May 29, 2018

Nicola Conte & Spiritual Galaxy | Let Your Light Shine On

ARTIST: Nicola Conte & Spiritual Galaxy
TITLE: Let Your Light Shine On
LABEL: MPS
Nicola Conte is an Italian guitarist, producer and DJ best known for his work in acid jazz, bringing improvised music and the dance floor together.

May 28, 2018

Program May 30, 2018

The godfather of champeta is back!  Abelardo Carbono (pictured above) made a series of brilliant recordings in Barranquilla in the 1980s that fused Afro-Colombian rhythms with sounds from the crates of records that entered Colombia's largest Caribbean port and became hits with the country's picos (mobile sound systems): Nigerian Afrobeat, Congolese soukous, Cuban mambo, Haitian compas, American funk and psych-rock.

It's been decades since Carbono released a new recording.  But here he is, working with a younger generation of crate-digging musicians who've all been inspired by him: Will (Quantic) Holland, Mario (Frente Cumbiero) Galeano, Lucas (Palenque Records) Silva and Felipe (Polen Records) Alvarez.  You'll hear their new single this week on Global A Go-Go.

Also this week: spiritual jazz from Italy and the USA; new desert blues by Sidi Toure, Bombino and Imarhan; and more classics from West Africa's golden age.

May 27, 2018

Charts May 27, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 BOMBINO | Deran | Partisan
2 YENI NOSTALJI | Yeni Nostalji | Ropeadope
3 LOS TEXMANIACS | Cruzando Borders | Smithsonian Folkways
4 NICKODEMUS | A Long Engagement | Wonderwheel
5 AFRICAN SCREAM CONTEST 2 | various artists | Analog Africa
6 ORQUESTA AKOKAN | Orquesta Akokan | Daptone
7 CAMARAO | The Imaginary Soundtrack to a Brazilian Western Movie (1964-1974) | Analog Africa
8 LEVANTA POEIRA | various artists | Jazz & Milk
9 DOMENICO LACELLOTTI | The Good Is a Big God | Luaka Bop
10 PIERRE SANDWINI | Le Troubadour De La Savane - 1978/1982 | Born Bad

May 20, 2018

Charts May 20, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 YENI NOSTALJI | Yeni Nostalji | Ropeadope
2 LOS TEXMANIACS | Cruzando Borders | Smithsonian Folkways
3 NICKODEMUS | A Long Engagement | Wonderwheel
4 AFRICAN SCREAM CONTEST 2 | various artists | Analog Africa
5 LISTEN ALL AROUND: THE GOLDEN AGE OF CENTRAL AND EAST AFRICAN MUSIC | various artists | Dust-To-Digital
6 ORQUESTA AKOKAN | Orquesta Akokan | Daptone
7 THORNATO | Back It Up [EP] | Wonderwheel
8 SONIDO GALLO NEGRO | Mambo Cosmico | Glitterbeat
9 CAMARAO | The Imaginary Soundtrack to a Brazilian Western Movie (1964-1974) | Analog Africa
10 EMPRESARIOS | Cambumbeo [EP] | Empresarios Musica

Bombino | Deran

ARTIST: Bombino
TITLE: Deran
LABEL: Partisan
Oumara “Bombino” Moctar is a Tamasheq guitarist and singer from Agadez, Niger. Of all the second generation of tichumaren (sometimes called “desert blues”) players he’s the one with the highest international profile, aided in part by his last two albums which were produced by Dan Auerbach (Black Keys) and David Longstreth (Dirty Projectors), respectively.

Nickodemus | A Long Engagement

ARTIST: Nickodemus
TITLE: A Long Engagement
LABEL: Wonderwheel
Nick DeSimone, aka Nickodemus, is an NYC-based producer and DJ best known for his Turntables On The Hudson club nights (now in their 20th worldwide season) and for founding Wonderwheel Records.

Los Texmaniacs | Cruzando Borders

ARTIST: Los Texmaniacs
TITLE: Cruzando Borders
LABEL: Smithsonian Folkways
Grammy award-winning Los Texmaniacs, who played the Richmond Folk Festival in 2010, are one of the most accomplished Tejano bands in the USA today.

Yeni Nostalji | Yeni Nostalji

ARTIST: Yeni Nostalji
TITLE: Yeni Nostalji
LABEL: Ropeadope
If you want to be an artist, you need to follow your obsessions down their rabbit hole. That’s what Christina Gleixner did four years ago when she decided she had to write and sing in Turkish, a language she didn’t speak.

