GLOBAL A GO-GO: 2014

December 18, 2014

Program December 19, 2014: Top Ten Compilations of 2014

This week on Global A Go-Go, I'll run through my favorite compilations and reissues of 2014. For ten years, this category has been a consistent source of great material for my radio program, and it remains the fastest and cheapest way to build a great music collection.

The boom in global cratedigging has led to a plethora of excellent compilations and reissues, and 2014 continued this trend. Classic recordings from Turkey, southeast Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Brazil, and all parts of Africa: all these and more are represented on my list, and on this week's show. Tune in and find some new old music to love.

Click "Read more" to see my 2014 Top Ten (compilations and reissues division).

Program December 12, 2014: Top Ten New Releases of 2014

Just for the record, world music artists, promoters and labels sent 544 recordings to WRIR in the last year. On my next two programs, I'll feature the top 7%: my 40 favorites amongst them. (Oh, there are a few items in there that I bought on my own -- but as you can imagine, most of my new-music-listening time is dedicated to stuff that arrives at WRIR.)

This week, you'll hear tracks from my top ten new releases of 2014, plus as many honorable mentions as I can fit in. Next week, it will be time for my favorite compilations, reissues and historic recordings of 2014.

And two weeks after that, on January 2, I'll wrap up my look at 2014 with the best of the rest: all the great stuff that didn't fit on the two previous programs. I love doing these year-end wrap-ups -- it gets me in the mood for the new year and all the great new music that it's likely to include. Happy listening!

Click "Read more" to see my 2014 Top Ten (new releases division).

Charts December 7, 2014

Program December 5, 2014

This week's program starts with a tribute to Cayman Mooney (pictured above), who died on Monday. Cayman was a former WRIR volunteer (co-host of The Odyssey Hours, part of WRIR's stable of amazing late-night shows), a hell of an accordion player (with My Son The Doctor, Richmanian Ramblers, busking on the street, or in any situation), a man equally passionate about Eastern European music and social justice.

I'll try to reflect all of those characteristics in a set of music that I think Cayman would have approved of, including several songs from his personal library and a never-before-heard performance of his own. The world's a poorer place without you, my friend.

Also on this week's program: cumbia power, elegancia tropical; sounds from the Sahara and Ethiopia; and soukous lives.

December 2014 Concert Calendar

December's Global A Go-Go picks:

Mexico's tribal sound (aka the music behind the pointy boots craze) comes to DC -- 3bal MTY visits the Fillmore in Silver Spring on Thursday December 11
Fulton's own Corey Harris has a rare hometown show at the Camel on Friday December 12 with his band the Rasta Blues Experience, Mighty Joshua and Lost Dreads
Gogol Bordello (Eugene Hutz's guitar pictured above) returns to DC to rock the 9:30 Club on Saturday December 27 and Sunday December 28

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 December calendar.

Charts November 30, 2014

The Afrosound Of Colombia, Vol. 2

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: The Afrosound Of Colombia, Vol. 2
LABEL: Vampisoul
DJ Bongohead, aka Pablo Yglesias, your go-to guy for all sounds Latin, has curated a gem in this collection of dusties from the archives of Discos Fuentes, Colombia’s largest record label.

ARTIST: Hailu Mergia & The Walias
TITLE: Tche Belew
LABEL: Awesome Tapes From Africa
Here’s a classic recording from 1977, the very end of Ethiopia’s golden age. Hailu Mergia is a keyboard player, arranger and bandleader working in a similar Ethio-jazz mode as the better known Mulatu Astatke – the music is simultaneously thoroughly Ethiopian (those pentatonic modes) and also heavily influenced by the soul jazz and spiritual jazz of the 60’s and 70’s.

ARTIST: Verckys & L’Orchestre Veve
TITLE: Congolese Funk, Afrobeat & Psychedelic Rumba 1969-1978
LABEL: Analog Africa
In the 1970s, Congolese music was in transition from one golden age to another, already gearing up for yet another and another.

Charts November 23, 2014

Feedback Madagascar

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Feedback Madagascar
LABEL: ARC
Madagascar was the subject of several excellent world music releases back in the 80s and 90s. More recently the outside world has heard little from the island nation, which has been wracked by political crises and economic stagnation, so this new compilation is a welcome addition to the all-too-small Malagasy catalog.

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Golden Afrique, Vol. 1
LABEL: Network
What a pleasant surprise: the reissue of one of my favorite African music compilations of all time.

Global A Go-Go visits southern Africa this week with a set of music from South Africa (naturally), Zimbabwe, and Madagascar (that's Malagasy singer Jean Emilien pictured above).

Also this week: the Senegalese tinge, Afrobeat meets rap, and the glorious global sound of brass-rock circa 1972.

