Bamba Wassoulou Groove | Farima

ARTIST: Bamba Wassoulou Groove
TITLE: Farima
LABEL: Label Bleu
Super Djata Band was one of the great Malian combos of the 70s and 80s: their funky, hard-rocking sound, driven by brilliant lead guitarist Zani Diabate, gave first-world listeners accustomed to classic Mande artists like Salif Keita a totally different perspective on the country’s music.

Systema Solar | Systema Solar

ARTIST: Systema Solar
TITLE: Systema Solar
LABEL: Nacional
For the last ten years, Systema Solar has been one of the most exciting cultural projects in Colombia. More than a band, they’re a musical-visual collective working in 21st century modes (live electronics, rap, scratching, video projection), inspired by a broad range of Colombian musical traditions.

Program April 6, 2016

Legendary Ethiopian saxophonist Getatchew Mekurya died on Monday at age 81.  Mekurya turned the war-like shellela vocal style into instrumental music, attacking his horn like an Amharic Albert Ayler.  He played in many of the great bands of Ethiopia's golden age (Police Orchestra, Haile Selassie I Theatre Orchestra) with the best of the era's singers (Tlahoun Gessesse, Mahmoud Ahmed, Alemayehu Eshete).

In his retirement, he took up recording and touring with Dutch punk band The Ex (pictured above), which brought his music to a new audience and a new level -- their collaboration is truly one for the ages.  I'll play a couple of Mekurya's best on this week's program.

Also this week: rock 'n' roll from the bush, Wassoulou style; my in-studio guests on the next two weeks' programs: Rumput and Lobo Marino; and the latest Latin dance remixes.

One other thing: I'll be giving away tickets to see Marc Ribot play live on Friday night with the film "Shadows Choose Their Horrors," part of the James River Film Festival.  Tune in and win!

Charts April 3, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 LAKOU MIZIK | Wa Di Yo | Cumbancha Discovery
2 GUY BUTTERY | Guy Buttery | self-released
3 FANFARE CIOCARLIA | Onwards To Mars! | Asphalt Tango
4 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Music Of Morocco From The Library Of Congress: Recorded By Paul Bowles, 1959 | Dust-To-Digital
5 DJ KATAPILA | Trotro | Awesome Tapes From Africa
6 AZIZA BRAHIM | Abbar El Hamada | Glitterbeat
7 VARIOUS ARTISTS | Soul Sok Sega: Sega Sounds From Mauritius 1973-1979 | Strut
8 ALMA AFROBEAT ENSEMBLE | It's Time | Slow Walk Music
9 DEBO BAND | Ere Gobez | FPE
10 BLACK MASALA | I Love You Madly | self-released

Program March 30, 2016

Fanfare Ciocarlia (pictured above), one of my favorite Balkan brass bands, has a new album coming out April 15.  They're known for their unlikely cover songs ("Born To Be Wild," "I'm A Gummy Bear," Duke Ellington's "Caravan") and they're done it again this time -- hear the results this week on Global A Go-Go.

Also this week: Paul Bowles' 1959 Moroccan field recordings, Ghanaian traditional rhythms go acid house, and jazz meets Guadeloupean gwo ka drumming.

Charts March 27, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 BOMBINO | Azel | Partisan
2 ADNAN OTHMAN | Bershukor: A Retrospective Of Hits By A Malaysian Pop Yeh Yeh Legend | Sublime Frequencies
3 ROKIA TRAORE | Ne So | Nonesuch
4 AZIZA BRAHIM | Abbar El Hamada | Glitterbeat
5 LOS TERRIFICOS | Go South: Vaya Pa'l Sur | Peace And Rhythm
6 SIDESTEPPER | Supernatural Love | Real World
7 LAKOU MIZIK | Wa Di Yo | Cumbancha Discovery
8 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Rough Guide To A World Of Psychedelia | World Music Network
9 DOS SANTOS ANTI-BEAT ORQUESTA | Dos Santos | Alebrije
10 TISDASS | Yamedan | Sahelsounds

DJ Katapila | Trotro

ARTIST: DJ Katapila
TITLE: Trotro
LABEL: Awesome Tapes From Africa
Ghana’s electronic pop music scene is dominated by hiplife, the highlife/hip hop/dancehall fusion, usually in the Akan language, that’s seemingly everywhere.

