May 27, 2015

Letta Mbulu | In The Music The Village Never Ends

ARTIST: Letta Mbulu
TITLE: In The Music The Village Never Ends
LABEL: Be With
This is one of those ultra-collectible albums (it has sold for over $300) that gets reissuers salivating – they know there’s plenty of demand out there if they can just find the master tape (hell, a clean vinyl copy will do in a pinch) and the license holder, and make a deal that works for everybody.

Middle East's Revolutionary Artists | Zombie

ARTIST: Middle East’s Revolutionary Artists
TITLE: Zombie
LABEL: Freemuse
This one’s so new that the band doesn’t yet have a name. Culture-jamming guitarist-professor Mark LeVine (Heavy Metal Islam) and Reda Zine of the Italian afrobeat band Voodoo Sound Club are spearheading this project, bringing together Arab and Iranian revolutionary artists to record new versions of songs by the original one-man Nigerian Spring, Fela Kuti.

Ola Fresca | Elixir

ARTIST: Ola Fresca
TITLE: Elixir
LABEL: PiPiKi
Cuban-American singer-songwriter-bandleader Jose Conde has been putting his personal spin on a variety of Latin pop and dance music genres for the last decade, both as a solo artist (his 2011 eponymous solo album was a standout) and fronting his combo Ola Fresca.

Program May 27, 2015

That's my summer reading pictured above: Banning (Afropop Worldwide) Eyre's brand-new, sure to be definitive biography of the Lion of Zimbabwe, Thomas Mapfumo.

In honor of the new book, I'll spin a set of five of my favorite Mapfumo songs on this week's program, covering everything from his early years in the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band (nope, not making up that name) and the Acid Band to his classic and recent work with the Blacks Unlimited.

Also this week: Celtic music without borders, African disco, and the Arab Spring meets Fela Kuti.

May 26, 2015

Charts May 25, 2015

Photo by Michael Nagle
WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 LILA DOWNS | Balas Y Chocolate | Sony Music Latin
2 OLA FRESCA | Elixir | PiPiKi
3 MORGAN HERITAGE | Strictly Roots | CTBC
4 RANA SANTACRUZ | Por Ahi | Chicavasco
5 TIPSY OXCART | Upside Down | self-released
6 KHAIRA ARBY | Gossip | Clermont Music
7 VERY BEST | Makes A King | Moshi Moshi
8 FATOUMATA DIAWARA AND ROBERTO FONSECA | At Home: Live In Marciac | Jazz Village
9 NNEKA | My Fairy Tales | Bushqueen Music
10 MACACO | Historias Tattooadas | Sony Music Latin

May 19, 2015

Program May 20, 2015

Photo by David Kruger
Lila Downs (pictured above) has a new album out -- it's called Balas Y Chocolate (Bullets & Chocolate), it's one of the best things I've heard this year, and you'll hear a song from it on this week's program.

Lila Downs | Balas Y Chocolate

ARTIST: Lila Downs
TITLE: Balas Y Chocolate
LABEL: Sony Music Latin
Mexican-American singer-songwriter Lila Downs has released 12 albums (including a best-of and two live ones) since 1994; her new one is her most political, most personal and I’d say most satisfying to date.

Morgan Heritage | Strictly Roots

ARTIST: Morgan Heritage
TITLE: Strictly Roots
LABEL: CTBC
This is the tenth studio album from Morgan Heritage, a band formed in 1994 by eight children (now down to five) of reggae and soul legend Denroy Morgan. They’re one of the most popular touring acts in reggae worldwide; their records are reliably rootsy, melodic and free of gimmicks and flavors-of-the-month.

Rana Santacruz | Por Ahi

ARTIST: Rana Santacruz
TITLE: Por Ahi
LABEL: Chicavasco
Rana Santacruz is the stage name of Mexican musician Rene Hubard, who was a member of the rock en espanol band La Catrina.

Tipsy Oxcart | Upside Down

ARTIST: Tipsy Oxcart
TITLE: Upside Down
LABEL: self-released
Tipsy Oxcart is a talented quintet from New York specializing in Balkan instrumental music; this is their second album.

Charts May 18, 2015

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock And Roll | Dust-To-Digital
2 BASSEKOU KOUYATE AND NGONI BA | Ba Power | Glitterbeat
3 MORGAN HERITAGE | Strictly Roots | CTBC
4 THOMAS MAPFUMO | Lion Songs: Essential Tracks In The Making Of Zimbabwe | Lion Songs
5 TITI ROBIN AND MEHDI NASSOULI | Taziri | World Village
6 VERY BEST | Makes A King | Moshi Moshi
7 BLUEBEATERS | Everybody Knows | Record Kicks
8 SKINTS | FM | Easy Star
9 FATOUMATA DIAWARA AND ROBERTO FONSECA | At Home: Live In Marciac | Jazz Village
10 BKO QUINTET | Bamako Today | Buda Musique

May 13, 2015

Program May 13, 2015

It's cumbia time this week on Global A Go-Go: Balkan brass inna cumbia stylee courtesy of Fanfare Ciocarlia and G-Flux, a new track from Calexico, and whole lot more.