Charts November 16, 2014

Program November 14, 2014

That arrow above is pointing to the frog's external hearing structure or tympanum. My guest co-host this week is Jacobi (J.R.) Harris, who hosts one of WRIR's newest music programs, Tympanum Effect, every Thursday morning (or Wednesday night, if you prefer) at 3 AM.

If you haven't heard Tympanum Effect yet, I recommend that you check it out via broadcast or by using WRIR's new listening portal at wrir.org/tunein. And if you'd like a taste of what J.R. brings to the airwaves, tune in this week to hear his take on "music from around the world in the universal language of groove."

I'll spin a few this week too: Ukrainian "ethno-chaos" by DakhaBrakha (who are performing in Richmond on Sunday), new Italian folk by Antonio Castrignano, golden age Malian Afropop by Les Ambassadeurs, and more.

Charts November 9, 2014

25 Years Of Mr Bongo

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: 25 Years Of Mr Bongo
LABEL: Mr Bongo
Mr Bongo got started as a London record shop in 1989, focusing on indie hip hop, Brazilian and Latin music. They soon started their own record label so they could reissue deserving out-of-print material and release original material by related artists.

ARTIST: Alma Afrobeat Ensemble
TITLE: Life No Get Dublicate
LABEL: Slow Walk Music
This is the second studio album by this Barcelona-based, highly international (members hail from four different continents) combo that was originally founded by guitarist Aaron Feder in the USA, his home country.

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Glitterbeat: Dubs & Versions I
LABEL: Glitterbeat
Glitterbeat Records, WOMEX’s 2014 Label Award winner, is primarily focused on North and West African music, especially contemporary music from Mali. For its first various-artists compilation, the label invited some of their favorite remixers to take swings at deep cuts from the catalog.

Alma Afrobeat Ensemble (pictured above) is a band that got started in Chicago, is now based in Barcelona, and is the only Afrobeat band I know that has a bassoon player. You'll hear a track from their excellent new album on this week's edition of Global A Go-Go.

Also this week: more Asian psychedelia; deep, dubby blues from Mississippi to the Sahara; and Indian music meets jazz.

November 2014 Concert Calendar

November's Global A Go-Go picks:

Yeni Nostalji, who wowed the Global A Go-Go audience with their in-studio performance on October 24, have two dates in November: Sunday November 2 at Balliceaux and Sunday November 23 at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, both times with Miramar sharing the bill
The Budos Band (pictured above), Staten Island's best Afrobeat band and so much more, visits DC's 9:30 Club in support of their new album Burnt Offering on Friday November 7
Ukrainian "ethno-chaos" (their description, not mine) combo DakhaBrakha makes their first trip to the USA, including a stop at Richmond CenterStage's Gottwald Playhouse on Sunday November 16, part of the Modlin Center's current season
Brazilian legend Milton Nascimento plays at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium on Thursday November 20

Charts November 2, 2014

Program October 31, 2014

Here at Global A Go-Go we can't let Halloween pass without a bite at the apple -- no razor blades please.

So this week you'll hear a supernatural Child ballad from Scotland, some Caribbean songs about duppies and jumbies (ghosts to you), music influenced by Santeria and vodoun (two religions where the dead remain among us), and a track by Ghana's Ebo Taylor that's one of the most chilling I know.

Plus plenty of what makes Global A Go-Go tick every week, including new music from Kevin Kinsella, Bang Data and Djessou Mory Kante, and an amazing 1955 reissue of the Caruso of Cuba, Abelardo Barroso.

Program October 17, 2014

WRIR's Fall '14 Fund Drive gets underway today at 5:00 PM on Global A Go-Go. The Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra, the only band I know that grows and builds its own musical instruments, will perform on-air in our Live Room. This event kicks off 12 days of some of the best radio you'll ever hear, including 26 live performances from our studios.

You can hear the kickoff event on the radio at 97.3 FM in the Richmond area, or you can listen anywhere in the world that has an internet connection by browsing over to:

http://wrir.org/tunein

Our fund drive runs through October 28. If you'd like to make a donation to support this remarkable project, you can do so by calling 804-622-9747, by visiting us in person at 1621-B West Broad Street, or via our secure online donation site at:

bitly.com/Donate2Wrir

Thank you for your support in the past, and thank you for considering making a donation during the Fall 2014 Fund Drive!

Follow me below the fold, if you'd like, for more motivation ....

Bang Data | Mucho Poco

ARTIST: Bang Data
TITLE: Mucho Poco
LABEL: Futuro Sonico / Rockolito Music
Bang Data is an Oakland-based urban-Latin combo led by singer-rapper Deuce Eclipse and drummer-producer Juan Manuel Caipo. Their 2012 debut La Sopa had some fine moments and they’ve topped them on this sophomore effort, which is strong from beginning to end.

