September 9, 2022

Rally round the red, gold, black & green

Living legends of reggae music Steel Pulse play the National in Richmond on Friday September 16.  Founded in Birmingham, England, they were one of the first British reggae bands to break out in the late 1970s, with a political message that naturally allied them with punk and new wave acts like the Clash, the Police and XTC, among other bands they've shared bills with.
 
Recordings like Handsworth Revolution and True Democracy are in the reggae pantheon, and ongoing touring (which never stopped even when they didn't have a new album) and their first new release in 15 years, 2019's Mass Manipulation, shows they still have it.  You'll hear two Steel Pulse tracks that bookend their career on Global A Go-Go this week, and I'll give away a pair of tickets for the National show as well.

Also this week (Sunday September 11, 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): Noori & His Dorpa Band stretch out, Vieux & Khru channel Ali Farka Toure, two generations of Malian songbirds, Andean-Amazonian futurism from Bolivia by Timpana, and champeta classics from the 70s and 80s.

 
 
Artist | Country | Song | Recording | Label | Year
 
Oliver Lake | USA | Separation | Matador Of 1st & 1st | Passin' Thru | 1997
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros | England UK | Global A Go-Go | Global A Go-Go | Hellcat | 2001
 
Noori & His Dorpa Band | Sudan | Daleb | Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass From Sudan's Red Sea Coast | Ostinato | 2022
Qwanqwa | Ethioipia-USA | Mela Mela | Volume Two | FPE | 2015
 
Vieux Farka Touré | Mali | Les Racines | Les Racines | World Circuit | 2022
Ali Farka Touré | Mali | Jungou | The River | World Circuit | 1990
Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin | Mali-USA | Tongo Barra | Tongo Barra - Single | Dead Oceans / Night Time Stories | 2022
 
Afrodelic | Mali-Lithuania | I Tara Fan Fan (feat Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté) | Dusunkun Hakili | self-released | 2022
Coumba Sidibé | Mali | Konyan | Wary | Shakara Music | 198x
 
Steel Pulse | England UK | Stop You Coming And Come | Mass Manipulation | Rootfire Cooperative / Wiseman Doctrine | 2019
Steel Pulse | England UK | Worth His Weight In Gold (Rally Round) | True Democracy | Elektra | 1982
Burning Spear | Jamaica | Marcus Garvey | Marcus Garvey | Island | 1975
Johnny Clarke | Jamaica | None Shall Escape The Judgement | None Shall Escape | Total Sounds | 1974
 
Andrea Echeverri | Colombia-Peru-Brazil-Canada-Israel | Florence Conexión | Ruiseñora | Nacional | 2013
Timpana | Bolivia | Pájaro | Pájaro - Single | Sounds & Colours | 2022
Sidestepper | Colombia-England UK | Fuego Que Te Llama | Supernatural Love | Real World | 2016
Quantic & Nidia Góngora | England UK-Colombia | Adiós Chacón | Almas Conectadas | Tru Thoughts | 2021
 
Machuca Cumbia | Colombia | Staying Alive | Travolteando Fiebre Cumbiambera | Machuca | 1978
Son Palenque (Kaine Sound Band) | Colombia | Ita Cole | Es La Idea | Palenque | 2022-1986
El Grupo Folclórico | Colombia | Tamba | Tucutru | Machuca | 1979
Abelardo Carbonó Y Su Conjunto | Colombia | Quiero A Mi Gente | Guana Tangula | Vampisoul | 1980

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