Two aimless leaves the wind blew away

The rise of Mexican regional music is one of the industry's big stories of 2023: Styles like ranchera, corrido and of course cumbia have moved beyond the barrios and pueblos onto the global charts.  When Bad Bunny is releasing norteño backed by Grupo Frontera, you know something is up.

 

One of the Mexican regional styles that's earning new listeners is banda, the brass and percussion music from Mexico's west coast that can be heard now even at Coachella.  This week Global A Go-Go dives into banda with tracks from current hitmaker Marco Flores Y La Jerez, genre standard-setter Banda El Recodo, and even hipster Grupo Kual? remixing ranchera and banda.

Also this week (Sunday July 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): The low-tech voodoo funk of Nana Benz Du Togo, bikutsi from Cameroon is back, Les Sympathics De Porto Novo Benin, more Mexican madness and some bomba and plena to finish things up.

Charts June 19-25, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 KILTRO | Underbelly | ONErpm

2 JANTRA | Synthesized Sudan: Astro-Nubian Electronic Jaglara Dance Sounds from the Fashaga Underground | Ostinato

3 BANTU | What Is Your Breaking Point? | Soledad

4 HUMAZAPAS | Sara Mama | AYA

5 GAMELAN MERDU KUMALA | Mujo | self-released

6 IDRISSA SOUMAORO | "N'den Tedi" [Single] | Mieruba

7 SAOCO! THE BOMBA AND PLENA EXPLOSION IN PUERTO RICO 1954-1966 | various artists | Vampisoul

8 KUMBIA QUEERS/NACHO VEGAS | "Cuando Hablas Asi" [Single] | Faro Latino

9 FRANKLIN BOUKAKA | L'Immortel: The 60s Rumba Revolution In Congo | Fremeaux & Associes

10 ALOGTE OHO AND HIS SOUNDS OF JOY | O Yinne! | Philophon

Creatures of habit

Kiltro is a band from Denver that has the most diverse set of influences I think I've ever seen.  Leader Chris Bowers Castillo is part Chilean, has lived in the Andes and his songs evoke Chilean folk artists like Victor Jara and Inti-Illimani.  But you can also hear elements of shoegaze, noisy post-rock, ambient and minimalist music, Manu Chao and even Calexico in their unique sound.

 

This is a band that's really onto something -- it's not fully formed, you're listening to them work it out in real time.  Kiltro's second album Underbelly was just released on June 2, and they'll be at Richmond Music Hall on June 30.  This week on Global A Go-Go you'll hear a full set of their music from the new album and from their 2019 debut Creatures Of Habit.

Also this week (Sunday June 25, 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): More new Andean music from the Ecuadorian Kichwa band Humazapas, the Andean side of Peruvian chicha, desert blues from both the Tamasheq and Wodaabe ethnic groups, more from the brilliant new album by Ghana's Alogte Oho & His Sounds Of Joy, and Jantra's astro-Nubian electronica.

Charts June 12-18, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 FRANKLIN BOUKAKA | L'Immortel: The 60s Rumba Revolution In Congo | Fremeaux & Associes

2 ALTIN GUN | Ask | ATO

3 ANSAMBL MILETA PETROVICA | Veseli Romi | Radio Martiko

4 ALOGTE OHO AND HIS SOUNDS OF JOY | O Yinne! | Philophon

5 CHEO | Musica Para Verse Bien | Nacional

6 EBO TAYLOR | Ebo Taylor & The Pelikans | Comet

7 SIA TOLNO | Baya [EP] | Kingsland/Slow Walk

8 PLENA LIBRE | Cuatro Esquinas | GN Musica

9 LES ABRANIS | Amazigh Freedom Rock 1973-1983 | Bongo Joe

10 JANTRA | Synthesized Sudan: Astro-Nubian Electronic Jaglara Dance Sounds from the Fashaga Underground | Ostinato

I'm a gypsy, I'm a musician

This week (Sunday June 18, 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, we'll spend most of our two hours in south-eastern Europe.  You'll hear the "wedding music" of Macedonian saxophonist Ferus Mustafov, who passed away on May 22, and of Bulgarian clarinestist Ivo Papasov, who's still very much with us.

