Charts January 8-21, 2024

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 SOFIA KOURTESIS | Madres | Ninja Tune

2 ADAMA YALOMBA | Tanou | Remote/Studio Mali

3 MITO Y COMADRE | Guajirando | ZZK

4 EL BUHO | Ton Ton [EP] | Shika Shika

5 CHICAS! VOLUME 3 1963-1982 | various artists | Vampisoul

6 MAMA SISSOKO | Live | Mieruba

7 KOSMO SOUND | "Yomala (feat. Imane Geumssy)" [Single] | Zephyrus

8 MARVIN GAYE AND KIM WESTON | "It Takes Two (Boomrush Backup remix)" [Single] | Boomrush

9 FRANK LONDON'S KLEZMER BRASS ALLSTARS | Chronika | Borscht Beat

10 ANTONIO GAVRILA | Tango Suite Buenos Aires | Zoho

Tango can not exist without fantasy

Antonio Gavrila is a 27-year-old pianist from Romania who is obsessed with the music of Astor Piazzolla, the person who invented nuevo tango in the 1950s by bringing improvisation, counterpoint and dissonance to the Argentine tango tradition.  Gavrila went to Buenos Aires to record his first band album Tango Suite Buenos Aires with the members of Pablo Ziegler's combo; Ziegler was Piazzolla's long-time pianist.

 

You'll hear the spectacular results on this week's edition of Global A Go-Go, along with music by Piazzolla, Ziegler and Evan Lurie, the last of whom will be performing his nuevo tango compositions for the first time in 30 years at the Big Ears Festival this March.

 

Also this week (Sunday January 21, 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 whole lot of new music, including gnawa-rock from Kosmo Sound and Shay Hazan, the Afro sounds of Newen Afrobeat, Oliver Nayoka, Afriquoi and Adama Yalomba, a reggae remix of Marvin Gaye, Locobeach's cumbia, Toco's samba-soul and the Balkan and klezmer brass of Džambo Aguševi and Frank London.

Charts Dec 11, 2023 - Jan 7, 2024

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 NUSANTARA BEAT | "Kota Bandung" b/w "Layung" [Single] | Bongo Joe/Lamunai

2 SOUL OF CONGO, THE: TREASURES OF THE NGOMA LABEL | various artists | Planet Ilunga

3 NUSANTARA BEAT | "Djanger" b/w "Borondong Garing" [Single] | Bongo Joe/Lamunai

4 EXTRA MUSICA NOUVEL HORIZON | Conduite A Tenir | Universal Africa

5 GENERAL DEFAO MATUMONA | Hommage Au General Defao | Le Monde Des Artistes

6 ARY LOBO | 1958 - 1966 | Analog Africa

7 SAMI GALBI | "Dakchi Hani" [Single] | Bongo Joe

8 BOUNALY | Dimanche A Bamako | Sahel Sounds

9 IPHUPHO L'KA BIKO | Azania [EP] | We Are Busy Bodies

10 LONDON AFROBEAT COLLECTIVE | "Topesa Esengo Na Motema" [Single] | Canopy

In memoriam 2023

I have one more program looking back at the year 2023, then it's full speed ahead into the future on Global A Go-Go.  I'd be remiss, though, if I didn't take a couple of hours to remember some of the great musicians from around the world who passed away last year.

 

Some of them received tributes on this show when they passed, like Baba Commandant, Stella Chiweshe and Ferus Mustafov.  Others, like Shane MacGowan and Sara Tavares, I meant to recognize but just ran out of time to do so at year end.  And others I didn't hear about until I sat down to research the subject.

Every song on today's show (Sunday January 7, 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 performed by or otherwise directly associated with someone who died in 2023.  All of these people made a lifetime's worth of brilliant music that the rest of us can enjoy in perpetuity, so let's enjoy the memory of their rich lives together this week.