January 27, 2013

Charts January 27, 2013

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 ROGE | Brenguele | Coqueiro Verde
2 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock From Singapore And Malaysia - 1964-1970 | Sublime Frequencies
3 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Best Of Buena Vista | ARC
4 LIJADU SISTERS | Horizon Unlimited | Knitting Factory
5 QUATRO NA BOSSA | Bossa Nossa | self-released
6 RED BARAAT | Shruggy Ji | Sinj
7 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Santiago De Cuba: La Reina Del Son | Fremeaux & Associes
8 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Diablos Del Ritmo: The Colombian Melting Pot 1960-1985 | Analog Africa
9 TIM MAIA | World Psychedelic Classics 4: Nobody Can Live Forever: The Existential Soul Of Tim Maia | Luaka Bop
10 BARRINGTON LEVY | Sweet Reggae Music 1979-84 | VP

January 26, 2013

Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock From Singapore And Malaysia 1964-1970

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock From Singapore And Malaysia 1964-1970
LABEL: Sublime Frequencies
First we heard the awesome, tragic psychedelic and garage-rock influenced sounds of Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge. Next came Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam; now Malaysia and Indonesia get their turn in the spotlight, in this first-ever Western compilation of 60’s rock from those two countries. The compiler is WRIR’s own Carl Hamm, host of “If Music Could Talk.”

Quatro Na Bossa | Bossa Nossa

ARTIST: Quatro Na Bossa
TITLE: Bossa Nossa
LABEL: self-released
Richmond’s Quatro Na Bossa specialize in bossa nova, the cool Brazilian style that brings a jazzy, poetic sensibility to samba rhythms. The band was founded by vocalist Laura Ann Singh and guitarist Kevin Harding in 2003, and they’ve stayed busy for 10 years with gigs local and national, teaching and private events.

Red Baraat | Shruggy Ji

ARTIST: Red Baraat
TITLE: Shruggy Ji
LABEL: Sinj
There are brass-band traditions all over the world: in the Balkans, Africa, New Orleans and, among many other places, India. British colonials brought the brass instruments, Indians added the booming dhol drum (the instrument that gives bhangra its low-end thump); today no baraat (North Indian wedding procession) is complete without a brass band of up to 150 players.

Roge | Brenguele

ARTIST: Roge
TITLE: Brenguele
LABEL: Coqueiro Verde
Roge is a Rio-based singer, songwriter and guitarist working in the broad MPB (Brazilian popular music) category who’s making a serious attempt to get attention in the USA (he’s played at the last two editions of SXSW, for example).

January 24, 2013

Program January 25, 2013

WRIR's own Carl Hamm (aka DJ Carlito, host of If Music Could Talk on Sunday at 7 PM) has compiled the first-ever Western retrospective of Malaysian pop music from the 1970's.  (That's Carl pictured above, with legendary Malaysian singer A. Rahman Hassan and his wife and bandmate, Azizah Muhammad.)

The album is called Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock From Singapore And Malaysia 1964-1970, the Sublime Frequencies record label released it this week, and you'll hear two tracks from it this week on Global A Go-Go.  Bravo, Carl!

January 20, 2013

Charts January 20, 2013

"Lima Chicha" by Pool Ramirez aka fokus Lima

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Rough Guide To Cumbia (2nd edition) | World Music Network
2 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock From Singapore And Malaysia 1964-1970 | Sublime Frequencies
3 DUR-DUR BAND | Volume 5 | Awesome Tapes From Africa
4 NURU KANE | Exile | Riverboat
5 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Best Of Buena Vista | ARC
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Diablos Del Ritmo: The Colombian Melting Pot 1960-1985 | Analog Africa
7 MALHOMBRE | "Musique Rock"/"Fini" [Single] | Little Black Cloud
8 RITA | My Joys | NMC Music
9 SON DE BARRIO DE PUERTO RICO | Que Nadie Te Quito Lo Bailao | self-released
10 ROBERTO LOPEZ AFRO-COLOMBIAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA | Azul | Curura Musique

January 19, 2013

Dur-Dur Band | Volume 5

ARTIST: Dur-Dur Band
TITLE: Volume 5
LABEL: Awesome Tapes From Africa
For a variety of reasons, the cassette tape continues to be a primary medium for disseminating recorded music in Africa. If you want to hear the African music that Africans listen to, you’re most likely to find it on cassette.

January 17, 2013

Program January 18, 2013

We'll dig into the music of Lucho Bermudez (pictured above) this week on Global A Go-Go.  Bermudez applied the instrumentation and arrangements of the swing era to Colombian folkloric forms; he's one of the biggest reasons that cumbia is today a popular worldwide style.  You'll hear a couple of classic Bermudez sides and a fabulous reinterpretation of one of his most famous compositions.

Also this week: a few songs you may recognize, Latin division; disco-funk from Somalia; the sound of Afropop today, with the emphasis on "pop."

January 15, 2013

January 2013 Concert Calendar

Happy New Year!  By popular request, here's 2013's first new feature: a concert calendar of world music events in Richmond and surrounding area.

Each month I'll list all the world music events I've heard about, with embedded links to further information.  Plus I'll highlight a few Global A Go-Go Picks -- the events you really, really don't want to miss.

Have an event you'd like me to include, or a suggestion for the concert calendar?  Just drop me a line at globalagogoradio [at] gmail [dot] com, or leave me a message right here.