 

And we'll cover almost the whole region: music from Romania (Fanfare Ciocărlia), Moldova (Zdob și Zdub, pictured above), Serbia (Šaban Bajramović), Montenegro (Ansambl Montenegro, natch), Bosnia & Herzegovina (Goran Bregović), Turkey (Altın Gün) and more, if you can believe that.

And not from south-eastern Europe: This week is the 75th anniversary of the landing of the HMT Empire Windrush in the Port of Tilbury, carrying 693 Caribbean British subjects who intended to resettle in the United Kingdom.  The Windrush's arrival marked the beginning of the mass migration of people of color from the outskirts of the British Empire to its center, an event that would reshape Great Britain.  We commemorate the occasion with a set of songs by and about the Windrush generation.

Charts June 5-11, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 CONJUNTO MEDIA LUNA | Noches De Media Luna | Little Beat More

2 WITCH | Zango | Desert Daze/Partisan

3 FRANKLIN BOUKAKA | L'Immortel: The 60s Rumba Revolution In Congo | Fremeaux & Associes

4 TELMARY | "Fuerza Arara (feat. Kumar)" [Single] | Unfit

5 ROGE | Curyman | Diamond West

6 TABACO | Tabaco | El Palmas

7 DIP IN THE DUB | "La Cumbia Del Sufi Que No Sabia Bailar" [Single] | Bongo Joe

8 SUNBORN | Sunborn | Tramp

9 PLU CON PLA | Pura Actitud | self-released

10 FRUKO Y SUS TESOS | Fruko Power Vol. 1: Rarities & Deep Album Cuts 1970-1974 | Vampisoul

Noches de media luna

Conjunto Media Luna from Bogotá Colombia describe themselves as anachronistic.  Yes, they play cumbia in Andrés Landero's traditional format of accordion, bass guitar and two percussionists.  But they grew up listening to metal, punk and hip-hop, and they also incorporate synthesizer, sampler and drum machine.  They're not anachronistic; they're post-modern.  Hear for yourself this week on Global A Go-Go.

 

Also on this week's nearly all-Latin show (Sunday June 11, 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): Free hop, Cuba's alternative rap scene; some smoking 70s salsa; Cienfue's tropical psychedelia; Brazilian samba-soul from 1970 (Juca Chaves) to today (Rogê); and Persian cumbia from Peru's Dip In The Dub.

Charts May 29 - Jun 4, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 WITCH | Zango | Desert Daze/Partisan

2 ALOGTE OHO AND HIS SOUNDS OF JOY | O Yinne! | Philophon

3 BELA FLECK, EDGAR MEYER, ZAKIR HUSSAIN | As We Speak (feat. Rakesh Chaurasia) | Bela Fleck/Thirty Tigers

4 ROGE | Curyman | Diamond West

5 TRU TONES | Power Struggle | Cultures Of Soul

6 MOKOOMBA | "Nzara Hapana" b/w "Makisi" [Single] | Out Here

7 TINARIWEN | Amatssou | Wedge

8 LARRY AND JOE | Nuevo South Train | SideHustle

9 EASY STAR ALL-STARS | Ziggy Stardub | Easy Star

10 PLENA LIBRE | Cuatro Esquinas | GN Musica

Wasted days and wasted nights

Baldemar Huerta decolonized music fans' ears for six decades.  As El Bebop Kid he was one of the first Latino rock stars in the 1950s, as Freddy Fender he was the first person to top the American pop and country charts bilingually, and as a member of the Texas Tornados and Los Super Seven he was one of the chefs of a stew of rock, folk, country and Mexican rancheras and boleros that could only be summarized as "American music."

 

He's the quintessential American success story: The son of migrant farm workers, kicked out of the Marines, jailed in Angola State Prison for three years for possession of two marijuana joints, yet somehow he ended up with his name and likeness on his home town's water tower.  This week Global A Go-Go celebrates what would have been Freddy Fender's 86th birthday with music from the full breadth of his career.

Also this week (Sunday June 4, 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): New sounds from southern Africa, Alogte Oho and Max Weissenfeldt's Frafra gospel, feminist Afrobeat, what's new in reggae, and north African rock 'n' roll.