Vibro success

The folks at Milan's Dig This Way Records have a reminder for us: all the crates will never completely be dug.  The latest evidence is their reissue of Drunkard by the Central African Republic's Vibro Success Intercontinental Orchestra.

 

Vibro Success were the first band to use a drum kit in Congolese-style rumba.  They were Bangui's biggest band in the 1970s, became the toast of Yaoundé and N'Djamena due to their constant touring of neighboring Cameroon and Chad, and recorded a series of albums in Aba, Nigeria for the Ben Limited record label, hence the "Intercontinental Orchestra" moniker.

I can't speak to all of their recorded output, but I can tell you that 1978's Drunkard is on par with the best music of Africa's post-independence era.  And that's saying something, since they're a band I had literally never heard of under a few weeks ago.  Hear them for yourself this week on Global A Go-Go.

Also this week (Sunday April 3, 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): a boatload of excellent new releases from artists who, like Vibro Success, you have probably never heard before -- Stephanie Santiago, Kiko Villamizar, The Bongo Hop, The Bogie Band featuring Joe Russo, Reggaesta and Congotronics International.  And plenty of Global A Go-Go classics to balance the scales.

Charts March 21-27, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 VIVIANO TORRES AND ANE SWING | Joyas Champetuas De Todos Los Tiempos | Palenque

2 GOOD ONES, THE | Rwanda ... You See Ghosts, I See Sky | Six Degrees

3 JEMBAA GROOVE | Susuma | Agogo

4 ORCHESTRE LES VOLCANS DU BENIN | Vol. 1 | Albarika Store

5 BIO RITMO | "Piraguero / Asia Minor" [Single] | Merge

6 LOS CARAMELOS DE AUCAYACU | El Sabor Dulcissimo | Discos Fantasticos

7 COCO LAGOS Y SUS ORATES | Descargas | Vampisoul

8 LOS BITCHOS | Let The Festivities Begin! | City Slang

9 CHICHA POPULAR: LOVE AND SOCIAL POLITICAL SONGS FROM DISCOS HOROSCOPO 1977-1987 | various artists | Rebel Up

10 JUANITA EUKA | Mabanzo | Strut

Anne zwing

Some of the world's biggest fans of African, Latin and Caribbean music are from Colombia -- specifically from the Caribbean port cities of Cartagena and Barranquilla.  That's where LPs imported from overseas found their way into the hands of DJs who manned the picós, the sound systems that are coastal Colombia's popular, mobile and very loud discos and radio stations.

 

It didn't take long before Afro-Colombian musicians began recording their own versions and adaptations of the picó hits.  And no one did it better than Viviano Torres, aka Anne Zwing.  Our friends at Palenque Records have just released a compilation of Viviano's greatest tunes, and they're a master class in refracting African popular culture back onto itself.

This week on Global A Go-Go (Sunday March 27, 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) you'll hear three tracks from Anne Zwing alongside the African and Caribbean hits they reference.  Plus Sister Helen Prejean (of Dead Man Walking fame) in a West African setting, the irresistible sound of Cameroonian makossa, and more chicha from Peru and beyond.

Charts March 14-20, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 AFRICA NEGRA | Antologia Vol. 1 | Bongo Joe

2 BURKINA AZZA | Wari Bo | Social Joy

3 IMARHAN | Aboogi | City Slang

4 VIBRO SUCCESS INTERCONTINENTAL ORCHESTRA | Drunkard | Dig This Way

5 OUMOU SANGARE | "Sarama" [Single] | World Circuit

6 ETRAN DE L'AIR | Agadez | Sahel Sounds

7 MARCOS | Saudade | Comets Coming

8 JUCARA MARCAL | Delta Estacio Blues | QTV-Mais Um

9 MDOU MOCTAR | Afrique Victime | Matador

10 HAMID EL SHAERI | Habibi Funk 018: The Slam! Years (1983 - 1988) | Habibi Funk

Global A Go-Go Classico: From the campfire to the arena

Well, we had some technical difficulties with Global A Go-Go's February 27 episode.  As a result, WRIR listeners didn't get to hear that show's ending.  We're remedying the situation this week (Sunday March 20, 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): I'm under the weather, so it's an ideal time to rebroadcast this program in its entirety.  Here's what I originally wrote about it:

 

Imarhan, a band from Tamanrasset, the Sahara Desert oasis city in southern Algeria, are masters of the warm, organic, luminous subtleties of the style of music called desert blues, tishoumaren, assouf or, even more simply among the Tamashek people, la guitare.  Their beautiful new album Aboogi is one of the best I've heard in the genre.

