African Scream Contest 2

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: African Scream Contest 2
LABEL: Analog Africa
African Scream Contest, digging deep into the funk and psychedelic sounds of West Africa’s Benin and Togo, was Analog Africa’s third release and the one that put this intrepid label on the music map.

El Hijo De La Cumbia | Genero Genero

ARTIST: El Hijo De La Cumbia
TITLE: Genero Genero
LABEL: Nacional
Emiliano Gomez, who records and performs as El Hijo De La Cumbia, is an Argentine DJ and producer now living in Sweden who spins an urban, worldly musical mix based on Colombian cumbia.

Program April 25, 2018

WRIR's Spring 2018 Fund Drive wraps up on Wednesday April 25 at 11 PM.  Many of you have already donated during this drive or are monthly sustaining members -- thank you to all of you for keeping 97.3 FM, Richmond's tower of low power, on the radio and internet airwaves for another six months.  We can't do it without you!

If you've been waiting until the end of the drive to contribute -- well, now is that time.  We're so very close to our $40,000 goal, and that means your help right now can push us across the finish line and ensure that WRIR's next six months are just like its first 13 years: living proof that radio of, by and for the people is the independent media antidote to so many of our culture's current ailments.

Please consider making that donation today or tomorrow.  I'll be doing a special fund drive edition of Global A Go-Go Wednesday at 3 PM, featuring some of the most unlikely foreign-language cover songs that have crossed my path in the 14 years I've been doing this radio show.  And I'll be back on the air Wednesday between 7 and 11 PM, encouraging listeners to contribute during the drive's last four hours.  I'd love to be able to announce your name on the air, thank you for your support, and say that it's folks like you who make community radio in Richmond possible.

We have three easy ways for you to donate:

1. Online at http://wrir.org/donating
2. By calling 804-622-9747
3. Or by visiting us in person at 1621-B W. Broad Street (2nd floor)

Thank you for considering it, and extra thanks if you've already contributed this spring or are a sustaining member.  Love live Richmond Independent Radio!

Program April 18, 2018

WRIR's Spring 2018 Fund Drive is now underway -- we're working to raise $40,000 by Wednesday April 25 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 spring.

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 April 25. Our phone number is 804-622-9747; our address is 1621 W. Broad Street, 2nd floor.

Charts April 15, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 HOLLIE COOK | Vessel Of Love | Merge
2 THORNATO | Back It Up | Wonderwheel
3 CESARIA EVORA | Carnaval De Mindelo | Lusafrica
4 LOS CHICOS MALOS | Los Chicos Malos | Vampisoul
5 LEVANTA POEIRA | various artists | Jazz & Milk
6 DRUNKEN FOREIGNER BAND | White Guy Disease | Electric Cowbell
7 BALOJI | 137 Avenue Kaniama | Bella Union
8 BANDERAS | "Tema De Banderas" | Matasuna
9 EMEL MATHLOUTHI | Ensenity | Partisan
10 MELISSA LAVEAUX | Radyo Siwél | No Format

Program April 11, 2018

Daniel Kahn (pictured above with his be-masked band The Painted Bird) is one of my favorite songwriters.  What can you say about a guy who lists his musical influences as Nina Simone, Tom Waits, Tom Lehrer, Woody Guthrie, The Bad Seeds, Howlin' Wolf, Brecht & Eisler, The Pogues and Leonard Cohen, other than "you need to hear his music right away"?  And you will, this week on Global A Go-Go.

Also this week: Cesaria Evora's music from beyond this mortal coil, new African sounds from Guy One and Seun Kuti, and Thailand's rockin' electric phin.  Plus a song dedicated to my favorite actor in the current Trump reality TV show, Michael Cohen:

Charts April 8, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 LISTEN ALL AROUND: THE GOLDEN AGE OF CENTRAL AND EAST AFRICAN MUSIC | various artists | Dust-to-Digital
2 ORQUESTA AKOKAN | Orquesta Akokan | Daptone
3 CAMARAO | The Imaginary Soundtrack to a Brazilian Western Movie (1964-1974) | Analog Africa
4 BALOJI | 137 Avenue Kaniama | Bella Union
5 SONIDO GALLO NEGRO | Mambo Cosmico | Glitterbeat
6 LITTLE AXE | London Blues | Echo Beach
7 ROBERTO LOPEZ | Criollo Electrik | Stonetree
8 RAS FRASER JR. | Journey To Greatness | Rebel Sound
9 EMEL MATHLOUTHI | Ensenity | Partisan
10 MELISSA LAVEAUX | Radyo Siwél | No Format

Listen All Around: The Golden Age Of Central And East African Music

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Listen All Around: The Golden Age Of Central & East African Music
LABEL: Dust-to-Digital
Hugh Tracey spent most of his life making field recordings of sub-Saharan African music; he probably did more than any other human to open the world’s ears to Africa’s sounds.

Orquesta Akokan | Orquesta Akokan

ARTIST: Orquesta Akokan
TITLE: Orquesta Akokan
LABEL: Daptone
Mambo is the big band sound of Havana’s glory days: the years before Castro’s revolution and the subsequent American embargo of all things Cuban, even (maybe especially) music.

