Charts January 1, 2017

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 C.A.M.P.O.S. | Miracles And Criminals | Peace And Rhythm
2 ATERCIOPELADOS | Reluciente, Rechinante Y Aterciopelado | Sony Colombia
3 YENI NOSTALJI | 2016 EP demo (final mix) | unreleased
4 ALKIBAR JR. | Jamal | Studio Mali
5 VAUDOU GAME | Kidayu | Hot Casa
6 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat
7 FRIGHTNRS | Nothing More To Say | Daptone
8 ME AND MY FRIENDS | Hide Your Way | Soundway
9 SEUN KUTI AND EGYPT 80 | Struggle Sounds | Sony Masterworks
10 KUTIMANGOES | Made In Africa | Tramp

Program December 28, 2016: The Rest of the Best of 2016

A music fan doesn't live on albums alone.  Indeed, in the streaming music era playlists have overtaken albums as the preeminent way to organize and sequence songs.  And radio whether terrestrial or internet has always been a singles medium: there are actually laws that prohibit WRIR from playing albums from beginning to end.

So I always devote my final best-of-the-year program to my favorite album-independent songs of the year.  I'm talking here about stuff released as singles or on short-form EPs, great tracks from albums that were good or indifferent to my ears, and the best songs from albums that didn't quite crack my top 20.

Holiday leftovers they aren't: this is some of the best music of 2016, just as compelling as the stuff I played in the last two weeks if not more so.  Tune in and hear for yourself.  Oh, and bonne annee, bonne sante to all in 2017!

Program December 21, 2016: Top Ten Compilations Of 2016

It's time for show #2 in the Global A Go-Go recap of 2016.  This week: my ten favorite compilations, reissues and historic recordings of 2016, plus ten more honorable mentions.

The crate-diggers who are responsible for bringing so much great African music of the 60s, 70s and 80s to our attention continue to branch out.  This year, the theme seemed to be islands of the African diaspora -- we're the recipients of superb compilations from Cabo Verde, Haiti and Mauritius, and of crucial re-appreciations of Puerto Rico's Cortijo and Jamaica's Augustus Pablo.

You'll hear all of these and more on this week's program.  Click "Read More" to see Global A Go-Go's Top Ten 2016 compilations and reissues list (with links to my reviews):

Program December 14, 2016: Top Ten New Releases Of 2016

It's the most wonderful time of the year ....  That's right, it's the time of the year when Global A Go-Go unwraps its favorite albums of the last 12 months.

This week, it's my Top Ten new releases of 2016, plus ten honorable mentions.  Next week, you'll hear my favorite compilations, reissues and historic recordings of the year.  And on December 28, it's the best of the rest: all the great songs that didn't fit onto the previous two programs.

And without further ado, click "Read more" to see Global A Go-Go's Top Ten new releases of 2016 (with links to my reviews):

Program December 7, 2016

I hope you got to hear DJ Otto JD's episode of Over The Edge of the Pop Narcotic last week -- if not, you can find it for another week at wrir.org/listen.  The show was all about Vashti Bunyan and English folk eccentrics.

Otto's program inspired me to put together my own set of some favorite trippy British folk material for Global A Go-Go this week, including the gentleman pictured above.  The sitar's a clue to what it's going to sound like.

Also this week: an African plays Coltrane, Coltrane plays Africa; what's new in Afropop; some rock y pop en espanol.

Program November 30, 2016

Joshua Camp (pictured above) is a Richmond boy made good.  He's co-founded two outstanding bands, One Ring Zero and Chicha Libre, he's currently working on Broadway as the accordionist for Fiddler On The Roof, and in his spare time he's put together a brand new 31-song double LP as C.A.M.P.O.S. (short for Cumbias And More Psychedelic Original Sounds), which gets its Richmond airwaves debut this week on Global A Go-Go.

Also this week: North African sounds from Mauritania to Ethiopia, Balkan beats and remixes, Ghanaian highlife and sun-drenched soulful Afro-folk.

C.A.M.P.O.S. | Miracles & Criminals

ARTIST: C.A.M.P.O.S.
TITLE: Miracles & Criminals
LABEL: Peace & Rhythm
Cumbias And More Psychedelic Original Sounds, or C.A.M.P.O.S. for short, is the latest project of ex-Richmonder Joshua Camp, best known for his bands Chicha Libre and One Ring Zero.

