Charts July 15, 2012

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 HOLLIE COOK | Prince Fatty Presents Hollie Cook In Dub | Mr Bongo
2 DEBO BAND | Debo Band | Sub Pop/Next Ambiance
3 KRAR COLLECTIVE | Ethiopia Super Krar | Riverboat
4 BALKANIZE! | ... For You Are Made Of Stars | self-released
5 ANTIBALAS | "Dirty Money" [Single] | Daptone
6 ALHOUSSEINI ANIVOLLA | Anewal/The Walking Man | Riverboat
7 KONKOMA | KonKoma | Soundway
8 KOO NIMO | Highlife Roots Revival | Riverboat
9 KOTTARASHKY AND THE RAIN DOGS | Demoni | Asphalt Tango
10 BOBAN I MARKO MARKOVIC ORKESTAR | Golden Horns | Piranha

Alhousseini Anivolla | Anewal/The Walking Man

ARTIST:  Alhousseini Anivolla

TITLE:  Anewal / The Walking Man

LABEL:  Riverboat

Alhousseini Anivolla is the guitarist in the band Etran Finatawa, a Niger-based based desert blues group that includes Tuareg and Fulani members.

Debo Band | Debo Band

ARTIST:  Debo Band

TITLE:  Debo Band

LABEL:  Sub Pop / Next Ambiance 

Here’s Debo Band’s widely-anticipated debut album (their 4-song EP in 2010 was stellar, and they’ve released a couple of singles for Electric Cowbell), and it’s the real deal.

Krar Collective | Ethiopia Super Krar

ARTIST:  Krar Collective

TITLE:  Ethiopia Super Krar

LABEL:  Riverboat 

Krar Collective is a London-based trio that plays Ethiopian azmari music with a modern, urban edge.  The azmari are Ethiopia’s answer to West Africa’s griots – minstrels, keepers of the tradition, social commenters and jesters.

Program July 13, 2012

What's new in the world of world music this week is: Ethiopian.  I'll play two brand-new releases from young bands, one from the USA (Debo Band, pictured above) and the other from the UK (Krar Collective), who are putting their personal stamps on classic 60s and 70s Ethiopian music.

Charts July 8, 2012

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 CHICHA LIBRE | Canibalismo | Barbes
2 BA CISSOKO | Nimissa | Cristal
3 KONKOMA | KonKoma | Soundway
4 KOTTARASHKY AND THE RAIN DOGS | Demoni | Asphalt Tango
5 HOLLIE COOK | Prince Fatty Presents Hollie Cook In Dub | Mr Bongo
6 LACK OF AFRO | One Way: Remixes And Rarities | Freestyle
7 EBO TAYLOR | Appia Kwa Bridge | Strut
8 BLACK BAZAR | Black Bazar | Lusafrica
9 QUANTIC AND ALICE RUSSELL WITH THE COMBO BARBARO | Look Around The Corner | Tru Thoughts
10 MARIEM HASSAN | El Aaiun Egdat (El Aaiun On Fire) | Nubenegra

Program July 6, 2012

I'm back from a week's vacation (thanks to DJ Graybeard for filling in for me last Friday) and we've crossed 2012's halfway point, so it's time for a look at the best new releases of the year so far.  That's Chicha Libre pictured above, whose Canibalismo is probably my favorite album thus far in 2012.

Charts June 24, 2012

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 RICHMANIAN RAMBLERS | World, Sister World | self-released
2 BALKANIZE! | For You Are Made Of Stars | self-released
3 KONKOMA | KonKoma | Soundway
4 TUNE-YARDS, ANGELIQUE KIDJO, AHMIR ?UESTLOVE THOMPSON, AKUA NARU | "Lady" [Single] | Knitting Factory
5 KOTTARASHKY AND THE RAIN DOGS | Demoni | Asphalt Tango
6 BOBAN I MARKO MARKOVIC ORKESTAR | Golden Horns | Piranha
7 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Sensacional Soul, Vol. 3 | Vampisoul
8 HAPPY LUCKY COMBO | Lucky Buddha | self-released
9 JOAN SORIANO | La Familia Soriano | iASO
10 QUANTIC AND ALICE RUSSELL WITH THE COMBO BARBARO | Look Around The Corner | Tru Thoughts

Program June 22, 2012

BALKANIZE!, who played live on Global A Go-Go last year (pictured above) have just released a brand-new album; you'll hear a track from it this week on Global A Go-Go.  Ditto for the Richmanian Ramblers, another RVA band playing Eastern European music who have a new record.  Welcome to Richmond, center of the Balkan music universe.

BALKANIZE! | ... For You Are Made Of Stars

ARTIST:  BALKANIZE!

TITLE:  … For You Are Made Of Stars

LABEL:  self-released 

BALKANIZE! is a Richmond-based band that specializes in “Old World TurkoBalkan folk music.”  In a blindfold test, there’s no way you’d guess their home town; in fact, you probably wouldn’t guess their home country.

KonKoma | KonKoma

ARTIST:  KonKoma

TITLE:  KonKoma

LABEL:  Soundway 

Soundway Records, famous for their compilations of historic African recordings, is branching out into original music.  They have a winner in KonKoma, a new band featuring several veterans of London’s Ghanaian scene including three former members of the pioneering Afro-rock band Osibisa: guitarist Kari Bannerman, keyboardist Emmanuel Rentzos and percussionist Nii Tagoe.

tUnE-yArDs + Angelique Kidjo + Ahmir ‘?uestlove’ Thompson + Akua Naru | "Lady"

ARTIST:  tUnE-yArDs + Angelique Kidjo + Ahmir ‘?uestlove’ Thompson + Akua Nara

TITLE:  “Lady”

LABEL:  Knitting Factory

Here’s the first track from the forthcoming (RED) Hot + FELA album, due in 2013 – a version of Fela’s “Lady” as conceived by Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs.

Charts June 17, 2012

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 CHICHA LIBRE | Canibalismo | Barbes
2 VARIOUS ARTISTS | For Whom The Cowbell Tolls | Electric Cowbell
3 BA CISSOKO | Nimissa | Cristal
4 KOO NIMO | Highlife Roots Revival | Riverboat
5 BOBAN I MARKO MARKOVIC ORKESTAR | Golden Horns | Piranha
6 EBO TAYLOR | Appia Kwa Bridge | Strut
7 BLACK BAZAR | Black Bazar | Lusafrica
8 MOUSSU T E LEI JOVENTS | Empeche-Nous | Le Chant Du Monde
9 MARIEM HASSAN | El Aaiun Egdat (El Aaiun On Fire) | NubeNegra
10 FUNKEES | Dancing Time: The Best Of Eastern Nigeria's Afro Rock Exponents 1973-77 | Soundway

Program June 15, 2012

What's new in the world of world music this week is -- palm-wine.  Yes, an entire musical genre named after an alcoholic beverage (someone tell Josh Sturgill right away), it was popular across West Africa in the 1950s and it's being brilliantly revived by Ghana's Koo Nimo (pictured above) on a delightful new recording.

Ba Cissoko | Nimissa

ARTIST:  Ba Cissoko

TITLE:  Nimissa

LABEL:  Cristal 

Ba Cissoko is a kora player from Guinea Conakry in West Africa who now lives in France; this is his fourth album as a bandleader.  Cissoko’s playing and singing is very much of the grand Mande tradition, but he’s equally committed to modernizing that tradition.