 

But the dynamic span of Toureg desert blues is as broad as that of any music today.  It ranges from the fireside intimacy of Imarhan all the way to the coliseum-scaled guitar rave-ups of six-string warriors like Mdou Moctar and Bombino.  This week Global A Go-Go presents a deep dive into desert blues, an hour that takes you from the campfire to the arena.

It's an all-African show this week, with new music from Malian songbirds Oumou Sangare and Rokia Koné, the sounds of the Mande balafon and a quick tour of Lusophone Africa on the bill as well.

Charts March 7-13, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 BUBE DAME KONIG | Von Der Quelle Bis Zur See | CPL

2 COCO LAGOS Y SUS ORATES | Descargas | Vampisoul

3 LOS BITCHOS | Let The Festivities Begin! | City Slang

4 FATOUMATA DIAWARA | Maliba | 3eme Bureau/Wagram

5 UC HUREL | 3 Hur-El | Turkofon

6 GOOD ONES, THE | "The Darkness Has Passed" [Single] | Six Degrees

7 AMARU TRIBE | "Candela Viva" [Single] | Vibrating Planet

8 OUMOU SANGARE | "Wassulu Don" [Single] | World Circuit

9 RICHIE SPICE | "Shootie Shootie" [Single] | Riddim Force

10 SATELLITES | "Yar Oi" [Single] | Batov

The darkness has passed

I've done a bunch of thematic programs in recent weeks: an all-Ghana show for that country's birthday last week, deep dives into desert blues, Nigerian highlife and Zimbabwean sungura, and a re-airing of my hour-long interview with Taj Weekes.

 

So this week (Sunday March 13, 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) is kind of a return to form: music from 17 different countries and seven different decades in two hours' time.

 

I'm featuring the new single from Rwanda's The Good Ones, and also new music from a band named Bube Dame König -- the first time I've ever played German folk-rock in this program's 18 year history.  Plus reggae songs about the po-po, descargas from Peru, Colombian vallenato via Australia and Turkish psych-rock made in Israel.  You know, your basic Global A Go-Go radio show.

Charts Feb 28 - Mar 6, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 AFRO-ZEN ALLSTARS | The Buzz And The Bells | AZA

2 AFRICA NEGRA | Antologia Vol. 1 | Bongo Joe

3 JEMBAA GROOVE | "Mokole" [Single] | Agogo

4 LUCIA DE CARVALHO | Pwanga - Light | Zamora

5 LESPRI KA: NEW DIRECTIONS IN GWOKA MUSIC FROM GUADELOUPE 1981-2010 | various artists | Time Capsule-Seance Centre

6 LEYLA MCCALLA | "Fort Dimanche" [Single] | Anti-

7 ESSIEBONS SPECIAL 1973-1984: GHANA MUSIC POWER HOUSE | various artists | Analog Africa

8 KOKOROKO | "Something's Going On" [Single] | Brownswood

9 BEAUTIFUL NUBIA AND THE ROOTS RENAISSANCE BAND | Huruhara | EniObanke

10 ELIA Y ELIZABETH | Elia Y Elizabeth | Vampisoul

Ghana, forward forever

On March 6th, 1957 the British colonies of Gold Coast, Ashanti, Northern Territories and Togoland officially became the independent Republic of Ghana, the first colony in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve sovereignty.

 

After a series of military coups in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Ghana today has cast off authoritarianism in favor of one of the freest and most stable governments on the continent.  More to the point of this radio program, Ghana is the source of some of my favorite music on the planet.  From highlife and palm-wine to kologo and Afro-funk, there are just so many brilliant sounds that Ghana has sent out to the rest of the world.

 

So it's my pleasure this week on Global A Go-Go (Sunday March 6, 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) to celebrate with two hours of music from Ghana on that nation's 65th birthday.