January 30, 2018

Sonido Gallo Negro | Mambo Cosmico

ARTIST: Sonido Gallo Negro
TITLE: Mambo Cosmico
LABEL: Glitterbeat
Sonido Gallo Negro (SGN), an eight-piece band from Mexico City, expand their horizons on their third album.

January 29, 2018

Program January 31, 2018

It's mambo time this week on Global A Go-Go -- you'll hear the Syrian-American mambo king of Brooklyn Eddie "The Sheik" Kochak (pictured above), plus new mambos by Orquesta Akokan and Sonido Gallo Negro.

Also this week: folk-rock from Southern and Eastern Europe; music by Zgomot (who'll be at WRIR's birthday party on Friday night) and Ladysmith Black Mambazo (at the Barns of Wolf Trap next Monday and Tuesday); a farewell to Hugh Masakela; and the best reggae I heard in late '17 and early '18.

January 28, 2018

Charts January 28, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 CAMARAO | The Imaginary Soundtrack to a Brazilian Western Movie (1964-1974) | Analog Africa
2 LOS CHICOS MALOS | Los Chicos Malos | Vampisoul
3 LEVANTA POEIRA | various artists | Jazz & Milk
4 LITTLE AXE | London Blues | Echo Beach
5 LOS YETIS | Los Yetis | Vinilisssimo
6 SONIDO GALLO NEGRO | Mambo Cosmico | Glitterbeat
7 PLENA LIBRE | Amores en el Camino | GN
8 SON PALENQUE | Kutu Prieta Pa Saranguia | Palenque
9 HOLLIE COOK | Vessel Of Love | Merge
10 ORQUESTA AKOKAN | "Mambo Rapidito" [Single] | Daptone

January 23, 2018

Camarao | The Imaginary Soundtrack To A Brazilian Western Movie, 1964-1974

ARTIST: Camarao
TITLE: The Imaginary Soundtrack To A Brazilian Western Movie, 1964-1974
LABEL: Analog Africa
Forro is one of the indigenous musical styles of Brazil’s largely rural northeastern province of Pernambuco.

Los Chicos Malos | Los Chicos Malos

ARTIST: Los Chicos Malos
TITLE: Los Chicos Malos
LABEL: Vampisoul
Vampisoul continues mining the Discos Fuentes catalog with a reissue of this salsa gorda gem from 1980.

Levanta Poeira

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Levanta Poeira
LABEL: Jazz & Milk
Levanta poeira means “kick up dust” in Portuguese; it’s an apt title for the first Brazil-focused release from German dance music label Jazz & Milk.

Little Axe | London Blues

ARTIST: Little Axe
TITLE: London Blues
LABEL: Echo Beach
Little Axe (aka Skip McDonald, aka Bernard Alexander) was part of two of the 20th century’s most influential studio bands: the unnamed house band that backed many of rap’s early hits on Sugar Hill Records, and Tackhead, who provided the industrial soundtrack for Adrian Sherwood projects like Mark Stewart’s Maffia, African Head Charge and New Age Steppers.

Program January 24, 2018

The great Kabyle (Berber) singer-songwriter Lounes Matoub (the painting above is by Lisa-nne: https://lisa-nne.deviantart.com/art/Matoub-Lounes-510846413) would have been 62 years old Wednesday.

That is, if he wasn't assassinated in 1998, a week before a decree banning Kabyle (and other languages other than Arabic) in Algeria went into effect.  Two men were framed in the case, but the true perpetrators were almost certainly members of the Algerian military.

This week on Global A Go-Go, a song from Lounes Matoub and a couple more by Kabyle artists.  Also this week: deep blues, left-field forro, and salsa Colombiana dancefloor fillers.

January 21, 2018

Charts January 21, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 HAMAD KALKABA AND THE GOLDEN SOUNDS | 1974-1975 | Analog Africa
2 HOLLIE COOK | Vessel Of Love | Merge
3 LA MISA NEGRA | La Misa Negra | NAM Entertainment
4 TRIO DA KALI AND KRONOS QUARTET | Ladilikan | World Circuit
5 SWEET AS BROKEN DATES: LOST SOMALI TAPES FROM THE HORN OF AFRICA | various artists | Ostinato
6 TOTO BONA LOKUA | Bondeko | No Format
7 SEUN KUTI AND EGYPT 80 | Black Times | Strut
8 LUCIBELA | Laco Umbilical | Lusafrica
9 BOZI BOZIANA | Toute Une Histoire | Boziro
10 EBO TAYLOR AND THE PELIKANS | Ebo Taylor And The Pelikans | Mr Bongo

January 16, 2018

Program January 17, 2018

My grandparents came to the USA from Italy in the first couple of decades of the 20th century.  Back then, plenty of Americans wanted to keep out people from shithole countries like Italy.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The whole idea of the Global A Go-Go radio show is that we live in a post-colonial, hybrid, "flat world" -- no country or culture has any business lording it over another, we all have plenty to learn from each other, and cultural walls are rapidly being torn down.  If you like music and you don't listen to music from around the world, why not?

