Program February 1, 2017

Of course they came for the musicians.  They always come for the musicians -- people who can speak directly to your soul, even without the use of language, are the most dangerous of all.

The first hour of Global A Go-Go this week is devoted to musicians who, all of a sudden, are unwelcome in the eyes of America's government.  You'll hear from active artists who happen to be natives of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

All of them will currently find it difficult if not impossible to travel to the USA; one of them holds a green card and may not be able to come home to the USA; one of them is here now and will be performing in Richmond in March.  Apparently their art is subversive, threatening to the powers that temporarily be.  That's why I'm playing it.

Omar Souleyman begs to differ:

For more reading (and listening) on the subject: Pitchfork, Associated Press, Bandcamp, All Songs Considered.

Also this week: the Sahara Desert's Kel Tamasheq, not so good at politics but geniuses with the guitar; and some funky Latin sounds to cleanse your palate.

Charts January 29, 2017

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 AFRO-ZEN ALLSTARS | Greatest Hits | self-released
2 SYSTEMA SOLAR | Rumbo A Tierra | Nacional
3 TIKEN JAH FAKOLY | Racines | Wrasse
4 GIRMA BEYENE AND AKALE WUBE | Ethiopiques 30: Mistakes On Purpose | Buda Musique
5 AWA POULO | Poulo Warali | Awesome Tapes From Africa
6 ANI CORDERO | Querido Mundo | self-released
7 HARD PROOF | Stinger | Modern Outsider
8 BONGO HOP | Satingarona Pt. 1 | Underdog
9 SLAVIC SOUL PARTY! | Plays Duke Ellington's Far East Suite | Ropeadope
10 ANDRES LANDERO | Yo Amaneci | Vampisoul

Girma Beyene & Akale Wube | Ethiopiques 30: Mistakes On Purpose

ARTIST: Girma Beyene & Akale Wube
TITLE: Ethiopiques 30: Mistakes On Purpose
LABEL: Buda Musique
Girma Beyene is one of the leading lights of Ethiopia’s Swinging Addis period of the 60s and 70s. As a singer, pianist, songwriter, arranger and bandleader, he contributed to dozens of the sides that today define the golden age of Ethiopian music.

Ani Cordero | Querido Mundo

ARTIST: Ani Cordero
TITLE: Querido Mundo
LABEL: self-released
Ani Cordero is a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who’s been a member of the bands Pistolera and Bee And Flower, has fronted her own combo called Cordero, and is now releasing her second solo album, one that I think should get her a lot of favorable attention.

Hard Proof | Stinger

ARTIST: Hard Proof
TITLE: Stinger
LABEL: Modern Outsider
Austin is of course one of the USA’s great music scenes, so it ought to have a top-shelf Afro-funk band – here it is.

Awa Poulo | Poulo Warali

ARTIST: Awa Poulo
TITLE: Poulo Warali
LABEL: Awesome Tapes From Africa
The Fulani people are the ethnic group with the largest nomadic pastoral community in the world – you’ll find Fula herdsmen all across the Sahel and West Africa.

Program January 25, 2017

He's only been out of office for a few days, and I'm already nostalgic for the 44th President of the United States.  So I dusted off my favorite songs about Barack Obama from the 2008 campaigns, ones done by artists from around the country and the world.

These songs were the subject of the August 29, 2008 edition of Global A Go-Go, maybe the most popular program I've ever done (1,331 downloads here and counting).  I'll reprise a few of these songs on this week's program, and I'll keep it fresh with 2017 premieres from Girma Beyene (Ethiopia) & Akale Wube (France), Awa Poulo (Mali), Ani Cordero (Brooklyn) and Hard Proof (Austin).

Charts January 22, 2017

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 NOUVELLE VAGUE | I Could Be Happy | Kwaidan / !K7
2 AFRO-ZEN ALLSTARS | Greatest Hits | self-released
3 SLAVIC SOUL PARTY! | Plays Duke Ellington's Far East Suite | Ropeadope
4 SHADOW | Sweet Sweet Dreams | Analog Africa
5 DAYME AROCENA | Cubafonia | Brownswood
6 HANITRA | Songs From Madagascar: Lasa | ARC
7 EVER-G | Roots Warrior | Di Next Generation Production WC
8 IDRIS ACKAMOOR AND THE PYRAMIDS | "Tinoge Ya Ta'a Ba" [Single] | Philophon
9 PRESTIGE | "They Don't Give" [Single] | Rebel Sound
10 NILE PROJECT | Jinja | self-released

Charts January 15, 2017

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Bobo Yeye: Belle Epoque In Upper Volta | Numero Group
2 AFRO-ZEN ALLSTARS | Greatest Hits | self-released
3 VAUDOU GAME | Kidayu | Hot Casa
4 JUNGLE FIRE | Jambu | Nacional
5 SYSTEMA SOLAR | Rumbo A Tierra | Nacional
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Macondo Revisitado: The Roots Of Subtropical Music, Uruguay 1975-1979 | Vampisoul
7 SEUN KUTI AND EGYPT 80 | Struggle Sounds | Sony Masterworks
8 ORKESTA MENDOZA | Vamos A Guarachar! | Glitterbeat
9 BROOKZILL | Throwback To The Future | Tommy Boy
10 BONGO HOP | Satingarona Pt. 1 | Underdog

Program January 11, 2017

I'm still working my way through the bounty of new releases that 2017 has offered so far.  This week, you'll hear a track from the soon-coming sophomore effort from LA-based Afro-Latin-funk party-starters Jungle Fire (pictured above), and one from a new compilation of "subtropical" music from Uruguay in the 1970s.