Charts November 27, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 TIKEN JAH FAKOLY | Racines | Wrasse
2 FRIGHTNRS | Nothing More To Say | Daptone
3 ALKIBAR JR. | Jamal | Studio Mali
4 SEUN KUTI AND EGYPT 80 | Struggle Sounds | Sony Masterworks
5 ATERCIOPELADOS | Reluciente, Rechinante Y Aterciopelado | Sony Colombia
6 ALSARAH AND THE NUBATONES | Manara | Wonderwheel
7 KOTTARASHKY AND THE RAIN DOGS | Cats, Dogs And Ghosts | Asphalt Tango
8 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat
9 AZYMUTH | Fenix | Far Out
10 VAUDOU GAME | Kidayu | Hot Casa

Charts November 20, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 ALKIBAR JR. | Jamal | Studio Mali
2 TIKEN JAH FAKOLY | Racines | Wrasse
3 VAUDOU GAME | Kidayu | Hot Casa
4 SEUN KUTI AND EGYPT 80 | Struggle Sounds | Sony Masterworks
5 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat
6 VARIOUS ARTISTS | This Is Kologo Power! | Sahelsounds / Makkum / Red Wig
7 KATIE MCNALLY | The Boston States | self-released
8 KUTIMANGOES | Made In Africa | Tramp
9 DAWDA JOBARTEH | Transitional Times | Sterns Africa
10 ALSARAH AND THE NUBATONES | Manara | Wonderwheel

Program November 16, 2016

Alkibar Jr. (pictured above) is bringing Ali Farka Toure's Songhai blues sound into the present tense.  Their debut album will be released in December and it's a gem -- you'll hear a track from it on this week's program.

Also this week: Bosnian sevdah, Balkan brass, lovers rock, roots reggae, and Afrofunk classics from the 70s and from this year.

Alkibar Jr. | Jamal

ARTIST: Alkibar Jr.
TITLE: Jamal
LABEL: Studio Mali
Before Tinariwen and the rise of la guitare des ishumar, Ali Farka Toure was the first international superstar of desert blues.

Charts November 13, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 DAWDA JOBARTEH | Transitional Times | Sterns Africa
2 ALSARAH AND THE NUBATONES | Manara | Wonderwheel
3 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat
4 ABOU DIARRA | Koya | Mix Et Metisses
5 TIKEN JAH FAKOLY | Racines | Wrasse
6 VAUDOU GAME | Kidayu | Hot Casa
7 KUTIMANGOES | Made In Africa | Tramp
8 ORKESTA MENDOZA | Vamos A Guarachar! | Glitterbeat
9 KOTTARASHKY AND THE RAIN DOGS | Cats, Dogs And Ghosts | Asphalt Tango
10 MARIZA | Mundo | Nonesuch

Program November 9, 2016

The KutiMangoes (in the small images above), an Afro-jazz band from Copenhagen, went to Ouagadougou in the West African nation of Burkina Faso to record their new album Made In Africa.  You'll hear the results on this week's edition of Global A Go-Go.

Also this week: the bluesy stylings of Mali's Boubacar Traore; Dawda Jobarteh, a Gambian in Denmark, brings Nordic jazz to the kora; a set of Afropop; Brazilian psychedelia circa 1968 and 2016; and a visit to the Latin lounge.

Charts November 6, 2016

WRIR's CMJ New World Top Ten
1 FRIGHTNRS | Nothing More To Say | Daptone
2 TIKEN JAH FAKOLY | Racines | Wrasse
3 ALSARAH AND THE NUBATONES | Manara | Wonderwheel
4 NOURA MINT SEYMALI | Arbina | Glitterbeat
5 VARIOUS ARTISTS | The Ultimate Guide To English Folk | ARC
6 VAUDOU GAME | Kidayu | Hot Casa
7 SEUN KUTI AND EGYPT 80 | Struggle Sounds | Sony Masterworks
8 MOUSSU T E LEI JOVENTS | Navega! | Manivette
9 ANTHONY JOSEPH | Caribbean Roots | Strut
10 BONGA | Recados De Fora | Lusafrica

Tiken Jah Fakoly | Racines

ARTIST: Tiken Jah Fakoly
TITLE: Racines
LABEL: Wrasse
My favorite reggae album of 2015 is now getting a proper USA release. Tiken Jah Fakoly of Cote D’Ivoire is one of Africa’s leading reggae artists; his roots sound and conscious lyrics (usually in French) are a throwback to mid-to-late 70s Jamaica, his creamy harmonies and punchy attack are pure African reggae.