ARTIST: Abelardo Barroso With Orquesta Sensacion
TITLE: Cha Cha Cha
LABEL: World Circuit
Cha cha cha was the musical sensation of Cuba during the revolutionary era, from the mid-50s until 1959. Rolando Valdes’ Orquesta Sensacion popularized that sound, and Abelardo Barroso, “el Caruso de Cuba,” was the voice of cha cha cha.

ARTIST: Djessou Mory Kante
TITLE: River Strings: Maninka Guitar
LABEL: Sterns
The Maninka music of Mali and Guinee is dominated by singers; among instruments the kora has traditionally reigned supreme, but in the last 50 years a guitar tradition has developed.

Charts October 12, 2014

Antonio Castrignano | Fomenta: Ilenu De Taranta

ARTIST: Antonio Castrignano
TITLE: Fomenta: Ilenu De Taranta
LABEL: Ponderosa Music & Art
Antonio Castrignano is a native of Lecce in the Salentine Peninsula, the heel of Italy’s boot and the home of the ecstatic pizzica and tarantella music and dance traditions.

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Peru Bravo: Funk, Soul & Psych From Peru’s Radical Decade
LABEL: Tiger’s Milk
The second release from Tiger’s Milk, a London micro-label run by Peruvian restauranteur Martin Morales and ex-Soundway manager Duncan Ballantyne, focuses on Peru’s urban rock scene during the psychedelic era.

Program October 10, 2014

The Guca Trumpet Festival (pictured above), held every August in Serbia, is the Woodstock or the Galax of Balkan brass: huge crowds and traffic jams, motivated (possibly intoxicated) revelers getting down to their favorite party music, bands and soloists competing for prizes, impromptu gigs popping up everywhere.

This week on Global A Go-Go, it's my own little Guca: you'll hear recordings of five groups, each of which could stake a claim to being the baddest Balkan brass band on the planet. One of them is Serbia's Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar, who will play three sets at this weekend's Richmond Folk Festival.

Also this week: ethno-tronica; the early years of the Latin rock sound; and some current West African dance hits.

Charts October 5, 2014

October 2014 Concert Calendar

October's Global A Go-Go picks:

Of course, the big event in October is the Richmond Folk Festival, Friday October 10 to Sunday October 12. The headliner (for me at least) is the Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar from Serbia (pictured above), one of the world's truly great Balkan brass bands.
Just a boatload of great artists from Mali are visiting our area in October: Oumar Konate, Mamadou Diabate and Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba. See below for all the details.

Tony Allen | Film Of Life

ARTIST: Tony Allen
TITLE: Film Of Life
LABEL: Jazz Village
Here’s the latest solo album from Tony Allen, the man who helped invent Afrobeat as drummer in Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 and successors, the man Brian Eno calls “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived."

ARTIST: The Budos Band
TITLE: Burnt Offering
LABEL: Daptone
When they released their debut album in 2005, the Budos Band’s sound was unique: Afrobeat rhythms in short-song format, a soul band’s punchy horn section playing Ethiopian pentatonic harmonies, a flair for catchy hooks.

ARTIST: Dona Onete
TITLE: Feitico Cabloco
LABEL: Mais Um Discos
In a word…WOW! Dona Onete is an Amazonian singer from Brazil. The songs cover the gamut of Brazilian music genres from samba to Caribbean salsa and cadence to rap and all are driven by the amazing voice and energy of a woman who has spent her life singing and studying the musical styles of the Amazon.

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Spirit Of Malombo: Malombo Jazz Makers, Jabula And Jazz Afrika 1966-1984
LABEL: Strut
Malombo music is “spirit music,” so the CD has an apt title. It’s a musical innovation distinct to South Africa which incorporates folklore with just about everything else … yet there’s almost nothing like it.

At WRIR, our cup (pictured above -- no, not really) currently runneth over with great new Afrobeat and Afro-funk records. You'll hear nine of them this week on Global A Go-Go, including a track from the forthcoming new album by The Budos Band (actually pictured above).

Also this week: Sunda music from Bandung in West Java, and remembering your grandmother's stories during the Days of Awe.

Charts September 28, 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.

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.

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.

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.

Charts September 21, 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.

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.

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.

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.

Charts September 14, 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.

December 18, 2014

December 11, 2014

December 7, 2014

December 5, 2014

December 4, 2014

December 1, 2014

November 30, 2014

November 24, 2014

November 20, 2014

November 17, 2014

November 13, 2014

November 9, 2014

November 6, 2014

November 3, 2014

November 2, 2014

October 31, 2014

October 17, 2014

October 16, 2014

October 12, 2014

October 10, 2014

October 9, 2014

October 5, 2014

October 4, 2014

October 2, 2014

September 28, 2014

September 26, 2014

September 25, 2014

September 21, 2014

September 18, 2014

September 15, 2014

September 11, 2014

GLOBAL A GO-GO'S HOST