Djessou Mory Kante | River Strings: Maninka Guitar

ARTIST: Djessou Mory Kante
TITLE: River Strings: Maninka Guitar
LABEL: Sterns
The Maninka music of Mali and Guinee is dominated by singers; among instruments the kora has traditionally reigned supreme, but in the last 50 years a guitar tradition has developed.

Charts October 12, 2014

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Afrolove Kizomba Special | Lusafrica
2 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Peru Bravo: Funk, Soul & Psych From Peru's Radical Decade | Tiger's Milk
3 THE BUDOS BAND | Burnt Offering | Daptone
4 BIO RITMO | Puerta Del Sur | Vampisoul
5 HELADO NEGRO | Double Youth | Asthmatic Kitty
6 ANTONIO CASTRIGNANO | Fomenta: Ilenu De Taranta | Ponderosa Music & Art
7 TONY ALLEN | Film Of Life | Jazz Village
8 DONA ONETE | Feitico Cabloco | Mais Um Discos
9 ORLANDO JULIUS WITH THE HELIOCENTRICS | Jaiyede Afro | Strut
10 LES AMBASSADEURS | Les Ambassadeurs Du Motel De Bamako | Sterns

Antonio Castrignano | Fomenta: Ilenu De Taranta

ARTIST: Antonio Castrignano
TITLE: Fomenta: Ilenu De Taranta
LABEL: Ponderosa Music & Art
Antonio Castrignano is a native of Lecce in the Salentine Peninsula, the heel of Italy’s boot and the home of the ecstatic pizzica and tarantella music and dance traditions.

Peru Bravo: Funk, Soul & Psych From Peru's Radical Decade

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Peru Bravo: Funk, Soul & Psych From Peru’s Radical Decade
LABEL: Tiger’s Milk
The second release from Tiger’s Milk, a London micro-label run by Peruvian restauranteur Martin Morales and ex-Soundway manager Duncan Ballantyne, focuses on Peru’s urban rock scene during the psychedelic era.

Program October 10, 2014

The Guca Trumpet Festival (pictured above), held every August in Serbia, is the Woodstock or the Galax of Balkan brass: huge crowds and traffic jams, motivated (possibly intoxicated) revelers getting down to their favorite party music, bands and soloists competing for prizes, impromptu gigs popping up everywhere.

This week on Global A Go-Go, it's my own little Guca: you'll hear recordings of five groups, each of which could stake a claim to being the baddest Balkan brass band on the planet.  One of them is Serbia's Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar, who will play three sets at this weekend's Richmond Folk Festival.

Also this week: ethno-tronica; the early years of the Latin rock sound; and some current West African dance hits.

Charts October 5, 2014

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 TONY ALLEN | Film Of Life | Jazz Village
2 KHUN NARIN | Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band | Innovative Leisure
3 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Folk Music Of The Sahel, Volume 1: Niger | Sublime Frequencies
4 THE BUDOS BAND | Burnt Offering | Daptone
5 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Spirit Of Malombo: Malombo Jazz Makers, Jabula And Jazz Afrika 1966-1984 | Strut
6 DONA ONETE | Feitico Cabloco | Mais Um Discos
7 ORLANDO JULIUS WITH THE HELIOCENTRICS | Jaiyede Afro | Strut
8 CECILIA NOEL | Havana Rocks | Compass
9 FINDING FELA | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | Knitting Factory
10 JUNGLE FIRE | Tropicoso | Nacional

October 2014 Concert Calendar

October's Global A Go-Go picks:

1. Of course, the big event in October is the Richmond Folk Festival, Friday October 10 to Sunday October 12.  The headliner (for me at least) is the Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar from Serbia (pictured above), one of the world's truly great Balkan brass bands.
2. Just a boatload of great artists from Mali are visiting our area in October: Oumar Konate, Mamadou Diabate and Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba.  See below for all the details.

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.

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

Tony Allen | Film Of Life

ARTIST: Tony Allen
TITLE: Film Of Life
LABEL: Jazz Village
Here’s the latest solo album from Tony Allen, the man who helped invent Afrobeat as drummer in Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 and successors, the man Brian Eno calls “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived."

The Budos Band | Burnt Offering

ARTIST: The Budos Band
TITLE: Burnt Offering
LABEL: Daptone
When they released their debut album in 2005, the Budos Band’s sound was unique: Afrobeat rhythms in short-song format, a soul band’s punchy horn section playing Ethiopian pentatonic harmonies, a flair for catchy hooks.

Dona Onete | Feitico Cabloco

ARTIST: Dona Onete
TITLE: Feitico Cabloco
LABEL: Mais Um Discos
In a word…WOW! Dona Onete is an Amazonian singer from Brazil. The songs cover the gamut of Brazilian music genres from samba to Caribbean salsa and cadence to rap and all are driven by the amazing voice and energy of a woman who has spent her life singing and studying the musical styles of the Amazon.

Spirit Of Malombo: Malombo Jazz Makers, Jabula And Jazz Afrika 1966-1984

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Spirit Of Malombo: Malombo Jazz Makers, Jabula And Jazz Afrika 1966-1984
LABEL: Strut
Malombo music is “spirit music,” so the CD has an apt title. It’s a musical innovation distinct to South Africa which incorporates folklore with just about everything else … yet there’s almost nothing like it.

Program October 3, 2014

At WRIR, our cup (pictured above -- no, not really) currently runneth over with great new Afrobeat and Afro-funk records.  You'll hear nine of them this week on Global A Go-Go, including a track from the forthcoming new album by The Budos Band (actually pictured above).

Also this week: Sunda music from Bandung in West Java, and remembering your grandmother's stories during the Days of Awe.

Charts September 28, 2014

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 ORLANDO JULIUS AND THE HELIOCENTRICS | Jaiyede Afro | Strut
2 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Spirit Of Malombo | Strut
3 VAUDOU GAME | Apiafo | Hot Casa
4 KHUN NARIN'S ELECTRIC PHIN BAND | Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band | Innovative Leisure
5 KIRAN AHLUWALIA | Satana: Stillness | Magenta
6 ARUN RAMAMURTHY TRIO | Jazz Carnatica | self-released
7 SLAVIC SOUL PARTY | Five Albums | self-released
8 CECILIA NOEL | Havana Rocks | Compass
9 MESTRE CUPIJO E SEU RITMO | Siria | Analog Africa
10 CUMBIA ALL STARS | Tigres En Fuga | World Village

Kiran Ahluwalia | Sanata : Stillness

ARTIST: Kiran Ahluwalia
TITLE: Sanata : Stillness
LABEL: Magenta
Indian-born, Canadian-raised, American-based singer Kiran Ahluwalia first came to the world’s attention as a premier singer of ghazals, Indian lyric poetry set to music.

Khun Narin | Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band

ARTIST: Khun Narin
TITLE: Khun Narin’s Electric Phin Band
LABEL: Innovative Leisure
A few years ago, YouTube videos of a wild, psychedelic Thai marching band went viral among connoisseurs of outrageous global sounds.