GLOBAL A GO-GO

February 7, 2013

Gypsyphonic Disko | Mardi Gras Mixtape

ARTIST: Gypsyphonic Disko
TITLE: Mardi Gras Mixtape
LABEL: self-released
Just in time for Mardi Gras 2013 comes the third mixtape from the team of DJ Quickie Mart and Galactic’s Ben Ellman, aka Gypsyphonic Disko. Their signature sound is mashing up the local New Orleans hip hop style called bounce with beat-enhanced world music like Balkan brass and cumbia.

ARTIST: Fela Kuti
TITLE: The Best Of The Black President 2
LABEL: Knitting Factory
This is the second two-disc “best of” release in Knitting Factory’s Fela reissue series – they’ve also made available just about everything in Universal’s Fela catalog while co-producing the FELA! musical and serving as the American home for Femi and Seun Kuti’s releases as well.

ARTIST: Baba Salah
TITLE: Dangay (The North)
LABEL: Studio Mali
Baba Salah is a guitarist from Gao in northern Mali who’s now based in Bamako. He’s best known outside his country as the guitarist for Oumou Sangare, one of Mali’s biggest international stars.

Charts February 3, 2013

Charts January 27, 2013

Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock From Singapore And Malaysia 1964-1970

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock From Singapore And Malaysia 1964-1970
LABEL: Sublime Frequencies
First we heard the awesome, tragic psychedelic and garage-rock influenced sounds of Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge. Next came Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam; now Malaysia and Indonesia get their turn in the spotlight, in this first-ever Western compilation of 60’s rock from those two countries. The compiler is WRIR’s own Carl Hamm, host of “If Music Could Talk.”

ARTIST: Quatro Na Bossa
TITLE: Bossa Nossa
LABEL: self-released
Richmond’s Quatro Na Bossa specialize in bossa nova, the cool Brazilian style that brings a jazzy, poetic sensibility to samba rhythms. The band was founded by vocalist Laura Ann Singh and guitarist Kevin Harding in 2003, and they’ve stayed busy for 10 years with gigs local and national, teaching and private events.

ARTIST: Red Baraat
TITLE: Shruggy Ji
LABEL: Sinj
There are brass-band traditions all over the world: in the Balkans, Africa, New Orleans and, among many other places, India. British colonials brought the brass instruments, Indians added the booming dhol drum (the instrument that gives bhangra its low-end thump); today no baraat (North Indian wedding procession) is complete without a brass band of up to 150 players.

ARTIST: Roge
TITLE: Brenguele
LABEL: Coqueiro Verde
Roge is a Rio-based singer, songwriter and guitarist working in the broad MPB (Brazilian popular music) category who’s making a serious attempt to get attention in the USA (he’s played at the last two editions of SXSW, for example).

Program January 25, 2013

WRIR's own Carl Hamm (aka DJ Carlito, host of If Music Could Talk on Sunday at 7 PM) has compiled the first-ever Western retrospective of Malaysian pop music from the 1970's. (That's Carl pictured above, with legendary Malaysian singer A. Rahman Hassan and his wife and bandmate, Azizah Muhammad.)

The album is called Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock From Singapore And Malaysia 1964-1970, the Sublime Frequencies record label released it this week, and you'll hear two tracks from it this week on Global A Go-Go. Bravo, Carl!

Charts January 20, 2013

"Lima Chicha" by Pool Ramirez aka fokus Lima

Dur-Dur Band | Volume 5

ARTIST: Dur-Dur Band
TITLE: Volume 5
LABEL: Awesome Tapes From Africa
For a variety of reasons, the cassette tape continues to be a primary medium for disseminating recorded music in Africa. If you want to hear the African music that Africans listen to, you’re most likely to find it on cassette.

Program January 18, 2013

We'll dig into the music of Lucho Bermudez (pictured above) this week on Global A Go-Go. Bermudez applied the instrumentation and arrangements of the swing era to Colombian folkloric forms; he's one of the biggest reasons that cumbia is today a popular worldwide style. You'll hear a couple of classic Bermudez sides and a fabulous reinterpretation of one of his most famous compositions.

Also this week: a few songs you may recognize, Latin division; disco-funk from Somalia; the sound of Afropop today, with the emphasis on "pop."

January 2013 Concert Calendar

Happy New Year! By popular request, here's 2013's first new feature: a concert calendar of world music events in Richmond and surrounding area.

Each month I'll list all the world music events I've heard about, with embedded links to further information. Plus I'll highlight a few Global A Go-Go Picks -- the events you really, really don't want to miss.

Have an event you'd like me to include, or a suggestion for the concert calendar? Just drop me a line at globalagogoradio [at] gmail [dot] com, or leave me a message right here.

Here are January's Global A Go-Go Picks:

The Funk Ark at Balliceaux in Richmond on Saturday Jan 5
Los Texmaniacs at Richmond's Capital Ale House Music Hall on Saturday Jan 12
Femi Kuti (pictured above) at the 9:30 Club in our nation's capital on Friday Jan 25

Click "Read more" to see the entire January calendar.

Charts January 13, 2012

GLOBAL A GO-GO

February 7, 2013

Gypsyphonic Disko | Mardi Gras Mixtape

Fela Kuti | The Best Of The Black President 2

Baba Salah | Dangay

February 4, 2013

Charts February 3, 2013

January 27, 2013

Charts January 27, 2013

January 26, 2013

Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock From Singapore And Malaysia 1964-1970

Quatro Na Bossa | Bossa Nossa

Red Baraat | Shruggy Ji

Roge | Brenguele

January 24, 2013

Program January 25, 2013

January 20, 2013

Charts January 20, 2013

January 19, 2013

Dur-Dur Band | Volume 5

January 17, 2013

Program January 18, 2013

January 15, 2013

January 2013 Concert Calendar

January 13, 2013

Charts January 13, 2012

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