September 28, 2014

Charts September 28, 2014

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 ORLANDO JULIUS AND THE HELIOCENTRICS | Jaiyede Afro | Strut
2 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Spirit Of Malombo | Strut
3 VAUDOU GAME | Apiafo | Hot Casa
4 KHUN NARIN'S ELECTRIC PHIN BAND | Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band | Innovative Leisure
5 KIRAN AHLUWALIA | Satana: Stillness | Magenta
6 ARUN RAMAMURTHY TRIO | Jazz Carnatica | self-released
7 SLAVIC SOUL PARTY | Five Albums | self-released
8 CECILIA NOEL | Havana Rocks | Compass
9 MESTRE CUPIJO E SEU RITMO | Siria | Analog Africa
10 CUMBIA ALL STARS | Tigres En Fuga | World Village

September 26, 2014

Kiran Ahluwalia | Sanata : Stillness

ARTIST: Kiran Ahluwalia
TITLE: Sanata : Stillness
LABEL: Magenta
Indian-born, Canadian-raised, American-based singer Kiran Ahluwalia first came to the world’s attention as a premier singer of ghazals, Indian lyric poetry set to music.

Khun Narin | Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band

ARTIST: Khun Narin
TITLE: Khun Narin’s Electric Phin Band
LABEL: Innovative Leisure
A few years ago, YouTube videos of a wild, psychedelic Thai marching band went viral among connoisseurs of outrageous global sounds.

Arun Ramamurthy Trio | Jazz Carnatica

ARTIST: Arun Ramamurthy Trio
TITLE: Jazz Carnatica
LABEL: self-released
Arun Ramamurthy is an American violinist of Indian descent whose playing straddles the worlds of Carnatic (South Indian classical) music and jazz. His first album as a bandleader, with drummer-tabla player Sameer Gupta and bassist Perry Wortman, is an absolute gem.

September 25, 2014

Program September 26, 2014

Like thousands of people, I was captivated a couple of years ago by YouTube videos of a Thai marching band that features an incredible electric phin (3-stringed lute) player.  Their music is throbbing, visceral, hallucinogenic -- it really has to be heard to be believed.

Josh Marcy saw the same videos, went to Thailand, recorded the band, and now we have the first Western (or perhaps anywhere) release from Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band (pictured above).  You'll hear a nice, long selection from them this week on Global A Go-Go.  And check below the fold for of one those videos.

Also this week: new Indian-inspired music by Arun Ramamurthy and Kiran Ahluwalia, chicha and salsa, and more Balkan brass and beats in preparation for Boban & Marko Markovic's appearance at the Richmond Folk Festival.

September 21, 2014

Charts September 21, 2014

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 ORLANDO JULIUS AND THE HELIOCENTRICS | Jaiyede Afro | Strut
2 TINARIWEN | Amassakoul | Modern Classics
3 LES AMBASSADEURS | Les Ambassadeurs Du Motel De Bamako | Sterns
4 JUNGLE FIRE | Tropicoso | Nacional
5 BOMBAY ROYALE | The Island Of Dr. Electrico | HopeStreet
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Rough Guide To Bollywood Disco | World Music Network
7 BKO QUINTET | "Kononale"/"Comment Ca Va?" [Single] | Buda Musique
8 LOW MENTALITY | "Reel It In"/"Vultures" [Single] | 3rd Generation
9 CECILIA NOEL | Havana Rocks | Compass
10 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Finding Fela: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | Knitting Factory

September 18, 2014

Orlando Julius With The Heliocentrics | Jaiyede Afro

ARTIST: Orlando Julius With The Heliocentrics
TITLE: Jaiyede Afro
LABEL: Strut
Orlando Julius Ekemode of Nigeria is one of the unsung heroes of Afrobeat. O.J.’s 1960s bands the Modern Aces and the Afro Sounders were among the first to add American soul and funk to highlife.

Tinariwen | Amassakoul

ARTIST: Tinariwen
TITLE: Amassakoul
LABEL: Modern Classics / Light In The Attic
If Tinariwen’s first international album The Radio Tisdas Sessions established the Malian Tamasheq band as the spiritual heir of the great American bluesman, their second (originally released in 2004 and now reissued and pressed to vinyl for the first time) showed they can rock with the best of the west.

Tinariwen | The Radio Tisdas Sessions

ARTIST: Tinariwen
TITLE: The Radio Tisdas Sessions
LABEL: Modern Classics / Light In The Attic
Tinariwen was already 20 years old when Justin Adams and the French band Lo’Jo recorded them in a radio studio in Kidal, Mali in 2000. They had already invented a new style of music, called simply la guitare by their fellow Tamasheq, and their many popular (but illegal) cassettes served as the bush telegraph of the Tuareg rebellion.

Program September 19, 2014

Orlando Julius Ekemode (pictured above), O.J. to his friends, is one of the overlooked pioneers of Afrobeat; his 1960s Nigerian bands the Modern Aces and the Afro Sounders paved the way for Fela Kuti's sound.  Now O.J. is back, collaborating with the thoroughly uncategorizable London collective The Heliocentrics on a new recording -- you'll hear a track from it on this week's program.

