Orkesta Mendoza | Vamos A Guarachar!

ARTIST: Orkesta Mendoza
TITLE: Vamos A Guarachar!
LABEL: Glitterbeat
Tucson, Arizona is home to a few of the most interesting, hardest to categorize musical projects in the USA: Calexico, Giant Sand, XIXA. Add Orkesta Mendoza to that list.

Program October 12, 2016

What's new in rock en espanol?  You''l find out this week on Global A Go-Go, when I feature new releases by Orkesta Mendoza (pictured above), Aterciopelados and Eljuri among others.

Also this week: rock with Eastern European and Western Asian roots, including a track by Richmond band Zgomot who will play live on Global A Go-Go next week during our fund drive; the marabi sounds of South Africa; and tropical funk to get you dancing.

Charts October 9, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 KOTTARASHKY AND THE RAIN DOGS | Cats, Dogs And Ghosts | Asphalt Tango
2 ATERCIOPELADOS | Reluciente, Rechinante Y Aterciopelado | Sony Colombia
3 MOUSSU T E LEI JOVENTS | Navega! | Manivette
4 ALSARAH AND THE NUBATONES | Manara | Wonderwheel
5 FRIGHTNRS | Nothing More To Say | Daptone
6 DZAMBO AGUSEVI ORCHESTRA | Brass Like It Hot | ARC
7 SAN LAZARO | Amor De Despedida | HopeStreet
8 KRISTI STASSINOPOULOU AND STATHIS KALYVIOTIS | NYN | Riverboat
9 SHIRO SCHWARZ | Star Creature [EP] | Universal Vibrations
10 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat

Aterciopelados | Reluciente, Rechinante Y Aterciopelado

ARTIST: Aterciopelados
TITLE: Reluciente, Rechinante Y Aterciopelado (Shiny, Squeaky and Velvety)
LABEL: Sony Colombia
Aterciopelados (“The Velvety Ones”), the duo of Andrea Echiverri and Hector Buitrago, are one of the seminal bands in the development of rock en espanol.

Moussu T E Lei Jovents | Navega!

ARTIST: Moussu T E Lei Jovents
TITLE: Navega!
LABEL: Manivette
Ready for some roots-rock Provencale? That’s what Moussu T E Lei Jovents, one of the world’s most criminally underappreciated bands, delivers on their latest album.

Program October 5, 2016

The Richmond Folk Festival is happening this weekend (see the Global A Go-Go guide to the 2016 Richmond Folk Festival here), and I'll be featuring the music of two of its bands on this week's program.

L'Orchestre Afrisa International (pictured above) is the name Tabu Ley Rochereau, one of the giants of Congolese soukous, gave to his band in the 1970s.  They relocated from Kinshasa to Paris in the 80s and then to Los Angeles in the 90s, with several of its members staying in the USA after Tabu Ley returned to Kinshasa in 1997.

Afrisa International, led by saxophonist Modero Mekanisi and featuring guitarist Huit Kilos, reunited after Tabu Ley's death in 2013; they're working on a new album and gigging around the USA, delighting soukous aficionados and turning new fans on to the most popular music Africa has ever produced.  You'll hear a couple of Afrisa International classics on this week's program.

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (CGS), founded in 1975, is the foremost band working in the pizzica tradition of southern Italy's Salento peninsula.  Pizzica is the music and dance that according to legend is used to exorcise the poisonous bite of the taranta spider.  It's a unique cultural tradition whose hypnotic sound is unlike anything else you'll hear in Europe.  I'll play a track by CGS and two more by other contemporary pizzica artists.

Also this week: the sounds of Sudan and new music by Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs (Bulgaria), Aterciopelados (Colombia) and Moussu T E Lei Jovents (France).

The Global A Go-Go Guide To The 2016 Richmond Folk Festival

 My favorite weekend of the year is coming up soon – that would be the weekend of the Richmond Folk Festival, this year held on October 7-9.  It’s like Christmas for a music junkie: 107 performances by 37 artists from around the world on seven stages, all free (but don’t forget to “make a drop in the bucket” when you’re there), all in my hometown, and I get to share it with 200,000 likeminded fans.

