Charts February 20-26, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 KALA JULA AND GANGBE BRASS BAND |  Asro | Buda

2 SOLOMANE DOUMBIA | Segou To Lagos | Mieruba

3 FENDIKA AND K-SANCHIS | Gojo | 121234

4 PALENQUE RECORDS BEST OF PART 2: DESDE COLOMBIA HASTA NIGERIA - VIAJES TRANSATLANTICOS | various artists | Palenque

5 KING AYISOBA | Work Hard | Glitterbeat

6 POLOBI AND THE GWO KA MASTERS | Abri Cyclonique | Real World

7 MOUSSA TCHINGOU | Tamiditime [EP] | Sahel Sounds

8 SUNBORN | "Dancing In The Dusk" b/w "Mankind?" & "Night Sweats" [Single] | Tramp

9 ORCHESTRA GOLD | Medicine | self-released

10 MOONLIGHT BENJAMIN | Wayo | Ma Case

The Platonic ideal of a West African garage band

Here's a news flash: one of Africa's best (IMHO) bands is coming to Richmond this spring, and they'll be playing in a small club, probably their ideal venue.  The band is Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.  The place is the Get Tight Lounge, and the date is Wednesday May 24.  You might want to put that date on your calendar, just sayin' ....

 

Baba plays the traditional donso ngoni and sings like the brother of Howlin' Wolf or Captain Beefheart, guitarist Issouf Diabaté sounds like Mark Ribot meets Zani Diabaté, and the funky rhythm section propels the whole thing inexorably forward.  To me, they're the Platonic ideal of a West African garage band.

You'll hear one of my favorite Baba Commandant tracks this week (Sunday February 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) on an all-Afro edition of Global A Go-Go along with new music from Niger's Moussa Tchingou, Fendika & K-Sanchis from Ethiopia and the Netherlands, Oakland's Orchestra Gold, Solomane Doumbia from Mali, Danish band Sunbörn and the team of Kala Jula & Gangbé Brass Band from Mali and Benin, plus much more.

Charts February 13-19, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 WHO WANTS SOME? | various artists | Gorgon

2 SOLOMANE DOUMBIA | Segou To Lagos | Mieruba

3 DUR-DUR BAND INT | The Berlin Session | Out Here

4 AYIZAN | Dilijans | Comet

5 JEMBAA GROOVE | "Sweet My Ear" [Single] | Agogo

6 LA BOA | La Bestia [EP] | Mambo Negro

7 KIMI DJABATE | Dindin | Cumbancha

8 TP ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO | Singles & EPs | Acid Jazz

9 MA STUDIO | Futuro Niche | Discos Pacifico

10 GRUPO KUAL | Konexiones | Discos Rolas

A Haitian version of Bitches Brew

"Dark, mystical, lyrical and abstract, with its otherworldly shifting rhythms, Dilijans came off like a Haitian version of Bitches Brew."  That's how journalist Uchenna Ikonne describes the one and only album by Ayizan, a Haitian-American band led by Alix "Tit" Pascal.

 

And that's no hype -- Dilijans, which has just been reissued by the French Comet label, is a remarkable listen, and you'll hear a track from it this week (Sunday February 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) on Global A Go-Go's first hour alongside other mind-expanding sounds from the French Caribbean and West Africa.

In the second hour, we'll get into some Jamaican sounds circa 1968-70, when rocksteady was giving way to reggae and England's skinheads and suedes were turning on to it, followed by some more new cumbia from Colombia and México, and finishing with the funky sounds of Somalia including the first new studio album of this music since the golden days of Mogadishu more than 30 years ago.

Charts Jan 30 - Feb 12, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 KIMI DJABATE |  Dindin | Cumbancha

2 BIO RITMO | Salsa System [EP] | Electric Cowbell

3 BOZI BOZIANA | Desir Feminin | Naelis

4 MERAL POLAT TRIO | Ez Kî Me | self-released

5 M.A. STUDIO | Futuro Niche | Discos Pacifico

6 SEU JORGE | Carolina | Mr Bongo

7 T.P. ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO | Singles & EPs | Acid Jazz

8 OF TROPIQUE | Buster Goes West | Electric Cowbell

9 GOOD SAMARITANS, THE | No Food Without Taste If By Hunger | Analog Africa

10 OLDU O ZAMAN | "Sigarasi Yaldizli" b/w "Mastika" [Single] | Bongo Joe

Too much posing, not enough yoga

Global A Go-Go digs into some new Brazilian music this week, including a current song from Lucas Santtana whose title is an expression I'll be using in a lot of situations: "Muita Pose, Pouca Yoga" which basically means "too much posing, not enough yoga."  We also have the latest from João Selva and a reissue of one of my favorite Brazilian albums of the 21st century, Seu Jorge's Carolina.

 

Also this week (Sunday February 5, 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): Bio Ritmo's salsa boot camp, new Turkish sounds from all over, the best klezmer-surf-mambo band I've ever heard, Kimi Djabaté's Afro-Lusophone music, and soca from Trinidad and beyond with Carnival just around the corner.

Charts January 23-29, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 GOOD SAMARITANS, THE | No Food Without Taste If By Hunger | Analog Africa

2 GRUPO KUAL | Konexiones | Discos Rolas

3 BILL CLINTON KALONJI | No Stress | self-released

4 LOS INVASORES DE PROGRESO | Selva Mia | Discos Fantastico

5 BAABA MAAL | "Agreement" [Single] | Marathon

6 DON LETTS | "Outta Sync" [Single] | Cooking Vinyl

7 MIGMAFRICA | "Run Buffalo Run" | Nikamo / Disques Passeport

8 INSOLITO UNIVERSO | Ese Puerte Existe [EP] | Olindo

9 ORCHESTRA GOLD | Medicine | self-released

10 FALLY IPUPA | Formule 7 | Elektra France