Fanfare Ciocarlia | Onwards To Mars!

ARTIST: Fanfare Ciocarlia
TITLE: Onwards To Mars!
LABEL: Asphalt Tango
Fanfare Ciocarlia, the 12-piece gypsy brass band from Zece Prajini, Romania (a village the band says is so small it’s not on any map) is the hardest working band in show business: they’ve played over 2000 gigs in their twenty year career, most all of them outside of Romania.

Music Of Morocco From The Library Of Congress: Recorded By Paul Bowles, 1959

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Music Of Morocco From The Library Of Congress: Recorded By Paul Bowles, 1959
LABEL: Dust-to-Digital
Novelist (The Sheltering Sky), composer and UVa dropout Paul Bowles lived for 52 years in Tangier, Morocco as a legendary American expatriate.

Bombino | Azel

ARTIST: Bombino
TITLE: Azel
LABEL: Partisan
Goumour Almoctar, who performs under the name Bombino, is now probably the most recognizable Tuareg musician in the world.

Adnan Othman | Bershukor: A Retrospective Of Hits By A Malaysian Pop Yeh Yeh Legend

ARTIST: Adnan Othman
TITLE: Bershukor: A Retrospective Of Hits By A Malaysian Pop Yeh Yeh Legend
LABEL: Sublime Frequencies
WRIR’s own Carl (DJ Carlito) Hamm, host of If Music Could Talk (Sundays at 7 PM) flipped from record collector to record producer in 2013 when Sublime Frequencies released Pop Yeh Yeh, a two-album review of the beat, garage and psych eras in Malaysia and Singapore.

Los Terrificos | Go South : Vaya Pa'l Sur

ARTIST: Los Terrificos
TITLE: Go South: Vaya Pa’l Sur
LABEL: Peace & Rhythm
Los Terrificos is a new project from Ray Lugo and Jake Fader, former bandmates in Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra.

Program March 23, 2016

WRIR's own Carl Hamm (aka DJ Carlito, host of If Music Could Talk, Sundays at 7 PM) has just released his second compilation of Malaysian rock from the 60s and 70s.  This one spotlights the music of Adnan Othman, one of the biggest stars of the pop yeh yeh movement.  (That's Carl and Adnan pictured above.)

This week I'll play a track from Carl's new album and one from his first compilation, as part of a set of Asian garage rock from the 60s and 70s.  Also this week: three generations of Malian divas, what's new in desert blues, and Latin roots electronica.

Charts March 20, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 SIDESTEPPER | Supernatural Love | Real World
2 BANDA DE LOS MUERTOS | Banda De Los Muertos | Barbes
3 GEPE | Estilo Libre | Quemasucabeza
4 LA MAMBANEGRA | La Galeria | self-released
5 CORTIJO | The Ansonia Years: 1969-1971 | Vampisoul
6 LUKA PRODUCTIONS | Mali Kady | Sahelsounds
7 DUBIOZA KOLEKTIV | Happy Machine | Koolarrow
8 DIVANHANA | Zukva | ARC
9 XIXA | Bloodline | Barbes
10 EVA SALINA | Lema Lema: Eva Salina Sings Saban Bajramovic | Vogiton

Program March 16, 2016

Back in Richmond after a week's vacation in Puerto Rico.  It wasn't a music trip, just a normal-person's vacation; yet somehow music was all around us, wherever we went.  (For example, pictured above is a cooler doubling as a sound system in front of a restaurant in the Luquillo kiosks).  I'll spin a set of some of the stuff I heard at the beach (Vieques) and in the jungle (El Yunque).

Also this week: new Latin rock from all over the map, Balkan balladeers and rappers, and Afro-tronic dance music (ADM) through the lens of Salif Keita.