Here are January's Global A Go-Go Picks:
  1. The Funk Ark at Balliceaux in Richmond on Saturday Jan 5
  2.  Los Texmaniacs at Richmond's Capital Ale House Music Hall on Saturday Jan 12
  3. Femi Kuti (pictured above) at the 9:30 Club in our nation's capital on Friday Jan 25
Click "Read more" to see the entire January calendar.

January 13, 2013

Charts January 13, 2012

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 SEKOUBA BAMBINO | The Griot's Craft | Sterns
2 LIJADU SISTERS | Horizon Unlimited | Knitting Factory
3 MOH ALILECHE | When The Dust Settles | Flag Of Freedom Productions
4 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Rough Guide To Cumbia (2nd edition) | World Music Network
5 NURU KANE | Exile | Riverboat
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Rough Guide To The Music Of Senegal | World Music Network
7 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Cumbia Beat Vol. 2: Tropical Sounds Of Peru 1966-83 | Vampisoul
8 CRIOLO | No Na Orelha | Sterns
9 U-ROY | Pray Fi Di People | Discograph
10 RUIVAO | Introducing Ruivao | Introducing

January 11, 2013

The Rough Guide To Cumbia (2nd edition)

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: The Rough Guide To Cumbia (2nd edition)
LABEL: World Music Network
Ten years ago, collections like Nigeria 70 were turning legions of music fans onto the glories of Nigerian music. Today, Colombia is the new Nigeria – in the last year there have been a few fabulous compilations shedding new light on the tremendous variety and wealth of Colombian historic recordings.

A Shout-Out From Chris Bopst

I have a radio-station megaphone for two hours each week, so I hardly need any more amplification than that.  Nevertheless, it's a great pleasure to have been touted by Chris Bopst, a man whose work I truly admire, in yesterday's Richmond Times-Dispatch.  Click the image above to make it more legible, or link up with the article here:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/entertainment-life/weekend/the-hear-now-globe-trotting-radio-and-psychedelic-appalachian/article_96654f58-f9ca-569c-aef0-3ae22d2d282a.html

January 10, 2013

Program January 11, 2013

On this week's program, I'll pay tribute to Jayne Cortez (pictured above) who died on December 28.  Jayne was one of America's most remarkable spoken-word artists, as much a musician as a poet.

Although her work may seem like it has little to do with "world music," in my mind it has everything to do with my radio program, why I do it and what I'm trying to accomplish.  If you've never heard Cortez's poetry and music, prepare to be amazed.

Also this week: a few other spoken world artists from around the world who are in debt to Jayne Cortez; sounds of the Mande tradition from across West Africa; North African grooves and messages.

January 6, 2013

Charts January 6, 2013

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Diablos Del Ritmo: The Colombian Melting Pot 1960-1985 | Analog Africa
2 TIM MAIA | World Psychedelic Classics 4: Nobody Can Live Forever: The Existential Soul Of Tim Maia | Luaka Bop
3 VARIOUS ARTISTS | For Whom The Cowbell Tolls | Electric Cowbell
4 ANTIBALAS | Antibalas | Daptone
5 CHICHA LIBRE | Canibalismo | Barbes
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Best Of Buena Vista | ARC
7 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Santiago De Cuba: La Reina Del "Son" | Fremeaux & Associes
8 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Jukebox Mambo: Rumba And Afro Latin Accented Rhythm And Blues 1949-1960 | Jazzman
9 SOOTHSAYERS | Human Nature | Red Earth
10 ROYAL BAND DE THIES | Kadior Demb | Teranga Beat

January 4, 2013

Moh Alileche | When The Dust Settles (Tamdit B'Wass)

ARTIST: Moh Alileche
TITLE: When The Dust Settles (Tamdit B’Wass)
LABEL: Flag of Freedom Productions
Moh Alileche is probably America’s best-known Amazigh (Berber) musician. This is his fifth album of traditional grooves with rock ‘n’ roll-like drive and Alileche’s politically committed lyrics, and it’s another excellent one.

Nuru Kane | Exile

ARTIST: Nuru Kane
TITLE: Exile
LABEL: Riverboat
Nuru Kane is a Dakar-born singer, songwriter and guitarist whose wide range of musical interests are woven through this album, his second for Riverboat.

Santiago De Cuba: La Reina Del "Son"

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Santiago De Cuba: La Reina Del “Son”
LABEL: Fremeaux & Associes
In a word: AMAZING! If you liked the original Buena Vista Social Club studio recordings made in Havana in 1996, you will love this new CD.

Sekouba Bambino | The Griot's Craft

ARTIST: Sekouba Bambino
TITLE: The Griot’s Craft
LABEL: Sterns
Sekouba “Bambino” Diabate is best known for his years singing with Guinee Conakry’s number one band, Bembeya Jazz National, and for his work with pan-African salsa combo Africando.

The Rough Guide To The Music Of Senegal

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: The Rough Guide to the Music of Senegal
LABEL: World Music Network
With so much great music of some many types to choose from, it’s hard for an anthologist to go wrong on a single-disc compilation of Senegalese recordings.

Program January 4, 2013

It's become a Global A Go-Go tradition to start the new year with a program of vintage music, in large part because there are usually so few new releases around the Christmas-New Year's holidays.

Not this year though -- I've already received tons of good new stuff.  But the new stuff will have to wait for a week, because just like Fox News I want to keep intact those few traditions we still have, the ones that made this country great.

So get ready to enjoy some classic Brazilian samba-soul, African bands playing Latin music their own way, great Jamaican deejaying (you might call it rapping) from the 60's through the 90's, and the indestructible beat of South Africa and Zimbabwe.  I know Bill O'Reilly will approve.