May 12, 2015

Charts May 11, 2015

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 THE VERY BEST | Makes A King | Moshi Moshi
2 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK | Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock And Roll | Dust-To-Digital
3 BASSEKOU KOUYATE AND NGONI BA | Ba Power | Glitterbeat
4 KHAIRA ARBY | Gossip | Clermont Music
5 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Chicas! Vol. 2: Spanish Female Singers 1963-1978 | Vampisoul
6 MBONGWANA STAR | From Kinshasa | World Circuit
7 CALIBRO 35 VS BEASTIE BOYS | "Sabotaggio" [Single] | Record Kicks
8 MELISANDE (ELECTROTRAD) | Les Metamorphoses | self-released
9 LE VENT DU NORD | Tetu | Borealis
10 THE BLUEBEATERS | Everybody Knows | Record Kicks

May 11, 2015

Khaira Arby | Gossip

ARTIST: Khaira Arby
TITLE: Gossip
LABEL: Clermont Music
This is the fifth album by Khaira Arby, Mali’s diva of the desert, and it’s a powerhouse. Arby is from the Songhai ethnic group, from the Timbuktu region, and she’s a cousin by marriage of the most famous Songhai musician, Ali Farka Toure.

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba | Ba Power

ARTIST: Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
TITLE: Ba Power
LABEL: Glitterbeat
If you’ve seen Mali’s Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba in concert (they’ve toured the USA extensively and have played in Richmond twice), you know they’re one of the most powerful, electric bands on any continent.

Thomas Mapfumo | Lion Songs: Essential Tracks In The Making Of Zimbabwe

ARTIST: Thomas Mapfumo
TITLE: Lion Songs: Essential Tracks In The Making Of Zimbabwe
LABEL: Lion Songs
For his revolutionary music and importance to his nation’s culture and politics, Zimbabwe’s Thomas Mapfumo sits in the pantheon of modern African musical heroes. Afropop Worldwide’s Banning Eyre has written what will probably be Mapfumo’s definitive biography; this recording is that book’s audio companion.

Mazhar Ve Fuat | Turkuz Turku Cagiririz!

ARTIST: Mazhar Ve Fuat
TITLE: Turkuz Turku Cagiririz!
LABEL: Shadoks Music
The continuing crate-dive into all things Turkish from the 1960s and 1970s has surfaced this folk-rock gem.

Titi Robin & Mehdi Nassouli | Taziri

ARTIST: Titi Robin & Mehdi Nassouli
TITLE: Taziri
LABEL: World Village
French guitarist Thierry “Titi” Robin is virtually unknown in the USA; hopefully this new album will go a little way toward righting that injustice.

May 5, 2015

Charts May 4, 2015

Photo by John Bosch
WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 BASSEKOU KOUYATE AND NGONI BA | Ba Power | Glitterbeat
2 KHAIRA ARBY | Gossip | Clermont Music
3 THOMAS MAPFUMO | Lion Songs: Essential Tracks In The Making Of Zimbabwe | Lion Songs
4 MAZHAR VE FUAT | Turkuz Turku Cagiririz! | Shadoks Music
5 TITI ROBIN AND MEHDI NASSOULI | Taziri | World Village
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Next Stop Soweto, Vol. 4: Zulu Rock, Afro-Disco And Mbaqanga 1975-1985 | Strut
7 DENGUE FEVER | The Deepest Lake | Tuk Tuk
8 RED BARAAT | Gaadi Of Truth | Sinj
9 TAL NATIONAL | Zoy Zoy | FatCat
10 MELISANDE (ELECTROTRAD) | Les Metamorphoses | self-released

May 1, 2015

May 2015 Concert Calendar

Photo by Ricardo Trabulsi
May's Global A Go-Go picks:
  1. The one-of-a-kind singer Lila Downs (pictured above), who makes indigenous Mexican music and culture larger than life, appears at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium on Friday May 1
  2. New York's Easy Star All Stars and London's The Skints, two of my current favorite reggae bands, share the bill at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville on Wednesday May 6 and at Gypsy Sally's in DC on Saturday May 9
  3. Bio Ritmo appropriately headlines Friday Cheers' RVA Music Night, Friday May 22 on Brown's Island
  4. An unlikely double bill at an unlikely venue: DC Balkan brass powerhouse Black Masala and Richmond Ethio-jazz combo Afro-Zen Allstars at the Cary Street Cafe on Saturday May 23
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 May calendar.