Also this week: of Scotland and pirates, acid trip from Banjul to Dakar, and Light In The Attic releases Tinariwen's first two Western albums for the first time on vinyl.

September 15, 2014

Charts September 14, 2014

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 JUNGLE FIRE | Tropicoso | Nacional
2 NORTEC COLLECTIVE PRESENTS BOSTICH+FUSSIBLE | Motel Baja | Nacional
3 SLAVIC SOUL PARTY | Five Albums | self-released
4 LOW MENTALITY | "Reel It In/ Vultures" [Single] | 3rd Generation
5 SHAOLIN AFRONAUTS | Follow The Path | Freestyle
6 MESTRE CUPIJO E SEU RITMO | Siria | Analog Africa
7 QUANTIC | Magnetica | Tru Thoughts
8 ORLANDO JULIUS WITH THE HELIOCENTRICS | Jaiyede Afro | Strut
9 LES AMBASSADEURS | Les Ambassadeurs Du Motel De Bamako | Sterns
10 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Finding Fela: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | Knitting Factory

September 11, 2014

Low Mentality | "Reel It In" b/w "Vultures"

ARTIST: Low Mentality
TITLE: “Reel It In” / “Vultures”
LABEL: 3rd Generation
Low Mentality is a new (formed in 2011) band led by Nikhil P. Yerawadekar, who’s also in Antibalas, The Sway Machinery and Akoya Afrobeat.

Slavic Soul Party | Five Albums

ARTIST: Slavic Soul Party
TITLE: Five Albums
LABEL: self-released
Slavic Soul Party is without a doubt the most accomplished Balkan brass band in the USA. They’ve been at it for 12 years now, and they’ve played every Tuesday night at Barbes in Park Slope, Brooklyn for almost all of that time – that’s how you develop the chops for the demanding and highly technical, yet festive and exuberant Balkan brass repertoire.

Program September 12, 2014

Global A Go-Go's on a Balkan high right now: Slavic Soul Party (pictured above) rocked the Modlin Center's season-opening party, Black Masala returns to Balliceaux on Saturday night, and the Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar (the world's baddest brass band) will be at the Richmond Folk Festival in October.

You'll hear all three of those bands, including a track from Slavic Soul Party's new 5-album reissue, plus more Balkan brass madness on this week's program.  Also this week: Ethio-pop, Latin American big bands, and Australia's Shaolin Afronauts go Guineenne.

September 8, 2014

Charts September 7, 2014

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 CECILIA NOEL | Havana Rocks | Compass
2 LES AMBASSADEURS | Les Ambassadeurs Du Motel De Bamako | Sterns
3 ZONGO JUNCTION | No Discount | Electric Cowbell
4 ANTERO | Victims Of Profit | self-released
5 JUNGLE FIRE | Tropicoso | Nacional
6 SHAOLIN AFRONAUTS | Follow The Path | Freestyle
7 MESTRE CUPIJO E SEU RITMO | Siria | Analog Africa
8 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Sound Of Siam Volume 2: Molam & Luk Thung From North-East Thailand 1970-1982 | Soundway
9 SIA TOLNO | African Woman | Lusafrica
10 SON PALENQUE | Afrocolombian Sound Modernizers | Vampisoul

September 4, 2014

Jungle Fire | Tropicoso

ARTIST: Jungle Fire
TITLE: Tropicoso
LABEL: Nacional
Here’s the debut album from Jungle Fire, a full-sized (8 to 12 players) Afro-Latin funk band from Los Angeles. They introduced themselves to the world with a smoking 2012 single (tracks 2 and 3 on the album); now it’s time for a full-length.

Program September 5, 2014

Les Ambassadeurs (pictured above in front of their headquarters, Le Motel De Bamako), one of West Africa's greatest bands, reunited this summer for a series of ten concerts, none unfortunately in the USA.

Sterns Records has just released the essential compilation of the best of Les Ambassadeurs; most of the tracks haven't been available since the original vinyl went out of print, so this is a major occasion for African music fans.  You'll hear a track from that compilation on this week's edition of Global A Go-Go.

Also this week: two of the bands featured in Sunday's Modlin Center opening-day event; new Afrobeat by Sia Tolno and Zongo Junction; and an unlikely Cuban tribute to Buddy Holly, who would have been 78 years old this Sunday.

September 1, 2014

September 2014 Concert Calendar

September's Global A Go-Go picks:
  1. The University of Richmond's Modlin Center for the Arts kicks off its 2014-15 performance season with an outdoor brass band festival on Sunday September 7 featuring Rebirth Brass Band, Red Baraat, Slavic Soul Party and No BS! Brass
  2. Vieux Farka Toure, who blew away listeners at the Richmond Folk Festival a few years ago, visits Artisphere in Arlington on Friday September 12
  3. DC-based Balkan brass blasters Black Masala return to Balliceaux on Saturday September 13
  4. Two of African music's legends are appearing this month at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium: Youssou N'Dour on Sunday September 14 and Salif Keita (pictured above) on Sunday September 21
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.

Click "Read more" to see the entire September calendar.