Dawda Jobarteh | Northern Light Gambian Night

ARTIST:  Dawda Jobarteh 

TITLE:  Northern Light Gambian Night 

LABEL:  Sterns 

REVIEW:  Dawda Jobarteh, a native of The Gambia in West Africa, is the scion of a long line of kora players.

Vijana Jazz Band | The Koka Koka Sex Battalion

ARTIST:  Vijana Jazz Band

TITLE:  The Koka Koka Sex Battalion 

LABEL:  Sterns 

REVIEW:  This is the fourth installment in East Africa specialist Doug Paterson’s troll of the archives of Nairobi’s AIT Records, and it might be my favorite so far.

Program December 2, 2011

As the year winds down, I'm digging in to a big plateful of reissues -- you'll hear some of the fruits of my listening on this week's program.

Charts November 27, 2011

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 RENE LOPEZ | E.L.S. | Nat Geo Music
2 CAMBODIAN SPACE PROJECT | 2011: A Space Odyssey | Metal Postcard
3 BIO RITMO | La Verdad | Electric Cowbell
4 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Bambara Mystic Soul: The Raw Sound Of Burkina Faso 1974-1979 | Analog Africa
5 JONI HAASTRUP | Wake Up Your Mind | Soundway
6 OMAR SOULEYMAN | Haflat Gharbia: The Western Concerts | Sublime Frequencies
7 ZDOB SI ZDUB | Basta Mafia! | Asphalt Tango
8 LIJADU SISTERS | Danger | Knitting Factory
9 KIRAN AHLUWALIA | Aam Zammen: Common Ground | Avokado Artists
10 SIBIRI SAMAKE | Dambe Foli | Kanaga System Krush

Idrissa Diop & Cheikh Tidiane Tall | Diamonoye Tiopite

ARTIST:  Idrissa Diop & Cheikh Tidiane Tall 

TITLE:  Diamonoye Tiopite 

LABEL:  Teranga Beat 

REVIEW:  This is the first release for Teranga Beat Records, a new label focusing on the golden era (late 60s to mid 80s) in Senegal and other nearby West African countries, and it’s a gem.

Guelewar | Halleli N'Dakarou

ARTIST:  Guelewar 

TITLE:  Halleli N’Dakarou 

LABEL:  Teranga Beat 
REVIEW:  Release number two from Teranga Beat Records is a 1982 live set that is the final recording of the Guelewar Band of Banjul, Gambia.

Charts November 20, 2011

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 BIO RITMO | La Verdad | Electric Cowbell
2 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Electric Cowbell Fall 2011 45 RPM Releases | Electric Cowbell
3 ZDOB SI ZDUB | Basta Mafia! | Asphalt Tango
4 LIJADU SISTERS | Danger | Knitting Factory
5 KIRAN AHLUWALIA | Aam Zammen: Common Ground | Avokado Artists
6 CAMBODIAN SPACE PROJECT | 2011: A Space Odyssey | Metal Postcard
7 LOS DESTELLOS | Constelacion | Secret Stash
8 JONI HAASTRUP | Wake Up Your Mind | Soundway
9 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Bambara Mystic Soul: The Raw Sound Of Burkina Faso 1974-1979 | Analog Africa
10 TINARIWEN | Tassili | Anti-

Zdob Si Zdub | Basta Mafia!

ARTIST:  Zdob Si Zdub 

TITLE:  Basta Mafia! 

LABEL:  Asphalt Tango 
REVIEW:  Zdob Si Zdub is a rock band from Moldova that started out in 1994 playing Russian-language punk (their first recording is entitled Moldovan Hardcore).

Program November 18, 2011

Mercifully for you, I rarely play artists on Global A Go-Go who have appeared in the Eurovision Song Contest.  But I'm making an exception this week for Balkan-punk band Zdob Si Zdub (pictured above in their Eurovision 2011 performance) from Moldova, whose new album Basta Mafia! will be released early next year.

Charts November 13, 2011

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 FRENTE CUMBIERO | Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor | Vampisoul
2 KIRAN AHLUWALIA | Aam Zammen: Common Ground | Avokado Artists
3 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Electric Cowbell Fall 2011 45 RPM Releases | Electric Cowbell
4 CAMBODIAN SPACE PROJECT | 2011: A Space Odyssey | Metal Postcard
5 LOS DESTELLOS | Constelacion | Secret Stash
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | El Sonido De Tupac Amaru | Masstropicas
7 RENE LOPEZ | E.L.S. | Nat Geo Music
8 BIO RITMO | La Verdad | Electric Cowbell
9 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Bambara Mystic Soul: The Raw Sound Of Burkina Faso 1974-1979 | Analog Africa
10 OMAR SOULEYMAN | Haflat Gharbia: The Western Concerts | Sublime Frequencies

Program November 11, 2011

Lots of new music from all over the planet on Global A Go-Go this week.  We'll get started with my favorite recent releases from France -- some artists you might be familiar with (Camille, for example) and others you probably won't know (Control Tower, anyone?).

Charts November 6, 2011

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Electric Cowbell Fall 2011 45 RPM Releases | Electric Cowbell
2 EL REGO | El Rego | Daptone
3 TINARIWEN | Tassili | Anti-
4 LIJADU SISTERS | Danger | Knitting Factory
5 SIBIRI SAMAKE | Dambe Foli | Kanaga System Krush
6 KAL | "Do You Know Who I Am?" [Single] | Asphalt Tango
7 LOS DESTELLOS | Constelacion | Secret Stash
8 JONI HAASTRUP | Wake Up Your Mind | Tummy Touch / Soundway
9 GRUPO 2000 | El Destape | Masstropicas
10 BIO RITMO | La Verdad | Electric Cowbell

The Lijadu Sisters | Danger

ARTIST:  The Lijadu Sisters 

TITLE:  Danger 

LABEL:  Knitting Factory 

REVIEW:  The Lijadu Sisters, Taiwo and Kehinde, are identical twins who had a fairly successful career in Nigeria as a duo and as session singers.

Sibiri Samake | Dambe Foli

ARTIST:  Sibiri Samake 

TITLE:  Dambe Foli (Traditional Music) 

LABEL:  Kanaga System Krush 

REVIEW:  Malian donso (hunters) music is cited by many musicologists as one of the sources of modern-day American blues.  And it’s at the root of one of Mali’s most popular musical exports, the “Wassoulou sound” of female singers like Oumou Sangare and Nahawa Doumbia.

Program November 4, 2011

I'll be joined by a guest in the studio this week -- Chris Dalbom (aka DJ CJ) founded WRIR's punk-rock program "Gabba Gabba Hey" back in 2005, when WRIR first went on the air.  He's now Global A Go-Go's New Orleans correspondent, and he's here to fill us in on what's up, globally speaking, in the Crescent City.