In remembrance 2021

It sure seems to me as though a lot of my favorite musicians died in 2021.  Maybe it's just that I'm getting older.  Maybe it's that I've been thinking more about my own mortality lately.

 

Mostly it's that we're living through a golden era of death -- a (hopefully) once-in-a-century pandemic.  Just in 2021, about 13,000,000 more people died worldwide than would have been expected had there not been a COVID pandemic.  (My source for this number is The Economist's excess deaths model.)  More than a few of the unfortunate have been great musicians.

 

This week on Global A Go-Go (Sunday January 2, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site), we'll celebrate the lives and times of 21 musicians from around the world who passed away last year, leaving us to safeguard the evidence of their genius.  And I do mean genius -- just about every track on this show is a stone-cold classic.

Top ten compilations, reissues & historic recordings of 2021

This week on Global A Go-Go (Sunday December 26, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site), I'm wrapping up a 3-week-long look at my favorite recordings of 2021 by playing my favorite compilations, reissues and historic recordings of the year.

 

I love finding out about music of the past that I missed out on back then.  And I'm a sucker for the lengths that the producers of sets like the ones featured in this week's program are willing to go to in order to bring this forgotten music back into the daylight.

 

For example, this year's #5 is the result of a multi-year negotiation between the album's producer and the government of Djibouti, with all royalties paid directly to that country's Ministry of Culture.  And #6 got its start in a Vietnamese-American woman's curiosity about her mother's singing career; it turns out that her mother was an early Vietnamese rock 'n' roll icon who hadn't heard her own recordings in 55 years.

Without further ado, here's are my top compilations, reissues and historic recordings of 2021:

Top ten new singles & EPs of 2021

In the current era of home studios, direct-to-consumer distribution, mobile listening and streaming, the single is no longer just for Top 40 music.  If you're not following singles and EPs in whatever genres you listen to, much of today's most compelling music is breezing right past you.

 

I've made a concerted effort in recent years to play singles and EPs on Global A Go-Go, and for the past 3 years I've done a year-end recap of the best singles and EPs of the year.  This year's recap (Sunday December 19, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) once again has some killer material, just as good if not better than what I played on last week's top albums of 2021 episode.  Tune in and hear for yourself.

Without further ado, here are my top singles and EPs of 2021:

Charts December 6-12, 2021

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 HAMDI BENANI, MEDHI HADDAB AND SPEED CARAVAN | Nuba Nova | Buda Musique

2 BALKAN TAKSIM | Disko Telegraf | Buda Musique

3 DELGRES | 4:00 AM | PIAS

4 LA MAMBANEGRA | Los Ultimos Buses De Colores | Tambora

5 ORQUESTA AKOKAN | 16 Rayos | Daptone

6 A ESPETACULAR CHARANGA DO FRANCA | The Importance Of Being Espetacular | Mais Um

7 MONEY CHICHA | Chicha Summit | Vampisoul

8 LOS CHAPILLACS | Lo Bueno, Lo Malo, Lo Feo Y Los Alarcosos Chapillacs | Vampisoul

9 ADRIAN QUESADA | Look At My Soul: The Latin Shade Of Texas Soul | Nacional

10 TOKYO GLOW: JAPANESE CITY POP, FUNK AND BOOGIE SELECTED BY DJ NOTOYA | various artists | Wewantsounds

Top ten new albums of 2021

It's the most wonderful time of the year, the time to find out who's been naughty and nice.  No, I'm not talking about the holiday season; I'm talking about when everyone's Best Of The Year lists come out.

 

I'll be rolling out my own lists over the next three weeks on Global A Go-Go.  On this week's program (Sunday December 12, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) I'll present my top ten new albums of 2021 plus ten honorable mentions.

 

Next week you'll hear my favorite singles and EPs of the year gone by, and in two weeks it will be selections from my favorite compilations, reissues and historic recordings of 2021.

 

In terms of themes for 2021's best new albums, I thought it was a great year for Latin music and in particular for music from Colombia, a country that's rapidly gaining attention for its broad and deep music scenes.  And an unusual number of my favorite new albums this year could be classified as rock 'n' roll, a genre that's widely viewed in the USA as past its sell-by date.

 

Without further ado, here are my top new albums of 2021:

Charts Nov 29 - Dec 5, 2021

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 QUANTIC AND NIDIA GONGORA | Almas Conectadas | Tru Thoughts

2 MUKAMBO PRESENTS GLOBAL AFROBEAT MOVEMENT 2 | various artists | NYP

3 PHUONG TAM | Magical Nights: Saigon Surf, Twist & Soul 1964-1966 | Sublime Frequencies

4 LOS BITCHOS | "Las Panteras" [Single] | City Slang

5 ELIA Y ELIZABETH | Elia Y Elizabeth | Vampisoul

6 CONTENTO | En Lancha Pal Futuro | El Palmas

7 JUCARA MARCAL | Delta Estacio Blues | QTV Selo/Mais Um

8 SHAGGY AND RAYVON | "Drive Me Insane" [Single] | Mr. Doo

9 META AND THE CORNERSTONES | Dia | Metarize

10 THEON CROSS | Intra-I | New Soil/Marathon

Chicken no dey fly

I have a whole lot of new African and African-inspired music in this week's (Sunday December 5, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards on the wrir.org archive player, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) first hour: the legendary Omar Pene of Senegal, the Scorpios bringing Sudan through a current London filter, Femi Koya with Nigerian Afrobeat made in South Africa, and the Afro-futurist sounds of Onipa.

 

In this week's second hour you'll hear new Latin favorites from Quantic & Nidia Gongora, Grupo Pernil, Contento and Malamanya, reggae meets boogie featuring a long-lost single by Desmond Chambers, and we'll finish up with jit and kalindula from Zimbabwe and Zambia including great new reissue of Robson Banda & The New Black Eagles.