Program April 4, 2018

This week's program has that Latin tinge throughout.  The show gets started with the unique sound of salsa Senegalaise, as Senegal celebrates its 58th anniversary of independence on April 4.

Then we'll dig very deep into classic Cuban big band recordings of the 1940s and 50s, plus one ringer -- the brilliant debut album by Orquesta Akokan (pictured above), modern music inspired by Arsenio Rodriguez, Beny More and their peers.

Next, it's over to Cuban-influenced recordings from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, starting with a track from the forthcoming Dust-to-Digital box set Listen All Around of Hugh Tracey's "town music" field recordings and finishing with Kekele's tribute to Franco and O.K. Jazz.

We'll wrap things up with some cumbia-based tracks, including recent releases by Roberto Lopez, Kumbia Boruka and Sonido Gallo Negro.

Charts April 1, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 HOLLIE COOK | Vessel Of Love | Merge
2 SIDI TOURE | Toubalbero | Thrill Jockey
3 CAMARAO | The Imaginary Soundtrack to a Brazilian Western Movie (1964-1974) | Analog Africa
4 EMEL MATHLOUTHI | Ensenity | Partisan
5 MELISSA LAVEAUX | Radyo Siwél | No Format
6 LE KARMAPA | Caligula Vol. 2 | self-released
7 IMARHAN | Temet | City Slang
8 THORNATO | Back It Up [EP] | Wonderwheel
9 VIBRONICS | Woman On A Mission | Scoops
10 DJENEBA AND FOUSCO | Kayeba Khasso | Lusafrica

Charts March 25, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 LITTLE AXE | London Blues | Echo Beach
2 LOS CHICOS MALOS | Los Chicos Malos | Vampisoul
3 SPANGLISH FLY | Ay Que Boogaloo! | Chaco World
4 HAMAD KALKABA AND THE GOLDEN SOUNDS | 1974-1975 | Analog Africa
5 BANDERAS | "Tema De Banderas" [Single] | Matasuna
6 FEMI KUTI | One People One World | Knitting Factory
7 TIBBLE TRANSSIBIRISKA | "100 Ar Av Langtan (BalkanBeats SoundSystem remix)" [Single] | Big Is Promotion
8 KHRUANGBIN | Con Todo El Mundo | Dead Oceans
9 HAILU MERGIA | Lala Belu | Awesome Tapes From Africa
10 BALOJI | 137 Avenue Kaniama | Bella Union

Program March 21, 2018

One of the pleasures of hosting a radio show is the opportunity it affords me to bang the drum for artists who deserve wider recognition.  Skip McDonald, who records as Little Axe (pictured above) is high on my list of those artists.

McDonald is best known as the guitarist in two of the seminal studio bands of our era: the house band at Sugarhill Records (where he played on the pioneering hip hop recordings of Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa) and Tackhead (the London band that powered Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound Records, uniting funk, dub and industrial music).

But he started with the blues, learning guitar from his father at age eight, and the Little Axe project ties together all of his musical experience -- it's the blues meets dub and trip-hop.  This week on Global A Go-Go I'll play you three tracks from the extensive Little Axe catalog (12 albums so far), including one from his most recent release, London Blues.

Also this week: a Latin music sampler - trova, bachata, Latin soul and salsa; brass bands from India and the Balkans; and new sounds from Fela Kuti's sons Femi and Seun.

Charts March 18, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 HAILU MERGIA | Lala Belu | Awesome Tapes From Africa
2 LEVANTA POEIRA | various artists | Jazz & Milk
3 SIDI TOURE | Toubalbero | Thrill Jockey
4 IMARHAN | Temet | City Slang
5 DJENEBA AND FOUSCO | Kayeba Khasso | Lusafrica
6 CAMARAO | The Imaginary Soundtrack to a Brazilian Western Movie (1964-1974) | Analog Africa
7 LOS CHICOS MALOS | Los Chicos Malos | Vampisoul
8 HAMAD KALKABA AND THE GOLDEN SOUNDS | 1974-1975 | Analog Africa
9 BANDERAS | "Tema De Banderas" [Single] | Matasuna
10 FATOUMATA DIAWARA | "Nterini" [Single] | Shanachie

Program March 14, 2018

That Ethiopian guy who took you to Dulles Airport last time?  He might be the greatest musicians you've never heard.

Hailu Mergia (pictured above) has been working as a taxi driver in Washington DC since 1997.  Back in the 70s, he was one of the pioneers of Ethio-jazz.  He fled the Derg military dictatorship in 1981 and settled in DC, home to more Ethiopians than any city other than Addis Ababa.

In the last several years, his music has made a comeback; now 71 years old, he's just put out his first new recording since 1985, and it's fantastic.  On this week's program you'll hear a track, plus one from the supergroup he led in the 70s that also featured Mulatu Astatke and Girma Beyene, two more Ethio-jazz veterans who are having late-career renaissances.

Also this week: new Malian releases by Djeneba & Fousco, Fatoumata Diawara and Sidi Toure; the sounds of Brazil's Northeast; and the music of West Africa's Islamic funk belt.