If those big numbers make the event seem a little daunting, I’m here to help you.  Every year I make myself a little Folk Festival guide: an itinerary that keeps me from getting overwhelmed by the choices and the crowds.  I plan out my whole Festival day for Saturday – if there are other acts I want to hear, or if weather or other complications ensue, I can always fill in the gaps on Friday night or Sunday.

Here’s what my Saturday itinerary looks like this year:

Charts October 2, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Ultimate Guide To English Folk | ARC
2 FRIGHTNRS | Nothing More To Say | Daptone
3 MIRAMAR | Dedication To Sylvia Rexach | Barbes
4 ALSARAH AND THE NUBATONES | Manara | Wonderwheel
5 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat
6 MONEY CHICHA | Echo En Mexico | Vampisoul
7 YENI NOSTALJI | 2016 EP demo (final mix) | self-released
8 KONONO NO. 1 | Konono No. 1 Meets Batida | Crammed
9 FELA RANSOME KUTI AND HIS KOOLA LOBITOS | Highlife-Jazz And Afro-Soul (1963-1969) | Knitting Factory
10 ELJURI | La Lucha | Manovill

Alsarah & The Nubatones | Manara

ARTIST: Alsarah & The Nubatones
TITLE: Manara
LABEL: Wonderwheel
Alsarah & The Nubatones, Brooklyn’s own “East African retro-pop” outfit, are back with their sophomore LP. It’s a follow-up to Silt, one of my favorite albums of 2014.

Kottarashky And The Rain Dogs | Cats, Dogs And Ghosts

ARTIST: Kottarashky And The Rain Dogs
TITLE: Cats, Dogs And Ghosts
LABEL: Asphalt Tango
Nicola Gruev, aka Kottarashky (“Tomcat”), is a Bulgarian musician whose specialty is cutting and pasting Eastern European samples (including his own field recordings) into a very contemporary jazz-rock context.

Program September 28, 2016

I love reggae harmony vocal groups, and you'll hear a bunch of them on this week's program: a new track from The Frightnrs, classics from the Mighty Diamonds, the Congos and more.  I also have some British folk-rock cued up for you.

Caroline, a new WRIR world music trainee, will be my guest co-host.  She's going to impress you with the two sets she's selected: an African one that ranges from Kenya to Senegal, and one from the Middle East with a bunch of artists new to me, plus Omar Souleyman.  Caroline and I are both big Omar Souleyman fans, but we're not in the same league as the two guys pictured above.

Charts September 25, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 ABOU DIARRA | Koya | Mix Et Metisses
2 VIEUX KANTE | The Young Man's Harp | Sterns Africa
3 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat
4 VARIOUS ARTISTS | This Is Kologo Power! | Sahelsounds / Makkum / Red Wig
5 MAMADOU BARRY AND AFRO GROOVE GANG | Tankadi | Label Bleu
6 BACAO RHYTHM AND STEEL BAND | 55 | Big Crown
7 SAN LAZARO | Amor De Despedida | HopeStreet
8 JOE BATAAN | Call My Name | Vampisoul
9 IMARHAN | Imarhan | City Slang
10 PUPPA LEK SEN | Sweet And Tuff | Jahsen Creation

Abou Diarra | Koya

ARTIST: Abou Diarra
TITLE: Koya
LABEL: Mix Et Metisses
Abou Diarra is a musician from Mali’s Sikasso region who now lives in Paris. His main instrument is the kamale ngoni or youth harp, a secularized version of the donso ngoni (hunter’s harp) which has primarily ceremonial uses – it’s something like a cross between the small ngoni and the kora.

Noura Mint Seymali | Arbina

ARTIST: Noura Mint Seymali
TITLE: Arbina
LABEL: Glitterbeat
The second album by Mauritania’s Noura Mint Seymali continues and extends what she and her band accomplished on their outstanding 2014 debut, Tzenni.

The Ultimate Guide To English Folk

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: The Ultimate Guide To English Folk
LABEL: ARC
English folk music, which lay mostly fallow in the 1980s after a great 60s revival and the flowering of folk-rock in the 70s, has come alive once again in recent years.