Also this week: old and new music from Fouta Toro (Senegal) and Niafunke (Mali), cumbia four ways, two Afrobeat ballads, and makossa meets disco.

Charts January 8, 2017

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 SYSTEMA SOLAR | Rumbo A Tierra | Nacional
2 AFRO-ZEN ALLSTARS | Greatest Hits | self-released
3 BONGO HOP | Satingarona Pt. 1 | Underdog
4 JUNGLE FIRE | Jambu | Nacional
5 NILE PROJECT | Jinja | self-released
6 SLAVIC SOUL PARTY! | Plays Duke Ellington's Far East Suite | Ropeadope
7 ANDRES LANDERO | Yo Amaneci | Vampisoul
8 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Macondo Revisitado: The Roots Of Subtropical Music, Uruguay 1975-1979 | Vampisoul
9 C.A.M.P.O.S. | Miracles And Criminals | Peace And Rhythm
10 ORKESTA MENDOZA | Vamos A Guarachar! | Glitterbeat

Program January 4, 2017

Hey, didn't someone tell me most of the music industry is on vacation in December?  Apparently not, because I logged in 42 new releases between Thanksgiving and New Years' Eve.  So I had an enjoyable holiday season digging into a full plate of new music.

A bunch of the stuff I heard is really good, and now you'll hear a few of those first-of-2017 winners on this week's edition of Global A Go-Go.  Prominent on the list is Richmond's Afro-Zen Allstars (pictured above), whose cheekily titled studio debut Greatest Hits comes out January 13.

Also making their debuts on this week's show will be new albums from Colombia's Systema Solar (one of my favorite bands in the world right now), The Nile Project (who'll be in Richmond in March) and The Bongo Hop (Afro-Latin-Caribbean funk from a French trumpeter).

Afro-Zen Allstars | Greatest Hits

ARTIST: Afro-Zen Allstars
TITLE: Greatest Hits
LABEL: self-released
Joking title aside, this is the debut studio album from Afro-Zen Allstars, a Richmond-based little big band playing the arrangements and compositions of bandleader George Lowe and featuring some of the finest musicians on the Richmond scene today, members of Bio Ritmo, No BS! Brass and many more.

The Bongo Hop | Satingarona Pt. 1

ARTIST: The Bongo Hop
TITLE: Satingarona Pt. 1
LABEL: Underdog
Etienne Sevet is a man of many talents – an urban planner by day in Lyon France, he’s also been a journalist and a teacher; in the music world he’s a DJ, cratedigger, compiler (responsible for Vampisoul’s fabulous Aberlardo Carbono set a couple of years ago), trumpeter and now producer and bandleader with this debut recording.

Jungle Fire | Jambu

ARTIST: Jungle Fire
TITLE: Jambu
LABEL: Nacional
The second album from this Los Angeles-based Afro-Latin-funk instrumental aggregation picks up right where the first one left off – on the dance floor, sweating up a storm.

Andres Landero | Yo Amaneci

ARTIST: Andres Landero
TITLE: Yo Amaneci
LABEL: Vampisoul
Accordionist, singer and songwriter Andres Landero is the soul of cumbia, one of Colombia’s greatest musical gifts to the world.

Macondo Revisitado: The Roots Of Subtropical Music, Uruguay 1975-1979

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Macondo Revisitado: The Roots Of Subtropical Music, Uruguay 1975-1979
LABEL: Vampisoul
Did you know there was a craze for Puerto Rican plena in Uruguay in the late 70s? I certainly didn’t until I heard this fascinating compilation album.

The Nile Project | Jinja

ARTIST: The Nile Project
TITLE: Jinja
LABEL: self-released
The Nile Project is much more than a band – it uses music to build dialogue, empathy and engagement between the citizens of Africa’s Nile River region so they can address the root causes of their conflicts.

Slavic Soul Party! | Plays Duke Ellington's Far East Suite

ARTIST: Slavic Soul Party!
TITLE: Plays Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite
LABEL: Ropeadope
The seventh album by this outstanding 15-year-old NYC-based band, recorded live at Barbes in 2014, has an ingenious conceit: re-imagine the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn as if performed by “an Eastern European brass band discovering an exotic American sound.”

Systema Solar | Rumbo A Tierra

ARTIST: Systema Solar
TITLE: Rumbo A Tierra
LABEL: Nacional
2016 saw the first proper USA release from Systema Solar, a selection of tracks off their first two Colombian-released albums. Now 2017 kicks off with their superb third record – that’s the way to ring in the new year!

Charts January 1, 2017

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 C.A.M.P.O.S. | Miracles And Criminals | Peace And Rhythm
2 ATERCIOPELADOS | Reluciente, Rechinante Y Aterciopelado | Sony Colombia
3 YENI NOSTALJI | 2016 EP demo (final mix) | unreleased
4 ALKIBAR JR. | Jamal | Studio Mali
5 VAUDOU GAME | Kidayu | Hot Casa
6 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat
7 FRIGHTNRS | Nothing More To Say | Daptone
8 ME AND MY FRIENDS | Hide Your Way | Soundway
9 SEUN KUTI AND EGYPT 80 | Struggle Sounds | Sony Masterworks
10 KUTIMANGOES | Made In Africa | Tramp