May 15, 2018

Program May 16, 2018

It's been two years in the making, and Yeni Nostalji (pictured above)'s debut album has now been released by Ropeadope Records.  It's a beautiful thing; you'll hear a track from it this week on Global A Go-Go.  BTW, their record release show is this Friday at Gallery 5.

Also this week: welcome to Areito's Estudio 101 in Havana; Norteno and forro; Hailu Mergia's return to the scene; and new music for the dance floor by Empresarios, Nickodemus and Thornato.

May 13, 2018

Charts May 13, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 AFRICAN SCREAM CONTEST 2 | various artists | Analog Africa
2 LISTEN ALL AROUND: THE GOLDEN AGE OF CENTRAL AND EAST AFRICAN MUSIC | various artists | Dust-to-Digital
3 ORQUESTA AKOKAN | Orquesta Akokan | Daptone
4 VIBRONICS | Woman On A Mission | SCOOPS
5 DJENEBA AND FOUSCO | Kayeba Khasso | Lusafrica
6 CESARIA EVORA | Carnaval De Mindelo [EP] | Lusafrica
7 CAMARAO | The Imaginary Soundtrack to a Brazilian Western Movie (1964-1974) | Analog Africa
8 LEVANTA POEIRA | various artists | Jazz & Milk
9 LITTLE AXE | London Blues | Echo Beach
10 JIMI TENOR | "Quantum Connection" / "My Mind Will Travel" [Single] | Philophon

May 9, 2018

Ali Farka Toure | The Source

ARTIST: Ali Farka Toure
TITLE: The Source
LABEL: World Circuit
For those of us who were just getting interested in African music around 1990, it’s impossible to overstate the impact of Ali Farka Toure.

May 8, 2018

Program May 9, 2018

Desert blues guitarist Mdou Moctar (pictured above) and his band return to Richmond Monday night at Strange Matter, on a killer triple bill with The Messthetics (Fugazi's rhythm section plus guitar shredder Anthony Pirog) and Time Is Fire (featuring Electric Cowbell's Jim Thomson on drums).

If you saw Mdou at the University of Richmond in October, you'll be back for more.  If you didn't, I'll play a track from his film Akounak Tedelat Taha Tazoughai ("Purple Rain" in Tamasheq) so you can hear what the buzz is about.

Also this week: I cannot give up rumba; what's new in reggae, spring 2018 edition; and the "101st century eucosmic raw soul" of Berlin's Philophon label.

May 6, 2018

Charts May 6, 2018

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 SIDI TOURE | Toubalbero | Thrill Jockey
2 EL HIJO DE LA CUMBIA | Genero Genero | Nacional
3 AFRICAN SCREAM CONTEST 2 | various artists | Analog Africa
4 ORQUESTA AKOKAN | Orquesta Akokan | Daptone
5 ALI FARKA TOURE | The Source | World Circuit
6 IMARHAN | Temet | City Slang
7 DJENEBA AND FOUSCO | Kayeba Khasso | Lusafrica
8 SONIDO GALLO NEGRO | Mambo Cosmico | Glitterbeat
9 CAMARAO | The Imaginary Soundtrack to a Brazilian Western Movie (1964-1974) | Analog Africa
10 SPANGLISH FLY | Ay Que Boogaloo! | Chaco World

May 1, 2018

Program May 2, 2018

First of all, I want to thank close to 600 WRIR listeners who donated $48,000 during the Spring 2018 Fund Drive.  For the second consecutive drive, we've set another all-time fundraising record.  Thank you so much for powering the Tower of Low Power!

You can still get in on the action: just visit wrir.org, fill out the online form, and get the groovy Spring '18 T-shirt, magnet and bandana.  If you donated and haven't picked up your swag yet, please email fundraising@wrir.org -- we'll set up a time for you to come by and get your premiums.

Fund drive season is also new releases season.  And after two weeks of special programs during the Spring '18 Fund Drive, I've got a backlog of excellent recent material to share with you.

Global A Go-Go premieres this week will include a reissue of Ali Farka Toure's 1993 classic The Source, TootArd's desert blues from the Golan Heights, electro-cumbia by El Hijo De La Cumbia and E Arenas, Pinata Protest's Tejano punk rock (playing Richmond in June), and the brand-new single from Colombian legends Atercioplelados (pictured above).

Also this week: Latin soul and boogaloo, and Afrofunk chestnuts from the golden 70s.