Barro | Somos

ARTIST: Barro
TITLE: Somos
LABEL: self-released
The city of Recife and Pernambuco state in Brazil’s northeast are home to one of that vast nation’s most unique music scenes.

Program November 14, 2018

Barro (pictured above) is a singer-songwriter from Pernambuco in Brazil's northeast, home to some of that vast country's most interesting pop musicians: Lenine, Nacao Zumbi, Mombojo, Otto and more.  Barro's second album, Somos, was released this fall; I think he's going to be Pernambuco's next great export.

Hear for yourself -- I'll play a track from Somos this week in a set of 21st century Musica Popular Brasileira (what Brazilians simply call MPB).  Also this week: more from Sudan's golden age; from J Dilla goes Cuban to South African house in five easy moves; and Afro-funk from hither and yon.

Charts November 11, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND | Sira Ba Kele | Sublime Frequencies
2 SUPERFONICOS | Suelta [EP] | Discos Fonicos
3 DEAD CAN DANCE | Dionysus | PIAS
4 DUR DUR OF SOMALIA | Volume 1, Volume 2 & Previously Unreleased Tracks | Analog Africa
5 PEREGOYO Y SU COMBO VACANA | Mi Buenaventura | Vampisoul
6 ALBA GRIOT ENSEMBLE | The Darkness Between The Leaves | Riverboat
7 BICICLETAS POR LA PAZ | Surfeando Un Cometa | self-released
8 JR THOMAS AND THE VOLCANOS | Rockstone | Colemine
9 HOLLIE COOK | "Sweet Like Chocolate" [Single] | Merge
10 CAZ GARDINER AND THE BADASONICS | Caz Gardiner & The Badasonics | Badasonic

Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band | Sira Ba Kele

ARTIST: Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band
TITLE: Sira Ba Kele
LABEL: Sublime Frequencies
The slinky, funky push-pull rhythms of West Africa’s Wassoulou region drive a host of distinctive musical genres: trance-like donso hunters’ music, the sound of Oumou Sangare and the other “Wassoulou songbirds,” Moussa Doumbia’s Afro-funk, Zani Diabate & Super Djata Band’s guitar jams, and Issa Bagayogo’s Afro-EDM.

Program October 31, 2018

Tam Lin watercolor illustration by Joanna Barnum: joannabarnum.com

First of all, I want to say thank you to the over 530 WRIR listeners who donated more than $45,000 during our Fall 2018 Fund Drive, making this the fifth consecutive drive where we've topped our $40,000 goal.  You're the folks who put the power in the Tower of Low Power!

It's not too late to get in on the Fall '18 Fund Drive action.  We still have a T-shirt, reusable straw and knit cap with your name on them -- just visit wrir.org and fill out the donation form.  If you donated and haven't picked up your swag yet, please email fundraising@wrir.org -- we'll set up a time for you to come by and get your premiums.

This week it's a special All Hallows Eve edition of Global A Go-Go, with special material for the day along with the standard fare.  I'll start with a famous Scottish ballad that's set on Halloween; you'll also hear from my favorite Dia De Los Muertos musical artist, Lila Downs; we'll go to the Caribbean for a whole set of songs about duppies and jumbies; and you'll hear one of the most chilling love songs ever recorded, courtesy of Ghana's Ebo Taylor.

Charts October 28, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 ANDRE SAMPAIO | Alagbe | Sony Brasil
2 ANGELIQUE KIDJO | Remain In Light | Kravenworks
3 BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND | Siri Ba Kele | Sublime Frequencies
4 DANIEL KAHN AND THE PAINTED BIRD | The Butcher's Share | Oriente Musik
5 KALETA AND SUPER YAMBA BAND | "Mr. Diva / Hungry Man, Angry Man" [Single] | Yamba
6 NEWPOLI | Mediterraneo | Beartones
7 AFRO CUBAN ALL STARS | A Toda Cuba Le Gusta | World Circuit
8 ALBA GRIOT ENSEMBLE | The Darkness Between The Leaves | Riverboat
9 BLACK MASALA | Trains And Moonlight Destinies | self-released
10 JOHNNY CLARKE | Creation Rebel | 17 North Parade

Program October 24, 2018

WRIR's Fall 2018 Fund Drive wraps up on Wednesday October 24 at 11 PM. Many of the folks reading this message have already donated during this drive or are monthly sustaining members -- thank you to each and every one of you who are powering 97.3 FM, Richmond's tower of low power. We can't do it without you!

As for the rest of you, maybe you've been waiting until the end of the drive to contribute. If that's the case, then this is your alarm clock ringing! We're very close to our $40,000 goal -- that means your donation right now can help get us there. For the last 14 years, WRIR has been doing its part to make Richmond a more innovative, inclusive and interesting community. Now we're asking you to do your share to keep people-powered radio at the heart of Richmond's resurgence.

Program October 17, 2018

WRIR's Fall 2018 Fund Drive is now underway -- we're working to raise $40,000 by Wednesday October 24 to power independent community radio in Richmond for another six months. Thank you for your previous donations to Richmond Independent Radio; I'm writing to encourage you to make a donation once again this fall.

You can make that donation in two minutes by clicking this link: http://wrir.org/donating. Or you can call or visit us between 9 AM and 9 PM during the drive, now through October 24. Our phone number is 804-622-9747; our address is 1621 W. Broad Street, 2nd floor.

