though. YMMV.

glad to see shirley collins on that list!

Pretty sure I listened to 4. Aziza Brahim Abbar El Hamada (Glitterbeat) but I have forgotten it

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 29 December 2016 17:55 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha same, I went back to it the other day to see whether it was EOY-worthy and it's definitely nice while it's on but it didn't make much impact on me

Looks like Mordy liked Aziza Brahim more than we do, as I look back on the thread

Listened again to Brazilian Carlinhos Brown's latest (on Spotify)-- it's uneven. Some songs start strongly with Carnival like drumming and then change gears; others use guest vocalists including kids; there are ballads that work and some that incorporate too much melodramatic American pop-rock movie flavor

it's v listenable imo

New thread for 2017:

Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2017 Thread Once Known as World Music

Cleaned up playlist and added some 100+ tracks; mostly via these year-end roundups but plenty of stuff just switched onto the service over time. It's finalized for the year.

ILM's Rolling Global Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist

digging this https://nyegenyegetapes.bandcamp.com/album/afromutations

whole label is cool