Program September 20, 2017

Cumbia is probably more popular now than it's ever been.  And that's saying something when you're talking about a style of music almost 200 years old.

La Misa Negra (pictured above) from Oakland CA is part of the latest generation of musicians to embrace the idiom.  You'll hear a track from their brand-new album this week on Global A Go-Go, alongside sounds from the 1950s that inspire them.

Also this week: the best reggae songs I heard this summer; when Meklit says "I want to sing for them all," who's she talking about?; and a beautiful new recording from Mali's Trio Da Kali and the Kronos Quartet.

Charts September 17, 2017

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 GWYNETH GLYN | Tro | Bendigedig
2 ZAIRE '74: THE AFRICAN ARTISTS | various artists | Wrasse
3 RUMPUT | Rumput | self-released
4 SON PALENQUE | Kutu Prieta Pa Saranguia | Palenque
5 LEILA GOBI | 2017 | Clermont
6 GOGOL BORDELLO | Seekers and Finders | Cooking Vinyl
7 OFFA REX | The Queen of Hearts | Nonesuch
8 ANTIBALAS | Where the Gods Are in Peace | Daptone
9 TRIO DA KALI AND KRONOS QUARTET | Ladilikan | World Circuit
10 BANDA MAGDA | Tigre | GroundUP / Verve

Banda Magda | Tigre

ARTIST: Banda Magda
TITLE: Tigre
LABEL: GroundUP / Verve
Magda Giannikou is a Greek-born composer who’s had a unique group of collaborators already in her young career: Snarky Puppy, Kronos Quartet and Louis CK.

Rumput | Rumput

ARTIST: Rumput
TITLE: Rumput
LABEL: self-released
Rumput is certainly one of Richmond’s most unique bands: they seem to be the only group in the USA (for now, at least) playing keroncong, the traditional string-band music of Indonesia.

Son Palenque | Kutu Prieta Pa Saraguia

ARTIST: Son Palenque
TITLE: Kutu Prieta Pa Saranguia
LABEL: Palenque
Champeta resulted from the head-on collision of modern Congolese and Antillean pop music styles like soukous and zouk with the wellspring of Afro-Colombian music found along Colombia’s Caribbean coast and especially in the cities of Cartagena and Barranquilla.

Program September 13, 2017

Terapia (therapy): that's what Colombians call the urban dance music of Cartagena and Barranquilla which is based on African, Antillean, indigenous and Afro-Colombian styles.  It's good for what ails you -- find out why this week on Global A Go-Go, and hear a track from the brand-new album by terapia masters Son Palenque (pictured above).

Also this week: folk-rock with Indonesian and Greek seasoning; new Afrobeat from Professor Wouassa and Antibalas; and more of la guitare from the Sahara Desert.

Charts September 10, 2017

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 SWEET AS BROKEN DATES: LOST SOMALI TAPES FROM THE HORN OF AFRICA | various artists | Ostinato
2 CHOPTEETH AFROFUNK BIG BAND | Bone Reader | self-released
3 MDOU MOCTAR | Sousoume Tamachek | Sahelsounds
4 BOMBAY ROYALE, THE | Run Kitty Run | HopeStreet
5 CHICAGO AFROBEAT PROJECT FEAT TONY ALLEN | What Goes Up | self-released
6 LEILA GOBI | 2017 | Clermont Music
7 BETSAYDA MACHADO & LA PARRANDA EL CLAVO | Loé Loá - Rural Recordings Under the Mango Tree | Odelia
8 OM ALEC KHAOLI | Say You Love Me [EP] | Awesome Tapes From Africa
9 AFOUS D'AFOUS | Tenere | Sahelsound
10 ANTIBALAS | Where the Gods Are in Peace | Daptone

Leila Gobi | 2017

ARTIST: Leila Gobi
TITLE: 2017
LABEL: Clermont Music
Leila Gobi is a singer from the town of Menaka in eastern Mali, nearly 1000 miles from Bamako and far closer to the capitals of Niger and Burkina Faso.

Betsayda Machado & La Parranda El Clavo | Loe Loa: Rural Recordings Under The Mango Tree

ARTIST: Betsayda Machado & La Parranda El Clavo
TITLE: Loe Loa: Rural Recordings Under The Mango Tree
LABEL: Odelia
Parranda is music of the Afro-Venezuelans of the Barlovento region on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, many of whom are descended from the escaped rebel slaves who founded cumbes (fortified towns) starting in the sixteenth century and remained at war with the Spanish colonialists until 1820.

Program September 6, 2017

The African influence on music from the Americas is vast.  On this week's program, you'll hear seven different styles of music from Latin America, each of which is just one degree removed from Africa.  Included will be a new release by Betsayda Machado & La Parranda El Clavo from Venezuela (pictured above), who'll be performing at this year's Richmond Folk Festival.

Also this week: female singers from the Red Sea region; low-tech electronica, made in Africa; and Afro-funk, DC style.

Charts September 3, 2017

WRIR's NACC World Music Top Ten
1 GOGOL BORDELLO | Seekers and Finders | Cooking Vinyl
2 RIO MIRA | Marimba Del Pacifico | AYA
3 BOMBA ESTEREO | Ayo | Sony Latin
4 MURPHY'S KIDS | Time Dilation | self-released
5 CHOPTEETH AFROFUNK BIG BAND | Bone Reader | self-released
6 OFFA REX | The Queen of Hearts | Nonesuch
7 SWEET AS BROKEN DATES: LOST SOMALI TAPES FROM THE HORN OF AFRICA | various artists | Ostinato
8 RUBEN GONZALEZ | Introducing... Rubén González | World Circuit
9 OM ALEC KHAOLI | Say You Love Me [EP] | Awesome Tapes From Africa
10 MEKLIT | When the People Move, The Music Moves Too | Six Degrees

Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band | Bone Reader

ARTIST: Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band
TITLE: Bone Reader
LABEL: self-released
Chopteeth is a 12-piece Afro-funk band from Washington DC that won the Wammie (Washington Area Music Award) for best world music group nine years in a row.

Gogol Bordello | Seekers And Finders

ARTIST: Gogol Bordello
TITLE: Seekers And Finders
LABEL: Cooking Vinyl
Here’s the seventh studio album from Gogol Bordello, the New York based multinational band fronted by Eugene Hutz.

Program August 30, 2017

Gogol Bordello (pictured above), maybe the most exciting live band in the USA right now, with members hailing from Ukraine, Russia, China, Scotland, Ethiopia, Ecuador and Belarus, have been making America great since 1999.  They're just released their seventh studio album, Seekers And Finders -- you'll hear a track this week on Global A Go-Go.

Also this week: new releases and reissues from across Latin America, a deep dive into South African bubblegum, and English folk-rock from the 60s to today.

Mdou Moctar | Sousoume Tamachek

ARTIST: Mdou Moctar
TITLE: Sousoume Tamachek
LABEL: Sahelsounds
Mdou Moctar from Niger is a central figure in the current Tuareg guitar music boom.