Charts October 14, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 SUPERFONICOS | Suelta [EP] | Discos Fonicos
2 VISHTEN | Horizons | Productions Takashoun
3 PEREGOYO Y SU COMBO VACANA | Mi Buenaventura | Vampisoul
4 MICHI SARMIENTO Y SU COMBO BRAVO | Salsa Con Monte | Vampisoul
5 DOCTOR NATIVO | Guatemaya | Stonetree
6 DIALI CISSOKHO AND KAIRA BA | Routes | Twelve | Eight
7 GAYE SU AKYOL | Istikrarli Hayal Hakikattir | Glitterbeat
8 ANDRE SAMPAIO | Alagbe | Sony Brasil
9 RAM | 7: August 1791 | Willibelle Publishing & Sales
10 DOCTEUR NICO | Dieu De La Guitare | Planet Ilunga

Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird | The Butcher's Share

ARTIST: Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird
TITLE: The Butcher’s Share
LABEL: Oriente
Here’s the fifth album from Berlin’s Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird, released in Germany last year and getting an American push now with the band touring the USA in November.

Kaleta & Super Yamba Band | Mr.Diva b/w Hungry Man, Angry Man

ARTIST: Kaleta & Super Yamba Band
TITLE: “Mr. Diva” / “Hungry Man, Angry Man”
LABEL: Yamba
Sometimes it seems like every time I turn over a rock, hiding under it is another American or Brazilian or British or European band that plays Afrobeat and Afro-funk.

Program October 10, 2018

For years, you've heard me (and my WRIR colleagues DJ Daudi and DJ Graybeard) go on and on about champeta music: how it's the sound of Colombia's Caribbean coast, how it's built from the records that sailors brought from African to Colombia's seaports, how it's some of the world's most awesome dance music.

Now you get to see and hear champeta for yourself -- for free, to boot.  Tribu Baharu (pictured above) will be rocking the 14th annual Richmond Folk Festival this year, performing on Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday evening on downtown Richmond's historic riverfront.  And you'll hear them recorded live in WRIR's Studio C on Daudi and Graybeard's The Motherland Influence radio show, Sunday October 21 during WRIR's Fall '18 Fund Drive.

This week, I'll give you a taste of Tribu Baharu to get you motivated to see them at the Folk Festival, and I'll feature three other artists that I'll certainly be catching at this year's festival: Sona Jobarteh from The Gambia, the world's foremost female kora player; the Puerto Rican salsa band Orquesta El Macabeo, who played live on Global A Go-Go three years ago; and the kings of Jamaican nyabinghi drumming, Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus.

Charts October 7, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 KALETA AND SUPER YAMBA BAND | "Mr. Diva / Hungry Man, Angry Man" [Single] | Yamba
2 DUR-DUR OF SOMALIA | Volume 1, Volume 2 & Previously Unreleased Tracks | Analog Africa
3 DOCTOR NATIVO | Guatemaya | Stonetree
4 JOHNNY CLARKE | Creation Rebel |17 North Parade
5 ALPHEUS | Light Of Day | Liquidator
6 MYSTIC BOWIE | Mystic Bowie's Talking Dreads | MTMB Entertainment
7 EL DUSTY | Cumbia City | Aftercluv
8 MAKU SOUNDSYSTEM | 5 Fuegos [EP] | Peace & Rhythm
9 HOLLIE COOK | "Sweet Like Chocolate" [Single] | Merge
10 ANDRE SAMPAIO | Alagbe | Sony Brasil

Program October 3, 2018

Sorry to say, it's once again time to pay tribute to a Global A Go-Go inspiration who's shuffled off this mortal coil.  Two weeks ago it was Rachid Taha; this week it's trumpeter/conguero Jerry Gonzalez, who died in a house fire at his home in Madrid on October 1.

I came to world music from jazz, and Jerry Gonzalez is one of the players who led me there.  He grew up in New York City in the 1960s playing both jazz and Afro-Latin dance music.  When Jerry was 21, he was simultaneously playing the cuchifrito circuit and working with Dizzy Gillespie's combo.  He was looking for something more: he wanted both the freedom of jazz and the deep roots of his Puerto Rican folklore, all in the same music.

He found it in the bands he started and joined: Conjunto Anabacoa, Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquina, Manny Oquendo's Libre, his own Fort Apache Band.  Just when you thought he had it all figured out, he moved to Spain in 2000 and somehow added flamenco to his unique cultural hybrid.

You'll hear a sampler of music from Jerry Gonzalez' career this week on Global A Go-Go.  Also this week: celebrating the birthday of Vincent "Randy" Chin, one of the unsung heroes of reggae; new Afro-funk from Kaleta & Super Yamba Band; and a set of electro-cumbia to send you home dancing.

Charts September 30, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 PEREGOYO Y SU COMBO VACANA | Mi Buenaventura | Vampisoul
2 BLACK MASALA | Trains And Moonlight Destinies | self-released
3 SARAZINO | Mama Funny Day | Cumbancha
4 DUR-DUR OF SOMALIA | Volume 1, Volume 2 And Previously Unreleased Tracks | Analog Africa
5 NEWPOLI | Mediterraneo | Beartones
6 ALBA GRIOT ENSEMBLE | The Darkness Between The Leaves | Riverboat
7 LEMON BUCKET ORKESTRA | If I Had The Strength | Six Degrees
8 KALETA AND SUPER YAMBA BAND | "Mr. Diva / Hungry Man, Angry Man" [Single] | Yamba
9 RIO MIRA | Marimba Del Pacifico | AYA
10 DELGRES | Mo Jodi | PIAS