Charts January 11-24, 2020

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 AFRICA EXPRESS | Egoli | self-released
2 NIGERIA SOUL POWER 70: AFRO-FUNK, AFRO-ROCK, AFRO-DISCO | various artists | Soul Jazz
3 PUT ON YOUR BEST DRESS: SONIA POTTINGER, SKA AND ROCK STEADY, 1966-1967 | various artists | Doctor Bird
4 BATUNGA AND THE SUBPRIMES | "Gates Of Ouantou" [Single] | Matasuna
5 DAVID WALTERS | "Krye Mwen" [Single] | Heavenly Sweetness
6 EL WALI | Tiris | Sahel Sounds
7 MAMADOU KELLY | Les Bateaux | Clermont Music
8 KOKOLO AFROBEAT ORCHESTRA | 100 Fevers | Peace & Rhythm
9 FARAFI | Calico Soul | Piranha
10 ADNAN OTHMAN | Bershukor: A Retrospective Of Hits By A Malaysian Pop Yeh Yeh Legend | Sublime Frequencies

Please, machine, make my day

Bosnia's Dubioza Kolektiv is back with #fakenews, their ninth album of Balkan-flavored ska, punk, reggae, electronica, hip hop and rock.  And they're here to puncture some of that fake news, telling us that refugees aren't part of a grand conspiracy and marijuana isn't a gateway drug.

They're also not too concerned about robots taking over our jobs: "Go ahead, make my day" is their take, as you'll hear on the January 27 edition of Global A Go-Go.

Also this week: Cuba from son to salsa; the dulcet tones of Congolese singer Wuta Mayi; what's new in Afrobeat; psychedelic cumbia; and Attarazat Addahabia & Faradjallah's Moroccan funk.

The real boogaloo

This week's show happens on January 20: Martin Luther King Day and the Virginia legislature's annual Lobby Day, when citizens from across the commonwealth are encouraged to visit Richmond's Capitol Square and meet with their elected representatives.

It's also the day on which out-of-state militia groups, white nationalists and other "very fine people" (as our president has described them) are threatening to crash a gun-rights rally here in Richmond, part of their master plan to start a second civil war, which they refer to as The Boogaloo.

I usually defer to my colleagues on WRIR's News & Public Affairs team when it comes to covering gun nuts and other assorted limp-membered attention seekers.  But this co-opting of the term "boogaloo" will not stand, man!  Today on Global A Go-Go, you'll hear the real boogaloo: Spanish Harlem 1967, not Charlottesville 2017.

Also this week: new desert blues from Mamadou Kelly; klezmer meets funk; the music of Blitz The Ambassador, who's performing Tuesday at the ICA; folk music from eastern Europe; and a great new creole/coupe decale track from David Walters.

Charts January 4-10, 2020

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 SAIGON SOUL REVIVAL | Hoa Am Xura | INFRACom!
2 EL WALI | Tiris | Sahel Sounds
3 JOUWALA COLLECTIVE | Bazaar | self-released
4 LOS SHAINS | El Ritmo De Los Shains | Munster
5 ALEFA MADAGASCAR: SALEGY, SOUKOUS AND SOUL FROM THE RED ISLAND 1974-1984 | various artists | Strut
6 JAMBU E OS MITICOS SONS DA AMAZONIA | various artists | Analog Africa
7 LOCOBEACH | Psychedelic Disco Cumbia | Dorsal Fin/Peace & Rhythm
8 POUR ME A GROG: THE FUNANA REVOLT IN 1990S CABO VERDE | various artists | Ostinato
9 SONORA CASINO | Trompeteros | Vampisoul
10 DOWN IN JAMAICA: 40 YEARS OF VP RECORDS | various artists | VP

Introducing Eric Godsey

On the January 13th edition of Global A Go-Go, I'll be joined in the studio by Eric Godsey, a recent WRIR volunteer who, like yours truly, digs music from around the world.

Eric is a musician (drummer for Richmond band The Wimps among many other things) and a music teacher whose taste runs to the percussive side of things.  You'll get the idea when he spins sets of current progressive music out of Africa, Colombian electronica, and cumbia from in the tradition to out of left field.

As for me, I'll give you the sounds of Brazilians Seu Jorge and Roge, who have a gig coming up in DC on Friday night; Ghanaian highlife from the 80s and today; and more.

Charts Dec 7, 2019 - Jan 3, 2020

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 ALEFA MADAGASCAR: SALEGY, SOUKOUS AND SOUL FROM THE RED ISLAND | 1974-1984 | various artists | Strut
2 WUTA MAYI | La Face Cachee | Sterns
3 JUANA MOLINA | Forfun [EP] | Crammed
4 JAMBU E OS MITICOS SONS DA AMAZONIA | various artists | Analog Africa
5 ZAIKO LANGA LANGA AND JOSSART NYOKA LONGO | Seve | Prozal
6 POUR ME A GROG: THE FUNANA REVOLT IN 1990S CABO VERDE | various artists | Ostinato
7 JULIAN Y SU COMBO | Noche De Fiesta | Vampisoul
8 GARIFUNA COLLECTIVE, THE | Aban | Stonetree
9 RACHID TAHA | Je Suis Africain | Believe
10 AGGROLITES, THE | Reggae Now! | Pirates Press

Top ten compilations, reissues and historic recordings of 2019

On the January 6 edition of Global A Go-Go, we welcome in the new year with a look at my favorite new/old recordings of the last year: the best compilations, reissues and historic recordings released in 2019.

This is always a fun category for me -- I learn so much from reissued recordings I wasn't even aware of when they first were released, and I truly enjoy the curatorial ear and eye that labels like Analog Africa, Strut and Ostinato bring to their compilations.

There's two more labels I'd like to shout out here for their great work in 2019: Vampisoul, in acknowledgement of the reissue series they're doing in collaboration with Colombian labels Discos Fuentes, Codiscos and INS; and BBE (short for "Barely Breaking Even," which is so apt for everyone working in this niche of the music business) who started a fabulous reissue partnership with Nigeria's Tabansi Music Publishers.

With that as prologue, simply click "Read more" for my top ten compilations, reissues and historic recordings of 2019, plus ten honorable mentions: