January 29, 2022

Discos Horoscopo

Chicha is the music of Peru's Great Migration -- the movement of indigenous people and other rural residents, some from the jungle and even more from the Andes, into the coastal cities starting in the 1960s.  And Discos Horoscopo (founder Juan Campos Muñoz is pictured above) recorded the soundtrack of that migration.
 
Horoscopo released hundreds of chicha records between 1977 and 1989.  The label was revived a few years ago; 38 of their titles are now available on Bandcamp, and Belgium's Rebel Up Records just issued Chicha Popular: Love & Social Political Songs From Discos Horoscopo 1977-1987.  So it's a perfect time for a tribute to Discos Horoscopo on Global A Go-Go as part of an all-Latin second hour this week.  For more background, check out this essay from Remezcla: remezcla.com/features/music/discos-horoscopo-relaunch
 
Also this week (Sunday January 30, 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): North African strings, Yugo-pop of the 20th and 21st centuries, funaná from Cabo Verde and points beyond, cumbia-adjacent rock en español and champeta's electronic sound.

January 25, 2022

Charts January 17-23, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 AFRO-ZEN ALLSTARS | The Buzz And The Bells | AZA
2 JARVIS COCKER | Chansons D'ennui Top-Top | ABKCO
3 ALGO SALVAJE VOL. 3 | various artists | Munster
4 BACAO RHYTHM AND STEEL BAND | Expansions | Big Crown
5 YOHANN LE FERRAND | Yeko [EP] | self-released
6 LPT | Se Quema El Mundo | self-released
7 LOS BITCHOS | "Good To Go!" [Single] | City Slang
8 LOS POPS | No, No, No [EP] | Munster
9 ADRIAN QUESADA | Look At My Soul: The Latin Shade Of Texas Soul | Nacional
10 LOS CHAPILLACS | Lo Bueno, Lo Malo, Lo Feo Y Los Alarcosos Chapillacs | Vampisoul

January 21, 2022

Algo salvaje

This was scheduled to be a triumphant week for Richmond's guardians of the global groove, Afro-Zen Allstars.  The release party for their second album was scheduled for January 28 and I was hoping to lure bandleader George Lowe into WRIR's Studio A to talk about the new record.
 
But the COVID gods had other plans, so both of those events will have to be postponed.  Instead, I'm going to introduce the new album to those of you who haven't heard it yet by playing three of its tracks on Global A Go-Go.
 
Also this week (Sunday January 23, 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): thinking person's salsa, three Malian songbirds, a deep dive into West Africa's authenticité era, 1970s Anatolian rock heavy on the psych and Get In The Garage, Global A Go-Go's periodic excursion into garage rock, focuses on Spain.

January 18, 2022

Charts January 10-16, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 NKUMBA SYSTEM | Bailalo Duro! | Prado
2 SONS OF KEMET | Black To The Future | Impulse!
3 ELIA Y ELIZABETH | Elia Y Elizabeth | Vampisoul
4 EL DRAGON CRIOLLO | Pase Lo Que Pase | El Palmas
5 DOWDELIN | Lanmou Lanmou | Underdog
6 OLIVER NAYOKA | Aja Wele-Wele | Odogwu/Palenque
7 EXTRA MUSICA NOUVEL HORIZON | Vision | Universal Africa
8 PAT MATSHIKIZA AND KIPPIE MOKETSI | Tshona! | We Are Busy Bodies
9 TCHISS LOPES | Ja Bo Corre D'Mim | Arabusta
10 ALOGTE OHO AND HIS SOUNDS OF JOY | "Doose Mam" [Single] | Philophon

January 15, 2022

Cacerolazo

Nkumba System is a band with members from three continents: South America (Colombia), Africa (Cameroon) and Europe (France).  And their music is as polyglot as you might suspect: cumbia and makossa, currulao and soukous and a whole lot more.
 
Their album Bailalo Duro! was my favorite new release of 2021.  (It actually came out in November of 2020, but who's counting?)   But somehow I only played three of its songs on Global A Go-Go all year.  This week we remedy the situation by spinning four in a row from Bailalo Duro!

Also this week (Sunday January 16, 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): a deep dive into South African jazz, some jazzy calypso, Brazil's BaianaSystem and a bootleg mashup of Fela and Santana.

January 10, 2022

Charts Dec 13, 2021 - Jan 9, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 EDO FUNK EXPLOSION VOL 1 | various artists | Analog Africa
2 AFRO-ZEN ALLSTARS | The Buzz And The Bells | AZA
3 PHUONG TAM | Magical Nights: Saigon Surf, Twist & Soul 1964-1966 | Sublime Frequencies
4 FRANK Y SUS INQUIETOS | Frank Y Sus Inquietos | El Palmas
5 DERYA YILDIRIM AND GRUP SIMSEK | Dost 1 | Light In The Attic
6 MDOU MOCTAR | Afrique Victime | Matador
7 YOUSSOU N'DOUR | Mbalax | Universal Africa
8 ESSIEBONS SPECIAL 1973 - 1984: GHANA MUSIC POWER HOUSE | various artists | Analog Africa
9 BACAO RHYTHM AND STEEL BAND | Expansions | Big Crown
10 MUKAMBO PRESENTS GLOBAL AFROBEAT MOVEMENT 2 | various artists | NYP

January 8, 2022

Year of the funky

I'll be producing the next several episodes of Global A Go-Go from my home studio while I wait for the omicron wave to crest here in central Virginia and for my immune system to re-strengthen back to normal.  But have no fear, I'm feeling fine and everything else about the program will be unchanged for the duration.
 
After two weeks in a row of all oldies, the focus this week (Sunday January 9, 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) is on the new: December releases that I haven't gotten to yet and new items that are coming out in January and February, with some classics sprinkled in as always.

You'll hear a track from the brand new second album by Richmond's own Afro-Zen Allstars, Afrobeat coming out of South America, deep highlife grooves from Ghana, some Arab-Andalusian jazz, the unique music of Japan's Oki, and the latest Balkan brass beats.