So let's listen this week to music from places the USA's president calls shitholes.  We'll start with Haiti, a country he singled out.  Then we'll move over to Africa, focusing on the poorest nations on the world's poorest continent.  You'll hear great music from places you're being told have nothing to offer to America.  And you'll hear for yourself why that idea is dead wrong.

P.S.  If you want a counterbalance to the president's point of view on this subject (aside from my radio show, of course), let me recommend this Instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/everydayafrica/?hl=en.

January 14, 2018

Charts January 14, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 ROBERTO LOPEZ | Criollo Electrik | Stonetree
2 PLENA LIBRE | Amores En El Camino | GN Musica
3 NAINO! SPANISH GIPSY SOUL FUNK DISCO 1974/1984 | (various artists) | Adarce
4 MACCASIO | Ninsala | Zola / 69 Entertainment
5 DRUNKEN FOREIGNER BAND | White Guy Disease | Electric Cowbell
6 SPANGLISH FLY | Ay Que Boogaloo! | Chaco World
7 TRIO DA KALI AND KRONOS QUARTET | Ladilikan | World Circuit
8 CALIBRO 35 | Decade | Record Kicks
9 FEMI KUTI | "One People, One World" [Single] | Knitting Factory
10 BOB AND GENE FEATURING THE INVERSIONS | "It's Not What You Know (It's Who You Know)" [Single] | Daptone

January 9, 2018

Drunken Foreigner Band | White Guy Disease

ARTIST: Drunken Foreigner Band
TITLE: White Guy Disease
LABEL: Electric Cowbell
Molam is the country music of Laos and northeastern Thailand. In the 1970s, it was cross-fertilized with rock (especially of the psychedelic persuasion) and soul borne by ubiquitous American soldiers.

Roberto Lopez | Criollo Electrik

ARTIST: Roberto Lopez
TITLE: Criollo Electrik
LABEL: Stonetree
Roberto Lopez is a Colombian guitarist now based in Montreal who’s best known for his large ensembles, the Roberto Lopez Project and the Afro-Colombian Jazz Orchestra.

Plena Libre | Amores En El Camino

ARTIST: Plena Libre
TITLE: Amores En El Camino
LABEL: GN Musica
Now in its 25th year, Plena Libre has become an institution – probably the world’s best known band specializing in the indigenous rhythms of Puerto Rico, bomba and plena.

Spanglish Fly | Ay Que Boogaloo!

ARTIST: Spanglish Fly
TITLE: Ay Que Boogaloo!
LABEL: Chaco World
Boogaloo was arguably the first Nuyorican music: a mix of mambo with R&B that started in the early 60s, became a craze in ‘66 and was over the hill by ’69.

January 8, 2018

Program January 10, 2018

Antibalas (pictured above), America's finest Afrobeat band and one of the best live acts you'll ever see, celebrates their 20th anniversary this year.  They're playing two nights at the Hamilton in DC this week, so it's a good time to spin a couple of Antibalas classics.

Also this week: a set of Caribbean rhythms in honor of the newest station in the Global Global A Go-Go Radio Network, Caribriddims International; the wailing guitars (and phins) of Thailand; and put on your boogaloo shoes for a set of Latin soul from the 60s and today.

January 7, 2018

Charts January 7, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 CANZONIERE GRECANICO SALENTINO | Canzoniere | Ponderosa
2 SWEET AS BROKEN DATES: LOST SOMALI TAPES FROM THE HORN OF AFRICA | various artists | Ostinato
3 HAMAD KALKABA AND THE GOLDEN SOUNDS | 1974-1975 | Analog Africa
4 CRIOLO | Espiral De Ilusao | Sterns Brasil
5 HABIBI FUNK 007: AN ECLECTIC SELECTION OF MUSIC FROM THE ARAB WORLD | various artists | Habibi Funk
6 PAULO FLORES | Kandongueiro Voador | LS Republicano
7 DA CRUZ | Eco Do Futuro | Boom Jah/Broken Silence
8 LOS CAMAROES | Resurrection Los | Analog Africa
9 LA MISA NEGRA | La Misa Negra | NAM Entertainment
10 TRIO DA KALI AND KRONOS QUARTET | Ladilikan | World Circuit

January 2, 2018

Program January 3, 2018

I'm going to start 2018 with one more look back at 2017: an overview of the five extraordinary live performances I was fortunate to host last year on Global A Go-Go.

Richmond bands Afro-Zen Allstars (pictured above with me at WRIR) and Hotel X helped raise money by playing live on the air during WRIR's fund drives.  Gamelan Raga Kusuma celebrated their tenth anniversary by bringing dozens of players and instruments up the stairs and into Studio C.

Ex-Richmonder Joshua Camp visited Global A Go-Go to play songs from his recent solo project C.A.M.P.O.S. (Cumbias And More Psychedelic Original Sounds).  And The Nile Project brought musicians from up and down the Nile River, seven countries in all, to our community radio station for an amazing performance and cross-cultural experience.

I'll revisit all five of these live-in-concert recordings on this week's program, and throw in a few other items that fit the mood.